The Eternal Significance of Words (Matthew Sermon 54)

I. Modern Deluge of Words

We’ll be continuing our study in Matthew looking at Verses 30-37 on the eternal significance of words. On a recent trip, I had the joy of hearing my little baby Calvin speak what I think was his first sentence. It was “truck bye bye”. I was so excited about that.  I was thrilled that he was putting thoughts together and then it occurred to me, what an unbelievably long journey he has ahead of him, an unbelievably long journey to become fully lingual in the English language. The Oxford English Dictionary, the authoritative dictionary, the English language exists in twenty  volumes. Half a million words are defined in the Oxford English Dictionary. That’s unbelievable. That’s a long journey for Calvin or for any of us, but words are an incredible gift from God, aren’t they?  The ability to speak, to understand abstract truth from sounds that we hear, words are a gift from God. In our day and age, there’s a modern kind of deluge of words, kind of like an avalanche of sorts. We stand under it all the time, all kinds of information flowing to us, constantly through words. There are more means to communicate words today than ever before.

Have you ever been in a check-out line and think somebody was talking to you and you begin to turn and answer and they’re talking to somebody who’s not even there by means of a cellphone? I find myself irrationally being offended by that, as though my company weren’t good enough for that person. Never met them before in my life, but they’re talking to somebody who’s not there. You know what I mean, in saying that, there’s a deluge of information. Something happens around the other side of the world and that same moment, really that same instant working at our desks through the Internet, we can find out and read all about it through email, cable and satellite TV, making the world a small place. Never before in history have so many words been flung out across such a wide space. The question then is if words are so plentiful, how can they be valuable? How can they be precious? Are they of any value? Do our words have any significance at all? The text we’re looking at today, says absolutely, yes, words are of eternal consequence.

Significance of Words

The state and destiny of your soul will be revealed on Judgment Day by the full catalogue of words that you have spoken in your lifetime. In the hands of Jesus Christ, the perfect judge, He will be able to determine accurately and perfectly the state of your soul by the things you’ve said. In this text He says by your words you will be acquitted and by your words, you will be condemned because there’s an intimate connection between what you say and the nature and state of your heart.  We’re going today to understand the eternal significance of words.

As I mentioned at the beginning, words are a great gift from God, because our God is a verbal God. He speaks words from the very beginning. He created through words. When He said, “Let there be light,”there was light. God’s word is powerful. Psalm 33:6 says that by the Word of the Lord the heavens made their starry host. By the breath of His mouth, language was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The gift to humanity of words is first demonstrated by Adam naming the animals as each one came by. Earlier, God had commanded Adam that he was free to eat from any tree in the garden, but he must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when he eats of it, he will surely die. This warning was given to him by means of words, verbal communication, a warning from God. A commandment. Adam’s first quoted words were a love poem. The first time a man speaks in the Bible, he’s praising God for his wife. An incredible thing this, at last, “is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman for she was taken out of man.” It reads like a poem in the Hebrew. It’s a gift from God. But with the fall, as we fell into sin, the gift of language became perverted, and in many senses, is wicked now. Words are used to pierce and to hurt, to crush and to destroy. Words are used to drive husbands and wives apart. Words are used to boast and brag as slaves of pride. Words are used to make wicked plans to lay traps, and make plots and schemes to plunder or murder the innocent. Small wonder that Paul focused on human speech when he was cataloging sins in Romans Chapter 3, and zeroed really in on the speech process.

When he says in Romans 3:13-14, “Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit, the poison of vipers is on their lips, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness”, we reveal the sinful wickedness of our heart in its natural state by how we speak, by the way we talk.  James picks up on this, in James 3,  where he says, “The tongue is a small part of the body but it makes great boast. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body it corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell.” All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.

What is the context of Christ’s meditation on words? Why does he talk here about words and about what we say, and judgment connected with words? The context has to do with His enemies making a concerted attack on him in Chapter 12:14.  After Jesus heals on the Sabbath, his enemies arrange to plot against him to murder him. They’re going to kill him. As I’ve mentioned, their plot will be successful in the end, they will murder Jesus.  They’re using words to make this plan. In our account here, Christ heals again and the Pharisees blaspheme greatly. Look at Verse 22-24. It says, “They brought him a demon possessed man who is blind, and mute and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.” Here’s a man who under a demonic influence has been robbed of the gift of speech.  He cannot communicate by words. It’s been stripped from him by this demon, this in-dwelling demon, and Jesus heals him so that he can both talk and see. All the people are astonished and speak this question, “Could this be the son of David?” Out of their heart, they’re speaking and wondering, thinking about Christ, considering the evidence for his deity, considering the evidence for his claim to messiahship. I believe it’s because the power of the Holy Spirit was so evidence in that miracle. In some respects, you think a kind of an ordinary run-of-the-mill miracle. Jesus did all kinds of things like this, but I think there was something unique at this moment, a sense of the power of God present. The Holy Spirit was very thick in his presence there so that it says that people were astonished, literally “beside themselves” it says in the Greek. They were outside themselves with astonishment and they asked: “Could this be the Son of David?”

