The Spillover Effect

OPEN WITH WORTHLESS VIDEO

Open with demonstration of pouring water slowly from a 1 gallon jug into a smaller cup and how it will eventually spill over if I keep adding to it.

This is what we call a “spillover”.

The actual definition of “spillover” is this - an instance of overflowing or spreading into another area; an unexpected consequence, repercussion, or byproduct.

I will come back to this issue of “spillover”, a little later in the sermon!

This morning, there is particular passage from the Bible that I would like to read with you. It is, for most of us, a very familiar passage and a very familiar situation that took place during Jesus’ time on earth.

Would you please turn in your Bibles with me, to the gospel of .

This situ

Matthew 12:22–37 NLT

Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?” But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

Now, we just read this whole story together and even though I am going to go over, briefly, most of the story for clarity, I am predominantly, going to be addressing the last 5 verses in this passage for the main point of the lesson.

This is a very familiar scene in the life of Jesus, as well as in our own current day and age.

It is the clashing of religion with the TRUTH and authority of Jesus the Christ and the Kingdom message.

You see, Jesus was constantly being attacked verbally (and eventually, physically), for His bringing and proclaiming the TRUTH of who He was and what He was sent to do.

And this is where we find Jesus in this story in Matthew’s gospel; being attacked by the religious heretics, the Pharisees.

In this passage we find Jesus doing something that He did quite often in the gospels; He was healing and restoring and delivering, all of the oppressed and burdened people everywhere that He went.

By the time that we get , we have already read of Jesus raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, casting out legions of demons, calming the waves of the sea with His voice, restoring the paralytics, healing the blind and deaf and mutes and all manner of sickness and disease, as well as His amazing teachings on the Mount.

So, this account in , is not the first time that the religious zealots had heard of, or encountered a miracle of this man from Galilee, named, Yeshua!

They were quite familiar with Him at this point in time and they were QUITE tired of Him coming in and disrupting their power and status as the religious leaders for the people!

And so, as soon as Jesus heals/delivers this man, the people are beginning to ask themselves a very important question. A question in fact that leads to an even more important answer. The question that they were starting to ask amongst themselves, was, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?”

And as important as it is to ask yourself this question at some point in your life (“Is this Jesus really the Son of God and the Messiah”, a question that we must all, in fact, ask ourselves), it is the answer that we produce from our hearts to this question, that determines the course of this life and even more importantly, the life that follows!

So, the Pharisees see and hear the people asking this question amongst themselves and they recognize that their time of power and authority is quickly coming to an end. Jesus was raining on their little parade!

So, what did they do? They, like many of us when we act like little spoiled children because things aren’t going our way, they quickly lashed out and spoke out of jealous anger! In doing so, they, produced a lie to try and deter and derail the people from this line of logic!

They said, “Well, no wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.”

And it was there, at that moment, that their eternal fate was sealed!

Jesus responds to their accusation with swift and sure repudiation that was driven, as were all of His comments, by Godly wisdom.

He quickly lets the Pharisees and all of the people present, know that if He was casting out devils by the assistance and the power of the devil, then Satan’s kingdom was divided and thus about to collapse.

There are only two existing kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

It was so far fetched and ludicrous to even say that the devil’s plan to destroy God’s kingdom, was to create division and mutiny within his own kingdom! In order to stop the advancement of God’s kingdom and the gospel message, satan devised a plan to cast out his own workers and split his forces in all directions!

Makes perfect sense, right?!

Jesus doesn’t stop there either, he dismantles every shred of the Pharisees ridiculous statement, through His Godly wisdom, as opposed to their natural and even satan driven logic.

I say satan driven logic, but Jesus had had other dealings with the Pharisees. And in one specific situation, He told them this, as we see in ,

John 8:42–47 NLT

Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”

So, in this verse we can see that Jesus dealt very sternly with the evil schemes of the religious leaders, because they were trying to deceive and stop others from coming to the TRUTH and acceptance of the Gospel/Kingdom Message that Jesus was bringing everywhere that He went.

Jesus reminds these religious zealots that their own “sons”, or exorcists, went around supposedly casting out demons and that they were good with this and embraced it.

They considered this good, even though some historians, such as Josephus, recorded some bizarre and almost mystical methods employed by these Jewish exorcists, to cast out demons.

So, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that they said that the ability to cast out demons comes from Satan himself, and yet their own sons, whom they approve of, were doing the same thing; casting out demons!

Then, Jesus tells them, that their sons would pass judgement upon them, for saying this, since it meant that they were also using the devil’s power to cast out demons.

This would turn out pretty embarrassing for the Pharisees if the very ones whom they accepted and supported came back and openly criticized them for what they had said. TALK ABOUT A HOUSE DIVIDED!

Since, logically, the Pharisees were not going to admit that their own people were employing, or using the devil to cast out demons, Jesus then uses that opportunity to announce to the Pharisees and all who were present, about a certain TRUTH and a reality that many people were awaiting.

Jesus states that if He were casting out demons by the Spirit of God (and since that was in fact the case), then the kingdom of God was already in their midst and before them!

The long awaited Kingdom of God was established on earth and they didn’t even realize it!

You see, the Pharisees were always asking for and demanding a sign from Jesus, and there it was. A man who was given the authority and power by God to control the forces of darkness, as well as ALL manner of sickness and disease and even death, itself; that would be the ultimate sign that kingdom of God was present!

And to make this a more demonstrative statement to them, Jesus then says, “For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. “

Jesus was saying to them that they would not and could not deny His authority to cast out devils, (they had already attested to by their statement about His power) and they as well as many, many other Jewish people, and even some gentiles, had openly witnessed and attested to His power and authority!

So, Jesus was then saying, “Not only can it not be argued that I am casting out devils from people, but I am saying that I have invaded the kingdom of Satan and that I am stronger than he is and have bound him so that I can take from him what he has been holding onto!

Jesus was letting everyone know, that He and His authority given to Him, had rendered Satan powerless and unable to resist!

And many people believe that this “binding” of the strong man (A.K.A. Satan), actually began in the wilderness when Jesus trampled all over the devil’s feeble efforts to tempt and allure Jesus. Just as the devil had been doing to other men and women for millenniums!

From that point forward, Satan knew that he had lost his authority, because up to that point and time in history, no human had EVER been able to withstand him and his power of temptation!

Just as James tells us in James chapter 1, that we are tempted, because of our own desires. And thus, this eventually leads to sin.

Well, when it came to Jesus, His desire was to do the will of His Father! So for Satan, there was no temptation that would lead to sin from that kind of desire! IT WAS SPIRITUAL CHECKMATE!

Jesus then makes a statement, that was just as much for the Pharisees and every man and woman present who could hear Him that day, as well as for everyone who would ever read it from the Bible after!

He said, “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.”

You see, Jesus cleared the air and the ambiguity about neutrality and taking sides between the Kingdom of God and kingdom of darkness!

There is no neutrality; you are either working with and alongside of Jesus in spreading the gospel message, or you are working against Him and with the devil!

And with this statement, Jesus makes a sobering declaration for all who would ever reject the TRUTH of Holy Spirit and the consequences that come with it!

Jesus says that every sin and blasphemy committed can be forgiven. (Through true repentance, of course). However, anyone who blasphemes, or speaks against the Holy Spirit, will never be forgiven; whether in this life or in the age to come!

Jesus makes this statement, in response to the Pharisee’s accusation of His using the devil to cast out demons.

You see, the Pharisees, the ones who were supposed to be the teachers of the law and ones who were in charge of getting God’s word to the people, they had witnessed first hand, the displayed power of God, in Jesus the Christ!

They had heard the living Word of God speak and witnessed the LOVE of God through Him and tasted the goodness of the Father through His only Son.

And this was brought through the empowering presence of Holy Spirit as He operated in the life of Jesus and Jesus moved under His divine instruction!

And having witnessed and experienced the amazing presence of the Messiah, they denied the work of Holy Spirit and said that it was really the work of the devil!

This was and still is, unforgivable!

If someone makes a statement about the Lord out of ignorance and then later comes to know the TRUTH and repents, he/she will be forgiven.

However, if someone knows and has been shown the truth and rejects the work of Holy Spirit while having this knowledge, then they have become unreachable!

You are not just talking about someone who is struggling with the reality of the TRUTH and good and evil.

You are talking about someone who has witnessed the TRUTH and denies it for so long that they get to where they can longer recognize it! This person is no longer forgivable.

