The Words of Your Heart - part III The God who Communicates

Before we move into Part Three of our mini-series about our words, let's, as we do every week, remember where we have been. Last week we were careful to understand that the verses we have been studying (Matt. 5:33-37) are part of the Sermon on the Mount. Which means that Jesus is teaching us the “how” in regards to the people He described in The Beatitudes, carry out their day to day life. 

As we’ve been discussing over the past Month, He does this by correcting the false teachings of The Pharisees. The people He spoke to that day had been sitting under their heretical lessons for generations, believing them to be the correct way to understand God and His laws; until Jesus arrives and says “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” 6 different times in Chapter 5. In our verses for the past few weeks, we saw that He was correcting their false teachings in regards to their “oath taking” system, telling us that all of our words should be truthful, not just our promises. However, as Christ always did, He was cutting to the root of the issue, not simply how it manifested. Meaning, He is aiming His words at words themselves. 

Our speech is an out-loud explanation of what our heart sounds like, and we are morally culpable for every word. Does foolishness pour from our mouth? Endless conversations about hobbies or hypothetical futures? Do we hurt or heal with our words?

And because everything that comes out of our mouth, from the topics to the tone, lives in our heart first, it means that if we have a heart that was given to us by God it will speak in a certain way. The way we talk to others tells them much more than the words themselves, it tells them about the state of our heart. Is it dead? Or alive? If it is alive...then every conversation will have the glory of God as its ultimate goal, regardless of what we are talking about.

Finally last week, we briefly mentioned that every time time God speaks, we are getting a glimpse into His heart. Which we will be exploring this morning. 

Reading → Matthew 5:33-37 and Opening Prayer

Before we get too far in this ‘mini-series’ about our speech, before we can talk about lying or deceiving words, before we can talk about insults, slurs, and the 3rd Commandment;  we need to take a step back in our thoughts. As such, our Sermon this morning can be seen as one large “Time-Out” in our series. In order to speak on all the different ways that our words matter, and what God has to say about them, we need to examine our character and nature, God’s character and nature, what they have in common, and why.

This might get a touch in-depth, so stay with me, and I will do my best to speak clearly. 

Our character and nature:

In Genesis 1:27 we read → “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Unlike all other forms of life, in the physical or spiritual, we were created with the Imago Dei, the “Image of God.” This has ramifications into numerous areas of life, and to mention a few without getting too far off track: Because God is of infinite worth and value, those created in His ‘image’ therefore have inherent worth and value, though it is not infinite. 

Because God has the desire and ability to create, those who are made in His image do as well. Why do humans create anything? Because we were created. It's part of our nature.

On and on we can look into “what it means to be created in the image of God” to help us understand Him and ourselves, but for this morning…

Because God is omniscient (containing all knowledge) and then communicates His knowledge as He sees fit; being created in His image means that we have the ability to receive knowledge and then communicate it. 

Plainly stated:

The desire and ability to communicate “the inside stuff” of our heart and mind towards others, is part of our very nature because we were created in the image of a God who does that very thing.

God made us with functioning, reasoning, debating, minds. Able to grow from one degree to the next. Able to take small pieces of larger complex ideas, and then piece them together. We can look at a problem, be it a broken heart, a misbehavior in a child, or a broken piece of machinery, and then think through the causes of why it broke and how it can be fixed. 

Every time a parent uses an illustration when correcting the behavior of her child; every time a car mechanic simplifies his language for the customer to understand what is broken; and every time a preacher enters the pulpit; they are taking big ideas, and reducing them down without sacrificing the truth, so they can communicate to other people.

Brothers and sisters, we have the ability to reason with the thoughts and minds of people who aren’t us. We can hear the inner workings of another person’s heart through their words, and then know what we need to say for them to understand us. 

Granted, some of us aren't very good at this. There are those of us who struggle to communicate our own thoughts in ways that others will understand, yes, but “being bad” at something doesn't mean you can't do it. This person may stutter or freeze up when they try to communicate, or stumble over their words too many times and grow afraid of ever trying again. 

There are also those of us who refuse to do such a thing. Who simply speak however they want, with no regard to the hearts and minds of their listener. This person will brute-force their way through conversations, all the while feeling as if they are never wrong because they “said the true thing.”