In verse 24, when the Pharisees heard this, they said some words at this moment, and those words will never be forgotten. Ever. What do they say at this moment? “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that he drives out demons.” They took their tongues given them as a gift from God. The tongues made to be a river of blessing and of praise for God, and they used those tongues to curse God’s anointed Messiah and to call him a demon.  These were not merely idle words. They reflected the depth of the Pharisees’ heart, it’s what they really truly believed about Jesus. They reflected the depth of their rebellion against God and against Christ. These were words that were spoken and once spoken could never be retracted. And as a result of that, the state of their heart of unbelief against so clear an evidence of the deity in the presence of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, would never be forgiven. Never.

II. Words Reveal our Relationship to Christ: For Him or Against Him

Jesus talks about the significance of words. First in our text, we see that words reveal  our relationship to Christ; you’re either with him or you’re against him. Verse 30, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.” There is no gray area when it comes to the kingdom of Christ.  Jesus leaves us none here. You’re either with me or you’re against me.  That kind of thinking is very unpopular today.  If a political leader will make a statement that you’re either with us or you’re against us, you get hammered. This is that kind of black-white thinking that I thought we were out of. We’re post-moderns. We tend to see a little bit of truth in every view point, try to understand everybody’s view point. To some degree that’s a good thing, but when it comes to Christ, when it comes to his kingdom, you’re either with him or you’re against him, he’s left no gray area whatsoever. Nowadays, we think you can be both a Christian and a Muslim at once., but of course, we cannot.

Words don’t have as much meaning as they used to have. Things get all blurry and a little bit hard to understand, but Christ rejects this way of thinking, forever. Remember, in Matthew chapter 10, when Jesus was training his apostles, and He was going to send them out on their mission, He said, “Do not suppose that I came to bring peace. I did not come to bring peace but a sword for I’ve come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”  And then He said this, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, anyone who loves a son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me, is not worthy of Me.

Jesus allows no gray area whatsoever when it comes to the Kingdom of God. This is highlighted by a mirror statement he makes here in verse 30, and then one also in Luke chapter 9. Here in Verse 30, we get, “ He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.” But then in Luke 9, John came to Him having seen somebody trying to drive out demons in Christ’s name, and John says, “Master, we tried to stop him because he’s not one of us,” and Jesus says in Luke 9:50, “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.” Two sides of the same coin. There’s only two kingdoms. There’s the kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of the devil. If you’re in the one you’re not in the other, if you’re in the other, you’re not in the one. It’s impossible for there to be gray area in this matter.

There are two kingdoms at war. The last time we saw that the devil has a kingdom. In Verse 26, Jesus says, “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?” Clearly, Satan has a kingdom. Christ has a kingdom too. As we looked earlier we saw that the advance of the kingdom of heaven is done by spiritual violence. Not physical violence, not by the sword, not that way, but in the spiritual realm. It is a very violent advance, and it’s opposed every step of the way by the devil. He’s not going to give up any territory; not a single soul whatsoever will he give up willingly. It has to be taken from Him, and Christ will take it and has been taking for 2000 years. Therefore there can be no neutrals in this war. No, it’s not possible. Jesus doesn’t allow room for neutrality in this matter.  In World War II as Nazism was covering continental Europe, Switzerland maintained neutrality right in the center. They wanted to maintain their boundaries and not get involved. Sweden maintained neutrality. Spain maintained neutrality during World War II, but in this war neutrality is impossible, Jesus says so. You either with me or you’re against me.

Christ’s mission in verse 30 states that he who does not gather with me, scatters. So, Jesus came to gather what had been scattered. He has clear marching orders from his heavenly Father. In Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.” Jesus is here to gather what had been scattered. Now recently we’ve seen in the news, a part of the country called tornado alley. You’ve seen some of these images of a home just rendered almost as though it had exploded. In some case, I think, that’s what does happen. The pressure builds and it just explodes and things are scattered over a miles and miles of area. But the power and damage to scatter of a tornado is nothing compared to the power and damage to the scatter of sin. Sin has been scattering for a millennia.  Jesus is God’s response to the scattering of sin. He came to re-gather and put back in good order, what God had originally arranged and put it in even better order because the eternal state’s even better than the garden Eden. Praise God for His grace.

Jesus puts back into good order what the devil desires to throw into disarray. This is what Jesus did and if you are with Him, you’re going to gather with him. But if you’re not with them, you’re going to be scattering; you’re a force for scattering. Jesus is working through the world and gathering what was scattered. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” Jesus says in Matthew 23,  “you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I’ve wanted to gather your children together as the hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you were not willing.”  This is language that the Jews would have known. Isaiah has often prophecied of the re-gathering of the Jews back to the promised land which we believe is still yet to be fulfilled in many ways. The Jews are going to be re-gathered. What’s amazing, though, is that the Apostle John applies that to Gentiles too.

