Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees

In the Psalms, in Hebrew, it says, Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. Unity is the heart of God. So much so, that one of the six things that the Lord hates is one who sows discord among brethren. Because he desires us, especially in the church, the Lord Jesus gives one commandment to us, to his disciples at the last supper. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, and by this shall all men know that you are my disciples. So this, the unity of the brethren and the oneness of the church was always on the hearts of the Lord and our apostles. And I'm going to read a passage from Philippians, the first chapter that kind of expresses this in the heart of Paul, and then we're going to continue on with the message. Actually, this is Philippians chapter 2, starting with verse 1. Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, and if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, fulfill my joy by this, that you think the same way, by maintaining the same love, being united in spirit, thinking with one purpose, doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others. This was always the goal of the apostle Paul and Peter. We're going to look at both of them. First in 1 Timothy chapter 1, starting at the very first of the chapters, 1 Timothy 1.1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my genuine child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord, as I exhorted you when going to Macedonia to remain on at Ephesus so that you may command certain ones not to teach different doctrines, nor pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to mere speculation, rather than furthering the stewardship from God, which is by faith. Because this, the goal of our command is love from a clean heart. Some of your Bibles may say pure. We'll study that word in a minute in more detail. The goal of our command is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unhypocritical faith. I want you to underscore that. An unhypocritical faith. Why would Paul mention that here? He goes on to say some straying from these, straying from love, a pure heart, a good conscience, and an unhypocritical faith. Some straying from these have turned aside to fruitless discussion. And look at this. They want to be teachers. They've turned away from the most primary things and they want to be teachers. But what they want to teach about is not foundational. It's not unifying. It's not what fulfills the will of God by our being one in spirit and purpose. One body, one family, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. This was so much the heart of Paul that he agrees with the same heart in Peter. If you want to turn there to 1 Peter 1. If you're following me, 1 Peter 1. I'm going to read from verse 22. And it's interesting. Remember what I had you underscore? I had you underscore what Paul said. A faith without hypocrisy. A sincere love for the brethren, a good conscience, and a faith without hypocrisy. Now, note what Peter, Peter makes almost the same observation. 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Since you have, by obedience to the truth, purified your souls. There's that word again, pure or cleansed. I like the translation cleansed better. You've cleansed your souls for the love of the brethren without hypocrisy. There it is again. Why do two different apostles, Peter and Paul, both warn that it is possible to have a faith, a love, and a conscience that is hypocritical. That's interesting. We're going to explore that a little bit and see what that means. Since you have obeyed, since you, by obedience to the truth, you've purified your souls for the love of the brethren without hypocrisy. Fervently love one another from the heart. Now why? Why in both of these apostles are they mentioning that the faith and love and conscience we have with one another needs to be without hypocrisy? What did he mean? Let's look at our, let's look. This is something our Lord dealt with fairly extensively. Let's begin by looking in Luke chapter 12. Give your Bible. Look in Luke chapter 12. I'll start with verse 1, Luke 12, 1. At this time, after so many thousands of the crowd had gathered together that they were trampling on one another, he began saying to his disciples, he's talking now to his personally chosen disciples, be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy that Paul warned about and that Peter warned about is the leaven of the Pharisees. Now, who are the Pharisees? The Pharisees are the most religious people that walked the earth that day. They were the conservatives. They were fundamentalists. The scribes were the ones actually who wrote the law as the Pharisees interpreted and made laws. The scribes would write it. The Pharisees would enforce it. And yet Jesus says hypocrisy was leavening them. Now notice what about leaven? Leaven is just a very little bit. So everything they were doing was being leavened and effected by hypocrisy. He goes on to say, verse 2, and I love this, and let me say this for our own congregation. There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed. There's nothing hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in secret is going to be declared openly. And what you have whispered in the inner rooms, it's going to be proclaimed from