Praying for kings and all who are in high positions...

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
1 Timothy  2:1-2

God’s Word says to pray for those in positions of civil authority.  I hope we are all living in obedience to this command.  In addition to the glory of God, it is for our own good that we do: “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

But how shall we pray?  For our candidates?  Our preferred party?  For the ballot propositions in which we are most interested?  Sure, that’s only natural.  But may I encourage you, as God encourages me to also pray for:

• The people and parties I do not like.

• For the righteous to vote righteously.

• For God’s perfect will, regardless of what people do.

• For our nation’s current addiction to hating the opposition, threatening, and throwing tantrums when anyone doesn’t get their way.*

• Revival in our land.

Let us pray.  Pray. PRAY!

*Am I the only one who sees the protesters and rioters as ill-behaved children throwing tantrums, making everyone around them miserable until they get their way?  Shame on us!  How we have devolved as a nation!

Are we emboldened to speak about Christ because of our brothers and sisters who suffer persecution?

…and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Philippians 1:14

Paul wrote to the Philippians from prison.  His imprisonment was on account of His faith in and preaching about Christ.  In 1:14 the mentions that his persecution and suffering emboldened other brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Since none of us suffer much for Christ’s sake, we cannot be much of an encouragement to others as Paul was in his suffering.  But are we emboldened to speak about Christ by our awareness of our brothers and sisters who do suffer persecution?

Here are three things we can do to experience that blessing:

Be informed regarding the suffering church.  “Voice of the Martyrs” (VOM)  is an excellent ministry to inform believers about the persecuted church around the world.  Get their app on your phone so you can read a short summary each day of a place where believers are persecuted.  The more we know, the better we can…

Pray for the persecuted church. The VOM app will help you pray regularly for them.

Pray for boldness for yourself.  Pray to be bold for Christ as you see how much others suffer for His name’s sake—especially since, compared to them, it is so easy for us to follow Christ.

Anxious? Meditate on this...

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13-14

What glorious gifts we receive from God through Christ:

He has Delivered us from the worst of all perils: The wrath of the Father.  He delivered us by receiving in Himself the wrath we earned.

He has Conveyed us. This word is used to describe how a conquering king would deport and resettle those he defeated in order to obliterate their national identity.  But God has conveyed us, not because He defeated us, but because He defeated our great enemy: sin.  And our resettling is not into exile, but into the Kingdom of the Son of His love—as the victors, in Him.

He has Redeemed us.  He paid a ransom, not to the devil, but to satisfy the Father’s righteous justice.

He has Forgiven us.  By forgiving us He has cancelled our sin debt as completely as if there had never been any debt.

Truly, as Jesus is the “Son of His [the Father’s] love,” we who are “in Him” are also the sons and daughters of the Father’s love.

How is the death of a child of God “precious”?

Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.
Psalm 116:15

How is the death of a child of God “precious” to our Heavenly Father?  Let me count the ways.

The first death that God’s saints experience, that is precious in the sight of our Heavenly Father, is when we died with Christ Jesus—when He died on the cross.  Romans 6:1-6

The second death that God’s saints experience, that is precious in the sight of our Heavenly Father is when we die daily to self that we may live in Christ for Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:31,  Luke 9:23

The third death that God’s saints experience, that is precious in the sight of our Heavenly Father, is when our bodies die and we are at last freed from all pain, sorrow, suffering, and tears to be in His presence, gazing intently, enraptured by His face, and basking in His glory. Without interruption.  Forever.  Philippians 1:21,  1 John 3:2,  Revelation 21:4,  Revelation 22:4-5

The lies people believe once they've rejected the truth!

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21

Materialistic evolution mistakenly insists that humans are no more than animals.  According to evolutionists, humans may have evolved farther than animals, but humans are no more than animals.  Amazing what foolishness people will believe once they have rejected the truth!

But doesn’t  Solomon say the same thing in Ecclesiastes?  No.

He points out that humans and animals both die.  In the matter of death, humans have “no advantage over animals” (v.19).

When he says all go to one place, he is not saying both humans and animals have a life after death or that humans and animals both go to Hell.  Speaking of death as the Old Testament does frequently, Solomon says humans and animals go to the same place—death, or the place of the dead. (v.20)

But Solomon also affirms (v.21) that after death, humans “go upward,” which is a way of saying that humans return to God “above.”  Contrariwise, when an animal dies, it “goes down to the earth,” meaning, it “goes down to the earth, from whence it came, and is resolved into it, and is no more.”  (John Gill)

Humans are created in the image of God.  Those who say humans are merely animals insult the God in whose image we were created!

