Wormwood

Well, happy Sabbath, everyone! Good to see all of you today. Thank you, Ray and Teresa. Beautiful song. We really appreciate you sharing your talents with us and praising and worshiping God. Thanks for the amazing reminder we are to be the temple of God. We have a collective responsibility to serve together and serve God, and that is certainly something that is at the forefront of our minds, always something we need to keep in mind, especially at this time of the year as we approach the Holy Days. It certainly is that reminder. You've probably been noticing a little bit of change. I saw some leaves that were beginning to change colors. Anybody see some leaves changing? All right. Even though it's so hot and muggy, it's still changing. I know some of you are gardeners. You've been bringing some of your fruits here to share with our snacks. I've tasted some of your tomatoes, and boy, those cucumbers get giant, don't they? If you don't get them every day out of the garden. We were talking about that the other day, and someone was telling me that they were trying to grow fungi in their garden, but that it failed miserably. So I said, well, that's okay. You've got mushroom for improvement. Yeah, exactly. Those pests, they're the worst, aren't they? Those pesky bad jokes, especially. Someone told me that, did you know in a garden that worms are great company? How in the world can worms be great company? They said, well, the reason is because they're so down to earth. Just so down to earth.

I might say, well, what does that have to do with anything? Well, let's talk about worms for a moment. You ever heard of wormwood? Wormwood, term that's used in the Bible. Not wood made by worms, or it's not wood that's infested by worms, but it's certainly a term that comes up many times throughout Scripture. Why? And what does it have to do with anything? What does it have to do with spirituality? Well, let's think about that for a minute this afternoon and begin by noticing the very first mention of the word wormwood in the Bible. To find that, we have to go back to Deuteronomy chapter 29. Deuteronomy 29.9 is where we'll begin. And if you remember, Deuteronomy 29 is where God is giving instructions to the Israelites just before they come into the Promised Land. They're going to come into the Promised Land. They have left Egypt. They've been out there, wandering for 40 years, and now is the time. So God begins to remind them of their collective responsibilities, what they need to be careful of, how they need to continue to follow God's guidance at all times. So God rehearses that with them here in Deuteronomy chapter 29. And it's interesting what He brings up as He discusses these things. He brings up the possibilities of great blessings. And yet, on the other hand, if you disobey, there are going to be consequences and they are not good. So here in Deuteronomy 29.9, God reminds them, keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do. Obedience brings blessings. No doubt about that. God promises that. But then later, verse 18, He says, so that there may not be among you a man or a woman or a family or a tribe whose heart turns away. Okay, that's disobedience. What happens with disobedience? If they turn away, it says, from the Lord our God to go and serve other gods of these nations, He says, and that there may not be among you a root-bearing bitterness or wormwood. And so it may not happen when He hears the words of this curse that He blesses Himself in His heart, saying, I'll have peace even though I walk in the imagination of my heart. So here's someone that's totally self-deceived. They think they're doing great, but by disobeying God, they're bringing consequences upon themselves. Great difficulties will be the result of turning your back on God and convincing yourself it's okay. It's not that bad. And of course, in this example, wormwood is connected with someone who turns their back on serving God, turns their back on God's law in His way, in a relationship with God. Now, it's interesting to see wormwood is used in many different scenarios, but they all connect to this idea of the symbolism of this word.

Bitterness is what comes to mind. Bitter attitudes, bitter and a harsh approach, an attitude of anger or resentment, or in this case, self-justifying. I can justify why I'm doing this and convince myself that something that is evil isn't really that bad. Now, if you begin to look into this word wormwood, it has a literal interpretation. What does it mean literally to be wormwood? Well, if you were to look it up, wormwood says it's a bitter aromatic herb.

Its technical name is Artemisia absinthium, better known today as absinth. And you'll never guess what its most prominent feature is. Bitterness. It is a bitter herb. So, if you look it up in a Bible dictionary, like Ottenheimer's, it'll tell you it's a bitter plant found in Palestine. And it's usually connected to gall in the Old Testament, which is a kind of poison. And if you looked it up in Jacinius, Hebrew lexicon, it would tell you it's called wormwood because it's noxious.

