Bridled Tongue: Specific Sins of the Tongue

Introduction to the Bridled Tongue Series and its Significance

0:00 what will be a relatively brief series of messages or studies within the framework of the general theme of bridled tongue, the measure of true religion.

0:17 Last Lord's Day morning, as I introduced this subject, I directed your attention to James 1 and verse 26, the text from which the title to our series of studies, the text from which the title has been derived, where James says in James 1 and verse 26, If any man thinketh himself to be religious while he bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain. We spend some 20 minutes giving a brief exposition of this text showing that within the framework of James' constant emphasis that saving religion will always have its commensurate effects in the life of the one possessing it, James tells us that the man who is religious in his own eyes and yet does not have a bridled tongue, a tongue controlled by the Word and the Spirit, this man's religion is a vain thing. So the title of our studies together is derived from, from the principle of this text, a bridled tongue is the measure of true religion. Having considered then this text and its relationship to that theme,

1:45 we looked at seven key texts in the Word of God, Old and New Testaments, indicating the fundamental significance of the use of the tongue in the Word of God. We saw that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs, 18, 20, and 21. That of the seven things that God hates, among them are these two or three misfunctions of the tongue.

2:13 Proverbs 6, 16, and 17. When a man desires blessing upon his life as a child of God, in length of days, Psalm 34, 18, quoted in 1 Peter, indicates that the person who aspires to such a life must refrain his lips from speaking, from speaking evil. James 3, 2 indicates that the ultimate external test of the moral and ethical progress in a Christian is the use of the tongue. He that is able to bridle the tongue, James says, can control the whole body.

2:50 Ephesians 4, 30 indicates that one of the major factors in grieving the Spirit is the improper use of the tongue. The context of that command, grieve not the Spirit, is before and after greatly related to the use of the tongue. Then we saw in Ephesians 5, 18-20 that the primary external evidence of the fullness of the Spirit is the bridled tongue. Be filled with the Spirit speaking, singing, admonishing.

3:24 And so to be filled with the Spirit is to have a tongue that is bridled by the Word and the Spirit and then the control of the tongue. The concluding text we considered was that sobering statement of our Lord in the 12th of Matthew in which he says, Every idle word that man shall speak he shall give account thereof in the day of judgment for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. And so there was this sweeping panorama of text indicating the fundamental significance of the use of the tongue in the entire teaching of the Word of God. One passage we did not mention and I want to inject it here is Romans 3, verses 10 and following. This summary statement of the universality of sin. It's interesting, is it not, that after Paul says both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, he makes a general statement. There is none righteous, no not one.

4:30 There is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. They've turned aside. They've become unprofitable.

4:37 None that doeth good, no not one. These are general statements. Man is an unrighteous creature by nature. He has no understanding of the things of God nor desire for God.

4:49 But when he descends to particular manifestations of that state, isn't it interesting where he begins? Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues have they used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

The Ninth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness

5:11 Throat, tongues, lips, mouth and the only other part of the body he speaks about in this general description is the feet, verse 15, whose feet are swift to shed blood. Four out of five of the characteristics deal with the use of the tongue indicating that the primary evidence of the unregenerate, unrighteous state is this aberrant, this wrong, this wicked use of the tongue. Now today we move into the second major category of our study and here we will be for a couple of Lord's Day mornings, God willing, namely the specific sins of the tongue which must be avoided or to keep up the figure of the bridled tongue, the paths a bridled tongue will not traverse. The paths a bridled tongue will not traverse. At this point let me mention a very interesting observation which I made this week. You have often heard me refer to the excellent section on the Ten Commandments in the larger catechism in which you have a question addressed to each of the commandments, what duties are required by the commandment, what sins are forbidden by the commandment, and I went through all ten commandments

6:38 in the larger catechism and counted the lines needed to answer those two questions and I made an interesting discovery.

6:49 What more commandment is more basic or fundamental than the first? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And the framers of the larger catechism came up with forty lines of explanation as to the meaning of that commandment. You know how many they came up with with the ninth commandment?

7:07 Thou shalt not bear false witness. Fifty. There is no commandment of the ten which receives a more full treatment than the ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness.