Hearing Jesus in the Psalms

Do not keep silent, O God of my praise!  2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.  3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause.  4 In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer.  5 Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love.
Psalm 109:1-5

David was no stranger to attacks from those who should have been his friends.  For years Saul sought to kill him.  His own son, Absalom, nearly succeeded in a coup d'état to steal his father’s kingdom.

One can hear David’s pain in Psalm 109.

But David’s pain was a faint pre-echo of the pain David’s greater son, Jesus, experienced at the hands of His own people, and others.

Read the first five verses thinking of Jesus crying out in Gethsemane to His Father, asking that the cup of suffering might pass from Him.  Yet, only if it was His Father’s will.

Read verses two through three thinking of those who literally surrounded Him, mocking and taunting Him during His trials before the Sanhedrin.  Before Pilate.  Before Herod. And then again before Pilate.

Read verses four and five thinking of how the Jewish Messiah and the King of the Jews loved His people, but was mistreated in return for His love—love heard in His words, experienced by His compassion on the sick, the dying, the outcasts, and the downright sinful.

Truly He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).

Yet He gave His live to safe us!  What a Savior!

The explanation is simple. The implementation requires hard work.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 

We are told not to be “conformed to this world.”  What this really means is stop being “conformed to this world” because as we are born in sin, we are conformed to the world already.  The natural (unsaved) person has no more chance of doing this than he has of jumping over the moon!  The flesh can no more clean up the flesh, than “a leopard can change his spots” (Jeremiah 13:23).

So what are we to do?  Besides the fact that we “must be born again” (John 3:3, 5, 7), believers must embark on the life-long journey of being “transformed by the renewing of [our] minds.”  This means changing our thinking, and reprogramming our minds and consciences.  There are two steps to this: (1) Unlearn the world’s ways of thinking that occupy our minds.  (2) Learn the Word of God under the direction of the Spirit of God.

These two steps together happen simultaneously as we are diligent to prayerfully study and be taught God’s Word.

The explanation is simple.  The implementation requires hard work and will last for the rest of our lives.

As this process unfolds, and our minds and lives are transformed, our experience will validate that the Word and will of God are indeed good and acceptable to God.

If we haven’t already, let’s get started!  And let us stay at it, since there is more to know than we can begin to imagine.

A Footnote: This process is more difficult when we come to faith later in life because our minds are filled with more worldliness that must be unlearned.  Let us pray for young people to be saved before their minds are saturated with worldliness!

God can and does control even the hearts of the governing authorities

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
Proverbs 21:1

May this verse be a source of encouragement to us in these days in which we Americans have never been more violated by out of control government over-regulation.  Los Angeles is threatening to turn off people’s utilities if there are gatherings the authorities deem too large—in private homes!

God can and does control even the hearts of the governing authorities.  That does NOT mean that whatever they do is good or right.  It DOES mean that even when governmental authorities are opposed to God and are wrong, they can only do what HE ALLOWS them to do.  Remember from Job 1-2, Satan can only do what God allows.

Let us cry out to the Lord to “turn the king’s heart,” not allowing the governing authorities to abuse their authority by abusing citizens.

Let us also cry out to the Lord to grant a true and widespread repentance and turning to HIM in these days.  Let’s face it folks, our nation deserves God’s judgment and God may be using government overreach to chasten this wicked nation that quarantines healthy citizens and murders babies in their mother’s wombs!

Let us pray for Christ’s Church, since judgment begins in the house of the Lord.

What a comfort to know that God is in absolute sovereign control, even when things are bad and getting worse!

Salvation is not provided by our faith...

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Romans 3:28

What does Paul mean when he writes in Romans of being justified?  He is referring to God’s declaration that sinners are declared to be righteous.  This does not mean that they are righteous, but that God graciously declares them to be righteous.  God makes this declaration because Jesus paid for the forgiveness of the sins of those whose faith is in Jesus.

Salvation is not provided by our faith.  It is provided by Jesus and His sacrificial death on our part—after which He necessarily arose, of course.  Our faith is merely the means by which we receive what Christ has done for us.

