Part 10 - Matthew 12:22-37 - THE MUSIC OF MY SOUL
"Where’s my..." "On the kitchen bench" "...keys". "What happened to my..." "It’s in the washing machine. You wore it yesterday." My wife knows my thoughts before I ask. It’s uncanny. "Do you know where my..." "On your desk" "...phone is". She is intimately acquainted with my habits, thoughts and absent mindedness.
Matthew 12:25 (NLT) says that "Jesus knew their THOUGHTS..." because God is intimately acquainted with the ways, thoughts and WORDS of the human race. He’s even better than my wife at this and that is saying something.
The Pharisees reject Jesus but then they proceed to SLANDER His name before the people. They say in Matthew 12:24 (NLT) "No wonder He can cast out demons. He gets His power from Satan, the prince of demons." They obviously didn’t say this directly to Jesus, but Jesus knows what they are thinking. Jesus replies powerfully, "Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart." (Matthew 12:25 NLT)
How did Jesus know what the Pharisees were thinking? Did He just anticipate what they were thinking? Was this a WORD OF KNOWLEDGE? (1 Corinthians 12:8). I am aware of this when I pray - that I can’t keep even my thoughts from Jesus. So often in His presence, He asks me His probing questions and provides correction to the twisted pathways of my thinking and to my sinful attitudes. He aligns my thinking with His so that I am not double-minded and at odds with Him. He gets me thinking in terms of victory, not defeat. No compromise. And my life starts to SING.
Jesus goes on to say in Matthew12:33 (NLT) "A tree is identified by its FRUIT. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad." Great analogy! Jesus produces good fruit in the WORDS He speaks. He is speaking in the power of the Spirit. And that doesn’t mean He had to watch His words or that that His words were so WATER-WEAK, warm and affectionate to everybody that they had no impact. He is SCATHING in His words to the Pharisees in Matthew 12:34-35. He says "You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you SPEAK what is good and right? For whatever is in your HEART determines what you SAY. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart." It takes courage to say this to powerful men.
But Jesus, of course, is right. Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT) says "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" so how can I SPEAK from the treasury of a good heart? I am doomed if it all stops here? It gets worse in Matthew 12:36-37 "And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you SPEAK. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you."
If my heart writes the music of my life then my WORDS are the LYRICS OF THE SOUL. I can tell from the lyrics what is in your heart. Open your mouth and I can hear what kind of song is in your heart.
David’s prayer in Psalms 51:10 (NLT) gives me HOPE. He cries out to God, "Create in me a CLEAN HEART, O God..." In Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT), as if in answer, God says "...I will give you a NEW HEART, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart." As He writes the MUSIC OF MY SOUL a clean heart sings the most amazing harmonies. And all of a sudden my words are translated into worship. My confession becomes a song of destiny.
Romans 10:9-13 (NLT) says the words I speak will determine my destiny. "If you CONFESS with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and BELIEVE in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, "Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced." .... For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
God bless you Church as your words are translated into worship today.
Pastor Ross