This is why Jesus said what he said to the Pharisees. They knew very well of God and His word and His ways; yet they were so cold and calloused and wrapped up in their own world, that they didn’t even recognise God’s presence when it was manifest right before their eyes!

Not only did they deny the presence of the Holy Spirit, but they called His work, the work of Satan!

Attributing God’s divine power to the devil, is a mistake that they will never, ever forget. For all eternity!

Jesus was accused of BLASPHEMY by the Jews, because of His claim to being the Son of God and for that reason, they were going to stone Him.

Jesus said to them, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Jesus was saying that the Father was operating in Him and this ultimately came through the presence of Holy Spirit.

And for this reason, many came to the TRUTH and believed in Him. Yet, many rejected the TRUTH and became unable to receive it or even recognize it!

THEIR HEARTS WERE FULL OF EVIL AND THUS HAD NO ROOM FOR THE TRUTH!

It is here that we come to the main point of today’s lesson. In verses 33-37, we read, “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

Right here, Jesus just validated and affirmed what He had just spoken of when He answered the accusation about His ability to cast out demons and it coming from the devil.

By His saying that the tree is identified by its fruit and that if the fruit is good, then the tree is good, He was showing that if the Pharisees’ sons and their “fruit” were deemed good because they cast out demons, then His work would be deemed good as well.

Since they were presumably doing the same act, you couldn’t call one good and the other evil. The fruit is the same and if one tree is called good by its fruit, then the other must be called good as well!

Jesus, several times within the gospels, uses the analogy of bearing fruit, being fruitful and being known by our fruit.

,

Matthew 7:20 NLT

Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Matthew 7:15–20 NLT

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Here, within the sermon on the mount, we can see Jesus saying the same thing with the analogy of our being known by our fruit, out actions!

and the parable of the sower and the 4 soils, Jesus says this of the seed that sown on the good soil,

Mark 4:20 ESV

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

The word of God that is planted within a heart that is yielding to God will bear much fruit!

In , Jesus gives us the beautiful analogy of Him being the TRUE vine and we, as believers, being the branches that are connected with and dependent upon the vine for spiritual health and nourishment, so as to be able to BEAR MUCH FRUIT!

And remember, that the vine that is bearing fruit, is the one that the Father takes and prunes so that it will bear even more fruit. (PS, pruning is sometimes painful and not pleasant!)

But you can get the gist of what Jesus was saying about those who follow Him as His true and faithful followers; they will be known by their fruit.

And this is the main point that Jesus finishes with in this run in with the Pharisees, He asks them how in this world could they, who were evil men, ever speak of what is good and right?

“For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.”

“A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.”

Now, reflect back real quick the water in the cup at the beginning. The “spillover” effect that I mentioned.

That is what Jesus is saying here. Whatever is the predominant source that you feed your spirit man, will be the source that eventually comes out of you.

If you are feeding your soul and spirit the Word of God continually, then the Word of God will be what overflows from your heart and out of your mouth.

If, however, your heart and soul are being fed, primarily on the things of this world, (even if you do not see anything evil from these things; like if all that you do is sit and watch sports 24/7 and never take the time to read the Word of God), if it is not food coming from the TRUE VINE, then your spillover will be bad fruit!

No matter how innocent the nature of the substance is that is continually going in and filling your vessel, if it is not of the Holy Spirit, then eventually, your spillover, the things that come out of your mouth, will be worldly in nature. (i.e. BAD FRUIT!)

A little boy went over to a pastor's house, where the pastor was doing some carpentry in his garage. The boy simply stood there and watched him for quite a long time. The preacher wondered why this boy was watching him and was finally so curious that he stopped and said, "Son, are you trying to pick up some pointers on how to build something?"

The little boy replied, "No. I am just waiting to hear what a preacher says when he hits his thumb with a hammer."

Statisticians estimate that on the average, we will spend about 1/5, or around 13-15 years of our lives, talking!

In fact, on a daily basis, we will say enough words to fill a 50-60 page book. Or, even more impressive, if we average around 20,000 words per day, then in a single month, we will speak enough words to fill a book similar to one this size, which contains over 1,200 pages! (Any of you ever read War and Peace? It contains 1,225 pages.)

Just as James tells us in his epistle (which we looked at within the last couple of months), life and death are in the power of the tongue. And guess what the tongue releases?

