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Matthew chapter 12, remember 
that in chapters 11 and 12 we see varying responses to our 
Lord and His ministry and the emphasis falls on opposition 
as we have seen in our study thus far. Specifically in chapter 
12 at verse 14 after Jesus heals the man with the withered hand 
in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. We see then the Pharisees 
went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. So it's important for us to get 
this in our understanding. The Pharisees are in opposition 
to the Lord, they have drawn the line in the sand, but He 
conversely as well has drawn the line in the sand in chapter 
12 at verse 30. He who is not with me is against 
me, and he who does not scatter with me scatters abroad. So we need to understand that 
as we look at his condemnation of the Pharisees this morning. 
It is in a specific context, and there are various lessons 
for us to learn along the way as well. But I'll just pick up 
reading in chapter 12 at verse 15 to set the larger context. But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew 
from there, and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them 
all. Yet he warned them not to make 
him known that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the 
prophet, saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved 
in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him, 
and he will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel, 
nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. 
A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not 
quench, till he sends forth justice to victory, and in his name Gentiles 
will trust. Then one was brought to him who 
was demon-possessed, blind and mute, and he healed him, so that 
the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes 
were amazed and said, Could this be the son of David? Now when 
the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast 
out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. But 
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided 
against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or 
house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts 
out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom 
stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, 
by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be 
your judges. But if I cast out demons by the 
Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or 
how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, 
unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder 
his house? He who is not with me is against 
me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad. Therefore 
I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the 
blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. anyone 
who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven 
him. But whoever speaks against the 
Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in 
the age to come. Either make the tree good and 
its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad. 
For a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can you, 
being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaks. A good man, out of the good treasure 
of his heart, brings forth good things. And an evil man, out 
of the evil treasure, brings forth evil things. But I say 
to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give 
account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be 
justified. And by your words, you will be 
condemned. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we come to a sober passage of Holy Scripture, and we pray for 
the ministry and the aid of your Spirit now. We pray that He would 
guide us and instruct us and lead us into all truth. We pray, 
God, that you would forgive us for all of our sins and cleanse 
us afresh in the blood of the Lamb. We thank you that you made 
him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become 
the righteousness of God in him. How we thank you that he is our 
surety. How we thank you that he is our 
mediator. How we thank you that he is the one who bore the wrath 
and fury of God for all those whom the Father had given him. 
We praise you for your gospel. We praise you for your grace. 
For certainly in light of a passage like this, God, there is not 
a one of us who could stand on the day of judgment when you 
survey our idle words, when you survey the things that we have 
said, the things that we have spoken, those thoughts that reveal 
our hearts. Father, thank you for providing 
that one who never spoke an ill word, who never blasphemed, who 
never slandered, who never gossiped, Thank you for this one who's 
always marked by grace and truth. And we just pray for any and 
all who've come here this morning outside of Christ. We pray that 
you'd open their eyes and open their hearts to behold the truth 
that all men everywhere are dead in their trespasses and sins 
and stand in absolute need of a glorious Savior. And we pray 
that they would see Jesus Christ as altogether lovely and chief 
among 10,000. And we pray in his most blessed name. Amen. Well, as far as terrifying passages 
of scripture go, this must be on the top ten list. You'll notice 
there what Jesus says at the end in verse 37, for by your 
words you will be justified, and by your words you will be 
condemned. Just prior to that, he says that 
we will give account for every idle word. Certainly, if we're 
going to give an account for every idle word, then what about 
the blasphemies? What about the lies? What about 
the slander? What about the gossip? What about 
all of the garbage that proceeds from our mouth? Certainly, as 
we come to this particular passage of Scripture, Our hope and our 
intention ought to be that we flee to the Lord Christ who alone 
can shelter us from that coming day of God's wrath wherein He 
pours out His judgment upon those who have sinned with their tongues. 
In the context, He is declaring this specifically against the 
Pharisees. Remember that Matthew tells us 
that Jesus Christ is the servant of Yahweh. He is the servant 
of the Lord prophesied by Isaiah in various places. In Isaiah 
chapter 42, and in 49, and in 50, and then 52 and 53. We have 
what is called the four servant songs of the prophet Isaiah. And so Matthew applies that to 
our Lord in verses 15 to 21. And then we see that Jesus is 
not only the servant of Yahweh, He is David's son. And that comes 
on the occasion of His casting out this particular demon. from 
this man who was both blind and mute. Look at verse 22, "...then 
one was brought to him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute." 
Remember we saw that just because you're blind and mute doesn't 
necessarily mean that you have a demon. Just because you have 
some sort of an ailment or some sort of a disease or some sort 
of a physical calamity, we cannot argue that therefore you have 
a demon. But there were occasions, there 
are instances, there are times where the demon possession affects 
the physical being of a man, and that is the case here. And 
so what Jesus does is He heals him. And on the basis of that, 
the crowds, the multitudes, ask this very legitimate question. of verse 23. All the multitudes 
were amazed and said, could this be the son of David? Could this 
be the Messiah promised? Could this be the one testified 
by the prophets to come into this world to save his people 
from their sins and usher in the kingdom of God Most High? 
