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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. He does overcome, amen? He has overcome, He does overcome, and we praise the Lord for that.

[0:12] Take your Bible, if you would, and turn to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. I just want you to know today, I was sitting there thinking how we celebrate what our God has done, but I want you to know I celebrate Him and I celebrate you.

[0:26] A church, it's about a church. Maybe if Jesus doesn't come back 50 years from now, 100 years from now, me and you will be forgotten. We might have left something that will continue carrying the gospel around the world until Jesus comes, amen?

[0:41] And so I am so appreciative of you. Well, you probably heard a song called Your Cheating Heart. How many of you ever heard of that? Raise your hand. Well, today I'm going to talk about your hating heart. So that's not going to go over too good, is it?

[0:54] Ed's already took a breath. He goes, oh, like that. I don't know what that meant. All right, turn with me if you would and read with me Matthew chapter 5, verse 21 and following.

[1:05] Matthew chapter 5, verse 21 and following. I want to talk to you literally about your hating heart and how it hinders what God wants to do in our midst. The Bible says, That's actually what they said.

[1:26] That's not what God said. You'll notice it in the verse. He said, Actually, the Old Testament said, You kill, you get killed.

[1:36] You don't get in danger of the judgment. You take a life, you lose a life. But anyway, they had changed it. Typically what we do with the Bible, you know, if it's a little uncomfortable for us, we kind of change it to suit us.

[1:47] And that's what they had done. So he said, You have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother Raka shall be in danger of the counsel, but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire.

[2:12] Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember us that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

[2:26] Agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

[2:39] Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farling. Father, I pray now that you would work in our lives, and I pray that you would help us, Lord.

[2:53] I pray, God, that before we leave today, that much of the bitterness and anger and hatred that we have pent up in our hearts will be left on an altar before you.

[3:04] And we will leave out of here with only love in our hearts, and we will leave out of here without this hatred that has so contaminated us. And I pray, God, that your name would be glorified.

[3:15] I pray you would speak to our hearts. I pray you would draw us close to you, and I'll give you praise for everything that you do. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Amen. Well, Jesus is mocking the very religious people, the way they tried to change the meaning of the Bible and to make their wicked, hating hearts comfortable, which is typically what we like to do.

[3:35] We like to find a way to kind of get the Bible not to say what it says, make it easier. So he said in verse 21, They had said that if you murdered someone, you'd be in danger of judgment.

[3:46] Look at it. You have heard, this is what you've always heard, that it's been said by those of the old time, Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

[3:58] That's totally not what God said. So Jesus will take their point, and you'll take it all the way to the point of making a fool of them is what puts you in danger of hell fire.

[4:09] I don't know if you notice how interesting it is. You murder somebody, all you get is a judgment, according to what they said. Jesus changes it so if you get angry, then you're in charge that you're in danger of the judgment.

[4:19] And if you say raka, which is an insult, you're in danger of the counsel. And if you say fool, you're in danger of hell. That's really hyperbole. He is really sarcastically talking to them.

[4:31] So murder only got a judgment according to their tradition. Jesus takes it all the way up a chain. Actually, what the Bible said was that murder was a crime with a death penalty.

[4:43] The Bible says in Genesis 4-8, we see the first crime of murder. That was the first crime, and it was murder. And Cain killed his brother.

[4:54] Just some interesting facts that really I'd like to throw out to you about murder before we get into the real message, which is your hating heart. In 2010, there were 14,043 murders in the United States of America, which is an average of just over 38 per day.

[5:11] There were 38,364 self-murders or suicide in 2010. 105. There were 765,651 abortions or murders of the preborn in the same year.

[5:29] That averages out to 2,097 babies murdered per day. Man is created in the image of God. To murder another person is like an assault on the person of God himself.

[5:43] God said that murder would cost a person their life. Genesis 9-6 says, Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man.

[5:59] Exodus 20-13, 10 commandment, Thou shalt not kill. Murder does not prohibit, that verse doesn't prohibit every form of killing.