Jesus answered that in verse 34 of our passage today, when he said, “You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.”

It matters what we speak, as it shows the true nature of what is inside of us. (No matter how much you try to mask it, your true heart will spillover at some point. Whether it is your verbal speaking, or what you are writing, or texting, or posting on social media, your true heart will eventually show!)

Listen to this, In 1924 Adolf Hitler started writing his book Mein Kampf, which means "My Struggle." Some people ignored the book, and some laughed at it, but for every word in Mein Kampf, 125 people died in World War II. Never underestimate the power of words.

Jesus tells us at the closing of this passage, that you and I are held accountable for every word that we speak!

Many of you have been asking me about the condition of my father, who is the in the hospital and who has been diagnosed with a very rare blood disease called, Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis.

What I witnessed while I was at the hospital with my father this past week, is the ever thing that led to me writing on this Bible passage.

SPEAK ABOUT DAD’S DIAGNOSIS AND WHAT HAPPENED THAT LED TO THIS MESSAGE.

HLH is so rare in adults, that the Hematologist/Oncologist who was working with dad at Cleveland told my family that she and her team haven’t seen this disease in over 30 years!

They tried to get dad into Vanderbilt and that didn’t work. So, they made arrangements with Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, (which it turns out, is where his hematologist in Cleveland had doctors that she had a working relationship with)

To show how God was moving behind the scenes, the doctor and his wife, who are also hematologist/oncologists, who were assigned over dad’s case, are highly regarded for their expertise! (Wednesday evening, the night that they shipped dad down to Chattanooga, the doctor told my sisters that it would be a good idea to call any immediate family and friends who would like to see dad, because this didn’t look good.

That night, when we stood out in the hall and talked with this doctor, he informed us of the rarity of dad’s Dx. He then informed us that it was a COINCIDENCE that he had just finished studying about and testing out on this very disease, since it so rare in adults! (God was working, by putting dad with the person that he had prepared for this occasion!)

The days prior to and leading into his arrival on Wednesday evening, as well as Thursday and Friday, dad was very much incoherent and speaking out of his mind to everyone. (This is a picture of dad on Wednesday evening, when my daughters and Dee and I went in to see him.)

Thursday evening, before Dee and the girls left to drive back to Crossville, we stood around dad’s bed and laid hands and prayed over him. About 40 minutes later, while my sisters and step mom and myself were gathered around his bed along with his RN, a fine young man named Bobby, my dad looks up at Bobby and as clear as a bell asks him, “If you were called to stand before the Lord right now, would you know what you would say to Him?”

He asked him, “If God called you out of here, would you be ready to meet Him?”

As soon as dad started to mention about the government and the University of Tennessee, we thought that he had drifted right back into the delirium that he had been speaking out of, but he said, “If the government came in and told UT that they wanted to buy every ticket, for every game that they had and then they told the public that the tickets were free and all that you had to do get one was ask for it and believe that you were going to get it, it was already paid for and waiting on you to take it, by the same token, your salvation is already paid for and waiting for you to claim it!”

He then asked Bobby again, “Do you know for sure that you are saved?”

Bobby said that years ago, his own father died and that that was what had led him to come to know Jesus, personally!

As soon as he said that, my dad began to smile and reached out and said, “I want to shake your hand son!”

Then, as quickly as it started, the lucid moment left and my dad was speaking incoherently again.

Early yesterday morning, my sister called me and said that at 1:00 that morning, Bobby came into the ICU waiting room and woke up both sisters and said, “Come here, you have to come see this.”

When they came into his room, my father was sitting up and smiling and said, “Well look here, here are my daughters and he hugged and kissed them and began to talk about how he had been out of it for so long. He began to drink some energy drinks and throughout last night, was still talking lucid and in control. THIS WAS MY DAD YESTERDAY WITH MY VERY TIRED, BUT HAPPY SISTERS! (SHOW PIC!)

His ferritin levels have come down, which is a blessing!

The main point is, even before my dad was lucid and mentally in control, what was inside of his heart began to come out with boldness and clarity!

“FROM THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART, THE MOUTH SPEAKS!”

Every day, the words that you and I are speaking are writing a book in heaven as well as here on earth. WHAT IS YOUR BOOK SAYING ABOUT YOU THAT YOU ARE WRITING?