Another word for kind of poisonous. And it is very bitter. So, when you begin to consider this, you might not realize that it's actually part of the sunflower family. It doesn't grow super tall. It's between two and four feet tall when it grows and matures. And it has lots of small flowers along its branches. And what they do with this is they can take those leaves and some of the stems and things, and they distill it. They steam it, and then they collect the oil from wormwood. You'll never guess what it's called. Oil of wormwood. Oil, at least initially. Now, you go back in time, oil of wormwood was kind of an elixir, you might say.

Maybe that reminds you of old westerns somehow, when you'd have the guy right up in the wagon, and he'd say, I've got this snake oil I'm going to sell you, and it is good for everything. Well, oil of wormwood was kind of like that. It was formerly used as a tonic.

It was used as an appetizer. It was actually used to try to expel intestinal worms, which is probably where this name might have originated from. Wormwood was also used as an antimalarial. Liniment, rub it on yourself, it do wonders for you. Even used as a moth repellent. So, it's interesting when you consider wormwood, two things begin to jump out. Very bitter, very bitter to the taste, yet not the only characteristic. If you were exposed to it for long periods of time, it had very dangerous side effects.

Once they refined it, once they steamed it down, you'd get this greenish, kind of brownish liquid that they used as a liqueur. Now, it's not just any old liqueur. This was serious stuff. In fact, it still is today. Serious! Absinthe, oil of wormwood that was steamed down, turned into an alcohol. The proof on that alcohol could go up to 148 proof.

148 proof, which is phenomenal when you think about it. And so, absinthe was the result, which kind of tastes a little bit like licorice or maybe anise type of flavor. Actually popularized in Europe as a liqueur by the French Foreign Legion. If you go back to the turn of the 20th century, the French Foreign Legion came across the Mideast, ran into this absinthe.

And they thought this was amazing stuff. They thought it would make them stronger and actually became a fad in Europe. And they began to drink this absinthe in the cafes in France, in Italy, and in Switzerland. And it became the rage in the early 20th century. Now, of course, it was bitter. And that made it, for some, hard to drink that straight. So you know what they would do?

I mean, the uppity-ups, the upper crust, would sit in their French cafes and they'd get a little glass of water and a spoon with a sugar cube on it. And they'd drip the absinthe on that sugar cube as it would drip into their glass. And that way, it made it so much more agreeable. It was tasty. It was more palatable that way. And so it became the thing.

But as its use increased, they began to realize there's some pretty serious side effects from absinthe, especially for those who couldn't get away from it. They found it to be very addictive. It brought on symptoms of hallucinations, sleeplessness. People would even begin to tremor if they became addicted to absinthe, and they would convulse. People thought that they might have been overtaken by some crazy disease because of the results of that. Now, since then, the scientists looked into that and tried to sort out, is that from the absinthe alone, or was that just from the alcoholism? Because it was an addictive type of thing. In fact, they even had a name for it. They called it absintheism. Absintheism. Alcoholism, basically. And it got to the point that it became so serious and so prevalent, this absintheism, that France banned absinthe in 1915. And quite a few other countries followed along as well. Now, you've probably heard of the famous artist, Van Gogh? Vincent Van Gogh, a famous painter. They feel that it's possible absintheism might have contributed to Van Gogh's suicide. Not sure about those things. But it certainly tells the story. What seemed to be something that was, well, good, might have been helpful in many different ways, turned out to be a snare, turned out to be something very destructive. And there certainly is a connection here between the physical side of wormwood and absinthe and the spiritual parallels of wormwood. Why does God give so many stern warnings to us about wormwood? Why would He give us those things? Well, I think that's the challenge, that we all can be confronted with a spiritual absintheism, with a bitter heart. And God wants us to examine our hearts and our minds to move from bitterness to blessing, like Deuteronomy 29 talks about. And so when God mentions wormwood, He reproves us not to allow it to get us, to get our hearts and our minds into a bitter state. Because there are certainly reasons that we might have bitter feelings. Are there reasons for maybe sometimes feeling resentful? Do you have any reasons that you might feel a little spite, a little hard feelings toward someone? There's a lot of reasons out there. And maybe even you could convince yourself, these are good reasons. I mean, you don't know the home that I grew up in as a kid. You don't realize my parents divorced when I was four years old. Do you know what it's like to live as a little child in a dysfunctional home? I went into my marriage with the best of intentions. I was fully dedicated to my spouse, and then everything fell apart. I lost my home. I lost my spouse. I lost everything that was meaningful to me. Do you think there's reasons I feel this way? I don't understand why I got fired. I work hard. I put everything I have into my job, and you should see the other workers. They laze around. They get away with all kinds of things. How is it that I'm the one that has to pay the price when they cut down on the employment at my work? I don't understand that.