Remember the discussion between Caiaphas and all the others? They’re trying to figure out what to do with Jesus.  Caiaphas, who was high priest that year spoke up and said to his friends and cronies, ‘You know nothing at all.   Don’t you know it’s better for one man to die than the whole nation perish not?” John comments this way in John 11:51. “Caiaphas did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year. He prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation (verse 52) and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one.” That’s incredible. We Gentiles are the scattered people of God.

Christ is gathering us together. That’s his work. That’s his mission. He’s in the world gathering and he’s been doing it for 2000 years, gathering us together. Stop for a moment, right in the middle of this sermon and do a little self-diagnosis. Am I using my words to gather with Christ or not?  How do we gather with Christ, we speak the gospel, we proclaim the good news to those who haven’t heard. Am I gathering? First of all, you can’t gather with Christ if you haven’t been gathered yourself. If you’re not a Christian, you cannot be gathering by definition, you’re scattering just by the way you live your life. You’re scattering away from… away from God, away from the center. You are the centrifugal force of sin fleeing the center which is God in Christ. The sinner causes everyone to run the opposite direction, scattering. So I ask, are you gathering with Christ, are you holding and bringing in through the preaching of the Gospel and by the way, you live your life, are you attracting people to Christ, speak more about that toward the end? The Pharisees were on the wrong side. Their words revealed their hatred for Christ. They hated him and they scattered away from Christ every chance they got. They sought to run people away from Jesus so that they would not believe, and the whole time, they thought they were serving God.

III. Words Reveal Resistance to the Spirit

Secondly, words reveal, therefore, resistance to the Spirit (verse 31-32). Christ zeroes in now on the very words that the Pharisees spoke. They are immensely significant. Christ is here in this text about to speak the most terrifying statement He makes I think anywhere in the Bible.  The issue of words is what really brings this whole passage together.  Verse 31 and 32, “And so, I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Before we get to the negative part about the unforgivable sin, let’s not skip too quickly over the word of grace that Christ spoke at the beginning—“ I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven man.” This doesn’t mean every single solitary sin, for then Hell would be empty, but it means every category of sin, every type of sin will be forgiven. This is very encouraging. The nature of our God is to forgive. He does not treat us as our sins deserve, but rather richly blesses sinners who call on him in faith.  Abraham’s lying is forgiven. Moses’ murder is forgiven. David’s lust and adultery and blood guilt, forgiven. Jonas’ rebellion and running the opposite direction from the will of God for his life, forgiven. Manasseh forgiven for passing his son through the fire as an offering to Molech. Incredible what God will forgive. Augustine, forgiven for his fornication, Luther forgiven for his blasphemy, when he said to his father confessor, “Love God? I hate God.” Forgiven for that. Forgiven. John Newton, forgiven for his slave trading and his dissolute drunken life. All manner of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven. Heaven is going to be filled with repentant adulterers and fornicators and homosexuals and liars and thieves and murderers. It’s going to be filled with those kinds of people, for God delights to save them.

He is a forgiving God. Specifically, blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven. How many people have you ever heard take the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in vain as though it were nothing. I used to work with a guy, a Christian, who got so weary of this kind of talk being around his fellow workers. They were saying “Jesus Christ” and they weren’t speaking words of praise. They were using it like a swear word. He got so weary of this that he decided that every time he heard it, he would say, “Praise his holy name.” You know, somebody hit their thumb and say, “Jesus Christ.”  He would say, “Praise his holy name. Praise his holy name.” After a while, that guy stopped. I remember working on an assembly line with a guy and he  blasphemed Christ’s name and then realized,  “Oh, that’s that weird Baptist ordained guy that has that Bible study. Sorry.” I said, “I’m not your judge. I’m not going to be sitting on that throne on Judgment Day, but there is a judge and he hears you all the time. Just remember that when you speak that word.” This is the name of our savior, and Jesus says specifically blasphemy against the Son of Man will  be forgiven. Peter calls down curses on himself the night he denies Christ; he blasphemed the name. Paul specifically lists this among his own sins. He said, “I was a blasphemer because I didn’t understand. I did it in ignorance.” But he blasphemed the name of Christ, and all of that will be forgiven.

But there is such a thing as an unforgivable sin, a sin you can commit that will never be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come. Now people are always concerned about this and they wonder, “Have I committed the unforgivable sin?” John Bunyan asked that question. The devil used to insinuate and whisper in his ear because  John Bunyan was a blasphemer before he was converted. “You have committed the unforgivable sin. You will never be forgiven either in this age or the age to come.” Well, I can’t speak absolutely authoritatively, but I sense that if you’re intensely worried about committing the unforgivable sin, you haven’t committed it. I see something different at work in this text here, something else going on, and it has to do with the context in this text. Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit does an incredible miracle, and people have a sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit, so thick you could cut it with a knife. You could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit there, and they’re astonished and they wonder could Jesus be the son of David? It’s in the context of the ongoing ministry he’s been doing, the preaching, the proclamation of the Word, all the teaching he’s been doing. No one had ever heard teaching like that, the authority and the power, and then the miracles, a firm and solid basis for faith Jesus said. Believe on the evidence of the miracles he said. And they look at all of this evidence right in their face and what do they conclude? It is by Beelzebub, the devil, that he does these things. 180 degrees the opposite direction. I think that’s the unforgivable sin.

