34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Jesus is talking about two different kinds of men, the good man and the evil man. Let us determine who each are. Would you agree that no man is righteous (good) of his own merit (Romans 3:10) and that ALL men are born evil? If so, then you would agree that in the context of this passage, the only good men are those redeemed by the Blood of Jesus and saved by the Grace of God. The fact that Jesus even talked of a “good man” confirms that there ARE those that are good.
Therefore if that is true, and I believe it is, every man who is lost is the evil man. Paul confirms this when he wrote in Ephesians 2:2 that every lost man is demon-possessed. This is supported in the Old Testament as well when God saw that the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of his heart was only evil, continually (Genesis 6:5).
In verse 34 Jesus even confirms what the prophet recorded in Jeremiah 13:23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. Jesus said “...how can you WHO ARE EVIL say anything good? The answer is THEY CAN’T!!! And if they can’t say anything good, they certainly can’t DO anything good.
Here is the “If / Then” question:
IF every lost man is an evil man and brings evil things out of his heart, and IF his heart is dead, and IF he is used to doing evil and cannot change, and IF he cannot please God (Romans 8:8), THEN how can he “change” and do something good like believe in Jesus and please God?
The answer is HE CAN’T!!! Believing in Jesus, confessing Christ as Savior, and repenting of one’s sins are all spiritual actions and impossible for a lost man because his spirit is dead (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5, Colossians 2:13). Only a saved man can believe, only a saved man can confess Christ as Savior, and only a saved man will repent.
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