the housetops. And I can tell you right now, God is going to do that in our midst. He's heard every single conversation you've had, whether it's your wife and you alone, whether it's your own private conversation with yourself. And God is about to expose it if it's leavened with hypocrisy. Because he's not going to have us be a body effected by the leaven of hypocrisy. Now, what does he mean? What does Jesus mean? What is this hypocrisy that he's talking about? Let's look deeper into our Lord's words. Matthew chapter 6. Go to Matthew chapter 6 and let's get into what our Lord says. He gets into more detail about what this leaven of hypocrisy is. Matthew chapter 6 verse 1. Beware of doing your righteousness before men so that you may be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do. Oh, what do hypocrites do? They give in order to be seen. Amen. That's what they're doing. Truly, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not pray like the hypocrites. There it is again. So what do you think they're praying? Why are they praying? For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues. Do you love to pray here publicly? You want to lead the church in prayer. You want people to hear how godly you are. How spiritual you are. How you know the Lord. It's especially precious when you're called upon to pray publicly here in the synagogue. They love to pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your inner room and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you openly. Then, I'm going to turn to Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23. I'm going to start in verse 1. Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. They have a place of authority. Therefore, all that they tell you, do and keep what they tell you. But do not do according to their deeds. So what is it we're not to do? What were they doing that we are not to do? For they say and do not do them. They actually don't live everything that they say. Goes on in verse 4. They tie heavy burdens and lay them upon men's shoulders and they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. And then Jesus says this. But they do all of their deeds. Now that's a pretty bold statement. These are religious men. They study the Scriptures. They pray. They give their tithes. They keep the law. But they do all that they do to be seen of men. Now remember, it's just leaven. Even if they didn't realize it, the Lord does. And you know what? The Lord knows every single one of us here. He knows even if it's the slightest bit, you do what you do because you love the attention. Even if it's just a minute part, it affects the way you think. It affects what you say. It affects how you give. It affects how you pray. And it is hypocritical. Isn't that interesting? Would you judge yourself a hypocrite? If you are leavened by the desire for men to recognize what you're doing, you are a hypocrite. You don't realize it. These were the most dedicated men that Jesus was speaking of. But they did not recognize how much they had come to love men's attention. They wanted to be seen as spiritual. They wanted to be seen as godly. They wanted to be seen as faithful. And that little desire affected everything they did. Jesus goes on to say, They do all their deeds to be noticed by men. They brought in their phylacteries. Phylacteries were these prayer shawls. And it wasn't enough to have just a regular prayer shawl. They had a wide... Look at my prayer shawl. Look at my prayer line. See how often, how much time I spend in the Word. Make sure men know. Make sure men know what you're doing. They wanted men to see, I am dedicated. My prayer shawls. Why? And they make tassels on the corners of their garments. That was according to the law. The Jews were supposed to make tassels on the corners of their garments. The tassels would remind them about the commandments. It's almost like their form of rosary. They would go through the commandments. The certain knots on the tassels would remind them what the commandments were. But they didn't want just regular tassels. Ah, they wanted tassels that everybody knew. We were religious men. We're faithful to God. We love the Lord. Look at me. Again, just a little bit of it. Even if it's only a tiny bit, it affects everything they're doing. This is what Jesus said. They love the place of honor at banquets. They love the important seats. They love to be called rabbi. Hmm. This was the hypocrisy. They did what they did affected by a tainted desire to be recognized. They love men's attention. They did not do it with a pure heart. And that's what I would what I feel our Father is calling us to is to have a pure heart. A clean heart. The Greek word is katharos. It literally means to be without mixture. Without mixture. In that sense, that's why it's translated sometimes as pure but clean. But it means to reduce to one whole substance. And what do you think the mixture is that the Lord wants us to cleanse from our heart? What do you think it is? What's that one little thing that as long as it's in our heart will affect everything we do? The desire to be noticed. The desire for attention. The desire for recognition. Blessed are the clean in heart. For they shall see God. You know what see a heart that is cleansed from the desire to be noticed and recognized by men is not looking to men for