Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
One spring cannot send out both sweet water and bitter water from the same opening. So the same mouth cannot rightly offer blessing toward God and cursing toward people made in His likeness. The inner life is the fountain and words and conduct are the streams it sends forth, so what comes out reveals what fills the heart. Bitter waters are envy, strife, contention, suspicion and harsh speech showing a wisdom that is earthly and devilish, while sweet waters are love to God and man and life-giving speech showing the wisdom from above that is pure, peaceable, gentle and full of mercy. The fountain itself must be cleansed by surrender to God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for only a changed heart sends forth a pure, sweet stream.
Fountain Image Explained
The question expects the answer No, for it is impossible that one place should send forth both sweet water and bitter water, since a single source cannot produce two opposite kinds of water. The same image exposes the contradiction of a Christian profession joined with speaking evil of fellow believers, for opposing kinds of speech and conduct do not belong together from the same source. In church disunion such harmful behavior is incompatible with the good and meek wisdom that should mark a Christian, since bitter envy and strife in the heart are inconsistent with wisdom from above while true wisdom is shown by good conduct and meekness. Making merchandise of a brother's mistakes and sins and condemning him while being more guilty is the self-evident contradiction the verse exposes, with the sin proved by God who never makes a mistake. Applied to a publishing press, truth and Satanic error cannot issue from the same institution while its publications retain God's blessing and serve as a power for truth.
As one fountain cannot give both sweet water and bitter, salt water and fresh, nor a fig tree bear olives, so the same mouth cannot rightly send forth blessing toward God and cursing toward men made in God's likeness, and such double speech ought not to be. That double speech with jealousy, faultfinding, talebearing, gossip, bitter envying and strife proves the speaker is not a branch of the true vine but is manifesting the attributes of Satan and a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, devilish, bringing confusion and every evil work. The wise man shows his works with meekness of wisdom, and the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Speech reveals the character within, for envy and strife produce harmful words while wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful, and fruitful. Words and influence should not produce both good and evil, and in the church members must retain the salt's savor so their families can be preserved from the corruption and immorality of the age.
The tongue is the unruly member that must be entirely controlled and cannot send forth both good and evil, so it must be carefully controlled and guarded that the same source does not produce both good and harmful words. Words and acts must be educated in carefulness, and restraint in speech is not hypocrisy but formation of character by laying this Scripture to heart and letting its instruction shape character and daily conduct. The Word of God must be carefully studied and carried out into the daily life.
What James 3 teaches expresses the same principles God spoke by His voice from the pillar of cloud about the acts to do and not to do, given in Deuteronomy 4. Those principles are sacred truth and the principles of the law of God, to be acted out in all religious service toward God and toward one another by being Christian gentlemen, loving as brethren, doing no injustice, and always showing liberality, tenderness, compassion, and true courtesy. They require humbling of spirit and a changed heart to understand and obey the It is written. They never lose their force because they are expressions of the mind of the infinite God, every word is to be cherished, this truth is to be preached, God is to be represented by correct principles in everything, God will not be trifled with, and all who depart from His word in action misrepresent the character of God.
Heeding this truth cannot be separated from carrying out the principles of the ten precepts of Jehovah. A person's words and conduct are tested by God's law and by God's royal law, and speech flowing from one source cannot be both pure and corrupt. Self-control and the grace of Christ must transform character, for this control is required to stand without fault before the throne of God and to serve God acceptably. The fountain must be cleansed for its stream to become pure.
Heart Shown by Speech
The inner life is the fountain and words, conduct, preaching and life are the water or streams it sends forth, so what comes out reveals what fills the heart, whether treasures of life or death, good or evil. When the heart is not cleansed the words and conduct flowing from it are impure, but when the heart is right words, dress and actions are right, and a changed heart produces fruit to God's glory. The same heart cannot send forth both pure and corrupt talk, both sweet water and bitter, so truth presented through a heart mixed and tainted with self tastes unsavory from the dish that holds it. A truly converted heart cleansed within speaks from its abundance about Jesus, His wondrous love and redeeming power, not false, foolish, talebearing talk about self and past follies and unprofitable things. Impure streams prove a polluted fountain, and a jealous, fault-finding tongue that seeks spot and stain in others, with coarse ways and a low standard, reveals perversion and pollution within.