We will discuss this more at length in future Sermons, refusing to be “as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves” as Jesus commanded us to in Matt. 10:16, who use the truth like a bludgeon…but conveniently leave out the truth of grace and forgiveness.

But for this morning, our ability to communicate in such a way that other people can understand what we are saying, even if we do it badly, is part of our character and nature, simply because it is part of the character and nature of God. He is a God who communicates.

It might seem too abstract to think about this, I understand. But let it sit for just a moment. Give pause, here and now, and think about the fact that God is one who literally communicated to humanity.

We read that He is omnipotent (all power) and are comforted when we are weak.

We read that He is omniscient (all knowledge) and are comforted when we are confused.

We read that He is omnipresent (everywhere) and are comforted when we feel alone.

A thousand unending ‘amens’ to all of that, yes! But brothers and sisters, we know all of that simply because He is a God who communicated it to us.

We know what to do when we are feeling weak, confused, alone, scared, guilty, vile, and helpless, because God told us. We know that we are forgiven and innocent in His eyes, because He told us so. We know that He will never abandon, or forsake us, because He told us about the new heart given to us at the cost of the body and blood of His Son.

Now, to hopefully fight against the temptation to say this is all redundant, or the thought of “why do we even need to talk about this, can’t we just read the Bible?”, we need to examine the character and nature of God. 

The Character and Nature of God

For a few reasons we will soon discuss, the truth of Him communicating, in and of itself, as an aspect of His character and nature, has fallen out of the mindset of our culture. 

We take His communication in the words of Scripture, as every Christian ought to do, and then apply it to our lives, yes. We read His instructions for how life should be lived; how families and governments and nations and Churches should function, and do all we can to submit to these long written down words. Yes. We hear the preacher, every Sunday heralding the truth of who He is and what He alone has done, and thereby receive with meekness the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Yes. 

Plainly stated: We see that God has said something, and then wrestle and learn and grow to better understand and apply it. 

Now, you all have heard me, on more Sundays than I can remember, tell you that you need to be in your Bibles. That you need to read them day after day, literally every single day, until you die. It is the only standard of life and Godliness; the source of all truth; the unmoving, unchanging, voice of God. So without discrediting what God says, (the actual words) if we want to better understand why we should be reading them or why we should be in Church every week; we need to do all we can to know who He is who is doing the communicating. 

Plainly stated: It is good to read your Bibles every day, and hear it preached aloud, yes. The words of scripture are life to your soul and food to your heart, precisely because of who He is that wrote them.

Are you still with me?

Who He is

To start off, all of us here this morning will give a hearty “amen” to the truths of God we know to be true. That He is the highest and final authority over all creation, pulls forth unending praise from His children. Even this morning, as we lifted our vices together in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we were singing and harmonizing and worshipping Him simply because of who He is. 

Because He made us, He is deserving of praise and worship.

Being the Creator of not only every planet, but of you yourself, demands worship of you. Psalm 95:6 & 7 says it this way → “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. [7] For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.”

Why should we kneel before God in worship? Because He is our maker.

And all God’s children said ‘amen’.

Because He saved us, He is worthy of praise and worship.

Due to no amount of effort in the creature, and according to His own will and purposes, God saved people who were fully undeserving of salvation. It says it this way in 1 Pet. 1:3 → “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Why should we bless Him? Because He saved us according to Himself.

And all God’s children said ‘amen’.

However, to go deeper with this, He would still be worthy of worship even if He didn't make, or save us.

If God had never created humanity…He would still be God. If He didn't save a single person…He would still be God. Which means that the foundational reason for our worship, that which all of our other reasons stand upon, is simply because of who He is. We worship God because He is God. Period. 

When we read about the four living creatures in Rev. 4:8 that “...each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty…” they were not crying out about His holiness because of anything that He did or didn't do.

They weren't worshipping because of the mighty foes that have fallen before Him, or the work of His hands or words, no. They cried out that He is holy, holy, holy, because He is “Who was and is and is to come!” 

God, the only one with no past or future, but dwells in the eternal present; who needs nothing outside of Himself to exist, and does everything He does according to His own reasons; deserves all worship, from every created thing, in all of creation.

Yes, acknowledge the ever-exploding sun that bathes our planet in light, and give God the glory for creating it with His words, yes! See the salvation that was bought for you by the blood of His Son, even when you were still His enemy, and then glorify Him even more, yes! But each of those, your creation and your salvation, are standing upon the truth of who He is regardless of what He does. 

