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Discerning Authenticity and Duplicity (Luke 6:43-45)
18 Plays19 days ago
Sunday Message recorded 09 March 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Opening and Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Good morning. So grateful for Larry just to know what he's going through physically, but to hear just his steadfastness and his joy spiritually is such a ah blessing.
00:00:18
Speaker
Would you open God's Word to Luke chapter 6? Luke chapter 6 verses 43 down through 45 is where it would be today. Luke chapter 6 verses 43 to 45.
Understanding Deception and Discernment
00:00:31
Speaker
I want talk about discerning authenticity from duplicity. You know, according to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost a record high of $10 billion dollars to scams in 2023.
00:00:46
Speaker
Now they say one in three Americans has experienced some kind of loss due to a scam, and the average is $1,600 victim. you may be thinking, it's a shame that they're preying on our um senior adults.
Scam Stories and Lessons Learned
00:01:01
Speaker
And they are, but it's not just them.
00:01:04
Speaker
According to the latest statistics, 38% of baby boomers, that'd my age, 37% Generation Z, 32% of Generation 26% of millennials have also had something ripped off. thirty two percent of generation x twenty six percent of millennials have also had something ripped off And so it's just amazing. They'll send you an enticing text message and tell you you won a cash prize.
00:01:28
Speaker
They'll offer you a job. They'll talk about some meme coins. But what they're trying to do is to manipulate your emotions so that you don't know whether or not you can trust them.
00:01:41
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And so they're going to sound like they're a good
Biblical Teachings on True Discipleship
00:01:43
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guy. But in reality, they're a bad guy. As a matter of fact, just this week, I received an email, several of us pastors in town did, from one of our fellow pastors, Pastor Alan Keithan at St. Paul Lutheran. And apparently someone took his email, made it just slightly different, and said, this is Pastor Alan.
00:02:05
Speaker
There's a lady that we know that is in the hospital, and she's battling cancer, and she needs our help. Would you give? And so if so, send one to this, send a reply to this email address. And he's, Pastor Allen was saying, I didn't send it. And it's not my email address. If you look at it closely, it's just a little bit different.
00:02:26
Speaker
But how do you know who to trust? You know, in the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus is describing authentic discipleship. But since he was not naive, he also trained his followers how to discern duplicity, how to distinguish between fakes and phonies.
00:02:46
Speaker
The parallel passage to today's text, you know, we're going to be in Luke 6, right? But if you were to go over to Matthew chapter 7, verses 15 through 20, you would see it sounds almost the same.
00:03:00
Speaker
But there's one difference. In Matthew's version of this, the context is given. And the context was false prophets. False prophets who outwardly appear in sheep's clothing.
00:03:14
Speaker
But inwardly, he said, they're nothing but ravenous wolves. In Matthew 7, 16, he says, you will recognize them by their fruits.
00:03:27
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And that's what we're going to do today. We're going to learn, how do you recognize someone by their fruits? whether they're telling the truth or whether they're telling a lie, whether they're authentic or whether being duplicitous.
Inspecting Actions and Character
00:03:39
Speaker
So let's go into the biblical orchard to learn how to tell the difference between the fruit trees. You know, if you were to go all the way back to Genesis in Genesis chapter one,
00:03:51
Speaker
Ten times in that chapter, you'll hear these words, according to their kinds. Genesis 1.12 even says, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.
00:04:07
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There's something about fruit that tells you what kind of tree that you're dealing with. and so what Jesus is going to do is he's going to sharpen our discernment skills.
00:04:19
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He's going to help us to be trained in biblical fruit inspection. So would you stand in honor of, it's just three verses today. I know we're going to get out early. Some of you are saying, oh no, now we're in trouble.
00:04:35
Speaker
For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit.
00:04:48
Speaker
For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person, out of the good treasure of his heart, produces good.
00:05:04
Speaker
And the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.
00:05:15
Speaker
Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, we do need training on this. We see it all over our culture, across our world. There are people that are just trying to take advantage of us. And so we need to see who do we trust? How can we trust?
00:05:28
Speaker
And so, Lord, I pray today that you would take these three verses and sharpen our skills at being able to to discern so that we know truth from falsehood and we'll give you the glory. We know that you tell us the truth. So speak to us your truth.