A person's speech reveals the spirit within and the character and religious standing. A heart ruled by Christ's love cannot at the same time produce harsh, bitter speech that stirs up wrongdoing, and believers who use cutting words while claiming to correct evil contradict the truth they profess. Envy, strife and an uncleansed heart produce impure words and conduct, and harsh, unchristian speech shows the inner source is not cleansed. A person transformed by love for Jesus, with the Spirit of Christ dwelling within through the habit of praying to Jesus, is a fountain sending forth only sweet water, with honest, true, Christlike words manifesting moral worth by courtesy, kindness of heart that never makes light of distress, and tones of voice cultured by Christ. Out of the same fountain proceeding from earnest religious experience flows no bitter water, no quick anger and malice, and no high-toned speeches full of bitterness and rasping, for when the Spirit of God controls, Christ renews the life and inherited and learned tendencies are overcome.
The bitter waters are strife, contention for supremacy, grievances, suspicion, distrust, unjust judgment, watching for evil, and bitter words. Envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, watching for faults, evil surmising, finding fault, striving for supremacy, and tearing others down to build self up are bitter water condemned in missionaries and church members. The sweet, pure waters are love to God and man and life-giving speech that feeds souls upon the Word of God. A heart that sends forth the bitter waters of strife cannot possibly send forth love, so self must be controlled, no words of contention or bitterness must fall from the lips, and believers must love one another as Christ loved. God will not work with workers who continue in that bitter spirit, and they will only close the field unless they humble their hearts, confess, put these sins away, and carefully discipline their imaginative faculties and tongues.
Bitter words plant bitter fibrous roots that poison faith and defile many souls, set thoughts and tongue on fire, hinder God's work, place His servants in the worst light, and lay stumbling blocks before the feeble. They alienate brother from brother and do Satan's work of accusing through perverted presentation of brethren. Unwise words expressing doubt or accusing fellow believers can take root and, when circumstances allow, produce unbelief and apostasy and injure minds and hearts. Sweet speech comes only from hearts drawing sap and nourishment from the True Vine Jesus Christ and bearing genuine fruit, with charity, daily conversion, and crucifixion of self, making straight paths for the feet to help the weak in faith and strengthen the tempted.
Use of the tongue carries everlasting consequences because one fountain cannot send forth both sweet water and bitter. Hasty, harsh speech that wounds a brother or sister never improves character by vindicating it but must be confessed, with rubbish of disunion removed, wounds healed, and straight paths made. Those under Christ build up and do not tear down, speaking words under the Holy Spirit that soften and subdue rather than aggravate, dictate, and discourage fellow workers.
People are known by the fruit appearing in the life. Just as a pure fountain does not send forth an impure stream, a true Christian does not utter words of abuse or enter into contention with those around him.
Two Kinds of Wisdom
Envy and strife in the heart produce harmful words and reveal a wisdom that is earthly, sensual and devilish, bringing confusion and every evil work. Such speech manifests the attributes of Satan, and blessing God while cursing people made in God's likeness proves the speaker is not a branch of the true vine. One source cannot give both sweet water and bitter, salt water and fresh, any more than a fig tree can bear olives, so this double speech ought not to be.
Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated and open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. It bears righteousness in peace and good fruits, while actions marked by envy and strife expose a heart unlike Christ's. True wisdom is shown by good conduct and meekness of wisdom, and bitter envying and strife in the heart are inconsistent with it. In church life disunion and strife war against truth and against Christ, and such harmful behavior is incompatible with the good, meek wisdom that should mark a Christian.
There is a self-evident contradiction when a Christian profession is joined with speaking evil of fellow believers. Making merchandise of a brother's mistakes and sins and condemning him while being more guilty before God is impossible from the same source, for the answer is No, and the sin is proved by God who never makes a mistake. One who professes sanctification yet speaks and acts with unkindness and irritating speech is like an impure fountain sending bitter water, is deceived about the Christian life, and must be converted before Christ will acknowledge him as one of His children. Truth must cleanse and reform the heart so that life, actions, words and outward habits show its effect, with true humility shown by its fruits and not by careless dress or disorder. Habitually questioning and finding fault with everything and with every person's teaching, and accusing fellow believers, gives proof of the speaker's own imperfection of character, calling him to stop examining others as imperfect and to criticize himself severely and practice God's Word in speech.
