Major Sins of the Tongue: Corrupt Speech

The point: Believers in whom corrupt speech is a remaining sin must trace it to its roots and bring the dynamics of gospel grace upon it, just as was prescribed for the sin of lying in the previous sermon.

Martin quotes Luther with 'sanctified hyperbole': 'The greatest mischief which has been inflicted upon Christianity has not arisen from tyrants with persecution, murder and pride against the word, but from that little bit of flesh which resides between the jaws. This is that which inflicts the greatest injury upon the kingdom of God.'

Amen. With a measure of sanctified hyperbole, the volatile German giant of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, wrote the following words, and I quote, The greatest mischief which has been inflicted upon Christianity has not arisen from tyrants with persecution, murder and pride against the word, but from that little bit of flesh which resides between the jaws. This is that which inflicts the greatest injury upon the kingdom of God. End quote. Now I say there's a bit of sanctified hyperbole. Luther doesn't know how to speak in anything other than sanctified hyperbole.

4:06 - 5:08 Read in full sermon

The point: A person who consistently resists preaching on specific sins of the tongue should take that resistance as a serious diagnostic sign about the true state of their soul before God.

Martin uses the metaphor of pulling down window shades to describe the heart that resists hearing a sermon on a specific sin — the person who says inwardly 'whatever that crazy preacher's going to talk about, it's not going to get to me.'

In John chapter 3, the Lord Jesus said this, Everyone that does evil hates the light and comes not to the light lest his works should be reproved. But he who does the truth comes to the light that his works may be made manifest that they have been wrought in God. Upon announcing that I was going to preach on one specific sin of the tongue highlighted in the scriptures, you began to have one of two attitudes in the deep recesses of your heart. On the one hand, there may have been an attitude that said, Lord, as unpleasant as it may be, I want to come to the light of your word. Lord, send the se...

10:30 - 11:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Christians must understand that their words function as the diet of the minds and hearts of those who hear them — only that which nourishes and builds up is to proceed from the mouth.

Martin tells an extended story set in first-century Ephesus: a man buys a bargain fish from a fishmonger, brings it home, and his wife discovers it is sapros — clouded eyes, mushy flesh, slimy scales, foul smell. The wife's word for the rotten fish is exactly the word Paul uses for corrupt speech.

Imagine with me now that you are a Greek speaking man in first century Ephesus and at the end of your day of work you're making your way back through the local open market the local bazaar and there you come to the place where the local fishmonger as our English friends would call him sells his fish and there's a pile of one of the local delicacies the fish that everyone in that area loves piled up on the man's open air stand and you happen to glance up there and you see a sign. It had four dollars was the ordinary course for one of these local fish it was crossed out and the words were there ...

18:00 - 19:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Christians must understand that their words function as the diet of the minds and hearts of those who hear them — only that which nourishes and builds up is to proceed from the mouth.

The day after the fish story, the same man walks with his son past an orchard; the son picks up a beautiful red apple that turns out to be brown, mushy, and rotten on the underside. His father says 'it is sapros — unfit for consumption.' Martin uses both illustrations together to fix the flavor of the Greek word in the congregation's mind.

the son says oh daddy look over there there's a beautiful big red apple and he goes over and picks it up and turns it over and where it's been lying on the ground it's all brown and smelly and mushy and his father says son you can't eat that apple it is sapros it is unwholesome it's unfit for consumption it's rotten that's the word he would use with his son now you get a feeling of the flavor of this word now Paul says let no sapros speech let no curse proceed out of your mouth now that part of the issue is this our words are the diet of the minds and the hearts of those to whom we speak and i...

20:57 - 22:25 Read in full sermon

The point: All bathroom and locker-room coarse talk — slang terms for private bodily functions, body parts, and sexual activity — is absolutely prohibited for believers at any time or in any circumstances.

Martin contrasts obscene speech with how Jesus himself spoke about bodily functions — referring to digestion and the bathroom plainly but chastely, and speaking of birth pangs bluntly yet beautifully — to show that holiness does not require prudishness but does forbid coarseness.

The slang language referring to bodily functions and bodily parts and sexual activity. The lips of the Holy Son of God were never stained with one such word for He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. And even when He used bodily functions for an illustration, He spoke of it in a chaste way. He says, Don't you foolish hypocrites, know what goes into the mouth doesn't defile a man.