You don't understand. Do you know what it's like to be abused as a child?

To have someone abuse you. It is a horrible thing. To have these feelings, I'm justified. Or I lost my loved one. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't understand why God would allow them to die. Why would God allow that? Doesn't He know how badly we needed each other? Doesn't He understand? I did everything I could to try to keep my head above water. I don't know why I'm in these financial problems. I tried to do my best. I tithe. I give my first portion to God. And yet, here I am in this horrible financial mess.

And I prayed about these. You don't think I prayed about these things? I prayed about this, and I don't understand why God hasn't answered. Why hasn't He heard my prayer? Does He not realize the difficulty that I've been in?

You know, sometimes it just boils down to sin.

Sin has brought me to this frame of mind that I am angry, and it's created this root of bitterness I just cannot seem to overcome. Yeah, there's plenty of reasons to be bitter, to have anger, to foster those kinds of emotions and feelings, and sometimes hide them very well. Oh, there's all kinds of reasons. Are they good reasons? Is that how we deal with those kinds of thoughts? See, God warns about that, and He warns about it consistently throughout the Bible, whether it's Deuteronomy 29. He also talks about it in the New Testament. Let's go over to James 3, verse 10. In James 3, verse 10, it gets to the heart of this idea of feeling justified for our anger, for our sometimes lack of self-control, for those kinds of emotions that we may harbor and are so difficult to get rid of. In James 3, verse 10, God inspired, I think, an amazing dichotomy here. What a paradox. James points this out. He says, out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. And then He says, My brethren, these things ought not be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter water from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Yeah, those are rhetorical. questions, right? Now, grapes aren't going to produce figs. Not going to happen. Olives aren't going to do. No, not going to happen. So then He says, Who is wise? Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy, self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

Oh, sure, you can kid yourself that I have good reasons for having this perspective.

But in reality, where does that influence come from? It's demonic. It's sensual. It's the opposite of the meekness of wisdom. It's self-seeking. It's also kind of interesting if you looked up this word for bitter in the Greek. It's the word pikros. And it has a connection to piercing, or cutting, because this kind of an attitude, this kind of harsh resentment, those hard feelings get right to the cutting emotions that don't want to deal with wisdom, but it's certainly a selfish attitude. It's a vindictive attitude. It's an attitude that's easily offended and will not forgive. It's that pikros, cutting, piercing, negative, harmful attitude that leads to bitterness. And James reminds us that this is destructive. This is destructive in nature. And if we harbor those kinds of feelings and emotions and attitudes, and that concept of wanting to get even and have revenge, boy, it should cause us to step back and say, wait a second, who wants us to harbor those kinds of feelings? Where does that come from?

You see, it's interesting that absinthe, wormwood, was sometimes served with that sugar cube because it made it so much more palatable. That's how Satan serves up bitterness. He makes it seem justified. He wants you to focus on your justness. I'm right to feel this way because look what's happened, and I'm right to think this way. It's good to hold a grudge because you recognize what happened? I don't have to let go of this offense because I'm justified in this. So my resentment, my ill will, my bitterness and anger, it's justified because somebody's got to even the score, right?

Earthly, sensual, demonic. And so over and over again, God says, these deep-seated, emotions that we may have have to be rooted out. We can't allow that to be a part of our character.

