["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Let's go ahead and count the soul winning going back to Friday the 25th.
Is there anything from Friday?
And I know we had the one yesterday for our group.
Anything outside the group?
Is there anything in the group today, Sunday?
Three?
And then, yeah, that's it.
We can't, no one has a crystal ball.
Nobody knows what's going to happen Monday or Tuesday?
No?
If I would, I would say I perceive thou art a prophet, right?
But that is going to do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into preaching tonight.
Yes, song number 51, where we'll never grow old.
Song 51.
["I Have Heard of a Land"]
You know, I might even think, you know,
something negative about a person.
I don't even express that to my wife
because I don't want to taint her towards somebody else.
You know, you say, what is it?
It's called discretion.
It's called considering the feelings of others.
It's called, you know, being somebody who can be trusted
when you have something to bring to me.
You know, I'm taking the time to express that
because sometimes I wonder if people,
they wonder about whether or not
they can come to me about things.
If they can trust me.
Yes, you can.
But here's the thing, I have to be real careful about that
because once that trust is broken, it's gone.
It's over.
You know, once something that is told you in confidence
gets out, it's like you can never trust that person again.
And things have a way, not everybody's like that, folks.
We all should be, but, you know,
a lot of people aren't like that.
You know, you tell them something in confidence
and now they got some juicy little bit of gossip,
you know, and they just got burning lips
and they just got to go out and share it with somebody.
They just, they can't keep it in.
I mean, people have told me things
I just, frankly, have forgotten about.
People come to me and tell me things,
it's like, I don't go, oh man,
can't wait to tell somebody about that.
You know, often, there's some things
I don't want to know about.
You know, I'm glad that there's other people
in our ministry that deal with things.
It's that I don't have to hear about it.
I'm not saying I won't.
I won't.
I'm not open to that.
Of course, it's part of my job.
I'm more than glad to do it.
I'm just saying, you know, that's called having discretion.
The problem is is that not everybody has it.
People will go ahead and repeat things.
I mean, I'm sure we've all had somebody come to us
and want to repeat something.
Hey, did you hear about what so and so, this or that?
I'm sure we've all had somebody who's tried to get our ear
and tried to get us to listen to some hot little tidbit of gossip.
You know, and there's a way that we're supposed to handle this.
Go to Proverbs 25, Proverbs 25.
And look, if you've ever had this happen to you,
if you're a person who has any kind of discretion,
that's probably made you feel incredibly uncomfortable.
You're like, I don't want to hear this.
Well, let me tell you some very personal information
about somebody else.
You know, how do you handle that?
Well, you can't just go, because once, you know, okay,
well, I didn't say anything back.
That's the problem.
You need to shut that down when that happens.
Because that person, once they think that they've got your ear,
now they're going to come to you again.
The next time they get some little, you know, hot little tip
of whatever is going on.
Oh, I know so and so.
They'll let me tell them.
And they're just going to fill your ear with a bunch of stuff
that's none of your business.
And that you hopefully don't even want to know.
How do you shut this down?
Look at Proverbs 25, verse 23.
The north wind driveth away rain.
Right?
That's the analogy.
Just like a strong wind drives away rain,
so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
Because that's what, you know, that person has,
is a backbiting tongue.
When you're going around telling people things
about other people, when you're talking smack about somebody
to somebody else, you're backbiting.
And this is how you deal with somebody
who has a backbiting tongue, with an angry countenance.
You don't go, ah.
Just try to get through the awkward situation.
I don't want to hear about it.
You know, here's what I've heard people do.
Fortunately, I've never been in that position
where I've had to do this.
But it's, oh, really?
Well, let's call them.
Oh, they're right over there.
Let's get them over here, and you can tell them that.
Oh.
Because they're not really trying to, you know,
they're not concerned about the person they're talking about.
They just like to backbite.
They're idle.
They haven't learned discretion.
They haven't learned to reign in their tongue.
You need to shut this down.
This works, folks.
I remember that we hosted people a long time ago, years ago,
in our house, and this couple came over, several couples.
And I'll never forget this.
And I know my wife's not here, so she's
embarrassed by the story, you know.
She can talk to me about it later.
But this one couple came over, and the wife
took the other wife of the other couple,
and this is in our little apartment, into another room
and started talking smack about somebody in our church.
And my wife overheard it.
And my wife didn't just walk away.
She just heard this preached recently
about the angry countenance.
And she went right up to that lady and said,
don't you be coming over to my house
and talking smack about anybody.
I mean, she got right up in her face.
I can't remember all the details.
Like I said, it was years ago.
But she was like, I wasn't.
She's like, well, you calling me a liar?
I mean, it got intense.
She told me about it later, right?
But you know what?
