A Bitter Seed

Bitterness rarely shows up all at once. It slips in as a “reasonable” reaction to betrayal, unfair treatment, rejection, family wounds, or church conflict, then quietly turns into a root that poisons everything it touches. We take Hebrews 12 seriously and ask what happens when that root is left alone, watered by our thought life, and defended as self-protection. 

I walk through Scripture that names the problem clearly and offers a real way out: Galatians 5 on the works of the flesh that fuel strife and division, Romans 8 on mortifying the deeds of the body through the Holy Spirit, and Matthew 18 on unlimited forgiveness. We also bring in key quotes from Brother William Marrion Branham as we look at the end time message lens and the call to live the life of Christ, not just talk about doctrine. 

We get practical about where bitterness hides: gossip masked as “prayer requests,” refusing tough conversations, and family patterns that plant lifelong resentment in children. We draw an important line between forgiveness and reconciliation, explaining why forgiveness is always my responsibility before God, while reconciliation requires repentance and wisdom. If you want Christian forgiveness that is biblical, honest about pain, and focused on spiritual growth, this is for you. 

Subscribe for more Bible teaching, share this with someone who needs freedom from bitterness, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you heard.

Transcript

Welcome And Purpose Of The Show

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Greetings, Bible believers and followers of the end time message. Welcome to another episode of the Jason Demars Podcast, the place where we explore the incredible mysteries hidden within the pages of the Bible. I'm your host, Jason Demars. It's time to get started on another journey into the heart of God's Word. If it's your desire to grow in Revelation and see the message and the light of the Bible, you're in the right place. Today, brothers and sisters, we delve into the scripture, guided by the extraordinary revelations that God chose to unveil through Brother William Marion Branham, a messenger with a unique calling to fulfill Malachi 4 and Revelation 10.7 and unlock the secrets of the end time message. Our purpose isn't to have another basic Bible study. We're going to dig deep and peel back the layers of prophecy, decoding the signs and perhaps discovering how the Bible resonates within the very fabric of our present day and time. In this podcast, my purpose is to help you grow in your faith through solid Bible teaching through the lens of the message of Malachi 4. So grab your Bible, a cup of coffee, and let's get started. And remember that your feedback, testimonies, questions, and prayer requests are always welcome. Please send them on social media or at jasendamars.com. With that said, let's get into today's podcast. So good to be back with you all. It's nice to be able to cross the border again. I don't know if I won't go into that, but we thank the Lord we we're able to make it through and be here with you all. And we believe the Lord is guiding. It's that unseen hand. Sometimes you don't get the answer that you want to get, but we know it's in it's in the hands of the Lord and and He guides through every circumstance of our life. And all we can do is rejoice and and we'll we'll understand the reasons why better as we move forward. So amen. I won't take too much time, we'll go directly to the word. I want to speak on the subject of a bitter seed. And we're gonna turn in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 14 and 15. Say amen when you got it. Alright, I think that was maybe the majority, but we'll go ahead. Brother Billy, God bless you. What a surprise. Hebrews 12, 14 and 15, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby defile many. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just come before you now, Lord, and we want to ask that your Holy Spirit would come and take the word, Lord, and speak to our hearts. Father, it's my desire just to step out of the way and let you speak to your people, Father. May hearts pull upon the word, Lord, and may you use that. May their faith operate the gift, Lord, that it would speak into their lives, things that are are needful, Father. Lord, uh we need your grace. We need your work in our lives, Lord. We didn't come here to see each other or to be seen by one another, Lord, but we came here to meet you. We came here to be fed on the word of God so that we can be corrected, so that we can be encouraged and so that we can grow. And so, Lord, would you do that for us? Would you work in that way this evening? We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you all. You can be seated if you want to. And so as we look at this verse, there's a lot of different directions we could go with it, and there's a lot of uh pieces to it. But looking at this, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God. Now you read that and and you start to think, failing of the grace of God. So the grace of God is a free gift. And so this isn't speaking of the grace of God that brings forth regeneration that that brings forth the Holy Ghost in our life. You know, once you're sealed with the Holy Ghost, you're not failing of the grace of God. But a person can be presented with the means of grace in front of them, they can hear the gospel preached, they can be given the opportunity to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they can be they can be in the presence of the workings of the Holy Ghost, and then they can fail of the grace of God that's been presented to them and put before them. And then that that's one way to one way we can approach it. Another way you can approach it is that when we as Christians fail to take the full armor of God that's been provided for us, and you and you and you begin to walk after the flesh, as Christians, we can we can actually walk after the flesh, we can get into the place where we're not dying daily, but we're dying what maybe once a week or once every a quarter, or we just aren't dying at all to the flesh and to ourselves. And so we don't want to be in that position where we're misusing the grace of God. Or or we're taking for granted the means of the grace that's before us. You know, when the word of God is preached, that's the means of grace. When when the father takes the family and leads the family in worship and begins to teach the children in the home, that's a me, that's the means of grace. And so we can either take that and say, Lord, thank you. I want that, and I want to receive what's being spoken, I want to walk in what's spoken, or we can take that and say, that's just everyday things. Dad's always talking about that, brother Chris is always preaching about that. And we can we can misuse the means of grace that's been placed before us. And so bitterness in strongest concordance, it means acridity, clear as clear as mud, right? Acridity, not a word we probably ever use, but it literally means poison, speaks of poison. So it's a a a root that bears something that is poisonous to the human. And so in the Webster's original English dictionary, bitterness