That said, we receive Christ, and therefore salvation, by faith alone, or as Paul argues in Romans chapter 4: Faith, not works , ritual, nor law .

Faith not works (v.1-8).  Abraham was declared righteous not by what he did, but because he believed God (v.3).  No one has ever been saved by anything that he has done.  If it were so, it wouldn’t have been grace, but a debt that God owed.

Faith, not ritual (v.9-12).  God’s promises to Abraham were made over 13 years before He commanded Abraham to observe the ritual of circumcision (v.10-11).  There is no ritual, including the biblical sacraments of baptism or the Lord’s Supper, that can save us.  The saved are to observe these sacraments because they are saved, but never to be saved.

Faith, not law (v.13-15).  Abraham lived and died by faith hundreds of years before God gave the Law to Moses.  The Law of Moses condemns us but it cannot save us.  If that holy law given by God cannot save, what other man-made law could ever hope to?

“Therefore (v.16) salvation is by faith that it might be according to grace.”

Don't miss the benediction

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13:14 

I heard a sermon by the excellent preacher H.B. Charles on the subject of “benedictions.”  Benedictions are the closing words spoken by the pastor at the conclusion of each worship service.  Benediction a word made of two words:  bene: meaning, good; and diction: meaning, word.  A benediction is a “good word” just before we part.

Pastor Charles’ message was an exposition of a benediction from the Old Testament.  The sermon was great.  Here is what stuck with me:  He told of a church he was in as a youngster that received the offering after the sermon.  Instead of “passing the offering plate,” the people walked to the front and placed their tithes and offerings in the appropriate place at the front of the sanctuary.  Pastor Charles said that if the service had gone long, some people would give their offering and slip out the door before the service was to conclude with a benediction.  When the pastor noticed people doing that, he would speak into the microphone saying, “Remember, there is a blessing in the benediction.”

This reminded me of the importance of the benediction.  It is a last word of blessing on God’s people before they leave the church to go back out into the world.  I usually quote a passage of scripture—a passage containing God’s blessing on His people.  May I be faithful to pronounce a true benediction that blesses God’s people.

I pray that we all want to get as much of God’s Word every time we meet, that we will arrive on time to receive the “call to worship,” and remain attentive as we receive the “benediction.”  God may have a special blessing in both of these components of the worship service.  Let’s not dismiss them as formalities.

Enduring or being delivered?

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13

Here is one of those passages that is frequently quoted by those who are sure it means what it does not mean!  What does it not mean?  It does not mean that “God will never give you more than you can handle.”

Of course the Lord leads me into and gives me more than I can handle.  How do I know this is true?  Read Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 2:8-10.

8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us...

Paul is clear that believers may be “burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we [may] despair even of life.”  

Why?  So that we “should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…”

God doesn’t give us more or less depending on what we can handle.  He gives us as much as it takes to show us how little we can handle so that we will put our trust in Him and not in ourselves.

We do not endure, as much as the Lord “will deliver.”

Is your body wearing out?

But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?"
1 Corinthians 15:35

First of all, the Resurrection is an essential doctrine of the faith.  We are quick to say that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins.  And this is true.  But He also rose from the dead.  Had He died and not risen, “our faith is futile; we are still in our sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:17).  It is that important.

Also essential is the doctrine of the resurrection of the rest of us: The redeemed to eternal life with God in Heaven, and the reprobate to eternal torment in Hell (Revelation 21:1-22:6, & Revelation 20:12-15).

But 1 Corinthians 15:35-ff asks and answers yet another question about the resurrection of people.  Paul tells us that our physical bodies are like seeds that, when planted, become like trees.  The seeds bear little resemblance to the trees that come from them, yet they are related.

What will our resurrected bodies be like, then?  (1) There will be some relationship between our current physical bodies and our glorified bodies—like acorns and oak trees.  (2) There will also be vast differences between them, like acorns and oak trees.  (3) The chief difference will be that our physical bodies are subject to death, and our glorified bodies will never be corrupted or die.

Let us rejoice in the assurance of glorified bodies, especially as we are increasingly aware that our current bodies wear out and eventually die.

To deny that males and females are different is to deny reality on more than one level

But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.  (5)  But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.
1 Corinthians 11:3-5 

Admittedly, this is a difficult passage.  Those who do not believe the Bible is authoritative will usually dismiss this passage (from v.3-16), insisting that it is either wrong or culturally irrelevant.  But for we who believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and therefore authoritative, we must wrestle with it. Here goes.

