If you look at Psalm 39, look at verse number nine.
I'm taking the title from verse number nine.
It says, I was dumb.
I opened not my mouth.
The title for the sermon tonight is I opened not my mouth.
What is it that you think of the Psalmist?
And again, this is David.
You can probably see it's again,
Psalm 39 begins by saying a Psalm of David.
What could have caused David to say,
hey, I'm not gonna open my mouth anymore.
I'm gonna keep it closed.
I'm gonna pretend to be dumb.
I'm not gonna say any words.
I think this Psalm is quite interesting.
And it shows us when the wrong time it is
to close our mouths.
And when is it the right time to close our mouths?
So we can learn both things here.
So let's start there in verse number one.
It says, I said, I will take heed to my ways
that I sin not with my tongue.
So you can see what David's going through at the moment.
He has sinned with his tongue, right?
He has said bad words.
He has said wrong things.
He has made false accusations.
He has caused sin to creep in his life
simply because he did not control his mouth.
And then it says, I will keep my mouth with a bridle
while the wicked is before me.
And you know what?
This is something that is very difficult
in the life of many Christians to control their mouths.
Especially if you've been saved later in life
where maybe throughout your life,
you've picked up to speak with profanity.
Maybe you're used to saying crude
and filthy jokes maybe in the workplace.
And controlling the tongue is extremely difficult.
It's a real blessing for those
that have grown up in a Christian home
where your parents have corrected you
in what you have said.
Where you've been disciplined
if you've said filthy things out of your mouth
because controlling the tongue is extremely difficult.
And David here is saying,
look, I'm not going to sin with my tongue.
He says, I'm going to close my mouth.
I will keep my mouth with a bridle.
Now it sounds very righteous
that David is making the decision here in verse number one
to close his mouth.
And you know, this is something that we can learn
throughout the whole scriptures.
If this is a topic found throughout the whole Bible,
if you can just go back to Psalm 34 for me,
just go back to Psalm 34, look at verse number 13.
Psalm 34, look at verse number 13.
It reads, keep thy tongue from evil
and thy lips from speaking guile.
God knows that our mouths are mouths
that can speak evil things.
Our mouths are things that can speak guile.
Now, why is it that we can find this teaching
all throughout the Bible?
It's because we all struggle with this.
God knows man struggles with this.
The reason things are in the Bible
is because we need to learn from that.
We need to see, and the Bible is like a mirror.
And if the mirror says, boy,
you need to make sure you control
what comes out of your mouth,
you need to say, well, therefore,
I must say things that are stupid.
I must say things that are sinful.
I must say things that God is not happy with.
Therefore, I need to learn to control my mouth.
If you can go to Proverbs 15, go to Proverbs 15,
and I'll read to you from some passages
in the New Testament.
You go to Proverbs 15, and I'll read to you
from 1 Peter chapter three, verse 10.
1 Peter chapter three, verse 10.
It says, for he that will love life and see good days.
Now, I hope you want to live a life
that way you're just loving life.
You're loving every day that you're facing
and see good days.
I hope you can say, hey,
I want to see good days in my life.
Well, how do you accomplish this?
How is it that you can love life and see good days?
It says, let him refrain his tongue from evil
and his lips that they speak no guile.
And so you can take it the other way around.
That if your mouth speaks evil things,
if your lips speak guile, if you speak filthy things,
that you're not going to love life,
and you're going to hate life,
and you're not going to see good days,
you're going to see evil days.
And so this is a very important topic
about controlling our mouths.
God will show if we put our effort in
with the help of the Holy Ghost to work on our mouth,
to say things that are true, things that are beautiful,
things that are honest,
if we can use our mouths for the right purposes,
and please God with our lips,
he's going to ensure that we love life and see good days.
I'm sure we all want that.
Even with COVID world,
even with this situation we're in, which is frustrating,
we can still see good days in these frustrating years.
And step number one we can learn from here
is we need to control what comes out of our mouth.
Before we go to Proverbs 15,
I'll just read some other passages to you.
Ephesians 4 29.
Ephesians 4 29 says,
let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,
but that which is good to the use of edifying,
that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Now I want to challenge you with that passage.
If you consider the things that you have said
in the past few days, in the past week,
how have you spoken?
Has corrupt communication proceeded out of your mouth?
If it has, you need to pay attention to this sermon today.
You know, has your mouth been used for edifying?
Has it been used to minister grace unto the hearers?
You know, this also applies with fellowship
and, you know, making friends.
People don't want to make friends with people,
you know, who's, you know, from out of their mouth,
it's just corrupt, it's wicked, it's evil,
it's depressing, it's always whining,
it's always complaining.
You know what, people want to make friends with people
that make them feel better,
who edify that person, who strengthens that person,
that they can receive some grace from that person's mouth.
Colossians 4, 6, Colossians 4, 6 says,
let your speech be all way with grace, seasoned with salt,
that we may know how you ought to answer every man.
You see, every time we speak, whichever man we speak to,
whether it's a believer, an unbeliever,
whether it's a godly man, whether it's a wicked man,
we need to make sure that we season our speech with salt,
okay, that there's grace in the way that we speak.
And, you know, let me just, you know,
help you understand this.
Salt, you know, obviously adds flavor to food,
you know, it adds flavor.
So I hope that when you speak, you know, you add flavor,
you add profit to the conversation,
to the fellowship, to the friendship,
but salt can also be irritating.
And sometimes, you know, when you're just speaking the truth,
you're proclaiming God's word,
it's going to be irritating to some people.
But the key thing is that you're using
the salt of God's word,
that you're careful with what you have to say.
And this is something we need to be mindful
every single time we open our mouths.
Many times our mouths can speak
before our brain has processed.
In fact, even when I preach,
sometimes my mouth starts saying something
and my brain hasn't fully finished
what it was thinking about, my mouth started,
and then I'm like, what am I saying again?
Now, hopefully you don't notice it too much
when I'm preaching, but I'm sure other men
that have preached can maybe recall times
where their mouths started to speak
before their brain fully, you know, put together
the issue that they wanted to raise at that point in time.
And so being in control of our mouths
is something extremely important.
