Severe Warnings Everyone Must Remember, Part 2

To typecast Jesus as a passive leader who avoided conflict and spoke with political correctness is to miss the breadth of His character. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll will show us a side to Jesus that may surprise you.

When facing off with the religious leaders of His day, the Pharisees, Jesus delivered a scathing rebuke. He exposed their hypocrisy and clearly defined what's required to become an authentic follower of God. This particular moment is described for us in Matthew chapter 12. And before we begin the message, Chuck leads us in prayer. We take your word seriously, our Father, as we place ourselves under its authority. Thank you for preserving it, for our admonition, for our instruction. Guide us, we pray, as our thoughts turn to what our Savior was saying.

And may we realize anew that those spoken in the first century, it has that ring of relevance that applies to the 21st as well. Deliver us, I pray, from a perfunctory attitude when it comes to worship and time spent together in the instruction of your Word. May we bow our hearts before you and find them open, Lord, as the seed is sown on the soft soil that has been prepared. May we leave differently than when we came.

May what Jesus taught make a difference in how we live. And our Father, how grateful we are that you gave him to us to pay the complete payment for our sins. We thank you, our God, for Jesus. It's out of that incredible price that was paid, that our lives have been changed, and as a result, our money is yours.

Everything we have, you own. And we give to you, Father, with great delight and generosity. In the name of the One who died for us, we pray, and everyone said, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living. To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies.

And now the message from Chuck about severe warnings everyone must remember. Things change in chapter 12 where much of Jesus' teaching goes underground because the pressure is mounting for his demise, and he's not yet ready to turn himself over to them. He has work to do with his disciples, and his followers need to hear things that would help them as they carry on without him. So Jesus draws a line in the sand, his enemies are on one side, his friends and followers are on the other, and he helps them understand who the Pharisees really were.

Not only was it true back then, it is true today. You will encounter and I will encounter Pharisees. So his warnings come in three here in the central section of Matthew 12. There's a warning in verse 30, there's a second warning in verses 31 and 32, and a third warning in 33 down through 37.

We'll take them in that order. The first warning is this, then I'll read the 30th verse. It's impossible to remain neutral. It's impossible to remain neutral. Listen to Jesus' words, anyone who isn't with me opposes me. Anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me. There's no middle ground. You're either working for him or you are working against him. You either come to God through Christ or you don't come to God when you die.

It's that simple. Now the severity of blasphemy, verses 31 and 32. I would suggest that he look directly at the Pharisees because they had just committed this unpardonable sin by attributing to Satan the work of God. We saw that earlier. He says, I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven.

By the way, that's a great relief. Blasphemy or sin itself can be forgiven. He says so more than once here. Except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which would be questioning the one who energizes the person of Christ. Calling into question his motive 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.

What is the unpardonable sin? It is attributing to Satan what is accomplished only by the power of God. It's exactly what the Pharisees did.

Remember? They were the ones who said, verse 24, no wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons. So it is a combination of a clear knowledge and intentional rejection of Jesus Christ. Being fully aware of the light and hating the light in an earnest, persistent, intentional determination to extinguish the light. That is the Pharisees' MO. It's not simply rejecting Jesus, his teachings or his miracles or his offer of salvation.

It is the determination to know all that and attribute the origin of all that to Satan and to continue in that disbelief. They know they are doing it. They do not care about the outcome. By the way, a little hope for you who fear you may have committed it. If you're concerned about it, you have not committed it. If you have committed it, you're not concerned about it. As the Pharisees, no matter what Jesus said, none of them moved closer to him.

Well, few of them, but the great majority of them did not. So here's the warning. It is incorrect to think that you cannot go too far in your rejection of Christ. I happen to believe, based on scripture, that a heart can get so hard that it will not later soften, that it will not repent, no matter how great the evidence that's provided and ultimately, to use today's colloquialism, it's lights out.

All hope is lost. So the first is a warning against neutrality. The second is a warning against intentionality.

Here's the third. It's about the depraved heart within all of us. Look at how Jesus approaches this. Again, I believe he was looking directly at the Pharisees because of the words in verse 34, brood of vipers, brood of snakes. We have a saying that you will know their real condition by their fruit. We say, by their fruit, you shall know them, and that's right from the scriptures.