affirmation. They don't need men's approval and they don't fear men's disapproval. They do what they do before the eyes of God. Jesus said this. He who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth and there's no unrighteousness in him. Jesus said I only say what the Father tells me to say and I only do what the Father shows me to do. You do a man who does things to be seen of men acts for his own personal interest even if it's only slightly. His heart is tainted. It's corrupted. It's not pure. Purity of heart having a clean heart is throughout the scriptures the goal for the people of God. And I'd like to just add to this message it's not the focal point of the message but I do want to add to the message, this message what it means to have an unclean heart and how you or I as a believer can have an unclean heart if we're not careful. Right? If you want to follow me Matthew, if you're still in Matthew if you have your Bibles open I'm going to go to Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15 verse 1. Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. They really placed a lot of emphasis on these external tradition, these rituals that they had. And he answered and said to them why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said honor your father and mother and he who speaks evil of father and mother is to be put to death. But you say whoever says to his father and mother, whatever might have benefited you, I've given it to God. Indeed he's not honoring his father and by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, here you just point blank, Jesus called them, you hypocrites. You rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, this people honor me with their lips but their heart is far away from me. Now why is he saying it? Remember, what is the leaven of the Pharisees? What is this hypocrisy? It's the desire to be recognized, that's what it is. So why are these men drawing near God? What's affected them in their service, in their giving, in their reading, in their studying, in their preaching, in their teaching? What is it? It's their enjoying the attention all along and nobody may see it but God. God may be the only one who sees it but nothing is hidden from him and Jesus saw it and Jesus dealt with it straight out. That's what you're doing. These people draw near me with their lips but their heart is far from me, in vain they worship me, teaching his doctrines of men and after this Jesus called the crowd to him about this issue, this controversy because the Pharisees were really concerned about the disciples not washing their hands, weren't they? No. They were really concerned about making Jesus look bad so they would look better. All the people need to know, we're making sure everything is done right here. We're the leaders in Israel here. We got to make sure that everything is just done according to the law. That's where they're at. It's not some sincere concern. Then the disciples, Jesus answered this hear and understand is it not what enters the mouth that defiles the man or makes him unclean but it's what proceeds out of the mouth makes a man unclean. See Jewish the Jews according to the law of Moses certain foods were clean and certain foods were unclean and if you ate something that was unclean you became unclean even if you touched something that was unclean you became unclean but Jesus said no. It's not what goes in your mouth that makes you unclean. It's what comes out of your mouth that makes you unclean and I want to confess something that is sad. I have yet to meet very many Christians who actually take this seriously. Who actually realize how much they defile themselves by uncontrolled speech. I'm looking for more people who will fear God and tremble at his word and because they realize that they can corrupt themselves by a fit of rage and words spoken out of control they can defile themselves that they will actually begin to keep a tight rein on their tongue and sink before they speak and keep their mouth closed a whole lot more than they currently do because I don't think we take it seriously what did our Lord say? He said men are going to give an account on the day of judgment for every idle word spoken. Is that not enough for us to keep a tight rein on our tongue? That we're going to give an account for the things we let fly out of our mouth without thinking? Or that we let come out of our mouth because we wanted some attention? See that's the danger of loving attention. Comedians love attention. Clowns love attention. Flatterers love attention. Is it really they think you're that beautiful? Or they just want you to think about them. How nice you are. How complimentary you are. How wonderful you are. See that? You see Levin? Levin. Not controlled speech. Flattering speech. He who flatters his neighbor the Bible says spreads a net for his feet. What's he trying to catch? He's trying to catch your attention. He's trying to catch your respect. He's trying to walk away with you thinking highly of him. And we don't get it. Jesus said about his disciples. His disciples recognized that when he said, it's not what enters the mouth that makes a man unclean, but what comes out of the mouth. His disciples said, hey Master, did you know you offended the Pharisees when you said that? You know what he said? He said, leave them. Every plant that