Now, of course, the Pharisees reject this idea. The Pharisees, 
according to verse 24, when they hear this, when they hear this 
legitimate question, could this be the Son of God? The Pharisees 
ascribe what Christ does to the devil himself. That's what the 
blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is all about here specifically. When they have witnessed, when 
they have seen, when they have identified the power of the age 
to come breaking in upon this age, they have Christ who is 
filled with the Spirit affirming this and confirming this to them, 
and yet they ascribe this power to the devil himself. That's 
what they do according to verse 24. This fellow does not cast 
out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. And 
it's based on this accusation and the question previous that 
Jesus now answers. He answers with two arguments. He says, first, can a kingdom 
divided against itself stand? Absolutely not. The second argument 
is, if I cast out demons, then who do your sons do it? Of course they're doing it by 
the power of God. And then based on that, he draws 
out three implications. If I cast out demons by the Spirit, 
then the kingdom of God has come upon you. He speaks of plundering 
the strongman's goods. He speaks of bringing in the 
kingdom of God Most High. And then having said all that, 
he brings now a condemning word to bear, specifically on the 
Pharisees themselves. He ascribes to them the unpardonable 
sin of verses 31 and 32. We spent a lot of time last week 
looking at those two particular verses. We tried to shed some 
light upon them with Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 and then 1 John 
as well. We won't rehearse a lot of that, 
but what we do now come to is this idea of a tree and its fruits. Not the first time that Jesus 
uses this analogy. Remember, He's condemning, He's 
warning these Pharisees for their particular sin against Him. And there's four observations 
that I want to make this morning concerning verses 33 to 37. First, 
He gives them an exhortation to repent. Secondly, He condemns 
them, a condemnation of the Pharisees. Thirdly, He gives an explanation 
regarding their problem. And then fourthly, he gives anticipation 
concerning the day of judgment to come. So he has some very 
severe words for these Pharisees. He has some very strong words 
for men who would put themselves up in a place of leadership among 
the people of God and take upon themselves the identifier of 
teacher. Remember, the Pharisees were 
the religious leaders. The Pharisees were the teachers 
in Israel. And so our Lord Jesus Christ 
brings this heavy condemnation to bear upon them. Let's look 
first at His exhortation to them to repent. Verse 33, "...either 
make the tree good, and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad, 
and its fruit bad, for a tree is known by its fruit." It's 
a bit of a difficult statement when you try to survey in its 
context. I mean, I think the general idea 
is absolutely clear, and it's absolutely sure. A tree is known 
by its fruit. But when Jesus says, make the 
tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and 
its fruit bad, how does that effect, or how does that jive 
with what we've seen in the context? I think it could go one of two 
particular ways. The first is this. Remember that 
they have charged our Lord with doing a good thing. Right? Casting out a demon from a demon-possessed 
man, everybody would agree that's good. I mean, I think even the 
Pharisees would be happy that this man who was blind and this 
man who was mute was now able to see and able to speak. Nobody 
would neglect the reality that casting out a demon is a good 
thing. But then they charged Jesus with 
having done it by an evil means. Jesus is warning them to repent. Do not charge me with having 
done a good thing out of evil motives. Do not begin to think 
that I've cast out demons by the chief demon himself. You 
need to repent from this mindset. You need to forsake this sin. 
You need to refuse to go down this road. If you see a good 
thing, do not ascribe it to an evil party. Rather, if you see 
a good thing, if you see a good fruit, then trace it back and 
identify the tree itself as being a good tree. I think, at least 
in a conspicuous way or an inconspicuous way, our Lord is appealing to 
them to forsake their sin, to leave off this wickedness. Or 
he has the idea that the Pharisees should stop pretending to be 
good. Let's just flush them out. Let's 
bring them out in the open. Do not even begin to think that 
you are somehow good men when your hearts are wicked. Do not 
begin to express to the multitudes that there's something bad about 
Jesus and good with the Pharisees when you are ascribing to the 
Davidic son himself power from the demons. That is absolutely 
wicked. And then notice, he highlights 
that a tree is known by its fruit. Again, not the first time. Matthew 
chapter 7, verses 16 to 20. At the close of the Sermon on 
the Mount, remember the Lord Jesus brings that sermon to bear 
upon His hearers. And the same analogy or the same 
metaphor stands fast here. The works associated with the 
Kingdom of God that Jesus is doing evidence that He is God's 
Son. A tree is known by its fruit. 
He's not acting in concert with the devil, he is acting against 
the devil. That's how you know that this 
tree is right, how you know that this tree is good, how you know 
that what he's evidencing is truly from God, the Holy Spirit, 
as it's been conspicuously applied. The rejection of those works 
by the Pharisees evidence that they are of the devil. Now, remember 
I said last week, these guys aren't a little wrong. These 
men weren't just a little off. These men hadn't made just a 
few mistakes, but these men, according to Jesus, in a passage 
similar in John chapter 8, are of their father, the devil, and 
the desires of your father you want to do. They are standing 
here before the Lord of glory himself and ascribing his miraculous 
power to the devil Beelzebub. They're not simply a little off, 
they are rejecting Christ. They are God-hating rebels. They are living in rebellion 
against the living and the true God. The question posed by the 
multitudes in verse 23 is answered by our Lord in His works. The 
accusation leveled by the Pharisees in verse 24 is answered by the 
Lord in His works. So what He says there, a tree 
is known by its fruit. You cannot mistake these things, 
you cannot go wrong on these things. It is manifest, it is 
clear. The devil doesn't cast out the 
devil because then his kingdom would be weakened. It is only 
the Lord God Most High who has sent His Son, David's Son, to 
do this particular task. Now notice, secondly, the condemnation 
of the Pharisees. Now, I don't know how well Jesus 
would have been received today. I don't know how well Jesus would 
have been welcomed by people. I saw yesterday the SpaghettiOs 
company. They tweeted something about 
December 7th, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. And they 
use their little Spaghetti-O mascot. For those of you who 
don't know what Spaghetti-Os are, they're canned pasta that, 
I think it's a food product, but they're round, hence the 
O's. Spaghetti-Os. And this Spaghetti-O 
mascot was holding an American flag. It was their way to try 
and remember and tribute the situation that occurred at Pearl 
Harbor on December 7th. Well, everybody freaked out about 
that. They had to publicly apologize. It was not our intention to insult 
the brave men that went to Pearl Harbor. In other words, we're 
very much lightweights today. We dare not hurt anybody's feeling. We just comment upon what appears 
to be some incompetence in leadership in America and we are castigated 
as racists. That has nothing to do with it. 
