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Introduction
We left off at verse 10 in our studies last week.
This week we want to finish out this great discourse concerning our tongues with verses 11 and 12.
Last week, we studied verses 9 and 10.
And, if you recall, we noted the following.
The Tongue is a Paradox - it spews from the same source both blessing towards God and cursing of men made in God’s likeness
The Tongue is a Parrot - it spews blessing and cursing repeatedly (proceedeth)
The Tongue must be Prohibited - it should not be so
When I was studying last week for verse 9 and 10, I came across this illustration that I think demonstrates once again our problem.
A little girl sat with her arms wrapped around her father’s neck.
But her mother observed that over her father’s shoulder she was sticking out her tongue at her little brother.
The mother responded by saying, “Take your arms from around your father’s neck.
You cannot love your father and at the same time stick out your tongue at his son.”
To profess love for God while reviling men made in His image is a brazen offense against God.
Tonight, we are studying verses 11 and 12. Let’s read the entire paragraph and we will come back to these last two verses.
By the way, next week will do a complete review of the entire paragraph.
Now look at verses 11 and 12.
GRAMMAR STUDY
As before, we want to highlight a few words.
Since these two sentences are illustrations, they are full of nouns.
Nouns such as these:
fountain [a fountain, spring] used 2xs
place [through which one can see]
the fig tree [A common fruit tree in Palestine[1]]
brethren [sibling believers – believers understood as one’s own siblings in God’s family]
olive berries [A tree on which olives grow[2]]
a vine [a vine]
figs [a fig]
As for verbs, these are the ones we find in these two verses.
Doth…send forth meaning to about, to gush forth, to teem with juices.
Can means, as we already know, the ability or power to do something.
The words bear and yield are the same Greek word.
Both words mean to make, produce, or create.
Now, let’s consider some spiritual application of these two verses.
SPIRITUAL APPLICATION
What is the Holy Spirit talking about?
As we already know, this whole paragraph is about the tongue.
Personally, I see it as the difference between Biblical communication and non-Biblical communication.
What is the Holy Spirit saying about the tongue (our speech)?
Well, in these two verses, the Holy Spirit is giving us practical illustrations from nature demonstrating what He just said in verses 9 and 10.
Remember, in those verses, the subject was the ability of the sinful tongue to spew out blessings and cursing.
PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS FROM NATURE
There are four different items from nature that He uses in these verses.
The first is a spring of water.
The word “fountain” as we known is a spring.
We also know that water gushing from a spring is either sweet or bitter.
It cannot give both sweet and bitter water.
I like Bible examples.
The example from Scripture come to my mind is in the Old Testament.
Here we find a spring of water that was bitter.
Note there was no sweet water or drinkable water.
The two cannot flow from the same spring.
However, God did a great miracle.
He shews Moses a tree instructing him to cast into the waters.
Moses obeys and God turns undrinkable water into that which satisfies the body and soul.
There is no doubt that a fountain can only give sweet or bitter water, but both.
However, God can take the bitter and turn into sweet.
The second illustration from nature is a fig tree.
The fig tree is important tree in the Bible.
In Genesis, Adam and Eve took fig leaves and sewed them together to cover their shame.
In Deuteronomy, fig trees are part of the things listed denoting the bounty of Canaan, the promised land.
In Judges, the fig tree, the olive tree, and vines were used figuratively in Jotham’s warning to the men of Shechem.
In 1 and 2 Kings, the fig tree was used to symbolize Israel’s peace and prosperity.
Throughout Psalms, Proverbs, and the books of prophecy, figs and fig trees were used in myriad of ways to depict times of blessing as well as times of judgment.
During Christ’s ministry, it was under a fig tree that Christ saw Nathanael.
Christ condemned a fig tree for being unprofitable.
Christ also told a parable about a man and his fig tree.
In Revelation, Scripture describes the stars of heaven falling like a fig tree casting off its figs in great wind storm.
The fig-tree of Palestine (Ficus carica) produces two and sometimes three crops of figs in a year, (1) the bikkurah, or “early-ripe fig” (Micah 7:1; Isa.
28:4; Hos.
9:10, R.V.), which is ripe about the end of June, dropping off as soon as it is ripe (Nah.
3:12); (2) the kermus, or “summer fig,” then begins to be formed, and is ripe about August; and (3) the pag (plural “green figs,” Cant.
2:13; Gr. olynthos, Rev. 6:13, “the untimely fig”), or “winter fig,” which ripens in sheltered spots in spring.
Nature however dictates that a fig tree only produces figs.
It cannot bear olive berries.
The third illustration from nature is the grape vine.
Grapevines were cultivated throughout the ancient Near East, and vineyards were common in the biblical world.
In some areas, farmers planted vineyards close to their houses; in other areas, vineyards were located some distance from villages (Matthews, “Actual and Metaphorical,” 20; Judg 14:5; 21:20–21).
Since valleys and level ground were reserved for wheat and barley crops, vines were normally planted on hillsides.
Prior to planting, ancients terraced the land and cleared of large stones, leaving smaller stones to aid in drainage (Jer 31:5; Matthews, “Actual and Metaphorical,” 26; Walsh, Viticulture, 93–9).
In the biblical text, vines symbolize prosperous and stable social conditions (2 Kgs 18:32; Isa 36:16).
A threat against “vines and fig trees” is a threat against stability and economic prosperity (Hos 2:12; Jer 5:17).
In contrast, a “vine and fig tree” is a symbol of blessing (Hag 2:19)
Again, as noted in our text, grape vines cannot bear figs.
Figs come fig trees.
Grapevines produce grapes.
The Holy Spirit utilizes the practical examples demonstrating our real problem.
It is positive proof that we, indeed, have a heart problem.
God designed nature to produce after its kind.
Thus, fig trees produce figs.
Grapevine produce grapes.
Olive trees bear olives.
A spring of water can produce only one type of water whether it be sweet or bitter.
A person can only bear out his or her mouth what is truly in their heart.
POSITIVE PROOF OF OUR HEART PROBLEM
Look back again at verses 9 and 10.
What really is at the heart of our tongue problem?
It is the heart.
Christ said the following.
Our problem is our divided heart.
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