Bootstrap
Todd Nibert

Words

Luke 6:43-45
Todd Nibert • October, 21 2012 • Audio
0 Comments
What does the Bible say about the connection between words and the heart?

The Bible teaches that words are the overflow of the heart, reflecting the inner state of a person.

According to Luke 6:45, 'a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil.' This indicates that our speech is a direct manifestation of what resides in our hearts. Jesus consistently points out that our words reveal our character and beliefs, thus making speech an important index of one's true nature.

Additionally, the connection between words and the heart emphasizes that all humans, by nature, come forth with evil thoughts and assertions. Genesis 6:5 and Romans 3:10-12 highlight the overwhelming sinfulness of man, indicating that our hearts, apart from God's grace, are filled with evil. So, our words should be perceived not merely as expressions; they can serve as mirrors reflecting our inner state before God and others.
How do we know that all men are evil by nature?

Scripture clearly states that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, demonstrating the innate evil nature of humanity.

The doctrine of total depravity underscores that all humans inherit a sinful nature from Adam. Romans 5:12 states, 'Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' This passage affirms that all mankind shares in Adam's transgression and thus is subject to sin and death.

Moreover, Romans 3:10-12 reinforces this understanding by asserting that 'there is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.' The scriptures consistently portray fallen humanity as morally corrupt and unable to seek God on their own. This evil nature can only be addressed through the grace of God in Christ Jesus, who offers redemption and new life.
Why is it important for Christians to understand justification?

Understanding justification is vital as it reveals how God declares sinners righteous through faith in Christ.

Justification stands at the heart of the Christian faith as it encapsulates how individuals are accepted by God. Romans 3:24 declares that we are 'justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.' Justification is not based on personal merit or works but is a divine declaration that occurs due to Christ's payment for sin on the cross.

This doctrine allows believers to understand their standing before God – that they are declared not guilty due to Christ's righteousness rather than their own actions. This foundational truth provides peace and assurance of salvation, encouraging Christians to live out their faith through works that flow from the transformed heart given by God. Without grasping justification, one might fall into the error of believing salvation is based on personal effort, which undermines the grace of God.