Now, you're there in Proverbs 15.
Look at Proverbs 15 and verse number 28.
Proverbs 15, verse number 28.
I want you to notice this.
It says, the heart of the righteous.
Now let's stop there for a moment.
If you're righteous, you're saved, amen.
If you're saved, you're righteous.
And your heart ought to be, as we're about to read here,
it says the heart of the righteous studieth to answer.
What does that mean?
So if you need to respond to a situation,
to a conversation, okay?
Someone has sought your advice.
You're about to give your opinion.
You're about to open your mouth.
You know what you need to do first?
You need to stop in your heart.
You need to study the answer.
Before you just blurt out,
whatever you feel like blurting out,
you better stop and study what you're about to say, okay?
In other words, don't be quick to answer.
You know what?
As people, we ought to be quick to listen,
swift to hear, slow to speak.
It's so important that we be careful
about what we're about to say.
This is the description of a righteous man.
So an unrighteous man won't be this way, okay?
Only a righteous man, a truly saved person
is able to stop, study, meditate in their heart,
what they're about to say, and then speak those things.
And then it continues in verse number 28.
It says, but the mouth of the wicked
poureth out evil things.
You see the wicked man,
it's just, they're just constantly pouring out
stupid, wicked things, nonsense things
that come out of their mouth.
They don't stop to study.
They don't stop before they answer.
It just, you know, it's like a faucet
that just continues to run.
It cannot be shut off.
The righteous ought not to be that way.
The righteous ought to know,
hey, I need to learn how to control my tongue.
Did I sin not with my tongue,
as King David said here in the Psalm.
Go back to Psalm 39 now.
Go to Psalm 39 in verse number two.
Psalm 39, verse number two.
He says, I was dumb with silence.
I held my peace.
Now again, it may look like
he's doing something righteous here, okay?
But notice he's gone extreme
with the shutting up of his mouth
because then he says, even from good.
So he says, look, I don't want to sin with my mouth.
Therefore I'm going to stop talking.
And he goes, I'm not even going to say something good.
I'm not even going to say something
that edifies other people.
I'm not even going to speak with grace.
I'm just going to shut up
because I get in too much trouble
when I open my mouth.
And here's the problem there.
You know, you may have sinned
with your mouth many times.
You may have offended people with your mouth many times.
And you know, you may get to that point,
like the Psalmist says,
that I'm just going to be dumb with silence.
I'm going to hold my peace.
And you say, you know what?
Because it gets me in so much trouble,
I'm not even going to speak
when I have something good to say.
Well, that's not a good place to be.
You've gone too far.
You know, you've gone too extreme
when it's stopping you from even being to say good things.
Because then he says at the end of verse number two,
and my sorrow was stirred.
Okay, my sorrow was stirred.
So when you stop talking, okay?
Yeah, okay, to protect yourself from being sane,
wrong things, evil things.
But also you stop talking about that which is good, right?
You might stop talking about the gospel.
You might stop talking about
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You might stop, you know, edifying the brethren.
You say, look, I'm just not going to talk at all.
Well, that's going to cause sorrow to stir in your hearts.
That's not a good place to be either, okay?
Yes, it's good to control your mouth,
but to shut up completely and never say a word
because you might get into trouble
where you're just going to stir yourself up with sorrow.
So saying nothing at all is not a profitable solution.
Okay, it's not a profitable solution.
That's not the way to control your mouth
by just shutting up and saying nothing.
Now, if I can get you to turn to
probably the most famous passage on the tongue on speech,
which is James chapter three.
Again, just keep your finger there in Psalm 39
because we will come back obviously.
But go to James chapter three, verse number five.
James chapter three, verse number five.
I'm so happy that the Lord has written
James chapter three in the Bible for us
because it tells us just how difficult it is
for someone to control their tongue,
how difficult it is to manage that part of our life.
And again, I just, I'm thankful
that I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home.
You know, I remember as a child,
I think this was kindergarten, maybe year one.
I can't remember exactly, but I was young.
And we're going to school, learning some swear words,
learning some profanity.
And then, you know, it's just something
that stuck in my mind.
And I got upset with my dad one day
and out of my mouth came all manners of words
and I copped it, I copped the bat.
I remember a solid discipline and that,
you know, from that day forward,
it's helped me to better control my mouth, okay.
And many of you obviously have not grown up
in that environment where you've been, you know,
chastened when you've said the wrong things.
And then you're gonna have to learn later in your life
to control your mouth.
And it's even harder because the older we get,
the more stuck in the ways that we become.
But in James chapter three, verse number five, it says,
"'Even so, the tongue is a little member
"'and boasts of great things.
"'Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth.'"
Okay, so your little tongue, not very big,
can cause a lot of fire, can cause a lot of damage,
can break a lot of friendships, relationships
because of the way you speak.
Verse number six, "'And the tongue is a fire,
"'a world of iniquity.
"'So is the tongue among our members
"'that it defileth the whole body
"'and set up on fire the course of nature
"'and it is set on fire of hell.'"
Wow, okay, so the fire of the tongue
is like it to hell fire.
The damage that hell fire causes,
the sorrow, the pain, the turmoil,
all that torture of hell fire can equally be done
by the damage of your little member, of your tongue.
And not only can you hurt other people,
but it's said there that it defileth the whole body.
Your tongue can defile every aspect of your life.
Why?
Because we're very proud people.
And so it's very hard when you speak
to actually go back and apologize for what you've said,
to take back what you've said,
and therefore it causes yourself to be defiled.
One of the hardest things is to say sorry, to apologize.
It's very difficult to do that.
And it's gonna be even more difficult
if your tongue has already boasted of great things
that have been wrong or incorrect
because the pride of man will stop you from apologizing.
Verse number seven, "'For every kind of beasts
"'and of birds and of serpents
"'and of things in the sea is tamed
"'and have been tamed of mankind,
"'but the tongue can no man tame.
"'It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.'"
So all manner of beasts can be tamed.
And for the church up there,
you've seen the photos that I've sent
where my kids have tamed a few blue tongue lizards.
They've found a few blue tongues.
There was one that was quite large
and obviously a wild blue tongue.
