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Chapter three I pretty much want to preach about the subject that this entire chapter is about which is about the tongue Beginning verse number one the Bible reads my brethren be not many masters knowing that we shall receive the greater Condemnation for in many things we offend all watch this if any man offend not in word The same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body now Just from looking at that verse that should show us right away that this is something that a lot of people are gonna struggle with If he says look if you can get this area right in your life, you're complete. You're perfect You've got everything together if you can't aim the tongue and the Bible says in verse 3 behold We put bits in the horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn about their whole body Behold also the ships which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds yet Are they turned about with a very small helm with us? The governor listeth even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and Seteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell For every kind of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of things in the sea is Tamed and hath been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame it is an unruly evil full of deadly Poison the Bible is making it really clear here that this is going to be something that people Struggle with the tongue can no man tame if you can bridle your tongue you can bridle your whole body This is something that can cause a lot of harm a little tiny part of our body the tongue But it said that it can kindle great fires and cause great destruction It says in verse 9 therewith blessed we God even the father and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God out of the same mouth proceeded blessing and cursing my brother and these things are not so to be To the fountain sent forth at the same place sweet water and bitter can the fig tree my brother and bear all of berries Either a vine figs so can no fountain both yield saltwater and fresh who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you Let him show out of a good conversation His works with meekness of wisdom, but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts Glory not and lie not against the truth flip back a couple pages to James chapter one and we'll see another mention of the tongue and notice that the tongue and The misuse of the tongue is tied in with bitter envying and strife in your heart What causes you to say things that are hurtful or that Destroy people or that cause trouble and kindle these great fires It's when you have bitter envying and strife in your heart That's what causes these things to come out your mouth because the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and the bitter envying is when you think that you're better than other people and you wish that you have what they have and you're Envious of them and strife just getting into conflict with people all the time Instead of trying to be at peace with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in the local church or being at peace in Your family being at peace on the job, etc Etc. Look at James chapter 1 verse 26 if any man among you seem to be religious and Bridaleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart. This man's religion is vain That's a pretty strong statement again telling us how important it is that we bridle our time We don't want our religion to be in vain So therefore we want to make sure that we bridle our tongue go to 1st Peter chapter 3 this is all by way of introduction 1st Peter chapter 3 because what I want to really preach about tonight is Specifically, what are the sins of the tongue? We can talk about generalities of just hey control your mouth control your tongue You know get don't let it get out of control, but what Specifically does God tell us in the Bible it are the sins that we commit with our tongue and with our mouth But first look at 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 8 Says finally be ye all of one mind having compassion One of another love is brethren be pitiful be courteous because of course if our heart is right Then the things that come out of our mouth are gonna be right as well Says not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing Knowing that you're there unto called that you should inherit a blessing for he that will love life and see good days Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak No God if you want to have an enjoyable life if you want God to bless you and Prosper you and if you want to see good days, then you need to learn to control your mouth. You can't go around Speaking guile and having your tongue participate in all this evil and expect to live a good life. It's not gonna happen That's what the Bible is telling us now Let's go to Proverbs because the book of Proverbs is a book that deals with the tongue Literally in almost every single chapter and as you go through the book of Proverbs You'll just see scores and scores of verses telling you how to handle your tongue and telling you what not to do With your tongue we could go all over the Bible This is such a big subject that God deals with so much that we could go through hundreds of scriptures literally and this morning We're not even gonna hardly scratch the surface but I'm just gonna spend the sermon in Proverbs pretty much because everything I need to preach this sermon is pretty much in the book Proverbs and the goal of this sermon is to get specific not to just vaguely say hey You got to control your tongue You got to watch your mouth, but rather what does the Bible say not a person's opinion, but what does the Bible say? The sins of the tongue really are and the first one that would really obviously Come to mind and just jump right out at you would be lying go to Proverbs chapter 6 That's one of the biggest sins that you can commit with your mouth is telling a lie Proverbs chapter number 6 We're just gonna be all over the book of Proverbs this morning, but while you're turning to Proverbs 6 I'll read for you from Colossians 3 lie not one to another Seeing that you've put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man Which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him look at Proverbs 6 verse 12 the Bible says a naughty person a wicked man Walketh with a froward mouth jump down to verse 16 these six things that the Lord hate Yea, seven are an abomination unto him a proud look a lying tongue and hands that shed Innocent blood so right at the beginning of this list of thing that God hates and things that are an abomination to him He says that a lying tongue is an abomination go to Proverbs chapter number 12 verse 70 God hates a lying tongue Proverbs 12 verse 17 says this he that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness Deceit there is he that speaketh like the piercings of a sword But the tongue of the wise is health verse 19 the lip of truth shall be established forever But a lying tongue is but for a moment look at verse 22 Lying lips are abomination to the Lord But they that deal truly are his delight look at chapter 13 verse 5 It says a righteous man hateth lying so not only does God hate lying But the Bible says that if we're righteous we will hate lying as well It says a righteous man hateth lying, but a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame You don't have to turn there But Proverbs 20 verse 17 says bread of the seed is sweet to a man But afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel Just imagine a mouthful of rocks and dirt God says that's the punishment upon those who would tell lies and so over and over again We could go all over the Bible with lying obviously It's not just limited to a couple scripts in the book of Proverbs But God hates it and I think sometimes we give lying a pass a little bit because we've all done it So because every single person has done it I mean the Bible says you let God be true But every man a liar and we often when we're out soul winning and we want to show people that we all deserve hell We show them that verse where it says all liars Shall have their part in the lake which birthed with fire and brimstone Which is the second death and then we'll show them a little later where it says Who so maketh a lie, you know will not be in heaven So because we've all done it it's easy to want to kind of whitewash this sin It's easy to be harsh on sins that we've never done When we've never done it We'll get up and rail on it and we know how bad it is and that's why we wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole but with lying we don't come down as hard on it sometimes simply because we know that we've all been guilty of it and Probably in the future at some point will be guilty of it again But you know what just because this is universal of a sin unto us That does not mean that we should take a light attitude when God's saying it's an abomination When God's saying that he hates it when God even puts it in that list of things that will wind a person in the lake of fire, we ought to take it very