Jesus 2023 Speaking
Notes
Transcript
Recap
Recap
Last two weeks we have been talking about how we worship Jesus in our modern day culture.
The reality is that we live in a completely different culture from the first century church
Jesus didn’t have instagram but He still battled the temptations of pride, lust, and self worth.
Jesus didn’t have spotify or netflix but I’m sure there were times that He was tempted to give in to the lies that others told Him about Himself.
However we also know that Jesus was tempted in every way we were and yet He was without sin.
So how do we resist the temptation to sin?
It’s not by putting up blinders on our eyes or covering our ears.
We must first allow Jesus to change our hearts.
I wanna clarify something that I said last week that may not have been very well explained.
I talked a lot about changing our heart last week and I know some of you had questions about how to change your heart.
I wanted to clarify by saying that it is Jesus who changes our hearts and the deeper that we pursue Him the more that our heart will change.
The deeper you develop your relationship with Jesus the greater heart change you will have.
Like I said last week
As we keep our attention focused on Jesus, as we stand in awe of His majesty our sin simply cannot compare
Outward actions start by an inward response.
“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. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Pray
Pray
Context
Context
Okay now before we begin crying and wondering why Jesus just called someone a brood of vipers we must understand context to this passage
Jesus (the son of God) (God in Flesh) had just finished healing a demon oppressed blind and mute man.
Some people in the crowd began asking each other if this meant that Jesus was the Son of David
This means they were asking if He was the promised Messiah.
When the Pharisees (the religious leaders) heard it they began saying that Jesus had cast out the demon through the power of beelzebub (this is another name for satan)
So to recap
The pharisees are accusing Jesus (the ultimate source of good) of using satan (the ultimate force of evil) to cast out a demon.
This causes two issues
One it denies the power of Jesus Christ and God
And two it tries to attribute the power of God to Satan.
The pharisees were so determined in their hearts to deny Christ as the messiah that they were telling people that He was casting out demons by the power of satan.
This is why Jesus gets so upset with them.
In the few verses leading up to this scripture Jesus absolutely dunks on the pharisees
I’m talking like Randy Orton RKO from the top ropes
Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus is making the case to the pharisees that it is not satan’s desire to free people from the bondage of sin and death
His desire is to keep you enslaved to it
It is God’s desire to free you from that, and it begins within your heart.
“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.
In Hawaii mango trees are fairly common.
In fact I had a mango tree growing outside my house growing up.
The mangos were delicious because the tree always had access to fresh air and was in an area that rained almost every day.
It was a healthy mango tree and it made incredible mangos
My buddy Jesse also had a mango tree growing outside his apartment in Hawaii.
His apartment was right by a highway.
For years and years this tree was fed by car exhaust fumes and when it rained the oil from the highway would run off and soak into the ground around this tree.
When you ate one of the mangos from that tree it tasted like diesel fuel
If I was to pick which tree is good and which tree is bad I am gonna say the tree that makes gasoline mangos is the bad tree right.
The tree is known by it’s fruit.
You as a Christian are known by your fruit.
What you do, what you look at, what you listen to, what you say.
It’s not that you have to do the right things to get into heaven.
No that’s called moralism and it is not what we believe
You are saved by faith through Jesus
But once your saved, you are changed and transformed
You are cleaned from the inside out and no longer are you walking around making gas mangos for people but instead you are living for Jesus and following what He has asked you to do because He has completely changed you inside out.
You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Now here Jesus continues talking to the pharisees regarding them accusing Him of using satan to cast out demons
He is telling them that they have nothing good to say because inwardly they are denying who Jesus is.
So this comment Jesus makes is directed at the Pharisees
I don’t want you walking away tonight saying, “I’m a brood of vipers, I’m wicked”
However the Bible does say this about us.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Jeremiah 17:9–10 (ESV)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
So we understand that it is impossible for us to do good on our own.
Our hearts have been corrupted by sin and in fact they desire to continue to sin.
This is why I told you in the beginning that simply trying to not sin by closing your eyes or even gouging your eyes out won’t keep you from sinning
Or plugging your ears or cutting them off won’t keep you from sinning.
Sin is rooted and embedded in our hearts and out of the heart the mouth speaks.
In other words what is in your heart inwardly will be reflected by what you do outwardly.
The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
The only person who can take this wicked and evil heart and make it good is Christ
It is Him and Him alone that can change and transform us.
The bible is clear that we cannot do it ourselves apart from Him
So when verse 35 tells us the good person out of the good treasure brings forth good we have to stop and ask ourselves what is that good treasure?
That good treasure is Jesus
The deeper we invest in our relationship with Jesus the greater treasure we will have because that relationship and joy that it brings is endless.
Practically speaking it does help to be careful with what you look at and what you listen to and what you say but the root, what causes you to desire to think, speak, and act like Christ is your relationship with Him.
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Keep in mind the original issue that Christ is addressing here.
Before you go home and think that you are going to hell because you made a joke one time I want you to think about the original context of this passage
Jesus is responding to the pharisees denial of who He is as the messiah, the Son of God.
The pharisees were openly denying that Jesus was the messiah.
Jesus here is saying that by your words you will be justified or condemned.
What you think about Jesus, who you claim Jesus to be will either justify you, or condemn you.
At the end of your life, as you stand before God you will be saved if you confess Jesus as your Lord and savior.
Jesus is telling the pharisees that if they confess Him they will be justified but if they deny Him they will be condemned.
Remember, salvation comes through faith in Christ.
Outwardly we are changed because we are first changed inwardly.
When we confess that Christ is our savior and we continue to deepen our relationship with Him there will be outward change.
The mango tree in my front yard in Hawaii had good fruit because it was fed by healthy water and good air
This doesn’t mean you won’t struggle with sin or be tempted by it this just means that as you continue to invest in your relationship with Christ you we begin to desire more of Him and less of your sin.
But it all starts with confessing that Jesus is your Lord and savior.
Gospel