And I just thought there's no way
they're gonna tame that one.
Anyway, they brought it home.
We've been 24 hours.
It was tamed.
You could hold it.
It would not lash out.
It would not try to run away.
You know, a few days ago,
we had a bird in the backyard with a damaged wing,
again, a wild bird.
We took it in.
It allowed us.
We could hold it.
We could pad it.
You know, we could tame it at that point in time.
You know, a few days later, it got better
and it flew away, praise God.
But yeah, it's true that many, many animals
obviously can be tamed.
But what is it saying?
It's saying the tongue cannot be tamed.
What?
We can tame all kinds of beasts, all kinds of animals,
but the tongue is something that no man can tame.
Now, I take that literally.
That means that I cannot tame my tongue.
You cannot tame your tongue, okay?
This has to be a work of God.
You have to be willing to say, God, my tongue, my lips,
it speaks, it speaks filth.
Lord, it speaks evil.
I have sinned with my mouth.
Lord, I cannot tame this object.
I cannot tame this little member.
Please help me, Lord.
Your tongue is something that can only be tamed by God.
But you have to be willing to ask God for that help.
You have to be willing to open yourself up
for the Holy Spirit to do a work in your mouth.
Verse number nine, it says,
Therewith bless we God, even the Father,
and therewith curse we men,
which are made after the similitude of God,
out of the same mouth proceed of blessing and cursing.
My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
What is it saying here?
That we can curse man.
We can say wicked things.
We can say awful things.
Sin with our mouth and then we can come to church
and bless God and sing our praises.
He said, well, at least I'm singing praises.
At least I'm doing some good.
But how did it end in verse number 10?
These things ought not so to be.
We should not have a mouth that curses and sins
and then take that same mouth.
People say, what, you kiss your mother with that mouth?
You know, after you've said some horrible things?
Yeah, you know, it's a contradiction, right?
That you use your mouth for evil things
and then you think you can kiss your mother with that mouth?
Okay, well, it's just as much as a contradiction.
In fact, it's a greater contradiction
to use your mouth for cursing and for sinning
and then think, oh, I'm gonna bless God and serve God
and he's going to love that and receive it.
That ought not to be so.
You know what, if you want the words of your mouth,
you know, your lips to bless God,
you want God to be happy with your praises,
you need to control that mouth, okay?
You can't just go about sinning with your mouth
and think God's gonna be happy with my songs of praises
once I've used my mouth for evil.
You know, you need God to do a major work in your life.
It's hard, it's hard.
You know, I'm not trying to have a go at you
if you have this problem.
You know, even King David had this problem.
We all have this problem.
The tongue is something that no man can tame.
It has to be a special work of God.
And so you can see that the psalmist had the wrong solution.
He just thought, well, in order to not do bad,
I'm gonna just shut my mouth
and not even speak that which is good, okay?
But no, that's not the process.
That's not what you need to do.
You need to speak that which is good.
Otherwise you're gonna create sorrow in your life.
The solution is not to just shut up about everything.
The solution is to go and get God
to help you cleanse your mouth.
I do want you to turn to another passage, please.
Go to Isaiah chapter six.
Isaiah chapter six.
You know, the prophet Isaiah had a problem with his mouth.
The prophet Isaiah, a great prophet of God.
You know, one of the major prophets as we call it
because he's got one of the largest writings
of the prophetic books.
God, you know, Isaiah was used in a mighty way by God.
But even Isaiah was able to admit
he's got a problem with his mouth.
Look at Isaiah chapter six and verse number five.
Isaiah chapter six, verse number five.
This is of course, if you know the story,
Isaiah gets taken up into heaven.
He's before the throne of God and he's overwhelmed
with God's majesty and heaven.
And it says in verse number five,
"'Then said I,' so these are the words of Isaiah,
"'Woe is me, for I am undone
"'because I am a man of unclean lips,
"'and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips.
"'For mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.'"
Notice Isaiah, a great prophet of God.
He's able to admit once he gets to heaven
and he sees the holiness of God, the purity of heaven,
he sees a place without sin.
And he says, boy, I can't even speak
because I've got unclean lips.
That's all he can say.
I've got these unclean lips and you know,
I dwell in the midst of people with unclean lips.
Yes, we do live.
We are in the midst of a generational society
of people with unclean lips, absolutely.
But that doesn't mean that we can't work toward making sure
that our lips have been cleansed as well.
Look at verse number six.
Once Isaiah is able to identify
that this is a sinful problem that he has,
in verse number six it says,
"'Then flew one of the seraphims unto me,
"'having a live coal in his hand,
"'which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.'"
So in heaven, there's a altar, there's a heavenly altar.
Verse number seven,
"'And he laid it upon my mouth and said,
"'Lo, this have touched thy lips,
"'and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.'"
Had Isaiah sinned with his mouth?
Had he caused iniquity with his mouth?
Absolutely.
Did he have unclean lips?
Absolutely, okay.
But you notice now that he's admitted it before God,
God sends this angel to cleanse his mouth,
takes the coal, places it upon his lips,
and he says, your iniquity is taken away,
thy sin is purged.
And again, this has to do with confessing our sins
before the Lord.
Acknowledging that we have sinned in our lives,
if you sin with your mouth,
acknowledge that you have sinned with your mouth,
and ask God to take the coals from the altar of heaven
and to place it spiritually upon your lips.
This is something God must do.
And notice, once this happens, in verse number eight,
it says,
"'Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
"'Whom shall I send?
"'And who will go for us?'
"'Then said I, here am I, send me.'"
Okay, so we know that Isaiah would be used by God
to be sent by God to be a prophet for the Lord,
but notice before he could be a prophet,
and before he could speak the word of God,
he had to go to God and confess his sins with his mouth
and cleanse his lips with the coal of heaven.
You know, coal, charcoal these days,
I don't know if it's just a fad,
but many people use charcoal these days
to whiten their teeth.
You can add a bit of charcoal, black charcoal,
to your toothpaste.
I know you can buy some toothpaste with charcoal,
and apparently it's supposed to help
with the whitening of your teeth.