7:24 And in answer to the question, just the second question, what sins are forbidden in the ninth commandment, listen as I read and after each one of these there's a footnote with one or two scriptures to show that this is a valid, valid application of the ninth commandment. What sins are forbidden in the ninth commandment? Answer, the sins forbidden in the ninth commandment are all prejudicing the truth, the good name of our neighbors as well as our own, especially in public courts, giving false evidence, suborning false witnesses, wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause, outfacing and overbearing the truth, passing unjust sentence, calling evil good and good evil, rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous and the righteous according to the work of the wicked, forgery, concealing the truth, undue silence in a just cause, holding our peace when iniquity calls for either a reproof from ourselves or a complaint to others, speaking the truth unseasonably or maliciously to a wrong end, or perverting it to a wrong meaning or in doubtful or equivocal expressions to the prejudice of truth or justice, speaking untruth, lying, slandering, backbiting,

8:51 detracting, and there's a scripture after every one of these, tail bearing, whispering, scoffing, reviling, rash, harsh, or partial censuring, misconstructing intentions, words and actions, flattering, uttering, vainglorious boasting, thinking of or speaking too highly or too meanly of ourselves or others, denying the gifts and graces of God, aggravating smaller faults, hiding, excusing, or extenuating of sins when called to a free confession, unnecessarily discovering of the infirmities of others, raising false rumors, receiving and countenancing evil reports, and stopping our ears against just defense, evil suspicion, envying or grieving at the deserved credit of any, endeavoring or desiring to impair it, rejoicing in their disgrace and infamy, scornful contempt, fond admiration, breach of lawful promises, neglecting such things or as of good report, and practicing or not avoiding ourselves or not hindering what we can in others, such things as procured, and ill-named. That's what's involved in the ninth commandment. All of those paths are the paths

10:15 down which a bridal tongue will not walk. And so as we move this morning to a consideration of the specific sins of the tongue which the bridal tongue will not engage in, let's look at those sins which are specifically exposed by the ninth commandment. Now it's obvious from a reading of the larger catechism that I cannot be exhausted. I would be in this subject for months if not years.

10:46 But what I wish to do is to take the major sins and in so doing, illustrate and enforce the major principles regulating the use of the tongue, trusting that then the Lord will make application in many areas which I don't touch specifically, that we might move on to the third area of our study before too many weeks, namely the principles to guide the use of our tongues or to keep up the figure how a bridal is constructed for the tongue of the righteous. Now the ninth commandment. If we would understand what a bridal tongue is, we must have some basic understanding of the mind of God as expressed in this commandment found in Exodus 20 and verse 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. This commandment is repeated in Deuteronomy 5.20 but with a little difference.

11:51 The Hebrew word for false witness is not the same as you have in Exodus 20. In Exodus 20, the word primarily focuses upon bearing false testimony in a legal sense. However, the word used in Deuteronomy means any kind of vain or unfounded witness that we bear concerning another. And I say it's vital at the outset to understand the meaning of this commandment because in the quaint words of Watson, and I quote, God has set two natural fences to keep in the tongue, the teeth and the lips.

12:33 And this commandment is a third fence set about the tongue that it should not break forth into evil. Would to God that the two natural fences would do their work, the teeth and the lips. Unless they cooperate, the tongue cannot function, bridled or unbridled. And so God has set, Watson says, two natural fences, but he says they need a third, and that third is the explicit commandment of God translated literally, thou shalt not answer as a false witness against thy neighbor.

The Obvious Sin: Overt Lying and its Consequences

13:12 Now what is the meaning of that commandment? Well, let's deal with the very obvious meaning and then secondly the less obvious. In the second table of the law, God is concerned to set before us the sacredness of human life, of human domestic relationships, of human property and human name. So he says, thou shalt do no murder.

13:41 Thy neighbor's life is sacred. Don't violate that sacredness. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thy neighbor's relationship to his wife is sacred.

13:53 Do not violate it. Thou shalt not steal. Thy neighbor's property is a sacred trust from God. Don't violate it.

14:03 Thou shalt not bear false witness. That is, thy neighbor's name and honor is a sacred thing, never unnecessarily violated. Never take the place of a witness who either deliberately forging lies to degrade the name of thy neighbor or passing on a false testimony that someone else has made up would bring his name into dishonor, would lower his reputation and standing in the eyes of others. So then the most obvious meaning of the ninth commandment is that we shall never engage in overt, explicit lying about others.