Incompetence is incompetence no matter the color of the man 
who's incompetent. We get into the church and what 
has been heralded as the primary verse in the New Testament. Judge not lest you be judged. The text is yanked out of Matthew 
7 from its context, from its place in the Sermon on the Mount, 
and it's become this anthem. It's become this declaration. 
It's become this statement that nobody can ever utter anything 
untoward about anybody ever. Look at what Jesus says, brood 
of vipers, offspring of snakes. Can you imagine what they did? Do you think they went home and 
cried themselves to sleep on their pillows? They were incensed 
and enraged further and wanted to destroy him. Remember, they 
have drawn the line in the sand by ascribing his works to the 
devil. He has drawn the line in the 
sand by saying, if you're not with me, you're against me. And 
when you're against me, you commit the blasphemy against the Holy 
Spirit, which is unpardonable, both in this age and the age 
to come. And as well, with reference to all things religious, with 
reference to all things civic, with reference to all things 
leadership in Israel, you are a brood of snakes. That's what 
he says to them. The Pharisees were the religious 
leaders and teachers in Israel. They were heretics and Christ 
condemns them. The Baptist does in Matthew chapter 
3 and it will come out again from the words of our Lord later 
on in Matthew chapter 23. Brood of vipers. We need to understand this reality. The Lord God holds all of us 
accountable to be sure. The Lord God holds teachers He 
holds leaders, he holds pastors, he holds preachers accountable 
for the things that they say. If you go to your medical doctor 
and he misdiagnoses you, there can be a lot of problems and 
a lot of difficulties, but you won't necessarily go to hell. 
If a false teacher misdiagnoses, and I'm speaking as a man, I 
know God is sovereign, He is over the heart, But all things 
being human, when a pastor, a teacher, a religious leader gives you 
bad information, it's not a case of medical malpractice. It is 
a case of butchering one's soul. The stakes are very high, the 
stakes are very grave, the stakes are such that our Lord Jesus 
does not take lightly when men purport to be teachers and they 
are blasphemers of God the Spirit. The Lord Christ condemns false 
teachers. The Apostle Paul condemned false 
teachers. The Apostle Peter condemned false 
teachers. This led James, the brother of 
our Lord, the leader in the church in Jerusalem and the author of 
the epistle of James, to make this statement in James 3.1. 
Let not many of you become teachers. Let not many of you become teachers. 
Why? For we shall incur a stricter 
judgment. There is accountability. There 
is responsibility. And when a man stands to lead 
the people of God, and he does so heretically, he does so falsely, 
he does so in antithesis to the truth of God, the Lord Christ 
says, brood of vipers. The Apostle John condemns false 
teachings. The Lord Christ takes false teachers 
seriously, and so should we. If a man presumes to speak to 
the people of God, and he distorts the message, he twists the message, 
he adds to the message, or he takes away from the message, 
that man is a brood of a viper, and we could trace it back to 
the serpent himself, the devil. What is an identifying mark of 
the devil according to the Lord Jesus in John 8? What are the 
two big things the devil really thrills about? What does he really 
enjoy? He is a murderer and a liar. 
That's what indicates or that's what identifies the devil himself. He is a murderer and a liar. We think about this with reference 
to the abortion, unfortunately we have to call it industry. 
It's built on murder and lies. It is marching according to the 
master himself. Christ says this is wrong. You 
cannot misteach people. You cannot twist. God willing, 
tonight we'll be in 1 Timothy 3, verses 1-7. Do you know who 
Paul says to Timothy ought to be the elders in the church? 
The most successful businessmen? The nicest guys? The happiest 
fellows? The most polished sort? The guy 
whose tie always looks right and his hair is all... No. They've 
got to have these several graces. They've got to be proven privately. 
They've got to be proven domestically. They've got to be proven publicly. 
Do you know what the one gift there is mentioned? He must be 
apt to teach. We just act like that doesn't 
matter anymore. I'm not making this up. Just 
open your eyes and survey some of the things going on in the 
name of Christian doctrine today. It's drivel at best and abject 
heresy at worst. Contrary to popular opinion, 
God's design for you is not your best life now. God's design for 
you is faith in His dear Son and repentance unto life, and 
obedience to His holy law, empowered by the Spirit. Your best life 
is coming then, in the new heavens and the new earth. In the New 
Jerusalem, when we sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb, 
do you know that this world that we're called to live in now is 
a world of trial, a world of difficulty? Do you think Jesus 
was mistaken in the upper room discourse when he said, in this 
world you will have much tribulation? I love that word because the 
idea there is pressure. Isn't that what life feels like 
at times? Pressure. It's like you put in the vice 
in the garage and somebody's cranking that, not me necessarily 
because I don't use vices. My wife does that sort of thing. 
