The Root Of The Problem

“The ROOT Of the Problem!”

Scripture Text: Hebrews 12:14-17 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord; (15) Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any ROOT of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; (16) lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. (17) For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”

=The title of the message to you today is, “The ROOT of the Problem.”

*A lot of times, for every difficulty there is a ROOT CAUSE for that difficulty. What is the ROOT CAUSE for this struggle in my life? Is there a ROOT cause for my constant illness? What is the ROOT cause for people who have trouble KEEPING a job? What is the ROOT cause for my anger? What is the ROOT cause of my fear? What is the ROOT cause for my constant depression and anxiety?

*This may sound a bit like a riddle to you, but today we are going to look at the ROOT of many ROOT causes!

Scripture Text: Hebrews 12:14-17 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord; (15) Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any ROOT of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;

*Today’s scripture tells us that the ROOT of BITTERNESS is the Cause of many troubles!

*The FRUIT of a Bitter ROOT can be many things… addiction, lust, immorality, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, envy…slander… malice…etc.

LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT A “root of bitterness,” - BITTER ROOT WILL DO…

1) - BITTER ROOTS CAUSE DECEPTION – We can’t SEE clearly when we are DECIEVED!

-2 Cor. 11:3 “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

*To understand this, we need to go back to the garden of Eden. NOW ‘deception’ always has a bit of ‘Truth’ in it. Satan said, “God knows that the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” - “God knows (Well yes, this is true because God knows everything), that the day you eat of it, (True, they already knew that the day they eat of it, that there would be consequences) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Here is The lie! Here, is the DECEPTION! They are ‘already like’ God… and they know GOOD! God is GOOD, and they got to speak to a GOOD God every day! The continuing DECEPTION IS THIS, “You will not surely die, for God knows the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” God knows something you don’t know! Good and evil!

-What is behind this lie, is that … God is WITHOLDING something from you! God is not DOING something for you that He should be doing! God is HOLDING BACK on you!

*What satan is attempting to do, is get Eve to be ‘Bitter’ against God! And you know why? Because the Original, original sin, (not adam & eves sin), but the original sin in SATAN is a ROOT of Bitterness toward God!

-Isaiah 14 tells us how satan fell! “How you are fallen from heaven O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! (13) For you have said in your heart; ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; (14) … I will be like the Most High.’ (15) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit.” - He wanted to be like God! He felt that God was holding out on him, and he developed a ROOT of Bitterness toward God!!

*All sin.. goes BACK to a ROOT of Bitterness towards God. When we sin, in truth, we have been deceived, into believing, that God is holding out on you, that there is something BETTER out there for you than what you have!

=Paul says to the Galatian church, Gal.3:1 “O foolish Galatians! Who has BEWITCHED you (who has deceived you?) that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?”

=The word ‘Bewitched’ means to perform by magic! A trick by ‘slight of hand!’ In other words, ‘Look over here, while I do something over here!”- Look at what God IS NOT doing for you here, instead of looking at what God IS DOING for you here! The ROOT of Bitterness brings a deception, and you can’t SEE CLEARLY when you are deceived!!