FBC Adult Bible Study

All right, so we have been for the last few months looking at the subject of the heart.

And when we come back in a couple of weeks, next Sunday, next Sunday morning, Scott Williquette will

be with us.

And in Sunday school, he's going to just kind of give an update on his work in ministry, which because

of COVID has been curtailed significantly,

but it's not that he's been without anything to do.

So he'll be sharing that next Sunday morning in Sunday school, and then be preaching in a morning service.

When we come back in two weeks, I want to do, it may take two Sunday morning,

Sunday school lessons to do it, but kind of a review, but from a different

standpoint of our study of the heart.

So again, our definition, there on your handout, the heart is your governing center.

It's what guides all of your being, all of your actions, your

attitudes and so forth.

It's your governing center.

When we talk about the heart simply, we're talking about that

unity of the inner being, where the heart is that governing center.

But when we use it comprehensively, we realize that the Bible speaks of the heart

as having three different chambers, if you will.

One is the mind, what you know.

The other is your desires, what you love.

And the third chamber is the will, what you choose.

And we talked about how sin in its complexity has

some corresponding characteristics that deal with each of those chambers of the heart, but

so does the threefold work of Christ as our prophet, priest, and king.

And then the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about protecting the heart and how we need to

guard our heart.

And last week, talked about how to do that.

Well, today, we wanna zero in on the ambassador of our heart.

And an ambassador, of course, is in the political or

governmental realm, is an individual who goes to another place, another

country, and represents his home country.

We would have an ambassador to France, an ambassador to Brazil, and so on and so forth as United States

ambassadors.

And those ambassadors are speaking for the official position of the government

that he comes from.

Well, the ambassador of your heart is your mouth, is your lips, your tongue.

And so we wanna examine that today and look at that from a couple of different

standpoints and realize that in the first place, the ambassador of your heart will

betray your heart.

It will reveal your heart.

And I want us to think about this with some biblical examples.

So think of these individuals and ask yourself the question,

what do these examples reveal about the person's heart?

What they say, what does what they say tell you about the person's heart?

So for example, you remember the account of King Saul who wanted to have

David killed?

David is best friends with Saul's son, Jonathan.

And David is convinced that Saul wants him killed.

Jonathan isn't so sure.

Jonathan thinks, no, I don't think my dad wants to kill you.

David said, yeah, he certainly does.

And he says, here's how you can find out.

So they set up this little test and there was supposed to be a three -day feast or banquet.

David was supposed to be there.

Of course, Jonathan would be there with the king and they'd have this feast.

Well, David wasn't there.

And the first day when David wasn't there, Saul thought, hmm, okay, well, maybe he's just sick.

Second day, he wasn't there and Saul says, where's David?

How come David's not here?

And of course, Saul wanted him to be there because then he could kill him.

So Jonathan says, well, David asked me permission to go back to

his home, to his family where they were having a little thing and I told him he could go.

And Saul became furious and he lashed out at Jonathan,

his own son, and he said, quote, you son of a perverse,

rebellious woman.

Now, what he said revealed something about what was going

on in his heart.

What was that that was going on in his heart?

What did that reveal about his heart?

Certainly anger, but beyond that, there's a perversion in his heart.

There is such a hostility, a hatred that's going on in his heart

that he would not only attack his son, but his son's mother.

It says a lot about Saul's heart.

Well, James and John in the New Testament, what was the

Lord's nickname for James and John?

Sons of Thunder, yes, Sons of Thunder.

Some of you, if you've watched that Chosen series, you saw when Jesus

confronted him and gave him that name.

And it was in this context.

They were in Samaria and the Samaritans were

kind of ridiculing and mocking him or whatever, being very inhospitable toward them.

And James and John said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and

consume them?

What was in their heart that led them to say such a thing?

You might say, well, their love for Jesus and how these Samaritans,

they were unkind to Jesus, perhaps, and I'm sure there's some of that there.

But what does that, what does what they say reveal about their attitude toward

the Samaritans, their hostility toward the Samaritans and so forth?

And then Judas at that supper where the

little bottle of ointment was broken and the ointment was poured onto Jesus.

And Judas said, why this waste of the ointment?

It was poured on Jesus.

What does that reveal about his heart?

Where is his treasure?

What's really going on in Judas's heart?

What's really behind that question?