00:05:44
Speaker
In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you you. may be seated. You know, my responsibility, according to Ephesians 4, 11 through 16, is to equip you, to equip you for life, to equip you in your discipleship, to equip you for service.
00:06:02
Speaker
It says that so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about. by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. That's what Ephesians 4.14 says.
00:06:18
Speaker
And it's right after the purpose for a pastor. So I want us to look closely at this text. And I hope that through six spiritual principles about spiritual discernment, that I'll be able to help you in some way.
00:06:31
Speaker
But mainly it's going to be Jesus helping all of us. So let's look at it together. You know, when you look at verse 43, especially, but a little bit in into verse 44, you'll see that Jesus opens this whole section with a ah a comparison. He opens it with a comparison.
00:06:51
Speaker
You know, he chooses a very simple analogy. Why would he do that? Why would he choose agriculture? Because it was something that the people understood. it was easy to understand.
00:07:03
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And so that's why often he would choose analogies or these comparisons from, let's say, a parable who went out to sow. Remember that one? Or he would say, you know, I'm like the vine and you're like the branches.
00:07:18
Speaker
How about the workers that are in the harvest fields? ah about wheat and faith as a grain of mustard seed? You see, over and over, he selects metaphors so that he can give his message in a way that every one of us in this whole place, we can understand it. And we say, i get the meaning of what he is trying to say.
00:07:41
Speaker
And so in Luke 6, 43, he's going to begin with a horticultural, like you're gardening, a horticultural axiom. Now, an axiom is a fundamental self-evident truth.
00:07:54
Speaker
Whenever you hear an axiom, you're going to say, everybody knows that. That's just common sense. That's what an axiom is. And so this axiom or this truth is coming from gardening and specifically from pomology. Do you know what pomology is?
00:08:12
Speaker
Pomology is the study of fruit trees. I had to look that up. I didn't know. So don't feel bad if you didn't know. But anyway, do you know what he's saying here in verse 45? It's real simple. It's not hard. It's not rocket science.
00:08:24
Speaker
He wants you to understand. He wants me to understand.
The Heart's Influence on Actions
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And here it is. Bad apples do not come from good trees. And good apples do not come from bad trees.
00:08:36
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Now you hear that and you're saying, okay, so so we can we go now? I mean, and we knew that before we came in. But you know what? He's using this analogy to teach us the basics of distinguishing.
00:08:49
Speaker
Distinguishing authenticity from duplicity. So even though you understood that, stay in God's word. If you'll stay in God's word, what other people are struggling over, is this good? Is this evil? You stay in God's word and God will make it easy.
00:09:04
Speaker
It will be addressed sooner or later. If you read through scripture, sooner or later, you're going to say, okay, I get it. So the first thing he does is he wants to make sure you're on board. So he's opening with a comparison, but then he's going to offer the master teacher is going to offer a contrast in verse 44. Okay.
00:09:25
Speaker
You see, he establishes a fact of nature that fruit produced by a tree provides clear evidence of the nature and health of that tree.
00:09:37
Speaker
That's what he's trying to say. For each tree is known by its fruit. And so what he's going to do is he's going to take a contrast and give two examples.
00:09:48
Speaker
And these two examples, the people of Israel, I mean, in ancient Israel, these were the two two main agricultural products, figs and grapes. There was nothing wrong with a fig, nothing wrong with a grape, but both of these were considered good fruits. But Jesus intentionally twists our expectation.
00:10:10
Speaker
Because where do you find figs and grapes? So he's going to take the expectation of his audience back then and he's going to sort of twist it. So they're going to say, wait, that's not, you don't do that.
00:10:23
Speaker
And so he's going to use two harvesting verbs. He's going to use gather and pick. I remember I used to go sometime with my dad. He'd say, son, I need you and your brother come and pick blackberries with me. So I'd say, okay, harvest.
00:10:38
Speaker
So I go pick blackberries with him. And, you know, you get your fingers all purple. Sometimes you get stuck on those briars. And I noticed my dad always wore a long sleeve shirt. My brother and I were always laughing at him till we came back and our arms were all cut up from the briars. We said, you know what? Dad kind of knows what he's doing there.