And it was something that was prevalent throughout God's people. The prophet Amos speaks to this. Amos chapter 5 verse 6, one of the minor prophets, if you turn there with me, we find Amos prophesying to ancient Israel. Of course, the northern kingdom, he's prophesying to them because they are about to go into captivity. They are about to be taken away because they refused to change. They refused to follow God. They were fulfilling what Deuteronomy 29 warned about. God said, don't be wise in your own eyes. Don't allow wormwood. Don't allow a root of bitterness to grow within you. And yet, that's exactly what they did. And so here's Amos warning them once again, hoping that they would listen and change. So when you get to Amos chapter 5 verse 6, it tells us, seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it with no one to quench it in Bethel. Verse 7, you who turn justice to wormwood, and lay righteousness to rest in the earth. Is it right to hold those bitter feelings, to have that root of wormwood? Here it says, if you have those kinds of attitudes, the common English version says, you're doomed. That translation says, you are doomed. You twist the truth and you trample justice because we're supporting something that's unjust to feel that way, to act that way, to want revenge. Expanded Bible says, you turn justice upside down and you throw on the ground what is right. And so we have to ask ourselves, what is just? What is right? What was God seeking here? Because they had turned away, because they had become bitter against God, God wanted reconciliation, God wanted peace, God wanted restoration. He wanted that breach filled and removed so they could have a right relationship with God. And yet they chose to hold on to what they felt was justice, which obviously was against God. And so we all have to be honest with ourselves. And sometimes that means looking a little deeper. Looking a little deeper. Hebrews 12 reminds us of that fact. Hebrews 12, verse 15. Same topic, same word being used here, that picrose, that cutting, that negativity, that piercing, that harsh resentment, those attitudes of bitterness and vindictiveness. Yeah, Hebrews highlights that here in verse 15. And notice what it reminds us. Our reaction should be. When we consider this topic, beginning in verse 15, it says, looking diligently. It means we kind of take some effort. We can't take it for granted and say, well, I don't have that. That's not part of my thinking. No, wait a second. We're human. And we have a tendency to think this way, to have these kinds of attitudes. So to look diligently, he says, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. Lest any root of bitterness springing up causes trouble. And by this, many become defiled. It's interesting, some of the translations point out that we could miss out on God's grace. We could miss out on God's grace to cause us to fall for... Well, what happens if we're outside of the grace of God?

We have no hope. We have no hope. We'll be defiled. We'll be outside the camp. We won't be in the kingdom. If we're outside of the grace of God, it's only by His grace that we have any hope. And so he points out that very thing. Our salvation is in jeopardy when we harbor these feelings of bitterness. We're forsaking God's way and His purpose and His plan of justification and restoration. And when we fall into this frame of thinking, we forsaken the requirement that God's given us to forgive. And it's interesting, it doesn't affect only us.

I mean, some interpret this passage and say, many become defiled. They're outside of the camp. Well, individually, yeah, that's true. But some interpretations seem to point to the fact that it's not just many individuals become affected, but that your bitterness affects others, that many others are infected by your attitude, by your approach, by your frame of mind.

Because there's no doubt, absinthe, wormwood, literally has bitter side effects. Yeah, you take too much. It's nauseous. It's volatile. It's toxic. The side effects of prolonged use. Yeah, like alcoholism, you can turn into a raging, angry individual who's harboring terrible things, who could even begin to see things that aren't even there. Now, spiritually, think about the side effects spiritually. We dwell on those bitter attributes.

There's going to be spiritual side effects that can be overwhelming. We, too, could spiritually hallucinate. See things that really aren't there. We could blow things out of proportion. That is not a big deal. But if we're not careful, we could see it that way. We could make it that way in our own mind. We could lose proper spiritual perspective. The result is hostility and discord. We could begin to imagine, they did that just to hurt me. They did that on purpose. We could say, wait a second, that's not fair. It shouldn't be that way in the church. We're supposed to be converted. How could they do that? How could I be treated like that? You see, we could feel that justness, that rightness. They did that. And boy, I can't let that go.

And so it leads to this aspect and the trait of being unforgiving, having a trait of being critical, or sometimes envious. I should be the one that got the promotion. I should have been the one that got recognized. And so then we become envious. Or judgmental. And we point our finger, at least in our minds. And if those things go unchecked, if we feel it's right to retaliate, if it's good for payback, that attitude will take you right out of the church and ruin our relationship with God. We could fall from the grace of God and our salvation. Salvation is at risk. And that's just how serious this can become.

In Psalm 64, we find another interesting example.

Now, it doesn't specifically mention wormwood here, but the attitude and the approach certainly ties together in a profound way. In Psalm 64, picking it up in verse 5, Psalm 64 verse 5, notice the frame of mind that we can harbor and we can convince ourselves is all right. This is acceptable. This is good. Psalm 64 verse 5 begins by saying, they encourage themselves in an evil matter. This is really bad, but I've convinced myself it's not that big a deal. It's okay. I'm right. I'm just in thinking this way. It says, they talk of laying snares secretly. They say, who's going to find out? Who will see them? They devise iniquities. We've perfected a shrewd scheme, they say. Then it reminds us, both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep.