is a bitter taste, or rather a quality in things which excites abiding disagreeable sensation in the tongue. In a figurative sense, extreme enmity, grudge, hatred, or rather an excessive degree of or implacableness, which means cannot be appeased, of passions and emote emotions as the bitterness of anger. So it's it's the implacableness of passions means you you can't appease the person. They're just there's a bitterness inside them, there's an anger there, and then it's boiling over, and no matter the no matter what words are spoken, the anger keeps coming. And if we look at uh bitterness in this sense, and there's there's many in in Hebrews 12, there's many ways we can look at this. You can look at it as the root of bitterness, it's speaking of false teaching, false doctrine, things that are not in accordance with God God's word. Those can be roots of bitterness. But in this sense, I'm gonna look at it in the in the individual sense, in in speaking about that which produces uh outward expressions of anger. Even bitterness itself is actually a secondary emotion. And what I mean I mean by that is first a seed has to be planted. So for the root of bitterness, for us for a sprout to come forward, there has to be a seed planted first. For a root to be there, there has to be a seed planted, and so the root takes place. So first the seed's planted. If you can think about it this way someone has used you, someone's abandon and abandoned you after using you, or you were singled out and treated unfairly, or you're you were betrayed and your trust was broken, or you are constantly feeling unheard and unappreciated, or you have expectations in your personal life and they're not being met, or someone has just out and out sinned against you, or you're in a place where you're you're grieving and you're coming to the place where you're hopeless, you're feeling hopeless, and you have constant negative thinking about life. And so those things are like a seed of bitterness that gets planted in your heart. So if we think about how that can happen, the chain of circumstances comes like this number one, there's a negative, negative event that happens in your life. Number two, there's an unaddressed emotion that comes as a result. Instead of processing it and dealing with it, you just bottle it up and you dwell on it. Then you dwell on it after you bottle it up. And then what ends up happening is you instead of dealing with it, you this feeling you're like, oh, I'm a mature Christian, I'm I'm fine. I don't have I don't have any issues here. This person did me wrong, but I don't I don't need to deal with it really because I'm mature and I don't have to, I'll be fine. And step by step, the the the the the the negative thoughts and the the the the process of the feelings that you have about this situation or about this person build over time instead of just dealing with it when it was fresh, you let it build and let it grow, and it's an accumulation of feelings. And you know what? It's perfectly logical to you. All the whole process is perfectly logical and makes exact sense to you of why you handled it the way you did and why you're doing what you did, and why you feel the way you do. And this accumulation that happens over time, number four, it produces a bitter outlook on life in general. And really, what it is, is a work of the flesh. It's be us being carnal. And when we say it's a work of the flesh, this is what we naturally do. This is how we this is how we automatically respond as those born in sinful flesh. Galatians 5, 19 through 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft. You say, I thought witchcraft and idolatry were demonic possessions. Well, Paul says they're actually works of the flesh. They're things that you're that's what the flesh produces. Because it's in a fallen nature, it's gonna, it's going to lean towards worshiping things that aren't God, being obsessed with things that are not God, and then looking at the the elemental principles of the world and saying, How can these elemental principles help me in this world? That's witchcraft, which ultimately ends up in demon worship, hatred variance, variance. If we look at this, we can begin to see how the flesh operates. Variance is contentions and quarreling, right? So what's what's the what's the opposite of contentions and quarreling is peace, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. So there's there's contentions and quarreling come naturally when we look at things differently in life. When we look, even as Christians, we look at teachings in the message differently. And how do we respond? Do we respond the way the fruit of the spirit operates within us, or do we respond according to the nature of the flesh? Because the nature of the flesh it turns into contentions and quarreling. Say, we're so mature, we never do nothing. Message believers never have contentions and quarreling. It never happens. No, it does. Emulations. This word emulation literally means zeal. So zeal can be a work of the flesh. It's inflamed passions about something that you you really love, that you've really, that you really, it's uh it's your pet doctrine, it's your pet viewpoint, and oh, you're so zealous about that. Wrath, which which we understand, anger, strife, which is perpetual contradictions and arguments, seditions, now we're getting close to home, schisms, party, it's a party spirit, a sectarian spirit. We have our we have our doctrine. This is this is our doctrine, this is what we're following. We we really have the revelation of the word, and you don't. You should follow after our group, our church. This is a work of the flesh. This is a this is a process, this is something that the human does. He differentiates. This is different, this is different. He's different, he's dangerous. That's how the flesh operates, and that's not a good thing. It's not a positive thing. That's not the fruit of the spirit. Divisions and schisms, it's denominationalism. You say we don't have we don't have an organization. Uh well, there's an organiz uh organizational spirit about around certain doctrines, and it causes people to group together and then fight one another. That is not of God. That's carnal. Paul says, Are you not carnal and walk after the flesh? Uh-oh. Heresies. Heresy means basically you're subverting the fun fundamentals of the word of God. Envying drunken murders. We see, we like to think, you know, these other things are, you know, that's something that we do as Christians. We don't do murdering, we don't, we're not drunken, we're not having big drunken sex parties and so forth like that. But we're doing these other things. We're having strife with one another, we're having emulations, we're having variances, seditions, and heresies, and we we think, no, we're just we're standing for the truth. I'm standing for the truth according to what the flesh or by or by the spirit, because the flesh differentiates, separates, and pushes others away. But the Holy Spirit doesn't do that. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. See, you see the opposition here between how the Lord is wants us to interact with one another. And again, all of these things, what do they produce? They produce bitterness. So then you see such and such a person at such and such a meeting, and what's your immediate feeling? Oh, I just love that brother so much. Probably not. You probably think, oh, here's a confrontation coming. Oh, here's here's this guy, and what is our that's our flesh working to differentiate and to protect itself because that's what it is. It's us it's a self-protection mode. And what and what does it result in? It doesn't result in anything positive, it doesn't result in peace and holiness. It results in separation, it results in schism, and it results ultimately in bitterness, anger, malice, and wrath. Let me finish. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that wit, they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Oof. That's that's rough. I don't want to be in that position. I don't want to be in that place where the where the the life that I manifested inside of me is after the flesh, and as a result, I'm not gonna inherit the kingdom of God. And as as I said before, we as Christians can get into this place where we're minding the things of the flesh instead of the things of the spirit, and we're forgetting that the Holy Spirit is warring within us against the flesh, so that we wouldn't be mindful of the things of the flesh. Right? And we wouldn't lean in that direction, but that we would surrender ourselves, that we would die to the flesh and walk in the spirit. As the scripture says, if you walk in the spirit, you shall not fulfill the desires of the flesh. And that's the issue, is it's not necessarily just putting to death the works of the flesh. You know, it's through the spirit. Let's turn let's turn in in Romans 8. Praise the Lord, we're so far out of our notes. This is great. Romans 8 13, for if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you live if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. So putting to death the works of the flesh. So when you're putting to death the works of the flesh, thank you, brother Chris. When you're putting to death the works of the flesh, it's not you in your own human power operating within soul and spirit, and I'm putting to death the works of the flesh. It is through the spirit, it's through the through the Holy Ghost dwelling within you that you're obeying what he's how he's leading you, how he's speaking to you. You're obeying what's planted in your heart by the word, you're following that, and be as a result, you're putting to death the works of the flesh. What are the works of the flesh? As we read, those were the works of the flesh that we read about. It's it's the automatic nature that the flesh produces. And what we need to do on a continual basis, it's not a one-time thing. It's not when you're born again, all the works of the flesh are dead forever. Well, in one sense it is, in another sense, it's not. We have to continually, as Christians, put to death the works of the flesh. But we also know that we're dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. Positionally, we're placed in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We're perfect, we're sinless. There's not a sin on us. We never even sinned in the first place because of the blood of Jesus Christ. And yet, in experience, he's working, he's daily, he's cleansing us, he's changing us, he's working us. And that's why the scripture is is telling us there's a battle between the spirit and the flesh. And and and and they they're they're their their desire, the desire of the Holy Spirit is working contrary to the desire of the flesh, right? And they're warring against one another, and it depends on which one, as Brother Branham said, which one are you feeding the most? That's the one that that's the dog that wins. And so we have to put the works of the flesh to death. And the flesh wants to protect itself. That's one of the biggest things that we find is it's self-defense, it's self-protection. And of course, it's on some level that's built into us by God so that we don't just go out and jump off a bridge every time that we see someone else do it or talk about it. But it when it's goes to its complete end, it leads to isolation, it leads to depression, it it leads to anger, outbursts of anger. All right, let me keep going. So it's a carnal defense mechanism, bitterness. Is a carnal defense mechanism. So if if that seed of bitterness isn't dealt with, and then you begin to water it with your thought life and to fertilize it by meditating on it, focusing on it, keeping it buried, what ends up happening is it starts to grow and infiltrate other areas of your life. And eventually what it ends up doing is producing a bitter fruit like isolation, like outbursts of anger. And that fruit of bitterness is what ends up happening is you can't keep any relationships, you can't keep any friendships. You're angry, you're anxious, you're running from place to place because you don't want to deal with the problem, the actual problem. You think, I oh, I gotta do better, I gotta work at my marriage, I gotta work at my how I operate at my job, I gotta work on my relationship with my kids. That's just a secondary thing. That's the fruit of what's been planted in the heart. Instead of just dealing with the fruit of the problem, it's you know, if you got a bitter plant growing in your garden, it's not good enough to just pick the fruits and say, I picked the fruits, I got rid of them. The plant is still there, the root is still there. You get better, you gotta get your shovel out and start digging and get down to the actual root of the problem so it can be dealt with. Otherwise, you're just gonna keep picking the you're gonna keep picking the fruits, and what's it gonna do? It's gonna end up defiling many, it's gonna plant more seeds, and it's gonna produce more plants all around you. Because your anger, now you're gonna be planting bitterness in other heart people's hearts towards you. If you're a father, you're gonna plant bitterness in the heart of your wife, you're gonna plant bitterness in the heart of your children, grandchildren, and that's gonna go on. Might as well just deal with the problem. But we want to protect ourselves and think this will van this problem will just vanish eventually eventually. Oh you think so? No, it's not gonna vanish until you deal with it. Matthew 18, 21 through 35. This this probably took a lot of the the wind out of Peter, Jesus' answer to this question. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him till seven times. Oh, very spiritual, the number of completion. And I forgive him, I forgave this guy six times. Seventh times coming up. You hold a little book in your thing, and oh, you've ran out of forgiveness, my friend. Nope. Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. And once again, don't need to carry a notebook and say it's 490 times. It means this is unlimited. Forgiveness is unlimited. Praise the Lord that forgiveness is unlimited. Because God doesn't limit forgiveness to us, neither does he want us to limit it to one another. Just think of that. Somebody sinned against you 490 times. Brother Billy, by by now, aren't you noticing a pattern? Aren't you seeing that there's a pattern with this person? I think we should just get rid of them, right? Forgive them. That's what the Lord Jesus is saying. Now that doesn't mean we don't have boundaries, that doesn't mean we're we're not wise in how we spend our time and who we spend our time with. We don't give that to everyone and anyone. We first owe it to God, then we owe it to our spouse, and then we owe it to our children. And then after that, the body of Christ. And so boundaries are good, wisdom is good, but forgiveness is unlimited. Then he tells this parable, Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which take account, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which opened him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me. Shouldest not not not thou also have paid, had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee. Look at these amounts. This is what we owe to God, 10,000 talents. That's the that's the debt that we have in the sight of God. That's the the necessity of forgiveness, 10,000 talents. And then our brother comes and he just says a hundred. God has forgiven you to the uttermost. And your brother wants forgiveness, and you say, I'll I'll never forgive you for what you did against me. And it's just a small thing, a hundred talents. It's just a it's just a tiny drop compared to what God has forgiven us. And that's let's go on. And his Lord was wrath and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother, their trespass. So, without forgiveness, even in our own life, there's a debt that has to be paid. And that debt is of our own making many times. And when we come to this place where we refuse to forgive, we're going to be tormented. And you say, That's that's that's brutal. Yeah, so is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is brutal in the sight of what God has done for you through Christ. Not forgiving other people is a brutal thing, it's an evil thing. And so, what does forgiveness do? In one in one sense, it frees the other person, but the reality is actually frees us. When we forgive others, we become free. The debt is paid, the debt is play paid, and we're not held in in bondage to the torment that's gonna come because when we don't forgive, there's a there's going to be bitterness that rises up. That's gonna stay inside of you. You are you're God is not going to let his children continue with that, continue in that way, because he's going to make sure that you're going to deal with it eventually. If you're one of his children, you he's going to torment you in your life. And as much as we don't understand that, that's his love to bring us to repentance and truly forgive others. Amen. Forgiveness actually sets you free. As you hear the common saying is when we don't forgive, it's like swallowing poison and hoping the other person dies. In other words, it's stupid. This is easy to talk about in theory, but when we come down into situations in our life and people genuinely they've done they've done wrong things to you, they've spoken ill of you, they've spread lies about you. Forgive them. It hurts, it hurts us. It it it it's we the flesh wants justice. The flesh demands revenge. And you know that's that's fine, but remember that God is the one that brings justice, God is the one that ultimately repays. And if we don't forgive others, then that puts us in a position now where we we're we can't experience the blessing of God. You're gonna be stuck right in that spot that you're in until you forgive. You're never gonna experience spiritual growth, you'll be stuck right there. Why should we be in why should we let that other person have so much control over our life? In Hebrews chapter 2, Brother Branham in 1957 says, So you see, after all, it is the experience of passing from death to life when all the old things die and all things become new, Christ becomes real, the old things drop away, the old roots of carnality. You know how to dig a root out? We used to take a grubbing hoe and just get down at it and dig it, dig it till there wasn't a speck left in it. And they said, if there be any root of bitterness spring up into you, grub her out. That's right. And that's what the Holy Spirit does root out all the roots, dig them out, pile it up, burn them, get rid of them. You get a good crop, then if we do that. So you see the principle. In order for a good crop for us to grow spiritually, we gotta find those roots of bitterness, we gotta dig them up and we gotta burn them. In a thinking man's filter, Brother Branham says, For if you love those just who love you, as we shook one another's hands as dearly beloved in the Lord, that's good. But can you also love the unlovable? That's the thinking man's filter. That's the spirit of Christ in you, loving those who don't love you. Then you have the reward of God. But now, if you do it as a duty, you still haven't got the thinking man. You're only up in the second cycle, but it's from your heart you really love him, then you're breathing through the thinking man's filter, and it satisfies a holy man's tastes that you know from your heart you forgive everybody, everything, no matter what taken place. Isn't he wonderful? Amen. And this again, it is costly. I just find myself pausing on that point. Those those hurts that come they're real. You know, you experience them, and you know, it's things with b other believers, it's things in family, it's things horrible things. You know, there's things that have happened to to young people, and and the there's sexual abuse and things like that. Things that all of us as men, we rise up and we want to inflict justice because of those things. And God wants each one of us to forgive. I can never forgive my grandfather, my father, or my uncle for what he did to me when I was young. I understand. And I understand the pain, I understand the heartache, I understand the broken trust, you know, those things that that people will do to those that they're in power over are horrific, and they are going to answer to God, but you saying, I won't forgive, puts you now in a position where you're going, you're you're going to miss out on what God has for you and what God wants for you. And you're going to experience that bitterness that's going to that's going to be there, that anger that's going to be there, and it's going to hinder the grace of God in your life. And I don't say that lightly. I don't say that as though I've never had anything bad happen to me. You know, I've I've stood and wrestled and I've not wanted to forgive. And I've stood in in hotel rooms on the missions field yelling at the top of my log, saying, Lord, I forgive them. Give me strength. Help me to feel that from my heart. I don't want it just to be words that I've spoken. I want it to be directly from my heart that I have let go of this thing. Yes, they've done wrong. Yes, they've hurt those close to me. Yes, they've hurt me, but I let go of it. I forgive. It doesn't, it doesn't say that they've not done something horrible. It doesn't say, oh, you should just let them back in your life. But it does say you should be just like Jesus was to those who are crucifying him and saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This