14:47 This is not only the clear teaching of the Mosaic expression or God's expression through Moses of the summary of moral duty. You have it in such New Testament text as Ephesians 4.25, wherefore putting away lying. Speak ye truth, each one with his neighbor.

15:10 There's a beautiful prophetic passage in the book of Zechariah in chapter 8 and verse 3 and in 8.16, one of the most vivid descriptions about the new economy, the new Israel. One of these vivid prophetic descriptions of the conditions that will be present under the blessings of the church in its fullest expression in the book of Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 3. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts the holy mountain. Verse 16. These are the things that ye shall do. Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor.

16:07 Paul probably extracted Ephesians 4.25 from this very text. These are the things ye shall do. Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor.

16:18 Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor and love no false oath for all these things are things that I hate, saith the Lord. One of the marks of the people of God is that they seriously adhere to the mandate thou shalt not bear false witness. You are not to lie. May I press the question upon the conscience of each one here this morning?

16:51 Are there those here who may be guilty of overt explicit lying? Is your attitude so evil to a brother that you will knowingly and deliberately consider to receive lies in order to tear down his reputation in the eyes of others? Anyone who persists in deliberate lying has reason to question the genuineness of his professed faith. The scripture says the lake of fire is prepared for among others liars.

17:28 Revelation 21.8 Whoremongers, adulterers, fornicators, sorcerers and all liars. Shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and with brimstone. Further on in Revelation 22.15 we read that without that glorious city the new Jerusalem are the dogs, the unclean and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie. And I speak particularly to you dear children this morning for one of the primary sins of children is the sin of lying. And you know when you lie? You generally lie for one of two reasons.

18:07 Either to gain an advantage for yourself or to escape deserved punishment that you know will come to you if you tell the truth. Now you kids be honest with your pastor this morning. Isn't that when you generally lie? When do you lie?

18:23 You lie to gain an advantage for yourself. If you cheat in school which is a form of lying that's false witness. You hand in a paper what are you saying when you hand in that paper? Your name is at the top isn't it?

18:36 See you have your name on it when that paper is handed in you are saying teacher this is my work. But if you've looked over at Johnny's or Sally's paper and you've taken an answer off and put that down handing in that paper with your name as though all those answers were yours that's telling a lie isn't it? If you put a little parenthesis beside that question number nine where you took Sally's answer or Johnny's answer and said this is Johnny's answer or Sally's that would be telling the truth but you know if you did that what would happen? You wouldn't pass the test.

19:08 So you generally lie whether it's cheating or in terms of something at home if you were supposed to do something and your mother or daddy said do this and you'll get such and such a reward and they say did you do this and you lie it's because you want a certain advantage and you're willing to lie. Or the second great instance in which you're found lying is when you know that deserved punishment is going to terminate on your backside or hand or some other part of your anatomy and you want to escape it. And so your mother or father will say did you do thus and thus? No no mommy I didn't do that.

19:46 Why? Because you know if you say you did in all likelihood you're going to be justly chastised in love for what you did. Now you see the mark of a Christian whether he's five years old or fifty is that he regards the maintenance of truth as something far more powerful and precious than his own advantage and his own hide. That's why the righteous man is described as he who sweareth to his own hurt and yet he keeps it.

20:18 You see? Truth the very fundamental aspect of the character of God is more precious than personal advantage and gain or personal comfort. It's sad to say those motives not only affect little children who cheat in their studies and when they lie to mom and dad they affect grown-ups who will lie in their income tax forms for what? Personal advantage.

20:49 That fifty dollars or a hundred or whatever the figure is that they have wheedled away from Uncle Sam they can make good use of it. They lie. They sign that bottom statement that to the best of my knowledge these things are honest and true. It's a lie.

21:08 Have you been guilty of these lies? Well, the obvious meaning of the ninth commandment is desist. Stop. Be done.

The Less Obvious Sin: Taking Up and Passing on False Reports (Slander)

21:25 And particularly with those lies that are expressed with the tongue. But now there's a less obvious sin covered by this commandment and I think the one that far more prevails with many of us and may God by the Spirit give us eyes to see it in all of its ugliness. You turn to Exodus chapter 23. God having enunciated in Exodus 20 this ninth commandment gives as it were his own amplification and interpretation of that commandment in Exodus 23.

22:05 Notice verse one. Thou shalt not take up a false report. Put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You see what he's saying?