The spirit of the Lord was on Christ anointing him to do this ministry, and they blasphemed that work by concluding exactly the opposite. It should have told them that Christ was God and that he was savior. Instead, they conclude that he’s a devil and a deceiver. Why is it unforgivable? Because  there’s nothing left that God will do, they’ve seen it all. They’ve heard the Gospel. They’ve seen the miracles. They’ve seen the incarnate God in the flesh, and there is nothing more that God will do for them. William Hendriksen puts it this way: “For penitence, they substitute hardening. For confession, they substitute plotting. Thus, by means of their own criminal and completely inexcusable callousness, they are dooming themselves. Their sin is unpardonable because they are unwilling to tread the path that leads to pardon. For a thief, an adulterer and a murderer, there is hope. The message of the Gospel may cause him to cry out. ‘Oh, God, be merciful to me, the sinner,’ but when a man has become this hardened so that he has made up his mind not to pay attention to the Spirit, he has placed himself on the road that leads to perdition.”  Hebrews 10:26-27 puts it this way: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sin remains, but a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

IV. Words Reveal True Character

 Thirdly, words reveal true character. Verses 33- 35, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good,” Jesus said, “or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” So words reveal the true character and nature of the tree. If you’re a good tree, you’re going to bear good fruit. Imagine you’re walking through the woods and you’re not an expert on tree, and you see in the spring a tree. It’s got some leaves and maybe some little flowers on it. Could you tell what kind of tree it is? Probably not. I couldn’t. But when it starts to bear its fruit then you know it’s an apple tree, it’s a pear tree. You can tell by the fruit.

Jonathan Edwards said that character lies in the affections, what you love, what you hate.  I think it relates to this text. You tend to store up inside you what you love. The things you love, you store up lots of it. You take in lots of it and store it up. The things you hate, you don’t. Unbelievers love this world and the things in the world. They feed their minds on worldly things. They treasure them up inside because they are a treasure to them. Entertainment fills their minds. They store up movies and videos and TVs, TV programs and sports and games and worldly entertainment.  Ambition fills their minds. They store up top ten strategies on how to build a successful business or how to retire at age 40 as a millionaire. That’s what they store up. Lust fills their minds and they store up images and experiences of sensual pleasure.  Self fills up their mind and they fill up their minds and their hearts with what they like, their opinions, their desires, their goals, their aspirations. That’s what they feed on all the time. And then out of that, they speak. Out of what the heart has filled itself up with, the words pour out. Verse 34, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?” That’s fruit. “For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Therefore, it is impossible for an evil man to speak anything that God considers good. Impossible. Even a simple statement like, “Well, that was a wonderful meal. Thank you very much,” is not spoken out of faith for the glory of God. It is impossible for an evil man to say anything that God accepts as good.

Now, it is God’s special work to make an evil tree good. Isn’t that wonderful that God can take an evil tree like me and make me good at my essence. I can’t do that to myself. I can’t change what I am, but God can. This is the glory of regeneration. The glory of conversion is that He can make a tree good.  He gives us a command, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good.” But we can’t obey the command. Only God can. Only God can make an evil tree good. And praise God, He’s doing that today around the world. He’s making evil trees good by the power of the Holy Spirit, transforming them from within so that “if anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)  All of a sudden we love new things and different things than we used to love and we hate things we used to love. We’ve been transformed. And out of that new nature, we speak many things. In Romans chapter 10, it says, “The word is near you.” What word? The word of the message, the word of the kingdom, the word of God is near you. It is in your mouth and in your hearts. That is the word of faith that we are proclaiming, that “if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”, “for it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with the mouth that you speak and are saved.” I believe the two texts go beautifully together. God transforms us by his spirit, and out of that new nature, we speak words of faith right at the beginning, what someone called a sinner’s prayer.  We say, “Oh God, be merciful to me,” the sinner. “Oh God, I’m sorry for who I am. Oh God, thank you for Christ. God thank you that he died in my place on the cross. Thank you that he rose again.” The tree has already been made good, and it’s speaking good words, words of sorrow over sin and words of faith and trust.

V. Judgement Day Reveals Eternal Significance of Words

Make a tree good and it’s going to say things like that. It’s going to call on the name of the Lord, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The new creation speaks faith to God the father and he keeps speaking it the rest of his life.  And as a result, we start to treasure up a new vocabulary. We love God, and so we treasure up words about God. We love Christ, and so we treasure up words about Christ. We love the kingdom of God and we treasure up words about the kingdom. We want to talk about these things, and out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, and therefore, finally Judgment Day reveals the eternal significance of words. On that day, Christ with a full record of every word we’ve ever spoken, will most accurately and perfectly judge your soul. He knows who you are by what you’ve said. Verse 36- 37, “I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken, for by your words, you will be acquitted, and by your words, you will be condemned.” 