[6:10] It has to do with criminal killing, capital punishment, just warfare, accidental homicide, and self-defense are excluded from murder, or this commandment of thou shalt not kill.

[6:22] But I want to take you through this, your hating heart. I want you to understand that the real problem here is murder isn't something that happens with the hands, it's something that starts in the heart.

[6:35] And that's the passage of Scripture. Matthew 5, verse 21 and following. It's so easy to think, if you take notes, write this down, write this down, at least I haven't committed murder.

[6:47] Write that down, that's the first point. Well, at least I haven't committed murder. You know, if you ask me about if they're a sinner, they might have lied, they might have cheated, they might have stolen, but at least I haven't committed murder.

[6:58] And so Jesus is going to go straight to that, and rip that self-justification out of the socket. It's so easy to think we're not that bad, because we haven't committed murder.

[7:09] And Jesus uses a statement in this sermon that we have to understand. He said, you have heard that it was said. I wish you'd underline that in your Bible. You have heard that it was said.

[7:19] He's going to repeat that phrase in the Sermon on the Mount several times. And what that means is, he's saying, he's not saying what Moses said was wrong, or what the Old Testament said was wrong.

[7:32] He's saying, what your religious leaders have said is wrong. The Pharisees and the religious leaders had changed the truth. They had changed the truth of what they felt was right and good.

[7:44] For them, murder was a civil offense. It was a civil offense. You'll be in judgment, you'll be in danger of the judgment. It had become simply a physical offense instead of an issue of the heart.

[7:57] The court would decide the penalty they thought was right. No mentions made of God's character being slandered. The fact that an individual had sinned against God and placed himself in God's place, determining and dispensing judgment.

[8:12] As a human being, I have a right to decide if you live or if you don't live. Their heart wasn't even mentioned. God's word always prescribed the death penalty. Look if you would have met in Numbers 35, 30.

[8:24] Whoso killeth any person, the murderer, shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses. But one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.

[8:37] Moreover, you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. Plain English. Here's what he said. You kill somebody and there are witnesses, you die.

[8:49] And there's no bond, no substitute, no satisfaction, nothing that can get you out of doing that. If you have committed murder, a criminal offense, killing a person, you die.

[9:03] God's word is being explained and clarified by Jesus. When you read the verse, he says, you have heard it said, but I say unto you, you could easily say, man, God, Jesus isn't agreeing with the Old Testament.

[9:15] Jesus isn't agreeing with what the Bible said in the Old Testament. Jesus isn't agreeing with what Moses said. That's not what's going on. He's saying, man, you know your religious leaders, they have changed the truth. They have twisted the Bible.

[9:27] And they were reading the Bible for themselves. And so they were listening to preachers. Well, that's a lot of what goes on with us. I mean, we've so many of us, we never really read the Bible for ourselves. And so we have this opinion of what God says based on what other people say, but we never heard God say it.

[9:42] And so like I grew up with, every tub must sit on its own bottom. And that's a Bible verse, you know, and God helps them to help themselves. That's another one. That's definitely in the Bible. And my daddy said, my daddy said, if any man wears a beard, that's against God.

[9:57] God said he loves clean shaven faces. And I can remember all these things that I've heard all my life. And so one day, I got where I could read my Bible and I looked and I said, I can't find none of them things, daddy. I went to him, I said, daddy, those things aren't in the Bible.

[10:08] He said, they're in there. You just don't know how to say the Bible. And so he would tell me, when I became a pastor, he said, you need to preach against all those men wearing beards at your church. And I said, daddy, I'm looking for a verse and there wasn't a computer yet.

[10:21] And so I read my whole Bible. I used all the concordance I could. And I told him, I said, daddy, I can't find one verse in the Bible about shaving and having to shave. And daddy said, that's because you don't know how to study your Bible yet.