But men like Mike and other brothers and my son-in-law, they use vices. That's the language that Christ 
uses. In this world, you'll have tribulation. There'll be difficulty. You don't 
skate through life singing zippity-doo-dah. You're not attended by bluebirds 
when you put on your outfit in the morning. Cars break down, 
jobs get lost, people get laid off, diseases are contracted, 
cancer is pronounced. And yet you got a whole group 
of men standing in Christian pulpits or alleged Christian 
pulpits telling the people that are supposed to be of God that 
everything's going to be just as you make it. Oh really? Tell that to Job. Tell that to 
the apostle Paul. I got a thorn in my flesh, Paul 
says. What does Paul do? He goes to 
the Lord and he prays, take it from me, take it from me, take 
it from me. It's not wicked to cry out to 
the Lord God to take that thorn in the flesh. But when the Lord 
God doesn't and he underscores the lesson that he has for the 
apostle Paul, Paul embraces it. What's the take-home lesson to 
the apostle? My grace is sufficient for you. My power is perfected in your 
weakness, Paul. When people see you hobbling 
into a city and preaching the gospel and sinners getting saved, 
they're not going to glorify you, Paul. They're going to glorify 
me. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians, God takes this 
gospel treasure, and he puts it in earthen vessels. You know 
what earthen vessels are? Crackpots. He puts gospel treasure 
in crackpots, so that when a crackpot stands before fellow crackpots, 
and God the Lord saves crackpots, it's not the crackpot who spoke 
that's glorified. You see, the sooner we get this 
reality down, it's about God, we're going to be a whole lot 
better off. We want to judge everything, we want to scrutinize 
everything, we want to survey everything based on my needs. When do my needs trump the design 
of God most high and his created order and his providence and 
his redemption? We need to submit. You see, when 
Jesus says, brood of vipers, it's because these men are the 
leaders. It's because these men are trying 
to teach others. It's because these men are butchering 
souls. Now notice, there's a specific 
problem. We're still in the condemnation 
of the Pharisees. Verse 34, brood of vipers. How can you, being evil, speak 
good things? There's a self-help message there, 
isn't there? There's some self-esteem boosting. You know, I don't like to hear 
that preacher because I don't feel good. I'm sure those Pharisees 
would have said that on their way home that day. Did he say 
we're evil? Did he suggest that we're not 
good? Did he dare to cross the line 
and somehow impute us of being evil men? Yes. He says it's an 
impossibility for them to speak good things. See, the Lord Jesus 
is a metaphysician. He knows what's going on in men. He says, how can you, being evil, 
speak good things? For out of the abundance of the 
heart, the mouth speaks. The Lord Jesus calls them evil. Again, he doesn't take this as 
if it's just the way it goes. They're evil men. They're wicked men. Remember, 
the bruised reed, he doesn't break. The smoking flax, he doesn't 
quench. But the arrogant Pharisee, he 
stomps. You say, what kind of imagery 
is that? It's the current session of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at 
my right hand till I make your enemies what? Your footstool. Every enemy of the church, every 
enemy of Christ's people will be subdued by the power of the 
Son of God. The Lord Jesus says that it is 
impossible for them to speak good things. How can you, being 
evil, speak good things? You know what the natural answer 
to that question is? They can't. The Lord Jesus will 
explain why this is the case in verses 34b and 35, when He 
deals with the origin, when He deals with the particular problem. 
But before we get to 34b and 35, by way of an aside, notice 
that Christ affirms total depravity. You say, well, I'm not a Pharisee, 
I'm just a rank-and-file unbeliever. Well, you're still evil. You're 
still outside of Christ. How does the Bible describe those 
precious little babies that come into this world? I know on the 
one hand they smell good, maybe after that first washing, I don't 
know what they smell like right when they come out. They look 
good, they're cozy, they're warm, they're little blankets of joy. 
The wicked go estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon 
as they are born. You say, well, that doesn't build 
my esteem up. Maybe your esteem is part of 
your problem. Maybe it needs to be brought 
down. Maybe you need to understand 
who you are before a holy, holy, holy God. As Pastor Kim said 
this morning, we ought to frame our hearts right when we come 
here. We are not coming here simply 
for some social time. This isn't an adult play date. This is to go into the presence 
of the God of heaven and earth, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
The Apostle tells us in Hebrews chapter 12, we are to do that 
in an acceptable manner with reverence and godly fear. See, probably 99% of our problems 
is that we've juxtaposed God and us. We don't like to hear 
him tell us we're evil. Hey, that's where healing begins. You may not want to hear your 
oncologist say that the cancer has spread, but it's the only 
way to effectively deal with it. Do you get mad at the oncologist? Do you get mad at the lawyer? 
Do you get mad at the doctor? Do you get mad at the person 
at the place that tells you, look, your problem really is 
this. Hopefully you thank them and say, well, now by the grace 
of God, I can try and sort this out appropriately. Yet we come 
into the church and people say, I don't want to be told I'm evil. 