Now, if you’ve heard me preach any length of time, I’ve mentioned that sermon, that text 30 or 40 times. It teaches me of the meticulous and careful nature of Judgment Day.  Remember that our God with him a day, one single day, is like a thousand years. He studies every tiny motion and inclination of the heart as though it went on for centuries. He just knows you totally and he remembers everything, every word written as it were with an iron stylus in a permanent tablet. He’s not going to erase history. And so, every careless word we spoke and we will give an account. In a way, it’s a terrifying thought, isn’t it? Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. So even careless words, like that off-color remark I made eight years ago, that one, yes, the insult that I curled unheard by anyone else at that driver who did that to me, God heard, everything, every careless word. What I said to my spouse last night, yes. Every careless word, you will give an account. Do you need a savior? Yes.  All of us need a savior.

I need a savior because my words would condemn me if God hadn’t made the tree good and transformed me so that I’ve also spoken words of faith and trust in Christ too.  He’s changed me. But it’s such a mixed thing, isn’t it? In the book of James, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, it should not be.” But there it is, a meticulous accounting because it reveals the nature of our heart. Do even Christians have to give an account for their words? Yes. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.” But praise be to God, there is a justification through faith in Christ for us sinners. By speaking out of the fullness of the heart, faith in Christ, we are justified and we will not be condemned for those careless words we have spoken. Peter isn’t and neither is Paul. We will stand with them as redeemed sinners.

VI. Application

What kind of application do we take from this? First, do your words, the catalogue of your words, show you that you are with Christ or do they show that you’re against him? There are only two options, not a third. You can’t be neutral. You’re either with Christ or against him. Do the catalog of your words show that you are a Christian, that you have trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Secondly, do the catalog, the listing of your words, show that you are gathering with Christ, evangelistically gathering, speaking the word that is the only power of salvation for a sinner? Do your words show that you are evangelistic? Simple test. When was the last time you opened your mouth and spoke gospel truth to somebody you knew was an unbeliever? Just think about it that way. When was the last time you spoke the words of the Gospel to somebody you knew was an unbeliever with the hopes that they would be saved? Are you gathering with Christ? And in a bigger sense, how is your life? Is your life putting the Gospel on display? Is it gathering and causing people to be attracted to Christ or is it repelling people away from Christ?

Thirdly, what do your words show about your true character? If we had an opportunity to read a transcript of your words from the last week, what would they show about you? A full transcript now, not a selected or edited one.  Jesus has the full account. What would they show about your character, what you love and what you hate?  What are you feeding your mind so that out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks? What’s going in? Is the word of God flowing in or other things?

Fourth, ask God to watch your mouth since he is anyway, isn’t he? Psalm 141:3 says, “Set a guard over the door of my mouth, O Lord. Keep watch over the door of my lips.” God, keep me from saying things that dishonor you. Ask Him to help you. Let your conversation always be filled with grace, seasoned with salt so you can answer anyone properly. Let it be filled with the word of God. If anyone speaks, you should do it as one speaking the very words of God. Speak that way.

Finally, get ready. Get ready every day for Judgment Day.   What I’ve said to you here is true. You will give an account for your words, and if you give an account for your words, you’ll give an account for everything, absolutely everything, every inclination of the heart, every action of the body. Everything, you will give an account. Get ready for it. Prepare yourself for it.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

I.  A Modern Deluge of Words

A.  The Oxford English Dictionary

1.  The authoritative dictionary of the English language

2.  Twenty volumes!!

3.  Well over half a million words defined

B.  Modern Deluge of Words

1.  Avalanche of information

2.  More means to communicate than any other time in history

3.  Cell phones, internet, electronic media (e-magazines), cable and satellite TV

4.  Never before in history have so many words been flung out on such a wide variety of topics

Question:  If words are so plentiful, are they of any consequence?   Are they of any value?  Do our words have any significance at all?

This text answers this question:  The state and destiny of your eternal soul will be revealed on Judgment Day by the catalogue of words you have spoken on earth.

This text today establishes words as of eternal significance.  There are no insignificant words, no idle utterances.  Each word you speak will come back to you again… replayed perfectly on Judgment Day.

Even more, Christ

C.  A Great Gift from God

1.  God Himself is a verbal God… communicating by word

b.  God said “Let there be light” and there was light

c.  by the power of God’s word the heavens and earth were formed

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

2.  Language given to Adam and Eve in the Garden as part of the image of God

3.  The gift to humanity first demonstrated when God spoke to Adam and Eve:

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”

As He had earlier commanded Adam

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

4.  The gift of language first employed by Adam when He named the animals

5.  Adam’s first quoted words were a poem… when He first saw His wife

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘for she was taken out of man.”

