Sermon Transcript:

Whenever a public figure says something offensive there is a predictable pattern you can expect to follow. They will usually release a statement that expresses regret that their words or actions have caused pain and that this behavior is “not who they are” and “doesn’t represent their values. The problem, however, is that if we do or say something, then by definition, we are exactly a person who would do or say that kind of thing.  

It is not that one comment defines everything about us, but our words do not appear out of thin air. They come from within and reveal something real about us. Often, what they bring to light is a gap between the person we think we are and the person we really are. It is the spiritual equivalent of how we like to think we are the person in our posed and filtered social media shots, when in reality we are the person in our driver’s license photo. 

To escape that tension we subtly put distance between what we think is the “real” us, and our words. We might say we were just joking or we didn’t mean it. We might even say we are sorry, but then immediately try to explain why we did it. 

We rationalize that our words or deeds, while clearly wrong, were somehow reasonable. We may never need to issue a public statement, but the impulse in every fallen heart is the same, to minimize our sin and overestimate our goodness. But our words, especially our unguarded words, are a mirror into our souls. They show us who we really are. That is our main point today:

Our words testify to what we are and what we treasure.

In Matthew 12, the Pharisees stand face to face with the glory of God in Jesus Christ. They have seen the evidence. They have heard the truth. They have witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet rather than repent, they dig in their heels. Rather than worship, they slander. They look upon the work of God and call it the work of Satan. Jesus responds by exposing the depth of the problem. Their words are not the disease, only a symptom. He says,

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 

Jesus is not giving a random lecture on the ethics of speech. He is confronting unbelief in the hearts of these Pharisees. He explains why they are unable to speak the truth about Him. He says a tree is either good or bad, and its fruit will show you which it is. They cannot testify to the truth, because their hearts are wicked. They cannot rejoice in the truth because they hate the truth. Jesus says, 

34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 

He calls them a pit of snakes. They were dangerous and full of venom. The things they were saying were consistent with their nature. This is a fundamental truth: every creature ultimately acts according to its nature. Scorpions sting and serpents strike. You may be able to train certain creatures, like dogs or birds, to do many things, but you cannot train them to cease being dogs or birds.  

The problem with fallen humanity is not merely that we sin. The problem is that we are sinners by nature. No amount of discipline, education, religion, or self-improvement can change that. We are not sinners because we commit sins, we commit sins because we are sinners. That is our nature apart from Christ. Our sinful words, actions, and desires just reveal what is within.

This is why it is impossible for sinners to save themselves. Our problem is not merely what we do, but what we are. We do not simply need better behavior. We need our old nature to be put to death and to be born again with a new nature. We need a new heart. 

By heart, I do not just mean emotions. Scripture uses the word heart to refer to more than emotions. In the Bible the heart is the core of our being. It is closer to how we use the word mind. It is our place of reasoning, the source of our words and actions, as well as the center of our affections. 

It may seem strange to us to suggest the mind is the center of our affections, but what we love and what we are passionate about are a function of how we think. This is why the scripture refers to the transformation of our hearts in sanctification as the renewing of our mind. We are sanctified by the truth and are to take every thought captive to Christ. That is what it means to have a renewed heart.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “as a man thinks, so he is.” Jesus is saying if the source of the fountain is filthy, so will be every stream that flows from it. If we have a dirty mind, everything else is corrupted; our thoughts, words, and desires.

Verse 35 says,

35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

Good things can only come from a good source. An evil heart will ultimately produce evil fruit. That does not mean everything the Pharisees ever said was false. Jesus acknowledges that they taught certain things correctly. But being right is not the same thing as being righteous. Even wicked men sometimes speak the truth. The question is not whether a person ever says something true, but what is the pattern and motivation of their life and their thinking.

It is a sinful thing, even to do a good work, or make a true statement, if the motivation is sinful. Anything we do or say that is not motivated by a desire to glorify God, though it may be true or helpful on a human level, is not an act of righteousness. The Pharisees were not motivated by the glory of God, but their own self-righteousness. Therefore, even their good works flowed from pride rather than faith, and were filthy rags before God.

In Hebrews 11 we are told that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Think about that for a moment. This puts the seriousness of our sin problem in perspective. Romans 14:23 says,

23 … For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

That means that an unbeliever is incapable of doing anything at all righteous before God. Though we may do things that are humanly beneficial, if they are done apart from faith, they are offensive as offerings before God. We cannot produce any righteousness of our own. If we do not have the righteousness God provides as a gift through faith, we have no righteousness at all.

A bad tree cannot produce good fruit simply by trying harder. If we do not have faith and are not repentant and we discipline ourselves through philosophy or through religion to appear holy and sound holy, we have actually only increased our sin because we have become hypocrites in addition to being liars, idolaters, and so on. This is what happened with the Pharisees.