Seriously and understand that the Lord loves it when we tell the truth and he hates it when we lie To him or lie to other people, you know an an ice and sapphire lied to the Holy Ghost We need to be people who learn to tell the truth and sometimes it hurts to tell the truth But one of the biggest sins we can commit with our mouth The biggest way to not have a bridle on your mouth is when you just let lies flow out of your mouth And one of the worst things about lying is that it becomes a habit with people There are people who lie just as a way of life and they even get to the point Where they start lying when there's no reason to lie Your average person when they really get in a bind and they you know They've got egg on their face will maybe tell a lie to get out of it Your average person will do that But there are some people who just keep lying so much that they get to where they lie about things that don't even matter They they lie when there's nothing at stake and they become pathological You'll hear that term thrown about where they'll tell so many lies that it just becomes a normal Habit to them too, and they even think that they're telling the truth I mean God forbid that any of his people would just have an abomination coming out of their mouth constantly and children You'll always be better off with your parents telling the truth you get in more trouble when you lie about it And then we as God's people that are adults. We're his children. He's gonna come down on us harder when we lie about it He'll show mercy unto us when we confess and forsake our sins and what's confession, but simply telling the truth Confessing that you've done, you know that which is wrong. So obviously lying is a big one, but look at Proverbs chapter 4 Another sin that comes to mind with the tongue would be perversion or What the New Testament calls filthy communication in Colossians 3 8 it says but now He also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy Filthy communication out of your mouth. Look at Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 It says keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips Put far from thee now look over at Proverbs 15 verse 4 He said perverse lips put far from thee I think of the famous scripture on alcohol in Proverbs 23 where he says if you tarry long at the wine And if you go to seek mixed wine, he says your mouth will utter Perverse things it says in Proverbs 15 for a wholesome tongue is a tree of life But perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. So what do we mean by? perverse lips or filthy communication or your mouth uttering Perverted or perverse things, you know the Bible talks about the fact that there are wicked reprobate people in this world and the Bible says that it is a shame to Even speak of those things which are done of them in secret and The Bible also says that fools make a mock at sin And so if the Bible tells that fools make a mock at sin and that it's shameful to speak of that Which wicked people do in secret that tells me that it shouldn't be something that we take lightly and turn into a joke and this is where we're talking about filth and joking about filth and the reason I bring up joking is because it seems to me that Most of the time when the filthiest things come out of people's mouths, it's usually in the form of a joke They're just kidding kind of gives them an excuse to talk about something that normally would be too Disgusting or filthy to bring up but hey if you're doing it as a joke, it's okay And by the way, the sodomites that are all over TV That's how it started because if you look back to the real old movies the hero of the film is not a sodomite But you know what they'll do they'll have sodomite characters that offer a comedy or what's it called a comic relief of Some sodomite or you can even go back to the oldest black and white movies of Hollywood and you'll see people dressed in drag Men wearing makeup, but oh, come on. It's just a joke It's just funny or you go back to the even the Bugs Bunny cartoons and one of the common themes of Mary melodies is that? Bugs Bunny would be dressed in drag Put on lipstick and he's kissing Elmer Fudd on the cheek and all that Elmer Fudd's turning purple and green and everything like that and they they're programming the young people to say hey, it's funny It's cute. It's funny. And this has been the progression with Hollywood with the sodomites. Is that first of all, it's a joke it's funny, it's silly we laugh at it and The devil spent decades getting us to laugh at that sin Even from the mall even from when we were the tiniest kids with our bowl of cereal on Saturday morning in front of the cartoons We're being taught that being a transvestite. It's funny Being a homo is funny. I mean just starts the programming that young and we laughed at it. Right then the next thing was oh Stop laughing at that That was the devil at phase one was like laugh at the homos then the second was how dare you laugh at them? And then it became the old poor homo Everyone's laughing at the filthy sodomite, you know And that was the next stage of the plan and then of course now we're on to a whole new stage of well This is completely normal. They're born that way. They're wonderful. Let's let's make them the pastor of the church Let's go ahead and and we let them get married and let's you know we're we're just off the charts now with the except we're even Christians now accepted and Accepted in the church and accepted in the house of God and everything else And if somebody says hey no homos are allowed in this church It's in the news or something just because it's just a while Whoa, when in reality they never would have been allowed in any church, you know going back a few decades So we see that it started with a joke and you know what it reminds me of too is even when a lot Was in Sodom and he tries to preach the Word of God Unto the people of Sodom some of the people that were there his sons-in-law That were residents of Sodom that had married his daughters. He you know, it was all a joke to them They thought it was funny. They're real funny people, you know, they joke around a lot and let me tell you something There's nothing wrong with having a good time and the Bible talks a lot Positively about making merry and being joyful and having a good time. But you know what? There's nothing funny about sodomy It's just not funny And if if you're Joe if you find yourself joking about it or other people joking about it It's only because you've been programmed that way since you were a little kid watching Bugs Bunny. That's where it's coming from It's not coming from the Holy Spirit and it's not even coming from who you really are as a person the new man I'll tell you what's coming from just a brainwashing where you've been taught that it's funny and it's really not funny. It's gross. It's Disgusting it's filthy and wicked. It's reprobate. It's vile It's reprehensible but yet people joke about it, don't they? I mean you hear a lot of jokes about it out in the world and it's not funny and you know what if you're joking about Homos, that's filthy communication coming out of your mouth And when you're telling stories about home and it doesn't and look homos are not the only perverse thing out there There are other perversities as well None of it should come out of your mouth, you know, you shouldn't even be joking about committing adultery or something You know some fools make a mock at sin, you know make jokes about committing adultery joking about it You know, you need to keep your mouth from perversity and filth from coming out of it And this is a big one in 2015 because you know that the homos are something that that are on everybody's mind because it's being brainwashed and crammed down our throat every day because of the media But not only perversion coming out of our mouths not only lying What are some other sins that we can commit with our mouths go to Proverbs chapter 8? another sin that often is Committed by the tongue is the sin of boasting boasting bragging and You've been around people that do a lot of bragging a lot of boasting and this is not the humility that God calls us to as Christians the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 13 the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and Arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth Do I hate God said I hate that froward mouth in the same breath that he says I hate pride and Arrogancy flip over if you would to chapter 25 chapter 25 Of course, there are a lot of scriptures on bragging and boasting in the Bible One of the most famous ones is about our salvation when it says for by grace Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves that is the gift of God not of works Let's any man should boast and so God says our salvation is not of works. If it were someone could boast about it And And have you ever been out soul winning and talk to the unsaved who don't realize it's by grace through faith and they'll boast To you you ask him. How do you know you're going to heaven? Oh Man, I'm a good person. Oh, I well, I've I really helped a lot of people or this is the funniest one