D.  BUT with the Fall… this great gift of language became perverted

1.  Words used to pierce and hurt, to crush and destroy

2.  Words used to drive husbands and wives apart

3.  Words used to boast and brag, as slaves of pride

4.  Words used to make wicked plans, to lay traps, to plunder the innocent

5.  Small wonder that Paul focused on human speech in his catalogue of sin in Romans 3

Romans 3:13-14  “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

6.  Or that James warned of the devastating power of the tongue as well

James 3:5-8  Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

E.  Context:  Christ’s Enemies on the Attack

1.  After Christ healed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees met to plot Christ’s murder

The great gift of speech given them by God, these Pharisees perverted… talking with each other about how best to murder the only perfect man who ever lived, the Incarnate Son of God

2.  Here in this account, Christ heals again… and the Pharisees blasphemed greatly

Matthew 12:22-24  Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

They took their tongues, given them by God to speak His praise, and they used them to ascribe Jesus’ miracles to Satan himself

These were not merely idle words… they revealed the very depths of the Pharisees hearts.  The depths of rebellion against God and against His Christ.  These words were spoken, and could not be retracted.  Their words were etched with an iron stylus in the heavenly record and could never be erased.  The words, and more importantly, the heart from which they were spoken, would condemn their eternal souls to hell.  And they would never be forgiven… ever!

II.  Words Reveal Relationship to Christ:  With Him or Against Him (vs. 30)

vs. 30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

A.  There No Gray Area:  Everything IS Black and White

1.  Post-modern era loves ambiguity and “gray area”

2.  There is no absolute truth; everything is up for grabs

3.  Syncretism:  “one can be a Christian and a Muslim at the same time”

4.  Christ rejects this way of thinking forever… He has come to divide the entire human race into two categories… with Him or against Him

Matthew 10:34-38  “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

5.  No gray area absolutely established by mirror statements Christ makes… this one here

vs. 30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

And another statement:

Luke 9:49-50  “Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” 50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

B.  Two Kingdoms at War

There is no gray area when it comes to Christ… you are either in His Kingdom and helping to advance His Kingdom… or you are in the devil’s Kingdom, fighting against Christ

1.  The devil has a kingdom… we saw very clearly last week

vs. 25-26  Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

2.  Christ has a Kingdom… it is the story of the entire Gospel of Matthew

3.  Christ’s Kingdom is advancing by conquest over Satan’s evil empire

4.  There are no neutrals in this war!!

Illus.  WWII… Switzerland, Spain, and Sweden were neutral in the war against Nazi Germany;  they sought only to defend their own territory and to stay out of the conflict

However, in the battle between Christ’s Kingdom and Satan’s, there are no neutrals

C.  Christ’s Mission:  to Gather the Scattered People of God

1.  “He who does not gather with me…”  This is Christ’s mission

2.  Clear marching orders from Father

Luke 19:10   “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

3.  His deepest desire… to gather what sin has scattered

Matthew 23:37  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

a.  “scattering” a word powerful in Jewish mindset

b.  gathered into the Promised Land… they were scattered to the four winds by the Gentiles

c.  Isaiah has numerous prophecies of regathering

Isaiah 43:5-7  Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth– 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

d.  stunningly, John ascribes these to Gentiles as well as Jews

John 11:49-52  Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

Christ’s mission in the world is to gather together what Satan and sin has scattered.  To restore order to the chaos of the universe by bringing back God’s children under His good rule… back safely into His Kingdom

D.  Your Diagnosis:  Are You Gathering with Christ or Scattering with the Devil?

1.  You can’t gather with Christ unless you’ve been gathered by Christ… you have to be saved to gather!!

2.  Evangelical = involved in the work of the Gospel… of saving lost sinners and bringing them into the Kingdom

3.  Christ said plainly, “If you’re not gathering with me, you’re scattering!”

4.  Scattering = centrifugal force of sin… flying away from the center, away from God… disarray and disorder

5.  We have HUGE impact on each other… every unbeliever is a tool in the scattering hands of Satan to push people farther away from Christ

6.  Not all of our actions gather… our sin always pushes people away from Christ

7.  BUT if we are in His Kingdom, filled by His Spirit, obedient to His commands, we will seek and save the lost… we will gather with Christ

E.  Context:  Pharisees on the Wrong Side

1.  They HATED Christ

2.  They scattered away from Christ every chance they could get

3.  And the whole time they thought they were serving God!!

III.  Words Reveal Resistance to the Spirit (vs. 31-32)

Christ zeroes in now on the words the Pharisees spoke… they are immensely significant.  Christ is about to speak one of the most terrifying statements He ever made.

vs. 31-32 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

A.  God’s Wonderful Grace:  Full Forgiveness of All Kinds of Sin

1.  This is God’s truest heart, and His deepest desire… He LOVES to forgive

Psalm 103:8-10  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

Any sin truly repented of and renounced through faith in Christ, any sin can be forgiven

2.  This was the hope of all sinners in the past

Abraham forgiven his lies

Moses forgiven his murder

David forgiven his adultery and bloodguilt in murdering Uriah

Manasseh even forgiven his idolatry in sacrificing his own son in the fire to Molech

Augustine forgiven his fornication

Luther forgiven his blasphemy in saying “I hate God!”