was Pharisees, this was scribes, this was the people in power, this was the the Romans. Now, did they repent? Did they repent? Reconciliation and forgiveness are not the same thing. Forgiveness makes way to reconciliation, but reconciliation comes from two parties, both parties. We do our part, forgive. Then if that person wants to also reconcile, good praise the Lord. We're thankful for that. As even as we get older, are you know those who maybe uh were uncles or grandparents or fathers in our life or mothers, people that maybe that mistreated us when we were young, we still have a longing in our heart for connection and for relationship. And forgiveness is what starts that reconciliation. Now they may not, they may not repent, and so there can't be true reconciliation, but you on your part can let go of the anger, you can let go of the bitterness, you can let go of the hatred and say, I forgive, and God will come and move into those your emotions and deliver you and set you free from that and allow you to move on and grow up into Him. Back to Hebrews 12, verse 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person is Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Verse 17, for you know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. So there it's the it goes into the motive of the heart. Esau treated the birthright so lightly, didn't mean anything to him. Then he lost that position, and suddenly, all of a sudden, oh it's very meaningful to me. This is not this is not how God operates. It's not external, it's not us looking to the external, it's looking looking to the unseen, it's looking to the motive and objective to the heart. And you so so you see that as we look without holiness, that previous verse we read, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. So if you understand that is it's not our holiness, it's what he has done within our within our hearts, how he's cleansed us, and how he's uh planted that holiness within us and then caused us to grow towards it. And so we have to be made fit in order to truly see him. Otherwise, when we see the Lord, what is it? We're not pleased to see him. You wouldn't be happy or delighted to see God in a state of unholiness. And so if you if you look at even seeing the the I this idea of seeing the Lord, how do we see the Lord? How did Moses see the Lord? He said, I want to Lord, I want to see you face to face, right? And so what did God do? He hid him in a rock and he passed by, but it wasn't just that. What did what did God do? He declared himself, he said, The Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity to the generations, and so it goes, it went through, it was declaring his declaring his name and his nature to him. That was how he saw the Lord, and so that it has to be by revelation. That's how we truly see God is because God is invisible, no man has seen God at any time, we can only see his outward manifestations, but God in himself we only can know by revelation. And so as you look within this, why that seems like a really out of place thought in this whole sermon, but when you're looking at it, it's it's when it's truly when the revelation has been made known to our hearts. That's the spot where grace is operating, right? And so grace operating in our life, it says, if you don't forgive, your heavenly father won't forgive you, right? So how how then is the grace of God gonna operate in our life? He is gonna move upon us so that we will come to that place where we desire to forgive others, desire to let go of the bitterness and forgive. And so, you know, we can go along in our life and we could say, I don't want to forgive, I don't want to deal with that, it hurts too much, it's too painful. Well, just wait a little longer and it'll be more painful, and it'll grow, and the problem will grow. All right. Brother Branham says in the Pergame and Church Age Try to do something good and just keep being good. Hold no malice, no grudget grudges, don't let any bitterness again. We read over these things quickly, and we say, Oh yeah, I should do that. But then we face with circumstances in our life. Again, there would be no need to speak about patience and forgiveness if we weren't going to be in a in a family and in a body of believers in a local church where people were just every their their behavior is perfect all the time. They they never do things that annoy you. No, they never do things that frustrate you. No, there's it literally is telling you people are going to frustrate you, strive for unity. Oh, that's easy. We have the Holy Spirit, we always have unity. Oh, okay. Interesting. Well, then why does the Holy Spirit to say say to work towards unity or move towards unity? Why does it say to do that? Is because the reality is we're still dwelling in carnal flesh, and we'll we're still crucifying that flesh and putting in the to death the deeds that are in the body. And so people are doing evil things, believers and unbelievers alike. And so that causes the prophet have to have to say, Hold no malice, no grudges. That means that there's going to be things that happen in your life that cause you to want to have a grudge, that cause you to want to have malice, hatred against people. He says, Don't let any bitterness. No matter how bad the person is and how bad they talk about you, don't you never think evil in your heart against them. That's different. If he said, Don't any ever do any evil, that's easier to control. But we can also realize that thinking evil is a different thing. And that that leads us to realize, God, change my heart. God, cleanse my heart. I I need to think differently about people. I need to think differently about this situation. Don't never think evil in your heart against them, because right there, the devil will set right in. Work up something right there. Just keep it all covered up with godly love, confession, and making right, and do good to those who do evil to you. If you only do good to those who do good to you, why Jesus? Said, don't the publicans the same? See? The sinners. Anybody can be good to those that's good to them, but be good to those who are not good to you. See, this is so contrary to the flesh. This is a this is the work of the spirit in our life. This is the nature of the Holy Spirit. Be good to those who are not good to you. Do something for those that would do not do nothing for you. Speak a good word for the man that would speak evil against you. And that way you keep all the bitterness out of your heart, and you're always in love with everybody as long as you stay in love. That's uh that's an incredible quote. That's if if we don't see our need for the Lord and for his grace operating in our life after reading a quote like that, I don't I think we're maybe blind. This is not what we naturally do, this is not what we naturally move towards, but it should be what the Holy Spirit moves us towards, pushes, is pushing us towards, is leading us into is to be in that place where somebody speaks evil against you and say, okay, well, what's the next good thing I can do for them? That person spoke behind my back. All right, I'm gonna take them out for coffee. I'm gonna get them a