Directives for Bridling the Tongue, Part 1

Introduction: Series Review and the Question of Active Effort

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, January 12, 2003, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 One of the most sobering statements found anywhere in the Word of God is found in Proverbs 18.21, and it is this, Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Yes, you heard it correctly. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

0:48 Solomon is here asserting the sobering fact that deposited in the activity of this relatively small, fleshy organ, rooted in the upper front of our throats, bounded on the inside, east and west by two cheeks, on the north and south by two jaws, placed behind two rows of teeth, is this organ possessing the awesome power of death and of life.

1:28 And it is out of a deep pastoral concern that the life-giving power of our tongues be more fully exercised and that death, imparting power, be more fully restrained that we are engaged in a topical study entitled Now Concerning the Use of Our Tongues. I began this series of sermons by considering five major categories of biblical witness to the crucial importance of this issue of the use of our tongues. And I trust that that initial consideration of this subject persuaded you that the use of your tongue is indeed a major concern in the teaching of the Bible. A concern with respect to the nature and fruit of human depravity, the nature and fruit and reality of saving religion, and the nature and fruit of practical spirit wrought, godliness of life. Now when you're ready to dismiss depravity, true and vital saving religion, and practical godliness, then and only then can you dismiss

2:55 a deep concern about this fleshy organ of yours deposited between your cheeks and your jaws and situated behind your two rows, your teeth. We then proceeded to examine four major sins of the tongue as they are identified, defined, and condemned by the word of God. Namely, the sin of lying, the sin of corrupt speech, the sin of abusive speech, and the sin of meddlesome and intrusive speech. And then last Lord's Day we began to consider together the question, how does this Bible that identifies the sins of the tongue, that tells us death and life are in the power of the tongue, and for our deaf and hearing impaired people, all of those things have reference to their hands as they become their tongues to express the thoughts and the sentiments of their heart. What does the Bible tell us with respect to this question, how may we, how may we overcome these sins of the tongue? And last Lord's Day I sought to direct your attention

4:21 to what I described as the essential or fundamental prerequisite for overcoming the sins of the tongue. A prerequisite is something that is required before. And an essential prerequisite is one that you cannot do without. And so I sought to take you into this issue of what is the essential prerequisite without which there is no hope that I shall overcome the sins of my tongue.

4:57 And with Matthew 12, 33 to 35 as our central but not exclusive text, we saw that this essential prerequisite for overcoming the sins of the tongue is nothing less than the radical transforming power of God's regenerating grace. In a context that oozes with the subject of words, Jesus said that there must be a making of the corrupt tree into a good tree so that it may bring forth good fruit which in context is good words. That the making of the evil, evil treasure of the heart into a good treasure so that it may bring forth good things is the great concern set forth by our Lord Jesus. And that which Jesus sets before us under the imagery of the making of the corrupt tree into a good tree that it may bear good fruit, the making of the evil treasure into a good treasure that it may bring forth good things is what Paul describes in Titus 3 as the washing of the heart. The washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Or what is described in the promise of new covenant blessing in Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 31

6:24 as the removal of the heart of stone, the implanting of the heart of flesh, and giving to that heart of flesh the Holy Spirit, writing the law of God upon that heart, giving the Spirit as enabling power, with respect to the will of God. And then we took up the question, why is this radical spirit-wrought transformation the essential or fundamental prerequisite for overcoming the sins of the tongue? And I gave you but two reasons. Reason number one, without it we have no gospel-born power to overcome our sins.

7:09 And I gave you several texts that demonstrate, and secondly, we have no gospel-born motives to overcome the sins of the tongue. And I described our motives as the motors or the engines of our activity. And it is only when we are motivated by gospel-born motives that there will be sufficient internal incentives to overcome the sins of the tongue. Now, today, I propose to set before you the first three of six general directives for overcoming the sins of the tongue. If I only get to two of them, in the constraints of time, we'll deal with two. But it is my purpose this morning to take up the first three of six general biblical directives for overcoming the sins of the tongue, and God willing, next Lord's Day, the final three. So, having identified the essential or fundamental prerequisite for overcoming the sins of the tongue, and assuming that you have experienced that radical spirit-wrought transformation

8:30 of God's regenerating grace, what then are you to do, if anything, to overcome the sins of the tongue? To state it differently, to say, I am truly confident, I trust, that the tree has been changed from a corrupt into a good tree, and therefore in a position to bring forth good fruit, that the evil treasure has been changed into a good treasure, so that it can bring forth good things. What do we do so that day after day there is an increasing measure of grace to overcome the sins of the tongue? Do we simply sit back, and allow the fruit to be born on its own, with no conscious, deliberate effort on our own? Do we passively now say, Oh God, you have made the tree good, and you've said, a good tree brings forth good fruit, so Lord, let the fruit be born. Or you've made my heart into a good treasure, out of which can come good things, now Lord, unpack the treasure, and sit back, and watch the treasure be unpacked. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9:43 . As you've been reminded many times in this place, there is no more critical text that condenses the Biblical teaching on how regenerate sinners live the Christian life than Philippians 2 12 and 13, in which Paul says, So then, my beloved brethren, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, . . . . work out . . . . . . . . .