• Scripture is clear that male and female roles exist, and that they are different, even though males and females are intrinsically equal.

• Paul substantiates this by pointing to the Godhead (v.3) and to creation (v.9 & 14).

• So far, none of this is cultural, but God ordained, and therefore cross-cultural and timeless.

• The references to head-coverings is a different matter.  A small number of Christians insist Paul’s reference to head coverings is likewise not cultural but God-ordained, and therefore women are to wear head coverings, at least in church.

• A more widely accepted understanding, is that the issue of head coverings is a cultural example that made sense to the people to whom the letter was originally written.  Because it isn’t culturally understandable in our culture, while the part about the God-ordained male and female roles is binding, but the example of head coverings is not.  Head coverings are a cultural expression of a spiritual reality.

Are you still with me?

So then, how are we to put this into practice in our cultural setting?  

1. Embrace the reality that male and female differences are God-ordained and binding.

2. Accept the ways in which our culture illustrates this correctly.

3. Reject all thought that God-ordained male and female distinctions and roles are irrelevant, and may be ignored or rejected.

"But what if the person is my friend?"

But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner —not even to eat with such a person.
1 Corinthians 5:11

Passages like this frequently elicit a cry of, “That’s not loving!”  When we are tempted to think that God’s Word is calling us to do what is unloving, without realizing it, we are claiming to be more loving than God is!  Impossible!

Why does God’s Word tell us to withdraw socially from those under church discipline, and from apostates(1)?  The goal is to take away what true Christians desire, namely: Christian fellowship.  If a person doesn’t miss Christian fellowship, it is a good bet that the person is not a Christian.  But a believer, cut off from the body of Christ, will eventually realize that he or she needs the fellowship and accompanied by the conviction of the Holy Spirit the person will repent.  Those who repent are to be gladly restored to fellowship. (1 Corinthians 5)

When we refuse to follow the clear biblical instruction about withdrawing from those under discipline and from apostates, rather than partnering with the Holy Spirit to urge them to repent, we encourage them in their sin.

Is this easy?  No.  Sometimes they are close friends or even family.  But if we truly love them, we must follow the clear teaching of Scripture in hopes that they will repent.

Two points of clarification:

1. We do not withdraw from people who are unsaved (see v.10 in this same chapter). 

2. We are to treat them kindly, calling them to repentance, but we must not socialize as though everything is just fine when it isn’t.

Footnote:
(1) An apostate is one who has professed faith in Christ, but who has turned away from the Lord and/or from His church.

Do not provoke children & honor parents

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4 

Many read this verse and think first of fathers provoking their children by being too strict.  That certainly does happen.  Children who feel crushed, often cannot wait to be free—sometimes becoming rebellious.  This verse provides a warning not to provoke by being overbearing.

Another way of looking at this verse is revealed by the rest of the verse.  The sentence says “Don’t do that, but [instead] do this.”  The “but” says “that” and “this” are not the same.  So while it may be true that some provoke their children by being too strict, withholding instruction is not the solution.  Since the opposite of provoking is “bringing them up in the training and admonition of the Lord,” what our children need is instruction, and even discipline.  Being too strict may provoke rebellion, but failure to instruct leads to lawlessness.  How are we to instruct our children?

Proverbs 3:11-12 says, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction;  12  For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”  Parents (fathers in particular) must instruct and correct our children.  We are not to do this as arresting police officers, but as loving fathers who rather than being harsh with them, are instead delighted in them.

And to those living under your parents’ authority: no parent is perfect.  Parents make mistakes.  Sometimes they may seem unfair.  Do not make the mistake of disrespecting your parents because they are not flawless.  Pray for them, trusting God to speak through them, in spite of their failings.  Forgive them.  Believe me, we parents dearly love our children, even when we do not demonstrate that love divinely.

The face of God!

Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!
Psalm 80:19

Three times in Psalm 80 we read the same words (v.3, 7, & 19).  Each time the Psalmist cries out to the Lord that He would cause His face to shine upon us.  The face of God is found in over seventy verses in the Bible. (There maybe more, but that’s how many I counted.)  One of the greatest longings of the people of God is to see God’s face—often referred to as having the face of God “shine on us.”  That shining is symbolic of God’s richest blessing.

