Luke 6:45

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. As if not the fruit of the tree, but leaves, that is, words alone, and not more so deeds, of either the true Christian or the hypocrite are sought, consequently the Lord adds:

The treasure of the heart is the same as the root of the tree. He therefore who has in his heart the treasure of patience and perfect love, brings forth the best fruits, loving his enemy, and doing the other things which have been taught above. But he who keeps a bad treasure in his heart does the contrary to this.

By the speaking of the mouth the Lord signifies all things, which by word, or deed, or thought, we bring forth from the heart. For it is the manner of the Scripture to put words for deeds.

"The good man produces good from the good treasure in his heart, and the evil man produces evil from the evil treasure." The treasure in one's heart is the intention of the thought, from which the Searcher of hearts judges the outcome.

Second, an explicit instruction is drawn out when it is added: The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, namely after the likeness of a good tree. He calls the good treasure the habit of interior perfection, whether …

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil. The same treasure of the heart, which is the root of the tree. And what is brought forth from …

Christ justifies his disciples in a work of necessity for themselves on that day, and that was plucking the ears of corn, when they were hungry on that day. This story here has a date, which we had not in the other evangelists; it was on the second sabbath after the first (

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21, 22 ), if we do not obey his commands? He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination. It is putting a cheat upon ourselves if we think that a bare profession of religion will save us, that hearing the sayings of Christ will bring us to heaven, without doing them.

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We learn, in the first place, from these verses — the great danger of listening to false religious teachers. Our Lord compares such teachers and their hearers to the blind leading the blind, and asks the reasonable question, "Shall they not both fall into the ditch?" He goes on to confirm the importance of His warning by declaring, that "the disciple is not above his master," and the student cannot be expected to know more than his teacher. If a man will hear unsound instruction — then we cannot expect him to become otherwise than unsound in the faith himself.

We learn, in the first place, from these verses — the great danger of listening to false religious teachers. Our Lord compares such teachers and their hearers to the blind leading the blind, and asks the reasonable question, "Shall they not both fall into the ditch?" He goes on to confirm the importance of His warning by declaring, that "the disciple is not above his master," and the student cannot be expected to know more than his teacher. If a man will hear unsound instruction — then we cannot expect him to become otherwise than unsound in the faith himself. The subject which our Lord brings before us here, deserves far more attention than it generally receives. The amount of evil which unsound religious teaching has brought on the Church in every age, is incalculable. The loss of souls which it has occasioned, is fearful to contemplate. A teacher who does not know the way to Heaven himself — is not likely to lead his hearers to Heaven. The man who hears such a teacher, runs a fearful risk himself of being lost eternally. "If the blind lead the blind — then both must fall into the ditch!" If we would escape the danger against which our Lord warns us — then we must not neglect to test the teaching that we hear by the holy Scriptures. We must not believe things — merely because ministers say them. We must not suppose, as a matter of course — that ministers can make no mistakes. We must call to mind our Lord's words on another occasion, "Beware of false prophets!" (Matthew 7:15.) We must remember the advice of Paul and John — "Prove all things." "Try the spirits — whether they are of God." (1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1.) With the Bible in our hands, and the promise of guidance from the Holy Spirit to all who seek it — we shall be without excuse if our souls are led astray.

This new frivolity is inadequate because there is in it no strong sense of an unuttered joy. The men and women who exchange the repartees may not only be hating each other, but hating even themselves. Any one of them might be bankrupt that day, …