That person never said anything negative
about another person around my wife ever again.
This works.
Look, unless you're somebody who wants
to have somebody fill your ear with a bunch of stuff
that's none of your business and listen
to a bunch of scuttlebutt and gossip,
you need to adopt this right here.
When somebody comes and starts sharing personal information
or talking smack about somebody else,
you need to furrow up the brow and get mad.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with telling somebody
you're way out of line here.
You just need to keep that to yourself.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That person will never bother you again
with that kind of stuff.
We don't want to be people that just go around talking
and listening to other people,
just talk about other people.
You know, I heard this quote a while ago,
and it's something that's kind of stuck with me.
It says this.
Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events.
Small minds discuss people.
You know why some people, just all they have
to talk about is other people?
Because they have a small mind.
Because their intellect has not been expanded very far.
It's true.
You ever talk to somebody who's done a lot of reading
and learning and studying?
They can tell you almost to the point
where it's driving you up a wall about all manner
of different subjects.
They can sit there and talk to you about this subject
and that subject.
They can talk about so many other things
other than some other person,
what somebody else is doing or what so-and-so said
or whatever, because they've expanded their mind
beyond just talking about other people.
It's a small-minded thing.
Look, if you struggle in this area, read a book.
Well, I just don't have anything else to talk about.
Read a book.
Go learn something.
You know, pick a subject and study it,
and then you'll have something else to talk about
besides other people.
So that's one way in which the tongue
can be used maliciously, right?
This is another way, just one way in which
in a multitude of words there wanteth not sin
is when people start to just talk about other people.
The only other thing I want to talk about tonight
before we end, another way in which the tongue
is used to sin, another way in which
in a multitude of words there wanteth not sin
is when people begin to pour out foolishness
out of their mouth.
Proverbs chapter 15.
You should be in Proverbs all night until the very end
because we're going to be in there a lot.
Because the Bible talks about this subject a lot.
And what do I mean by pouring out foolishness?
What I mean by that is when people speak without any filter.
You ever hear that expression?
You know, you need to screw your filter on
and not just let everything pour out of your mouth.
The Bible says in Proverbs 15 verse 2,
the tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright,
but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
You know, foolish people, they just sit there
and just foolishness just comes flowing out of their mouth
just nonstop.
There's just never a quiet moment.
You know, we need to be people who use knowledge aright
and not be people who just pour out foolishness.
And I'm just going to end on this last point here,
but this is just something that irks me.
This just drives me up a wall.
You know, and I don't know if you could call it sinful or not,
probably, but it drives me nuts when I see people
who speak like they know something about a subject
and they know nothing about it.
It just smacks of pride when people start talking about,
like, there's some kind of authority on something
and they have, like, maybe just a surface-level understanding
of something.
But they want to talk about it like they just know
everything about it, and they don't.
And then they're saying things
that are just completely off base.
And it drives me up the wall whenever I hear it.
And look, this is everywhere today.
You know, this is all over the place.
People just, why?
Because there's a lot of fools out there
who don't know how to just shut up
and not talk about things that they don't know anything about.
You know, it's funny.
The people that know the most about things
usually do the least amount of talking.
You know, the people that put themselves out there
as some kind of expert and talk a lot,
they're typically the people that know the least
about a subject.
You know, it's better to just not say anything
than to pretend that you know something.
This is when you should be careful who you listen to
because there's a lot of people out there today
that will just, you know, whether it's behind a pulpit even,
you know, all these different just,
all kinds of just worldly podcasts and things out there.
I mean, the world is just full.
I mean, you could just, just every waking moment
you could be listening to some other person.
And look, I'm not saying that every person out there
that's saying something
doesn't know what they're talking about.
But it's when you know that person isn't an expert
in some field and they're acting like they are.
It drives me nuts.
You know why it drives me nuts?
It's because other people are going to believe them.
Other people are going to go,
well, that's what I heard.
And it's going to influence them.
There are obviously people out there
who do know what they're talking about.
We have to go and find those people.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18,
the heart of the prudent getteth knowledge
and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
And we should seek knowledge.
We should seek people that know what they're talking about.
You want to know about a certain subject,
there's obviously people out there
that have specialized in that field.
But that's usually the only field
that they're specialized in.
There's a lot of things that I like to listen to.
There's a lot of information outside the scripture
that I'd like to learn.
I don't like to talk about it very much up here
because I'm not an expert.
I don't know everything about this.
I know it's going to come in shock to you,
but I'm not a psychologist.
And I'm not an expert in the field of neurology.
I don't know the intricate workings of the human mind.
I'm not.
This is to be my field of expertise right here
and that's the limit of it.
But when I do listen to people about that,
I go listen to somebody who knows what they're talking about.