Which means then, brothers and sisters, that God, in and of Himself, no matter what He does or doesn't do; no matter who He does or doesn't save; no matter the nations he lifts to power or those He reduces to the ash heap of history; and is well within His rights and ability to overpower our free will;...independent of everything in all of reality…

God deserves all of our praise and adoration

simply for being God.

I'm going to rephrase that in a few different ways to help this truth really sink in:

God’s existence is enough to earn our worship. 

He inherently deserves all glory, from all of reality, and it has nothing to do with any action He does or doesn't take.

Every human to have ever lived has a moral obligation to love and worship and God… not because of what He does, but for no other reason apart from Him being real.

Does this sit comfortably in our human minds, my friends? That a Being exists who deserves your praise for doing nothing? Or are you so "performance based” in your thinking that someone has to prove they are worthy of love, respect, and glory?

“Come on pastor!” you might be thinking right now. “Surely you aren't saying that God is worthy of our love…just because? Surely there has to be a reason!”

My answer is, yes, you're right. There is a reason why God is worthy of our love…and He Himself is that reason.

Deut. 10:12-14 → “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, [13] and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? [14] Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it.”

Why should we fear, live, love, serve, and obey Him with all of our heart and soul?

Because everything outside of Him belongs to Him. Period.

He doesn't need to justify His actions or inactions, because there is no moral obligation that can be impressed against Him for how He ought to behave. He doesn't owe anyone an explanation for anything, and is free to do as He pleases with that which belongs to Him. And everything outside of Him belongs to Him. Everything.

Everything, from the nucleus of every atom to the crawling black of endless space; from the smartest human in history, to him with the simplest mind; from the primitive tribe hidden in the jungle, to the most technologically advanced society; it all belongs to Him. Colossians 1:16 & 17 says it this way → “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. [17] And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

My friends, if we want to understand how life changing it is that God communicates to us, we need to come to terms with the absolute, unfettered “God-ness” of God:

His eternality. His ownership of everything outside of Himself.

His ‘holding together’ all of reality. His creative and salvific powers that belong to Him…not because He earned it or won a battle against the devil…but simply because of who is.

That God, Him who holds together the very fabric of reality with nothing but a fraction of effort, says this in Psalm 50:1-12 → “The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. [2] Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. [3] Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. [4] He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: [5] “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” [6] The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah [7] “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. [8] Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. [9] I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. [10] For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. [11] I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. [12] “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”

There is no moral obligation upon God to do anything…which includes communicating. There is no set of rules or instructions for God to follow that commanded Him to inform us of: His will; His laws; His standard of holiness; His definition of sin; or His own existence.

He didn't have to tell Adam and Eve about the forbidden fruit; He didn't have to warn Noah, call Abraham out from his homeland, or reveal His eternal self-existence to Moses in the burning bush. Furthermore, if God had remained quiet, never communicated anything about Himself to anyone outside of Himself, He would have done nothing wrong. 

If no word from on high ever passed through the lips of the prophets; if no word of His had ever been written and preserved through countless generations; if Christ never sat upon the Mount to reexplain His own laws to a people held under the heresy of the pharisees; and then cast you into the all consuming but never destroying flames of eternal hellfire…He would have done no injustice. It wouldn't be unfair of Him. It wouldn't be unfair of Him because ignorance of the law isn't an acceptable excuse to break it.

This truth, children of Clyde-Savannah, has been largely ignored by us “far more modern and advanced Christians”, because we have come to believe that everything is about us. We believe ourselves to be the center of our own life; find a job that suits our life. Find a spouse that we approve of; organize our life to better suit us. On and on we go through our own life thinking we are the main character of it. If you are the center of your life here and now, then it won't be very long until you are at the center of a life of flame and fire.

God can do whatever He wants, however He wants, for any reason He wants; and doesn't have to tell you anything about it. And…no one can say anything back to Him about it. 

He, and He alone, is the ultimate unchanging creator King of the cosmos. He is the one who holds stars and planets in place as easily as He holds hearts and minds (Col. 1:17). He raises up people (Dan. 2:21) and then reduces them down to nothing (Is. 40:23). He saves (Jonah 2:9) and He destroys (Matt. 10:28). He controls the winding path of every falling snowflake (Job 37:6), and the floating dust of every falling nation (Is. 40:15). He softens hearts and hardens hearts (Rom. 9:18). He is the one who will welcome His children into eternity with open arms (Jn. 14:3) and He is the one who will crush the wicked in the bloodstained caverns of Hell (Rev. 19:15). He is the one with the power of life and death (Job 1:21) and not a single soul is born or dies without His express, specific, intentional permission (Ps. 139:16).