my father didn't plant is going to be uprooted. They're blind guides. Blind guides. How could he say they were blind? These men could quote, most of these men could quote the first five books of the Bible. Word for word. Most of them. They knew the Bible probably better than anybody here. He called them blind. You know why they were blind? Because they were their vision was blocked by one thing. Their love for attention. And that little leaven in their life calls them to say things that the father was not directing them to say. Were not pleasing to God. And so Jesus goes on to explain. Because Peter asked him, Peter said Lord, explain this parable to us. And Jesus said, are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and from there goes to the sewer. But the things that proceed out of the mouth they come from the heart. And those things that come from the heart defile the man. And listen to these things and please let's search our heart to see if there's any of these things in our heart. Because if they're in our heart, you know what's going to happen? They're coming out. It'll just take the right circumstance. It'll take the right situation and what's hidden in your heart will come flying out of your mouth and you won't be able to take it back. There it is. Not only will you not be able to take it back, the very thing you are saying is making you unclean. The thoughts that are in your heart are the source of the uncleanness. But in saying them, you're literally defiling yourself and grieving the Holy Spirit. So husbands, you speak to your wife those ugly words, you're defiling yourself. Wives, you speak those ugly words to your husband, you're just defiling yourself. Is that going to help the situation? How about you employees? You say those disgusting, you say those words to your fellow worker, you're just defiling yourself. Are you really helping the situation? You may be relieving some pressure while you're contaminating yourself. That's according to our Lord Jesus. Listen to these things. Out of the heart come evil thoughts. The word thought is dialogismo. Dialogues. It's a way of reasoning. Out of the heart come these evil reasonings. Because believe me, every single one of us, to say these things that we shouldn't say, we have a reason for saying them. And Jesus acknowledged that. Oh yeah, you've got your reasons, they're evil. Your reasoning is evil. That's the first thing you need to recognize. And how do you recognize that your reasoning is evil? Well, because it comes out as murderers. Murders? Out of your mouth? Yeah. Didn't Jesus say that? He who looks down upon his brother is a murderer. Meseo. The Greek word meseo. He who hates his brother in his heart is a murderer. The Greek word meseo literally means to esteem less. To disesteem. You're murdering your brothers when you're disesteeming them with words from your mouth, and you're contaminating yourself while you do it. Adulteries. Sexual immorality. Stiffs. False witnesses and slanders. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. This is why, and I want to invite you to do something. I'm going to invite you to join me in a relationship. Those of you who are visiting, you didn't sign up for this, but you get to think about it, because this is what I'm asking for anybody. I am asking this for anyone who attends here. I'm asking for perfect speech. Perfect. I'm asking for a heart cleanse of any kind of ungodly, selfish, proud attitude towards anyone else. I'm asking that if you think you're better than anybody else, I'm asking you to rip that thought out of your heart. And I'm asking everyone here to commit to having such a tight rein on your tongue. That you weigh things before you say things, so that we can literally walk in this admonition from the Apostle Paul, let no unwholesome talk proceed forth out of your mouth. That means between husband and wife. That means between best friends on the phone. That means when you're mad and when you're not mad. You never let an unwholesome word come out of your mouth. Never. Never. Anger does not justify unwholesome words. It only proves you also lack self-control. That's the only thing it proves. And it proves if you're consistent in it, you are unspiritual. Because the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. And a man who controls his anger is stronger than someone who conquers a city. That's what we're asking. I'm asking for the same thing the Apostle Paul asked. Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only that which is good for building others up. Now that word that you're thinking about in your anger and your frustration and your opinion about someone, I'm asking you to weigh it. Weigh it. Don't weigh it whether it's factually accurate in your mind. Weigh it to see if it will actually build someone up. And regardless of how accurate you think it is, if it doesn't build someone up, keep your mouth shut. Let no unwholesome talk proceed forward out of your mouth. Only that which is good for building others up according to their need and that ministers grace to the hearer. And listen to what Paul goes on to say. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. You know what happens when we say words that we have not detected that come from the uncleanness in our heart and that we speak out of an irritation or we speak out of an opinion or we speak what we think is we've naturally observed. It's earthly. It's demonic. It's natural. It's not wisdom from above. It's not pure. It's not peaceable. It's not considerate. It's not full of mercy and good fruit. It's just in our mind it's accurate so we don't detect how evil it is. The devil uses accurate facts to accuse people. The devil loves accuracy and facts. But he uses them against God's people not for. That's the difference. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. These are the Apostle Paul's words and I'm asking you to enter into covenant with me. Agree with me that this is the way we should live in our century right now. Nothing's changed. And let me say I don't care if your past experience has not proven this true. I don't care. I don't care if you've never seen a church this way. I don't care if you've never walked this way before. This is how the Apostle Paul said we are to be. And I don't want some pie in the sky guy sitting out there or lady in your mind saying this is unrealistic. No one does this. No one has babies without a man either. You believe the virgin birth? You believe the Red Sea happened? Then don't let what you've seen with your eyes make you an unbeliever and be like the Israelites who died in the wilderness because they didn't believe that God in His power could fulfill what He promised. Because this is what Paul says let all all bitterness anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you. So how much of that should we allow here? Zero. Zero. Zero. And I just feel like Paul writes us instructions. I know it says to the letter of the church of Ephesus but I read it just like to University Park Baptist Church every one of us get rid of all bitterness all anger get rid of it. All slander all malice all so that there is none among us. Zero. And we have a zero tolerance policy. We won't listen to it. We won't speak it. We will not accept it. That there's not even a corner where someone can hide it in secret. And if it is whispered in secret, all of us will rejoice that it gets shouted from the rooftop. Because we want it exposed. We don't want any of it in our midst. Why hasn't church been like this? Is it because we don't actually take it that seriously? We don't tremble at the order of God? We just somehow convince ourselves that's not attainable? May it never be. Instead, not only we get rid of bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting, slander, and malice. Instead, we are kind to one another, tenderhearted, and graciously forgiving one another. So that means even if one of us offends another, anger is not appropriate then. You're not even allowed to be bitter even if they hurt you. You're to forgive as the Lord forgave. You're to forgive them in just the way the Lord Jesus forgave you. This is Christianity. Don't you want a home where there's no anger, and no bitterness, and no slander, and no malice? Don't you want to live that way? Don't you want a church where there's none of that? Where you never have to worry about what someone is saying behind your back? Where the people that are here, even in the private conversation at home, would not dare to say an unkind, unloving thing about you. That's the kind of church we should be. That's the New Testament church. Now who's going to enforce that? How is that going to be? I can't hear you. I'm not everywhere. But remember what we read? Remember what our Lord said? Everything that you say in secret? He'll bring it out. He'll bring it out. He will. Be careful. So I'm just encouraging, and that's kind of what I'm asking of you. I'm saying, as my brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are one in this. We're one in this. We are fully committed to this, to walk in this together. Now, getting rid of it may be a process. That's going to mean putting habits to death. One of the first habits that's going to need to go is the habit of you saying what you think. But that's the beauty of watching what you say. Because you know how to have a clean heart? The secret to having a clean heart? Listen to your own words. Test them. Test what you say, and ask yourself, is this wisdom from above? Is this pure? Is this peaceable? Is this full of mercy? Is this sincere? Is this good fruit? Is this edifying? Is this full of grace? Ask yourself. And here's what's beautiful. If you catch the thought before it becomes a word, you know what you learn in the process? You learn how to take every thought captive. And bring the thought into the obedience of Jesus Christ. And here's the beauty of learning that as a believer. James put it this way. We all stumble in many ways. And by the way, by the way, he said this in the context of let not many claim to be a teacher. We don't want many teachers. So can I say that amongst us here? We don't want many teachers. You want to be teachers? Some of you brothers are teachers and you want to teach. Let me tell you something very clearly. Every single one who wants to teach here, you are going to be judged more strictly than anyone else. That's what the scripture says. The highest standard of speech and excellence is required of you to speak and to teach. You need to be the example and then teach the gospel. If any man has never and goes on to say let not many be teachers, for those who teach shall incur a stricter judgment. And then he follows