People who are educated,
who have spent their life studying that topic.
Those are the people that are worth listening to.
And look, we're just living in a soundbite culture
where it's just a soundbite here.
Well, I heard this and I heard that.
Just in the area of nutrition and diet and things like this,
there's just all kinds of information.
You start to get into things like physical health
and things like that.
There's just all these conflicting views,
all this stuff.
It's just a minefield.
And a lot of it's bogus.
And it's frustrating.
That's why it drives me nuts
because a lot of times it's people
who are looking for a solution.
They're looking for help.
They have some kind of an ailment.
They're trying to understand something.
They're trying to fix something in their life.
Then they run across some bozo who's just...
Just putting it out there, just repeating something.
And it's like, well, what if that person believes you?
But you didn't know what you're talking about
and now they're worse off than when they started.
That's why it drives me nuts
because I care about what people,
the decisions they're going to make
based on the things that they hear.
And again, it goes back to this idea
that people who really have knowledge,
they don't just advertise that.
It's something you have to go find.
You have to draw that item.
Go to Proverbs 20.
I know I referred to this verse,
but this is a verse that I think about often.
I think about this verse often, Proverbs 20, verse 5,
and I know you've heard it.
Proverbs 20, verse 5, it says this,
counsel in the heart of man is like deep water.
The people that have the real understanding,
that have counsel, that have something to offer you,
that counsel is like deep water.
It's not right there on the surface.
People are just quick to give you their opinion.
People are just quick to just tell you what they think
or what they heard.
That's not deep knowledge.
That's probably not good counsel.
The people that really have real understanding,
they've dug a deep well.
They've taken the time to dig a very deep well
and find the real counsel.
They have it.
And it says that a man of understanding,
but a man of understanding will draw it out,
meaning that kind of knowledge has to be drawn
out of those people.
People that are just quick to just tell you
whatever they think, it's typically not the best advice.
It's typically not worth really taking note of.
People are just volunteering unsolicited advice
all the time.
You kind of get a reputation for that after a while.
But people that really have something to share,
it's something that has to be drawn out of them.
And I had already talked about this recently
because people with deep counsel know
that you should not speak in the ears of a fool.
It's pointless to just go around telling everybody
everything you know because most people
are going to just regard it anyway.
Good sources of information have to be sought out.
Don't be somebody who just pours out foolishness.
Speak with knowledge.
And if you don't know something, don't speak.
Say, Brother Corbin, why are you so quiet all the time?
I mean, besides now.
Because I don't know anything.
At least, you know what, maybe I can't speak intelligently
on a multitude of different subjects.
But you know what I'm not is a source of bad information.
At least I'm not a source of misinformation.
We don't want to be people who speak without knowledge
because people who have knowledge,
they're going to see through it and they're not
going to appreciate it.
When they hear bunk advice, when they
hear fallacies being repeated and they actually
know the truth, they're not going to appreciate it.
And then they're going to mark you
as somebody who just says stupid things,
who just says things without speaking,
or says things without thinking, rather.
There's another quote I read.
I like this one too.
I think about this one.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool
than to speak and remove all doubt.
You know, I'd rather have somebody look at me and say,
you know, that guy doesn't talk much.
He must not know much.
He must be a fool.
Than me to actually try to talk about something intelligently
that I have no understanding about and the people say,
oh, nope, he is a fool.
I guess I was right.
He really is an idiot.
Right?
And who said that?
Lincoln or Twain?
I don't know.
The debate rages on.
But there's a Bible verse that goes along with that.
Go to Proverbs chapter 17.
Proverbs chapter 17.
It says in verse 28, Proverbs 17,
even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise.
You know, there's, hey, this guy might,
maybe a fool when he shuts his mouth,
they might say, maybe this guy isn't as dumb as I think.
But then as soon as he opens his mouth,
he's like, no, he is as dumb as I think.
I can't say for sure this guy is an idiot until he talks.
Right?
Because a fool, you know, out of his mouth,
he just pours out foolishness.
It just keeps pouring out.
It says, and it ends there, and he that shutteth his lips
is esteemed a man of understanding.
Right?
Still waters run deep, as they say.
So, you know, what's the application here?
Think before you speak.
Think before you speak, in both regards.
You know, before you say that about somebody,
before you listen to that bit of gossip,
before you reply to that, think about how you're going to reply.
Think about whether or not you should reply.
Before you offer your opinion,
before you offer, you know, your take on it,
before you offer, you know, some advice on some subject,
think about whether or not you have any business even saying it.
Or what profit is there in me saying it?
Look, I do this all the time, folks,
because I'll be honest, I know it's become a shock.
I struggle in this area.