Well, yeah, hey, that's what earthly coal can do,
but what can heavenly, spiritual coal do for your mouth?
It can cleanse your lips,
and once your lips are cleansed then,
you can be used as a prophet in a mighty way
for the Lord God.
So, you know, I want you, I want your mouth.
You know, whether it's behind the pulpit,
preaching God's word, whether it's out soul winning,
whether it's just speaking with your family about the Bible,
I want to make sure that before you go
and open your mouth with the words of God,
that if you've got sin in your mouth, in your lips,
you go before the Lord, ask him for that coal,
ask him for forgiveness,
ask him to clean those unclean lips that you have.
Back to Psalm 39, please.
Psalm 39, verse number nine, sorry, verse number three.
Psalm 39, verse number three.
Now, because he has stopped talking,
this is what he says.
Verse number three, my heart was hot within me
while I was musing, the fire burned.
So this is a fire in his body.
He hasn't spoken, right?
And then this fire starts to burn up.
He says, then spake I with my tongue.
He tried really hard not to speak,
but the fire in his body started to burn.
He had no option but to speak.
And this reminds me of Jeremiah.
I've been going through the book of Jeremiah.
Many of you know, he read blessing of Baptist church.
Jeremiah says something very similar.
You don't need to turn there, I'll just read it to you.
This is Jeremiah chapter 20, verse number nine.
And again, Jeremiah is also another great prophet of God.
But you know what?
There's a time that Jeremiah actually quits the ministry.
He's used as a prophet by God, a prophet unto the nation.
And then he says, I quit, I'm done.
This is in Jeremiah chapter 20, verse number nine.
He says, then I said, I will not make mention of him.
I'm not gonna speak about God anymore.
Not speak anymore in his name.
But his word was in my heart as a burning fire,
shut up in my bones.
And I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay.
Boy, when a prophet says, you know what, I'm done.
I've got too much criticism.
This is, you know, I get too much persecution
for preaching God's word.
No one's listening to me, God.
It seems like all I preach is a negative things
and nobody wants to listen to what I have to say.
I quit.
Well, if it's a true prophet of God,
they can't quit for very long, okay?
There's gotta be a fire that burns in his bones
and he won't be able to help himself.
But through the word of God, speak that which is true.
And you can see the parallel there with King David.
He had the fire burning in him.
And then he says, then speak I with my tongue.
Now the following words in verse number four,
are words that he speaks to the Lord, okay?
So this is something else that's interesting in this Psalm
is not only did he stop speaking,
he shut up for a while because he didn't want to sin.
And again, we know that he didn't say anything good either.
He just shut up completely.
We can see that this actually caused him to not pray
as well because now he says, now I speak with my tongue.
But what did he say?
We're in verse number four, it says, Lord.
So he's addressing the Lord once he could speak.
Once he said, I'm gonna speak
because this fire is burning me.
Meaning that he had gone a long time without praying.
And not only did he just stop talking,
but he had actually stopped praying unto the Lord.
And I don't know what your prayer life is like, brethren.
I hope you're somebody that can honestly say,
I pray every day.
I hope so.
I hope you can say,
it's not just a prayer before I eat.
It's not just a thank you prayer before I go to bed,
but you actually spend some time,
speaking unto the Lord and praying unto him.
Because if you don't use your time to pray,
you're like one that is dumb.
You're like one that has decided to stop speaking.
We need to make sure that we speak to the Lord.
He wants our friendship.
He wants our fellowship, right?
So the Psalmist addresses the Lord in verse number four.
He says, Lord, make me to know mine end
and the measure of my days.
What it is that I may know how frail I am.
So there's a few things
that I want you to notice in verse number four.
He asked God a few questions.
The first thing he says, make me to know mine end.
So what is he saying?
He says, Lord, just bring to my remembrance
that I'm going to end.
I'm going to die one day.
There's going to be, you know,
life is not going to continue.
Life on this earth is not going to continue forever.
Please bring to my remembrance
that there is an end to my life.
Now, why could he be saying this?
Well, because, you know,
we all know that we're going to die.
I think what happens is sometimes in life,
we can become so used to every day.
You know, we wake up, we go to work, we have breakfast.
We have our daily routine
and sometimes we just forget about death.
And I think it's important and, you know,
not to be depressing,
but it's important to remember that there will come a time,
there is an end.
God knows the day that we're going to end,
that our life will perish.
And we need to keep that in mind
because every day we live is one less day
that we have to live.
One day closer that we get to death.
What else does he say?
He says here, and the measure of my days.
Okay, the measure of my days.
He wants to know not only the remembrance
that he's going to die, but once again,
he's asking God, how many days do I have left?
Okay, he's counting down the days.
He's remembering once again that every day
is one day closer to death.
Now, brother M, if you're there in church tonight,
I know brother M is often saying,
boy, it's just one day closer to going home to heaven.
Amen, yeah, praise God for that.
And yeah, that's a great perspective to have,
to have eternity in mind.
But let's not also forget the temporary.
Let's not forget the earthly.
Let's not forget the days that we have.
While it is one day closer to heaven,
it's one less day that we have on earth.
So all the works, all the things that God wants us to achieve
you know, the development, the sanctification,
the maturity, the growth that God wants us to have,
we need to remember that we have,
every day that goes by is one less day
that God can use to work in us
and for us to do a great work for the kingdom of God.
So let's not let these days go to waste.
The next question is, it goes after that,
it goes, and the measure of my days, what it is, what it is.
So yeah, okay, I've got the days, Lord, but what is it?
No, what's the significance, Lord?
You know, this is kind of like asking, what is the meaning?
What is the purpose of life?
I guess at this point, you know,
David is kind of like, well, what does it matter?
Who cares?
Like life doesn't matter.
You know, he's obviously depressed.
He doesn't want to sit in his mouth.
He stopped talking and he's thinking, man,
this is just a waste of time.
And you know, he's asking, Lord,
what is the purpose again?
What is the meaning of life?
This is the question that many people ask.
What is the meaning of life?
Now, if you're saved, you know what the meaning of life is.
Okay, and that's to walk with the Lord,
to be in fellowship with the Lord,
to do the work of the Lord, to have eternity in mind.