Hey, how do you know you're going to heaven? Well, I've rescued 12 animals It's like case closed next door Well, you know, we're wasting our time here. We need to go to the next person who needs it, you know But they'll say well I've rescued 12 cats You know, I I've been good to animals my whole life. It's like well you're in like Flint But they say, you know, they'll tell you all kinds of boasting and it's almost that you're almost embarrassed for them sometimes and Honestly, whenever people brag and boast it's embarrassing to the people around them You're kind of thing like are you serious when they say, you know what? I'm just a really good person I just have been you know, I'm just a really good guy. I really help people Are you like what in the world you really believe that about yourself? But people do and you'll hear other people just brag to you and just tell you about how much money they have Tell you about all their achievements tell you how wonderful and what does the Bible say let another man praise thee Not thine own mouth strangers and not thine own lips So we don't want to be prideful arrogant people who go around tooting our own horn Singing our own praises talking about how wonderful we are The Bible says that we should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think now Look at Proverbs 25 verse 14 It says who so boasted themselves of a false gift is Like clouds and wind without rain because a lot of the times when people are boasting a lot They don't really have the goods a lot of times they boast a lot because they're insecure and they're trying to lift themselves up because they don't really have the Skills that they're claiming to have or they don't really have the money that they want you to think that you know Some of the people with the biggest baddest toys and all the fancy stuff Are in debt up to their eyeballs and really, you know they're gonna lose it all eventually anyway Once the bill all comes due because they're robbing Peter to pay Paul as they build up this huge debt to have all the toys and they can boast about the four-wheel drive and the boat and the RV and Talk about the jewelry and all the wonderful things that they've been able to afford and just tell you how great they are And what a great Christian they are and what a great, you know businessman they are and what a great athlete They are and how everybody just loves them And so, you know We need to be careful that we don't get prideful in our heart and let it start coming out of our mouth in the form Of boasting or bragging. What is he talking about? When God says get your tongue under control. The tongue is a fire So it's all look it's a whole world of iniquity. It's not just one sin that your tongue commits It's a whole world of iniquity. What is that world of iniquity encompass obviously lying Obviously perversity and filthy communication coming out of your mouth What's a third sin that we commit with our mouth boasting bragging pride? Arrogancy, but not only that look at Proverbs chapter 18 verse 1. This is one that might not come to mind as readily But this is another sin that people do commit with their mouth And the funny thing is even though this point if I were to go around the room and ask people Name all the sins you commit with your mouth You know, we get a lot of answers coming at me Let's just go ahead and do that who let's do some sit we've already covered three what other sins can you commit with your mouth? Slander railing. Yeah, that's I've got that point later in the sermon. It's coming, you know, the backbiting the tail-bearing the Okay. Okay. Well now you're ruining my sermon because you just he just nailed the point I was gonna I was gonna see if no one would guess it saying stupid things And and what's funny he said foolishness Lewis it, you know, it's funny cuz that doesn't always come to mind, you know lying, of course You wouldn't think of just saying stupid things as being a sin but in fact when I looked up this subject because I just wanted to look at everything the Bible said about the mouth the tongue the Lips speech it was too much. I mean, there's just hundreds and hundreds of scripture sounds like okay Let's just look at Proverbs and even when I narrowed it down to Proverbs that was the one that God talked about the most Of all this in Proverbs was just saying Stupid things or foolish things coming out of your mouth now, let me kind of explain this point a little bit Look at chapter 18 verse 1 it says through desire a man having separated himself Seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom a fool hath no delight in understanding But that his heart may discover itself now the word discover meant something a little bit different in 1611 as what it means now today when we think of discovering something we think of you know you went out and found something that no one else knew about and you went out and and Uncovered something that was unknown to the rest of the world, you know, you talk about somebody who discovered You know the new world Columbus, you know, obviously there are people here before that From all different places, but you know, oh, you know, he discovered this he discovered that but here's what discover Actually means in the Bible when you see the word discover it actually means to reveal or to uncover when the Bible says here a Fool hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself He just wants to tell you what's in his heart Basically translation. He likes to hear himself talk No delight in understanding not interested in hearing from someone who actually knows the subject But rather he just wants to hear himself. He just wants to make sure that you know, what's on his mind He just wants his heart to discover itself He wants to make sure that everything that's in his heart comes out of his mouth because he likes to hear himself talk Now there are a lot of verses in the Bible that talk about people not talking about things that they don't understand Now go to Proverbs chapter 15 Proverbs chapter 15 and like I said, I can't read all the scriptures on this one just because there were so many That talked about this but Proverbs chapter 15 says this in verse 2 the tongue of the wise useth knowledge a right But the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness verse 14 the heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge But the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness verse 28, this is all just in one chapter the heart of the righteous studieth to answer But the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things look at chapter 10 of Proverbs chapter 10 while you're turning there I'll read for you from Proverbs 16 verse 21 the wise in heart shall be called prudent and the sweetness of the lips increase it learning Understanding is a well of life unto him that hath it but the instruction of fools is folly the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth and Addeth learning to his lips. Look at how many verses are saying that we need to learn study Understand and gain knowledge so that we can speak intelligently So that wisdom and understanding and the truth and intelligence can come out of our mouth Not just stupidity and foolishness and talking about things that we don't understand Jude verse 10 says But these speak evil of those things which they know not But what they know naturally as brute beasts and those things they corrupt themselves look down where I return chapter 10 I think look at verse 31 the mouth of the just bring it forth wisdom But the froward tongue shall be cut out and so over and over again We see this in the book of Proverbs chapter 12 verse 23 is another good one. Look over there It's just a page over Proverbs 12 23 a prudent man concealeth knowledge but the heart of fools Proclaimeth foolishness now, this is such a profound verse when you realize it. It's saying look the the guy who's smart He's hiding more intelligent things Then the stupid things that you're just letting pour out of your mouth I mean the Bible is saying that even an intelligent person with important knowledge Sometimes doesn't always feel the need to just say everything that he knows or say everything that's on his mind But yet the fool just not only does he say everything he knows he just says stuff. He doesn't know he just talks He just blows off his mouth. He just pours out a stream of Foolishness and there are a lot of people today that talk about subjects that they are Unqualified to talk about now, I do not believe that we need to be experts in every subject There are a lot of things that I don't know anything about that I don't really care about that I'm probably never gonna know about and so I don't just go into long Dissertations about them and just start talking about a bunch of stuff that I don't understand What we need to learn is that it's better to hear You know And it's better to listen and hear and learn things Than to just talk for the sake of talking now if you have something that's profitable if you have something that's intelligent That's edifying that's helpful. That's that's important that that's interesting That is true and you've checked