star, a Starbucks. Oh, sorry, Tim Horton's gift card. Amen. I didn't want anybody to have the root of bitterness against me. And so, you know, we can you look at Ephesians 6 4, the place that fathers are given, says, Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And so by the behavior of a father, if you think John Gill writes about this verse, he says, about provoking not your children to wrath, neither by words, by unjust and unreasonable commands, by reproachful language, by frequent and public chidings, and by indiscreet and passionate expressions, nor by deeds by preferring one to another, or by denying them the necessities of life, or by not allowing them proper recreation, by severe and cruel blows and inhuman usage, by not giving them suitable education, by an improper disposal of them in marriage, and by profusely spending their estates and leaving nothing to them, not but that parents may or and ought to correct and rebuke their children, nor they are they accountable to them for their conduct, yet they should take care not to provoke them to wrath, because this alienates their minds from them and renders their instructions and corrections useless, useless, and puts them upon sinful practice practices. Wrath or anger lets in Satan and leads to sin against God. And indeed it is difficult in the best of men to be angry and not sin. And so, fathers, by by your behavior, by the way you treat your children, can provoke them to anger and then plant a lifelong seed of bitterness within their hearts. And so let's just say let's just say this which father in here has never done anything to provoke their children to anger? Because whoever you are, I want to learn, I want you to be my teacher. All of us as fathers have failed. That that's that that's normal, that's the human condition. We need to be in a place where we're humble enough to ask forgiveness even of our little children. Because in doing that, you're modeling Christ to them. And you're breaking you're breaking up what could produce a root of bitterness in them. But in in on the second part, as a child, if you were raised in such a way and your dad was doing his best, but he didn't know any better, and you feel bitterness towards your father, forgive. Don't hold on to that, don't let that ruin you and destroy you. Understand you do have a heavenly father that loves you, and that he never fails, and he always raises you the right way, and he uh and he he's declaring his life over you, his truth over you, his grace over you, and so you can trust in him as your heavenly father, so you can then forgive your earthly father that has provoked you to wrath, that's provoked you to anger. And so then the other part is mothers have to get something too, right? It's got to be equal, equal rights, right? If fathers get rebuked, mothers have to get rebuked too. Or is it too close to Mother's Day, brother Chris? Oh man. Proverbs 7:11. She is loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house. Or Proverbs 21:19 is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. So as you look at this, you know, you could be have been raised in a home with a controlling mom, or a mom that is not letting you operate, you know, as a young man, it's not letting you operate and grow, is stifling you and controlling you, and is controlling everyone around you. This is maybe a tendency in in Western society that the woman wants to control because she thinks all men around her are stupid, and she's much smarter because that's what she's been told in the media and everywhere around her her entire life. So you may have been raised by a mother like that, and you feel angry, you feel upset, and you're holding bitterness because your mother you in your mind failed. She did the best with what she knew, but she didn't do a do according to scripture. Well, why don't you have a little bit of grace in your heart and say, Mom, I think you didn't know better. Nobody taught you. The church wasn't teaching about this. The pastor that of the church that we went to never addressed these issues, and so I forgive you, I forgive you. These these things like that are huge things that we often we don't really talk about much, we don't deal with much, and they get hidden way away. Oh, it's just mom, it's just dad. But you realize that you're holding that against them. And we have to realize that unfortunately, though they may have failed, part of how they failed was the pulpit failed. The pulpit failed to preach the truth both to men and to women about fatherhood and motherhood. And so they're just doing their best, and they're really following the ways of the world with a little bit of message, message sprinkled over the top of it. And so we can just in our heart say, Lord, they didn't know, they did their best. I forgive them for not sending me in the right direction. And so let's keep moving on. Deuteronomy 29. I have a really this is just it it's such a simple message, but yet it's such a complicated issue because it deals with so many, it's it's there's like so many tentacles that go out into your heart. If you're thinking of this of a root system, there's just so many places where it can grow into and so many places that it can impact our life, and we think like, man, this is so complicated. There's so many things. I want to just uncomplicate it for you. Forgive, give it to God and leave it there with Him and let Him deal with it. Yeah, but I have this and I have that and I have this. Shut up, devil. Forgive, let go of it. I get it, it's impacted many things. Don't you know that God has allowed that? Do you trust God that even through the fact that you have been hurt and misused, maybe abused, that God is in control, God is sovereign over your life. When David was kicked out of the throne and spit upon, they said, I'm gonna cut that guy's head off. And David said, Leave him alone. God told him to do that. And so these things, God is the one that can solve every problem, but he's also given us his word that if we would apply it, it would bring a release. And so it's really simple. Forgive. Somebody did you wrong, forgive them. But you don't understand. I don't have to. We have the scripture, we have the word, but I need reconciliation. Me too. Me too. That's a two-part thing. Your part is forgiveness and approaching the person. Some sometimes, not every time, not every time. If you need to forgive somebody, you don't always have to approach them. But it many times it's appropriate to say to tell them I forgive you. But you don't always have to do that. Sometimes it's just a sin inside of you of how you've dealt with it and you have you've taken this bitterness and you've got to let go of that. It's Deuteronomy 29, 18 through 20. Lest there should be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God to go and serve gods of these nations, lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood. And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. So here we're looking at idolatry, idol worship there amongst the people of Israel, and he's saying that it bears gall and wormwood, so it bears bitterness, poisonous plants. And what is what is this what is this bitterness founded