Yeah, no wonder it's called a root of bitterness, a root of bitterness, because it is deeply entrenched and it is hard to get rid of and it's easy to convince ourselves it's not that bad. But verse 7 reminds us, God shall shoot at them with an arrow. Suddenly they'll be wounded. He'll make them stumble over their own tongue. All who see them shall flee away. In other words, God can't allow that to go unchecked. Not going to happen. Didn't happen with ancient Israel. He could allow them to continue to disobey. So eventually, captivity had to happen. He did everything He could to help them to change and repent. But what do we convince ourselves of?

He says, eventually all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God. They'll wisely consider His doing. The righteous, those that choose rightly, shall be glad in the Lord and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory. And I think that offsets that sugar cube idea, doesn't it?

Wow! I'm encouraged in this thing that's just wrong. Because Satan would love for us just to see that side of things. The pleasant side of bitterness. The palatable side. That good feeling. You ever have that feeling? It's wrong. But boy, I feel good about being upset about this.

That's not of God. That is not of God. Yeah, retaliation can stop getting even. It can carry that connotation of, yeah, that's... they need that. But that bitterness, that wormwood, it is a poison and it corrodes the heart from inside out.

Bitterness is like a tangled web. A tangled web that ensnares us in resentment. And it's like a door that is locked and it is blocking the entrance to reconciliation. It's blocking that entrance to forgiveness and healing. And wormwood can be a stone wall that separates us, separates relationships, and it isolates us. It isolates our hearts and our minds. Wormwood is kind of like trying to pull dandelions. Anybody ever try to pull dandelions? As a kid, my mom would send us out to pull the dandelions, just I think sometimes just to get rid of the kids. Go pull the dandelions. Yank those things out? Uh-oh. Something broke off at the bottom. Oh, never know the difference, right? Boy, it doesn't take long. Oh, it's right back all over again. You've got to root it out. You've got to dig it up. And you can't just try pulling at it a little bit. It's not going to work. You have to completely remove it. And I think that's where this spiritual impact really takes heart, where we can really begin to see. This is a terrible thing. And I have to admit, I think that way at times. And yet, it is possible to overcome and move from bitterness to blessing.

We can fulfill what God talked about in Deuteronomy 29. We don't have to face the detriment of wormwood and gall and bitterness. We can receive the blessings of God. But if we're going to do that, we do have to make a concerted effort. I think first and foremost, number one, we're going to move from bitterness to blessing. We must seek peace. Seek peace.

Two pretty simple words. Is it possible? Well, there's a psalm that I know you're aware of. Psalm 34 verse 14. Psalm 34 verse 14. Are you very good at memorizing Scripture? Okay, some of us are shaking our heads. No, I'm not. You've already memorized this one. You know this passage. Okay, maybe not. Yes, you do. You ready? Turn thou from evil.

You know it. You know it. Turn from evil. Do what is good. Seek peace. Look at Psalm 34.14. New King James says, Depart from evil. Do good. Seek peace. Pursue it.

Short little sentence there. But boy, a lot of action words. Action words. Depart. Do. Seek. Pursue.

Yeah, we've been given the guidance here of what we need to make happen. We have to go after it. We have to seek. It's not going to happen on its own, is it?

Am I going to take personal responsibility to find peace in my life? Can I look to God and by the power of His Spirit, seek reconciliation, seek peace? Can I pursue it?

We read Hebrews 12.15 a little earlier. That verse just before that, just before Hebrews 12.15, it says, Pursue peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. If we're not seeking peace, if we're not pursuing it, if we're not pursuing that and holiness, Hebrews lays it on the line. You're not going to be there. You won't be in the kingdom. It's not going to be possible. And so we've got to pursue it. We have to go after it. Yeah, that word can definitely mean you're chasing it. You're hunting it. It's with a passion that you're not going to settle for less. When there's difficulties, you are going to work it out. And there's a certain level of zealousness, which means we've got to change our perspective, change our thinking, change our focus, and concentrate on something else. So what do I think about? If I'm going to seek peace, well, you know how that is. You're harboring this resentment. And if I keep thinking about it, oh, it's getting worse. Yeah, and I'm going to grit my teeth because that's the way it is. That's what's going on on the inside. And it just seems to build and it seems to grow. I've got to change that focus. So what do I do? Philippians 4-4 is probably a tool that we can use as we're seeking and doing and departing from evil and pursuing good. And that's probably another one you know. Philippians 4-4, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.