This is just a small part of our true life.
We know that, but sometimes I guess as people, as man,
we can sometimes lose sight,
forget what the meaning of life is.
Everything becomes mundane.
Everything becomes repetitive.
It becomes vanity.
And then he says at the end of verse number four,
why does he ask all these questions?
Why does he want to know his end?
Why does he want to know the measure of his days?
Why does he want to know what it is,
the meaning behind all of this?
He goes, that I may know how frail I am.
That I may know how frail I am.
I think if that is on your mind, that I could die tomorrow.
I'm not guaranteed to see tomorrow.
You know, I got a limited time on this earth.
You know, it will cause you to think and go,
boy, you know, my life is a vapor.
My life is frail.
I can, my life can end at any moment, you know?
And this is, again, important to take down the pride,
to take down the ego.
You know, the praise of man.
Who cares when we know how frail we are before the Lord God,
because we're dealing with a God of eternity.
We're limited on this earth, but we deal and we speak.
Our God is a God of eternity.
So I do believe that David is asking the Lord
to bring back to his remembrance.
Maybe he's had an overinflated view of himself.
Maybe he's been, he's asking the Lord to remind him
of the strength that God has for, you know,
that he can get through the Lord
and not through his own personal strength.
Because then he says in verse number five,
"'Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand breath.'"
What's a hand breath?
Well, he's comparing his, you know, his life to,
that's my hand and that's my hand breath,
the width of my hand.
Say, well, that's not much, is it?
That's, David said, that's my life, okay?
And I guess in comparison, again, comparison to God,
God, which is eternal, his life is but short.
And then he says,
"'And mine age is as nothing before thee.'"
How old I am?
He seems to, okay, I'm 40 years old, brethren,
but okay, you must say, oh, you've lived 40 years.
That's a while.
You could live another 40 years.
Yeah, but when you compare me to God, okay?
When you compare, you know, our years to an eternal being,
the God of the universe, it is but nothing.
Verse number five says,
"'
Okay, so what is the best state that you've been in?
I guess you could think about your best spiritual state.
You could think about your best state of health.
You might say, hey, you know, back when I was, you know,
in my early 20s, I was fit, I was strong, right?
I could, you know, I could bench press X amounts
and that was my best state.
You know, that was the best that I could put forward, right?
I was productive on the job, I was effective.
You know, I was, you know, I was bringing in the cash.
I was bringing in the money.
You know, that was my best place that I was in my life.
Well, again, when you compare that to God, you know,
what is it?
It's altogether vanity, okay?
Because even the best state of man is insignificant to God.
This is why it's so stupid that people think, you know,
as long as I do the best I can,
as long as I strive to be a good person,
I can make it to heaven.
No, no, even in your best state.
If you could be in your best state your entire life,
you still come short of the glory of God.
You still are unable to make it to heaven, you know,
because of your sin, we're all sinners
and we need the grace of God to be saved.
Verse number six.
Surely every man walketh in a vain show.
Surely they are disquieted in vain.
He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them.
So the Simon's saying, look, this is the way of every man.
And I do believe this is, you know, you can, you know,
yes, every man as an unbeliever,
but also I think many believers can be this way
because, you know, we're constantly battling, right?
The flesh and the spirit.
Many times we can find ourselves in the flesh
and we put on, we walk in that vain show.
You know what's a vain show?
Hollywood, the TV productions.
You know what, the Simon's saying,
all that show, all that acting, it's just vanity.
It's all pretend, you know,
cause actors are pretending, right?
You know, if I can just use a name, you know,
I don't know all the modern actors, but you know,
Tom Cruise, for example, and all the movies he's in
where he's like a hero.
Well, let me just put it, let me just tell you a secret.
He's not a hero.
He's an actor, he's lying, he's pretending, right?
There are other people doing the stunts and it's all CGI.
He's not really jumping out of a building.
It's a vain show, it's all pretend.
Well, we know that Hollywood is a vain show,
but you know what, sometimes even in our life,
our daily life, we can put on a vain show.
We can pretend to be happy and be sad inside.
You know, many people say they don't care or whatever.
She'll be right, mate.
You know, it doesn't matter where I end up in eternity.
You know, it's a vain show deep down.
They want to be sure they're going to heaven deep down.
You know, our fellow Australians don't want to go to hell.
They want to be made right with God,
but they put on the vain show, okay?
It's a pride of man.
It said also in verse number six,
surely they are disquieted in vain.
So I understand this to mean basically
that they're busy or preoccupied
with issues of no profit, you know?
Again, just in general,
people just trying to make the most they can out of life
or, you know, giving to their addictions that they might
have, whether that's, you know, drugs or alcohol, you know,
it's all in vain.
It's all pointless, okay?
Again, the next thing brought up here,
and he heaped up riches and know if not,
who shall gather them.
So again, we have, you know, Australians, you know,
investing in this, investing in that, investing, investing,
trying to grow their portfolio, trying to become rich,
trying to move up in the social ladder, okay?
And know if not, who shall gather them.
The reason that says that, because we're all going to die
and, you know, who's going to be left with all the things
that we amassed on this earth.
We can't take all our riches with us.
Now, I don't believe it's wrong in of itself
to heap up riches, okay?
Even though it's mentioned here, he, he,
because again, in verse number six says,
surely every man walker, every man does this.
There is something within man that says,
hey, I want to profit.
I want to be productive.
I want to build and I want to grow.
You know, this is why men need to go to work.
You know, if you just stay home and don't work,
you're without employment,
you're going to feel useless.
You're going to be depressed within man.
God has put it within man to be productive,
to yes, to increase, to have a family,
to look after the family.
You know, I don't think it's wrong in of itself
to heap up riches.
But my question to you Brevin is,
where are you heaping up riches?
Where are you heaping up riches, okay?
Because do you think God, do you think God is happy
if we're heaping up riches for the kingdom of God,
we're laying up our treasures in heaven?
Of course, God wants us to heap up riches in heaven.
That's our focus.
That's our priority, right?
That's where our heart ought to be,
upon the kingdom of God, doing the work of God.
