April 23, 2022 -- Matthew 12:9-14 -- Is there a treasure of evil or good in your heart?

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He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
Matthew 12:9-14 ESV

Two things should be immediately obvious from this brief text. 1. The Pharisees are not interested in Jesus’ answer. They’d already decided against Him and were seeking to trap Him and accuse Him. 2. The Pharisees were blind to their own deep-seated wickedness. They’d pretended to care about the LORD’s law concerning the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11) in order to trap Jesus. Notice how the vile blackness of their hearts was revealed in the fact they were prepared to plan how to kill Jesus, and that on the Sabbath, the very day which they’d so duplicitously presented to Jesus as the day they would keep holy.

Jesus noted, just a few verses later, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Mathew 12:34b-35).

What is gushing out of your mouth—in public and in private? What are you mulling over in your heart and mind? Is your heart abounding in good and striving to be more like Jesus or are you, like the Pharisees, hoarding evil treasures and dispensing evil? Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day—if you hear Jesus’ voice, to turn away from you sin and so confess God is just in condemning sinners and vast in His loving-kindness whereby He punished Jesus in the place of sinners and gives to them the righteousness of Christ. Right now, your reaction and your thoughts either condemn you as belonging to demons, or as those made good in Jesus Christ.

Father in heaven, we
behold the Servant You have chosen,
   Your Beloved, with Whom Your soul is well-pleased.
You have put Your Spirit on Him,
   and He proclaims justice to the Gentiles.
He did not quarrel or cry aloud,
   nor did anyone hear His voice in the streets;
a bruised reed He did not, nor does He, break,
   and a smoldering wick He will not quench,
until He brings justice to victory;
   and in His Name the Gentiles will hope.
Prayer based Isaiah 42:1-4

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