it with this. If any man is never at fault in what he says. Now that would be a sweet goal. And I can tell you, my wife does not mind me aiming for that goal. I'm not ashamed that my personal goal is to never be at fault in what I say. Weigh every single word. Speak it carefully. Even weigh the tone. I was a bus driver for the Northside School District. And of course they have recordings and cameras. They record the audio and the video of everything. And I never knew how just a look and tone and posture could communicate such a threat. They expected the bus driver to be perfect regardless of what the kids did. Do you realize that? The kids could spit in your face, slap you across the head, make your life miserable. And you know what they wanted you to be? Perfect. They wanted you to be able to watch the video. That's not right, sonny. I'd like to kill you, but no. No, they didn't. They wanted you to be the adult. The professional. The under control. They taught this course called Nonviolent Crisis Intervention. And I'll tell you what. Safety. What I'm talking about and what the Lord is desiring is this should be a place of safety. Where there are no sword tongues. There are no spears. We don't throw stones. We are here to help one another achieve this beautiful, perfect grace. That's what we're here for. The man who is never at fault in what he says is a perfect man, matured. The idea of perfect in the Greek means it functions like it was designed. A man who is never at fault in what he says is functioning the way God designed and he is able to control his whole body. I don't know about y'all, but I want to be able to control my body rather than having my body control me. I don't want to blame what I just said on my anger. I want to control that anger. I don't want to blame what I just did because I had this built up frustration. I want to control the frustration and find grace in Christ to be gentle and meek and kind and loving and good. So what I'm calling us to this perfection of speech, caution of speech is all throughout the scripture. All throughout. And the promises the promises for us if we put away the wrong kind of speaking and we only speak that which is pleasing to God. Listen to this beautiful promise. It's both in the Old Testament Psalms chapter 34 and it's quoted in its entirety that passage anyway in 1 Peter chapter 3. Here's what it says. Whoever would love life and see good days. Let me see that. Does that interest you? Loving life? I just love life. Life is so good. I love it. And my days are so good. They're wonderful. He who would love life and see good days keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. The word deceitful speech. You know what that word is? It's kind of difficult to translate. It has to do with allurement. Beguiling. You know what I sense in that? What is allurement? What is speech that is alluring? What are they trying to allure you to? Personal attention. When someone is complimenting you really because they want you to think they're special. They're spreading a net for your feet. Flattering. Or they're speaking or teaching leavened by the desire for personal attention. That's deceitful speech. It's really not done before the eyes of the Lord. It's done. Even if it's only tainted by it. It's done because they love the attention. Put away that from your mouth. Keep your lips from deceitful speech. Turn from evil. Do good. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. And his ears are attentive unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. So what I'm proposing today no unwholesome speech pure hearts will lead to loving life and seeing good days. You know what else it'll lead to? If your heart is cleansed, you know what it'll lead to? The clean in heart shall see God. You know what the unclean in heart see in a lot of situations? They see red. They see how much they were hurt. They see how difficult it is for them. And you know what that causes them when that's what they're seeing? They act because they think of what's in their own personal interest. They don't see God. They don't see grace. They don't see mercy. They miss the opportunity they have because they've been tainted by just that little heaven. Wow. So if if I were you and I need to wrap this up if I were you, what do you do? What do you do to cleanse your heart? Here's the good thing. The Psalms 119 verse 9 says this. How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to thy word. So can I just, here's a word to take heed of. Don't let a single unwholesome word ever come out of your mouth again. Ever. Because if you don't if that's not what you set your heart for, it's not going to happen. I'm not saying it won't be a process. That you're not going to have to uproot these habits and put these habits to death. But I'm telling you, if you never try you're never going to get there. Let that word be dominant in your heart. Give that word its density. Let that word uproot every other thing you feel or think. And regardless of whatever impulse, whatever surge, what it is, be like David. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin. Thy word is cleansing my heart. Thy word is what I live by. I do what your word says. Not what I feel. Not my impulse. Not my urges. Not my emotions. Not my culture. Your word is my life. Your word I live by. And to get there