[10:33] And so I got a computer when they came out and I looked it up and the computer, man, I looked up whisker, beard, hair, face, clean, shave, and everyone. And I said, daddy, I can't find it. He said, them computers are no good.

[10:45] So here's what Jesus was saying. Here's what Jesus said. You have heard them say a bunch of stupid stuff. But I never said that. So let me tell you what I said.

[10:55] And so in the very beginning, the Jews had changed God's word. By the way, you're so guilty of falling for that. You need to get your Bible. You should come to every service with your Bible open.

[11:06] You should have an ink pen with you. You should have a sheet of paper with you. You should take notes. You should check out what I say. You should read your Bible every day so you know. Yep, that's in there. Yep, he really said that. Don't trust Austin because Austin might tell you every tub shall sit on its own bottom.

[11:22] It really will. God just never said it. But it really will. Every tub, well, I guess it could sit on somebody else's bottom. I'm not going to share how that works. Look if you would at Psalm chapter 51 and verse 6. God's word was not concerned with external legalistic behavior, but with the heart.

[11:38] God's word was not concerned with external legalistic behavior, but with the heart. Psalm 51, 1, 6, the Bible said, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

[11:52] God is far more interested in what's going on inside of you than he is of what you're doing on the outside. God's people didn't know the word of God like they should. They only knew what religious leaders were telling them.

[12:04] They weren't reading and studying the Bible for themselves. What he's saying in the passage is, I told you to write down this. Well, at least I haven't committed murder. What he was saying is, you can't justify yourselves because you have never committed the physical act of murder.

[12:20] You cannot justify yourselves because you have never committed the physical act of murder. Murder is not something you do with just your hands. It originates in your heart. The Pharisees and religious people of the day saw righteousness as an external so they could see themselves in a good light.

[12:36] Now, Jesus says it isn't just the act of murder but it's being angry, hating, cursing, and maligning another person. So, what is murder?

[12:47] Look if you went in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 22. Verse 21, he said, you have heard it said. But I say to you, verse 22, that whosoever is angry with his brother, you ought to circle that word.

[13:00] He said, you heard that if you commit murder you're in danger of the judgment. Well, I'll just go ahead and tell you what I'm saying. I'm going to tell you what God originally meant. I'm going to tell you what the Bible really says.

[13:10] It wasn't about don't kill somebody. It was far deeper than that. The killing was only an external manifestation of something you've got going on in your heart. He said, whosoever is angry, circle that word angry, and then go a little bit further down in the verse and circle the word Raca, R-A-C-A.

[13:29] He said, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. So, there is a time that you can be angry and there is a right kind of anger, but there's an anger that's wrong.

[13:39] Raca shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. So, if you would, write this one down. Murder.

[13:50] Ready? Anger and hating your brother. Murder. Anger and hating your brother. In 1 John 3, in verse 15, he said, whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.

[14:06] Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. 1 John 3, verse 15, I will take enough time that they get that on the screen. I want you to see that. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.

[14:19] And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. What? Hey, whoa, I've never committed murder. You hate your brother, you are a murderer.

[14:31] You see, anger and hatred, that's what leads to murder. And so, Jesus goes to the core. Now, not all anger was wrong. Jesus himself got angry and he cleansed the temple.

[14:43] And we are told that we can be angry and sin not. In Ephesians 4, 26, be ye angry and sin not. God is angry with the wicked every day. So, it's not wrong to be angry for the right reason.

[14:55] Psalm chapter 7, verse 11 says, God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. So, anger is not necessarily wrong, but there is a wrong kind of anger.

[15:08] But just let me say this. We could easily pass over this. I could just say, anybody here committed murder and everybody go, nope, none of us committed murder. And everybody feel like we could go on home. But that's not what Jesus does. He goes to the very core, the very heart, the very center of the situation.

[15:22] You see, anger that is wrong is a brooding, simmering anger that is nurtured and not allowed to die. It's holding a grudge.

[15:33] It's having a smoldering bitterness that refuses to forgive. It's cherishing resentment and not wanting reconciliation. That's anger.