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
When we sing that hymn, every
time we sing that third verse, where it says, dear dying lamb,
thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
church of God be saved to sin no more. I always think, well,
is it going to lose its power after that? No. I mean, in heaven,
in glory. We're still kept by that power
of that blood. Turn to Luke chapter six, please. Luke chapter six. This evening, the Lord willing,
I'm going to be speaking on your father. your father. Verse 43 of Luke chapter six. For a good tree bringeth not
forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit. For every tree is known by his
own fruit. For thorns men do not gather
figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of
the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is
good. And an evil man out of the evil
treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of the heart,
his mouth speaketh." I've entitled this message, Words. Words. We read of good trees, and corrupt
trees. We read of good fruit and corrupt
fruit. We read of good men and evil
men, and we read of heart and words. And whatever is in the heart
comes out in the words. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. Words are the index of the heart. What I am comes out in my speech. That's what our Lord says. He
says nothing less. Two times, we read both of those times where
he said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now in verse 43, the Lord says,
for a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit. Neither does a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit. Those things just are not going
to happen. For every tree, verse 44, is
known by his own fruit. Now what's the fruit of an apple
tree? An apple. It's not a pear, it's not a banana,
it's not grapes, it's not an orange, it's an apple. An apple
tree bears apples. A tree is known by the fruit
it bears. Whatever fruit you and I bear,
that's what we are. A tree is known by its fruit. And you may not be sure of what
kind of tree it is, until you see the fruit that it bears. The Lord tells us that a thorn
bush will not bring forth figs, only a fig tree will. And a bramble
bush will not bring grapes, only grapevine will. Fruit is the
outward manifestation of what's on the inside. Let me repeat that. Fruit is
the outward visible manifestation of what is on the inside. The tree is identified by its
fruit and you can identify a man, what kind of man he is, what
kind of heart he possesses by the words that come out of his
lips. The Lord said, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now, how many times have you
and I said, well, we can't see into somebody's heart? Well,
I'm not so sure that that's true. Matter of fact, I know it's not
because the Lord says, out of the abundance, out of the depths
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Words. And when we say that,
we say that in response to somebody's bad actions. And we say, well,
I hope that is not the state of their heart. Or we will say
that to justify ourselves. Well, you don't know my heart.
You don't know my heart. I don't know how many mothers
have had sons who their outward manifestations have been horrible.
Maybe they've been an ax murders, but they good hearts. Um, I know the Lord said twice
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now, evidently
the heart is exposed by the words. better spoken. Words. A tree is known by its fruit
and a man is known by his words. Verse 45 of Luke chapter six,
a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that
which is good. And an evil man out of the evil
treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh." Now, the Lord speaks of good men and evil
men. And those two are known by the
words that come from their mouth. You know, if you listen to a
man's speech, you can tell what he believes in his heart. Listen
to what he says about himself. Listen to what he says with regard
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what he says with regard
to God. Listen to what he says with regard to others. Because
out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks. Now, the Lord
speaks of good men and evil men. You read that with me. There
are only two kinds of men. There are good men and there
are evil men. Saved or lost, righteous or wicked,
good or evil, there's no intermediate group. There's no third party.
Right now, I'm either good or I am evil. There's no in between. I'm either good or I am Now,
who are these evil men? I want to know. Who are these
evil men? Well, they can be the head of
a drug cartel or they can be the head of a prayer group. They can be a pedophile or they
can be a preacher. They can walk in open wickedness
and rebellion or they can walk in the most strict morality. Now, let me tell you who that
evil man is. Who are these evil men? Let me
say first, right off the bat, you don't need to watch out for
them. Just look within your own heart. You see the evil man is who everybody
is by nature. We're not looking for a certain
group or a certain demographic to say, aha, they're evil. We
need to stay away from them. No, the evil man is what every
man is by nature. Evil. And you know, even when
the Lord is speaking to his people, his disciples, he says, if you
then being evil, that's what he said to them. If you then,
Peter, James, John, Thomas, if you then, being evil, you reckon
anyone said, why would he say that of us? No, they knew, they
knew, they knew who he's talking to. I know that in me that is
in my flesh dwells no good thing. Every believer knows that. So
when our Lord is talking about these evil men, He's talking
about what all men are by nature, the way we came into this world.
You don't need to look out there to identify them. You really
don't. Turn with me for a moment to
Genesis chapter 6. I want to look at a few scriptures. Genesis chapter 6. Now, remember,
everything we say Must be from the scriptures. If it's not from
the scriptures, it's no good. This is the authority, not what
some man or church or denomination believes, but what God says in
his word. This is the revelation of God
himself, the inspired inerrant word of God. And if we don't
have that, we don't have anything. Um, well, I questioned that.
Well, okay. But you might as well question
everything else too, because there's nothing stable. This
is. It claims to be the word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All scripture. Now it's either
the inspired word of God or it's a bunch of foolishness. One of
the two. Written by men. But I know it's the word of God. And look what God says. This
is God's testimony. Verse five of men. We're talking
about who these evil men are. Verse five. And God saw. You know, God sees real well.
Me and you, we don't see very well. We can't see what is really
going on. God can. God can look all the
way through. See, you know, he's the only
one who knows this. I don't know myself really. I don't know you. Not,
not, not really. Not the way God does, but God
sees all the way through. He sees real well, real well. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every Not most, but
every. Imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. Now there's an evil man. Every
thought he has, even the good thoughts, even the religious
thoughts, even the moral thoughts, so he thinks, is only evil continually. non-stop, continually. Turn to Romans 3. Let's look
at a New Testament passage of scripture regarding this evil
man. Verse 9. What then? Are we astray? Jews who have
been given this written revelation from God, we have the scriptures,
we have the commandments, we've got the oracles of God. Are we
better than they, those Gentiles, who have no revelation from God,
who've been left to themselves? Are we better than they? No,
in no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles,
that they are all under sin, as it is written, there's the
proof, As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now that's God's testimony. Let
me show you another scripture. Turn to just the back of page
two. Romans one. Beginning in verse 28, And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient, not right,
being filled, plumb full, being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection. implacable, unmerciful, who,
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them." Now, are these people bad? These are bad people, aren't
they? This is corrupt fruit, what I've just read about. But
look what verse one of chapter two says, Therefore thou art
inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. Did you
look at these people and say, these are bad people? Huh? For wearing you judge another,
you condemn yourself for you that judge do the same things. Now these evil men. Let me show you another scripture
before I say what I want to say. Turn to Psalm 36. The only man who knows he's an
evil man is a good man. Did you know that? The only man who knows he's a
sinner is a righteous man. Only one. I've said this before. I think it bears repeating. All sinners believe themselves
to be righteous, or at least have the potential to be righteous
if they're given the right circumstances. And all the righteous believe
themselves to be sinners. Look in Psalm 36, verse one,
the transgression of the wicked. That's that wicked man. That's
that evil man with an evil treasure. The transgression of the wicked
saith. What are those next three words? within my heart, within my heart. You see, it's
that new man that sees the old man for what it is. The transgression
of the wicked sayeth within my heart that there's no fear of
God before his eyes. Now, the evil man that our Lord
spake of who brings forth evil treasure is what we all are by
nature. Now, there are four views Four
different distinct views people can have of human nature. Everybody
has some kind of view of human nature. Everybody's got some
view. There's the evolutionary view.
We're evolving. We're getting better. We're improving. Then there is the, I guess you
would call it the blank slate view. We're born morally neutral.
Neither good or bad. And we're affected by how we're
educated, the examples we see and how we're trained and so
on. And you can be educated and trained to be a good person,
or maybe you'll be trained to be a bad person, but you're born
morally neutral. I guess that is probably within
the evolutionary view also. But the third view you can have
of human nature is we're a mixture. We're fallen. No doubt about
that. We're fallen. We're sinful. We're
bad people. We do bad things. We make mistakes.
We do bad things. We transgress. But we have the
ability, we have the power of the will to change that. We can
choose the good over the bad. We may be bad, but we're not
plum bad. We at least have a free will
that we can cause certain things to happen. And then there is
the view that all men are nothing but evil, evil, totally depraved
and total inability. So much so that our Lord said,
no man can come to me. He lacks the ability to come
to me, except the father, which has sent me draw him. and I'll
raise him up. He's dead and I'll raise him
up at the last day. Now, how did man get that way?
Turn to Romans chapter five, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one
man, talking about our first father, Adam, sin entered the
world when he disobeyed God and death by sin So that death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now, when Adam sinned,
understand this, when Adam sinned, and we'll see this as we go on
in Romans chapter five, what he did was charged to me. What he did was charged to me. But more so, and this is just
as true, when he sinned, I did too, because I was in him. What
He did, I did. And that's what verse 12 says.
It says, as by one man's sin sinned into the world death by