00:10:55
Speaker
But anyway, there's strikingly wrong locations. Figs are not picked or gathered from thorn bushes and grapes are not picked or gathered from a bramble bush.
00:11:09
Speaker
You see, it's not just comical to those people back then. They would have said, that's ridiculous. Everybody knows that you don't go to those two places. You know, it's interesting that four times Jesus clearly and explicitly says you will recognize them by their fruits. Or he says the tree is known by its fruit.
00:11:31
Speaker
He says it four times in Matthew 7 verses 15 and 20, but also in Matthew and here in Luke So maybe so far we're on the same page.
00:11:45
Speaker
That's what the Lord wants. He wants you to get this. He wants you to know. So he gives a comparison and he gives a contrast. And he's saying, if you're going to be looking for good fruit, don't go over there to those bad trees.
00:11:57
Speaker
You got it? All right, let's go to the third principle. Now the Lord moves to the application to human life. You see, he's not talking about plants and trees. He's really talking about people.
00:12:10
Speaker
And that's where he's headed with this whole thing. And so it's not about botany anymore. It's going to be about humanity. And so God's going to tell you and tell me some things that we need to know as we are trying to know in our society Who do we trust? Especially when someone you're going to say, I believe I'm going to listen to a podcast of a message. Do you know who's what that person is like that's giving you that message? You know, the the speaker's life. Do you know what's coming out of their their mouth?
00:12:41
Speaker
You need to know. Because that's where he's taking it. You see, behind the production of fruit, you're going to notice something that's in operation. Character.
00:12:53
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Character is what is producing the fruit that's going to come out of each person's life. And so it simply reveals who we really are.
00:13:05
Speaker
It reveals who we really are. It identifies two types of character in this passage. And each of these two characters are producing, you see, they're going to produce something. But notice that Jesus, he's not confused.
00:13:21
Speaker
He's not saying everybody's really a good person. You can trust anybody. He's not saying that because he says there's a good person. and there's an evil person. There are two different types of character that are mentioned in this this one verse, verse 45.
00:13:37
Speaker
But also notice that through the production of fruit, you can see the reflection of the character. So when you're looking at the fruit, you're saying, well, that came from an apple tree.
00:13:48
Speaker
You're looking at this fruit and you're saying, that came from an orange tree. When you're looking at humanity, you say, that came from a good person. That came from an evil person.
00:14:00
Speaker
Good is mentioned three times in this one verse 45, but remember it was also mentioned two times in verse 43. The Greek word back then was agathos.
00:14:11
Speaker
Agathos meant something beneficial, something benevolent. But bad was the word sapros. That was the Greek word. It meant something unwholesome.
00:14:23
Speaker
As a matter of fact, something rotten, something putrid, something completely worthless worthless. Back then, they would use that word bad whenever they'd say, whoa, man, those fish are spoiled.
00:14:36
Speaker
Or those grapes, they're rotten. So remember, as we move forward, the summary truth given in verse 44.
Behavior Reflecting Faith
00:14:44
Speaker
Hang on to this truth. Verse 44 started out by saying, for each tree is known by its own fruit.
00:14:54
Speaker
So hang on to that because that is what is going to be coming forth as we keep going through here. Now, let's go to ah ah yet a fourth truth or fourth principle.
00:15:06
Speaker
Just as the muscular organ in your chest right now, that heart is pumping. It's a pump. It's a physical pump that God gave you when he created you. It's pumping continuously. If it stops, you got a problem.
00:15:24
Speaker
You know, spiritual, we have a spiritual heart as well. And it's continually, continuously pumping in our lives. It's impossible to overlook the overflow of the contents in this passage.
00:15:40
Speaker
Let me read it again, verse 45. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. And the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil.
00:15:54
Speaker
For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. So let's look at that closely. I want to give you three words that all talk about the overflowing of the contents.
00:16:07
Speaker
The first word is the word treasury. The second word is the word factory. And the third word is the word primary. You see, inside of our spiritual heart, it's like there's a treasury. He even uses that word treasure twice in here. It's the word that we find the term thesaurus from. Do you know what a thesaurus is?
00:16:30
Speaker
A thesaurus helps you know other words that mean the same thing as the word you've already used in, let's say you're writing a paper. it's good to see Amanda here and other college students. And I appreciate y'all being here. But I know that when you write a paper, you don't want to overuse one one word too many times.