30:20 - 30:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin unpacks morologia (from moros, the root of 'moron') as banal, mindless prattle beneath the dignity of image-bearers of God, distinguishing it from innocent and wholesome…

Martin describes occasionally forcing himself to channel-surf for three to five minutes and finding nothing but 'banality, stupidity, a mass of inane gibberish with the recorded laugh track' — image-bearers of God carrying on like fools and drunkards.

The kind of talk that marks 99% of current television sitcoms. Why? Once in a while I will sit and force myself to watch three to five mimics sweeping across the channels. And when I do, I say to myself, what banality, what stupidity, what a mass of inane gibberish with the recorded laugh track.

33:16 - 33:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Speech should be directed toward the five divinely given purposes: carrying on the business of life, refreshing others, helping by instruction and comfort, and highest of all praising God — when devoted to these ends in …

Martin tells of joking with two church sisters who delivered a meal: he told a joke about a man who had three problems — bad knees, bad eyes, and couldn't remember the third — to illustrate the difference between innocent, relationship-brightening banter and the foolish talking Paul forbids.

Two of the sisters delivered a meal to us last night. And in the course of that, I mentioned something and one of the sisters had a moment of forgetfulness. And I said, you know, I heard this little joke recently. The guy said, I got three problems.

34:20 - 34:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Speech should be directed toward the five divinely given purposes: carrying on the business of life, refreshing others, helping by instruction and comfort, and highest of all praising God — when devoted to these ends in …

Martin quotes an unnamed commentator who lists the divine purposes of speech: to carry on the business of life; to minister needful mental and emotional refreshment; to help fellow men by instruction, encouragement, and comfort; and highest of all, to praise God and hold direct communion with him.

In the passing on of information, one man has said this, the purposes for which the faculty of speech was bestowed upon us are these. To carry on the business of life. To minister to the needful mental and emotional refreshment of ourselves and others. To help our fellow men by instruction, encouragement and comfort and the highest use of all.

35:21 - 35:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Coarse jesting — the ability to turn any conversation toward the ribald or suggestive with clever double entendres — is forbidden among the people of God as part of their alternate lifestyle as the new humanity in Christ…

William Hendriksen is quoted: 'Some people seem to have the ability to move any conversation to the ribald, the suggestive and the unclean. They seem to have a garbage-can type of mind and every serious topic of conversation is one that they can turn to an off-color jest or anecdote. Hence, this word most likely refers to a clever wittiness in telling coarse jokes.'

And it was considered by some to be a virtue and an attainment of some degree, apparently, of mental alacrity and acuity. But in the alternate lifestyle of the people of God, this thing that could be used in order to turn something into double entendre, that was, that was quick to be able to make a bridge from an innocent statement to something unclean, or an innocent statement to something that was sarcastic and bit and cut into the heart of another's feelings, joking at the expense of another's feelings, joking at the expense of moral purity. William Hendrickson says this, Some people seem t...

37:43 - 38:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Coarse jesting — the ability to turn any conversation toward the ribald or suggestive with clever double entendres — is forbidden among the people of God as part of their alternate lifestyle as the new humanity in Christ…

Martin reads from O'Brien's Ephesians commentary: each of the three words for sinful speech appears only in this New Testament passage; the first signifies disgraceful speech; the second means foolish or silly talk; the third, used positively in classical Greek for wittiness, carries in Ephesians the sense of buffoonery or degrading jesting.

Each of the words used for sinful speech, obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking appears only here in the New Testament. Only here in the New Testament. The first is best understood concretely in the present context as signifying disgraceful speech. And in the light of the preceding sexual sins is rendered rightly obscenity.

39:29 - 39:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Coarse jesting — the ability to turn any conversation toward the ribald or suggestive with clever double entendres — is forbidden among the people of God as part of their alternate lifestyle as the new humanity in Christ…

Martin cites Van der Horst (through O'Brien) that the third word suggests 'coarse joking that has suggestive overtones and double entendres,' with O'Brien's summary: 'All three terms refer to a dirty mind expressing itself in a dirty way.'