sin, so death pacts put all men in that Adam's sin was charged
to them. No, it says all sinned. When Adam sinned, I sinned because
I was in him. Now, I don't know how many times
I've run across people who say, well, it just doesn't seem right.
It doesn't seem fair. It's not right for Adam's sin
to be charged to me. OK, let's just forget it for
just a moment. Just forget it. How have you
done if he wouldn't? You're just as bad off. I mean, let's say
his sin wasn't in charge of you. You sinned. And when he sinned,
you sinned. And that evil nature. Our Lord
said, in the day you eat thereof, you'll surely die. Well, he didn't
die physically, but he died spiritually. And that's why we're born into
this world with an evil nature. We're born with the nature of
Adam. Sinful. David said, And you know
this if you're a believer, I don't have to, this is one thing that's
really cool, glorious, I love this. I don't have to convince
a believer of anything. You know it's so when you hear
it. David said, behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin
did my mother conceive me. And every believer said, yep,
that's it. I know that, I know that's true with regard to me.
An evil man has an evil treasure in his heart. Back to our text,
Luke 6. Verse 45, latter part of the
verse, an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth
forth that which is evil for out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh. He's talking about the words
that come out of his mouth. Now the evil man has an evil
treasure. What is that evil treasure? Self. What you treasure is what is
more valuable to you than anything else. And the evil man has an
evil treasure. It's called self. Selfish, self-love, self-promotion,
self-righteousness, self-seeking, self-pleasure, self-justification,
and vindication. An evil man has an evil treasure
called self and it comes out in his speech. Turn back to that
passage we opened the service with in Matthew chapter 12. This
is the companion passage to this. Verse 34. Or the way the Lord talked to people.
Can you imagine how those people felt when he said this to them?
Oh, generation of vipers. How can you? Being evil speak
good things. For out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh, a good man out of the good treasure
of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of
the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things. But
I say in you that every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Now,
I remember thinking of that, reading that passage of Scripture,
I thought, you know, about everything I say is idle. You know, I started
talking about the Reds or UK, the Wildcats and all the, You
know, things of absolutely no consequence. Is that what he's
talking about? No, he's talking about words contrary to the gospel.
Words of no value. I'm not promoting idle talk about
sports and all that kind of stuff, because it is, you know, much
as I love it, it's a waste of time. You know, I realize that.
Especially this year. Why do I even say that? By your words, you'll be justified
and by your words, you'll be condemned. This thing of these
words could be blasphemy and cursing, wicked words, evil speech,
evil words with regard to God, evil words with regard to others.
But it's also words contrary to the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace, words about being good. Words about free
will and salvation by works. Words that flatter human nature
rather than expose it for what it is. Out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaketh. Now what does a man believe?
What he says. What he says. You want to know what a preacher
believes? Listen to him. What he says, that's what he
believes. What do you believe? What do you want to hear? What
do you want to hear a man say? That's what you believe. That's what
you believe. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh." But we also read in this passage of scripture
about a good man. Verse 45, a good man. A good man. Out of the good treasure
of his heart bringeth forth that which is good. Now, who is this
good man? After all these things you said
about how bad men are, and what the scripture says about all
men being evil, who is this good man? Because there is a good
man, because the Lord says, a good man, a good man. Out of the good
treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things. Who is this good man? I better
learn the answer to that. When I thought about was the
rich young ruler coming to Christ with this question, and I'm quoting.
Good master, what good thing shall I do to
inherit eternal life? And he was met with a rebuke.
Why callest thou me good? There is none good, but God only. Now, when this rich young ruler,
very religious, remember he's the one who said, all these have
I kept from my youth up. Good master. You're good. You're a good man. That's what
he was saying to the Lord. You're a good man. You're a good
man. He wasn't saying you're the only
good God. He was saying low thought. He
had low thoughts, low views of Christ. He had high views of
himself. What good thing can I do that'll
bring me up to your level? What good thing? He had two way
too high view thoughts of himself. What good thing could he do?
He couldn't do anything good, but boy, he thought he could,
couldn't he? What good thing shall I do? He was looking at
Christ merely as a good man, not as the only one who is good,
so the Lord rebuked him for it. When the Lord speaks like that,
who can truly be called a good man? Well, some can. Our Lord
spoke of a good man. Remember how Paul said to the
Romans, I'm persuaded of you that you're full of goodness?
He actually said that. What was it said of Barnabas?
That he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost? Now the good
man is everybody that God has saved. It's that simple. The good man is everybody that
God has saved. If God has saved you, you are
a good man and you have good treasure in your heart and it
