HEB.12:14-15 "SO, YOU’RE EAT UP WITH IT"
A) I read about a news story that was heard on the local news in Liberal, Kansas ...
* It told of an elderly lady driving a big, new, expensive car.
* It seems that she was preparing to back into a parallel parking space when suddenly a young
man in a small sports car zoomed into the space ahead of her.
* The lady, angrily, asked why he had done that when he could tell that she was trying to park
there. * His response was, "I’m young and I’m quick."
* When he came back a few minutes later, he found the elderly lady using her big, new, expensive
car as a battering ram backing up and then ramming into his car.
B) He ran up to her and angrily asked her why she was wrecking his car.
* Her response was, "Because I’m old and I’m rich."
* There are times in life when things happen to us that we resent and oftentimes we react by
venting our feelings in destructive ways.
* There are times when our reaction gets us into trouble.
C) I think about a husband and wife I read about that were having a quarrel over breakfast.
* Their quarrel remained unsettled as it was time to get ready for work.
* As the wife was getting ready, she was having trouble with the zipper on her dress.
* She asked her husband to help her. * In a huff, the husband freed the zipper and then rapidly ran
it up and down several times in anger.
D) It infuriated the wife and all day long she was boiling on the inside.
* When she came home that afternoon she saw her husband’s car parked in the driveway.
* As she walked around the car, there was a man lying on his back underneath the car, except for
his lower half.
* Remembering the incident that morning, she grasped the zipper on his fly, and zipped it up and
down several times and then stomped into the house.
* When she walked in, there to her surprise was her husband sitting in the den drinking a cup of
coffee. * Shocked, she said, "I thought you were working on the car!"
* He said, "No, that’s the neighbor. He’s helping me out."
E) Embarrassed, she explained what happened.
* The husband went outside to find his neighbor out cold.
* He had been so surprised that he had quickly raised up and knocked himself out.
* Paul tells us that one of the things that gets us in trouble is bitterness.
* A bitter heart is always a bad heart and often a boiling heart.
* There are many today that is eat up with bitterness. * Let’s look at what Paul had to say about
bitterness and learn how to handle bitterness rather than it handling us.
(1) DEFINING THE PRESENCE OF BITTERNESS!
* v.15 tells us to carefully guard our lives from bitterness. He says, "Lest any root of bitterness ..."
* Now what is this matter of bitterness that he directs our attention to?
A) Bitterness Explained! * Bitterness comes from an old root word meaning to bite.
* That is very suggestive ... Bitterness is like being bitten by the old serpent Satan, releasing his
venom and poison into our heart and life.
* In Acts 8:23, Peter said to Simon, "For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness."
* The word "gall" means "poison."
* Bitterness is the poison that comes when bitten by certain things in life.
* Bitterness is that feeling of hurt, resentment, anger, hate, and even revenge ...
* That often builds up in our heart when we have been bitten by certain experiences of life.
* Bitterness is harbored hurt hidden in the heart.
B) Bitterness Expressed! * I think of Jeremiah the prophet.
* When he was persecuted by his family, opposed by the rulers of Jerusalem, hated by the people,
he broke down and lashed out at everybody.
* In the book of Jeremiah we have several speeches where he expressed his bitterness.
* He manifested his bitterness to God and accused Him of putting him into the ministry against his
will. * Jeremiah even cursed the man who carried the news of his birth to his father.
C) Jeremiah’s example reminds us that bitterness is basically expressed two ways.
* First, bitterness is expressed outwardly toward man! * You may be bitter ...
* To a boss that fired you ... Spouse that walked out on you ... Business partner that cheated you
out of money ... A friend that violated your trust ... A father who abused you ...
* A mother who mistreated you ... A brother or sister who let you down ...
* A church in which you got hurt ... A preacher who sinned against you ...
D) Bitterness is also expressed inwardly or toward God!
* I think of a woman that survived the sinking of the Titanic, but her husband did not.
* Looking back, the woman said, "God went down with the Titanic."
* I think of all the presidents that have served our country.
* All of them have used a Bible in their inauguration except Franklin Pierce.
* Just prior to his inauguration, President-elect Pierce, his wife, and their 11-year-old son Benny,
were involved in a train wreck.
* Neither Pierce or his wife were injured, but their son was killed.
* Pierce could not imagine how God would let such a thing happen.
* At his inauguration, he refused to have a Bible used during his swearing in office.
* So, sometimes our bitterness is vented toward others, sometimes it is vented toward God.
(2) DESCRIBING THE POLLUTION OF BITTERNESS!
* Paul speaks of bitterness troubling us and defiling us - v.15!
A) The Development Of Bitterness! * I’m sure you’re familiar with the plant Kudzu!
* It is a vine native to Japan which was introduced in this country in 1876.
* It was first used as an ornamental shade plant and later to control soil erosion.
