The Heart in the Tongue
J.A. Macdonald Matthew 12:33-37 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt… The subject of the Pharisees' blasphemy is continued in these verses. From them we learn - I. THAT THE LICENCE OF THE TONGUE IS A PREGNANT EVIL. 1. It is fruitful in robbery. (1) Slander filches the reputation of the innocent. A man's character is his reputation with his Maker, whatever may be his reputation with his fellows. Reputation is a man's character as estimated by his fellows. Next to the favour of God men esteem that of their fellows. It is a moral power the loss of which is serious injury. (2) Slander robs a man of his friends. We are constituted for society. Solitary confinement is intolerable. No man can afford to be deserted of his friends. But who would be the friend of a blasted reputation? (3) Slander deprives a man of property. The robber may not be enriched, but the robbery is real. A man without a character is shut out of the markets. 2. It is prolific in murder. (1) Murder is held among men of all crimes the most heinous, and is therefore visited by the extreme penalty or' law. But hatred is incipient murder (cf. Matthew 5:21, 22; 1 John 3:15). Slander is the hatred of the cowardly knave. The Pharisees who first maligned Christ then took counsel to destroy him (see ver. 14). (2) If slander does not aim at the life of the body, it stabs the life of character. Character is moral life. It is a more sacred thing than the life of the animal. A virtuous man would part with the life of the flesh rather than sacrifice his character. (3) The poison of the nettle or of the sting of an insect is not the less real because it may elude the tests of chemistry. The murder is not the less real because it is not overtaken by the civil law. 3. It is emphatically diabolical. (1) Calumny is the favourite weapon of the "father of lies." This is expressed in his very name. "Devil" means traducer. Satan slandered God to Eve (see Genesis 3:1, 4, 5). Satan slandered Job to God (Job 1:11; Job 2:4). (2) Therefore the blasphemy of the Pharisees is here fittingly compared to the venom of the serpent. "Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?" (see also Matthew 3:7). (3) The malignity of the slanderer is devilish. Its wickedness is as gratuitous as it is cruel. A burglar may benefit by his plunder; but this species of robbery benefits nobody. A man whose reputation is preserved may replace his property; but filched of his "good name" he is "poor indeed." II. THAT THE CONQUEST OF THE TONGUE IS A WORTHY AMBITION. 1. Words are the vehicles of thought. (1) They are the instruments of thought. We think in words. We cannot think without them. Try. Clear ideas are shaped in appropriate language. The vocabulary of the savage is too rude for him to be capable of profound or philosophic thought. (2) They are the conveyancers of thought. Perceptive ideas may be conveyed by other signs, as gesture, or facial expression; but profound thoughts and delicate distinctions require the more perfect instrument of speech. 2. By words thought stirs worlds. (1) The world of commerce. Educated hands and inventive minds are linked by words. Words guide the transport of the products from the factory to the market. In the market they preside in all exchanges. (2) The world of politics. The speech of an orator may shape the destinies of an empire. By a word the peace of a continent may be settled or disturbed. Words have created revolutions. (3) The world of morals. Witness the connection between the preaching of Peter the Hermit and the Crusades; the relation of the preaching of Luther to the Protestant Reformation. 3. What an engine for good or evil is here! (1) Skilfully used, steam will set a factory in motion. Mismanaged, it will wreck it. So words. (2) Eternal happiness or misery turns upon the quality of a word. A good word may awaken memories and start trains of thought to issue in a regenerated life. A malignant word, at a moment of indecision, may so determine the will as to damn an immortal destiny. (3) The value of words will be seen in the day of judgment. For by their words will they be judged (vers. 36, 37). (a) Wicked words will pass in review. The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. The word against the Son of man. (b) Idle words - words wanting in seriousness and caution; discourse that does not tend to the glory of God; the desecration of the solemn language of Scripture in garnishing idle talk (cf. Proverbs 10:9; Ephesians 4:29; Ephesians 5:4; 1 Timothy 5:13). (c) Of these we shall have to give an account. Picture the Pharisee explaining his blasphemy in the very presence of the Blessed One whom he had attempted to identify with the devil! III. THAT THE TONGUE IS CONQUERED IN THE HEART. 1. Speech is the natural vent of the heart. (1) The heart will have expression or it will break. The growing tree will displace rocks. The overflowing fountain will carry away obstructions. Pent-up feeling is like steam in a close vessel. (2) The heart will have adequate expression. This it can only find in speech. It is ready. ":Nearest tile heart, nearest the mouth." The idea most forcibly impressed on the mind wilt naturally claim first utterance. The tongue also is flexible and mobile, and words are versatile and apt. 2. Language is the sure index to character. (1) This follows, for the heart is the character. Jesus is the good tree whose fruit is good. The Pharisee is the evil tree whose fruit is evil. (2) As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the heart by the conversation. "The kind of speech in a man betokens the kind of action you will get from him" (Carlyle). (3) The tree after its kind is folded up in the seed, and can be evolved from it again; so from our words the Judge of all will evolve again our character in the great day or' doom. (4) Every word has its moral history. (5) Though Jacob may simulate the raiment of Esau, he cannot simulate his voice. 3. Therefore the tongue must be cured in the heart. (1) They begin at the wrong end who would reform the heart by reforming the tongue. "A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; but whilst the root abides in strength and vigour, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more" (Dr. Owen). (2) Resolution can only transiently cure, viz. while the matter is present to the mind. But thought cannot evermore remain upon any single subject. The most vigilant sentinel must sometimes sleep, and the truant heart will out. (3) But let the heart be full of love to God and man, and its malice may be trusted anywhere. (4) Nothing but the salt of grace will heal the bitter spring of the bad heart. Nothing but a good graft can convert an evil tree (see 1 Samuel 24:13; Isaiah 32:6). (5) It should be more our care to be good than to seem good (cf. Proverbs 25:26; Jeremiah 6:7). - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. WEB: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.