Jesus deals with Judas about that.

And the comment from the gospel writer was that, he said this not because he

cared about Jesus or the ointment, but because he was a thief and

liked to put his hand in the bag.

Or Peter in the night of the betrayal.

And he said, I swear, I do not know the man.

I do not know the man.

What does that tell you about his heart?

His fearfulness?

What was he thinking?

What thinking was going on in his mind at that time?

Mind, one of the chambers of the heart.

What was he desiring?

He was desiring to protect himself, right?

He was desiring to keep from the same fate that Jesus is facing.

The statement tells a lot about what's going on in his heart.

How about Thomas?

Thomas said, unless I can put my finger in the print of his hand, I'll not believe.

What does that reveal about the state of Thomas's heart?

There was certainly doubt, unbelief.

There was skepticism.

What was behind the skepticism?

Was there not also a measure of fear?

The fear to believe something that doesn't turn out to be true, and it was sort of a self -protectiveness there.

Thomas.

Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter two.

I want us to see a couple of other examples in writing that tell you something about the

heart of the writer.

So because, of course, writing is just another form of speaking.

You're speaking through the pen rather than through your lips.

So the pen becomes an instrument of the lips

or the tongue.

So in 2 Corinthians chapter two, in verse four,

Paul writes, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears,

not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.

All right, so what's in his heart?

His heart is filled with love for the Corinthian believers.

And how does he express that?

He says, I wrote to you with many tears, and what I wrote to you reveals

my heart.

In chapter six, verse 11,

chapter six, verse 11, he says, O Corinthians, we have spoken openly

to you.

Our heart is wide open.

What Paul is saying there is what I'm writing is a reflection, an accurate reflection

of my heart.

And look over a page at chapter seven, and verses six and seven, and you can

see the heart of the Corinthians for Paul as it's revealed here.

Says, nevertheless, God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming,

but also by the consolation or the encouragement with which he was comforted in you

when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me,

so that I rejoiced even more.

So the words that Titus communicated to Paul, telling

him about the heart of what the Corinthians told Titus about

Paul ended up being an encouragement to Paul because he could see their heart in what he heard.

And then look at Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians five and verse

19,

and there's a connection here between the heart and the lips, the tongue in our

worship.

So at the end of verse 18, Paul says, be filled with the spirit, speaking to one another, there's the mouth, right?

Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in

your heart to the Lord.

So the point is that that melody in the heart is to come out in the

lips, in the speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

And then one more passage to look at, and this very important one, back in Romans chapter 10,

Romans chapter 10, the lips evidence a

regenerated, a converted heart.

Romans 10 verses nine and 10.

Well, go back up to verse eight.

What does it say?

The scripture say, the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.

That is the word of faith which we preach, that if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus,

and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart, one believes under righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto

salvation.

And there is no separation between the two.

There's no disconnect.

What Paul is saying is there is a definite connection between the two.

If the heart truly believes, it will confess is the point.

So these biblical examples show us, reveal

to us the fact that the ambassador of the heart will betray the heart.

It will reveal, it will tell us what's going on in the heart.

Now let's turn to Matthew chapter 15.

Matthew 15.

Matthew 15, the first 20 verses of this chapter, Jesus is really teaching

this truth to us.

The truth that the tongue, the ambassador of the heart will reveal or betray

the heart.

So in verses one and two, look at how the tongue in these couple of verses reveals

a heart that is critical and judgmental.

It says, then the scribes and the Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying, why do your

disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?

For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.

This may sound like a simple question.

We don't know the inflection of the voice as the question was asked.

I can tell you a lot, can't it?

You can pick up a lot of intended meaning or attitude or heart

by the way a question is asked.

We don't have the verbal thing, but as the conversation

continues here in this passage, we know that they were asking this question not

because they were curious, but because they were censorious.

They were wanting to censor Jesus and his disciples to say that they were illegitimate in

what they were doing.

It's revealing a critical judgmental heart.

And in verses three through six, Jesus goes on to say, why do you

also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

For God commanded saying, honor your father and your mother and he who curses father and mother, let him

be put to death.

But you say, okay?

So here's something coming out of the mouth again.

All right, here's what God has said, but you say.

Now, what does they say reveal about their heart?

But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me as a gift to

God, then he need not honor his father and mother.

Thus, you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.