John Newton forgiven his slave trading and immoral lifestyle

Heaven is going to be full of repentant murderers, liars, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, homosexuals, swindlers

For repentance and faith in Christ cleanses from any and every sin

B.  Specifically Blasphemy Against the Son of Man Forgiven

Peter forgiven even blasphemous words He spoke against Christ the night he denied him three times

Paul forgiven his blasphemy, cursing the name of Christ, and fighting against his Kingdom

1 Timothy 1:12-13  I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

John Bunyan was especially known for blasphemy… and when he began to be under conviction, the devil whispered into his ear that he was going to hell because he’d committed the unforgivable sin of blasphemy

Illus.  Most non-Christians take the name of the Lord in vain

One Christian I know grew so weary of his blue-collar co-workers using Christ’s name as a curse that he began the practice of saying “Praise His holy name!” whenever one of them spoke the words “Jesus” or “Christ”

I had a co-worker on the assembly line who constantly cursed, and blasphemed the name of Christ.  Everyone in my company knew that I was an ordained minister, and so one day, he let one fly and then looked embarrassed at me and apologized.

I said “Don’t apologize to me!  I am a sinner just like you, and I am certainly not your judge.  But you do have a Judge, and someday you’ll have to give an account to Him for every careless word you have spoken!”

C.  BUT:  There is an Unforgivable Sin

1.  Christ said to speak against the Spirit, to blaspheme the Spirit will never be forgiven

2.  There is an eternal consequence to these words by the Pharisees

3.  If there is even one unforgiven sin, they will spend eternity in hell apart from Christ

D.  What is “Blasphemy Against the Spirit?

1.  Context interprets this

2.  Issue:  the Pharisees utterance

“It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

3.  Christ had been anointed with the Spirit at the outset of His ministry

Luke 4:18-19  “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

a.  every miracle He had done had been done by the power of the Holy Spirit

b.  every message He had proclaimed had been the direct empowering of the Holy Spirit

c.  the work of the Spirit in identifying Christ as the Messiah could only be twisted and perverted by a truly hardened heart, but the willful acts of self-righteous religious pride as demonstrated by these Pharisees

d.  it’s to look the Spirit’s work directly in the face and as an act of the will to turn away and ascribe it all to the devil

Blasphemy against the Spirit is to look in the face of all the clear evidence of the deity of Christ… all His miracles, all His amazing acts of compassion, all His astounding teachings… all that God gave Christ to prove He is the Son of God… and to conclude exactly the opposite:  He is the devil himself

E.  Why is it Unforgivable?

1.  There is nothing left to do… no sermons left to preach, no evidence greater than what God has shown

2.  The Pharisees had seen it all, and had hardened their hearts

Hendriksen:  “For penitence, they substitute hardening, for confession, plotting.  Thus by means of their own criminal and completely inexcusable callousness, they are dooming themselves.  Their sin is unpardonable because they are unwilling to tread the path that leads to pardon.  For a thief, an adulterer, and a murderer there is hope.  The message of the gospel may cause him to cry out ‘O God be merciful to me, the sinner.’  But when a man has become hardened, so that he has made up his mind not to pay attention to the Spirit, he has placed himself on the road that leads to perdition.”

Hebrews 10:26-27  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

IV.  Words Reveal True Character (vs. 33-35)

vs. 33-35  “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

A.  Words Reveal True Character as a Fruit Reveals the Nature of the Tree

Illus.  Once tree puts out buds and once buds grow into apples, you can see plainly that it is an apple tree and not a fig tree

So once you listen to how a person speaks in a variety of situations, you can tell their true nature

B.  Jonathan Edward:  Character Lies in the Affections… What You Love and What You Hate

C.  You Store Up What You Love

1.  Unbelievers LOVE this world and the things in this world

2.  They feed their minds on worldly things

3.  They treasure them up because they are treasure to them

Entertainment fills their minds… they store up movies, videos, TV programs, sports, games, worldly novels

Ambition fills their minds… they store up worldly business philosophies, tips for success, stock options

Lust fills their minds… they store up images and experiences of sexual immorality, building up a library

Self fills their minds… they marinate their minds all the time on themselves… what they like, what their opinion is, what their goals and plans are

D.  You Speak Out of What You Store Up

vs. 34  “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

1.  Christ is saying that the Pharisees statement is perfectly in concert with their evil nature

2.  They could not help themselves… but they are still accountable for it

It is actually IMPOSSIBLE for an evil many to say anything God accepts as good

Even a simple statement like “That was a great meal, thank you!”  is not accepted as good, because it is said by a rebel against God, and not said by faith