Van der Horst, obviously not an Italian or an Irishman, thinks that the context of Ephesians 5.4 suggests the meaning of coarse joking that has suggestive overtones and double entendres. All three terms refer to a dirty mind expressing itself in a dirty way. This kind of language must be avoided as utterly inappropriate among those whom God has set apart as holy.

40:16 - 40:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What is made the stuff of ordinary and acceptable language and the subjects of jokes and banter is soon the stuff of acceptable behavior.

Martin quotes Calvin: 'If only vice can be made common, then it seems those vices possess the field' — interpreted as meaning that whatever is made the subject of ordinary language and jokes soon becomes acceptable behavior.

And I want you to gird up the loins of your mind and capture this simple sentence of Calvin. If only vice can be made common, then it seems those vices possess the field. If only vices can be made common, then it seems that they possess the field. Follow me now.

42:23 - 42:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What is made the stuff of ordinary and acceptable language and the subjects of jokes and banter is soon the stuff of acceptable behavior.

Martin recounts watching a documentary on Elvis's first TV appearances (1956) and hearing a secular music commentator state: 'The sexual revolution did not begin in the 60s with the hippies on our campuses, it began with Elvis Presley' — illustrating Calvin's principle that obscene bodily motion and suggestive lyrics normalized behavior that followed.

Number one, in the realm of pop music, in the realm of pop music, what was made the subject of so-called innocent lyrics, though it fit the category of the obscene, the foolish, and the coarse jesting, has now become acceptable behavior. I was able to watch this past week the documentary on Elvis Presley when he hit the television screen in 1990, 1956. I had no television then. I was totally ignorant of what was going on in television.

43:52 - 44:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers must guard against any speech habit or entertainment choice that dulls the sense of moral revulsion toward what displeases God, because once that revulsion is broken down through language, the body follows.

Martin contrasts Elvis with Eminem — 'with the most vile, coarse, vulgar, and obscene words, is the icon of a whole generation of young men' and a welcome guest star at music award ceremonies — to show how far the normalization of corrupt speech has progressed.

but the older as well. Now Eminem, with the most vile, coarse, vulgar, and obscene words, is the icon of a whole generation of young men. He's welcomed as a special guest star on music award ceremonies. How did we get there?

46:00 - 46:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers must guard against any speech habit or entertainment choice that dulls the sense of moral revulsion toward what displeases God, because once that revulsion is broken down through language, the body follows.

Martin observes how Madonna, Britney Spears, and Jennifer Lopez became icons for a generation of young women, and describes wanting to embrace teenage girls and say 'my precious girl, you've been sacrificed upon the altar of a lie.'

What is made the stuff of ordinary acceptable language, the subjects of jokes and banter is soon the stuff of acceptable language. From Madonna to Britney Spears to Jennifer Lopez, the icons of a whole generation of young women. And when I drive by any place where I see kids getting out of high school, I want to throw my arms around these girls sporting their belly buttons and proving to the world they have breasts and say, my precious girl, you've been sacrificed upon the altar of a lie. Paul understood. Obscene language, stupid foolish talk, jesting not befitting, break down the morals in th...

46:30 - 47:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers must guard against any speech habit or entertainment choice that dulls the sense of moral revulsion toward what displeases God, because once that revulsion is broken down through language, the body follows.

Martin contrasts the moral atmosphere of The Cosby Show (no ribald double entendres, recognizable family struggles) with Seinfeld, Friends, The Simpsons, Will and Grace, and Sex and the City — and singles out David Letterman as 'probably no more profane man adulated by millions.'

will become acceptable behavior. Second category I've already alluded to at the realm of popular TV sitcoms, MTV, late night TV. The diet of this generation has been that of Seinfeld, Friends, The Simpsons, Will and Grace, Sex and the City. And while there was much in the Cosby family that was idealistic and a lot of blacks resented the fact that Cosby's home life didn't represent urban black experience but middle class, upper middle class white experience, be that as it may, what a profound difference you knew that Cosby and his wife still had something going between them but there was never ...

47:55 - 49:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers must guard against any speech habit or entertainment choice that dulls the sense of moral revulsion toward what displeases God, because once that revulsion is broken down through language, the body follows.

Martin traces how the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal became the subject of jokes and laughter, breaking down moral outrage, until it was epidemic among teenagers engaging in the same behavior while saying 'I'm not having sex' — with sexually transmitted diseases appearing in new locations.