00:16:49
Speaker
So you'll need to go to a thesaurus. And thesaurus will show you what are some alternative words that I can use for that same concept. So there's a treasury located within our heart. Now, what do we store in treasuries?
00:17:05
Speaker
Values. Values. What you consider, what I consider to be the most valuable, you're going to put it in a safe. You're going to put it in a treasury. Or whatever that is, that's going to be your treasure. When it comes to spiritual things, what are your treasures?
00:17:22
Speaker
You know, treasures could be like some thoughts that you you treasure those thoughts. You treasure those ambitions. You treasure those loves. You treasure those dreams. You treasure those loyalties. You treasure those memories. And so they are safe.
00:17:39
Speaker
within your heart. And so what I want to say is there is a treasury and from that treasury, there's also a factory that's trying to get whatever is in that heart to come out.
00:17:52
Speaker
And so it's like they're producing. I grew up in the home of two parents who both worked in factories. And so I learned about working in a factory.
00:18:03
Speaker
But there's a factory within the heart that is producing. Did you see that word in there? The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good.
00:18:14
Speaker
And the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil. So inside our heart, there's a factory. Some people say, if we're not worshiping the Lord, if he's not our highest loyalty, you know what they call it? They call it an idol factory where we're producing idols, you know, over and over again.
00:18:36
Speaker
But Mark chapter 12, verse 35 uses the same idea, the same concept in Matthew, excuse me, Matthew 12, 35, when he says out of the abundance of the heart, out of the treasure of the heart, that's where things are going to come as we go down to the next two points.
00:18:55
Speaker
But before we leave, what is it that's going to come out? Oh, that's easy. It's whatever's primary. Whatever fills our hearts is what will come out.
00:19:06
Speaker
So whatever it is that you say, this is the treasure of my heart. This is what I treasure more than anything else. That is going to come out in your behavior. It's going to come out in your words. We're going to see that in a moment.
00:19:22
Speaker
But where I get that is this whole idea of for out of the abundance of the heart. So whatever is primary, whatever it is you really love a lot, that is what is going to come out.
00:19:35
Speaker
And you're not going to be able to control it. That's why I say overflowing. It's just going to come out. You know, Jesus spoke about the contents of the heart.
00:19:46
Speaker
And he said, you know, some people say, well, it's the external factors that have caused this. But that's not what Jesus says. Jesus says, no, it's not the external factors.
00:19:57
Speaker
It's the internal factory. That's producing things coming out. If you were to go to Mark 7, 21 to 23, you would see that Jesus talks about what defiles, what defiles a person's life.
00:20:12
Speaker
It's the contents of the heart. He said, it's what comes out of the heart. What comes out of the heart? Well, in some people's lives, according to what Jesus said in Mark 7, 21 to 23, evil thoughts,
00:20:26
Speaker
Sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, lots of things.
00:20:38
Speaker
Where do they begin? They begin in the heart. That's why it's so crucial that we look at what is going on deep within us, in our heart.
00:20:49
Speaker
Because the next two principles that remain in verse 45, they're going to move from this internal nature of the tree. And we're going to start looking at the fruit of the tree.
00:21:01
Speaker
So far, we've only been looking at what's causing all this. Where is this coming from in my life? So here's the deal. Jesus is about to say, what you see on the outside has come from the inside.
00:21:14
Speaker
So let's look on the outside. Let's look at the external fruit, the external expressions of who we really are on the inside. Here we go with principle number five.
00:21:26
Speaker
The contents of the heart and the reality of character can be observed first in conduct. the way we behave, in our actions, what we do.
00:21:37
Speaker
Fruit is always a true reflection of one's character. Listen to what I say. Being determines doing. Who we are on the inside determines who we will be in all of our actions on the outside.
00:21:53
Speaker
That's why Jesus calls us to repentance. The Bible over and over again calls us to repentance because what is repentance? Repentance is whenever we begin to say, he means so much to me on the inside.
00:22:08
Speaker
I'm willing to adjust my behavior on the outside. And so repentance is a change in behavior demonstrating the transformation within the heart.