in? Self-assured attitude. It's a pride, and it says, you know what? I've got eternal security. I'm part of the covenant, I'm part of the chosen people. I go to a bride church, I'm I'm totally fine, even though I walk according to the imagination of my own heart. And so idolatry isn't just bowing down and worshiping a physical idol, it's valuing anything more than God, and ultimately it's valuing self more than God. And so you come to this place where, again, self-protection, self-preservation, and then assuring ourselves, even though I'm not doing what God has commanded me to do in the word, I'm fine because I'm the bride. Well, if you're the bride, then do the works of the bride. If we're if if we're under God's covenant, if we're a part of God's covenant of grace, then our lives will manifest the covenant of God's grace. It's not enough to be an outward confessor of Christ, but then live a life in how we interact with believers around us and other churches around us that has no evidence of Christ on it at all. But it has full evidence of the works of the flesh and the protect self-protection. Think about this. Yeah, I just bitter fruit is the result of the working of the wrong kind of seed planted. So if we can expand that a little bit, and it's beyond forgiveness, seed is the word of God. Or or or you could say seed is what is being preached. So it can be a wrong seed, this the the the wheat, or it can be a weed that's planted. And I'm pretty sure the word of God, which is the the wheat, doesn't bear any bitter fruit, it bears fruit of the word. But a weed bears is a bitter plant. And so when the wrong kind of seed is planted on our heart, it's what is it gonna do? It's gonna produce the wrong kind of fruit, wrong kind of fruit. It's not gonna produce peace, it's not gonna produce holiness, it's gonna produce what chaos. It's gonna produce pain all around it, and isn't that what actually evil is? Evil is it produces chaos all around it, and and it produces damage all around it, but whose fault is it? Somebody else's. It's Billy's back there, not me. But why is there chaos all around your life, Billy? It won't take responsibility, it will always have a scapegoat. Someone else is at fault. This person did it, this person did me wrong. This church did this, this preacher preached that. Well, what it what about you? Where are you at in all this equation? You have no responsibility to produce the right kind of fruit in your own life, it's about what other people do. That's what Cain did. He said, You know what? If I just kill Abel, all my problems will be solved. What did Saul do when he was confronted? The people saved the best. Right? But what does the what does what does a man with a heart that pleases God do? David was told, told the whole story, Uriah and all that that happened, Bathsheba, and was told this parable, and David says, Where is that man? You're the man. What did he do? Oh, Bathsheba, she's so beautiful, it was her fault. No, he immediately said, I have sinned against the Lord. That's the heart that God loves. That's the heart that God delights in. And and really, what it is, what does it become when we refuse to forgive? When when we speak bad about our brothers, because that's the other part that happens is what ends up happening is when you have bitterness, you got to tell somebody about what you've been hurt. You got to tell people about it. And I, you know, on one hand, the right person, that's fine. But usually it's the right person, and then it's another one, and then it's another one, and then it's another one, and then it's another one, and then it what it's still not gossip, it's a prayer request, okay? No, it's not, it's gossip, it's not dealing with it in the right way. It's not bring it's not forgiveness. So, what does it become? It becomes our sin. Now we need to repent of the fact that we're not doing what God told us what to do, and you it's not gonna work to stand before the Lord and say, that's because so-and-so did that to me, that I didn't do that. But I asked you to forgive. Oh no, but they hurt me like really bad. I could barely function. I asked you to forgive. That was my grace trying to work in your heart and tell you, forgive. This is like a it's it's pain there in your heart, and it's it's something there that you have to realize, okay, I've got to do something. What do I have to do? Talk to the person about it, forgive the person for it. Like there's there that pain is is a sign that something needs to happen. All right, where's my notes? And then you look at we were talking about the fruit, uh, the atmosphere and works resulting from the seed that's planted. So ask yourself, I'm asking myself, do people get closer to God as a result of being my friend, or do they get further from God? I think this this helps us to understand what kind of fruit does our life produce. Am I making people more worldly and bringing more divisions in the body of Christ and and schisms and dissensions, or am I and encouraging people to partake in my idolatry? Or am I helping them to get more like Christ? Is by telling them all my troubles and problems, because that's really what happens. I mean, because you you haven't let go of it, so you've got to tell everybody. And you think, oh, I'll feel better if I tell Brother Chris now. And then you feel better for two seconds, and then you're like, No, I'm with Brother Steve. I gotta tell Brother Steve about what so-and-so did. And what are you doing? You're trying to feel better, you're trying to heal it, but that's not healing. You gotta go to the per you either got to forgive and move forward, or you gotta go to that person and have a have a talk, have a discussion. And I'm saying this to myself, we gotta make it a little bit more normal to have tough conversations with one another. And when I say tough, I don't mean you have to be mean about it. I mean you just have to say, Hey, I know this is awkward, but uh you said this and it kind of hurt me. Do you can you explain that a little bit more? Most of the time it's a misunderstanding, sometimes it's not, sometimes it's real evil that people have done against you, and that's gonna have to be dealt with as well. Uh maybe on a different kind of level, but nevertheless, is we've got we've got to strive for unity. We've got to work towards unity. Ephesians 4 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. On the one hand, I'm very I'm very, very thankful that I'm sealed unto the day of redemption. On the other hand, is we often let that drown out the other part of it, is which is we can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. You're sealed until the day of redemption. It's not leaving, but as Brother Branham said, the dove can fly up there. That doesn't mean the Holy Spirit leaves you, it means the influence of the Holy Spirit leaves you, and so that's grieving him. How can we grieve him? You know, this is not this is not two separate verses that are completely unrelated. How can we grieve him, Paul? Let all bitterness and wrath, anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. So those things can grieve the Holy Spirit. Bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit. Anger, harsh