Wow. That sounds pretty easy. I should just... Wait a second. That particular passage doesn't say, well, be happy even though you're going through tough things. Doesn't say that, does it? Nope. It doesn't even say, rejoice in your difficulties. Doesn't say that either.

Where's the rejoicing?

In the Lord. In the Lord. Change your focus. If you focus on those things, those difficulties, the abuse, the difficult relationships, the resentment. He treated me that way. I have a... We focus on that. That's just going to build and grow just like that little dandelion root that we thought got pulled out, but it's going to grow right back and probably be bigger than ever. No, we rejoice in the Lord and we change our focus and concentrate on God. Yeah, that's easier said than done. But with the Spirit of God, it's possible because with that understanding, realizing, wow, if I rejoice in the Lord, I'm recognizing the fact of who's really in charge. Who's really in charge? I'm not. This person who did these things is not. God's in charge of my situation. God's in control of the circumstances. And what does he remind us of when we talk about even the most severe trials we may go through?

Does he say something like, all those things can work together for good? Yeah, Romans 8, 28 tells us that. But it does say they work together for good for those who love God, for those who rejoice in the Lord always, those that focus on the spiritual side of things, the character of God. Do we really believe that he really only allows those things that could ultimately be a benefit, that could ultimately be good for us? That's faith. That's having a confidence because God has said it. It is absolutely true. It is undeniable. And so we can change our perspective when we begin to seek peace. Now, if we're going to move from bitterness to blessing, I think another step, a second step, would be to forgive.

Forgive. If we can forgive those who have hurt us, it really is a key to finding true peace. Yeah, there are times in our life we've thought this. Unless I'm the only one. They don't deserve forgiveness. Are you kidding me?

Now, if you've ever felt that way, you ever felt like they owe me. They owe me. They're going to pay. They deserve everything they get. They're not going to get away with it. You see, those kinds of thoughts. What if we turn that around? What if God was saying that to us?

Does God say those things to us? How much do we owe God? How often does He forgive us?

How much did Christ say we should forgive others? Once or twice ought to cut it, right? No. It is remarkable. When Christ taught the disciples how to pray, Matthew chapter 6 gives that model prayer, that outline, you know, shows them very clearly, shows us how to beseech God.

And it is amazing immediately after Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. What does Christ say next? Immediately He says, if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also. There's a direct correlation there. He says if you don't forgive others, you want to hold bitterness? You want to hold under resentment? You want to have that kind of a payback attitude? He says your Father will not forgive you. I mean, Christ set the most amazing example in that way. And sometimes we fall into this attitude of, well, if they ever kind of admit that they did wrong, well, maybe I think about forgiving them. Is that the approach that God wants us to have? Is forgiveness dependent on the offender? Maybe they don't even know what they've done. Is forgiveness, is forgiving others dependent on their request to be forgiven? Well, if they don't ask me to be forgiven, I'm not giving it to them. See, I have a right to be bitter. I have a right to resent. What did Christ say when He was dying? He was being crucified. Do you hear anybody in Scripture asking Him for forgiveness? Anyone calling out, save us. You're the Messiah. You are God's Son. Not a one! Not a one! And yet, what words did Christ utter?

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Nobody was asking. It wasn't dependent on the sinners or their request. Christ made a choice to give His entire life, to give His life to forgiveness so that it would be possible for us. It's a choice. It's a choice we all have to move away from that bitterness, to release that burden of anger and resentment. And it is an act of mercy. It is an act of kindness. It is an act of kindness. And it aligns with God's desire for reconciliation.

You might write down 1 Peter 3, verse 8. It tells us the kind of people we need to be. Have compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tender-hearted. Be courteous.

Yeah, in fact, it says, don't return evil for evil, reviling for reviling. But what does it say?

Well, Christ was reviled. You know the story. Did He revile in return? No, we know He didn't. We didn't. He took it. And He offered forgiveness. We're told in 2 Peter 3, don't return evil for evil, but on the contrary, blessing.