[15:45] He said, he said, they say unto you, he that commits murder, danger of the judgment. I say unto you, he that's angry with his brother without a cause. He that's angry with his brother without a cause.

[15:57] It's the idea of a root of bitterness. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 15 says, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, it trouble you and thereby many be defiled.

[16:12] So he says, hey, they said to you, if you commit murder, civil court for you, judge will figure out what he wants to do to you, figure out how much he ought to charge you, figure out what ought to happen to you.

[16:23] Jesus, that's never what I said. That's never what the Old Testament said. That's never what God said. What actually God said is, hey, if you're angry without a cause against your brother, if you say raka, if you say fool, you understand it's a lot deeper than I killed a man, I stabbed him, or whatever.

[16:42] It's a lot deeper than that. Now just let me stop a second and say, man, I've counseled people for over 40 years. So many of us are angry. So many of us have this bitterness in our heart.

[16:55] We've got a root of bitterness. Man, we hate our parents. Sometimes we hate our neighbor. We hate the person who did us wrong. We have this simmering hatred in our heart.

[17:06] And that's what Jesus was going for. He was saying, look, listen to me. They said, if you kill civil offense, I say, anger in your heart. I say, anger in your heart.

[17:20] And if we got rid of all the anger in our heart and the hatred in our heart today, we honestly have revival in our church. We don't commit murder, but we just hate people.

[17:31] We don't commit murder, but we are angry. Somebody did us wrong 10 years ago. Somebody did us wrong 100 years ago. And we're harboring that. We even hear messages. And right now you're saying, you're not talking about what I'm thinking.

[17:43] You don't know what's going. You don't know what happened to me. You're seeing what you can do to hold on to that anger. Somebody did me wrong. So that hating heart is hindering us.

[17:56] And Jesus said, they said to you, if a man commit murder, he's in danger of judgment. But I say, if you're angry with your brother without a cause, you're in danger of the judgment.

[18:09] Now really, even that phrase isn't what he's, the point. Because really, just saying fool, you're in danger of hell fire. I remember when I was a kid, I never could understand that verse. In fact, I used to go around, you know, you remember Mr. T, you fool.

[18:22] And I used to, you know, and I think, that guy's going to hell, man. You said the word fool, you're going to hell. You can't say the word fool. You can say idiot, but you can't say fool. That wasn't the point. The point's not the word fool.

[18:33] The point's that attitude in your heart. And he's saying to you, you guys got it all wrong. You put the emphasis on if you committed an actual murder, but I'm telling you, angry, rock a fool, you're in danger of hell, buddy.

[18:46] Because you got the hatred in your heart. You got it in your heart. So could I just, before I move on real quickly, ask you, would you be honest and look at your life, just you alone in your seat between you and God, and say, do you have some anger?

[19:00] Is it something your mother did? Is it something your dad did? Is it something a brother did? Is it something a businessman did? Is it something somebody else did to you? And you're holding on to it? You see, that bitterness is hurting your marriage.

[19:13] Man, your ex-wife, your ex-husband, the person who raped you, or the person who abused you, or whatever, and you're holding it in your heart. You're not hurting them.

[19:25] You're hurting you. You're hurting you. And that root of bitterness is going to spring up and destroy your family and destroy others around you.

[19:37] He said, anger. The second word he uses is the word raka. Chapter 5, verse 22. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother raka shall be in danger of the council.

[19:53] Raka was a common nickname, an insult used in Jesus' day. There's no modern equivalent. It's a term of malicious abuse, derision, and slander.

[20:05] It meant something like you brainless idiot, you worthless fellow, you silly fool, you empty head, you blockhead. David describes the idea in Psalm 140, verse 3, where he says, they have sharpened their tongues like a serpent.

[20:24] Adder's poison is under their lips. It was a type of word that would have been used by the soldiers who mocked Jesus as they placed the crown of thorns on his head and led him out to be crucified.