Cleansed Heart Pure Stream
The fountain itself must be cleansed for the streams to become pure, for an uncleansed heart produces impure conduct while a pure heart does not produce bitter conduct. That cleansing comes through surrender to God and purification for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and by drinking the water of life so the fountain sends forth sweet water and not bitter. Words and conduct flowing from a person reveal the condition of the heart, as a pure source produces a pure stream, and they are tested by God's law and royal law, requiring self-control and transforming grace of Christ for acceptable service. In the Christian home this means restraining intimidating words that create fear and expel love, treating children with tenderness and respect as the Lord's property by creation and redemption, and replacing overbearing, faultfinding, threatening and rebuking words that hurt children, destroy confidence and lead to deception and evasion with gentle, loving speech that brings love rather than slavish fear.
Salvation of the soul requires agonizing to enter the strait gate, not good resolutions that are not carried out, and when the fountain is clean the streams proceeding from it will be pure. Truth presented through a heart mixed and tainted with self tastes unsavory from the dish that holds it, for the heart is the seat of all evil or good holding treasures of life or death, and what comes out reveals what fills it. A heart made pure and undefiled brings forth good things from its good treasure, so daily work to be cleansed in heart is required for speech and labor to flow pure and unmixed with self.
Cleansing of the fountain, the soul-temple and the mind is needed for the streams to become pure and honor truth, since impure streams prove a polluted fountain, with a jealous, fault-finding tongue seeking spot and stain in others, coarse ways and a low standard revealing perversion and pollution within. It requires the fear of the Lord, jealous distrust of self, keeping the tongue from expressing jealousy of the heart, humbling before God in accepted repentance, and becoming persevering doers of the word. This is reformation of principle rather than mere admission of wrong under feeling, for without thorough change the defiled fountain keeps dishonoring God and puts eternal life in fearful danger.
When the fountain of the heart is changed by conversion and the water of life, the life testifies to reformation with the mind of Christ and God's grace abiding within. The person loves believers and no longer speaks sharply or acts in a dictatorial, arbitrary or faultfinding spirit, and those around see the stream become pure. Such thorough conversion changes the inner source, and the changed life bears fruit that honors God.
An unclean, unconverted heart will ever keep sending forth bitter words and actions, and covering up and excusing the sin of the natural heart will not stop it, for the heart itself must be changed. That change comes by stopping excuse and vindication of actions that dishonor Christ and bring reproach on His cause, seeing defective character with loathing of soul, saying I have sinned, and in contrition asking forgiveness. Genuine repentance always brings reformation rather than defending the wrong, fills the heart with thankfulness for not being blinded until too late for wrongs to be righted, discards the old garment of self-righteousness instead of patching it with new cloth, and saves the soul unto eternal life.
When Christ's renewing grace changes a brackish fountain for the better, the change becomes evident in streams, thoughts, feelings and actions that are pure, sweet, wholesome and refreshing and no longer carry what is bad or impure. Such sweet speech comes only from hearts drawing sap and nourishment from the True Vine Jesus Christ and bearing genuine fruit, with charity, daily conversion and crucifixion of self. It flows from earnest religious experience in the habit of praying to Jesus, yielding honest, true, Christlike words manifesting moral worth by courtesy, kindness of heart that never makes light of distress, and tones of voice cultured by Christ, with no bitter water, no quick anger and malice, and no high-toned speeches full of bitterness and rasping.
Sweet water is truth producing beauty in the soul through true and unmistakable conversion to God and sanctification through the truth, with a life and influence that draws youth to Christ and works for the salvation of souls. A mere profession of faith without conversion poisons the fountain, so bitter water flows out in deception, trifling, vanity, self-confidence, spiritual sloth and pleasure-loving that leads others away from God and disqualifies for standing amid the perils of the last days. To remain in that state forfeits eternal life, for eternal life is worth everything or it is worth nothing, since a mere profession cannot save and when truth does not shape the soul the expected good is corrupted and only worthless, corrupted fruit appears.
Unity in Church Life
In the church division and strife are bitter fruit that manifestly weaken the church and war against the truth and against Jesus Christ. Those who produce them are known by their fruits and cannot at the same time be yielding the sweet water of truth. Profession of truth joined with disunion and strife is a contradiction, for wisdom is instead shown by good conduct and meekness.