As sinners, our only hope is for God to intervene. To perform a work of grace causing us to be born again so that we may respond in faith and receive the righteousness of Christ, which is a gift to all who receive it by faith. This is the only hope for sinners to be made righteous. Romans 8:7–8 says,

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Literally, the Greek says “the mind of the flesh is hostile to God…” This is our default setting. This is what we are by nature, hostile to God. We therefore have no good treasure to bring forth. Anything coming from us will be bent inward on ourselves rather than offered for the glory of God. What we need is a whole new nature and a whole new life. That is why Jesus tells the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3:3,

3 …“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Brothers and sisters, we were all born spiritually bankrupt. The only way for us to have any good treasure to bring forth is for God to give it to us. We cannot produce this in ourselves. We can no more cause ourselves to be born again than we caused ourselves to be born the first time. This is a work of grace and it can only come by the power of God.

This is exactly what God does for believers. He gives us a new heart so that we may see the beauty of Christ, turn from our sin, and receive Him by faith. The same grace that opens our eyes also causes us to look to Christ for salvation. The same God who gives life to the dead heart gives faith to embrace the Savior.

And what do we find when we come to Him? We find that God has already provided everything we need in Jesus Christ. To have Christ in our heart is to have unending treasures of righteousness to draw from. This is what He has done for all who believe. He has given us His own Son, His own righteousness, and His own Spirit to seal us for the day of redemption. This is why we sing praises to Him for His grace!

He paid the price for our sin, so that we could be united with Him and brought back to the Father. As the apostle Peter said, it is by the power of God Himself that caused us to be born again to a living hope. All who repent and believe are new creations in Christ Jesus. The old has passed away and the new has come. All of our confidence is in Him. Jesus says in John 15:5,

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

For us to bear any fruit, for us to speak anything truly good is not a testimony to our own righteousness, but to the incredible grace and mercy of God in uniting us to Jesus Christ. He is our treasure and by His Spirit we are being transformed to be like Him. 

Many people claim to be children of God. The Pharisees thought they were as well. But Jesus says that if our hearts have been transformed by the grace of God, it will be seen in our words. Remember our main point?

Our words testify to what we are and what we treasure.

These days words are cheap. People are encouraged to express themselves openly and casually on nearly any subject, regardless of if they have anything of value to contribute, or any qualification or reason to do so. We are a culture of throw-away words. The internet has made this far worse. For the sake of your souls, I urge you to think carefully about what you post, share, or forward. Consider carefully that our words reflect on our testimony to the Gospel.

We are a people drowning in empty words. But the Bible places a great emphasis on words and their importance. Proverbs 10:19–20 says,

19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. 20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

We must not be careless with our words. Our speech should display the work of God within us. If you don’t know if it is true, don’t say it, don’t share it. If it is slanderous or demeaning, don’t help it spread. 

We need to be especially careful about this within our fellowship. We are called to encourage one another and help each other grow in grace, not become partners in sin. If someone begins speaking to you about another person, do not entertain it. Stop them and pray. If someone starts complaining about a brother or sister, tell them to address it directly with that person. If someone is making negative comments about a decision or the way something is handled, tell them you will not discuss it and direct them to the elders.

I heard another preacher illustrate this perfectly. In our fellowship together it is as if we carry a bucket in each hand. One is filled with water, and the other with gasoline. Every complaint, critical comment, or piece of gossip is like a spark. Every time we encounter one, we are deciding if we will throw the water or the gasoline.

When gossip, slander, or coarse speech begins to spread, we must not participate in it. To do so is not only to sin ourselves, but to draw others into sin as well. It harms the unity of the church, grieves the Spirit of God, and damages our testimony to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Since we who believe have died to the flesh and been cleansed of wickedness, why would we want to sound like those who have not?

We testify with our mouths to the power of Jesus Christ to transform sinners and to give new life to those who were spiritually dead. What testimony does it give when someone claims to belong to Christ, yet speaks carelessly and sinfully? One preacher helpfully asked, if being a Christian became illegal today, would there be enough evidence to convict you beyond a reasonable doubt? When a judge or jury weighed the evidence of your conversations and social media, would there be a reasonable doubt?

Believers are new creations in Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul says our words should be seasoned with salt, meaning they should be marked by kindness, wisdom, and truth so they are appealing and nourishing to others. They should reflect a heart that is filled with the Holy Spirit and with the word of God.

This is a serious matter. Jesus says in verse 36,

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 

How much more careful would we be with our words if we truly lived with this in mind? This word translated “careless” means idle, lazy, or unemployed. Jesus is saying that every word we speak that has no purpose, that accomplishes nothing, that is not useful, will be judged.