3.  Having an evil nature makes them drink in and store up certain things as treasures

4.  Out of that they speak:

vs. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

E.  God’s Special Work:  “Make a Tree Good”

1.  This is something only God can do

2.  A bad tree cannot make himself good

3.  Regeneration:  God specializes in makes evil trees good

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

a.  new creation by the power of the Spirit

b.  we love what we used to hate

c.  we hate what we used to love

4.  A New Creation Speaks Faith to God the Father

Romans 10:8-13  “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile– the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The “sinners prayer” is evidence of a heart already made new by regeneration

Out of the fullness of a new heart, we cry out to God to save us

Also, now that we have a new heart, we begin to store up new things in our heart

5.  A New Treasure Results in New Vocabulary

a.  we love God now and store Him up in our hearts

b.  we love Scripture now, and store it up in our hearts

c.  we love the Kingdom of Christ now and store it up in our hearts

d.  out of all that overflow, our mouth speaks… of God, of Scripture, of the Kingdom of God

V.   Judgment Day Reveals Eternal Significance of Words (vs. 36-37)

vs. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

A.  Judgment Day:  A Day of Meticulous Careful Accounting

1.  With the Lord a day is like a thousand years

2.  Every slight inclination of the heart, every motive, every slight twitching of our muscles has been recorded and we are accountable

3.  Terrifying day:  everything will be laid bare… no secrets whatsoever

Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

B.  Every Single Word Written in God’s Record Book in Heaven

vs. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

1.  No word is insignificant

2.  Every single word noted and written as with an iron stylus in a tablet of steel

Even the argument I had with my spouse last night?

Even the off-color joke I told last month?

Even the hurtful insult I hurled at my friend eleven years ago?

3.  If words are noted and we must give an account, how much more our motives and actions?

Romans 2:6-7  But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

C.  Words Alone Needed for Accurate Judgment

NOTE:  here Christ makes it very personal… he addresses individual sinners, speaking in the second person singular

Why?  Because each of us will stand alone accountable before Him

1.  Christ is such a good judge of words, He can tell perfectly the state of our hearts by what we said

2.  A regenerate person will speak many words of love for Christ and faith in Him… He will call on the name of the Lord from the moment of conversion on

“By your words you will be justified”

Greek is “justified”… just like James… true justifying faith ALWAYS results in us speaking words of faith

3.  A person who never spoke a word of faith in his entire life is not a Christian… he catalogue of words shows a clear pattern of worldliness and the mind of the flesh

“By your word you will be condemned.”

Clear unmistakable lesson:  words have eternal significance, simply because they accurately reflect the nature of every person… their true character

The Pharisees did not merely hurl idle words that day… those words were etched in a steel tablet with an iron stylus.  Someday, they would give an account for them.

VI.  Application

A.  Are You With Christ or Against Him?

1.  Only two Kingdoms… the Kingdom of Christ and of the Devil

2.  No neutrals in this war

3.  Have you been rescued from Satan’s evil kingdom of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of Christ

4.  Does your heart yearn to see Christ’s glory with your own eyes, and to see Christ’s Kingdom established in glory in this sin-cursed world?

5.  Do you rejoice in the lavish forgiveness that Christ alone can give?

B.  Are You Gathering With Christ or Scattering with the Devil?

1.  No third option… either you are gathering lost people to Christ or you’re doing the devil’s work

2.  When was the last time you spoke out of the overflow of your heart the gospel to an unbeliever

3.  If you really love Christ, you can’t help but speak for Him… to proclaim His name

4.  Simple question:  are you evangelistic?  Are you engaged in the struggle to advance the Kingdom of Heaven?  Do you care about missions?  Do you care about lost people in your company, your neighborhood, your family, sitting next to you on the airplane?

5.  Or does your lifestyle speak of scattering… of sin working disorder in you?  Are you influencing others AWAY from Christ by the worldly way you live?

C.  What Do Your Words Show About Your True Character?

1.  If you read a transcript of the words you’ve spoken over the last month, what would that record show?

2.  Do you speak more about sports, money, gossip, clothing, children, current events… than you do about the glories of Christ and of His Kingdom?

3.  What are you feeding your mind?  Your mouth with pour out what you treasure up in your heart!

4.  Are your words filled with grace seasoned with salt?  Do you speak what Christ would have you say, “a word that sustains the weary?”  Is your mouth more full of praise/thanksgiving or of curses and complaining?

D.  Ask God to Watch Your Mouth… Since He Is Anyway!

Psalm 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.

1.  God is recording every careless word you are speaking every moment

2.  Since He is watching anyway, ask Him to help you watch your mouth

3.  Realize the issue is not your mouth… it what you treasure in your heart and what you store up there

4.  Ask God to give you a deep love for Himself, His Word, His Kingdom, His purposes in this world

5.  Then your daily conversation will be filled with praise for God’s attributes, stories of missionary heroes, favorite Scripture verses, thanksgiving for blessings from God, words of trust in the midst of trial.

6.  Ask God to watch you mouth!

E.  Get Ready for Judgment Day

1.  Don’t commit the unforgiveable sin

2.  Don’t waste even a single word