WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.540 Each week, the summer, we've been looking at the biggest challenges that we face as human 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:11.179 beings that Proverbs especially talks about. 00:00:11.179 --> 00:00:18.580 And so we've looked so far at pride, envy, anger, lust, unbelief, sloth, greed, and today 00:00:18.580 --> 00:00:23.219 we end this series by looking at deceit. 00:00:23.219 --> 00:00:29.480 Why the reason we're doing this series is because the gospel, we believe, changes all 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:30.480 of who we are. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:34.740 It changes first our relationship with God Himself, but then it turns around and makes 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:39.060 a claim on our lives and changes us from the inside out. 00:00:39.060 --> 00:00:44.100 We become new selves, new people, and learning to put away the sins that we've been looking 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:47.060 at through Proverbs is part of that life. 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:50.600 And the word, there's a word for the Bible for this. 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:56.740 When Christians grow and learn to make decisions that aren't full of pride and envy and anger 00:00:56.740 --> 00:01:01.820 and lust and sloth and greed and lust and deceit and all of it, and that's the word wisdom. 00:01:01.820 --> 00:01:06.500 And Proverbs is the book of wisdom and James is the New Testament book of wisdom. 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:10.500 And so we've been looking at, and here we are at the last week, you've probably gathered 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:16.420 by now that we've been doing a sort of seven deadly sins type of thing, although there 00:01:16.420 --> 00:01:20.980 is not actually, the classic seven deadly sins aren't actually printed anywhere in 00:01:20.980 --> 00:01:22.500 the Bible. 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:28.459 But the one place where there is a list of seven deadly sins, we read it, Proverbs 6, 00:01:28.459 --> 00:01:34.659 seven things it says that the Lord hates, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed 00:01:34.659 --> 00:01:38.900 innocent blood, devising wicked plans, feet that run to evil, false witness who breathes 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:42.939 out lies and one who says discord among brothers. 00:01:42.939 --> 00:01:50.379 Now you could take those seven and whittle them down to five, and that would be pride, 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:53.939 anger, violence, quarreling. 00:01:53.939 --> 00:02:02.459 And then the fifth comes up in the twice repeated lying tongue and false witness that breathes 00:02:02.459 --> 00:02:03.459 lies. 00:02:03.459 --> 00:02:08.780 And so in the seven things that the Lord hates, two times we get lying tongue and false witness 00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:10.419 that lies. 00:02:10.419 --> 00:02:19.659 And so there's a huge emphasis in these lists on the problem of speech and the sins of speech. 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:25.340 And the word in Proverbs to describe the sins of speech is the word deceit. 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:29.180 It's the shorthand for sins that come from the mouth. 00:02:29.180 --> 00:02:34.620 And actually the word deceit in Hebrew is a word that really refers to not the speech 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:40.780 itself, but the heart that underlies sinful speech. 00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:46.859 So deceit in other words is the condition of the heart that produces the sins of speech, 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:50.700 which are lying, flattery, boasting and all sorts of other things. 00:02:50.700 --> 00:02:54.060 So why does it repeat it twice? 00:02:54.060 --> 00:03:00.340 Proverbs 6, why does it say that God hates both lies and false witness that breathes out 00:03:00.340 --> 00:03:01.340 lies? 00:03:01.340 --> 00:03:06.420 Well, it's talking there about the judicial setting, bearing false witness, which is courtroom 00:03:06.420 --> 00:03:10.660 lying, and then breathing lies in normal life. 00:03:10.660 --> 00:03:14.740 So that God, when you're in the courtroom or you're in normal life, there's two ways 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:18.700 to lie and God hates both of them and both of them come from the heart of deceit. 00:03:18.700 --> 00:03:27.300 All right, so let's think together this morning about the power of deceit, the origin of speech, 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:29.379 and the wise tongue. 00:03:29.379 --> 00:03:31.340 So first, the power of speech. 00:03:31.340 --> 00:03:34.300 Oh, sorry, the power of deceit. 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:43.820 We read from Proverbs 12, 17, and it says this, that speaking rash words is like a sword 00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:46.939 thrust, a dagger wound. 00:03:46.939 --> 00:03:50.299 It's a mortal blow to people. 00:03:50.299 --> 00:03:56.180 And that means that Proverbs consistently gives the metaphor that harsh words, words of sinful 00:03:56.180 --> 00:04:01.060 words are like the sword that kills. 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:06.539 And that words that are kind and encouraging and full of love are words that heal, they 00:04:06.539 --> 00:04:08.859 bring life, they're like medicine. 