The same mouth cannot rightly send forth blessing toward God and cursing toward people made in God's likeness, just as one fountain cannot give both sweet and bitter, salt and fresh, nor a fig tree bear olives. Envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, watching for faults, evil surmising, finding fault, talebearing, gossip, striving for supremacy, and tearing others down to build self up are the bitter water that God condemns in missionaries and church members. Such jealousy, faultfinding, bitter envying and strife ought not to be, proving the speaker is not a branch of the true vine but manifesting the attributes of Satan and a wisdom that is earthly, sensual and devilish, bringing confusion and every evil work. God will not work with workers who continue in that spirit and they will only close the field, so they must humble their hearts, confess, put these sins away, and carefully discipline their imaginative faculties and tongues. The wise instead show works with meekness of wisdom, and the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
A pure heart produces pure, holy influence that refreshes others and cannot yield both purity and corruption. A gospel minister must therefore put away conduct unbecoming to the ministry rather than mix holy service with absorbing worldly cares. Words and actions should be pure and not muddy waters, kept so through close connection with God and vigilance against danger. That purity makes the minister a sound example that protects others, especially the young and morally weak. Thorough conversion to the truth sanctifies the minister, removing boasting, jesting, joking, foolish talking, trifling expressions and gestures, and lack of spirituality, pureness and godliness. He becomes free in the pulpit without restraint yet dignified, holy, watchful and prayerful, exerting a holy influence and living as an example souls can safely follow without being turned aside. By contrast, forbidden thoughts indulged and controlled by Satan make the fountain impure, so censurable conversation and conduct toward young ladies prove impurity within. A minister advocating the binding claims of God's holy law while letting thought run on forbidden subjects and moving from impulse and lower passion bears evil fruit that testifies against him.
When the same life gives what is good and then what is bitter it brings weariness and sorrow of heart and grief beyond words. Those who have departed from the faith are set against their own past, their present sad history contrasted with their past faithful history, as a fountain once sweet now bitter and as a vine once bearing good grapes now yielding wild grapes. That reversal brings pain to the heart and sadness to the soul. It stands under the nearness of the end when truth alone will triumph, calling for the truth as it is in Jesus to be planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit and daily tended there by the grace of God.
Pure Teaching Preserved
One source cannot send forth both sweet water and bitter water, so truth and satanic error cannot issue from the same publishing institution while its publications retain God's blessing and serve as a power for truth. The same rule applies to education, for an impure source of teaching cannot be treated as a reliable source of spiritual nourishment merely because it contains some valuable ideas. Since God is the source of all light and truth, students need not wade through error in pagan and infidel writings to obtain intellectual truths that are available in Scripture. Truth and error cannot be blended without compromising what is pure, and a few truths do not make works filled with error a sound source of education.
A source cannot produce what is contrary to its nature, for an impure fountain cannot send forth pure water. A corrupt source that leads to moral pollution therefore cannot be a channel of divine light or truth in visions and teaching. A fountain that should give sweet water has been poisoned when it sends forth what is bitter, and when families and institutions yield such fruit their conduct reveals earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom rather than the purity of genuine religion. Members must instead retain the salt's savor so that their families can be preserved from the corruption and immorality of the age, for blessing and cursing from the same mouth are inconsistent.
Drinking the water of life makes the inner fountain send forth sweet water and not bitter, and in the Christian home this means restraining intimidating words that create fear and expel love. Children are to be treated with tenderness and respect as the Lord's property by creation and redemption, bringing love rather than slavish fear. Overbearing, faultfinding, threatening and rebuking words that hurt children, destroy confidence, and lead to deception and evasion are to be replaced by gentle, loving speech. Christlike character in daily life is shown by meekness, humility, unseen acts of kindness, gentleness at home, patience when provoked, and soft answers instead of harsh or vindictive words. It is manifest by courtesy, kindness of heart that never makes light of distress, and tones of voice cultured by Christ, flowing from earnest religious experience and the habit of praying to Jesus with no bitter water, no quick anger and malice, and no high-toned speeches full of bitterness and rasping. The fountain must be cleansed through surrender to God and purification for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for an uncleansed heart produces impure conduct while a pure heart does not produce bitter conduct.