And as we do God's work is going to reward us
with riches in heaven.
There's nothing wrong with it in of itself.
But we want to make sure, yeah, we heap up riches
to some extent in order to get through life on this earth.
But our priority ought to be heaping up riches,
of course, in heaven, laying up your treasures in heaven.
And if you can do that,
that's where your heart will be.
You'll be focused on eternal matters, not the vain show,
not the useless, pointless vanity.
And, you know, I don't know what I'm looking for.
But yeah, just a waste of time that the rest of mankind
tries to achieve upon this earth.
And then they're going to die
and they're not going to take any of that with them.
Verse number seven,
And now, Lord, what weight I fall, my hope is in thee.
So he says, look, my hope is in you.
You know what?
He realizes, no, you know what?
I'm not going to be like every other man.
I'm not going to walk up the vanity.
I'm not going to seek the things that have no profit.
No, Lord, my hope is in thee.
You know, I'm going to live for the Lord,
is what the Psalmist is saying.
You know, this reminds me a lot of Psalm 90.
Can you keep your finger there and go to Psalm 90 for me?
Go to Psalm 90, verse number 12.
Psalm 90 and verse number 12.
The Psalmist here also says some very similar words
to what we're reading about here in Psalm 39.
But in Psalm 90, verse number 12, it says,
so teach us to number our days.
You know what?
You need to be taught to number your days.
You need to be taught by God to put your mindset that,
hey, I'm not here forever.
Every day that I live is one less day
that I have upon this earth.
You say, why should I number my days?
Well, it says here that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Hey, not the wisdom of man,
not the wisdom of false sciences,
but the wisdom that comes from God's word.
Why does God allow you to wake up today?
Why did he allow you to wake up today?
Why, God willing, are you going to wake up tomorrow?
God has given you time to apply your hearts unto wisdom,
to learn the wisdom of God, to know more of God's word,
to know more of his presence, to know more of his love,
to do more for his kingdom.
Brethren, that's why we live.
We have meaning, we have purpose, you know?
And that purpose is to serve the Lord God.
You know, some people might think,
well, then I'll just quit my job
and I'll just serve the Lord,
solvent in every hour of my life.
No, don't be foolish, okay?
God's wisdom has instructed and commanded men to work, okay?
That is wisdom.
You go into work, you know, a job, a full-time job,
so you can provide for yourself, for your family.
That's the wisdom of God.
You are serving God when you go to work,
so long as you set the Lord as your boss.
You know, let it never be said
that I've ever encouraged somebody
to just give up on everything
and just go soul winning for the rest of your life, okay?
Soul winning is important, absolutely.
That increases the kingdom.
That brings souls into the kingdom of God.
But you must remember your life is more
than just soul winning.
Your life is more than just church attendance.
You know, your life is also your family.
Your life is also your work and fellowship with the Lord.
Hey, your life is also taming his tongue
if you need to work on that.
Whatever issues you have in your life,
wherever your shortcomings are,
wherever your failures are, you say,
Lord, you've given me a day to apply this to wisdom.
Help me to have the wisdom to overcome these sins,
these challenges, these weaknesses that I have in my body.
Lord, my mind was on vanity.
I put on the vain show.
I turned on the vain show, Lord.
Help me to not focus upon that.
Help me to live for you, Lord.
We're given day after day after day after day after day
for God to use us in a mighty way.
And then you'll be 40, and then you'll be 80,
and then you'll be 100,
and then you'll be dead, okay?
Those days will one day stop.
Now, thank God, you know, if you're saved,
you're gonna be in heaven.
But I hope in heaven,
you don't regret the days that you have on the earth,
that you don't look back and go,
man, I wasted my days.
I wasted my life.
No, ask the Lord to help you number your days
that you may use every single day for the Lord
to please the Lord.
Back to Psalm 39, verse number eight.
Psalm 39, verse number eight.
It says, deliver me from all my transgressions.
So here's transgressions.
Again, the Psalmist has sinned.
We saw in the previous Psalm, Psalm 38,
that David was once again
dealing with the chastisement of the Lord.
You know what?
Psalm 39, you know what he's dealing with again?
The chastisement of the Lord.
The chasting of the Lord once again, okay?
Why?
Because it says, look,
make me not the reproach of the foolish.
I was dumb.
I opened not my mouth because thou didst.
So we're gonna see soon
that he's under the chastisement of God.
But I want you to notice in verse number nine, okay?
So he has spoken.
We saw that early in verse number two.
But now in verse number nine, once again, he goes dumb.
Once again, he doesn't open his mouth.
But why does he not open his mouth this time?
This time, it says, because thou didst it.
Because you did something, God,
now I'm gonna close my mouth.
And I'm not gonna speak about those things
because you've addressed it.
You go, what things?
Or it was in verse number eight.
Deliver me from all my transgressions.
That's number one.
Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
That's number two, okay?
There are two things in another combined together there.
But there are two things there that God did for David
where he says, well, now I can shut my mouth up, okay?
So how do we apply this?
Well, number one,
if you've asked God to deliver you from transgressions,
if you've asked God to forgive you for your sins,
you've gone before God.
And look, I'm sure many of us have done
wicked things in our past.
I'm sure we've done things that still bother you today.
Part of the consequences of sin, okay?
But look, once God has forgiven you
and God has forgiven you,
you confess your sins before the Lord,
God has forgiven you, okay?
Once you know that God has forgiven you,
you can tick it off because God promises that.
At that point, you say, well, I was dumb.
I opened not my mouth.
Say, what are you talking about?
I said, listen, once you've been forgiven of a sin,
horrible sins of the past, whatever,
doesn't matter how bad it is, brethren,
you need to stop talking about it.
You've been forgiven by God.
You don't have to keep reminding yourself
over and over and over again
how you did that sin over and over and over again.
Once God has forgiven you, just stop opening your mouth.
Be dumb, okay?
Be dumb and don't continue talking about it.
You know, the Bible says in Psalm 103 verse 12,
as far as the east is from the west,
so far have we removed our transgressions from us.
You know, once God has forgiven our sins,
he forgives us, he forgets about it,
he doesn't bring it to his remembrance,
it's gone, it's done with.
In fact, it was nailed to the cross already
2,000 years ago, paid for by Jesus Christ.
Brethren, if you've been forgiven by sin,
and you have, and I have,
we need to stop beating ourselves up
about the past mistakes that we've made, okay?
That would be the right time to shut your mouth,
to stop bringing that up and say, well, you know,
I'm not gonna dwell in the past.
God has forgiven me, I've dealt with that,
now I can move on and do things for my future.
Focus on my future rather than dwell
on the mistakes of the past.
What else?
He says, make me not the reproach of the foolish,
there in verse number eight, okay?
And I kind of think about, you know,
dealing with foolish people.
I'll just quickly read to you a very famous passage,
Proverbs 26 verse number four.
It says, answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest thou also be like unto him.
You know, sometimes when you're dealing with foolish people,
yes, sometimes it's right to answer them,
but sometimes it's also right to not answer them, okay?
So you don't get caught up in their foolishness.
Well, right now, David is dealing
with the reproach of the foolish.
He has foolish people that are hating upon him.
You know what?
And he says, you know what?
You know, God's gonna deal with it.
God, you hear what the foolish people say,
you've heard the foolish things
that has been said about me,
and I'm leaving it with you,
because dad did say, you've dealt with it, Lord,
then I'm gonna shut my mouth.
You don't have to want to,
I've said this many times in pre, you know,
many sermons recently, right?
You don't have to respond to every foolish accusation
made toward you, okay?
You don't have to always, you know, justify,
you know, if you know you've done something,
you're doing right, you know,
you're doing that which is right,
you've done that which is right,
and people criticize you, hey, you know what?
Shut your mouth, don't worry.
Lord, you deal with it, I'll move on.
I'm gonna shut my mouth and not deal
with every foolish person that I come across.
Hey, these would be two great times
where you just close your mouth, you shut up,
and let God deal with that, okay?
With the sins of your past and also dealing
with foolish stupid people that get you nowhere.
Verse number 10, now we see the chastisement
here of the Lord.
He says, remove thy stroke away from me.
I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
So the Lord's hand is blowing, okay?
It's beating upon David.
He says, remove thy stroke.
What is a stroke?
Stroke is the act of striking, okay?
God's taken his rod of chastisement upon David,
you know, another time,
he saw it in the previous Psalm as well, okay?
Now I told you, this is what we go through
as the children of God.
You know, that needs to be corrected, all right?
And you know, David's realizing, boy, I sinned my mouth.
I'm so, you know, I messed up here,
but Lord, please, you know, I've learned my lesson, okay?
I'm not going to be quiet.
I'm going to use my mouth for that which is good.
I'm gonna be careful about that which I say,
and Lord, I'm gonna bring my transgressions before you.
You've forgiven me, Lord,
and now I'm going to just stop talking about the past,
and now, Lord, now I've learned from the lesson.
Can you please stop chastising me?
I've learned the lessons that you have for me.
Verse number 11.
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.
Surely every man is vanity, Selah.
So there's a lot of poetic language here.
Now, obviously, because David's been rebuked by God here,
he says his beauty has been the beauty
to consume away like a moth.
Now, I'm not sure if this is saying like, you know,
it's kind of using the illustration of a moth
that eats on a garment and it kind of consumes away possibly.
That's what it's saying.
What I think this is saying is, again, poetic language,
but I believe the chastisement
that David is dealing with here is sickness or illness, okay?
Because, you know, when you fall sick,
you kind of see it on the body.
I'm sure there's been times
that maybe you've had to visit somebody in the hospital.
You know, there's been times
that I've visited people in the hospital
and they just, they look like a totally different person.
They've lost weight, they've lost color in their face.
They're just weak, they're broken down
and you can lose the beauty.
Many times, again, you might go to work.
I've been at work, sick.
People say, you look pale.
You don't look well, you look sickly.
And again, it's because that beauty has been taken away.
So I believe, and I'll tie it in soon,
why I believe, you know,
one of the methods of chastisement
that God is upon David is for him to fall sick, okay?
Now, this is obviously biblical.
Let me just show you another passage.
It's in 1 Corinthians 11, 29.
You don't need to turn there unless you're fast enough,
but this is about the Lord's supper.
And it's about being careful
with when we partake of the Lord's supper
that we consider ourselves, you know,
that we look upon ourselves
and see whether we're right with God.
But it says in 1 Corinthians 11, 29, I'll just read it.
It says, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,
not discerning the Lord's body.
Then it says in verse number 30,
for this cause many are weak and sickly among you
and many sleep.
So many sleep is many have died
because they've not taken of the Lord's supper worthily.
And if you're not worthy,
hey, God may allow you to just become weak and sickly.
It is one form of the chastisement of God, even death.
You know, an extreme case,
death can be the chastisement of the Lord.
And so this is why I'm saying to you,
it's biblical that God can use sickness.
And I do believe by the poetic language here
that David is dealing with sickness.
Look at verse number 12,
back in Psalm 39, verse number 12.
It says, hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear unto my cry,
hold not by peace at my tears,
for I am a stranger with thee
and a sojourner as all my fathers were.
I love that.
For I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner.
You know, COVID, the COVID world,
the situation that we're all in has really taught me
to think of myself as a stranger, as a sojourner.
This is not my world.
Australia is not my country, okay?
Sydney, the Sunshine Coast,
it's not really my city, okay?
I'm looking for the heavenly home.
And you know, I guess when things are going really well,
and generally speaking, we're at peace
and no one's really bothered and life is going well,
we kind of feel that we just, you know,
settle in our earthly homes as it were.
But when things are kind of turned upside down
and you've got those uncertainties about what the future,
then it really helps you detach and say,
boy, I'm just a stranger, I'm a sojourner.
You know what, Lord, if you need to judge this place,
if you need to bring your wrath and destroy the wicked,
go ahead, Lord, you know, I don't care about this world,
my heart's in heaven.
I hope you can say that.
Can you please keep your finger there
and go to Hebrews 11, go to Hebrews 11.
We're going to the faith chapter in Hebrews 11,
verse number 13, Hebrews 11, 13.
Of course, this is a constant, another constant theme
that we find in the Bible, the fact that we're sojourners,
we're strangers in this land.
I think it also helps people when they want to
maybe get into protesting,
when they want to get into politics and change this earth.
You know, politics is not going to fix Australia.
It's the righteousness of Christ
that's going to fix Australia.
It's us, New Life Baptist Church,
preaching the gospel on the Sunshine Coast
that's going to fix the Sunshine Coast.
Okay, it's on our shoulders, okay?
But it's pointing people not to this earth
because we're sojourners, we're strangers,
pointing people, of course, to heaven.
And in Hebrews 11, verse number 13,
speaking about great men of faith,
it says in verse number 13,
"'These all died in faith,
not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth.'"
You see, when you grow in faith,
you're going to be able to look at heaven.
You're going to look at eternity,
go, well, that's what I'm living for.
That's what I care about.
And this earth that I live upon, I'm just a stranger.
I'm just a pilgrim.
I'm just passing by.
I hope I can take as many people as I can with me
to my home in heaven, verse number 14.
"'And they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country
and truly, if they had been mindful of that country
from whence they came out,
they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country that is an heavenly,
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for we have prepared for them a city.'"
Brethren, we've got another country.
We've got another city.
It's not the Sunshine Coast.
It's not Sydney, brethren.
It's not Australia.
It's a much better country.
It's a heavenly country, okay?
It's where God is at.
And I'll quickly read to you
from 2 Peter 3, verse 13.
It says,
"'Nevertheless, we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness.'"
Okay, so the new heaven, the new earth
is where righteousness dwells,
meaning that we're not gonna find righteousness
on this earth.
It's a wicked earth that we live on at the moment, brethren,
but our hearts ought to be on the new heaven,
the new earth.
What is that new heaven, that new earth?
Revelation 21, verse one.
"'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem.'"
Hey, not old Jerusalem, not earthly Jerusalem,
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
So, brethren, our country is our heavenly home.
The new heavens, the new earth, our city is new Jerusalem.
It's not Sydney, okay?
It's not the Sunshine Coast.
Don't get too comfortable, okay?
Number your days.
Understand that your days in these places are limited.
You're here to serve the Lord, to focus upon the Lord,
to find the mean and purpose of life through God's word,
and then look forward to the time
that we can go home in the new city, new Jerusalem.
Back to Psalm 39, verse number 13.
And again, I believe verse number 13 strengthens the idea
that David was sick.
You know, the chastisement of the Lord was sickness.
Because then it says in verse number 13,
"'O spare me, that I may recover strength.'"
So I guess he's been weak over sickness.
"'That I may recover strength,
before I go hence and be no more.'"
So hence is from here, okay?
So he wants to recover strength
before I go hence and be no more.
Now, there could be two ways to look at verse number 13.
Let me just share with you what those two ways are.
Number one, he might be saying that
if he doesn't recover from his sickness,
that his sickness will lead him to death, okay?
Before I go hence and be no more.
So he's saying, look, I'm under the chastisement of God.
I'm under, I'm sick, I'm not doing well.
I'm becoming weak, I need my strength back.
And Lord, if you don't give me back my strength,
well, then I'm gonna go from here and be no more.
It's possible that that's the level of severity
that the chastisement that he's received from the Lord.
Or you might say, well, what he's really saying here
is that he wants to regain his strength
now that he has numbered his days.
Now that he has seen the measure of his days,
he knows that he's got one less day to live for the Lord.
He wants to regain his strength
in light of making the most of his remaining days.
That's what I believe actually, point number two,
that he wants his strength back
to make the most of his remaining days
before he goes home to be the Lord
and be no more on this earth.
And so brethren, I think the conclusion
that we can take out of this Psalm,
let me just say a few things.
Number one, appreciate and make use
of every day God has given you.
Have you maximized what you can do today?
I'm glad for those that are in the house of God tonight.
It's a great thing to do.
Every day, you ought to have a plan.
Lord, how can I be most efficient?
How can I be most productive?
How can I seek the wisdom of God?
How can I become a greater Christian today?
Don't let the days just fly by.
You're gonna look back and wish you had those days of old
if you're wasting them away.
Next thing that we can learn here is to use our mouths
for productive means and not to sin.
We need to tame our mouth, we need to tame our tongue.
It can cause great sin.
It can bring upon great chastening from the Lord
if we don't learn to tame our tongues.
Once again, you cannot do it by the effort of man.
No man can tame this tongue.
You need to go to the Lord and ask him for that charcoal,
that coal that comes from the altar of God in heaven.
This is a work of the Holy Spirit in your life,
but you need to be open to the Holy Spirit.
Not grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit,
just saying, Lord, please,
I need to fix this about my mouth.
Please do a great work in my mouth.
And can you please go to Psalm 118?
Psalm 118, please.
We'll end on this one.
Psalm 118, 118, verse number 24.
Psalm 118, verse number 24.
Again, a very famous verse.
It says, this is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Reverend, have you rejoiced today?
Are you glad that you have today
or are you moaning and whining about COVID?
Are you moaning,
and I think some of you guys are back on masks.
Are you whining about that or are you rejoicing today
because it's a day that God has made.
We will be glad and rejoice.
We'll rejoice and be glad in it.
Boy, yeah, I want you to rejoice.
I want you to use your lips and your mouth
to sing praises to God.
Say thank you, God, for the day that you've given me.
Thank you, Lord, for letting me live in 2021.
And 2020, thank you for letting me go
through the experiences of COVID.
Lord, it's been wonderful.
You've given me this world to live in.
I'm a soldier and I'm a pilgrim.
Lord, I want to serve you.
I want to learn what you have to show me.
Lord, I want to grow in knowledge.
I want to learn patience, Lord, during these trying times.
I want to make use of every day that I have,
and I want to rejoice.
I want to praise you, Lord.
Well, don't forget,
if you're going to praise God with your mouth
to make sure that you get the cleansing of your lips first,
okay, because it ought not to be so
where you curse man with your lips
and then you praise God with your mouth.
Okay, let's pray.