00:04:08.859 --> 00:04:13.459 And so that's a metaphor that runs all throughout Scripture, that there's words that bring death 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:15.659 and there are words that bring life. 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:21.259 And the main idea in Proverbs is that deceitful speech, speech that comes from a deceitful 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:27.620 heart, it can wound to the point of death and it can also bring life and heal. 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:29.780 It's like a medicine. 00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:34.180 So we all know this pretty intuitively, I think. 00:04:34.180 --> 00:04:39.500 If you're in the courtroom and you breathe out lies, what God talks about here in this 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:40.500 text. 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:45.860 And imagine, just imagine, you don't have to imagine because you've seen it happen many 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:47.579 times. 00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:51.259 There's corruption in the judicial system. 00:04:51.259 --> 00:04:56.860 And the guilty man walks free because of lying. 00:04:56.860 --> 00:05:02.220 And the innocent man gets put in prison for life because of lying. 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:06.300 And Proverbs comes and says, remember it's written to young men. 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:09.860 Proverbs comes and says, young men, but of course it's for all of us, young men and everybody 00:05:09.860 --> 00:05:14.460 else, never lie, never lie. 00:05:14.460 --> 00:05:23.100 Because little lies snowball into deep patterns of deceit where all of a sudden your speech 00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:28.699 is out of control and you can't stop to the point where deep injustices are born from 00:05:28.699 --> 00:05:29.900 it. 00:05:29.900 --> 00:05:33.340 Like an innocent man going to prison for life. 00:05:33.340 --> 00:05:38.660 And Proverbs is saying those sorts of things are actually the product of little lies becoming 00:05:38.660 --> 00:05:40.500 big lies. 00:05:40.500 --> 00:05:44.820 That they're the product of a deceitful heart giving in to deceit all the time and it gets 00:05:44.820 --> 00:05:45.820 bigger and bigger. 00:05:45.820 --> 00:05:50.420 And so the point is that speech is powerful. 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:56.220 That deceit has an immense amount of power to kill, but that words of life have an immense 00:05:56.220 --> 00:05:58.620 amount of power to bring life. 00:05:58.620 --> 00:06:03.700 Now there's a New Testament equivalent where I think James, the New Testament Proverbs, 00:06:03.700 --> 00:06:08.620 is actually taking the book of Proverbs and reading it and just writing out his own thoughts 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:12.620 inspired by the Holy Spirit for what he reads about in the book of Proverbs. 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:16.819 So James 3 we read, our New Testament reading is the famous section on this. 00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:22.540 James gives us three metaphors to think about to understand the power of speech. 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:27.699 It's always lovely when the Bible gives the preacher the metaphor, the illustration so 00:06:27.699 --> 00:06:29.579 that we don't have to think of any. 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:33.060 And here are three great illustrations for the power of the tongue. 00:06:33.060 --> 00:06:38.180 He says in verses 3-5, the tongue is small, but it can do really great things. 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:40.860 Number one, it's like the rudder of a ship. 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:44.900 So you think about a huge ocean liner out in the Firth of Forth. 00:06:44.900 --> 00:06:52.019 And the rudders by proportion are tiny compared to the ship, but yet they can turn the thing. 00:06:52.019 --> 00:06:53.740 They can turn the giant vessel. 00:06:53.740 --> 00:06:57.300 And so the mouth can control you. 00:06:57.300 --> 00:07:00.500 It can actually control your heart the way you speak. 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:05.860 Secondly, he gives us that the mouth, the power of speech is like the little metal bit that 00:07:05.860 --> 00:07:08.180 we put in the mouth of the horse. 00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:13.379 And it's this big, but when it goes in the horse's mouth you can turn a giant horse of 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:15.240 20 hands. 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:20.500 But the most important illustration he gives us is the last one, which is he talks about 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:23.699 the tongue being like a campfire. 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:29.540 He says that the tongue has the power of just a little spark, a flint going off in the woods. 00:07:29.540 --> 00:07:35.540 We went camping two weeks ago, the family first family camping outing ever. 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:43.060 And I bought a little flat pack campfire that is really nice. 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:45.500 It folds out and you can put charcoal in it. 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:47.939 You can burn wood in it. 00:07:47.939 --> 00:07:49.060 And so we did that. 