I don't want to be told I'm bad. I don't want to be told that 
I've got these issues. Well, guess what? This is how 
Jesus deals with souls. The Lord Jesus affirms and confirms 
the doctrines of total depravity and total inability. Romans 8, 
verses 7 and 8, the Apostle says, because the carnal mind, that 
means the man apart from Jesus Christ, the man who's not saved, 
not just the man, could be the woman, could be the boy, could 
be the girl, could be the teenager, could be whoever. Here's the 
deal. Here's your problem. Here's what 
it's about. Because the carnal mind is enmity 
against God, and enmity there is a powerful word. I had to be reminded recently 
of something, or I was reminded of something recently that I 
do, and this text has condemned me. It may sound a little bit 
odd, but we're going to be judged for every idle word. My daughter 
pointed out the other day that when somebody on the road does 
something to me that I don't like, I mean mug them. Mean mugging, 
it's what we say when the little kids make a mean face. You cut 
me off, and by the grace of God, I probably won't give you the 
finger. I probably won't scream at you and open my window, but 
I'll look at you. As if that'll have a remedial 
effect on every bad driver out there. That man mean mugged me, 
I better clean up my act. My daughter, thankfully, reminded 
me, you may mean mug somebody and they show up in the church 
sometime. If I've mean mugged anybody here, I apologize. This isn't just a mean mugging, 
God, though that's part of it. Enmity. I mentioned abortion 
earlier. What an expression of man's enmity 
against God. Wise? Cheat? Deceit? What an expression of man's enmity 
against God. You see, God is ultimately the 
target of all of our sin and all of our aggression. You hear 
that sometimes, with sodomy. Well, they're not really hurting 
anybody. God the Lord has spoken, and He has decreed, and He has 
defined the way things are supposed to be done. Guess what? He didn't 
check with you, He didn't consult with you, He didn't ask you. 
He has legislated according to his own perfect will. Enmity, 
man raising his fist at God. You want to see a great display 
of enmity? Read Psalm 2 sometime. It's amazing 
that the rulers of the earth and the kings, who can't get 
together about anything, take their stand together against 
the Lord and against his Christ. They are unified, they're in 
concert, they have truck with one another to say, we will not 
have this one to reign over us. You see what Paul says is your 
problem here this morning? It's far more systemic and it's 
far more grave than you just raising your hand while every 
eye is closed and every head is bowed. You need Christ to 
save you from your sins. The Apostle says, because the 
carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to 
the law of God, nor indeed can be, so then those who are in 
the flesh cannot please God. You see, the twin doctrines of 
total depravity and total inability is not just that every man is 
affected everywhere in his heart, mind, soul, being, strength, 
will, total depravity, but he is totally unable to merit God's 
favor in his own. So Jesus says in John 6.44, no 
one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him 
and I will raise him up on the last day. The Lord Christ in 
John 8.43, why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not 
able to listen to my word. You see, if you've come here 
this morning and you're not a believer, you're thinking, well, my problem 
isn't really that bad. Maybe next week, or next year, 
or in 15 years, I'll say a prayer and ask Jesus into my heart. 
The problem is far worse than you or I could ever even imagine. 
The problem is such that it necessitated the death and the resurrection 
of the Son of God Most High. The Lord Christ tells us the 
particular problem of the Pharisees when he says, how can you, being 
evil, speak good things? Now notice in verses 34B and 
35, he explains their problem. For out of the abundance of the 
heart, the mouth speaks. Notice what's going on. You've 
got tree and fruit. Now you've got heart and thing. Tree, fruit, answers to heart, 
thing. He starts sort of generically. 
He starts sort of out there. He starts with an illustration 
or an analogy all of us can appreciate. Good trees bear good fruit. Bad 
trees bear bad fruits. Now he's going to hone in a little 
bit on these Pharisees. He wants to lead them by the 
hand and teach them and show them what their problem is. Now 
you've got good hearts good things, bad hearts bad things. And then 
he'll hone that in even more finely to deal with words. To deal with the specific offense 
of these rebels. That's the context. Let's look 
at what he says concerning the explanation regarding their problem. 
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What 
we are, as Osborne says, determines what we say. What we are determines 
what we say. Again, the best Christian on 
this side of the New Jerusalem struggles. The best Christian 
on this side of the New Jerusalem has remaining corruption. The 
best Christian on this side of the New Jerusalem may do a little 
more than mean mugging somebody that cuts them off in the street. 
However, as a general rule, as an indicator, What comes out 
of this reflects this. It's pretty simple, isn't it? When we go up there and we turn 
on that water faucet, we expect nice, fresh, clean water. If 
we were in some jungle situation and we saw a spring, or we saw 
rather a pond, and it was stagnant, we would realize that it's probably 
not going to be fresh, spring, clear water. It is self-evident. You see what Jesus does. Trees, 
fruit. Hearts, things. The tree, or rather the Lord, 
being filled with the Spirit, brings forth the good thing of 
exercising the demon from the poor man. The entirety of our 
Lord's life, the entirety of His doctrine, the entirety of 
His ministry, reflects that reality. Now may I say, he goes on to 
speak of the good heart. The good heart brings forth good 
things. The sinner who by the grace of God believes on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and who walks in Him and has the power of the 
Holy Spirit, whose heart has been renewed, has the ability 
and has the power to do good things. You say, well we don't 
normally think that way. Well this is how the book of 
Revelation chapters 2 and 3 work. When Jesus comes, Pastor Cam 
alluded to that as well, He walks in the midst of the lampstands. 