00:22:20
Speaker
So what a wonderful, you know, example it is that if we look at Colossians 3, 5 through 17. This is where I would take young couples that are getting ready to get married. And so I would take them to Colossians 3, 5 through 17. And I'd say, I told them, before you get married, you need to know, you know, what the fashion is for a really happy marriage.
00:22:44
Speaker
And they're like, oh, there's a fashion? And I said, oh, yeah, there's designer clothes you're supposed to wear, according to Colossians 3, 5 through 17. And they said, well, i need to learn that. And so we look at it together. But what what Paul does is he says, if you're in Christ, then there's certain things you used to wear. There's certain ways you used to act.
00:23:05
Speaker
There's things you used to do. You're going to have to take that off. You're going to have to lay aside those old garments and And now that you're in Christ, he's got some new goat garments.
00:23:16
Speaker
He wants you. He's got new attitudes. He's got new ways of relating. He's got new ways of living that he wants to give you. And so whenever he contrasts the old garments and the new garments, this is how he does it.
00:23:31
Speaker
The old garments would be things like, he says, put away things like sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, anger, malice, slander, all of those kinds of things.
00:23:46
Speaker
That's who you used to be before you met Christ. But now that you know Christ, the Lord's got a whole different way he wants you to live. If you stay with a metaphor of clothing, he's got a whole new way he wants you to dress.
00:24:00
Speaker
So what would that be? Well, in Colossians 3, 5 through 17, it says that put on these things, put on compassion, put on kindness, put on humility, put on forgiveness, put on harmony, put on gratitude.
00:24:15
Speaker
Those are the kinds of things that we should say, now my life changes because of who I am in Christ. So why is that? Why is that important to God? The way we act, the way we behave, the way we live every single day we're out there.
00:24:35
Speaker
I'll tell you why I think it is. You know, as we live, not we're imperfect, right? So as we live an imperfect yet an authentic life in a disillusioned world,
00:24:51
Speaker
disappointed by artificial relationships that are all around these people that are watching us, you know what they see when they see us? They see us not as somebody that's perfect, but they say, you know what? I got to admit, they're real.
00:25:05
Speaker
And everybody else over here, they're just such a fake. There's nothing real about them whatsoever. But these guys over here, they're genuine. They are genuine.
Power of Words and Consistency
00:25:15
Speaker
They really mean it. And so whenever we live out our Christian life, there's objective, there's objective external proof and evidence that validates something. You know what it validates?
00:25:31
Speaker
Our message, the gospel message. We tell them Jesus can change your life. Look at how he's changed my life. He can change your life just like that.
00:25:43
Speaker
But what happens when there's an inconsistency between the way we live and who we say that we are, that's when it has to be addressed. That's when we go back to this passage and say, you know what, maybe I'm claiming to be somebody that I'm really not.
00:25:59
Speaker
Well, let's go down to the final final thing that I think is an external fruit. That also can either prove that we're a follower of Christ, that we're a disciple. That's what the whole sermon on the plane is about.
00:26:13
Speaker
But it also could say, well, you know what? This shows that you're not a Christian. This shows it's not real for you. What is it? Conversation. It's the words that come out of our mouths.
00:26:26
Speaker
You know, James sets the record straight in the little book of James, in James 3, 8, when he says, you know, no human being can tame the tongue. Nobody.
00:26:37
Speaker
Not one of us can say, stop that and it's going to work. He says it is a restless evil full of deadly poison. But then James goes on to say in James 3, 9 through 12, he said, how is it that someone comes in here and blesses the Lord? And then someone goes out that door and curses someone else.
00:27:00
Speaker
There's a disconnect there. And so God is saying, look, be one or the other. Which one is it? And so that's what James is calling for. He's calling for consistency.
00:27:13
Speaker
and saying your words are giving it away who you really are, or they're trying to fake your way. You know, there's so many ways that you could use your words in a very beneficial, positive, godly way. Let me just give you a list of just some I thought of, just, you know, trying to think it through. I thought, well, what how can I use my words?
00:27:38
Speaker
How about what we did earlier? Use your words to praise the Lord. How about this one? Why don't you use your words to thank him? Has he been good to you? You know, you're able to come here today. You have the health to come here. Maybe he's blessed you with family, blessed you with a job, blessed you with health. I don't know what the blessings are. He's certainly given all of us a way to get to salvation, to be in his family.
00:28:02
Speaker
So we ought to say, Lord, I want to use my words to thank you. But also I want to use words that edify other people. He says, look, no unwholesome words should come out of your mouth.
00:28:14
Speaker
That is for every Christian, every disciple, no matter who we are. No unwholesome words should come out of our mouth. But only the words that build up. That word means edify.
00:28:26
Speaker
To build up, to edify. So that we make other Christians stronger by what we say. Not weaker. And we also can use our words to speak the truth with love.
00:28:39
Speaker
i think that telling the truth, being honest, that's what following Christ would be about. We're going to say, you know what? I'm not going to lie to you. I'm going to tell you the truth. But also our words should be gracious.
00:28:52
Speaker
They should impart grace to my knowledge. Okay. That's the only way that grace can flow from one Christian to someone else. Our words can be grace-filled.
00:29:05
Speaker
Are your words grace-filled? But while there are good uses of the tongue, there are certainly evil uses of the tongue that I need to be careful of and you need to be careful of.
00:29:17
Speaker
How about slander? Proverbs 10, 18 says anybody that slanders someone else is a fool. How about lying or being deceptive or devious? How about this one? This is clear in Colossians 3.
00:29:31
Speaker
Obscene talk. Any kind of filthy, crude language. That ought ill not be on the lips of a Christian, right? How about using God's name in vain?
00:29:42
Speaker
Man, that's definitely out of bounds. How about someone who's a whisper, gossip, a grumbler or someone who speaks rashly or with harsh words? All of those things. God is saying, don't do that.
00:29:57
Speaker
Don't do that because your words are going to prove who you are. But if you use the wrong kind of words, then it's proving something different, isn't it? It's proving maybe we're not who we say we are.
00:30:07
Speaker
But you know, Matthew 12, 36 should be sobering enough for everyone in this room, including myself. Here's what it says. Jesus is talking and he says, I tell you on judgment day, people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words, you'll be justified.
00:30:28
Speaker
And by your words, you will be condemned.
Struggles with Sin and Divine Help
00:30:32
Speaker
You see how important it is to the Lord what we say? Now, maybe someone in this room is saying, oh man, you hit me right between the eyes.
00:30:41
Speaker
You you got me. Well, you know what? The standards of God's word are not meant to just beat you up, beat me up. The standards of God's word are intended to drive us to Christ.
00:30:55
Speaker
So there's a good reason for staying in the word. don't Don't go away from the word because it shows you the truth like a mirror. No, don't do that. It's intended, his standards are intended to say, you know what you need to do?
00:31:08
Speaker
You need to come to Jesus. Come to him humble. Come confessing your sin. Come repenting. Come with faith. Come with surrender. That's what it's intended to do.
00:31:21
Speaker
Do you know the Apostle Paul? He was a spiritual powerhouse for God. But even he wrote of his personal struggle with the flesh in Romans 7, 13 through 25.
00:31:36
Speaker
And what I find interesting about these kinds of words that he wrote, wrote a few of them there, like verse 15 in Romans 7. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
00:31:50
Speaker
Does that sound like you? What about verse 18 and 19? For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
00:32:03
Speaker
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Let's just pause for a moment. As an aside, do you know when Paul wrote that?
00:32:16
Speaker
Paul wrote Romans in AD 56. Now already the Holy Spirit had used this man to write the letter to the Galatians, the first and second letter to the Thessalonians, the first and second letter to the Corinthians.
00:32:33
Speaker
This guy, Paul, he's been a Christian for 22 years. And he's saying, you know what? I still, it's like I cannot do this in my own flesh.
00:32:45
Speaker
He's already been on three mission trips. He's discipled people. He's planted churches. But there's something very significant that's disclosed near the end of Paul's transparent testimony in Romans 7.
00:32:58
Speaker
You know what it is? Right here. He said, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
00:33:10
Speaker
You know, Charles Haddon Spurgeon is a famous pastor from London. But Spurgeon said, here's the historical background on the man of death.
00:33:22
Speaker
He said in ancient times when a king really wanted to punish somebody bad, you know what he did? He would tie a dead man on the back of the living man. He would tie them back to back so that all day long the living man had to carry around this corpse behind him. How ruthless, how crude, how terrible that would be to walk around and try to carry on your daily things burdened by carrying around a dead man.