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:52.540 And of course, if you've all had an experience like this where you're there, you're building 00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:53.540 a campfire. 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:58.980 And you know that while that thing is running, especially in some type of public property, 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:00.740 you are vigilant. 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:02.780 You don't leave it for very long. 00:08:02.780 --> 00:08:06.540 You're nervous about the brush on the ground all around it. 00:08:06.540 --> 00:08:08.140 You come back, you clear the area. 00:08:08.140 --> 00:08:10.900 You don't want dead leaves and things like that all around it. 00:08:10.900 --> 00:08:15.980 Because a campfire can become a forest fire very quickly. 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:18.300 And a forest fire can become a city fire. 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:20.700 And a city fire can become a national fire. 00:08:20.700 --> 00:08:23.220 And it can burn all the way from top to bottom. 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:24.580 And that's what James says. 00:08:24.579 --> 00:08:29.699 James says that the tongue has the power of a little spark. 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:34.379 And you know, when a campfire is burning in the area it's supposed to burn in, it is heat 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:36.220 in the midst of Scottish cold. 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:41.899 And it is the source for food that you really need. 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:45.340 It's so many good things when it's where it's supposed to be and doing what it's supposed 00:08:45.340 --> 00:08:46.340 to do. 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:50.139 But as soon as it hits the forest, it tears down the whole nation. 00:08:50.139 --> 00:08:54.340 And that's the power of speech. 00:08:54.340 --> 00:09:02.899 For were, did you know, did you know that your words have the power to minister death 00:09:02.899 --> 00:09:05.139 and life to human beings? 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:10.700 And all of this is coming in James 3 from Proverbs 1821 where we get that powerful one 00:09:10.700 --> 00:09:16.980 line, death and life are in the power of the tongue. 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:18.740 Did you know that you have that power? 00:09:18.740 --> 00:09:23.259 And so the question today that confronts every single human being. 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:31.100 And all of us here is how do you minister to other human beings with your speech? 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:33.700 Do you minister regularly death or life? 00:09:33.700 --> 00:09:37.819 How are you using this great instrument that God has given us? 00:09:37.819 --> 00:09:42.580 And oh boy, Jesus speaks up about this in the Gospels. 00:09:42.580 --> 00:09:49.659 Jesus very famously in Matthew 1236, he comes and puts a bow on it. 00:09:49.659 --> 00:09:55.259 And this is what he says, I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give an account 00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:59.539 for every careless word that they've ever spoken. 00:09:59.539 --> 00:10:05.539 For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:10.659 Oh boy, oh careless speaker, are you like me? 00:10:10.659 --> 00:10:15.819 What are we to do with ourselves in the midst of a text like that? 00:10:15.820 --> 00:10:21.180 Secondly, the origin of speech. 00:10:21.180 --> 00:10:26.860 We've already seen very clearly from Proverbs and James that our words are immensely powerful. 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:33.220 But there's a question underneath that which is why are words so powerful? 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:36.980 What is it that gives words such gravity? 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:41.700 How is it that it's true that our words can be ministers of death and life at the same 00:10:41.700 --> 00:10:42.700 time? 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:47.220 And I'll add that at this in James chapter 3 verse 9. 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:54.379 James says, with our mouth we bless God one day and then the next day we curse people. 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:58.900 And it says, who are made in the image of God? 00:10:58.900 --> 00:11:04.940 And so James is immediately telling us that he's reading a passage as he writes that. 00:11:04.940 --> 00:11:06.020 What passage is it? 00:11:06.020 --> 00:11:08.420 He's reading the first page of the Bible. 00:11:08.420 --> 00:11:09.860 Genesis chapter 1. 00:11:09.860 --> 00:11:14.340 He says, with our mouths we curse people who are made in the image of God. 00:11:14.340 --> 00:11:17.940 And so he's taking us back to the very beginning of human history, to the very beginning of 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:24.019 history period, to Genesis chapter 1 and in verse 26 to 28 we're told in Genesis 1, human 00:11:24.019 --> 00:11:27.899 beings are created in the image and likeness of God. 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:28.899 And you see what he's doing? 00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:30.139 You see what he's doing? 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:35.940 He's saying, he's thinking about what makes us the image of God. 