What does He do when He visits those seven lampstands? He says, 
I know your works. And oftentimes we remember the 
fact that He condemns the bad. But do we ever take notice of 
the reality that He commends the good? He speaks well of the 
Ephesians, because you've tested those who say they're apostles, 
and they are not. Do you ever think and ponder 
the reality that we are, by God's grace, walking and doing the 
good works which He prepared beforehand for us to do? Luther 
made the statement like this, God doesn't need your good works, 
your neighbor does. And while I understand that sentiment, 
when we do good works, God is glorified, Christ is exalted, 
Christ is praised. What does the Lord Jesus say 
in Matthew 5? When men see your good works, 
they'll give what? Glory to God. So yeah, He doesn't 
need you to bring Him a Christmas ham, but when you do something 
that's nice for your neighbor in the sight of God, the Lord 
is praised. And Christ says that a good heart, 
regenerate, that has been replaced by the Lord Himself, is capable 
of doing these good things. But the evil heart, the bad heart, 
the wretched heart. Notice what he says. A good man 
out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, 
and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. Go over to Matthew 15 for just 
a moment. You can see this fleshed out and illustrated in further 
detail. Matthew chapter 15. At our current rate, we'll probably 
be a while before we get there, so We're not giving anything 
away. Notice in Matthew chapter 15, 
at verse 10, when he had called the multitude to himself, he 
said to them, hear and understand, not what goes into the mouth 
defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles 
a man. Remember the disciples, or rather 
the Pharisees, complain, Lord, Master, Rabbi, why do your disciples 
eat with unwashed hands? That's the least of their problems. That's not the issue. Man's problem 
isn't simply he's ceremonially unclean. You just need to wash 
up before supper. You just need to fix up a little 
bit. You need to straighten the tie. 
You need to comb the hair. It's not what goes in, it's what 
comes out. Verse 12, then his disciples 
came and said to him, do you know that the Pharisees were 
offended when they heard this saying? Don't you love that? 
Do you know they didn't like that? They got upset. They weren't 
happy. Jesus said, well, you know, I'm 
so sorry. I better tweet this and Facebook that and apologize. But he answered and said, every 
plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 
Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the 
blind, and if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into 
a ditch. If you have a problem with sovereign 
grace, this verse is probably going to haunt you. Every plant 
which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind 
leaders of the blind, and if the blind leads the blind, both 
will fall into a ditch." Then Peter answered and said to him, 
"'Explain this parable to us.' So Jesus said, "'Are you also 
still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that 
whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the 
heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed 
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies. These are the things which defile 
a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." 
So previously when I said that your problem is one of the heart, 
it was the problem of every single person in this room. Jesus herein 
describes every single one of us. It's not a class of sinners 
out there, but that law hits every one of us. There is not 
a one here redeemed by grace alone, through faith alone, and 
Christ alone who's done it on their own. It's by God's redemptive 
power. The Lord Christ tells us what 
their problem really is. And then that brings us fourthly 
and finally to consider an anticipation of the Day of Judgment. Verse 
36, but I say to you that for every idle word men may speak. Now I don't think that Jesus 
prohibits us talking about the weather. In the realm of speech 
that's got to be the most idle, isn't it? I mean on a day like 
this it's hard not to talk about how cold it is because we're 
not used to it. We're delicate, at least one of us is delicate. 
Jesus doesn't mean you're supposed to walk around in this lower 
world and if somebody says, wow, it's a cold day, don't say anything 
because it's an idle word that you will have to give an account 
for. He doesn't want you to be the odd duck in the lunchroom 
who cannot comment about the weather. That's not what he's 
talking about in this passage. He's talking about useless words. The word idle is related to a 
man who won't work. It's related to that uselessness 
of a certain situation where something has been promised but 
it never gets carried out. I think of all the brothers in 
my library, Calvin hits the nail on the head as he so often does. 
Now, if you've read any of Calvin, his institutes or his commentaries, 
you know he was not one to mince words. And occasionally, the 
brother would throw in a joke. It wasn't like, hey, there were 
these two priests that went to the store. It wasn't like that. 
But he would say legitimately funny things. If you've not ever 
read C.H. Spurgeon, may I suggest you'll 
have a belly laugh at times. In fact, a lady came to C.H. 
Spurgeon once and said, Reverend Spurgeon, I fear that you speak 
way too humorously. And he says, madam, if you knew 
how hard I tried to keep back, you would be proud of me. He is not condemning that sort 
of thing. The New Testament documents flesh 
out for us. It is profane speech. It is dirty 
speech. It is sexual speech. It is things 
that are unseemly. It is things that are untoward. 
