Matthew Chapter 12 Verses 33 – 37

• Jesus is revealing their hearts to them…that their hearts are damaged and overcome with, rottenness, bitterness, decay…how can you tell? There is a man, a human being, a son of a father, a son of a mother, a person that has been healed of blindness, of not being able to speak…he has been freed from demonic possession and their response is hardness! Their response is animosity, antagonism, enmity, hatred and filled with venom!
• Each one of us thinks we are relatively good people. We say and think things like, “Well I’m no murderer, I’m not hater…I try to help people,” and somehow we rationalize in our hearts that that makes us good people…but here’s the thing, what comes out of your mouth? That, Jesus is telling them and us, that confesses your heart! Exposes your heart, admits your heart, reports your heart! He likens our words and remarks and reactions to either good fruit or bad fruit.
• Good fruit is nutritious. It is sweet and filled with syrupness…it’s delicious, just like Ice T’s lemonade, man! HA! I can’t tell you how many times I have tried to reach people, (Christians only mind you because the world, without Christ you’re simply not ready for this higher form of war), but I can’t tell you, countless times I’ve corrected or exhorted someone about how they speak to others and their response is typically, “Well I wasn’t mean to them!” Congratulations! You just sold yourself out! Jesus says either the fruit is good or its bad…so by your own admission, your heart is bitter-bad, man!
• You may yourself have a brood of vipers in the core of your own heart…a viper is a snake…and so there in your heart, covered up by flesh-filled rationalization is offspring of the serpent himself…please please please don’t be ok with that! And there are some that aren’t for sure…I hope you’re one of them…don’t resist the work of God in your heart, the work of the Holy Spirit who according to James in James 4:5, “Yearns in us jealously!”

• But that’s the ticket…the fix, the hope, the remedy, the antidote, the countermeasure, the medicant…always always always watch what you say!? NO! That will never work! Why? Because ultimately, Jesus says this right here, ultimately your words are slave to your heart. So what you say, how you say it, what comes out of the mouth is the abundance, the filling, of the heart…and so what’s the real ticket, the real fix, the real counterstrike against what the world, the flesh and the enemy do to a heart…bittering it all up…?

• Jesus says, “Make the tree good!” We, you, I have the responsibility to do it…you and you alone are to do this for yourself…so what is it? Back to James 4:5, it’s not about watching what you say, it’s about allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts, man…stop resisting the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Peace, the Spirit of Wisdom and start following Him, submitting to Him, Heeding Him and obeying Him and in so doing you, we, allow Him to make good in our hearts and lives…to create in us synago (from last week’s teaching).
• You say, “It’s hard though!” Really? Could that be because your flesh is getting more food than your spirit? How do you make a real tree good? You plant it in good soil. You water it. You feed it, fertilizer it and you prune it as it goes along in growth. The same goes for the spirit of man. Have you opened the depth of your heart in submission to God? Good soil. How often do you water it? Being in church and in fellowship. How much feed, how much fertilizer are you using…your own time with God in prayer and personal study of the scriptures…and do you allow the Spirit of God, the Word of God and the spiritual authority from God in your life to prune you as you go along?
• Jesus says, “Make the tree good…” Ultimately, trust God for the goodness but man your job, MAKE the tree…move the tree, plant the tree, water the tree…let me change the word…because we are talking about hearts…man, make your heart…command it lest you be filled with the weakness, cowardice and decay of the serpent himself.

• I love what Jon Courson says on this topic (and this is something I heard just this week from Chin), “We don’t have the power to change our hearts. But we do have the power to change our minds…if I stop justifying that activity or that habit…if I change my mind, God will change my heart. But He won’t change my heart until I change my mind.” Truth!

Matthew Chapter 12 Verse 38

• And so Jesus held up a Stop sign! HA! Just kidding! So dumb…I’m sorry….HA!

• Remember how I talked about this last week? They had already seen so much! One more sign would have done nothing more but enrage them further. They have all they need, all the proof they need, all the signs they need…the real issue is their heart!

Matthew Chapter 12 Verse 39

• Now this is true of even us today…even this generation…that we expect a sign, a miracle, a phenomenon, a wonder…and then we will believe…but just like them we have Jonah! We have the prophets…the Word of God and the truth is, that’s enough! Got this one from Pastor Tony Evans…, “Man says, ‘Show me and I’ll trust You.’ God says, ‘Trust Me and I’ll show you.’”
• Listen, this is so simple, so practical, so ahhhhhhhh…it’s easy to overestimate the power of miraculous signs to change the hearts of haters but give a sign and the wonderment will wear off…another sign will be required…give the Word and a man will be divided even in his soul, spirit and flesh and the intents of the heart will be challenged! (Hebrews 4:12) And the beauty of it…there’s always more of the Word right here waiting for you just like Richard Marx! HA!!

Matthew Chapter 12 Verses 40 – 43

• This is a little bit creepy because the implication is that an unclean spirit, a demon, a fallen angel is somehow, someway tormented if they are not in possession of a person. That they somehow find rest in possession…

Matthew Chapter 12 Verses 44 – 45

• Here’s the thing, unless the title deed to your heart changes hands from the enemy to the Holy Spirit, from YOU to the Holy Spirit for that matter, even if a demon is cast out, they’ll return and really you’re about to get worse. The meaning behind that? Changing our behavior is useless unless we allow the Spirit to change our hearts…because it won’t last, and the end will be worse than the beginning! And what’s crazy is that Jesus is proclaiming this about an entire generation! A generation of religious, pious elitism…and the next generation, because of this one, will be 7 times worse! WHOA!

• Now check this out…as Jesus has sharply corrected and taught with great opposition and authority, He now, once again, calls these opposers home…

Matthew Chapter 12 Verses 46 – 47

• No doubt they were scared for Jesus! He is standing against the scribes and the Pharisees publically and sharply and so they were wanting to speak with Him to possibly even back Him off. Watch what He says…

Matthew Chapter 12 Verses 48 – 50

• It is interesting how He regards Mary in this moment…or better said, disregards her. Man has placed such an emphasis on Mary and even reasoning saying, “She was His earthly mother, surely He will listen to her…so we ought to pray to her!” Not such a great idea…especially when we read these words of Jesus…
• There was a little boy who grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. One year for Christmas he really really wanted a new bike and so he went to the little statue of Mary there in his house and he knelt in front of it and prayed, “God, please I really want a new bike for Christmas,” and he ended his prayer in confidence that Mary would carry his prayers to Jesus.
• Well, Christmas came and his family was poor so…no bike. His birthday however was in early January so right before his birthday he went to the little statue of Mary there in his house and he knelt in front of it and prayed, “God, please I really really really want a new bike for my birthday,” and he ended his prayer in confidence that Mary would carry his prayers to Jesus.
• His birthday came and went and…no new bike. He was upset most of that year but right before Christmas time again he found himself right back at that statue. Although this time he didn’t kneel…in a flash of action he lunged forward and snatched that statue and took off out of the house! He came back about 20 minutes later, out of breath, and prayed, “God…if You ever want to see Your mother again…..!” HA!!!!!
• I love that joke! But back to the real scene…Jesus says, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers…?” We may expect that His family would get special access but Mary had no special favor with Jesus then and she doesn’t now…she had the privilege to be used by God and to stand by Jesus but He says clearly here, anyone who does the will of My Father in heaven…higher than her…that’s My family!