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:37.740 And what is it that makes us the image of God? 00:11:37.740 --> 00:11:40.940 And what does it mean to be the image of God? 00:11:40.940 --> 00:11:47.659 And in Genesis 1.1 the very first thing we see is God creating the world in what way? 00:11:47.659 --> 00:11:50.539 Well, the very first thing God does is he opens his mouth. 00:11:50.539 --> 00:11:52.100 He speaks. 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:53.980 God speaks the world into existence. 00:11:53.980 --> 00:11:59.500 His word goes forth and from nothing there becomes something. 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:02.340 And so that means that God is the speaking God. 00:12:02.340 --> 00:12:05.899 He is divine communication. 00:12:05.899 --> 00:12:08.059 He speaks from the very beginning of history. 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:11.899 And so when you ask the question, well, what does it mean for me to be made in the image 00:12:11.899 --> 00:12:13.139 of God? 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:18.899 One of the first things you have to say if you're reading Genesis 1 is, well, if God 00:12:18.899 --> 00:12:25.220 is the great divine speaker, the communicator, the one who speaks, then at least the image 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:31.379 of God must mean that I'm distinguished from the animal kingdom by my speech, that God 00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:37.860 has given humanity a gift and that is to be like God and being able to speak words. 00:12:37.860 --> 00:12:41.580 That's one of the things that it means to be in the image of God. 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:42.700 And so what is in the image of God? 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:47.259 It's at least that we're human speakers, like the divine speaker. 00:12:47.259 --> 00:12:49.899 And that simply means this, that this is what we can say. 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:57.179 We can say that that means we are made to image God in the way that we speak. 00:12:57.179 --> 00:13:03.539 In some sense, you are being like God every time you speak words to people that give them 00:13:03.539 --> 00:13:05.819 life. 00:13:05.819 --> 00:13:12.259 And you are at the same time being less than the image of God every time you speak words 00:13:12.259 --> 00:13:14.779 to human beings that bring death to their lives. 00:13:14.779 --> 00:13:20.500 Now there's a great illustration of this that comes along with Proverbs in the Bible. 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:26.659 In the Old Testament, the way the Old Testament was framed and formed in the time of Jesus, 00:13:26.659 --> 00:13:27.659 known as the Tanakh. 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:29.059 It has three parts. 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:31.980 It's just an Old Hebrew word for the Old Testament. 00:13:31.980 --> 00:13:34.299 And in it, there's the writings. 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:39.419 The writings are books like Psalms and Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, all the songs that we sing from 00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:40.419 the Old Testament. 00:13:40.419 --> 00:13:45.139 But the writings also included four other books. 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:51.220 And those four other books were meant to be illustrations of the wisdom, the life of wisdom. 00:13:51.220 --> 00:13:54.779 And so you've got the Psalms and you've got Proverbs and you've got Ecclesiastes giving 00:13:54.779 --> 00:13:56.620 you, hey, this is what a wise person looks like. 00:13:56.620 --> 00:13:59.419 This is how a wise person worships. 00:13:59.419 --> 00:14:03.860 But then there were four books that came with that right after that were meant to illustrate 00:14:03.860 --> 00:14:05.659 the wise life. 00:14:05.659 --> 00:14:09.299 Two male, two female illustrations. 00:14:09.299 --> 00:14:14.220 Job and Daniel, Ruth and Esther. 00:14:14.220 --> 00:14:17.379 So when you're reading the Old Testament and you say, well, what does a life well lived 00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:18.620 according to Proverbs look like? 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:20.740 If you're a woman, read Ruth and Esther. 00:14:20.740 --> 00:14:22.659 If you're a man, read Job and Daniel. 00:14:22.659 --> 00:14:23.659 That was the point. 00:14:23.659 --> 00:14:26.779 It was the illustrative of true wisdom. 00:14:26.779 --> 00:14:31.379 But in each of those books, there's also an anti-wisdom character. 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:33.339 What does it look like to be the opposite of wisdom? 00:14:33.339 --> 00:14:35.139 And Daniel is the great example. 00:14:35.139 --> 00:14:39.459 I've mentioned this, I think, three times in the past four months, but we'll do it again. 00:14:39.459 --> 00:14:42.779 It's in the Bible we can say it as much as we want. 00:14:42.779 --> 00:14:44.980 Daniel chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar. 00:14:44.980 --> 00:14:50.539 Nebuchadnezzar is the great figure of anti-wisdom, of what it looks like to be an evil speaker, 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:53.019 according to the book of Proverbs and Daniel. 00:14:53.019 --> 00:14:58.699 So Nebuchadnezzar and the great king of the world in chapter four of Daniel, he comes 00:14:58.699 --> 00:15:05.059 out onto his balcony and he says, is this not Babylon the great which I myself have 00:15:05.059 --> 00:15:11.059 built as a royal residence by the might of my own power and for the glory of my own majesty? 