22:21 Do not take up a report that is false. It's one thing for you to conceive a lie and to give birth to it by your own tongue. It's another thing for someone else to have the baby and for you to nurse it and nourish it and pass it on to someone else. And this is the sin that is particularly forbidden in Exodus 23 and verse one.

22:50 Not only that, not only does God say you shall not be the author of false witness and lie, but he says you must not pick up and pass on his fact that which you do not know indeed to be a fact. And oh how often have I and all of us here been guilty of this wicked sin. All the way through the Levitical economy, you remember how time after time whether it's proving the virginity of the woman who's been married, whether it's proving the sin of the man who did this or that, what was always essential? No accusation shall be received if it's made by one person.

23:35 What was the constant emphasis? Bring in the witnesses. Let them come with the witnesses unto the elders. All accusation against a man's name must be substantiated by witnesses.

23:49 That's brought over into the New Testament. Let it be with those two or three witnesses, Matthew 18. Against an elder received not an accusation, except it be by the mouth of two or three witnesses. What's all this emphasis upon witnesses?

24:06 The God of truth is saying you and I must speak only that which we have real fundamental reason and evidence to believe is truth. What happens so often is this. Here's John, Harry, and Pete. John does something that Harry reads in a certain motive to what he did.

24:33 John does not say to Harry, Harry, I don't like you. Because I don't like you, I'm going to walk right by you at the end of the church service this morning and I'm going to deliberately ignore you. Watch me. No, no.

24:43 John's mind was filled with something completely foreign to anything of that motive and he walks by Harry and seems to look right through him and by him. And Harry says, Uh-huh, I thought so. I thought so. I thought so.

24:59 But now I know. That cold look he gave me this morning looked right through me and by me. And so what happens? Harry then goes to Pete and the next time he sees Pete, he says, Pete, I want you to pray for me.

25:13 Well, what's the problem? Well, I'm finding it difficult not to have a bad attitude to John. Well, why? Well, he's really ticked off.

25:22 He's really disturbed. See what's happened? He passes on, not something that's established upon fact. Then what happens?

25:31 That little seed has been sown in Pete's mind. So the next time he sees one of his friends, he says, Did you know that John has got a bad attitude toward Harry? What has he done? He has done exactly what Exodus 23, 1 forbids.

25:49 He has taken up a false report and he's passed it on as truth. And he's violated the ninth commandment. And his tongue has caused his heart to sin. Other times it's not a reading in of motives, but it is a fallible interpretation of actions.

26:15 You see, the actions of people are often determined by the predisposition of the eye that sees the action. A person who understands the biblical doctrine of discipline, who happens to see a father or a mother, not in anger, not in a feverish spirit, but in gentle, tender love, spanking a child, his eye sees a deed that is noble and biblical, and the response of his heart is, Thank God for a parent discharging his duty. The person brought up with the permissive philosophy who looks upon all corporal punishment, all spanking and chastisement as a carryover from medieval days that ought to go out with a horse and buggy, sees the same parent spanking with a horse, with the same attitude, with the same love, but what does he see? He sees a tyrannical expression of brutality on the part of this terrible, terrible creature called the father or mother. The same act, totally different in its interpretation. Why?

27:19 The eye that looked upon it was conditioned in a totally different way. And oh dear ones, how often you and I are passing on that which to us appeared as fact. A person with a permissive philosophy never questions that it's a fact that that mother is being brutal. Ah, but you see, it isn't a fact.

27:41 It is an interpretation upon an action, passed on as fact. And oh, how terribly guilty we all are of this sin. I wonder if it wasn't this sin among others and perhaps not predominantly that caused James to say, In many things we offend all, conscious of the wickedness of this reading in motives to a deed and then passing on as truth our reading in of the motive or our interpretation of the action. This is what the Bible means by the sin of slander.

Slander and Tail-Bearing: Marks of the Unrighteous

28:24 That's what it is to slander. And as one man has so perceptibly said, He that raises a slander carries the devil in his tongue and he that receives it carries the devil in his ear. Turn to the 15th Psalm for a beautiful description of the ideal righteous man, perfectly fulfilled, of course, in no one but our Lord, but in some measure fulfilled in all his followers. Lord, who shall dwell or sojourn in thy tabernacle?

29:04 Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh truth in his heart, he that slandereth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his friend, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. That's the mark of the man who walks. He refuses to take up the reproach against his neighbor.

29:36 He refuses to be guilty of slander. Let me say by way of application, when you and I pass on that which is not founded in fact, fact established by witnesses, we're guilty of slander, we're guilty of being tail-bearers. And God says in Leviticus 19, 16, Thou shalt not go up and down the land as a tail-bearer. Have you been breaking the ninth commandment?

30:10 You say, I didn't know. I didn't ask you. Were you aware? I'm asking as the light of God's law comes upon your conscience, are you guilty?

30:22 Then you've been sinning with your tongue. The fact that you've been insensitive to God's standard doesn't excuse you. If ignorance of God's standard and insensitivity was excused and got us off the hook as far as God's concerned, then the best thing for a man to do is go out as quickly as possible and sear his conscience completely. Then he can plead innocence to any sin.

30:46 No, no. You've been guilty. The spirit has been grieved. And the measure of your true sin and your true vital religion is the measure to which your tongue this present day is being bridled by the word and the spirit so that you will not bear false witness, not only in the more obvious sense of outward lying and the conceiving of untruth to promote your own cause or to defend yourself, but in this less obvious but also necessary area of taking up a report that is not founded upon truth.

Deliverance from the Bondage of a Lying Tongue

31:25 May I say a word to the unsaved amongst us? Now do you see why Jesus said, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God? Your heart perhaps has been so given to this through the years that you're a slave to it. And just as many an alcoholic is brought to the realization if I ever get delivered from the bondage of my drink it'll have to be a power bigger than myself, so the person who's been in bondage to a slandering, lying, tongue knows that it's going to take a power beyond himself to loose him.

32:04 And thank God for that blessed one who perfectly kept this commandment along with the other nine and then died on the cross to bear the punishment of God against the breaches of that commandment as well as all of the others, even the Lord Jesus. And it is by him and by him alone that you can be delivered from this terrible sin. Now let me touch on the second this morning for our time is limited. It's what I'm going to call, because the scripture calls it that, corrupting speech.

Corrupting Speech: Avoiding that which Poisons Others

32:40 What are the sins which a bridled tongue will not indulge in? Well it will not indulge in sins that are a breach of the ninth commandment nor in the second place will it indulge in sins called in Ephesians 4.29 corrupting speech. I read now from that text, Ephesians 4 and verse 29.

33:04 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth but such as is good for edifying as the need may be that it may give grace to them that hear. Now this word is a fascinating word. Originally the word for corrupt here meant that which was putrid, fish that had gone bad, grapes that were lying on the ground, unfit for human consumption. Some of you may perhaps have a fruit tree in your backyard and some of the fruit that falls and after a few weeks begins to rot and it sort of smells like a little still in the back there.

33:47 That's the picture. Those are corrupt apples, corrupt grapes, corrupt pears. So food that is corrupt is unfit for human consumption because, instead of building up the body, what will it do if you take it into your system? It'll make you sick.

34:05 It can no longer serve the purpose for which it was created. Now apply that idea to this word. Let no corrupt, decayed, putrid, rotten speech proceed out of your mouth. You see, your words are the diet of other men's minds, hearts and affections.

34:31 Your words and my words are the diet of other men's minds and hearts and affections. Why, the writer of the Proverbs says that the words of the whisperer are like dainty morsels. They go down into the innermost part. To God that we have some of the oil that's in a duck's feathers there on our eardrums.

35:00 But we don't. Our eardrums are like thirsty sponges and every word we hear is like a drop of moisture. And it takes it in and it goes down to the innermost parts. Now you see what Paul is saying?

35:13 Let no corrupt speech, let no food that is putrid and rotten and decaying enter into the ears of your brother or your sister by your mouth. Why? Because that does not edify. See the contrast?

35:33 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth but such as is good for edifying. Building up as the need may be that it may give grace to them that hear. What's the opposite of giving grace? It's giving spiritual belly aches and sickness and food poisoning.

35:53 And sobriety tongue will studiously avoid all speech that corrupts and is non-edifying. Now that does not mean as I mistakenly thought one time and I'll tell on myself here that unless the conversation is explicitly about God the Bible, Christ, sin, heaven, hell we shouldn't talk. I remember reading this as an earnest young Christian of age 19 I was a freshman in the college and I took the word of God seriously. When I read this verse I said now that's exactly what I'm going to do and I'm not going to open my mouth unless the conversation is going to be directly on spiritual things.