In the context, the idle word of ascribing to the Lord of Glory 
the power of the devil himself is going to merit judgment from 
God Most High. Galvin says first, let us speak 
of the sacred mysteries of God with the utmost reverence and 
sobriety. That's great counsel. We've provided or we've produced 
in our generation this chattiness, this encounter mentality. When we bring our lattes in to 
the worship of God and we're just thrilled and we have the 
experience, and I'm not saying lattes are wicked. There's got to be something different 
from the gates of Zion than the dwelling places of Jacob for 
the Lord God to say He loves the gates of Zion more. It's 
because there He's the focal point, because there He's the 
most important, because there it's all about Him. Calvin's 
right. First, let us speak of the sacred 
mysteries of God with the utmost reverence and sobriety. Secondly, 
let us abstain from talkativeness. I think by design, we should all 
learn the lesson in general revelation that as a good ratio, we should 
listen twice as much as we talk. We've got two ears and we've 
got one mouth. By design, God says, listen more. Be slow to what, James says. Be slow to speak. Be quick to 
hear. He says, secondly, let us abstain 
from talkativeness, buffoonery, and vain jests, and much more 
from slanderous attacks. And lastly, let us endeavor to 
have our speech seasoned with salt, the reference there. to 
Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6. You see, the Lord, in the 
context of this statement presented against him, does not affirm 
the maxim, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words 
will never hurt me. According to the Lord Christ, 
the words that we speak evidence what's going on in our hearts. 
And if we blaspheme the Holy Spirit verbally, that means we 
blaspheme the Holy Spirit in our hearts. That's his point. Notice the occasion, accounting 
on the Day of Judgment. The Lord Christ Himself is speaking 
to this up to this point. But I say to you that for every 
idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the 
Day of Judgment. That is terrifying. That is scary. There is a day of reckoning in 
our future when we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, 
where we will give an account of deeds done in the body, whether 
good or evil, 2 Corinthians 5. And according to the Lord Jesus 
Himself, we will give an accounting of the words we've spoken. Makes 
you never want to talk again, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Makes you just want to say, you 
know, I've done enough. I don't need to do any more. 
One of the old brothers said, our conversation or our words 
spoken give occasion for repentance. They give occasion for repentance. 
Take the shorter catechism sometime on the 9th, I'm sorry, the larger 
catechism on the 9th commandment and work your way through that. 
This is a terrifying passage of scripture. The Lord Christ 
says in Matthew 5, I say to you that whoever is angry with his 
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. 
Whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the 
council. But whoever says, you fools, shall be in danger of 
hellfire. Again, you see the bastions that we'll go to to 
try and avoid the clarity of Holy Scripture. Well, if I can't 
say this, I'll make an awkward face. Guess what? That face still 
reveals the heart. It still evidences what's going 
on in the soul. The point that the Savior is 
presenting here is that each and every one of us will stand 
before Him. He's already said that it's Him 
that will give judgment on that reckoning day. And then notice 
what He says in verse 37. the evidence, for by your words 
you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." 
It is wrong to read the passage and say, well, you've spoken 
so well in this life that when you get up there on the day of 
judgment, the Lord Jesus will evaluate your words and say, 
as a result of having spoken so many good words, you are hereby 
justified. That's not the way it goes. The 
point is that the words we have spoken evidence the condition 
of our hearts. It's on that basis that we will 
be publicly affirmed to be justified or to be condemned. Gil says 
it this way, our Lord's meaning is that not only works and actions 
but words of all sorts will come into account in the day of judgment 
and will be evidences for or against a man to acquit or condemn 
him. And then Ryle puts it this way, 
our words are the evidence of the state of our hearts, as surely 
as the taste of the water is an evidence of the state of the 
spring. Out of the abundance of the heart, 
the mouth speaks. He says the lips only utter what 
the mind conceives. That's the point. So you see, 
from trees to fruit, hearts to things, to the words spoken by 
these blasphemers. He answers their accusation with 
argument, he draws out from that implication, and then he pronounces 
warning and condemnation. upon these men who had resisted 
the Holy Spirit, who had rejected the Davidic son, and who, in 
not so many chapters from here, would lead the mob in handing 
him over to be crucified by a godless man." That's the exposition. Before we leave, we ought to 
consider a few lessons. First, if the heart is this bad, 
we need to be born again. Have you ever considered that 
passage of scripture in the prophet Jeremiah? He says, the heart 
is deceitful above all things, and what? Desperately wicked. It's not just wicked. It's desperately 
wicked. Have you considered prior to 
that in the prophet Jeremiah? When he makes this statement, 
he says, Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? 
A leopard doesn't roam about the zoo and say, you know, I 
much prefer the stripe pattern of the tiger. I think I'll just 
change. No. He says, can the Ethiopian change 
his skin or the leopard its spots, then may you also do good who 
are accustomed to do evil? No. Is it any wonder that in 
the promise of the New Covenant given in Jeremiah 31 and given 
again in Ezekiel 36, that Ezekiel specifically highlights this 
reality? That the days are coming, says 
the Lord, when I will give them a new heart. That's what we need. That's what our problem is. We have a bad heart, and as a 
result of that, we have a bad record. See, we want to fix the 
record, thinking that'll help the heart. God says, no, the 
heart has to change to affect the record for good. The prophet 
Ezekiel says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 
within you. I will take the heart of stone 
out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. For anyone 
here this morning who is, by God's grace, believing on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, this happened first. God took the old stony 
heart out, He threw it wherever He throws that sort of garbage, 
and He puts in a new fleshly heart. And He gives us the twin 
braces of faith and repentance so that we may come to Christ. 
And if you're here this morning and this has not happened to 
you, do not despair, do not be hopeless. Realize that God the 
Lord delights in doing this very thing. You see, if I was a gifted 
surgeon, I would be delighted to be able to help somebody who 
had a bad heart, physically speaking. If I was a gifted lawyer, I'd 
be happy to help somebody who was actually in the right to 
be vindicated. God's not like men. You came 
to me on a given day, I don't know, I'm not so sure. You've 
been a pretty wretched person. But we see the evidence of the 
mercy of God. We see the graciousness of God. 