[20:36] It's slandering a creature that God has made in his image, which is like slandering God himself. Well, see, the text is about murder. It starts off saying, you have heard it said that if you commit murder, you're in danger of the judgment.

[20:54] He said, that is never what was ever said because the next person he started, you heard that, but I say to you, your first reaction is, oh, Jesus doesn't agree with the Old Testament. No, Jesus said, your pastor didn't agree with the Old Testament.

[21:07] Your preacher didn't agree with the Old Testament. Your priest didn't agree with the Old Testament. Your leader didn't agree with the Old Testament. The truth is, the truth is, I'm going to tell you what's really true. Anger, insulting, hateful, bitter, mean words that you would use against another person of God.

[21:26] It's like having contempt in your heart, murder in your heart towards another person. Third word he uses that's interesting is fool.

[21:37] Chapter 5, verse 22, he says, I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka, blockhead, worthless fool, shall be in danger of the council.

[21:53] But whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire. The word fool simply means stupid, not intelligent. It's the same word we use to get our word moron.

[22:06] To be angry is the basic evil behind murder. To be angry is the basic evil behind murder. To slander a person with such a term as Raka is even more serious because it gives expression to that anger.

[22:23] I'm feeling anger, now let me express that anger. To condemn a person's character by calling him a fool is even more slanderous still. You've heard it said that if you commit murder, you're in danger of the judgment.

[22:38] But man, you've got to go stand before a civil court and they're going to figure out what to do with you. But that ain't what I say. What God was originally saying was, I don't want that anger in your heart. I don't want that Raka coming out of your mouth.

[22:50] I don't want that fool coming out of your mouth. I don't want that. I don't want you to get rid of that anger. Those are simply expressions. In other words, none of us go around saying Raka. I don't know when the last time anybody looked at me and said, Hey, Raka! Nobody said that to me.

[23:02] It's not the point. The point's not that. The point is that anger. It's not even a point here about you making jokes and cutting up with each other. It's that anger. And we've put a good face on but our hearts are full of it.

[23:20] The word fool possibly has a lot of insult because in Psalm 14.1 the fool said in his heart there is no God. Psalm 53.1 it says the same thing. To call a person a fool is maybe like cursing him and murdering him and being guilty of the sin.

[23:34] worthy of eternal punishment. Fiery hell. That's what it said in Matthew chapter 5. In verse 22 it said be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire.

[23:50] So it's time to evaluate ourselves. Do we have hatred in our heart? In marriage counseling which I don't like doing at all.

[24:02] It's one of my least favorite things. I just I mean when people come to me I'm like you know you're not going to listen to me you're just wasting my time and you don't pay me. They got people downtown you pay them 100 bucks an hour you'll probably listen to them because they cost you 100 bucks.

[24:15] Since I'm free you abuse me. They come to you but you know what is seething in their heart most of the time? Hatred. Angry. Angry at my husband.

[24:26] Angry at my wife. Angry at the people that did this to me. They're just I'm angry. They're uptight. They're angry. They're mad.

[24:37] Jesus said they told you if you committed murder civil trial for you but I tell you no anger no insults no slander. Get rid of the anger.

[24:49] Get rid of the anger. Do we try to justify ourselves saying that at least we have only thought about it? We've only thought about it? You know I never have killed anybody but I have thought it wouldn't be a bad deal if God wanted to kill somebody for me.

[25:09] I actually remember being with a man in another city and he was talking to me about his son-in-law and his daughter had married a guy he didn't want to marry and we were sitting there and he said to me I want him dead.

[25:22] I said brother you should not have that hate in your heart you should get rid of that. He said I don't have hate in my heart I want to kill him. Literally that's what he said and then he said to me then he said to me I've been thinking about going to the Everglades and going hunting with him and I said what for?

[25:40] He said to lose him. He said you know you could do something down there they'd never find a body. I said brother do you understand what happened? The real problem wasn't even the talk about going down there.

[25:50] That might be the terroristic threat that gets you in problem with the police. Nothing happened. This was 20 years ago so he's still alive. I actually saw a picture of him on Facebook and it looked like he was getting along and I was like praise Jesus he's not down in the Everglades amen.

[26:05] But the point was the hatred in his heart. The hatred in his heart. And we got on good Baptist faces this morning. Well we're just really good people aren't we?

[26:16] But our hearts are full of hatred sometimes. Our hearts are full of hatred. If we tried to use the Bible to justify our bitterness and our anger and our hatred we hate it and we say well you know God's all for this.

[26:30] Ask yourself are you guilty of brooding simmering anger that you simply will not allow to die? Here's the real question ask your spouse does your spouse ever mention to you honey man you're just so full of anger you're so full of hate do others notice it in you?

[26:55] Let me give you the second thing if you have that anger it hinders your worship Matthew chapter 5 and verse 23 anger hatred and bitterness interfere with our worship of God because the real issue is your heart murder is simply an outgrowth what is your heart what is in your heart is what is hindering you in your worship of God Matthew chapter 5 verse 23 therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and remember your brother remember that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way and first be reconciled to thy brother then come offer your gift you see religious people were practicing worship but it was external worship it was external worship it wasn't worship from the heart the heart was angry the heart was mad the heart was full of bitterness but they came and they brought their offerings if you have sin in your heart then your external acts aren't acceptable to God if you have sin in your heart your external acts aren't acceptable to God Jesus has just put anger and hatred on the same level as murder and adultery

[28:00] God taught his people he didn't want their worship if it wasn't reflected in their lives in Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 11 he says Isaiah 1 11 to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me why are y'all bringing me burnt offerings why are y'all bringing me animals that you've killed you're like well we're supposed to verse 16 he said wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed-judge the fatherless feed for the widow he said man y'all guys are great at bringing offerings ten thousand dollars for this build a building with this do this with this I've got all the money in the world but I'm going to keep on hating I'm going to keep on being the wicked corrupt stinking vile individual life he said

[29:01] I don't want your gifts leave your gift to adultery go get it right and come back and talk to me in Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 9 he said will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense to Baal a false god and walk after other gods whom you know not and then come to my house and stand before me so you do all that junk and then you come to my house and stand before me the real issue is always the heart in Psalm 66 18 he said if I regard iniquity in my heart if I keep iniquity in my heart if I keep sin in my heart if I keep wickedness in my heart he won't hear me in 1st Samuel chapter 15 verse 22 he said has the Lord his great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord to obey is better than sacrifice to hearken or to listen than the fat of rams do you realize that if you're worshiping

[30:04] God with this anger hatred and bitterness in your heart that it's hindering your worship he wants you to get it right your heart affects all you do coming to church giving praying teaching and witnessing are no substitute for repentance no way out of it so the passage of scripture moves to Matthew chapter 5 verse 25 he started off and he said you guys have heard it said that if you commit murder you're in danger of a civil lawsuit but I say unto you anger rocker and fool you're in danger of hell fire and by the way if you come to church and you got all this junk in your heart you come to the temple and you got all this junk in your heart just leave your gift at the altar and go fix it with the guy that you got all against you because I'm more concerned about the way you're living than you bringing me an offering Jews were really good about hey I sinned and I'll go bring an offering the Peruvians used to say to me at the very beginning of the ministry before they grew and matured they used to say stuff like this we'll confess it tomorrow let's just do wrong today and we'll confess it tomorrow that's exactly the attitude we'll confess it tomorrow then the last part of this passage is get it right now immediately get right look at chapter 5 and verse 25 agree with thine adversary quickly whilst you're in the way with him that's at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver to the officer and you be cast into prison barely I say unto you thou shalt by no means come out thence the teaching of the passages immediate repentance you're on your way to being judged say you're sorry now believers should never allow bitterness anger hatred or any other sin to separate us from other people we should never allow bitterness anger and hatred to separate us from other people if you're not careful your hatred and bitterness and bad attitudes will catch up with you and you'll be caught in a web in a prison that you can't get free from and it will affect your entire family