36:30 When I come to the table there at that college I was in people be talking about the weather or sports perfectly. I'd sit there dumb as though my tongue had been torn from my mouth. I wasn't trying to be smart I wanted to do what God said. Now you see that was a wrong interpretation.

36:49 Because you see just general innocent chit-chat about the weather and friends and loved ones and your interest you kids in whatever sports or the world series these things all meet some area of edification. Our need for social intercourse with people. Our need for expressions of friendship. Our need to have our minds enlarged about the totality of God's world and those who live in it.

37:17 Those are all perfectly innocent things that at one level or another do edify. Ah when we move into the realm of tale-bearing passing unfounded stories backbiting aggravating the faults of others what are we doing? We're giving out corrupt putrid food that goes down into the system and poisons men. Oh how many times my whole attitude to a brother or sister has been entirely changed by some corrupt speech that fell upon my ear.

37:53 And try as I could I couldn't root that thing out it had gone through my whole system. And the circumstances were such that it would have done more harm than good to go to the person and face them with it. And so in some instances you just have to let time and the grace of God and the purging power of the blood of Christ and the spirit of Christ rid you of those awful terrible effects of corrupt speech. And in the context there's a beautiful figure here I think it's legitimate I don't think I'm reading it in.

Edifying Speech: Ministering Grace to Others

38:28 You notice in verse 28 he had said Let him that stole steal no more don't break that commandment that says thou shalt not steal but that commandment not only says respect the rights of others it has a positive injunction as well don't abuse the rights of others and the property of others it has a positive injunction working with his hands the thing that is good now notice the next phrase that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need. He says oh Christian keep your eyes open to the temporal needs of your brother and let the labor of your hands minister to his temporal needs. Now he goes on to say and don't break the ninth commandment let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth that's the negative but there's a positive aspect rather he says speak that which will be good for edifying now notice the phrase as the need may be as the labor of your hands ministers to his temporal needs let the exercises of your tongue minister to his spiritual needs and just as it would be unthinkable that I as a Christian would enter your home this afternoon and lay hold of any of your physical property and seize it violently

39:55 and make it my own rather for Christ's sake and by his grace I would be willing to let you share the fruits of my legitimate labor oh that it would become as unthinkable that I would ever enter into the realm of the sacred reputation and standing of a brother or sister and knowingly tear it down by my corrupt let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth of that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace. Now what happens in a community when it's known that some food poisoning has been let loose upon that community federal agents civil local governments move in to track down every single can of polluted fish or soup or beans whatever it is because there's such a regard for the physical health of people that we don't want corrupt food to enter the body and have people take in that which should edify the body only to poison it this body's going to end up in the grave anyway but what enters the body is the soul and the mind and the spirit

41:22 affects a man's return would to God that every one of us will appoint ourselves a committee of one to track down all the poisoning that we may have brought about by allowing corrupt putrid speech to proceed from our mouths any among you thinketh himself to be religious while he bridleth not his own tongue but the seed of his heart this man's religion is vain what's the measure of true religion in your life if we measure it by how much your tongue is bridled bridled from breaking the ninth commandment bridled from speaking that which is called corrupt speech though it jumps ahead of our study certainly any sober listening to what we've considered this morning and if we have not done so then how is all this teaching and your life so as to know what is real and but more important is to know the truth

42:49 from which God has spoken and to know the truth and the truth from which the world will give us the path to which God has said the way that everything clamoring, evil speaking, he put away them. God willing, in our next study, we'll take up Colossians 3.8, abusive speech, and deal with some of the other major categories in the word of God. May the Lord help us not to be like another character that James describes, who sees himself in the mirror of the word, then goes his way and forgets what manner of man he was. If you've seen your sins against the ninth commandment and your sins against the directive of Ephesians 4, this morning, don't be an idle hearer. Start doing something right now about what God said to you. Confess to him the sins where necessary.

43:58 Confess them to your brothers and sisters. And begin to make some holy results. I'd far rather be thought a little bit slow of speech and stupid if people ask me something and I stand there silent and look at them while I weigh my words than to be thought loquacious and very much at ease with the words of God. When the price paid for that image was breaking the ninth commandment and polluting men with my corrupt speech.

44:29 May God help us to feel the sobriety of the directives of the word of God concerning a bridal tongue.