He is God, you aren’t, and He never has to justify Himself to you for any of His choices, or even tell you about them. 

“But…but…how is that fair! How can God damn me if He didn't tell me about Himself? If God never told me to not sin, then how can I be guilty of sinning?”

First…as I said earlier, not knowing the law doesn't excuse you from its consequences.

Second…you don’t want God to be fair.

If you want Him to be fair, then you yourself will be paying for your sins in Hell. 

Is it fair for an innocent man to suffer for sins He didn't commit?

Is it fair for the only morally perfect human to ever exist, to take upon Himself the wrath your sins deserved?

And lastly…God did communicate, even though He didn't have to.

The God who communicates

As we come to a close this morning, let's take everything we just talked about in regards to who God is, and then apply it to what He has done (communicated).

The transcendent King of Universe, for His reasons and His alone, chose to reveal Himself to those whom He created. He chose, in and of Himself, to reveal Himself…not because He wanted to be fair and give us a fighting chance, but because His character and nature is one of gracious kindness and limitless forgiveness towards His children.

Plainly stated: He is the reason He communicated to humanity. Not us. 

And He did so in two different ways.

General/Natural revelation

The first way in which God communicated to us is “General or Natural revelation.” Romans 1:20 gives us a summary definition when it says → “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” 

No one has any excuse to not believe in Him, because He created the world in such a way that it communicates to us His existence. From stars to soil; from the intricate design of our DNA to the processing power of our brains; creation itself is a communication from God. 

Also included here, which connects back to the Imago Dei, is the way in which He created our soul. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God created us with “eternity in our hearts”, meaning that the very essence of your identity is one that is constantly searching for something to complete it. We could very easily veer off from our Sermon to speak on all the things people use to try and complete themselves, from sex, careers, hobbies, or drugs; but the inherent drive for “something more” is in and of itself a communication from God. God created reality in such a way that He communicated through the physical tangible things of earth (stars, soil, blood, and brains) and the intangible things as well (our soul).

Special revelation

The second way in which God communicated to us, is “special revelation” or…The Scriptures. The 66 Books of the Bible are the very breath of God, penned into existence by a perfect author, and every word “...is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16)

And what did God tell us about Himself within those golden pages?

That when we repent of our sins and believe in Him, the punishment we deserve will be accounted to Christ on the cross and His righteousness will be accounted to us (2 Cor. 5:21).

That we will be declared fully and finally innocent of the most grievous and evil wickedness anyone could ever possibly perform (Rom. 8:33).

That all who come to Him will never be cast aside (Jn. 6:37).

That He will never lose any of the people He died for (Jn. 6:39).

That He organized all of reality to unfold according to His own will (Eph. 1:11) and that as it unfolds, it is all for our good (Rom. 8:28) and His glory (Rom. 11:36).

When you go to take up your Bible, are you reading those long written down words with that understanding? That the untouchable, unarguable God of the Universe has something to say? Are you in a Church this morning simply because it is what's expected of a Christian? Or because the righteous Judge of all reality, who sits enthroned upon the praises of His people as unending angels cry out about His holiness and uses the earth as His footstool; said something, and you can’t go another day without knowing what He said?

Think on this my friends, that the neon King of the cosmos, Him who exists outside of time itself, unbound by its passage, who lives in unapproachable light; Him who wears galaxies as rings, whose royal robe drapes off the edge of expanding space, whose crown will never fall and kingdom will never end; Him who crushes the kings of earth beneath His heavenly scepter  and brushes entire nations away as if they are dust upon the scales; Him who forgives the wicked and pardons the unrighteous; Him who welcomes the lost, abused, abandoned, sick, alone, worn down and defeated refuse of humanity into His loving family fully independent of their own choices, adopting them, honoring them, and killing His own Son to do so…that God, for His own reasons and glory, chose to communicate to us in ways that we can understand.

Now you go, and do the same thing.

Communicate the timeless eternal truths of God to other people, for His glory.

Rev. Jacob Marchitell

May 24th 2026