00:15:11.059 --> 00:15:16.460 And the text tells us this, while the words came out of his mouth, he was driven away 00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:21.939 from humankind to dwell with the beasts, to eat grass like the cattle, to grow hair 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:25.300 like a bird, to grow nails as long as bird claws. 00:15:25.300 --> 00:15:29.420 And in James three seven, I think, what is James doing? 00:15:29.420 --> 00:15:35.220 James three seven, James says this, we contain all the beast of the earth except for one 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:37.780 beast and that's the tongue. 00:15:37.780 --> 00:15:40.420 And I think he's got, I think he's thinking about Nebuchadnezzar. 00:15:40.420 --> 00:15:48.660 You see, as soon as Nebuchadnezzar speaks the words of divine attributed selfish ambition, 00:15:48.659 --> 00:15:53.779 like he's his own God, he speaks the words of arrogance and pride. 00:15:53.779 --> 00:15:57.939 God sends him into the field to live like a beast. 00:15:57.939 --> 00:16:00.100 Why? 00:16:00.100 --> 00:16:07.019 Because to be in the image of God is to be a speaker that speaks words of life. 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:12.740 And when we speak words of death, sinful speech, just deceitful speech, you see what it's saying? 00:16:12.740 --> 00:16:16.860 It's saying that deceitful speech, if I can get that out. 00:16:16.860 --> 00:16:20.060 Sinful speech, it dehumanizes. 00:16:20.060 --> 00:16:21.740 It desecrates the image of God. 00:16:21.740 --> 00:16:25.659 It makes us beast like, it makes us more like a beast than like a human. 00:16:25.659 --> 00:16:27.740 And Nebuchadnezzar is the prime example of that. 00:16:27.740 --> 00:16:31.419 It sends us out into the wilderness to be less than the image of God. 00:16:31.419 --> 00:16:36.539 And so we say sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can never hurt us. 00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:42.019 And the exact opposite is the reality. 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:43.019 Words kill. 00:16:43.019 --> 00:16:47.500 They make us beastly when they're full of deceit and evil. 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:52.939 And so when we speak sinful words, it not only dehumanizes us, it desecrates the image 00:16:52.939 --> 00:16:58.100 of God in us, but it also is intended to desecrate the image of God in others. 00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:00.539 And so here's an example. 00:17:00.539 --> 00:17:05.980 You turn to your friend to talk about your other friend and you say things that might 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:11.379 be accurate but are meant to bring them down. 00:17:11.379 --> 00:17:12.940 We call it gossip. 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:14.620 And what are you doing in that? 00:17:14.620 --> 00:17:18.180 You're trying to say, I want them to be cut down a level. 00:17:18.180 --> 00:17:22.860 I want them to be seen as less than the image of God than I am. 00:17:22.860 --> 00:17:27.400 And that's exactly the character of deceitful and sinful speech. 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:29.820 We were made to speak words that give life. 00:17:29.820 --> 00:17:33.740 And when we speak words that bring death, we dehumanize. 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:35.259 We desecrate the image of God. 00:17:35.259 --> 00:17:40.460 Now, back to Matthew 12, 36. 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:43.660 We speakers of careless words. 00:17:43.660 --> 00:17:49.660 If today you have ever spoken a careless word, a word that has brought death not life at 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:58.019 all, Matthew 12, 36 says that we will be judged for every sinful word that we've ever spoken. 00:17:58.019 --> 00:17:59.579 Oh boy. 00:17:59.579 --> 00:18:03.059 What are we to do? 00:18:03.059 --> 00:18:09.380 And if you're like me, I'm a speaker of careless words. 00:18:09.380 --> 00:18:10.380 What are we to do? 00:18:10.380 --> 00:18:19.980 And John's gospel opens, page one, connecting to Genesis one. 00:18:19.980 --> 00:18:24.980 And the very first thing that we learn in the gospel of John is that into the midst 00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:32.020 of sinful humanity, people full of broken speech, deceitful speech, the word, the very 00:18:32.020 --> 00:18:36.860 speech of God himself became flesh. 00:18:36.859 --> 00:18:42.979 And you see, there's a reason that connecting to Genesis chapter one, John opens his gospel 00:18:42.979 --> 00:18:49.539 by saying, do you understand that God become man is actually the very speech of God that 00:18:49.539 --> 00:18:51.539 has gone forward into the world? 00:18:51.539 --> 00:18:57.299 That when you see Jesus Christ, you are seeing the divine communication at the center of 00:18:57.299 --> 00:19:02.539 all of history that he is, he is the word of God that's going forth into the middle 00:19:02.539 --> 00:19:04.699 of human history. 00:19:04.700 --> 00:19:09.140 And that means that Jesus, John wants you to say, John wants you to know Jesus Christ 00:19:09.140 --> 00:19:13.420 must be an instrument of life. 00:19:13.420 --> 00:19:15.420 He is the very communication of God. 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:18.940 And every time God speaks, God makes something from nothing. 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:21.460 He breathes life into reality. 00:19:21.460 --> 00:19:24.340 That means Jesus Christ must be a life breather. 00:19:24.340 --> 00:19:27.900 He must be life giving. 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:31.140 And then we have to ask the question, well, how does he do it? 00:19:31.140 --> 00:19:34.539 How does the word himself, the speech himself, the word of God? 