One spring cannot send out both sweet water and bitter water from the same opening. So the same mouth cannot rightly offer blessing toward God and cursing toward people made in His likeness. The inner life is the fountain and words and conduct are the streams it sends forth, so what comes out reveals what fills the heart. Bitter waters are envy, strife, contention, suspicion and harsh speech showing a wisdom that is earthly and devilish, while sweet waters are love to God and man and life-giving speech showing the wisdom from above that is pure, peaceable, gentle and full of mercy. The fountain itself must be cleansed by surrender to God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for only a changed heart sends forth a pure, sweet stream.
Fountain Image Explained
The question expects the answer No, for it is impossible that one place should send forth both sweet water and bitter water, since a single source cannot produce two opposite kinds of water. The same image exposes the contradiction of a Christian profession joined with speaking evil of fellow believers, for opposing kinds of speech and conduct do not belong together from the same source. In church disunion such harmful behavior is incompatible with the good and meek wisdom that should mark a Christian, since bitter envy and strife in the heart are inconsistent with wisdom from above while true wisdom is shown by good conduct and meekness. Making merchandise of a brother's mistakes and sins and condemning him while being more guilty is the self-evident contradiction the verse exposes, with the sin proved by God who never makes a mistake. Applied to a publishing press, truth and Satanic error cannot issue from the same institution while its publications retain God's blessing and serve as a power for truth.
As one fountain cannot give both sweet water and bitter, salt water and fresh, nor a fig tree bear olives, so the same mouth cannot rightly send forth blessing toward God and cursing toward men made in God's likeness, and such double speech ought not to be. That double speech with jealousy, faultfinding, talebearing, gossip, bitter envying and strife proves the speaker is not a branch of the true vine but is manifesting the attributes of Satan and a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, devilish, bringing confusion and every evil work. The wise man shows his works with meekness of wisdom, and the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Speech reveals the character within, for envy and strife produce harmful words while wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful, and fruitful. Words and influence should not produce both good and evil, and in the church members must retain the salt's savor so their families can be preserved from the corruption and immorality of the age.
The tongue is the unruly member that must be entirely controlled and cannot send forth both good and evil, so it must be carefully controlled and guarded that the same source does not produce both good and harmful words. Words and acts must be educated in carefulness, and restraint in speech is not hypocrisy but formation of character by laying this Scripture to heart and letting its instruction shape character and daily conduct. The Word of God must be carefully studied and carried out into the daily life.
What James 3 teaches expresses the same principles God spoke by His voice from the pillar of cloud about the acts to do and not to do, given in Deuteronomy 4. Those principles are sacred truth and the principles of the law of God, to be acted out in all religious service toward God and toward one another by being Christian gentlemen, loving as brethren, doing no injustice, and always showing liberality, tenderness, compassion, and true courtesy. They require humbling of spirit and a changed heart to understand and obey the It is written. They never lose their force because they are expressions of the mind of the infinite God, every word is to be cherished, this truth is to be preached, God is to be represented by correct principles in everything, God will not be trifled with, and all who depart from His word in action misrepresent the character of God.
Heeding this truth cannot be separated from carrying out the principles of the ten precepts of Jehovah. A person's words and conduct are tested by God's law and by God's royal law, and speech flowing from one source cannot be both pure and corrupt. Self-control and the grace of Christ must transform character, for this control is required to stand without fault before the throne of God and to serve God acceptably. The fountain must be cleansed for its stream to become pure.
Heart Shown by Speech
The inner life is the fountain and words, conduct, preaching and life are the water or streams it sends forth, so what comes out reveals what fills the heart, whether treasures of life or death, good or evil. When the heart is not cleansed the words and conduct flowing from it are impure, but when the heart is right words, dress and actions are right, and a changed heart produces fruit to God's glory. The same heart cannot send forth both pure and corrupt talk, both sweet water and bitter, so truth presented through a heart mixed and tainted with self tastes unsavory from the dish that holds it. A truly converted heart cleansed within speaks from its abundance about Jesus, His wondrous love and redeeming power, not false, foolish, talebearing talk about self and past follies and unprofitable things. Impure streams prove a polluted fountain, and a jealous, fault-finding tongue that seeks spot and stain in others, with coarse ways and a low standard, reveals perversion and pollution within.