You know, I used to say things, and it was just like,
people give me this look, and I'm like,
why do they look at me like that?
Because what you just said was stupid.
You know, I used to be, you know, I still am somebody who jokes,
but, you know, I've tried to really rein that in myself.
You know, I used to be one of those people who would just say things
just to kind of mess with people.
And I was just, well, I'm just joking.
You know?
Until someday, one day somebody said to me,
well, they don't know that.
You shouldn't say that.
I said, why? I'm just joking.
They don't know that.
They don't know that you're joking.
Now they are going to think you're an idiot
because what you just said was stupid,
and all it was meant to be funny, it just made you look dumb,
and now everyone knows you're joking.
I was like, oh, that makes sense.
Or how about this?
Sometimes you just shouldn't say anything
just out of concern for other people's feelings.
You know, I do that all the time.
Even at something that, like, I think might even help that person.
You know, if I say this, that might cause them to think about X, Y, and Z.
But then I think to myself,
but I'll probably just end up hurting their feelings, unintentionally.
So you know what? I'm just going to keep that to myself.
That's called having a filter screwed on, folks.
That's called discretion.
That's called thinking before you speak.
We're not all perfect in this area, but we should all be getting better at it.
We should all work to be better at it, to think before we speak.
The Bible says in Proverbs 29, verse 11,
a fool uttereth all his mind.
Just everything that comes to mind just comes right out of the mouth.
A fool utters all his mind.
Anything he thinks, he says.
No thought for the consequences.
No thought for how it's going to be perceived.
No thought for how it's going to affect somebody else's feelings.
Even if it's something that they might run with.
Oh, I heard so-and-so say it.
You know, yeah, but what you didn't realize is that person is a fool
and just uttering all their mind.
It says, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Go to Psalms chapter 19.
You know, we need to think before we speak
because there is power in communication.
You know, the things that we say carry weight.
You know, the tongue and speaking and communicating,
there's a lot of power there.
I mean, what's the greatest, you know, spiritual force on this earth?
It's the word of God. What is it?
Words.
These are holy men of God that spake as they are moved by others.
There's force there. There's power in words.
The pen truly is mightier than the sword.
You know, the words that are communicated, ideas, these are powerful things.
That's why we should be careful about what we say.
Psalms 19, look at verse 14.
It says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.
That's a great prayer.
I don't know what to pray. Pray that.
God, help me to say things that are acceptable in your sight.
Help me to think things because, again, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
If we struggle in this area, it's really a heart issue.
If we find ourselves just saying things we shouldn't be saying, it's all coming from here.
We need to start meditating on other things.
It goes back to what I was saying earlier about, you know, small minds talk about people.
If that's all you have to draw on, you need to get something else in there so you have something else to talk about.
Let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.
Before I say this, what would God think about what I'm about to say?
Would this be pleasing to the Lord if the Lord were standing here and he heard me say this?
And by the way, he is.
By the way, you know, he hears everything we think.
God knows everything.
Should I go ahead and say that? Should I go ahead and think this?
Think before you speak because, you know, communication has real power, for better or for worse.
And I'll just read to you from Matthew 12.
Jesus said that every idle man, excuse me, every idle word that man shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
And he says this, for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
I mean, people's eternal salvation lies in their own tongue.
Why? Because if thou shalt believe in thine heart and confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
There's a lot of power in words, even to the point where a person is going to be condemned or justified in the day of judgment.
By the things that they say, did they confess Christ or not?
So you've got to be very careful about the tongue.
And look, again, the tongue is a huge topic in the scripture.
Huge. Anybody who's read through the Bible knows this.
These are just two areas in which, you know, that I address tonight when it comes to the tongue.
And it's a major topic. Why? For good reason. Because it's a powerful thing.
That's what we saw in James.
So what's the application tonight is to learn to think before you speak.
Learn to think before you speak. Why? Because it will impact those around you, for better or worse.
Therefore, you know, when it comes to this topic of a multitude of words, let thy words be few. Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the words that you've given us. Lord, you've certainly given us plenty to meditate upon.
You've given us plenty to think about and, Lord, to talk about in your word.
There's plenty of good, wholesome things, great concepts and ideas and doctrines that we could discuss.
And, Lord, we could expand our minds and our hearts, Lord, just meditating upon the word of God, memorizing the word of God, thinking upon the word of God.
Lord, I pray you help us to do that.
And, Lord, help us all to guide and direct our tongues, Lord, to not let them, to help us to not be as fools, Lord, to just let things just pour out of our mouth, Lord.
I pray that you would just bless us as we go. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Alright, we'll sing one more song before we go.
The song number 420. The song number 420 is a song in the air.
The song number 420 is a song in the air.
Thank you for your presence, we are dismissed.
Thank you.