What the ambassador of the scribe and Pharisee's heart is revealing in what they

say here in verses five and six is that they have a self -righteous disobedient

heart.

Are they obeying the scripture that says, honor your father and mother?

No, Jesus is telling him, you are dishonoring them.

You are disobeying that scripture.

But how are they doing it with this pious act of self

-righteousness?

I've dedicated what I would have given to you to help you out.

I've dedicated that to the Lord.

I see how pious I am.

And then in verses seven through nine, Jesus goes on to say that

the tongue of the Pharisees and scribes reveals their hypocrisy, that they have a hypocritical

heart.

He says, hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, these people draw near to me with their

mouth, they honor me with their lips, but the heart is far from me.

And in vain they worship me.

And what is the evidence of their hypocrisy?

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

So this tongue of the Pharisee, the ambassador of the Pharisee is revealing

a hypocritical heart.

Well, as this passage continues, the Lord makes it clear that the

tongue, the ambassador, it reveals inner

defilement.

Now look at how he does this.

In verses 10 through 12, he tells a parable.

So he calls the multitude together, and he says, hear and understand, verse 10.

Verse 11, he says, it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out

of the mouth.

This defiles a man.

When his disciples came and said to him, do you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?

Jesus said, too bad, basically.

So the parable here in verse 12, verse 11, not what goes into the mouth

defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the man.

And what Jesus is not saying is that, he's not saying this.

He's not saying until you speak, there is no defilement.

He's saying that what you speak reveals the defilement that is there.

So let's look at as Jesus explains this parable in verses 15 through

20.

Let's see what he means by that parable.

So Peter comes to him and said, explain this parable to us.

And Jesus says, okay.

He says here that the tongue reveals the evil thoughts that you dwell upon.

He says in verse 17, do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?

But verse 18, those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they

defile a man.

Or we should understand it to mean they reveal the defilement

of the man.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,

fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

All right, so in verses 19 and 20, as Jesus says what comes out of the mouth

reveals the defilement within, the tongue reveals the evil thoughts that you dwell upon.

Eventually they'll come out some way or another.

You dwell upon evil thoughts, you don't bring every thought into captivity, but instead you

fuel those thoughts, you mull over them and you keep expanding

upon them and so on in your mind.

That'll eventually come out on the tongue.

The hatred that you harbor, the tongue will eventually reveal it.

The hatred you harbor, expressed when Jesus says, out of the heart proceeds

murders.

And I say that the tongue reveals the hatred of the heart because remember Jesus

in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, you've heard it said, thou shalt not murder,

thou shalt not kill.

But I say to you, whoever hates a brother or hates in the heart

has already committed murder.

So the act of murder is simply the ultimate expression

of the hatred of the heart.

But that hatred comes out through the lips oftentimes as well

and it will come out sooner or later.

The tongue also reveals the lust that you entertain.

So he says, he speaks of adulteries and fornications and likewise, Jesus amplifies

the understanding, the concept of adultery again in the Sermon on the Mount when he

says, whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her it's committed adultery in his heart.

And the tongue will reveal the lust you entertain.

The tongue will reveal the thefts or the covetousness that you engage in.

He speaks of the fact that thefts come from the heart.

But again, notice how Jesus is talking about out of the mouth, these things

come forth.

How do thefts, the act of thievery, how does that come out of the mouth?

It's shown in covetousness, in words that betray a covetous heart.

And that covetousness is thievery in the heart, right?

That's what covetousness is.

You look upon somebody else's stuff, you covet it in your heart, you're basically saying, I'd like to take that

for myself.

If only I could, if only I could have that for myself.

The tongue reveals the animosity that you feel towards someone else, expressed in

false witness.

Why would you bear false witness against someone else?

Why would you lie about them?

And testify negatively or falsely about them?

Because of the animosity that you have toward them in your heart.

And that comes out in your false witness.

Blasphemies, of course, are clearly things that come from the lips.

Blasphemy, we tend to isolate that to some kind of

activity against God, and it is.

But the word blasphemy literally means slander.

And the definition of slander is to speak against someone in order to harm

their reputation.

So when you blaspheme against God, you're speaking against God to the effect

that, with the intent that, you might in some way harm his reputation,

all right?

Well, you don't have to limit blasphemy or slander to God, and you know that.

Some of you have been the victims of slander, and you understand the pain that that

causes in your heart.