A person's speech reveals the spirit within and the character and religious standing. A heart ruled by Christ's love cannot at the same time produce harsh, bitter speech that stirs up wrongdoing, and believers who use cutting words while claiming to correct evil contradict the truth they profess. Envy, strife and an uncleansed heart produce impure words and conduct, and harsh, unchristian speech shows the inner source is not cleansed. A person transformed by love for Jesus, with the Spirit of Christ dwelling within through the habit of praying to Jesus, is a fountain sending forth only sweet water, with honest, true, Christlike words manifesting moral worth by courtesy, kindness of heart that never makes light of distress, and tones of voice cultured by Christ. Out of the same fountain proceeding from earnest religious experience flows no bitter water, no quick anger and malice, and no high-toned speeches full of bitterness and rasping, for when the Spirit of God controls, Christ renews the life and inherited and learned tendencies are overcome.
The bitter waters are strife, contention for supremacy, grievances, suspicion, distrust, unjust judgment, watching for evil, and bitter words. Envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, watching for faults, evil surmising, finding fault, striving for supremacy, and tearing others down to build self up are bitter water condemned in missionaries and church members. The sweet, pure waters are love to God and man and life-giving speech that feeds souls upon the Word of God. A heart that sends forth the bitter waters of strife cannot possibly send forth love, so self must be controlled, no words of contention or bitterness must fall from the lips, and believers must love one another as Christ loved. God will not work with workers who continue in that bitter spirit, and they will only close the field unless they humble their hearts, confess, put these sins away, and carefully discipline their imaginative faculties and tongues.
Bitter words plant bitter fibrous roots that poison faith and defile many souls, set thoughts and tongue on fire, hinder God's work, place His servants in the worst light, and lay stumbling blocks before the feeble. They alienate brother from brother and do Satan's work of accusing through perverted presentation of brethren. Unwise words expressing doubt or accusing fellow believers can take root and, when circumstances allow, produce unbelief and apostasy and injure minds and hearts. Sweet speech comes only from hearts drawing sap and nourishment from the True Vine Jesus Christ and bearing genuine fruit, with charity, daily conversion, and crucifixion of self, making straight paths for the feet to help the weak in faith and strengthen the tempted.
Use of the tongue carries everlasting consequences because one fountain cannot send forth both sweet water and bitter. Hasty, harsh speech that wounds a brother or sister never improves character by vindicating it but must be confessed, with rubbish of disunion removed, wounds healed, and straight paths made. Those under Christ build up and do not tear down, speaking words under the Holy Spirit that soften and subdue rather than aggravate, dictate, and discourage fellow workers.
People are known by the fruit appearing in the life. Just as a pure fountain does not send forth an impure stream, a true Christian does not utter words of abuse or enter into contention with those around him.
Two Kinds of Wisdom
Envy and strife in the heart produce harmful words and reveal a wisdom that is earthly, sensual and devilish, bringing confusion and every evil work. Such speech manifests the attributes of Satan, and blessing God while cursing people made in God's likeness proves the speaker is not a branch of the true vine. One source cannot give both sweet water and bitter, salt water and fresh, any more than a fig tree can bear olives, so this double speech ought not to be.
Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated and open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. It bears righteousness in peace and good fruits, while actions marked by envy and strife expose a heart unlike Christ's. True wisdom is shown by good conduct and meekness of wisdom, and bitter envying and strife in the heart are inconsistent with it. In church life disunion and strife war against truth and against Christ, and such harmful behavior is incompatible with the good, meek wisdom that should mark a Christian.
There is a self-evident contradiction when a Christian profession is joined with speaking evil of fellow believers. Making merchandise of a brother's mistakes and sins and condemning him while being more guilty before God is impossible from the same source, for the answer is No, and the sin is proved by God who never makes a mistake. One who professes sanctification yet speaks and acts with unkindness and irritating speech is like an impure fountain sending bitter water, is deceived about the Christian life, and must be converted before Christ will acknowledge him as one of His children. Truth must cleanse and reform the heart so that life, actions, words and outward habits show its effect, with true humility shown by its fruits and not by careless dress or disorder. Habitually questioning and finding fault with everything and with every person's teaching, and accusing fellow believers, gives proof of the speaker's own imperfection of character, calling him to stop examining others as imperfect and to criticize himself severely and practice God's Word in speech.