There is only one problem.  No one can see God’s face and live.  (Exodus 33:20 & 23, and others).

Why this prohibition?  Because of God’s grace.  You see, God is so holy, no sinner can look on Him and live to tell the tale.  But God is so kind, He disallows us to see His face in this life in order to spare our lives.  Thank You, Lord!

The good news is that the ultimate blessing of seeing God’s face will one day be given to the redeemed when we are glorified and free from even the presence of sin.

1 John 3:2 looks forward to the day when the redeemed will see God’s face, saying:  “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

Revelation 22:3-4 promises “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.”

Oh glorious day!

This isn't a downer. It is the greatest news ever!

Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; So a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also came up against Israel, Because they did not believe in God, And did not trust in His salvation.
Psalms 78:21-22

One of the least popular truths about God is that besides being a God of love, He is likewise and equally a God of wrath.  The Psalmist points out the primary cause on our part that invites His wrath: Unbelief.

The text first cites not “believing in God.”  According to Psalm 14:1, the one who does not believe in God is a fool.  There are many who are wise enough to believe “in” God—that is, in His existence.  More accurately, the problem in Psalm 78:22 is not “believing God.”  It is one thing to believe “in God’s existence.”  It is quite another to “believe God”—that is, to believe what He says.  Failure to believe God is the first of two primary points of unbelief that bring about God’s wrath.

The text next cites not “trusting [believing] in His salvation.”  All are sinners in need of a Savior to escape God’s judgment.  And God is gracious to have provided just such a Savior.  His name is Jesus.  Jesus is the one and only Savior.  Those who do not “believe God” [what He says], are deserving of His judgment.  But those who refuse to trust in Jesus, who is the only One through whom we may be saved, are deserving of the ultimate measure of His fury.

Reject God: incur wrath.  Reject His Son, who is the only Savior from God’s wrath: incur , unmitigated fury!

Does this seem like a downer?  It is not.  It is the greatest news ever.  Though we are sinners, deserving of God’s judgment, God saves those who simply trust in Christ.

“That rotten guy—He sure deserved it!”

So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied.
Acts 12:21-24

When we read of God killing Herod Agrippa I on the spot for his blasphemous arrogance (people adulated him as God!) what do we think?

“That rotten guy—He sure deserved it!”

Or when we think of false teachers and self-centered politicians or celebrities, might we ever wonder, “Why doesn’t God do that today—to them!?”

How often does it occur to us that we are likewise also guilty of pride?  Maybe not as dramatically.  Maybe not as overtly blasphemously—though all pride exalts self is blasphemous, to a degree.  Could it also be pride that assumes my pride isn’t as bad as another’s?

It is interesting that the Word of God grew and multiplied after Herod’s dramatic death.  How much more might the Word of God grow and be multiplied if we humbled ourselves before God as much as Herod exalted Himself.

Lord, may I not think more highly of myself than I ought (Romans 12:3).  May the Word of God grow and be multiplied in our day and age—however You may be pleased to accomplish it.

Do our prayers result in anything shaking?

And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:31

This is a favorite passage for me.  Here is why:

• It reminds me how important prayer is.  We really need to pray more, especially in this time of quarantine!

• It encourages me about the importance of group prayer! Ditto the above!

• It reminds me that God acts in response to our prayers.  He doesn’t need our prayers but He graciously includes us in what He is doing when we pray!

• It reminds me that even though all believers are filled with the Holy Spirit when we are born again, we need, and can experience fresh “refillings” as we pray.

• It encourages me that being filled with the Holy Spirit is chiefly about being empowered and emboldened to speak God’s Word.  That includes both encouraging fellow believers with the Word, and telling nonbelievers the gospel—which is the power of God that saves! (Romans 1:16)

Thank You, Lord for reminding and encouraging me with these truths!

How your mouth reveals your heart

A child’s actions do not make a child a child.  They merely reveal what kind of child he is.

The same is true of every person regardless of age.  One’s actions merely reveal what kind of person one is. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 7:16-20

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

We are not sinners because we sin.  Rather, we sin because we are sinners.  Our actions merely reveal what is in our hearts.  The same is true of our words as Jesus taught in Matthew 12:34.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Two important lessons follow this reality:

First, we cannot change our actions without a change of heart.

Second, this is why Jesus said we must be born again.