out then speak the truth You know teach people be a person who helps others understand knowledge But there are certain times when someone asks you your opinion about something when you should just say well, you know what? I just don't know about that subject then to just feel like you have to weigh in on everything and Just give your opinion about everything and even when you're not asked to just you hear people talking about something I just well, here's what I think about that. You've not read a single book about it You've not studied the information, you know And look a we could go through so many subjects today That people just talk about without knowing anything about it And then when you start pinning people down about what they know about these subjects, they don't know anything about it But they just blow off their mouth of foolishness, you know, some that just popped into my mind was you know I said something negative about Mother Teresa one time as a teenager and everybody started yelling at me and telling me how bad I was at my church and I said to them I said What do you who do you know anything about Mother Teresa? I said what country does she live in? They don't know I said what language does she speak? Hey, yeah, can you give me a quote from her? Do you know can you tell me anything about her? I can you tell me the years in which she operated you know, can you tell me what religion she is and These people literally knew nothing but they were yelling at me telling me I was a wicked person For saying something bad about Mother Teresa, you know, what they should have said was just well, I don't know anything about Mother Teresa You know, I need to you know before I can weigh in on Mother Teresa I need to go do some study But they said Mother Teresa's in heaven and Mother Teresa, how do you know? What do you know about her? What how do you know her testimony of salvation? She's Roman Catholic She's trusting works. And if you read the quotes out of her mouth, it's anti-treatable It's anti Bible. It's anti everything that is true and Everything that is the true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, but you've just been told your whole life She's a wonderful person or you know You say something negative about Martin Luther King jr. And people are gonna jump down your throat call you racist and everything because they just don't even know the facts They don't even know the subject or politics You know, it's funny people just they've been told their whole lives in church. Just vote just get out there and vote Just vote Exercise the right to vote and people literally just go to the poll and vote and they don't know anything about the issues They don't know anything about the candidates and honestly when you go down there Most of the names on that are foreign to you and you don't even know who they are all these judges Do you want to confirm or reject this and that judge? It's just a bunch of names You know, I used to go in there and just all the women judges. I just say no to all Just cuz I don't believe that women should be an authority in our government, you know So I just leave the men blank because I don't know who they are and then the women's is like no no, you know Catherine's Susie, you know what but I'm just saying, you know It's ridiculous to just constantly be talking about things. You don't know or you don't understand and it's funny like I'm and okay This is maybe a petty silly example, but you know, I really like to run You know, I run every day and it's so funny how people will take me aside and give me running advice who don't run at all They literally do not run at all Whatsoever now I only started running a few years ago, you know until I was 29 years old I hated running and I I would never go running unless I really had to and I hated every minute of it You know, but in the last several years, I've really learned to enjoy running. I love running I run every day and it's something I really like and people will tell me you know You're you're not doing it right, you know, and it's and I'll ask them like do you ever know? Well, I run on a treadmill sometimes and They you know, it's just funny how people will just talk about Subjects that they don't know anything about now. Look I can name for you a lot of subjects that I don't know anything about You know what? I don't know anything about football I'm just gonna admit it to you right now I don't know about it and there you know, there are certain areas of science that I don't know anything about That I don't talk about I don't really know you know and people are constantly coming to me and asking my opinion about certain things and Anybody who knows me knows that I don't just give my opinion about everything sometimes when people ask me so I'm just I don't know I don't know anything about it. I don't get into it, you know people come to me and tell me You know, what do you believe about this? You know the geocentricity or or you know Whether the Sun goes around the earth or where the earth goes around the Sun and they're they're trying to lay out all the evidence For me and I just tell people, you know, I don't care about that subject. I don't know anything about it I don't I'm not qualified to talk about all the science involved with that because I have not studied it So I don't want to just start coming down with real strong opinions. And here's the thing. I've seen the biblical evidence For geocentricity and honestly, I don't think that the biblical evidence is conclusive at all. I'm not buying it But when it comes to whether the Sun goes around the earth or whether the earth goes around the Sun honestly, I don't know Because I don't I can't you know I don't think that the Bible has a firm answer on it and I'm not gonna you know Spend the time and the energy to go out and research that I'm not against somebody who likes science who wants to do that But honestly, I don't know I don't care so I'm not gonna just give these real strong opinions about it You know, this is how it is because I don't know and I to me I don't think it's a biblical issue and so I don't care Now I'm a pastor Therefore I strive to be an expert in the Bible, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna be an expert in all matters of history you know, there's certain parts of history that I know a lot about that I've really studied a lot and Then I can speak Intelligently about but there are a lot of other areas of history where people start telling me about it and I say wow I don't know anything about that. I'm gonna have to look into that You know, or what do you think about this guy? What do you think about that? I don't know You know, I got I'm gonna have to look into that and study that I'm not sure I don't know There are things that we know a lot about and things we don't know a lot about now when it comes to areas of Evolution and the Big Bang I've actually studied that a lot Just because you know I wanted to be able to talk about it intelligently and preach about it And so I've read up on those type of but there are a lot of areas of science that I don't know anything about because I'm just not that interested because there's so much knowledge in the world and Everybody specialized in different things, you know, we all want to have a basic knowledge of everything but then there are certain areas that would take a whole lot of study to delve into and really get into and I think that we in America today have been taught that we just have to have an opinion about everything What do you think about this guy? What do you think about what he said? What do you think about him? What do you think about her? What do you think about this subject? What do you think about this issue? What's your opinion on this and I think that we need to learn to sometimes just say I don't know I don't know anything about that rather than to just start pouring out foolishness Because a lot of times what people do will just start repeating stuff that we've heard and you know what I've been guilty of it We've all been guilty of it not saying I've never done this where you'll just start repeating stuff that you've heard and Then later you go back and study it and you realize wow was I wrong about that and I can tell you something I've been pastoring now for over nine years and I can honestly say that if I go back and listen to my old sermons Sometimes there are things that I said where I'm like, wow, I don't I don't agree with that anymore I don't believe that anymore but thankfully it's not biblical issues because there are very few things biblically because I've just made a practice that when I don't know things Biblically, I'll gloss them over like on a Wednesday night I'll be preaching verse by verse and sometimes I'll just kind of gloss over a few verses Because I don't understand what it's saying Okay, so I'll just kind of gloss them over and then people be like man I was hoping you were gonna cover that verse that was the one I was wondering about I'm thinking I was wondering about it too, you know, that's why I didn't cover it But don't you know what and I remember I had a pastor call me one time He's like you got to