Cleansed Heart Pure Stream
The fountain itself must be cleansed for the streams to become pure, for an uncleansed heart produces impure conduct while a pure heart does not produce bitter conduct. That cleansing comes through surrender to God and purification for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and by drinking the water of life so the fountain sends forth sweet water and not bitter. Words and conduct flowing from a person reveal the condition of the heart, as a pure source produces a pure stream, and they are tested by God's law and royal law, requiring self-control and transforming grace of Christ for acceptable service. In the Christian home this means restraining intimidating words that create fear and expel love, treating children with tenderness and respect as the Lord's property by creation and redemption, and replacing overbearing, faultfinding, threatening and rebuking words that hurt children, destroy confidence and lead to deception and evasion with gentle, loving speech that brings love rather than slavish fear.
Salvation of the soul requires agonizing to enter the strait gate, not good resolutions that are not carried out, and when the fountain is clean the streams proceeding from it will be pure. Truth presented through a heart mixed and tainted with self tastes unsavory from the dish that holds it, for the heart is the seat of all evil or good holding treasures of life or death, and what comes out reveals what fills it. A heart made pure and undefiled brings forth good things from its good treasure, so daily work to be cleansed in heart is required for speech and labor to flow pure and unmixed with self.
Cleansing of the fountain, the soul-temple and the mind is needed for the streams to become pure and honor truth, since impure streams prove a polluted fountain, with a jealous, fault-finding tongue seeking spot and stain in others, coarse ways and a low standard revealing perversion and pollution within. It requires the fear of the Lord, jealous distrust of self, keeping the tongue from expressing jealousy of the heart, humbling before God in accepted repentance, and becoming persevering doers of the word. This is reformation of principle rather than mere admission of wrong under feeling, for without thorough change the defiled fountain keeps dishonoring God and puts eternal life in fearful danger.
When the fountain of the heart is changed by conversion and the water of life, the life testifies to reformation with the mind of Christ and God's grace abiding within. The person loves believers and no longer speaks sharply or acts in a dictatorial, arbitrary or faultfinding spirit, and those around see the stream become pure. Such thorough conversion changes the inner source, and the changed life bears fruit that honors God.
An unclean, unconverted heart will ever keep sending forth bitter words and actions, and covering up and excusing the sin of the natural heart will not stop it, for the heart itself must be changed. That change comes by stopping excuse and vindication of actions that dishonor Christ and bring reproach on His cause, seeing defective character with loathing of soul, saying I have sinned, and in contrition asking forgiveness. Genuine repentance always brings reformation rather than defending the wrong, fills the heart with thankfulness for not being blinded until too late for wrongs to be righted, discards the old garment of self-righteousness instead of patching it with new cloth, and saves the soul unto eternal life.
When Christ's renewing grace changes a brackish fountain for the better, the change becomes evident in streams, thoughts, feelings and actions that are pure, sweet, wholesome and refreshing and no longer carry what is bad or impure. Such sweet speech comes only from hearts drawing sap and nourishment from the True Vine Jesus Christ and bearing genuine fruit, with charity, daily conversion and crucifixion of self. It flows from earnest religious experience in the habit of praying to Jesus, yielding honest, true, Christlike words manifesting moral worth by courtesy, kindness of heart that never makes light of distress, and tones of voice cultured by Christ, with no bitter water, no quick anger and malice, and no high-toned speeches full of bitterness and rasping.
Sweet water is truth producing beauty in the soul through true and unmistakable conversion to God and sanctification through the truth, with a life and influence that draws youth to Christ and works for the salvation of souls. A mere profession of faith without conversion poisons the fountain, so bitter water flows out in deception, trifling, vanity, self-confidence, spiritual sloth and pleasure-loving that leads others away from God and disqualifies for standing amid the perils of the last days. To remain in that state forfeits eternal life, for eternal life is worth everything or it is worth nothing, since a mere profession cannot save and when truth does not shape the soul the expected good is corrupted and only worthless, corrupted fruit appears.
Unity in Church Life
In the church division and strife are bitter fruit that manifestly weaken the church and war against the truth and against Jesus Christ. Those who produce them are known by their fruits and cannot at the same time be yielding the sweet water of truth. Profession of truth joined with disunion and strife is a contradiction, for wisdom is instead shown by good conduct and meekness.