Jesus is speaking about the thoughtless word, the kind of thing we say without stopping to consider its impact or whether it is true, good, or honoring to God. We often dismiss such words because they seem small to us. We tell ourselves, "It was just a joke," or "I didn't really mean it," or “I was just upset,” or "It just slipped out."

But that is precisely the point. The words that slip out reveal more about us than the words we carefully prepare. They expose our hearts. Jesus says our words matter because they are not random. They are evidence. They reveal what we love, what we fear, what we treasure, and who we really are. One day we will stand before God and give an account of ourselves, and the words we carelessly used will be judged. That’s why Jesus says in verse 37,

37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” 

When we come to verses like this, we cannot throw away everything else that has been taught. We must understand this statement in light of the analogy Jesus has just given to us. He does not mean that we can be justified on the basis of saying certain things. It is not that our speech is itself the means by which we are considered righteous or justified. 

Jesus is reinforcing the connection between the words we speak and the condition of our heart. Our words reveal what we treasure; if it is God and the things of God, or if it is the flesh and the world. The point is that our words give testimony for or against our having been born again and united to Jesus Christ by faith.

If you draw a bucket from a well and the water is salty, you do not blame the bucket. The bucket simply brought up what was already there. Our words are like a bucket in a well. They simply bring to the surface what is already there. If Christ has changed the heart, increasingly what comes out will reflect His grace. If the heart remains unchanged, eventually that will be revealed as well.

The most obvious change coming from a heart transformed by grace is that the tongue will confess Jesus as Lord. Romans 10:9-10 says,

9 … if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Again, we see that the tongue is chained to the heart. When the Holy Spirit is at work within us it will begin to show up in how we speak about the things of God. We will speak with reverence and love for God. Our love for the word of God will be evident and we will use our tongues to encourage and uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our language will be increasingly marked by the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22–23 says,

22 … the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; ...

These are the things that will begin to mark our speech. These things do not themselves make us righteous, but they reveal the work of Christ in us. 

Now brothers and sisters, if you are like me, and you are thinking carefully about all of this, then at this point you may be getting a little uncomfortable. Maybe you are feeling the weight of this passage because you know that if every careless word were counted against you according to strict justice, you would stand condemned. I know I would.

But this is why the Gospel is such good news. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Brothers and sisters, the Gospel is not that we climb our way to God, but that God has come down to us in Jesus Christ. We cannot save ourselves. But Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved to die. He never spoke an idle word or made a hateful comment. He never diminished the glory of God in any way. 

Then having lived a perfect life, He went willingly to the cross to pay for our sins. He bore our guilt, satisfied the justice of God, and rose again in triumph. Now all who repent and trust in Him are forgiven, declared righteous, adopted into God's family, and given the sure hope of eternal life.

For those who are His, He is our testimony and our righteousness before God. The penalty for every careless word spoken by those who trust in Him was laid upon Him. The penalty has already been paid. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But He does not merely forgive us and leave us unchanged. His blood not only purchases our forgiveness, but also our obedience. The same Savior who justifies us is also sanctifying us. He has given us His Spirit and promised to complete the good work He has begun in us. One day, every sinful word, every impure thought, every remaining corruption will be gone forever. We will be made like Him, free from not only the penalty of sin and the power of sin, but also the very presence of sin.

But we know we are not there yet. This is the striving of the Christian life, to grow, by grace, to be more like Jesus. Until Jesus returns and we are raised in glory, we continue to battle remaining sin. We continue to need His grace and His help. James, writing to believers, acknowledges this reality when he says in James 3:2–12:

2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. 

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Brothers and sisters, notice what James is doing. He is not telling us to save ourselves by speaking better. He is not calling us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and tame the tongue through sheer determination. In fact, he says plainly that we all stumble in many ways and no human being can tame the tongue. He is calling us to Christ.

His point is the same as Jesus' point. The tongue reveals the source. A spring produces water according to its nature. A tree bears fruit according to its nature. If God has caused us to be born again, then there is now within us a new source of life. There is a new root and a new source of life within us through the Holy Spirit. James is not beating us up, he is helping us by pointing us back to the transforming grace of Christ.

So when our tongues are drawn to gossip, slander, angry speech, or cruel sarcasm, we know that such things come from the flesh, not the Spirit. When we find ourselves grumbling and complaining, we recognize that this is not who we have been made to be in Christ. It is a reminder that we still need His grace and that His work in us is not yet complete.

But it is also a reminder of hope. God is at work in us. He has given us a new heart, a new Spirit, and a new identity. We are no longer enslaved to these sins. Though the battle remains, the victory is certain. We are free to put sin to death and increasingly use our tongues to glorify God and to proclaim the excellencies of the One who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Let’s conclude this morning with the words of David from Psalm 19, verses 7–14. And may this be our prayer before the Lord today and until He comes again.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 

12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.