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:36.139 Give life. 00:19:36.139 --> 00:19:37.980 And do you remember Isaiah 53? 00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:42.180 We can sum it up with Isaiah 53, the great prophecy. 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:52.539 It's said that in his life, the Messiah, he would be so disfigured by suffering that 00:19:52.539 --> 00:19:55.619 he would look like a beast to our eyes. 00:19:55.619 --> 00:20:00.420 It says that he would be like one of the animals, like a sheep led to the slaughter, that he 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:03.059 would be crushed. 00:20:03.059 --> 00:20:07.099 That he would be ultimately dehumanized. 00:20:07.099 --> 00:20:12.659 He would be treated like a beast because of our sinful speech. 00:20:12.659 --> 00:20:15.259 That our beastly tongues turned him into that. 00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:20.419 That he, you see, you see what the cross of Jesus Christ says to you? 00:20:20.419 --> 00:20:24.339 That the word of God, the one who created the world, the one who can do nothing but 00:20:24.339 --> 00:20:27.700 create life, he chose to go to death. 00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:30.859 He chose to go to death for our sinful speech. 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:38.179 Speech himself, speech incarnate at the cross, the word of God himself heard nothing but 00:20:38.179 --> 00:20:40.019 divine silence. 00:20:40.019 --> 00:20:45.899 His father silenced himself, forsook him because of what our tongues do and say. 00:20:45.899 --> 00:20:51.819 Because of what our, you see what you see at the cross, this is what the tongue costs, 00:20:51.819 --> 00:20:53.219 our sinful speech. 00:20:53.219 --> 00:21:00.539 And at the same time, this is the extent of God's love for people who have beastly tongues. 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:06.700 And so today, if you have ever spoken a careless word, you know, one word that has hurt, one 00:21:06.700 --> 00:21:13.139 word that has crushed, one word that has brought death, maybe there's some of you in here that 00:21:13.139 --> 00:21:18.119 have done that less recent than yesterday. 00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:23.460 For any of you, for all of us, what do you do with Matthew 12, 36? 00:21:23.460 --> 00:21:28.980 The first thing you do is Jesus Christ says, do nothing. 00:21:28.980 --> 00:21:35.019 Receive, receive the speech of God at the cross to you, which is that the speech of 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:40.660 God himself, the word, died in love for you so that your sinful speech might be forgiven. 00:21:40.660 --> 00:21:45.660 You know, we could ask the question, James, to go to the last point, James says that our 00:21:45.660 --> 00:21:49.220 words have the power to set hellfire. 00:21:49.220 --> 00:21:54.740 He uses the word, Gehenna, from the Gospels that our tongues can even set a hellfire. 00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:59.099 Has your tongue ever set a hellfire? 00:21:59.099 --> 00:22:06.700 And if you receive Christ today, that means yes, your tongue set the sacrificial fires 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:10.039 of hell that consumed him. 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:14.779 And he walked through it in victory so that you might not be judged by them. 00:22:14.779 --> 00:22:19.579 So there's forgiveness for everything we've ever said in Jesus Christ today. 00:22:19.579 --> 00:22:25.539 Now lastly, let's close with this then, how then should we live the wise tongue? 00:22:25.539 --> 00:22:30.779 Very briefly, there's a matrix in the Bible for growing and the way we speak. 00:22:30.779 --> 00:22:34.720 And the matrix is very consistent from the old to the New Testament. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:41.659 It's a framework that you see it in Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4, 15 and 25, 1 John 1, John 00:22:41.659 --> 00:22:42.659 14 to 17. 00:22:42.659 --> 00:22:47.259 And even in James 3, 14 to 17, we didn't quite read that far. 00:22:47.259 --> 00:22:54.140 The matrix is this, that wise speech, speech that looks like a heart affected by Jesus 00:22:54.140 --> 00:22:58.420 is speech that always puts together truth and love. 00:22:58.420 --> 00:22:59.940 Never one without the other. 00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:05.819 Truth and love must always be together if there is to be righteous and wise speech. 00:23:05.819 --> 00:23:14.660 And so in James 3, verses 13 and 14, it says that truth must be accompanied by righteous 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:17.420 motivation, love. 00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:21.340 Let me explain this in a couple minutes. 00:23:21.340 --> 00:23:24.100 Truth is not enough. 00:23:24.100 --> 00:23:26.420 True and accurate speech is not enough. 00:23:26.420 --> 00:23:32.980 It's not enough to speak in the light of Christ by just telling the truth. 00:23:32.980 --> 00:23:38.540 And it's not enough to just be truth tellers like you're standing in a judicial courtroom 00:23:38.540 --> 00:23:41.380 swearing and saying, well, I'm going to tell it exactly as I remember it, like a video 00:23:41.380 --> 00:23:45.340 camera, an iPhone camera, re-spouting everything that you've seen. 00:23:45.340 --> 00:23:46.820 That's not the matrix. 00:23:46.820 --> 00:23:48.300 The matrix is more than that. 00:23:48.300 --> 00:23:52.020 And you know this because I can ask you one simple question. 