The same mouth cannot rightly send forth blessing toward God and cursing toward people made in God's likeness, just as one fountain cannot give both sweet and bitter, salt and fresh, nor a fig tree bear olives. Envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, watching for faults, evil surmising, finding fault, talebearing, gossip, striving for supremacy, and tearing others down to build self up are the bitter water that God condemns in missionaries and church members. Such jealousy, faultfinding, bitter envying and strife ought not to be, proving the speaker is not a branch of the true vine but manifesting the attributes of Satan and a wisdom that is earthly, sensual and devilish, bringing confusion and every evil work. God will not work with workers who continue in that spirit and they will only close the field, so they must humble their hearts, confess, put these sins away, and carefully discipline their imaginative faculties and tongues. The wise instead show works with meekness of wisdom, and the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
A pure heart produces pure, holy influence that refreshes others and cannot yield both purity and corruption. A gospel minister must therefore put away conduct unbecoming to the ministry rather than mix holy service with absorbing worldly cares. Words and actions should be pure and not muddy waters, kept so through close connection with God and vigilance against danger. That purity makes the minister a sound example that protects others, especially the young and morally weak. Thorough conversion to the truth sanctifies the minister, removing boasting, jesting, joking, foolish talking, trifling expressions and gestures, and lack of spirituality, pureness and godliness. He becomes free in the pulpit without restraint yet dignified, holy, watchful and prayerful, exerting a holy influence and living as an example souls can safely follow without being turned aside. By contrast, forbidden thoughts indulged and controlled by Satan make the fountain impure, so censurable conversation and conduct toward young ladies prove impurity within. A minister advocating the binding claims of God's holy law while letting thought run on forbidden subjects and moving from impulse and lower passion bears evil fruit that testifies against him.
When the same life gives what is good and then what is bitter it brings weariness and sorrow of heart and grief beyond words. Those who have departed from the faith are set against their own past, their present sad history contrasted with their past faithful history, as a fountain once sweet now bitter and as a vine once bearing good grapes now yielding wild grapes. That reversal brings pain to the heart and sadness to the soul. It stands under the nearness of the end when truth alone will triumph, calling for the truth as it is in Jesus to be planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit and daily tended there by the grace of God.
Pure Teaching Preserved
One source cannot send forth both sweet water and bitter water, so truth and satanic error cannot issue from the same publishing institution while its publications retain God's blessing and serve as a power for truth. The same rule applies to education, for an impure source of teaching cannot be treated as a reliable source of spiritual nourishment merely because it contains some valuable ideas. Since God is the source of all light and truth, students need not wade through error in pagan and infidel writings to obtain intellectual truths that are available in Scripture. Truth and error cannot be blended without compromising what is pure, and a few truths do not make works filled with error a sound source of education.
A source cannot produce what is contrary to its nature, for an impure fountain cannot send forth pure water. A corrupt source that leads to moral pollution therefore cannot be a channel of divine light or truth in visions and teaching. A fountain that should give sweet water has been poisoned when it sends forth what is bitter, and when families and institutions yield such fruit their conduct reveals earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom rather than the purity of genuine religion. Members must instead retain the salt's savor so that their families can be preserved from the corruption and immorality of the age, for blessing and cursing from the same mouth are inconsistent.
Drinking the water of life makes the inner fountain send forth sweet water and not bitter, and in the Christian home this means restraining intimidating words that create fear and expel love. Children are to be treated with tenderness and respect as the Lord's property by creation and redemption, bringing love rather than slavish fear. Overbearing, faultfinding, threatening and rebuking words that hurt children, destroy confidence, and lead to deception and evasion are to be replaced by gentle, loving speech. Christlike character in daily life is shown by meekness, humility, unseen acts of kindness, gentleness at home, patience when provoked, and soft answers instead of harsh or vindictive words. It is manifest by courtesy, kindness of heart that never makes light of distress, and tones of voice cultured by Christ, flowing from earnest religious experience and the habit of praying to Jesus with no bitter water, no quick anger and malice, and no high-toned speeches full of bitterness and rasping. The fountain must be cleansed through surrender to God and purification for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for an uncleansed heart produces impure conduct while a pure heart does not produce bitter conduct.