We see the goodness and the kindness and the large heartedness of 
God. When Saul of Tarsus is breathing threats of violence and hatred 
toward believers, what does Christ do? He comes to him on that Damascus 
road and he regenerates him. He causes him to be born again. 
He takes out the old stony heart. He puts in a new fleshly heart 
and the apostle believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the 
God of heaven and earth. That's why we sing sometimes, 
amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like 
me. It's not that the wretches helped 
God. It's not that the wretches made 
themselves helpable. It was that God the Lord reached 
down in grace and in mercy and caused this to be the case. You see, people say, when you 
preach the necessity of regeneration, there's no hope for man. Oh, 
there's hope in God. There's hope in God. You need 
to get outside yourself. You need to see that it's not 
your doing, it's not your dying, it's not your rising, it's not 
your accomplishments. It's Christ in Him alone. Notice as well, with reference 
to the coming day of judgment. It's terrifying. Remember, could 
this be David's son? Yes, it's David's son. What do 
the Pharisees think is going on in this situation? They think 
that Christ is in the dock. They think that he's in the witness 
box. They think that it's their condemnation 
of him. They think that it's he that's 
under scrutiny. It's he that's under assessment. 
It's he that has to prove for himself. Do you know what's really 
going on in the passage? It's them. Remember when Stephen 
is hauled out of the city to be stoned to death? What does 
Stephen look up into heaven and see? It's glorious. It says, 
Stephen being filled with the Spirit of God, looked into heaven 
and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand. You notice the book of Hebrews 
is pretty conspicuous. When Christ finishes his redemptive 
work, he goes and he sits down at the right hand of the Majesty 
on high. There is redemptive truth in 
that. The high priest never sat down in the temple. After he 
made the atoning sacrifice, he got out of the temple. Christ 
sits. Why is Jesus standing in that 
particular instance? It probably goes two ways. Firstly, 
Jesus is standing to show his servant, Stephen, I'm going to 
receive you to myself. I'm here for you, Stephen. I'm 
your friend. I'm your savior. I'm your Lord. Then as Gil says, he's standing 
to preside as judge over this situation. The mob wasn't in control that 
day. God, the sovereign Lord, was in control that day. That's 
what's going on here. They think they're accusing Jesus. 
Jesus is condemning them. Carson puts it this way, Jesus' 
authority in saying this is staggering. It is not he who is being assessed 
when men ask, could this be the son of David? Or others blasphemies. It is they who are being assessed 
and by their words they will be judged. Christ is in control 
of this entire situation. Another thing we ought to learn 
before we leave this text, I'm going to pray soon and we're 
going to go, think about the words you say. If we will give 
an account for every idle word that we speak, how about the 
talkativeness? How about the buffoonery? How 
about the vain jesting? How about trafficking with high 
and holy things as if they're nothing? We need to watch our 
hearts. We need to watch our mouths. 
We need to pray with the psalmist, set a guard over my lips, oh 
Lord. Please think about that. Any 
of you have ever visited England and you've gone to Buckingham 
Palace and you've seen those guards standing there motionless. You can come up and put your 
hands in their face and they don't move. We need that over 
our lips. We need a garrison. We need a 
well-armed, well-trained, well-armed army militia right outside our 
mouths. Because the ability for us to 
do ill with it is so great and so grave. And this is why David 
says, sat a guard over my lips, O Lord. And then finally, we 
ought to be thankful for the gospel. Who is the one alone 
who never spoke ill? Who is the one alone who was 
never talkative in a bad way, who engaged in buffoonery, who 
engaged in vaingesting? It is that Psalm 15 man. It is that Psalm 15 man, the 
King of Glory, identified in Psalm 24 as the one who has entered 
into the tabernacle of God. the one who enters into the house 
of God, and he brings us, his elect, under his arms, and he 
gives us safety and refuge in the presence of his Father. It 
is the gospel that saves. It's not our reformation of the 
tongue. It's not our speaking better. 
It's not our speaking more positively. It's not our speaking less talkatively. 
and less buffoonery, and less vain jesting. The only hope of 
salvation lies in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. If you do not know Him, believe. If you do not have Him, 
come. Remember back in Matthew 11, 
28, he says, all you who are labor and are heavy laden, come 
to me and I will give you rest. That is the blessed promise of 
the Christian gospel that we, by God's grace, ought to fly 
to and lay hold on. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. And God, we thank you for 
your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, David's son, David's Lord, the 
one who came to do all that we could never do. He never spoke 
an ill word, he never blasphemed, he never slandered, he never 
gossiped, he never ever engaged in sin. And how we thank you 
that you made him for us, Lord God. I pray that you'd open hearts 
today. I pray that you'd engage in what 
is impossible with men, but is possible with you. Take out old 
stony hearts and replace them with fleshly hearts and put the 
fear of God in all of us. Grant us grace, Lord, to consider 
this passage. Give us grace, Lord, to consider 
apostasy and the unpardonable sin and the things that these 
men were guilty of. And may there be a holy fear 
in our hearts. May there be that disposition 
of trembling. and may there be that joyful 
response to the truth of God's Word by the power of your Spirit. 
We ask that you would go with us now, we ask that you would 
be glorified in this local church, and we pray through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen.