October 6, 2020 THE GOOD TREASURE
Matthew 12:35 “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”
In this section of the scriptures, Jesus is addressing the religious leaders and was exposing their hearts; they professed with their lips an obedience to God, but the lives they lived was in total opposition to the truth of the gospel. The point Jesus was forcefully making was that the words they were speaking about Him and His flowers were coming from an unbelieving, evil heart. In verse 12:34b Jesus said “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:35 is an amazing verse. When I think of a treasure chest, I envision the pirate’s hidden chest on a remote island, overflowing with jewels, diamonds and gold, and the pirate is passing out gifts from the precious contents of the chest to his loyal men. Our heart is our treasure chest and we bring forth from that chest; if our heart is good, we bring forth what is good, and if our heart is evil, we bring forth what is evil. We must clarify ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ The over-riding truth is that only God is good as we see in Luke 18:19 “Why do you call Me good? Jesus answered. No one is good-except God alone.” James 1:17 tells us that all good comes from God. Many have difficulty with this reality, but only those who have been born again, who trust Jesus as Savior, can have a truly good heart. This is true because at salvation, God gives us a new heart-a heart like His. (Believers can choose not to live out of their new heart.) I said above that this is an amazing verse because once we understand the implications of being able to bring out what is good out of the treasure (the new heart) that God has put in us, life takes on a totally new meaning. When we realize we have this inexhaustible treasure within, we can continually give out with our words and action, good gifts to anyone and everyone! We can give out good words; words that are fitting for the moment; words that encourage and bring out the best in others; words that point the way; and words that bring hope. Our words are potent; they can speak life or death. As alluded to above, this treasure chest is not depleted as we give out of it. 2 Corinthians 9:10 “Now He who supplies seeds to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” Let us not just read this verse and then go our merry way; let us receive and act on what Jesus has said about the good treasure and let us begin today to bring forth from the treasure what is good. Perhaps we need to lay aside some old ways and responses that are not from the good treasure. Ket to all of this is whether or not we are living out of the new heart that God has given to His followers.
John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”
Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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