help me because he's like it's Wednesday night and I'm preaching on this chapter And I don't understand this these these couple of verses and I got to preach this in like five hours I don't know what to say and I told him skip it Just gloss over it Just kind of just blow past it and talk about the stuff that you do what I said Is there enough in the chapter that you do understand? Preach that rather than to just Throw stuff out there and well, you know, I at least I covered it no, make sure that what you say is right and when I go back and listen to my sermons and I hear stuff that I don't agree with coming out of my own mouth. You know, what it usually has to do with is You know historical stuff political stuff stuff that you hear but you can't really be sure about and verify it Because most of the doctrine had you know I would say 99% of the doctrine has stayed the same since I started the church Because of the fact that I studied it before Opening my mouth but but sometimes I'll be listening to my old sermons and I'll hear something historical or political or social that I later learned more about and it was like wow I shouldn't I shouldn't have been talking about that because I didn't know as much about it as I do now And so we need to be careful that we don't talk about stuff that we don't Understand and that we don't know and I always tell this to young preachers, you know preach what you know You know if you're coming to the preaching class and you're preaching that 10-minute sermon pick subjects that you know the best and that you've really studied and read the Bible and you know so that you're Look aren't there certain things that we just know are true and we have no doubt we know We know that we're not gonna have to you know, five years later change change our doctrine on it and say You know, I was wrong about that. And by the way, if we are wrong about something we should always be humble enough To change, you know, some preachers have preached the same thing for ten years and then when they realize they were wrong They're like, well, you know, it's too late now. I've already been preaching this today say well No, if it's if it's if it's wrong corrected, you know And I'll tell you one thing that I corrected real early on in my preaching was about Israel and about the Jews because I've been taught my whole life, you know, hey, we got to be pro-israel We got to support Israel and when I started faith for Baptist Church Even with all the study even the scores of times I'd read through the Bible. I still Had that in my head that had been drilled into me and I remember I'd been pastoring for about six months I don't remember exactly what the sermon was, but I was six months into pastoring and I found myself Saying something about hey that land belongs to them or you know Hey They're God's chosen people that started coming out of my mouth Like six months into pastoring faithful word and the moment it was the first time I'd ever said anything like that from the pulpit But it came out of my mouth and the second it came out of my mouth I thought to myself, you know what? I don't know if that I don't know if that's really true. I Don't think that's really true because I was thinking to myself I think I'm just repeating that because I've heard that so many times just them I think I think it's maybe just the Holy Spirit telling me like you're wrong and The moment it came out of my mouth and it just come out of my mouth I was thinking like that's not even true. I don't think that's true. But I was like, I don't know. Maybe it is true I don't know and I literally Went home and decided I'm gonna read the whole Bible cover to cover Just looking at this one subject because I all these verses started flooding into my mind because I'd memorized a lot of Bible and All these verses started flooding in my mind about he's not a Jew which is why you know and all these different scriptures are flooding into my mind and I was like, you know, this is so different than what I've been taught. I waited six months Before I ever preached against that doctrine because I spent six months Making sure I was right first because I didn't want to just come out with something that was contrary to everything I'd heard my whole life and been taught Until I'd say and I spent the next six months and the first thing I did was I read the entire Bible cover to cover Just looking for that subject only Just reading the Bible where just that's all I'm looking for is anything to do with the chosen people Israel the Jews, you know them in the Old Testament them in the New Testament and You know by the time I had gone through the whole Bible and I'd studied it and thought about it and figured it out Six months later in December of 2006. I preached the first sermon Where I laid out that doctrine and taught it from the pole because I knew I was right Okay, but you know what? There are too many preachers today. Just saying just say it's like I did I mean I did it that you know I just had something come out of my mouth and it was just a verbatim quote from the church that I'd come out of It was just word-for-word Repeating and you know, we tend to repeat things that we hear we cannot help but speak the things we've seen and heard But we need to be careful to make sure that the things that come out of our mouth are right and that we don't say Foolish things because of a lack of what knowledge learning Instruction and and it's laziness that caused us not to study because much study is a weariness of the flesh Okay, and I'm not saying that we have to study all things and be an expert in all areas But I am saying be an expert in the areas that you're gonna talk about You know just learn about things and know what you're gonna talk about or if you don't at least say, you know Here's what I've heard Or this is what I've always been told, you know But do you have something that can correct that for me instead of just being dogmatic and just blowing up and look I've heard it my whole life and I've done it sometimes where you just you just vehemently repeat something that you heard No basis in instruction learning facts knowledge or and so on so let's get off that point though But people say a lot of stupid things and it is a sin. It's not just dumb. It's a sin the Bible commands us to increase learning to be wise to learn knowledge and to Not lift up ourselves and utter things that are too high for us that we know not We need to make sure that we don't speak foolishness and That we intermetal with wisdom rather than just wanting our heart to discover itself all the time Just to hear ourselves talk and by the way, if you're gonna be a pastor You must be an expert on the Word of God. You don't have to be a science expert to be a pastor You don't have to be a history expert to be a pastor You do not have to be a language expert to be a pastor you don't have to know Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic and Latin to be a pastor, but you know what you do need to be an expert on the Bible and Obviously when you start pastoring you're not gonna know as much as when you finish pastoring Hopefully you're gonna keep studying and keep learning But you say well What do I do when I start pastoring you preach the things that you know for sure and you save the stuff if Bible? Prophecy is not your forte. You need to save it for later when it becomes your forte But what's sad today is that pastors will get up and preach a pre-trib rapture and then you walk up to them and say hey What about this scripture whatever and they'll say oh, you know, I haven't really studied the subject that well Then you shouldn't be talking about it. Now. Look I will admit to you right now I do not know everything in the Bible There are parts of the Bible that I don't understand that have me scratching my head to this day Now less and less as I get older But there's a lot in the Bible that that I don't know and I and I've had people confront me What about this verse? I you know, I don't know So guess what? I just don't preach on those verses and When I preach through the whole chapter, I just read that verse and then I'm like, but here's what I really want to emphasize Verse 26, you know, yeah, you know talk about that, you know And when I did the revelation series when I did revelation series, you know, I was like, you know what? There's stuff that I glossed over the first time I did it back in 2007 a lot of stuff I kind of blew past and didn't spend time on just because I didn't really understand it So I really tried to dig in deeper and gloss over less and less and to actually preach on every verse and talk about every Verse I think that's what I did So we need to just spend our lives studying and learning and not talk about things until we've had a chance to verify things and whenever I hears a preacher say something I Like to go verify it first thing and if somebody tells me some historical thing Hey, did you know that this and this I want to go verify that before just telling it to everyone that I've ever known What else now this is the big one and I'm gonna spend the rest of my sermon on this Here's the big one I have a bunch that I'm not