00:33:52
Speaker
But this is what Paul said in verse 25. And I want to leave with this. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. who can Who can deliver me from this body of death I keep carrying around?
00:34:07
Speaker
And then he says, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Transformation Through Faith
00:34:11
Speaker
Wow.
00:34:14
Speaker
You know what? There was a a wife of a Welsh pastor named Martin Lloyd-Jones. He wrote a lot of books. But his wife wrote this sort of like testimony of her her her life, but her husband's life called Memories of Sandfields.
00:34:34
Speaker
And she talks about the remarkable change when her husband became a Christian that she saw. She said, I remember one day when he was looking for his socks. That's where it all started.
00:34:45
Speaker
And she said, I heard from the other room, I could hear him, profanities like, you know, I've never heard before in my life. All over a missing pair of socks.
00:34:56
Speaker
And then she said, all of a sudden, I heard something hit the floor. And she said, he hit his knees by his bedside. And she said, he he cried this prayer out so loud, it echoed through the house.
00:35:11
Speaker
And she said, this is what I heard my husband say, who was so foul-mouthed. He said, oh Lord, cleanse my tongue. Lord, I can't find a pair of socks without swearing. Please have mercy on me and give me a clean tongue.
00:35:31
Speaker
Do you know that his wife, her name was Bethan? Bethan Lloyd-Jones said that God changed her husband that day from the inside out.
00:35:42
Speaker
And she said, I never heard him speak a word of profanity again the rest of his life. That's the power Christ.
00:35:52
Speaker
He can change your life like that. I didn't want to preach this sermon about... profanity or words. I'm preaching about fruit, but what I'm trying to get you to understand is our actions and our words, they betray us because they will tell the truth.
00:36:13
Speaker
Is it genuine on the inside or are you just playing a game? down on the inside. It will tell the truth. And so all I'm saying is get it right. Ask God like, you know, this guy did Martin Lord Jones.
00:36:28
Speaker
Get it right. Fall down on your knees and say, God, please cleanse me. Please make me a good tree that would produce good fruit for my children, for my wife, for my husband, for my family, for for those that I work with, for those in my community.
Closing and Prayer for Change
00:36:45
Speaker
That's why we have an invitation. I stand down here ready to help anybody that wants to get right with God, that wants to say, Lord, please forgive me or Lord, please cleanse me. Maybe you're not a Christian yet.
00:37:00
Speaker
That's why i wait down here as we sing a song. And we don't always complete everything, you know, ah during the song, but we can sure set up an appointment. And I'd be happy to talk with you.
00:37:12
Speaker
I didn't come here today to condemn you. I came to equip you. I'm trying to get you ready so that you are ready in life. So that from who you are, this world will see the truth that Jesus has changed your life. Why don't we stand?
00:37:27
Speaker
And I'm going to pray and then I'm going to stand down here. We're going to sing a song that will give people the opportunity to come and to be saved. To come and follow Christ. Lord, I thank you so much.
00:37:39
Speaker
At one point when I was just a college student, I can remember, Lord, I just, I wept that whole day because I realized that I was still a sinner.
00:37:52
Speaker
I had gone to church all my life. There I was 18 years of age. I was at college and it wasn't real. But that day, i just simply cried out to you.
00:38:04
Speaker
And just like Martin Lord Jones, Lord, I said, Lord, save me. Please cleanse me. Please help me. I can't change who I am. And so, Lord, please, if there's anyone here today that it's who they are that needs to change, help them know that that that in Christ, we can become a new creation.
00:38:28
Speaker
The old things can pass away, new things can come. That we can begin to bear the fruit that would honor our Lord and Savior, that would honor the one who created us.
00:38:39
Speaker
So if there's anyone here today, Father, that needs to trust Christ, I pray this would be the day. If not today, then soon, real soon, help them to surrender to you. We love you. We thank you for coming for us. You died on the cross.
00:38:54
Speaker
They placed you in a tomb. You didn't deserve a tomb. You didn't deserve death. You deserve life. And so the Father raised you from the dead.
00:39:04
Speaker
And you have been changing lives ever since. So Lord, don't leave anybody out. Bless this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:39:18
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.