comes out in your speech. Now I want you to hear the gospel
once again, very briefly. God is absolutely just. Impartially just. He said, I
will by no means clear the guilty. If you're guilty before God,
you will not be cleared. Man is utterly guilty. So how can God? be just and remain
true to his word and yet clear someone who is unjust and guilty. What would we think of a judge
who took somebody who was guilty in our earthly legal systems
and cleared him, let him go? Well, we wouldn't want him to
be judged, would we? And not only is God just, but he is merciful
and gracious, and he has made a way. Turn to Romans 3. Romans 3. Verse 19. Now we know that what
thing soever the law saith, It saith to them who are under the
law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Now there, my state and your
state by nature is stated, guilty before God. That's so whether
you understand it or not. It's so whether you receive it
or not. Doesn't matter whether you receive it or not. Well,
it does. I mean, you better receive it, but it's not going to change.
Every man by nature is guilty before God. I love the way the
Bible doesn't try to prove God's existence. Doesn't try anything
like that. It just names our state before
God guilty. Well, what can we do to get out
of this mess of guilt before God? Verse 20, therefore, by
the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. There's nothing
you can do. There's nothing that you can
do to change your state before God. You know, in a way, when
you come to realize that, it's a relief. You quit trying and
you look to where you ought to be looking. But there's nothing
you can do or I can do to change that state of guilt before God. Well, does that mean there's
no hope? No, it doesn't mean that at all, verse 21. But now,
the righteousness of God without the law, without my personal
obedience to the law, is manifested. Being witnessed by the law and
prophets, this is what the scriptures always taught. This isn't just
some preacher getting up spouting off his opinion. This is the
message of scripture, the righteousness of God without the law. It's
always been taught in the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith, by the faithfulness, by the obedience
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For
there's no difference. All sin can come short of the
glory of God being justified. Here's how the guilty are saved. They're justified. They're justified. Now justified doesn't mean forgiven.
Justified means not guilty. Their sins were placed upon Christ. He became guilty of those sins.
He died for those sins under the horrible wrath of God. And
He made satisfaction for those sins. Those sins have been paid
for. They've been gone. They are gone. And His perfect
obedience, the righteousness of God. Is the righteousness
of Jesus Christ the righteousness of God? You better bet it is.
The righteousness of God is given to all those that Christ died
for. Well, how can I know if I'm one
of them? You believe, you rely upon the
Lord Jesus Christ being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation of Reason for the removal of wrath. That's
what that word means. Through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness. That he might be just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Now this one who is good, he's
been justified. He's been justified. God justified.
That's the work of God. And this one is given a new heart.
A clean heart, a holy heart, one that was not there before.
Turn to Luke chapter 8 and remember the language of good. Luke chapter
8. Our Lord is giving the parable
of the sower, and he says in verse 11, now the parable is
this. Luke 8, 11. Now the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they
that hear, then cometh the devil and taketh away the words out
of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on
the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with
joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, just
temporary, and in time of temptation, they fall away. That which fell
among the thorns are they which, when they've heard, they've heard
the word, they go forth and are choked with cares and riches
and pleasures of this life, and they bring No fruit to perfection. Verse 15, but that on the good
ground are they which in an honest and a good heart. Now do you
see that? The good ground are they with
an honest and good heart. Now what is this honest and good
heart? It's the heart that God gives. It's the new heart. It's the heart David cried for
when he said, creating me a clean heart. Oh God. It's the heart
that God gives. And what is good about it? It's
honest. It's honest before God. It doesn't
pretend before God. It's honest before God regarding
what it is. I'm nothing but sin. I confess
my sin. That's an honest and a good heart.
The deceitful heart is the heart that pretends to be something
better than that. That's a deceitful heart. But this good heart, this
honest heart is the one that God gives. A new heart also will
I give you, God said. It's regeneration. It's the new
birth. It's what God does in someone. What he does for someone
is he puts away their sins and justifies them. What he does
in someone is Christ in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ revealed in me the new
heart. Now, they hear the gospel that
I just preached, and they keep it. They hold on to it. They
love the gospel. It's the only hope they have.
It comes out in their speech. It comes out. Now they have a
treasure, a good treasure. Turn to Matthew chapter 13. The Lord says, a good man out of
the good treasure of his heart. Look in verse 44. Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field. Now, you know that Christ Jesus,
the Lord is the treasure, he himself, and he's hid in the
field of God's word. We, by nature, cannot see him. We can't see this treasure. We