gonna get to but here's the big one that that I think James is really dealing with and this is the subject of Taddling tail-bearing backbiting Railing this is when you're basically talking bad about other people behind their back in General okay, or just saying hurtful things That are not to edify or help anyone, but they're just to tear other people down This is one of the big ones and I think this is what James 3 if we were to take the immediate Context of what James 3 is really dealing with I think this is a big part of what he's dealing With but let's look at it in Proverbs though there are a lot of scriptures on this in Proverbs, but it says in Proverbs 26 turn to Proverbs 26 while you're turning there. Let me read this from Leviticus 19 verse 16 Thou shalt not Go up and down as a tail bearer Among thy people did you hear that going up and down as a tail bearer? Among thy people neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor I am the Lord what does it mean to go up and down as a tail bearer? It means that basically you're the person who knows all the scandal all the scuttlebutt Everything bad that's going on and if anybody wants to get the juiciest tidbit You know you're the one that they're gonna go to and as soon as something happens You're gonna be on the phone and because it's not a going up and down anymore Because we have technology so you don't have to physically go up and down and go door-to-door Hey, did you hear about you know now? It's just so much easier to be a tail bearer, and I think that there are more people guilty of this sin in 2015 Then there have been in the past because you've got the phone and then you've got the internet you've got email you've got Facebook you've got the text messaging and so you're able to go up and down in just a few seconds And It's funny because in first Timothy chapter 5 you don't have to turn there But it talks about women who don't have kids Becoming idle you know not finding enough productive things to do with their time, and it says with all they learn to be idle wandering about from house to house, that's the going up and down and Not only idle idle means they're not doing anything productive not only idle, but Tatler's also and busybodies Speaking things which they ought not I will therefore that the younger women marry Bear children guide the house give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully For some are already turned aside after Satan and so what the Bible is saying is that if a woman gets married has kids and takes care of her household and The virtuous woman the Bible says does not eat the bread of idleness She's busy He says if you will care for your family, that's going to keep you From getting involved in everybody else's business and becoming this Tatler and busybody and tail bear now I dare say this though that with the technology today Even women who do have kids and are taking care of their house can do this on the side Because of the smartphone being right there that they can literally be cooking the food and everything You Know even if their hands are busy they got the voice to text going you know and they can be nursing the baby or cooking the food or vacuuming the rug or doing whatever in their house and still Get caught up in being a Tatler Being a busybody and even being idle you know the virtuous woman wasn't idle because she has to make her own clothes from scratch Hard to be idle when you don't have a washing, but think about this no washing machine No, dishwasher. You're the dishwasher Okay, no washing machine. No dishwasher You know and and you're kindling a fire To cook food. You know it's not just a little You know I mean you have to you know you got to get the wood you got to make the fire You got to cook the food you're scrubbing pots and pans you're scrubbing clothes You're making clothes You don't just go to the thrift store You know on the dollar days 50% off and come out with a cart full of clothes for 20 bucks or something I mean back then each garment is handmade, and you know women today think about making clothes from scratch, but they're starting with the fabric That the hardest part is making the fabric That's what the Bible talks about over and over again the wool and flax that the virtuous woman seeks are making textiles from an animal-based Textile would be the wool and the plant-based textiles would be the flax linen, okay, and so they're spinning the wool and they're making clothing from scratch and so that kept them busy and God warns about women becoming idle and Basically becoming a busybody. What is a busybody the Bible talks about being a busybody in other men's matters? It's when you are worried about What everybody else is doing instead of just living your own life You want to know every twist and turn of the latest drama and the latest scandal and you know men can be guilty of this too of course But you know the Bible is specifically in this scripture directing it at women other other scriptures directed toward men And it's something that you know a lot of people are guilty of in 2015 look down at your Bible there in Proverbs 26 it says in verse 20 Where no wood is there the fire goeth out so where there is no tale bearer the strife ceaseth as Coals are to burning coals and wood to fire so is a contentious man to kindle Stripe so there are contentious people who start the strife and start the drama And then there are tale bearers who just fan the flames of the drama there are people who thrive on drama When nothing's going on they're bored they're unhappy and they just love it when the latest you know You know the latest latest news flash of the drama and the scandal and did you hear what so-and-so said to so-and-so? Okay, now there are two kinds of people that the scriptures talking about in Proverbs 26 here in 20 and 21 there's the tale bearer and then there's the contentious man and of course this be contentious man or contentious woman just as the tale bearer could be man or woman and So what it's saying is first of all there are contentious people these are people who go around starting stuff with people these are people who wear their feelings on their sleeve and Are ready to be offended by every little thing that everyone says and though you know what the Bible says great Peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them the Bible talks about passing over a Transgression and not worrying about but there are people who are just contentious people and they're always at Strife with other people because the fact that they are just feelings on their sleeve everything you say to them It's like what's that supposed to mean? What's that supposed to mean you know you can even say something nice to them And they'll interpret it wrongly like you look wonderful today So what are you saying? I usually look like What do you mean? I look wonderful today? You know they just interpret everything Or just wow I was man. I was I tasted your chili at the chili cookout. I was just blown away I was shocked by how good it was I mean it was amazing. Why would it surprise you that I know how to cook good food What do you think I cook garbage and you're surprised when it tastes right? I'm just saying there are people out there who are just contentious people who are just looking to be offended They're just looking for somebody and then oh it doesn't stop with what's actually said But just the way that she looked at me She gave me a dirty look or Even a step further, and this is the worst people When when you're getting mad about not what someone did, but what they didn't do You're actually getting mad at people for what they did not do like for example You know the pastor did not shake my hand. He did not smile at me He did not grieve she came to church and greeted a bunch of other people that were in the same part of the building as Me didn't greet me Invited everybody to so-and-so didn't invite me you know basically what you did or or you know I put up this post on Facebook and I saw that they were on Facebook liking other stuff And in fact they liked something that was posed that that someone just before me posted, and then they liked something after Which proved that they were online? when I was posting and They just are just you know I know so-and-so just has this thing where they'll just never like anything I do on Facebook I don't care what I put up on Facebook about three weeks ago. They just quit liking my posts and Never click like for the last three weeks What is her problem? What is his problem? You know why and clicking like on everybody's comment except mine? Look you know it's getting kind of close to home now And Then look that is a contentious person You know that is an unforgiving grudging envious, but because here's the thing a healthy person who you know is is is humble and serving the Lord Isn't so worried about what everybody else is doing all the time. They're worried about their own personal walk with God and They're worried about making sure that they're doing what's right They're not worried about making sure being the police that everybody in the church is doing everything right no They're just worried about hey am I