00:23:52.020 --> 00:24:00.580 Have you ever spoken the truth, the accurate reality in the wrong way at the wrong time? 00:24:00.580 --> 00:24:07.980 You know, husbands and wives, have you ever spoken accurately to your spouse at the wrong 00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:09.900 time and in the wrong way? 00:24:09.900 --> 00:24:12.340 Friends, have you ever done that? 00:24:12.340 --> 00:24:13.900 And of course you have. 00:24:13.900 --> 00:24:16.100 And you know what it costs. 00:24:16.100 --> 00:24:21.780 It costs 24 hours of struggle, perhaps, or maybe less, maybe more. 00:24:21.780 --> 00:24:24.660 And all of us have done that. 00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:31.140 And we know in that moment that righteous speech is not just accuracy. 00:24:31.140 --> 00:24:39.500 And James comes and says, truth with improper motivation is evil, is wrong. 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:41.900 And so we can ask the questions that are super important. 00:24:41.900 --> 00:24:44.700 And that's when are we speaking? 00:24:44.700 --> 00:24:46.099 To whom are we speaking? 00:24:46.099 --> 00:24:49.299 But ultimately, why are we saying what we're saying? 00:24:49.299 --> 00:24:54.460 And he calls out most importantly, is there selfish ambition, selfishness, self-centeredness 00:24:54.460 --> 00:24:55.460 in any of your speech? 00:24:55.460 --> 00:25:03.019 There's a striking example in Proverbs 27.6, wounds from a friend are faithful, but an 00:25:03.019 --> 00:25:05.660 enemy multiplies kisses. 00:25:05.660 --> 00:25:09.860 Wounds from a friend are faithful, but an enemy multiplies kisses. 00:25:09.860 --> 00:25:12.980 See what that's saying? 00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:18.500 When a friend speaks the truth to you in love, it's like a wound that cuts you in order that 00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:21.660 you might heal, that you might grow. 00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:25.300 But the kisses of an enemy, an enemy comes to you. 00:25:25.300 --> 00:25:28.620 This is your enemy, the person who's constantly coming to you and kissing you on the cheek, 00:25:28.620 --> 00:25:33.779 not literally, but in words of flattery. 00:25:33.779 --> 00:25:36.579 Somebody saying the best things about you all the time, you see what it's saying? 00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:43.180 It's saying that that is love without any truth, that you're really not that great. 00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:44.180 That's flattery. 00:25:44.180 --> 00:25:45.180 You're really not that great. 00:25:45.180 --> 00:25:48.379 An enemy treats you as if you're great all the time, but that's not really you. 00:25:48.379 --> 00:25:54.619 And that means that we need both neither flattery nor spite. 00:25:54.619 --> 00:25:57.299 Spite is when there's all truth, no love. 00:25:57.299 --> 00:25:59.539 You have all truth, no love, that breaks a relationship. 00:25:59.539 --> 00:26:02.700 You have all love, no truth, and that's not truthful. 00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:05.059 It's flying, it's deceit. 00:26:05.059 --> 00:26:07.340 Neither flattery nor spite. 00:26:07.340 --> 00:26:13.860 It's saying that truth, true speech is to speak accurately in love always for the other 00:26:13.860 --> 00:26:19.620 person's good, motivated by righteousness, not selfishness, not selfish ambition. 00:26:19.620 --> 00:26:22.660 That's the fire that ministers life, not death. 00:26:22.660 --> 00:26:28.580 Now let me close with three comments, three comments, very fast. 00:26:28.580 --> 00:26:32.500 One, remember this for developing wise speech. 00:26:32.500 --> 00:26:35.740 Your words can be forgiven. 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:39.259 Jesus Christ died so that you might know that. 00:26:39.259 --> 00:26:40.500 Your words can be forgiven. 00:26:40.500 --> 00:26:46.180 And so that means that we've got to all go forth from this place willing to forgive people 00:26:46.180 --> 00:26:49.380 for what they've said to us. 00:26:49.380 --> 00:26:56.059 The Christian life cannot be one of harboring sinful speech that we've received, that we've 00:26:56.059 --> 00:26:58.339 been the victims of. 00:26:58.339 --> 00:27:03.259 Because Jesus Christ has died for our sinful speech, we've got to be willing to forgive 00:27:03.259 --> 00:27:06.619 sinful speech, to not let it fester in our hearts. 00:27:06.619 --> 00:27:13.419 Number one, number two, at the same time, we've got to go forward from here being deadly serious 00:27:13.419 --> 00:27:16.339 about the power of speech. 00:27:16.339 --> 00:27:19.419 James Webster, James Webster, not James John Webster. 00:27:19.419 --> 00:27:23.859 I think James Webster was the Webster dictionary founder, John Webster. 00:27:23.859 --> 00:27:27.619 John Webster was a great theologian at St. Andrews who passed away not long ago that 00:27:27.619 --> 00:27:30.059 many of you actually were aware of the new. 00:27:30.059 --> 00:27:34.339 John Webster has a great essay on this topic and this is what he says. 00:27:34.339 --> 00:27:38.819 He says, he says, words are very serious and this is why. 00:27:38.819 --> 00:27:41.979 What is said may not be unsaid. 00:27:41.979 --> 00:27:45.779 Speech sets up meaning in this world that cannot be retracted. 00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:51.059 It can be recanted, it can be withdrawn, it can be renounced, but it cannot be unsaid. 00:27:51.059 --> 00:27:54.859 Because that which has been said is irreversible. 