He's an utterly profane man, mocks sacred realities, filthy mind. Leno's not far behind. Then in the realm of our national leaders from the shameful revelation of what went on in Clinton's Oval Office and his activities with Monica Lewinsky, what followed? A spate of jokes about what went on in that Oval Room and from his activity to the jokes and the laughter.

49:21 - 49:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Young people should determine by grace to harness the tongue for God's use — no dirty words, no dirty jokes, no mindless tomfoolery — and disregard peer pressure from those who mock holiness as being 'too good.'

Martin confesses that from time to time he thinks of dirty jokes he told before God saved him and imagines someone telling those jokes to their grandchildren — jokes he can never take back. He uses this personal regret to plead with young people not to create the same irreversible legacy.

From time to time as I think of what I was before God saved me and I think of the dirty jokes that someone may be telling their grandchildren that they learned from me and I can't take them back. I don't want you to have that as an old joke. I don't want you to be an old person. You say, for me, no corrupt will go out of my mind.

54:12 - 54:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Young people should determine by grace to harness the tongue for God's use — no dirty words, no dirty jokes, no mindless tomfoolery — and disregard peer pressure from those who mock holiness as being 'too good.'

Martin reads from Calvin's 1556 sermon on Ephesians: 'We would not willingly expose our throat to a dagger when we see it drawn, nor would we go looking for someone to murder our bodies. Why then do we long to have our souls murdered, which is much worse? Wherefore, let us keep far from such people as can do nothing but quench and put out the fear of God in us...'

But listen to what he says, kids. We would not willingly expose our throat to a dagger when we see it drawn, nor would we go looking for someone to murder our bodies. Any of you here, someone puts a dagger to your throat, you can say, oh, welcome dagger, stick it in. Calvin says, we would not willingly expose our throat to a dagger when we see it drawn, nor would we go looking for someone to murder our bodies.

56:04 - 56:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers should refuse to allow corrupt speech into their souls through the ears when they have a choice — choosing friends, music, and media that do not traffic in obscenity, foolish talking, or coarse jesting.

Martin warns that unclean pictures allowed to flash on the screen of the mind — long since forgiven — cannot be scrubbed from the walls of the mind, and the devil puts a flashlight on them at the most inopportune times. He uses this to urge young people not to let corrupt speech into their ears.

them with chlorine. Do you want that? Is that what you want? Same way some of the men among us can say that pictures they allow to flash on the screen of their mind, unclean pictures, long since forgiven for indulging them. But you can't scrub them from the walls of the mind. And in the most inopportune time the devil puts a flashlight on them and there they are. There they are. Pleading with you young people and children.

57:59 - 58:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers should refuse to allow corrupt speech into their souls through the ears when they have a choice — choosing friends, music, and media that do not traffic in obscenity, foolish talking, or coarse jesting.

Martin recalls a young woman from his congregation telling him that her college professor used every form of profanity to appear relatable. Martin says he would tell such a professor: 'If you cannot express your thoughts clearly, convincingly, logically, without the use of obscenities and foul language, you're a stupid, uneducated man. You have no business teaching in a college.'

Now I feel for some of you because you're in settings where you don't control whether or not you hear it. I think I'll remember as long as I live one of our young ladies telling me that in one of her first classes at college she had a professor that to prove he was cool to the students sat down with them and as he began to instruct them used every form of profanity and foul language to prove he was with it. I'd like that professor to sit here. You know what I'd tell him? I'd say, sir, if you cannot express your thoughts clearly, convincingly, logically, without the use of obscenities and foul ...

59:15 - 60:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Where believers cannot avoid hearing corrupt speech (the workplace, certain academic settings), they should pray for divine immunization against its permanent influence; where they do have a choice (friends, music, films…

Martin claims he only saw three movies growing up — Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a Gene Autry movie, and one other — then immediately admits he is being sarcastic, using the exaggeration to challenge those who let the world dictate their media choices rather than thinking as new men and women in Christ.

I saw three movies growing up. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a Gene Autry movie, and I think it was one other. And terribly twisted, socially maladjusted, ignorant, and unrelated.

61:49 - 62:03 Read in full sermon