acting right they don't go to church and say I wonder if anybody was rude to me Who cares you know what they should be thinking is I wonder if I was rude to anyone when I went to church that's all that should matter is that when we go to church we make sure that we're nice to people and that we love people and that we're kind of people And that we're not rude to people and that our kids are not Terrorizing the place and that our kids are not treating other people bad and that we are and that our wives are not treating other People badly and that we are under control instead of just always being out to find the fault and everybody else So that we can pin them to the wall, and we're gonna nail them to the wall You know and I'm gonna confront them And I'm gonna expose them, and I'm gonna talk to other people and see if they had the same experience You know this is what a contentious person is then the tailbearer thrives on this of Being sure to spread this because it's you know turn it into a turn it from a little local fire that the tongue is kindled Instead just a local fire that the tongue is kindled of you know me telling brother Garrett. You know what's going on Then he's like okay, let's set the whole let's burn this whole place down, and he's gonna start getting on the phone He's getting on Facebook. He's got an email. I say that because Garrett is the last person that would ever do that How long Garrett wait years without even owning a cell phone? But he has one now How long did you go without a phone? You were in the wilderness man. He was in the wilderness probably had no phone. No computer. It was great, but Yeah, no car yeah, so Proverbs 26 let's keep reading because it goes on here First of all it said you know in verses 20 20 and 21 what we saw there but look at verse 22 the words of a tailbearer are as wounds and They go down into the innermost part of the belly What's the Bible say you're hurting people when you do this and a lot of times you hurt people? And it and it goes deep into their belly, and and it does irreparable damage You know you can actually hurt people and hurt relationships you can hurt marriages you can hurt friendships You can hurt churches you can hurt pastors, and and you do irreparable damage That's why God's saying behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth You must hang that you must tame the tongue and not let it get out of control He says in verse 23 burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd Covered with silver Draws, what's he saying? You might look good on the outside, but you're worthless on the inside if you're one of these burning lip tailbearer Type of gossiping people he's saying you know you're wicked on the inside, and he says in verse 24. He that hateth Dissemblest with his lips and layeth up deceit Within him go to chapter 25 While you're turning there, I'll turn at 25 verse 23 while you're turning there I'll read for you from chapter 11 verse 13 a tailbearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter So you say well pastor Anderson What do I do if someone is a back biter or a tailbearer? because sometimes it puts you in a weird position when someone comes to you and starts Criticizing someone else or ripping on someone else or slamming somebody else or trying to get you involved in someone else's fight okay, and It puts you in an awkward position because you don't want to just kind of smile and nod because you feel that science silence is agreement when you do that and You don't want that person to keep coming to you with stuff because a lot of times if Somebody comes to you and tells you the scuttlebutt, and you just kind of ignore them then They'll they'll they'll keep coming back with it because they feel like oh This is somebody who listens to me when I want to say this stuff But this is the reaction we should have when people come to us. This is what the Bible teaches Verse 23 the North wind drives away rain So does an angry countenance a backbiting tongue, so how do we drive away? That That backbiting tongue where they're not going to keep bringing us this stuff is with an angry countenance angry countenance What's your countenance? your face So when somebody comes to you with this stuff you need to give them a dirty look and have an angry countenance and You need to make it clear to that person that you're not interested in listening to that I don't want to hear that you know and and not laugh and smile and uh-huh you know But rather you know what you know I don't want to hear about this with it You know this is the face you need a let's all practice our angry face. I want to look around see Okay, let me see Everybody okay, you got I mean you need that should be the gut reaction when somebody comes now look I don't want to be misunderstood and I have so much more in sermon, but I don't I got to close it down, but I Don't want people to misunderstand this because a lot of people will get confused on this and they'll basically Sweep things under the rug that need to be brought to someone's attention Because they're like I don't want to gossip now think about this What's the difference between? being a tail bearer a busybody a Tatler and Someone who is actually raising a legitimate concern that needs to be addressed. You know where do you draw the line? I'll tell you where the where you draw the line when you're doing it for entertainment You're you're you're in wickedness there If this is something that you're doing because you're bored and it's fun And it's entertaining you and you're enjoying it if you're enjoying it It's probably tail bearing and backbiting if you're having fun with it if it's a pleasure For you to repeat the matter then it's wrong, okay number two I'm just giving you some things to do a self-check on your own heart and on your own situation You know if you're enjoying it if it's fun for you Okay, number two if you're telling it to someone who is no involvement in the situation Who has no authority involved all? You're doing is just being a tattler and a busybody and a gossip at that point now There's a difference between that and Actually going to a person that actually is an authority that is responsible and saying hey There's something going on that you need to address the difference is actually wanting to fix the problem with a legitimate authority Rather than just you know what I just want to make sure everybody knows what a what a blank She is you know or what a blank he is or I wanted I just want everybody to know about it Or you know I'm just so happy to take them down odds or I just enjoy talking about this or whatever That's the difference right there now Let me give you some examples okay for example You know let's say someone is committing one of the sins That is on the list in first Corinthians 5 that the Bible calls leaven that we cannot have in our church Because obviously everybody in our church is a sinner we all sin nobody's perfect myself included I commit sin you commit sin, but there are certain sins that God does not allow us to tolerate in the church And he says that we have to put put away from among ourselves These wicked people and those are the sins that are listed in first Corinthians 5 that are cancerous sins that will destroy our church the most common one is fornication and God you know so here's the thing if you find out that someone in the church is is living with their girlfriend or living with their boyfriend that they're not married to and Living in in sin living in fornication Coming to the pastor and telling the pastor listen. I think you need to know that so-and-so is living in open fornication then you know that's something that I need to know about because I need to go deal with that person and And and discipline that person out of the church okay, or for example drunkenness is another one the Bible lists fornication drunkenness Okay, being an extortioner Okay, being a railer and all of these would take their own sermon in and of themselves Idolatry covetousness, and so these these would I've gone through sermons where I went and defined each one and explained What exactly God's talking about kind of people should be thrown out for these various things so if someone is a railer Making slanderous accusations about other people going around as a tail bear That is something that needs to be brought to the passage attention because that's on the list if you see somebody out in Tempe drunk on Mill Avenue, and they're drunk You know that's something that you know needs to be dealt with now if somebody you know and again Where do you draw the line you know if somebody has one beer in their fridge? You don't have to come tell me about it. You know it's it's sin. It's wrong I'm against it, but that doesn't necessarily make them a drunkard okay, so what I'm saying is you know by the way if somebody's smoking you don't have to come tell me about that and Look, I'm against smoking But and listen this is let me just give it to you in levels if you're going around to other people in the church Hey, did you know so-and-so smokes? That's wicked. You're a tail bear. You're a back biter Okay, that's the most wicked version then coming