[32:14] I'll read the last verse to you in just a second I'd just like to say to you there's a lot that goes on in the passage and we could stay in it for a long time but here's the main thing you heard that murder was wrong and you get a civil trial you say no no no let's get to the root of this your anger and your insulting and your slandering they're the real problem they're the root of murder and you need to get it right you need to get it right now and so many of us boy God has so much for us we're holding on to junk we're holding on to junk you still remember something your spouse did five years ago and you hold on to it and you cherish it you polish that memory and you say man I remember when she said I remember when he said I remember when she did I remember when he did and you keep that and you polish it and you cherish it you remember when your parents did you wrong you remember when this person did you wrong you remember this thing that happened to you the fact is you have even made bigger than what actually happened because you hold on to junk and he said that you can't worship that way you can't worship that way it's hindering you and it's leading you down a path that's going to destroy you so stop now in your tracks don't wait till you get in more trouble don't wait till something else happens get it right now

[33:38] I don't think there's any murderers in this room I don't think so I highly doubt that anybody in this room has committed murder in the last week or the last month or the last year I have preached in churches I preached to one guy who was a convicted murderer and was out of jail so every now and you run into him but most of them aren't committed murder but man we are hateful people aren't we and we come to church with a different face we come to church with a different attitude we come to church with a happy smile I'm so happy but buddy if you could just peel back that fake smile you'd find out in their heart they're so angry husband and wife come in the door and everything looks great but in the car in the house in the bedroom or wherever it is when that ugly face comes off bitterness preacher's kids bitter about the way their parents were treated in the ministry missionary kids with bad attitudes deacons been burnt by pastors pastors been burnt by deacons churches been burnt by each other hatred hatred

[34:42] I'll read you one more verse I grew up in the country you know one of the problems of living in the country in Spanish they used to say pueblo chico infierno grande little town big hell because everybody knows everybody everybody knows everybody I'm mad at that person because their parents did this to my parents 200 years ago and so I'm still mad it's ridiculous there were people in church that sat on one side of the auditorium and other people sat on the other side of the auditorium and they hated each other never shook hands and you're like man what is going on here it goes on in our churches we're just bigger churches in the city churches and people don't know each other so well maybe but it's this root of bitterness is going to destroy you Hebrews 12 15 my last verse and I quit we've already seen it once let's go back to it Hebrews chapter 12 look diligently study yourself look diligently unless you mess up and God's grace not do its work in you see

[35:46] God's trying to work in your life but God's grace may not accomplish its purpose because you may allow a root of bitterness some hatred that you're holding on to some anger that's simmering in your heart just let me say this man preachers have done you wrong I know that church people have done you wrong deacons have done you wrong church people family members have done you wrong government people have done you wrong the world has done you wrong your mama looked at a cow while she was pregnant and that did you wrong I know we got a bunch of excuses but the facts of the matter are I need to get that root of bitterness out of me or it's going to spring up it's going to hurt my wife it's going to hurt my children it's going to hurt my family and you think I have it under control you can't control those rattlesnakes you got them stowed in your heart but eventually you're going to get bit in those around you would there be anybody be honest enough to say don't you know don't raise your hand we don't have a lot of response at any invitation

[36:50]  I know today I get none but would anybody say yeah I got some of that stuff hidden in my heart I got some of that stuff I keep stuck away inside the fact is when you said it I thought immediately of you you know why don't you pull it out right now and lay it in front of Jesus and say with your grace and your power I'm turning from this hatred and this anger and this bitterness and I'm turning to you and letting you love and work through me father in heaven I pray you'd work today I thank you for your people I thank you for your beautiful passage of scripture I pray that it would be real and powerful to work in our lives I'll give you great honor and great glory and great praise for what you do in us show yourself greatly and I'll give you glory this message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred Georgia for more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings