Why Are You Thinking Evil Things in Your Heart?

This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. Welcome to All In with Pastor Jordan Easley. Today's message is about to begin, and we invite you to prepare your heart and mind to hear an inspiring message from God's Word. We hope and pray for God to speak to you today as you seek to live your life all in for Jesus Christ. And now from First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, here's Pastor Jordan Easley. Hey, let me begin by asking a simple question. Just curious, how many of you are on Facebook? You have a Facebook account, raise your hand all across the room. How many of you are in Instagram or some other form of social media? You're on social media. Okay, that is a mind-blowing thing. This week I read a statistic that said right now in America, 253 million people are active users on social media. 253 million, that is 73% of the American population that has an active social media account, that's crazy. Three out of every four people in this country are online, and those numbers probably reflect these numbers here today. And the reason I was thinking about that this week is this, I realized we are the first generation in American history that truly understands the importance of a good profile picture, amen? Listen, not a single one of you guys with a Facebook page

have ever gone through your photo and chosen the worst photo in your photo reel to represent who you are online. If you have a social media handle, you know that we go through all of our pictures and we choose the very best picture that we have access to. We scroll through all of them and we find the one with the perfect angle and the right lighting, and we then edit that photo to make it even better. Don't act like you don't do this. You are not that spiritual, I know you do this, all right? You edit your photos, you filter your photos, you do everything you can to make sure that you are being presented in the very best way to everyone that you encounter online. But here's the truth. That's not only true regarding how we behave on the internet. That's also how many of us are living our lives spiritually. We've learned to edit what people see. We've learned to filter our words and we polish our appearance and we manage our reputation pretty well. Some of us have mastered the art of the spiritual highlight reel. But here's what I want us to know as we dive into God's word today. You need to know that it's the real picture, the unedited picture, the very raw picture of who you are that Jesus sees.

Jesus has never flipped through your highlight reel and paid attention to who you are pretending to be. He's looking deep into the depths of your heart and He sees you for who you really are. You know, in Matthew chapter nine, we're going to be unpacking a story today where Jesus is gonna look at a group of religious men, men who appeared on the outside to be super holy, but on the inside, they were highly corrupt. And He's gonna ask them this question in Matthew chapter nine, verse four. He's gonna say, why are you thinking evil things in your hearts? And that's the question we're gonna be unpacking today. Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts? Hopefully you have a copy of God's word. And like I said, we're gonna be in Matthew chapter nine today. I also wanna encourage you to write down some notes as we walk through this text. And I'm gonna share with you four things that the Bible is gonna speak to our hearts today that I believe we've got to take away and apply to our lives. The very first thing I want you to jot down is that Jesus sees what we hide. Jesus sees what we hide. You know, in this text, after teaching and preaching on the other side of the Sea of Galilee,

Matthew's gonna tell us in verse one that Jesus got into a boat, crossed over and came to His own town. You say, what does that mean, His own town? Well, it's not talking about Bethlehem. It's not talking about Nazareth. When it says His own town, it's actually a reference to a town called Capernaum, a place that He knew very well. In fact, this little fishing village served as Jesus's home base for three years while He circled the Sea of Galilee and ministered to the people around the water. This little town was a place where He hung out a lot. It's where Peter's mother-in-law's house was. And so they spent a lot of time there. Jesus in this town called Capernaum, He performed many miracles. He spoke and taught at the synagogue. He revealed His power to the people there. So you can imagine how amazed the crowds were when they found out that Jesus was back in town. When they heard that Jesus was back in His own town, everybody came to Jesus. And you can imagine this house where He was teaching packed out with people. You can imagine the streets being... Shoulder to shoulder like sardines in a tiny little can they were spilling out the doors and they were leaning in through the windows and everybody was Just trying to get a glimpse of Jesus Some of them have heard the name of Jesus, but they've never seen him or encountered them

But everybody in that moment, they wanted to get as close to Christ as possible So you can imagine this scene you can imagine also in the middle of the chaos Four guys show up carrying a paralyzed man on on a mat and many of you have heard this story growing up Then I want you to think through what that must have been like is these four guys show up and they realize man There's no way we can get our friend close to Jesus. The place is crowded There's no way to navigate through the crowd And so you can see their their their mind spinning and thinking creatively and what did they decide to do? They decided that they would climb up to the top of the roof and one guy started digging a hole and finally there was a Big opening where they lowered their paralyzed friend on a mat and that friend went all the way down to the feet of Jesus And you can just imagine the dust falling from the ceiling and the people Gasping and now every single eye in that room is looking to Jesus to see how is Jesus going to respond in this moment? And you know what happened next? Here's what Matthew says in verse 2 is he says seeing their faith Jesus told the paralytic have courage son Your sins are forgiven Think about those words Your sins are forgiven Now I'm assuming this but I don't think that that's what anybody expected Jesus to say Not the crowd not the friends probably not even the paralytic lying on the mat But in that moment I want us to get this that that Jesus saw something that that no one else in that room probably saw and That is that this man's greatest need wasn't physical healing his greatest need was forgiveness and So Jesus gave that man exactly what he needed Now not everybody in the room was super excited when Jesus said your sins are forgiven In fact, there were these guys called the scribes They were the religious elites of the day and they were not really tracking with what Jesus was saying In fact, the Bible goes on to say that these guys started thinking as Jesus was saying these words They started thinking this man is blasphemy. He's claiming to be something that he's not there They're crying out blasphemy, but they didn't do it out loud. They didn't confront Jesus publicly in that moment

They just thought those things Inwardly and silently and privately they had those thoughts running through their mind, but here's the crazy part. Are you ready? Jesus knew what they were thinking He knew what they were thinking and that's why he asked this question in verse 4 Matthew tells us in verse 4 perceiving their thoughts Jesus said why are you thinking evil things in your heart? That tells us that Jesus didn't just read their faces. No, he read their mind He saw past their robes and he saw past their reputation and he saw straight To what was really happening on the inside of who they were And that moment reveals something powerful to us. It revealed that the same authority that can forgive sins can also read hearts The same authority that can forgive sins can read hearts and let me tell you why it's so important that we get this today It's because the same Jesus who saw what they were hiding in their hearts 2,000 years ago Still sees what we hide in our hearts today He knows when our faith becomes nothing more than a routine. He knows when our worship becomes nothing more than words He knows when our prayers sound sincere, but our hearts are somewhere completely different Listen when Jesus asked why are you thinking evil things in your heart? He exposed what was hidden And he didn't do it to shame those guys He did it because he wanted to save those guys And the same is true right here right now See every time Jesus reveals something that's buried inside of someone It is an invitation to grace and that's something that we need today. Can I get an amen? Do anybody else need the grace of God in their life? I know I do and you know what all of us can probably say we need grace in this area Because we have evil thoughts evil thinking that happens inside of who we are In fact, I would say the most dangerous sins in your life are probably not the most obvious sins in your life You know Jesus points out the small sins here the hidden sins So that tells me that the small sins are important to God and maybe for you you would say man It's the quiet thoughts that get me or it's the private

Resentments that I have a problem with or it's the hidden pride the stuff that nobody sees inside of my life I think that's why Jesus exposes those unspoken sins not because he wants to wound us but Because he wants to heal us So let me ask you what why do you think evil thoughts? He said man, I don't even know where my evil thoughts come from Hey, that's a good question to ask. Where do evil thoughts come from? I think when you look at the bible at this word evil, it tells you something about what jesus was saying You know that word evil in the original greek is the word poneros It's a word that means that something is diseased or spoiled or decaying I want you to get that picture in your mind evil and decaying It's almost as if jesus right here was diagnosing an infection This wasn't like a wound or an open wound that was fresh and bleeding. No, this was an infection So he's saying their thoughts hadn't started out as evil, but over time they were contaminated And now it's like they have an infection inside of who they are You know, that might have been something subtle in their life. These were religious men They studied the word of god but there was a heart of skepticism at one point that grew or a seed of pride or Or maybe it was a desire to stay in control of the religious community. Who knows? The scribes truly believed that they were defending god's honor. These guys saw themselves as the protector of truth It's not like they meant to be evil or think evil thoughts But pride has a way of sneaking in quietly and and it poisons us Even if those thoughts were at one time pure See what began as conviction in their life. It slowly turned into criticism What began as devotion it slowly decayed into self-deception And that's how sin typically works by the way Sin in my life sin in your life. It doesn't typically just storm in most of the time. It kind of seeps in right? It starts out as something small It starts as just a whisper in your ear like I deserve this or I know better or i'm not like those people Or I can't stand those people right and it starts as something small

And it's almost like if those whispers go unchallenged what they take root in your heart Those whispers go unchallenged. They take root in your heart And then they eventually start to rot what's healthy inside of us Man, have you ever experienced something like that? Have you even as a believer experience those unhealthy thoughts that kind of grow over time You know, I think about like comparison. That's a big thing these days Especially those of you who are on social media. You're looking at everybody else's highlight reel all day long And maybe at one point that thought of comparison hits you and you start admiring what somebody else has But over time you can see it grow And before long that that comparison is now It's it's it's grown into you resenting that something doesn't belong to you at one time It was like man. I'm, so glad that they have that nice thing But now it's like why don't I have that nice thing? And it's grown over time and now it's poison inside of your heart or I think about hurt You get wounded by someone's words or actions, but instead of forgiving them and moving forward What do you do you replay that thing in your mind over and over and over again until finally? That's all you think about and now you can't even get peace Because you're thinking about what they did to you so long ago or I think about the thought of disappointment So many of us are disappointed from time to time Maybe god didn't answer a prayer the way that you hoped and and it started out as disappointment But because you didn't address it now, it's like doubt is overtaking your trust and it's like you don't even know if you can trust God anymore or maybe it's unforgiveness and you've told yourself that you've moved on you've said to yourself out loud lord I have forgiven that person and I don't even think about that person But every once in a while their name pops up in conversation and even hearing that person's name makes your skin Boil and your heart is hardened and you can tell by the way that you feel That you haven't truly forgiven them every single one of us have natural human reactions But if these things go unchecked, they will grow into spiritual infections And spiritual infections will twist your heart and they will distort your perspective and they will ultimately cause distance between you and god That's what's happening in this story

The scribes were sitting in the same room where forgiveness was being offered And yet they couldn't even rejoice at this incredible miracle. Why? Because their hearts were hardened They thought they were the healthy ones, but jesus quickly points out that they were the sick ones in the story You can almost sense the compassion in jesus's voice as he spoke these words Just try to imagine jesus actually saying these words He said why are you thinking evil thoughts? in your heart Why? I don't believe that he was shouting in this passage. I don't believe that he was condemning I just think he was gently probing Almost like a physician pressing on a tender spot, not to hurt them, but to just point out that there was infection where it didn't belong. See, our evil thoughts rarely begin as evil. Anger often started as hurt, or bitterness, it starts out as disappointment, or lust. It may have started out as curiosity, or pride may have started out as insecurity. But when those thoughts are hidden, when we don't bring those thoughts to God, they're gonna grow. They harden, they change how we see ourselves, they change how we see other people. Maybe even how we see God. And you know what? Before long, here's how you know you're infected, because you start defending what you should be confessing. You know, Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23, it says, guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. I can tell you, the scribes were not guarding their heart in this passage. They were too busy guarding their identity. They were too busy trying to guard how people saw them, and their image. And what began as devotion, slowly turned into decay.

It's real easy for us to read Matthew chapter 9 and kind of shake our heads at the scribes, and we're like, come on scribes, get your act together, stop being so this, or stop being so that. But you know what? Their story, in a lot of ways, is a reflection of our story. How many times do we sit in God's presence, and listen to truth, and sing worship songs, and glorify God publicly, while quietly entertaining thoughts that contradict what we say we believe about Him? Thoughts like, I'm never going to change, or God couldn't do that, or God couldn't save them, or God wouldn't forgive that, or this person doesn't deserve grace, or my forgiveness, or so on, or so on. I mean, those are the same kind of thoughts that Jesus exposed that day. They seem small. They sound reasonable, but they lead us away from the freedom that He wants for us. So get that in your notes today, Jesus sees what we hide. Let me give you a second one here that's pretty important, and that is transformation begins when we get honest. Transformation begins when we get honest. When Jesus confronted the scribes' thoughts that day, He wasn't lashing out in anger, He was offering them an invitation. He was offering them grace. His question, why are you thinking evil thoughts in your hearts, that was a divine invitation to what? It was to honesty, to honesty. He was giving them a chance to bring their hidden thoughts into light. You think about the outcome of this situation, this could have ended very differently if they would have chosen. I mean, you think, you know, Jesus asked the question, they could have very easily come back and said, Jesus, you are completely right, I am so sorry, what am I thinking, right? You're right, Lord, my heart isn't clean.

I know my heart, I know my heart's far from you, it's thinking thoughts I shouldn't be thinking. They confessed their pride and jealousy right there on the spot, but they didn't. They stayed silent instead. They stayed silent. And when you read the word of God, you see that their silence they thought was protecting them, but their silence actually just preserved their sin. Scripture later says in James 5, 16, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. May I tell you something about confession? Confession has always been the doorway to transformation. In fact, I'm going to say that one more time, confession, saying it out loud. Confession has always been the doorway to transformation. In fact, Proverbs 28, 13 tells us this, the one who conceals his sin will not prosper. The one who conceals his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy. So you partner that verse with what we just read in the book of James, and here's what that tells us. Honesty is the bridge that leads to healing, honesty. If you're not willing to be honest, then you are not a candidate for healing. We've got to be honest with God. We've got to be honest with ourselves. We've got to be honest with other believers. And at the end of the day, we have to be willing to confess that before him. Those scribes missed the miracle that was happening in front of them. Why? Because they refused to deal with the sin that was happening within them. They left that room unchanged and unforgiven, not because Jesus was withholding forgiveness, but because they never admitted that they were a candidate for it. Listen, if we're honest, we oftentimes do the same thing.

It's easy to come into this place and worship and hear the songs and read the text and listen to the messages and leave unchanged. But Jesus is saying, why do you, why would you think those evil thoughts? Why would you live that way when you don't have to, not because he's angry, but because he wants to free you from whatever it is that's keeping you from true freedom in your heart and in your mind. Hey, let's get real. Every single one of us who know Jesus We have concealed things in our mind and in our heart that have no business being there Can I get an amen from somebody listen? None of us are too too spiritual to say that today, right? I mean most of us would say Jordan you're right. I've done it I'm maybe I'm even there and we're concealing things in our we're not saying them out loud, but man inside of our hearts There's jealousy there There's anger There's lust there's unforgiveness. There's insecurity. There's resentment And if you would agree with that and say Jordan that's happened in my life or that's happening in my life Let me tell you this The difference between bondage and breakthrough is one thing honesty The difference between bondage and breakthrough is honesty. You know who knew that very well David David in fact, you remember David he tried to hide his sin with Bathsheba for a while He tried to hide it But this is what he wrote in Psalm 32 beginning in verse 3. He said when I kept silent My bones became brittle from my groaning all day long and he got brittle bones I'm not saying it's from that but it could be all right He said my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long for day and night Your hand was heavy on me. My strength was draining as in the summer's heat Then I Acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity

I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin He just erased the guilt. Let me tell you that's what transformation looked like for David His transformation was the bridge to his healing and the bridge to his healing wasn't perfection It was what it was confession, right? He said I confess these things to the Lord He stopped pretending and he started repenting and that's when Jesus was inviting Those guys to do in Matthew chapter 9 he invited the scribes to do the same. He wasn't just exposing their sin He was moving them into a place where they had access to freedom He's like bring me the thoughts you're hiding bring me your bride bring me your judgment Bring me the bitterness in your heart and you know what Jesus could have forgiven them in the instant But they missed it And if we're not careful We'll miss it, too We can miss him just the same Pride will always keep you from repentance Your pride will always keep you from repentance. And here's why it's so important that we realize that It's because repentance is the only path to transformation You say Jordan. I want my life to change What's the path that's going to give me that first of all, it's going to be it's going to be confession But pride will keep you from confessing and owning up to the things that Jesus wants you to expose So let me ask you. What are the thoughts that you've been hiding? What sin have you been? Excusing what secrets are you carrying that are actually costing you peace? May I let you in on a little secret whatever that is that just popped into your mind Jesus already knows about it Jesus already knows It's not like you just said, you know what I've got this in my heart this in my mind It's not like Jesus just went for reals Jesus has never done that. He's never been like shocked or surprised like Seriously, bro. I mean that's never even

That's never even happened Doesn't he saw their thoughts then and the Holy Spirit continues to reveal the same for us today And he still invites us to honesty Not to shame you but to set you free Transformation begins when you and I get honest number three Jesus cleanses what we confess See after Jesus confronted their thoughts of the scribe the the thoughts of the scribes He he then turns his attention back to the man lying before him And he looked at this broken paralyzed man The one that couldn't move couldn't earn couldn't fix himself and he says something that changed everything He said in verse 5 for which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins He told the paralytic get up. Take your mat and go home. I Want you to imagine this scene imagine right there in front of all these people these skeptical people this broken man stands up How crazy would that be? He stands up and he picks up the mat that had carried him for years and he walks out of that house Completely healed and completely whole how incredible would that be? The same Jesus who forgave his sins Restored his strength and he didn't just cleanse his soul. No, the Bible says he transformed this man's life But here's something I want to point out about this story that maybe you've never thought about before and that is forgiveness came before freedom Forgiveness And first freedom came next and here's what Jesus wanted everybody to know in that room that day That sin is a deeper paralysis than any physical condition It is a deeper paralysis than any physical condition and until the heart is completely healed Nothing else truly will be healed He said in verse 6 so that you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins That word authority. It means rightful power. It means divine permission So this is Jesus saying he's not just saying I can do this Jesus is saying I have every right to do this. This is Jesus Solidifying his identity to every doubter and every hater in the room