to me and telling me well You're an authority yeah, but I don't have authority over people's smoking You know God didn't say cast out that wicked smoker You know he said to cast out the drunkard and forget and look I'm not condoning of smoking. I'm against smoking It's destructive to your body But you know what you don't have to tell me if somebody's smoking any more than you have to tell me if they're pounding A bunch of junk food you know because I mean they're both destructive to the body, okay So I'm saying and look if you see you know a woman is in pants. I got to go tell everybody that I saw So and so the woman out in pants or or I saw you know I or I'm gonna go tell pastor I don't need to know that You know what I mean nobody's perfect people are different stages of growth in their Christian life And you know you're just being a tail bearer when you just pick apart people and you know or hey you know I caught somebody listening to so and so the music and I'm gonna go tell all my other friends at church That's ungodly that's wicked you're being a tail bearer at that point when you're repeating says But what if what if somebody's a child molester? Yeah, you bet don't don't hide don't sweep that under the rug Don't hide that somebody's a sodomite or a child molester or someone's committing adultery Someone's committing fornication I mean these are things that need to be and even those you don't just go spreading them around you take it to the people that are in authority you know somebody's child, maybe somebody's child is in sin and Maybe even a lesser sin, but because it's a child you go to their parent and tell them hey look I just want you to know your child was seen doing X Y & Z so that they can discipline their child see as a pastor I have the right to discipline those that are only committing that Limited scope of fornication drunkenness and a few things and and and the way that that discipline works is that that person's given a chance To repent or else to be expelled from the congregation That's the discipline is that they'd be thrown out now parents have a much broader scope of discipline don't they? parents have a lot more authority over their children than a pastor has in the church so that the the children if They are committing sin, and you tell their parents so that they can be disciplined that makes sense okay? But when you're just going around have you seen what a brat so-and-so's kids are? Did you see how they were acting oh, you've noticed it, too yeah, cuz I was just talking to so-and-so and they think their kids a brat, too and When you're talking about who you saw in pants and who you saw you know Smoking and who you saw with a wine cooler in the fridge and who you saw what I mean when you're just going around Tell her you heard the bumping music bumping out of their vehicle or whatever and you know and and I? Mean there are a lot well What are some other examples of just things that you could find you could catch people and say yeah? Oh, man. I the TV in their house and the DVDs that I saw You know and you just go around telling people about what DVDs they had and and you know the fact they have a TV and that You know that you know what that is that's hurtful. That's destructive. It's harmful and look this isn't a small sin It's a big deal and God says that your tongue is set on the fire of hell And that if you don't learn to control it your religion is in vain God says that you must Bridle your tongue. It's an unruly evil. It's full of deadly poison It's a world of iniquity you're wounding people It's going down to the inward parts of the belly the whisperer separated chief friends You're hurting relationships. You're hurting people's marriages you're destroying lives and the Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue and The Bible says a lying tongue hated those who are afflicted by it and so when you're lying and especially when you're a back-biter And an a railer and you're a whisperer and you're a busybody and you're a tattler Because you have a heart in you that has bitter envying and strife in your heart Bitter envying and strife in your heart and That is what is causing you to use your tongue in a destructive way and the Bible says that it is earthly it is Sensual and it is devilish and these are serious sins of the tongue that we need to control if We're gonna be right with God if we're gonna serve God and be used by God bitter envying and strife You know we think that someone is better than us in a certain area. Let's take them down a notch That's where a lot of this comes from sad to say it, but it is where a lot of it comes from let's close on Ephesians 4 Final verse The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 And while you're turning there, let me just review the points for you the points were number one lying Number two talking about perverted gross sick things Joking about sin dirty jokes is what we're talking about with that filthy communication Perverseness of the lips number three boasting and bragging about how wonderful you are number four is Man this sermon so out of order all right here We go number four being stupid and just talking about dumb things that you don't understand and just spreading lies because you haven't done the research Number five tattling tail bearing Back biting whispering. I think that's the worst one that James 3 is actually dealing with most specifically Number the one that we didn't get to is flattery Flattering and then another one is cursing your brothers and sisters in Christ press and when I say cursing I'm not saying using words on a certain unapproved list when I say cursing I'm saying where you actually curse someone as in you wish ill upon them as in telling them Hey, you know go to hell, or you know whatever something along those lines Also Swearing which is where you basically make an oath. That's why by the way when you go to court they get they let you do it on oath or affirmation Because you know how they say do you solemnly swear? To tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God You don't have to do that because it's against the Bible the Bible says not to swear Swear not at all and so actually what you say when they say do you solemnly swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing? But you say I affirm that I will tell the truth Because then you're just letting your yay be yay, but you don't have to swear or oath that's why even in the fourth amendment it says warrants are issued upon oath or Affirmation because it's against the Bible to make an oath or to swear, but listen to this Ephesians 4 29 Let no corrupt communication Proceed out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace under the years now What is the word corrupt mean corrupt means it's decaying? The Bible says a good tree does not produce corrupt fruit, but an evil tree Produce corrupt fruit so corrupt communication is Communication that is evil or harmful because the word evil in the Bible means harmful It's that which decays right if we talked about something being corrupt. We're saying it is decayed So that's the opposite of the latter part of the verse when he says that which is good to use of edifying What's edifying building up? So what the Bible is saying is that the things that come out of our mouth? Should not harm people and Tear them down and cause decay and rot But that rather the things that come out of our mouth should build people up and lift people up So that should be the final judge of what comes out of our mouth is this helping the person that I'm talking to is This helping them and sometimes and and by the way a lot of people interpret this says hey Just don't say anything negative. That's not what it says because sometimes it's edifying to say something negative to someone constructive criticism a Reproof or a rebuke can be appropriate and can be helpful, but what's your goal? When negative things come out of your mouth is it to edify your brother in Christ is it to build him up and help him? and restore him or is it just to tear him down and Harm him and to cause decay and rot let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying that may minister grace under the years Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer God. I pray that every single person who's here today would Take this sermon to heart Lord, and I know it's very tempting for people that are in the sermon to think wow I'm so glad so-and-so is hearing this right now. They really need it but Lord I pray that every single person in this auditorium would apply the sermon to themself and Anyone right now who's thinking yeah, so-and-so needed this I'm glad they're here. You know what that person is Probably the person I'm talking to the most Because they have that that strife in their heart toward others Lord help us all to examine ourselves And to be careful with our tongues that we always tell the truth that we always speak knowledgeable And that we say things that are helpful and not harmful and Lord help us not to be an active listener when people tell us The scuttlebutt Lord help us to give them a dirty look of an angry countenance in Jesus name we pray. Amen