Well, what about the person who voices the slander?

What's in their heart?

What's in their heart toward you that they want to harm your reputation?

Well, the tongue is revealing that.

So Jesus is communicating in this parable the truth

that the tongue reveals the heart.

It'll reveal the inner defilement that's there.

So this ambassador of ours, the tongue, our lips, our mouth, however you wanna describe it,

has to be controlled, and it has to be controlled by a

regenerated heart, a regenerated heart.

I want us to turn to the book of James at this point, James chapter one,

James chapter one.

The person who is truly regenerated will endeavor

to reign in the ambassador of the heart.

He won't always be successful.

He may fail more than he succeeds, but he won't be happy if he

does fail more than he succeeds.

The truly regenerated person understands, I need to reign in this ambassador of

my heart.

I must do so.

So look here at James 1, 26,

and understand from this verse that repeated

failure to reign in that ambassador of the heart without any repentance

or just being generally indifferent about it

while at the same time verbally professing Christ, that's

a classic case of self -deception.

This is what James is saying in verse 26.

Look at it.

He says this.

He says, if anyone among you thinks he is religious, he thinks he

is religious, and he does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his

own heart, this one's religion is useless.

It's useless.

Self -deception.

If I say I'm a believer in Christ, if I say I'm a follower of Christ, but I

have no consideration, no concern whatsoever about bridling this ambassador,

reigning in this ambassador of my heart, I'm indifferent about it, or

I keep blasting off with my mouth and have no

sense of guilt about it and no repentance regarding it, I'm

deceiving myself.

I'm deceiving myself.

I'm not a follower of Jesus when I'm like that, and I've heard through the years

more than one professing Christian say something to this effect.

It varies, but it generally communicates this idea.

I just say what I feel and think.

I just say what I feel, or I just say what I think, and they usually say

that to defend themselves for having just been caustic

and critical and hurtful with their tongue.

I just say what I think, but look at, keep your finger here on James, but look

back at Colossians 4, verses five and six.

Colossians 4, five and six.

Chapter four, verses five and six.

Paul says, walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time,

buying up the time.

Then he says this.

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt,

that you may know how you ought to answer every man, how you ought to answer each person.

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to talk, you

may know how to speak.

So the professing Christian who says something like, well, I just say what I feel and think, and

he does not take into consideration Colossians 4, verses five and six.

He's self -deceived.

I mean, it is our responsibility.

It's the responsibility of the regenerated heart to say, how can I

say this in a way that is gracious, that is seasoned with salt,

so that the sting might be lessened if it's something that

needs to be said that could hurt?

How can I say this in a way that will lessen that and so forth?

I have no interest in that.

I'm deceiving myself.

Because this, let your speech be always with grace,

seasoned with salt, is part of walking with wisdom

toward those who are outside.

You see?

So repeated failure can definitely indicate self -deception.

Now back to James 3 this time.

James 3, in contrast to that attitude that says, yeah, I just speak

what's on my mind.

I just say what I think.

People can take it or leave it.

They can like it or lump it, and that's just their problem.

In contrast to that, the maturing Christian, the one who's truly

regenerated, is going to be sensitive about this

matter, and he's gonna grow in that sensitivity, and he's gonna grow in his ability to reign in

that ambassador of the heart.

Verse 2 says this, James 3, verse 2.

We all stumble in many things.

If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the

whole body.

He is a complete, he's a whole person, able to reign

in or to bridle the whole body.

If you can bridle your tongue, you grow in the bridling, the reigning in of that

ambassador, you are growing in Christ.

You are revealing some development in spiritual maturity.

The truly regenerated person will want to reign in the ambassador of the

heart, and we wanna do that because, as we continue in

chapter 3 here of James, the regenerated heart understands our tendencies.

The regenerated heart understands the tendency of that tongue.

What are those tendencies?

Verses 5 and 6 reveal that there is a tendency of the tongue to be destructive.

Says the tongue's a little member, and it boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles?

So the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.

The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets, and that's what Jesus said, right?

And it sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell,

powerfully destructive.

If you know Christ, if you've been regenerated, you understand the power of the tongue, and

if your heart has been redeemed, then you know that

power, you know the tendency of that power, and you don't want your tongue, you don't want the ambassador of your heart

to destroy.