00:27:54.859 --> 00:28:00.299 If I am called a fool by someone, I am now the person who has once been called a fool. 00:28:00.299 --> 00:28:04.299 The person who called me a fool is now that person who once called me a fool. 00:28:04.299 --> 00:28:09.699 The world that we live in is now a world where I was once called a fool and there is no taking 00:28:09.699 --> 00:28:11.539 that back. 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:18.539 Your words can be forgiven and so forgive words and words are deadly serious. 00:28:18.539 --> 00:28:22.859 Even though words can be forgiven, yes, eternal life. 00:28:22.859 --> 00:28:28.179 At the same time, there is lifelong consequences sometimes for the things we say. 00:28:28.179 --> 00:28:33.659 So we've got to go forward with the dead seriousness about pursuing righteous words. 00:28:33.659 --> 00:28:39.539 Then finally, I don't know if you caught this, there's a paradox lastly about speech 00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:41.379 throughout the Bible. 00:28:41.379 --> 00:28:44.139 The paradox is this. 00:28:44.139 --> 00:28:49.619 Jesus says, out of the heart the mouth speaks. 00:28:49.619 --> 00:28:52.179 Then the Bible comes and says, and stop lying. 00:28:52.180 --> 00:28:54.140 Don't flatter. 00:28:54.140 --> 00:28:59.140 Out of the heart, in other words, you cannot help but speak the condition of your heart. 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:04.180 And yet to fight the condition of your heart, stop speaking poorly. 00:29:04.180 --> 00:29:06.180 And you see that paradox? 00:29:06.180 --> 00:29:10.900 And what it's saying, it says it in Proverbs that out of a deceitful heart pours forth 00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:11.900 deceit. 00:29:11.900 --> 00:29:14.460 James, Jesus. 00:29:14.460 --> 00:29:18.779 But what it's talking about there is the plasticity of the heart. 00:29:18.779 --> 00:29:25.259 The fact that the heart, the soul can change, but it's difficult to change it. 00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:26.660 And so how do you change on this? 00:29:26.660 --> 00:29:31.299 If you say today, I know, I'm not going to say it out loud, but I know I'm a person 00:29:31.299 --> 00:29:34.940 who struggles a lying. 00:29:34.940 --> 00:29:38.660 What is the sinful speech pattern that you struggle with? 00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:40.660 This is the diagnostic question. 00:29:40.660 --> 00:29:41.660 What is it? 00:29:41.660 --> 00:29:42.660 Is it flattery? 00:29:42.660 --> 00:29:43.660 Is it little lies? 00:29:43.660 --> 00:29:44.660 Is it big lies? 00:29:44.660 --> 00:29:46.539 Is it gossip? 00:29:46.539 --> 00:29:50.139 Is it a prayer in your life that you struggle in your speech? 00:29:50.139 --> 00:29:52.339 The Bible says it comes from the heart. 00:29:52.339 --> 00:29:54.059 And so on the one hand, you can't do anything about it. 00:29:54.059 --> 00:29:56.460 On the other hand, do something about it. 00:29:56.460 --> 00:30:01.139 And you see the answer, number one, the Holy Spirit by way of Jesus Christ changes you. 00:30:01.139 --> 00:30:10.019 Number two, the plasticity of the heart saying, how do you seek to change your heart condition? 00:30:10.019 --> 00:30:12.180 What Paul calls the corruption of the flesh. 00:30:12.180 --> 00:30:17.420 And here's how fight to not speak those ways anymore. 00:30:17.420 --> 00:30:20.380 And then that actually changes the heart over time. 00:30:20.380 --> 00:30:22.900 That the more you lie, the more you become a liar. 00:30:22.900 --> 00:30:25.019 And the less you lie, the less you do. 00:30:25.019 --> 00:30:29.019 It changes the heart that that's actually part of the path of sanctification. 00:30:29.019 --> 00:30:33.259 Walking and step with the spirit is to consciously say, I'm going to put this away. 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:34.259 I'm going to fight this. 00:30:34.259 --> 00:30:35.460 I'm going to be aware of it. 00:30:35.460 --> 00:30:36.700 I don't want to do it any longer. 00:30:36.700 --> 00:30:37.700 I want to change. 00:30:37.700 --> 00:30:43.819 So we've got today then to bathe in the counter habits of sinful speech. 00:30:43.819 --> 00:30:49.380 And here's the greatest counter habit of sinful speech as we close with the last word. 00:30:49.380 --> 00:30:54.259 Bathe in the great speaker himself. 00:30:54.259 --> 00:30:56.900 Meditate upon the word. 00:30:56.900 --> 00:31:00.380 Hear his speech. 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:03.460 Swim in the river of his words. 00:31:03.460 --> 00:31:06.220 It is the word that changes you from the inside out. 00:31:06.220 --> 00:31:11.180 And so if you want to the great counter habit, come underneath the word himself, Jesus Christ, 00:31:11.180 --> 00:31:14.660 bathe in the word that he's spoken. 00:31:14.660 --> 00:31:21.420 And you will see the habits of sanctification begin to change you. 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:22.620 Let's pray now and ask for that. 00:31:22.620 --> 00:31:26.819 Father, we ask that you would change the way we speak. 00:31:26.819 --> 00:31:28.539 And we come now. 00:31:28.539 --> 00:31:33.380 I do ask, Lord, that you would give us hearts of repentance for our sinful speech and give 00:31:33.380 --> 00:31:40.300 us hearts of change and renewal for all the patterns that make us beastly. 00:31:40.300 --> 00:31:42.180 We give thanks for the gospel today. 00:31:42.180 --> 00:31:43.180 There's good news. 00:31:43.180 --> 00:31:45.100 We know we confess before you. 00:31:45.100 --> 00:31:52.460 Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done for us that our speech might not judge us forever. 00:31:52.460 --> 00:31:54.900 So change us, O Lord, we ask in Christ's name. 00:31:54.900 --> 00:32:05.340 Amen.