Jesus goes even deeper and goes to the tree. If you eat an apple, you know you're eating from a tree that produced apples. You're eating a peach, you're eating from a peach tree. Same for a plum, same for an orange or an apricot. He's not talking about the fruit here, he's talking about the root, the tree itself.

Look at it. A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, the fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.

You brood of vipers, 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? I often say to people, think of the tongue as a bucket and think of your heart as a well. A heart meaning the inner person, not the organ that pumps blood, but the inner person. The reservoir within you that holds on to places where decisions are made and truths are held or denied down in your heart. The tongue goes to the heart and like a bucket lifts from what's in the heart and outspills the words. So he says to them, how do you think you can ever speak what is right coming from hearts like yours? If the words spoken are evil, it represents an evil within the heart itself. You know what occurred to me on the side?

No extra charge for this. I was thinking about the Pharisees and realizing I don't know of one place in the Bible where they refer to their wives. I don't find a place where they speak admirably of their children. They're not good fathers. They're not thoughtful, compassionate, loving husbands. It's all about them. It's all about them. Jesus nails them. He says the things that come out of your mouth are evil because you have a heart that is evil.

He goes even further unless they miss the point. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart. See the word treasury? You know what the Greek word is? Thesaurus. Many of us who are word vultures have on our desk a book called a thesaurus, a treasury of words.

You could render it. A good person produces good things from the thesaurus of a good heart and an evil person the same from a thesaurus of an evil heart. I'll tell you this, you must give an account on Judgment Day of every idle word you speak. That's convicting, isn't it? The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you. Here's the warning. It is foolish to forget that whatever your heart, whatever is in your heart, is revealed by your words.

It's foolish to forget that. And by the way, we say a lot, all of us. I found this in my research. It has been estimated that from the first good morning to the last good night, the average person engages in 30 conversations a day. Each day, his or her words could make a book of 50 or 60 pages.

The equivalent of more than 100 books a year, 200 pages each. Oh, that's something. We talk too much. Sort of the way I would analyze that lengthy statement. We don't say very, very much, but we talk too much. You find yourself saying, you know, I really shouldn't say don't say it. It's that simple.

That's the spirit's way of saying stop. Or I shouldn't say this about so. If you're going to say something about someone, be sure you have checked to make sure those facts are correct. And if it's confidential, it should never be shared. We talk too much.

All of us. We say too little. I will sometimes pray before our elder meetings, Lord, help us all to be better listeners than we are speakers. The reason is we learn when we listen.

We learn nothing when we're talking. So Jesus has us guard against idle words, having the bucket pull up words that can be a waste of time or dangerous. Appreciated Alfred Plummer's words, the carefully spoken words may be a calculated hypocrisy. Think about that. You hear some speakers that are very halting, measuring every word that comes out of their mouths.

I think Plummer's right. Carefully spoken words may be a calculated hypocrisy. Let's learn to speak truth. Let's learn to measure our words. And let's remember it's foolish to forget that whatever is in your heart is revealed by what you say. Before you think, well, the answer for me is just to stay silent the rest of my life.

That's not the answer. Some of the most helpful things that happen to us are words shared by someone else. It's called an education. We learn from those professors, those teachers that use words to correct us, to direct us, to fill our minds with information we need. Our mothers and dads begin early in our lives. We learn our language through our parents.

It's called our heart language. And we receive their reproofs. And then we carry those with us in life. So the answer is not we say nothing.

It's that we say something worth listening to. So the first warning is regarding indecisiveness. The second is a warning regarding callousness.

And the third, carelessness. Now let's come back to being hypocrites in a church. Three things I want to say to every one of us, and please notice I use the word us because they apply to me as well. Do you see yourself portrayed in the first scene, verse 30? Does the warning against neutrality convict you? Are you trying to ride the fence of indecision?

Are you attempting the impossible, remaining neutral when Jesus himself says you're either for him or against him? Today would be a perfect day for you to step up and say, I'm hiding no longer. Appropriately and when it is the right time, I'm going to make it known where I stand. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to say it in a way that makes me look good. I'm going to say it because it's true. I'm going to stand up and be counted. I'm not saying it will always work well for you, but I'm saying you'll sleep better at night, knowing that you weren't hiding through the day. So step up and be counted.