don't even see him as a treasure. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a treasure hidden in a field, the witch when a
man hath found. Oh, isn't it wonderful when a
man finds this treasure? The Lord opens himself up and
they find this treasure. And what's he do? He hides it.
Does that mean he's ashamed of what he believes and he won't
tell anybody? No. It means this treasure is so valuable, I'm
scared to death of losing it. So I hide it. He hideth it, and
for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and he buys
that field. It has that treasure in it. Now,
you know what becomes conspicuous about this man that has found
this treasure? Look at the next verse, verse
45. It's very similar. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. In the plural,
pearls. I want this pearl, that pearl.
Who, when he hath found one pearl of great price, went and sold
all that he had and bought it. You know what these two fellas
had in common? They only had one possession. All they had was this treasure.
All they had was this one pearl. Someone who has the treasure.
Oh, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
the gospel. When someone has this treasure, they know he's
all they got. They don't have anything else
to plead. They don't have any other. All I have is Christ. I don't have anything else to
recommend me to God. I can't use my preaching. I can't use
my faithfulness. I can't. No. All I have is Christ. Now that man has, possesses the
treasure. And do you know, it comes out
in his speech. You see, with the heart, man
believeth unto righteousness. But with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. And this man confesses, Christ
is the only righteousness I have. Christ, I love him. I love him. I love who he is. I adore his
person. He's all I have. I wouldn't dare
plead anything but him only. No man comes to the Father but
by me. I wouldn't dare come any other
way. No, all I have is Christ because
all there is in me. I know that in me that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Do you know that? Do you know
that? Well, if you do, Christ is the
treasure of your heart and it will come out in your speech. The fruit of your heart. You
see, if God has given you this new heart, you have love, joy,
peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. You have the fruit of the Holy
Spirit and it's going to come out and come out in your speech. Now, in conclusion, Matthew 12,
once again. Remember the name of this message? Words. Words. Words are the vehicles of communication
to tell what's on my inside. You know, Christ is called the
Word of God, isn't he? He's the mind of God. If you
want to know what God is, He's expressed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
All you're ever going to see of God is Jesus Christ. He's
the Word of God. Words tell what is in my heart. Now, verse 34, once again, oh
generation of vipers, how can you being evil speak good things?
You're not going to speak words of the gospel. You're going to
speak evil things, whether that's out and out wickedness Salvation
by works, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh
a good man. Out of the good treasure of his
heart bringeth forth good things. Like I said, your speech will
betray you. Remember what was said to Peter when he was denying
the Lord. He's one of them. His speech
betrays him. Your speech will betray you. It doesn't mean everything
you say is good. Oh, how many things we say we
horribly regret saying and wish we'd, bad words, things negative
about people we should have never said. Everybody be sure to read
that article by Brother Fortner about a true friend. That was
so good. Look, I want to be that. I want my words to be good. But
this is mainly talking about words of the gospel. A good man
out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things,
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart evil things.
But I say unto you that every idle word, every worthless word
contrary to the gospel that men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the day of judgment. For, now look at this
statement, for by thy words thou shalt be justified. And by your words, you'll be
condemned. Now, the Bible is about justification. How God can justify a sinner.
That is a summary of the message of the Bible. You know, the Lord
said, Regarding that man that cried out, God be merciful to
me, the sinner, he went down to his house justified. And God uses the whole Bible
to bring forth this message. You see, it's how Christ can
justify a sinner. It's the glory of Christ. It's
the honor of Christ, His way of justifying a sinner. Now,
according to the Bible, justification, this thing of being not guilty
before God, where I stand without guilt before God, justification
is by grace. Bible says that. It's the unmerited
favor of God. Justified by blood. The Lord
Jesus Christ, by His precious blood, put away my sin, so I
have no sin to be condemned for. I'm justified. I'm without sin. Justification is by faith. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. What's the
evidence that I've been justified? I believe the Gospel. Justification
is by works. James said, faith without works
is dead. Being alone. A man's justified
by works and not faith only. What that means is your works
will prove what you really believe. That's what that means. And a
man is justified by his words. My words will condemn me. If
I, if I believe I'll talk about justification in some other way,
other than the Bible states it. For my words, He is my righteousness
before God. He is my justification before
God. I'm somebody who really is relying
on Him only. By your words, your words will
reveal what's in your heart. By your words, you'll be justified,
or by your words, you'll be condemned. Let's pray together.
Todd Nibert
About Todd Nibert
Todd Nibert is pastor of Todd's Road Grace Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.

0:00 0:00