Knowing that you were called to this. We're called to this so that we may inherit a blessing, so that we may be forgiven as we forgive others. That's a challenge. Even in the absence of a request for forgiveness, we have the opportunity to reflect the power of God's love and demonstrate that God's Spirit is at work in our life. And we're demonstrating this principle of grace and compassion as we reflect the very character of Jesus Christ. Now, we can continue to move from bitterness to blessing by taking a third step. Remember we talked about that little dandelion root that was left over that's going to spring right back up? Number three is, get out the garbage. I guess I could have said get the root out. I thought I'd turn it just a little bit with a little bit different analogy. Garbage out! For all techies out here, or really anybody that's got a smartphone, when it's messing up, it's not working right. It's supposed to be doing this and it's not... What's the first thing you do? I turn it off! I reboot! I turn off my computer when it's not working and that solves most of the problems. I reset! I reset! I reboot! Yeah, sometimes that may mean I got to get the garbage out that's clogging up my phone or my computer because you leave that in and you don't reboot? It's never going to work right. And I think that principle holds true in our minds, in our thinking. Remember what Christ said? The things that come out of us, the things that come out, those are the things that defile a man. So we've got to get rid of those things. And if we harbor that root, it's going to be reflected in our attitude. It's going to be reflected then in our actions. And it helps us to realize this is really a battle for our thinking, for our mind. And this is a tremendous battle, an intense battle. It's a spiritual battle. We are fighting spiritual wickedness. Does Satan ever play fair? He never plays fair. He is unrelenting. And he doesn't care about the world. He's got them. He wants us. He's hard at work to undermine our faith. And our mind is our greatest asset. And God's given us the power of His Holy Spirit. And so when that connects with the Spirit and man, our thinking reasoning capabilities, we have this awesome asset that we can overcome with His help and get our thinking under control. We can change the way we think, get out the garbage, get out those attitudes, and begin by God's Spirit to regulate what comes in. And then what actually goes out. And if peace is in, that will certainly prevail.

In fact, there's a beautiful Psalm, Psalm 101. You might just write that down. I won't turn there this afternoon. But it would be a maybe a fun assignment, maybe for the rest of the Sabbath, or maybe later this week, to study Psalm 101. Because it's a Psalm that addresses how careful we need to be, how watchful and observant, how aware we need to be of these kinds of attitudes that can infect our way of thinking. And when we see it, if we're willing to recognize it whenever it pops up, if we're on our spiritual toes, and not just taking things for granted, and we see it in any form that it takes, we're going to cut it off. We're going to get rid of it. We're going to silence it. Because this Psalm helps us to recognize, get out the garbage. Get out that wrong sin. Get out that wrong way of thinking. And you can begin to overcome, especially as we set the Word of God before ourselves every single day. Because we put in what's right, and then out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Because that's what's there now. And I think we could, we might consider it as a bank account.

How full is our bitterness bank account? Is it just, uh, I don't have too much bitterness. I'm doing okay. Is that a good way to think about it? I remember being a little boy, and mom took us down to the bank one day, and we opened a bank account. Wow! We got to put some of our allowance in. I think I had about a dollar twenty-five in my bank account when they first got opened. And it was so cool you'd get a little bank book back in the day. And if you made a deposit, you'd give the the teller your bank book, and they'd stamp it with your deposit. It was so exciting. Now the part that was really cool is when I didn't have any money to put in there. And we went into the bank, and my little dollar twenty-five earned a couple of pennies' interest. It was like, wow! That's really cool! Free money! This is great! And so as a little eight-year-old, I thought that was the most amazing thing of all. Look at that! I didn't have to do anything! And my bank account grew!

About twenty-five? That's not much. So what about our bitterness bank account?

I mean, if there's only a dollar twenty-five of bitterness, what's going to happen to it? It's going to grow. It's going to come back. It's not going to go away on its own. No, it's going to continue to grow. And we don't want that kind of interest, because that's a demonic, destructive dividend that we have to get as far away from. We've got to get that garbage out. Because when you really get down to it, the bitterness, as much as we might like to think we're getting even, they deserve it, I'm right, who's it really hurting? It's really hurting me. It's really hurting me the most. And God warns it could lead to destruction, so we have to be so careful.

One other step that we can take. It's kind of connected to this idea of getting the garbage out, wording it just a little bit differently, is that we have to allow God to do a clean sweep. Allow God to do a clean sweep. If we're going to overcome bitterness and move to blessing, we've got to sweep it out, and we've got to keep it out. Sweep it out and keep it out. And the only way that's possible is by allowing God to do that very thing. Because I recognize I can't do it myself. It is not possible! My own righteousness? It's this filthy rags. It's nothing.