words, slander, evil speaking, that means slander. And so this is these are things that it's a it's actually something that's blocking your growth in the Lord. Things that are hindering that. And that's gonna require effort, that's gonna require tears and blood and sweat, but it's something that God wants us to work towards and strive towards. Bitterness is resentful cynicism that results in an intense anger or hostility towards others. Bitterness produces a heart that refuses reconciliation. Musicians, if you'd come. And two things happen to people who refuse. Reconciliation. They become bitter in the sense that they get angry quick and they lash out at people quickly. But bitterness can also produce a stronghold around your heart. Second Corinthians 10, 4 and 5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So our weapons are not fleshly, they're not merely psychological weapons, they're spiritual weapons, taking the word of God. And what do they do? They cast down imaginations. A stronghold speaks of like a tower that's that's built in a place that's protecting something on the inside of it. In this case, it's the devil has worked in such a way that he's created a place of protection around your heart. But what kind of protection is? It's not a good protection. It's protecting you from the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. And so God wants us to cast down those things. What are those things that create a stronghold? Imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And so bitterness can lead you to blowing up, bitterness can cause you to cut yourself off from your family, from your church, and then the worst part of it is it cuts you off from the work of the Lord in your life. We'll finish with that. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, agape love, which is the bond of perfectness. Amen. So these again, as I said before, all of these things are there because there's going to be quarrels amongst us. It's a it's another book of Acts. And in the book of Acts, we find quarrels amongst them. We find differing opinions, differing understandings of the outworking of the grace of God. And what did what did they have to do? They had to meet and to speak about it and say, this is what the Lord is doing. And so it what what what what do we need to do? We need to speak with one another, we need to talk with one another, we need to be open and not be so emotional and overzealous about our own place and our own position. But just as much as we believe that we're a part of the body of Christ, I believe that I am, we should give that credit to say you are too. And so when we do that, we realize God is working. Am I in the same place that I was 20 years ago? No. Are you in the same place you were 20 years ago? No. Okay, so God is working, apparently. Interesting. So do we trust the Lord that he can work again? Did he work before in your life? Yes. Is he working now in your life? He can continue to work. And again, when I say that that bitterness hinders, it doesn't mean that there's no working of God in your life. It means that that place you're just going to keep coming around in a circle back to it. And you might grow in other areas. You might grow in the word. You might get corrected in the word. Doesn't mean that God's not working. It means that that specific place is a spot that you're hit you're causing a hindrance in your life. And eventually it may get to a place where you're just stuck. None of us want to be in there. So let's believe that one another are part of the body of Christ and that he's working. And let's trust that God, if we can if we communicated more with each other about these things directly. We communicate really good about, you know, we can communicate really good with Billy about Andrew, but how about with Andrew? Can we communicate directly? You know, these things are important. This is part of maturing in the body of Christ. And if we can't figure these things out, I don't say that in that way as humanly speaking, but by the Holy Spirit working with us, if we can't learn to talk directly with one another, I think we're just going to be stuck in the same spot. And you know, just speaking in the way Brother Branham spoke about it is we're holding back the rapture. By our refusal to just deal with things directly and put it, lay our emotions aside and love one another. Amen. I don't have I'm not finding an off-ramp, so let's stand and pray. We're just gonna jump out of the helicopter, gracious Heavenly Father, Lord. I I come to you, Lord, speaking before these believers in your word. Each one of our desires, Lord, is to be closer to you, Lord, draw closer to you. And part of that is Lord, we need to treat one another better, Lord. We need to think better of one another. Not just automatically cutting people out of the body of Christ as though we had the authority to do that. If they did that, then how could they be believers? Lord, forgive us for those kind of thoughts and those kind of approaches, Lord. Help us to strive for unity, Lord, and part of that is fellowship with one another, communing with one another, and speaking with one another more openly without allowing our complexes and our fears to control us, Lord. May we walk in faith with even with one another, Lord, and trust that even though, as Brother Branham told us, even though they speak horrible things bad about us and they constantly speak bad things about us, Lord, may we find the good that we can do for them. Lord, to be kind, not to be a milk toast and a pushover, but Lord, to meet evil with good, as the scripture said. Don't return evil for evil, but contrary-wise, good. Lord, let us not just talk about the theory of it, Lord, but may in our hearts we look to you and put the word into practice. Lord, put our efforts and our put our choice, Lord, to love. Now that we're set free from the bondage of sin, Lord, may we move purposefully towards love, towards forgiveness, towards reconciliation, towards peace with one another. We thank you, Lord. We commit each one to you, Lord, if there's things in anyone's life, Father, that are just hurting so bad, so deeply that forgiveness seems too costly, too painful, Lord. May you touch them, Lord. May you your healing uh virtues flow from your throne of grace into their hearts, Lord, giving them strength, Lord, even just to utter those words of forgiveness, Lord, and may that feeling from their heart truly come from their heart, Lord, that they would set themselves free from that bitterness and that pain. Lord, just may your Holy Spirit move through the building, through every heart, cleansing us and speaking to us, Lord, and bringing things to remembrance, Lord. If we need to make anything right, Lord, that's our desire to do so. We know, Lord, that you're working, we know that it's your grace, we know that it's your power, Lord, to change us and to transform us, Lord. It's not our work, it's nothing we could do, Lord, but you're you're dealing with your people, Lord, in such a way to bring us on a whole another spiritual plane and heavenly places in Christ. Lord, we commit each one, commit ourselves to you in Jesus' name. Amen.