Here's a second. Would you have to admit that you've gotten calloused regarding spiritual things? Hopefully you've not gone too far in your rejection that you're bordering dangerously near a stone cold heart. Today would be a perfect day for you to step back and realize how much you need Christ. It is easy for us who love to be around Christians to think that by being with Christians, somehow it sort of rubs off.

It doesn't. God has no grandchildren, only children. You did not become a Christian because your mother or your dad was a Christian. Become a Christian by you personally trusting in Christ as your own Savior. And remember, he will forgive all sins, all of them.

Here's a third. Maybe you now realize your words are not only too many, but careless. As a result of what Jesus taught, you realize your bucket is dumping a lot of things that don't even need anyone's attention. This is the perfect day for you to step away from that habit. Acknowledge the careless use of your tongue.

Ask him to cleanse your heart, which will then of course bring fresh water from your mouth. You see, my main concern is not snakes in suits. That is a real problem these days, but my concern is hypocrites in church. Thankfully, our church has built a good reputation over these few years we've been in existence, but that really isn't built just on a Sunday.

It's built through the week. How we live our lives, how we pay our bills, how we treat our families, how we keep our word, how we forgive rather than bear a grudge, how we release others from things that were offensive rather than dragging them with us. I urge you to become, if you are not already, an authentic follower of Christ, since we all must give an account of our lives when we stand before him. Bow with me, will you please? You've listened so well, I commend you. This is not one of those easy messages to deliver, maybe by the bluntness of it, it has gripped your attention.

Maybe it's just what the Lord is able to use, I hope so, to begin a process of changing you, something most of the Pharisees never went through. And if you've never met the Lord Jesus Christ, it's the most important decision you can ever make in life. I never tire of making this clear. If you have the Son, S-O-N, if you have the Son of God, you have eternal life. If you do not, you do not. Don't wait until it's too late, act now. Trust in him now. Help us, our Father, in the journey from earth to heaven to think clearly, to believe what Jesus has taught, to have it make a difference in the way we treat others. But most importantly, to make certain that he lives within us and is living out his life through us. As you do that, our Father, we will become the gospel that others read. We will become the message that others will be exposed to. May our message be clear regarding Jesus Christ, our Savior. In these threatening days, I pray for courage, that we will be willing to stand firm on what we believe, regardless. In the name of Jesus, I pray, every one said, amen.

When we read the stories Matthew told about the Pharisees and their blindness to hypocrisy, it's important to ask the convicting question, how does my behavior reflect those unhealthy patterns of sinfulness? You're listening to Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll has challenged us to look deeply within through this study of Matthew chapter 12.

We invite you to stay with us to hear his closing remarks. To learn more about this ministry, please visit us online at InsightWorld.org. One of our major goals is to help you understand the Bible in new and fresh ways so you can integrate the truth of God's Word into your life, even the difficult passages such as the one we looked at today. And if this honest approach has motivated you to spend more time in personal Bible study, I'll remind you that Insight for Living offers the Swindoll Study Bible. It's intentionally designed to help you grasp the meaning of challenging stories and the context in which they were written. With the Swindoll Study Bible open in your lap, you'll have access to decades of Chuck's personal study and insight laid side by side with the scriptures. And it's written, of course, in the approachable style you've come to expect from Chuck. So to purchase a copy of the Swindoll Study Bible, go to Insight.org slash store or call us.

If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Our current study through the gospel of Matthew has been absolutely delightful. How refreshing to read this eyewitness account from a man who actually walked alongside Jesus.

In one of our recent studies, we saw Jesus teaching in the public square. To a weary audience, he offered these comforting words when he said, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light. Oh, we never tire of hearing this calming invitation from Jesus, do we? His soothing words spill over us like a refreshing waterfall of hope, washing away our fatigue and replacing it with confidence.

After all, the last year has been riddled with unwanted surprises, hasn't it? During this season of hardship, our nation, in fact, our entire world has been bombarded with emotional bombshells, the kind that rattle our spirit and make us feel, well, exhausted. To his listeners, and again to us today, Jesus opens his arms and says, come to me and I will give you rest. My friend, this is our mission at Insight for Living Ministries, and it's my promise to you today, as long as God gives me breath, I will declare these promises from God as accurately and enthusiastically as I know how.

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