* Because of its rapid growth, by 1948, it was estimated that Kudzu was growing on 500,000 acres
in the Southeast.
* Kudzu can grow up to 1 foot per day and up to 100 feet in a single growing season.
* It has the ability to choke out native plants and completely take over anything in its path.
B) Paul describes bitterness as a plant that develops to the point that it takes over in our life.
* Bitterness is the kudzu of the heart and life! * Paul speaks of the "root of bitterness."
* A root has to be planted. I have already suggested things that can happen to "plant" bitterness in
our heart. * But for a root to grow it has to be cultivated.
* There must be the soil for it to grow in, the water and the sun to nourish it.
* Paul speaks of the "root of bitterness springing up."
* The idea here is allowing it to grow and develop in our life.
C) I cannot control what happens to me, but I can control what happens in me.
* I cannot control how others act toward me, but I can control how I react to them.
* What happens is that we provide the soil, water, and sun for bitterness to be cultivated in our
life.
* Instead of dealing with the feelings of bitterness when they first sprout, we cultivate them and
allow them to develop in our life.
D) The Defilement Of Bitterness! * Paul tells us that when we allow bitterness to develop,
* Or "spring up" in our life, it troubles us. * The word "trouble" means "to crowd within."
* The word is sometimes translated "vex."
* The idea is that it pushes out the good things in our heart and takes over in our life.
* It is like Kudzu ... Bitterness will crowd out our joy, happiness, contentment, and peace,
filling us with hurt, anger, resentment, and hatred!
* The man I hate may be miles from my bedroom, but more cruel than any slave-driver, he whips
my thoughts into such a frenzy that my mattress becomes a torture.
* I really must acknowledge the fact that I am a slave to every man upon whom I pour the vial of
my wrath. * In a nutshell, bitterness "troubles" us ... It vexes the heart and soul.
* As Paul said, "thereby many be defiled." * It pollutes our lives.
E) I read, "A rattlesnake, if cornered, will sometimes become so angry it will bite itself.
* That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is, a biting of oneself.
* We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to
ourselves. * Bitterness is the biting of oneself ... It poisons us.
* Bitterness is a plant that takes over in our life ... Bitterness troubles the bitter one.
* Bitterness defiles the bitter one!
* When we’re filled with bitterness, we’re only hurting ourselves!
(3) DEFEATING THE POWER OF BITTERNESS!
* Like all the other emotions we have examined, bitterness can be defeated and overcome in our
life! * Instead of being handled by bitterness, we need to learn how to handle bitterness.
* How do we defeat bitterness ... How do you get rid of a root?
* You get a shovel and pick and you dig it out.
* Digging roots up that are deeply in the ground and have grown and spread out is not easy.
* Dealing with bitterness may not be easy for you may have do some things that go against our
human nature. * But if bitterness is going to be dealt with, some tough steps have to be taken.
A) We Must Forget Whatever Injured Us! * Notice Eph.4:31 "Let all bitterness, and ......."
* The words "put away" means "to dispose of." * It literally means to throw in the trash can.
* We are to look at whatever injured us, put it in the right perspective, see it as it really is,
* And what it really is, is trash that needs to be disposed of in our life.
* In his book, "Lee: The Last Years," Charles Flood tells of how after the war, General Robert E.
Lee visited a lady that took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house.
* The tree had been like a family heirloom. * She cried as she pointed out the limbs that had been
destroyed by Federal artillery fire and the trunk that had been defaced by the Union army.
* She looked at Lee and asked, "What should she do about it?"
* After a moment of silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it."
* Whatever it was that injured you and left you full of bitterness, throw it away.
* Cut it down and forget it.
B) We Must Forgive Whoever Insulted Us!
* You say, "But you don’t know what so and so did to me."
* Let me ask you something ... Has anybody ever treated you like they did Jesus?
* I don’t think you can even begin to compare how you were treated to how Jesus was treated.
* Yet we hear Jesus praying, "Father, forgive them."
* Notice Eph.4:32 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another ......."
* In v.31, the Bible tells us to put away our bitterness and then in v.32, it tells us to forgive those
who hurt us and insulted us.
CLOSE
A) Many times we are like the two brothers, Harry and James.
* Harry hit James with a stick and bitter words followed.
* The mother intervened and said to James, "Now, before you go to bed you are going to have to
forgive your brother."
* James thought about it for a minute and then said, "All right, I’ll forgive him tonight, but If I
don’t die through the night, he’d better look out in the morning."
B) Forgiveness means actually forgiving and letting the matter go.
* We are to forgive as God has forgiven us.
* God doesn’t forgive and then bring the matter up again ... It is forgiven and forgotten.
* We must forget whatever injured us and forgive whoever insulted us.
* That may not be easy, but on the other hand, is it worth your joy, peace, happiness, and power
with God being crowded out of your life.
* If you don’t want to be handled by bitterness, these are the steps you must take.
* Forgive and forget!