And one of the sections of Scripture that really tells that story is the book of Lamentations. We don't often turn there, but if you turn over to Lamentations, chapter 3. Lamentations, chapter 3, now it's before the book of Ezekiel. So you can, if you're, Ezekiel's a bigger book, so if you find Ezekiel there, it's after Jeremiah is another big book back in Jeremiah. So you've got to go forward because it's after Jeremiah, but before Ezekiel, we have a little book of Lamentations. Lamentations, interesting book because here we find the prophet Jeremiah lamenting over Jerusalem. Jerusalem has basically been destroyed by the Babylonians. It is wasted. It is wasted. And he is in despair. It's like a death. This is like a funeral dirge because it is so upsetting that God allowed this to happen. And so Jeremiah tells of the afflictions and he tells of the despondency, the weakness, the misery, because everything is in ruins. And Jeremiah is feeling this. Jeremiah is feeling the despair and the despondency. And so we get down to Lamentations 3 verse 18. Look at how impacted Jeremiah is by these types of thoughts. He says, my strength and my hope have perished from the Lord. You see, Jeremiah got to the point. I used to have hope in the Lord. I used to have my strength in God, but it's gone. It's like Jerusalem has been destroyed. My trust in God has been destroyed. How could God allow this? This is unbelievable. And so here Jeremiah himself seems to have given up hope. His trust in God seems to be gone. It's evaporated. He says in verse 19, remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. Yeah, Jeremiah had fallen into that type of thinking. He says, my soul still remembers and sinks within me. He's remembering the wormwood, the suffering, the sorrow, the affliction, the depth of this emotional anguish and pain, the bitterness. It's all right there, right in front of him. So you can imagine that feeling. What could he do about it? Well, verse 21, he says, this I recall to my mind. Therefore, I have hope. Now, when I read that, I wonder, wait a second. You just said, your hope is perished from God. You've given up. There's no hope. Then you're recalling the suffering and the wormwood and the sorrow. And now you've got hope? He's realized he needs a change of perspective. He needs a change of perspective. He needs to allow God to do the clean sweep of it all.

And so, notice this monumental shift in his thinking as we get to verse 22. He says, through the Lord's mercies, we're not consumed. Yeah, Jerusalem may be in a total mess. It may be totally destroyed. That's not the end of the story. God may allow that to happen in my life, these difficulties, these trials, these challenges. But don't get bitter over them. Don't get angry and resentful with others. Don't strive for payback because God's mercy hasn't been consumed. It's not at the end. He says, because his compassion fails, not. Another beautiful section of Scripture that you've got memorized. You have this section of Scripture memorized? Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercies I see. That came to Jeremiah's mind. No matter how bad it looks, no matter how awful it may seem, God is always merciful. God can turn all of that bitterness into good when we trust and we rely on him. Verse 24, the Lord is my portion. This is the solution. Therefore I will have hope. As dire as it may look. And it's interesting, these trials, these difficulties that, yeah, even Jeremiah went through. It brought out this humility of where our real hope is, where our real confidence is. And out of humility and out of trials and difficulties should spring hope. And because of God's mercy, it's not worse than it already is. Could it be worse? Probably. Probably.

God promises. Jeremiah recognizes that. He promises to help and lead and guide and work things together for good. So even in the most difficult things, let God do a clean sweep of our thinking to change our perspective. Because even in the face of death and destruction and bitterness, blessings can triumph through faith. And when we have that knowledge, we have that understanding, we're recognizing, we're proclaiming very clearly that God is in control. And so when we do those very things, we can turn it all around. And so let's be on the lookout. Be aware, recognize, recognize it's there. So guard our hearts and minds and maybe recognize the fact that it's time to deworm. It's time to deworm. We've got to eliminate the spiritual parasite of wormwood. Recognize it. Determine not to allow resentment, not to allow grudges, not to allow anger, not to allow hard feelings or animosity to continue on. Get rid of it. Get rid of it quickly and don't drink the spiritual toxins. Avoid those fatal spiritual side effects and make it a goal. Make it our goal to follow peace. Make it our goal to forgive. Make it our goal to get out the garbage and let God do a clean sweep. And if we do, that wormwood, that root of bitterness, it will be dug up and rooted out. And then, then we can move from bitterness to blessing.