So what's that gonna mean?

It's gonna mean you're gonna have to deal with the heart, right, we'll get to that in a minute.

We also understand the tendency of the heart to, or the tendency of the mouth to

reflect what's in the heart, in verses 7 and 8.

It says every kind of beast, and bird, and reptile, a creature of the sea is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.

But no man can tame the tongue, for it is an unruly evil, full of

deadly poison.

Full of deadly poison.

And what is that poison revealing?

It's reflecting what's in the heart, and it will inevitably do that.

We also understand the tendency of the tongue to be expressive

of the heart, in verses 9 to 12.

It'll express what's in the heart, and can do so very deceptively, because

in verse 9, with the tongue, we bless God, our God and Father, and with the tongue, we curse

men, who have been made in the similitude of God.

We're deceiving, again, we're deceiving ourselves.

We're thinking that because I'm praising God in church on Sunday, I can say whatever I want,

in cursing people on Monday through Saturday.

It says out of the same mouth, proceed blessing and cursing.

My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?

Thus no spring yields both saltwater and fresh.

So what's being expressed in the mouth, out of the mouth, it's

expressing what's in the heart, and if there is this contradiction, if

there is this blessing and cursing, if there's this

fig and a grape coming out of the mouth, then something is desperately wrong

with the heart.

It's what James is saying.

And then we understand also the tendency of the tongue to be

defensively protective of the heart.

Verse 14, if you have bitter envy and self -seeking

in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

Don't try to cover it up.

And the tendency of the mouth, because of the tendency of the heart, it is to

cover it up, to boast and lie against the truth.

So the regenerated heart understands that tendency, so therefore, chapter 10, James moves right into it,

from talking about the tongue and its power and all of that, he moves right into chapter

four, where the regenerated heart deals with the

root, the root of those tendencies of the ambassador.

It's relationships.

Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

The heart is perverting that relationship between this professing believer

and his God.

But the regenerated heart, the regenerated heart in verses five through 15

does several things, it's by the Holy Spirit.

And the regenerated heart also receives grace from the Father,

verse six.

He gives more grace.

He gives more grace.

Verse six, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

The regenerated heart humbles itself before God.

Verse seven, therefore, submit to God.

The regenerated heart submits to God.

The regenerated heart resists the enemy of God, resists the devil, and he will flee

from you.

And the first part of verse eight, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

The regenerated heart will draw near to God.

All right, now look, this is the regenerated heart

dealing with the root of the ambassador's

tendencies.

The root of the ambassador's tendencies is tendencies.

The root of the ambassador's tendencies is to reveal the sin of the heart.

And so the regenerated heart wants to deal with that.

How will he deal with it?

Humbling myself before God, submitting myself to God, resisting the enemy of God, drawing near to God

in verses eight through 10, repenting before God.

Draw near to God, he'll draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

Purify your hearts, you double -minded.

And let it come out in the tongue.

Lament and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord through this act of repentance, this work of repentance,

and he will lift you up.

And all of this, all of this

energy put forth by the regenerated heart, endeavoring to deal with the

root of the tendencies of the tongue,

expresses wisdom from above.

Go back to chapter three and look at verses 17 and 18.

So after talking about the wretchedness of the ambassador committing, you know,

its sinful expressions and so forth, verse 15, James says, "'This wisdom does not

descend from above, "'but is earthly, sensual, demonic.'".

But verse 17, the wisdom that is from above is first pure,

then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits,

without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

So this endeavor of the regenerated heart to deal with the

tendencies, the sinful tendencies of the tongue is an expression

of wisdom from above, with, you know, dealing with purity and

peaceability, gentle, a willingness to yield, mercy, good fruits,

without partiality, no hypocrisy.

And that is in contrast to the wisdom of verses 14 and

15, earthly, sensual, demonic.

All right, so there is obviously this multi -week study of the heart, a

very simple way to look at the heart, but also a very complex

way to look at the heart, because the heart is a complex spiritual organ

that controls everything about us.

So our Father and our God, I pray that today we would realize even the importance of

dealing with the ambassador of our heart.

And I pray that we would see that the words that we say and the way that

we say them really does express the sin or the

righteousness of the heart.

So Lord, I pray, give us this wisdom from above that deals with the

root of our ambassador's tendencies.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, well, you got about a dozen minutes till morning service begins.