He's saying I can do this because I'm the I'm the Son of God, right? And then he goes on to show them my power to heal what is visible Proves my authority to forgive that which is invisible You get that the man's body became a testimony a a walking sermon of the forgiveness that he had already received and Yet here's the message for us today. You ready? What Jesus did for that man physically? He can do for us spiritually When we finally confess our sin when we bring what's hidden into the light. He doesn't just turn it away He doesn't just hold it against us. No, the Bible says he he completely forgives us forgives us In fact 1st John 1 9 says this if we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness That word cleanse it means to purify it means to scrub Thoroughly where there's no trace of any stain and I believe that we need to hear that today we need to understand the grace and the goodness of God and Understand that there is no sin too deep for his forgiveness Aren't you grateful for that and there's no thought too dark for his mercy. Jesus cleanses what we confess Lastly, I want you to get this Jesus transforms those who come clean. He transforms those who come clean Verse 8 says when the crowd saw this they were awestruck and gave glory to God who had given such authority to men That same crowd that was tense just a second ago is now filled with people that are praising God It's because they had seen something that no priest no rabbi. No prophet had ever done They saw a man that was forgiven And then they saw that man healed What a scene I mean, you've got this guy he came in broken and he left restored He came in lying on a mat and he left walking out of that room as a messenger for the Lord And from that moment on every step that that guy took it preached a silent sermon that told the world Jesus has forgiven me. He has saved me. He has changed me He's made me new and I will never be the same anymore because of what Christ has done in my life that my friend is Transformation, right? That's what it looked like then and that's still what it looks like today

When Jesus cleanses your sin and transforms your life. He doesn't just erase your past. He writes a brand new future Let me ask you are you living in that future today? Are you a new creation today? 2nd Corinthians 5 puts it this way. He said therefore if anyone is in Christ He is a new creation. The old has passed away and see the new has come Now notice I want you to see this guy in the story. He didn't go back to his mat No, man, he's walking a brand new life in a brand new direction. He didn't carry the same shame He carried a new story and that's what happens when you come clean before the Lord you start walking in a freedom that you've never known before And maybe today's the day you get off your mat Maybe you've been living on a mat of shame Maybe you've been living in secret sin, and maybe that's not a physical map But maybe it's a spiritual one of where you've had bitterness and you're separated from God and you've got pride and unforgiveness Hey, maybe today's the day where you answer Jesus's question personally He asked the question. Why are you thinking evil things in your heart? Not because he wants to condemn you but because he wants to cleanse you not because he's angry or upset It's because he wants to make you brand new In the slums of Nairobi Kenya a cup of water can be the difference between life and death Well this month I got to walk where the need for water is greatest While we were there we were preaching and we were worshiping and we were praying with thousands of believers at the Pefekimbo Church We held children in an orphanage that we support who have almost nothing We sat with widows who walked miles a day just to find water that isn't clean But on this trip, we also celebrated something a little bit different a brand new water. Well in the Kibera slum Commissioned with our partners that together we church first Baptist Cleveland and Swahili networks and together we join forces to bring this clean water to families who have literally never had Clean water in their lives, you know in John 4 Jesus said whoever drinks from the water that I will give him We'll never get thirsty again That's the water that saves souls But he also calls us as believers to give a cup of water in his name and that's the water that saves lives To every all-in partner who gave so that this well could exist. Let me just say thank you today

People are drinking fresh water clean water because you said yes But there's more wells to dig more villages that are waiting more lives to save And so my question to you is will you continue to go all-in with us? If so, follow the prompts on the screen right now to partner with all in today A We never want to end our broadcast without giving you the opportunity To know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior If you'd like to make the decision to trust Jesus and want to know more about what it looks like to follow Jesus Get in touch with me right now Follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen so that we can pray for you and also put information in your hands right away Today we celebrate your decision and look forward to being a part of your personal journey of going all-in with Jesus Christ This episode of all-in with pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you We hope today's message encourages you as you strive to live your life fully committed to Jesus Christ