SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/16/2022 8:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
Matt. 12:33-37
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 12:33-37
Message of the verses: “33 “Either make
the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for
the tree is known by its fruit. 34 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being
evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the
heart. 35 “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good;
and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. 36 “But I
tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting
for it in the Day of Judgment. 37 “For by your words you will be justified, and
by your words you will be condemned.’”
The name of the chapter from John MacArthur’s
commentary for these verses is “Exposing the Truth About Man’s Heart.”
What
I want to do for a part of this SD is to quote the introduction from MacArthur’s
sermon and then give us an outline for where we will be going as we study these
verses.
“Our
Lord is speaking, and He says, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good,
or else make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by
its fruit. O generation of vipers. How can ye, being evil, speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the
good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of
the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every
idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account of it in the day of
judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned.”
“It
has been estimated that from the first, “Good morning,” to the last, “Good
night,” the average person engages in 30 conversations a day. Some of you
average more than that, some of you less. Statisticians have estimated that
each of us will spend 13 years of our life talking, and every day our words
could write a book of 50-60 pages. And in a year, if we’re just average, we
could author 264 books of over 200 pages, just with our words. And you can even
do more than that if you can speak in excess of 300 words per minute, as some
of us are able to do, or if you talk incessantly at any speed.
“Irishman
Kevin Sheenam, of Limerick, Pennsylvania, in 1955, set a world record for
nonstop talking. He talked nonstop for 133 hours. But his record was broken by
Tim Hardy of Minnesota in 1975. He talked nonstop for 144 hours. Then there was
Mrs. Mary Davis, who started talking in Buffalo, New York, and stopped in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 110 hours later. Astronaut Michael Collins was speaking some
time ago at a banquet, and he estimated that the average man speaks 25,000
words a day, and the average woman speaks 30,000. Then he added,
“Unfortunately, when I come home each day, I’ve spoken my 25,000, and my wife
hasn’t started her 30,000.”
“But
I think some of my favorite comments on talking come from the last century, where
a particular gentleman wrote, “The talker shakes a man by the ear like a dog
does a pig and never loses his hold until he has tired himself as well as his
victim.” He says, “His tongue is always in motion, though very seldom to any
purpose, like a barber’s scissors, which are kept snipping as well when they do
not cut as when they do. He is so full of words that they run over and are
thrown away to no value and so empty of things or sense that his dryness has
made his leaks so wide, whatsoever is put in him runs out all over. He is so
long delivering himself, that those that hear him desire to be delivered too
and dispatched out of their pain.” Talk. Words.”
Now
the last part of MacArthur’s introduction from his commentary: “It is not surprising that, immediately after
Jesus excoriated the Pharisees for their unforgivable blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit, He then began to speak about the importance of the tongue. The most self-damning words ever spoken had
just been uttered by the religious leaders who accused Jesus of casting out
demons by the power of Satan (v. 24).
Now the Lord gives one of His most sobering warnings, and in the process
He exposes the truth about the nature of man’s heart.”
Now the following are the names of the sections
that we will be going over as we move through these verses. “The Parable; The Personalization; The
Principle; and “The Punishment.”
It
is my prayer that all of those who read these Spiritual Diaries will look
forward to looking at the very important truths that are found in this rather
small section from Matthew’s gospel.
2/16/2022 8:44 AM
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