10:13 your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure and in that text that only causes people to scratch their heads who don't understand the ways of God the apostle says you Philippians I want you to engage all of your faculties and all of your powers and conscious that you're living before the face of God I want you to give yourself with all of those faculties and powers to the working out of your salvation and I want you to do so in the confidence that God all the while is continually effectually working in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure in other words the apostle is unashamed to say that God's working in us assures the possibility of my working you work out for it is God who is working in you and my working is the validation and the manifestation of his working because he does not work bypassing my willing and my working but he works in me

11:34 to will and to work so I can marshal all my faculties knowing I'm not on a fool's errand God's at work in me he's made the tree good it can bring forth good fruit he's made the treasure good it can bring forth good things and so in this text there is a marvelous distillation of the biblical teaching on how we live the Christian life so then you In this consciousness of my need of His working in me to overcome the sins of my tongue, and in the determination to work at overcoming the sins of my tongue, what am I to do? Well, here's the first of the three directives that I hope to cover this morning. Number one, we ought to engage in consistent, earnest prayer that God will guard our tongues. We ought, ought is a word of duty, and I know that in many circles today, duty is considered dirty. But I have no reservations, thinking biblically, that ought is not a dirty word.

Directive 1: Engage in Consistent, Earnest Prayer That God Will Guard the Tongue

12:51 Paul could say to the Thessalonians, you know how we taught you how you ought so to walk as to please God. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And I am using the word ought without any embarrassment whatsoever. And I'm asserting that when we go to our Bibles with the question, Oh God, in the working out of my salvation with fear and trembling, with respect to this specific concern, how do I overcome the sins of my tongue?

13:24 That the answer of Scripture is that we ought to engage in consistent, earnest prayer that God, would guard our tongues. You remember that when the disciples in Luke 11 said, Lord, teach us to pray. Jesus answered by saying, When you pray, say. And at the end of that framework of prayer, we have these words, And lead us not into temptation.

13:56 Luke 11, 4. The Lord was saying, When you pray, be sure that incorporated into your prayer, are consistent, earnest petitions that you will be kept from sin. And in the parallel passage in Matthew chapter 6, where the words are not, When you pray, say, but after this manner, pray, clearly indicating that whatever we may believe about using the so-called Lord's prayer as a form of prayer, our Lord is also teaching it is a framework for prayer. And within that framework, of the elements that are essential to comprehensive Christ-directed prayer are these words, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil or from the evil one. So generically, we know that any well-instructed Christian, walking according to the directives of his Lord, will have as part of his prayer life, engaging in consistent, earnest prayer that he be kept from sin. And I want to seek to demonstrate from the Scripture that that generic concern needs to be focused specifically upon this member that's between our cheeks and jaws, rooted in the upper front part of our throats, the tongue.

15:25 Please turn with me now to Psalm 141.

15:30 Psalm 141. And I'm going to read, the first three verses.

15:47 Lord, I have called upon you. Make haste unto me. Give ear to my voice when I call unto you. Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

16:04 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Now in verses one and two, this psalm David prays earnestly that his prayer will be heard. Lord, I've called, but in calling, Lord, please, please hear me.

16:26 Make haste to me. Give ear to my voice when I call. And then he uses beautiful imagery. Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

16:42 As God would smell the incense going, going up from a sacrifice offered in the tabernacle, according to divine directive by the divinely appointed man. And God would smell it and it'd be a sweet savor to him. David says, Oh God, give ear to my voice when I call. Lord, let my prayer be sweet to your nostrils as the incense of the evening sacrifice.

17:12 Then having pleaded that his prayer will be heard. Notice what his first actual petition is that he desires will be heard. And it is this set a watch. Oh Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips.

17:34 Now these words watch and keep our words, which along with their cognates, when people talk about the cognates, that's the verbal cousins. First, cousin, second cousin, twice removed uncle or aunt. It's words that come out of the same family. They have a family relationship and these words keep and watch and their cognates are with their verbal cousins, aunts and uncles of the very words used to describe a military activity of placing soldiers in a strategic place in order to guard someone or something.

18:15 we find the words used that way in judges seven, 19 and Nehemiah four in verse nine. Now usually when a military guard a watch is posted, it is to prevent an unwarranted entrance into a protected area outside the city gates. You remember in the gospels, they set a guard, a watch outside the tomb of our Lord Jesus in order to prevent any unwarranted entrance. Lord Jesus in order to prevent any unwarranted entrance.

18:44 Lord không warranted intrusion in order to prevent anyone from going in and removing his body and the jewish authority said then they would claim that he had been raised from the dead as he prophesied he would be now in the case of some instances recorded even in the scriptures in first samuel 1911 saul sets a watch to keep david from going out of his home but generally the watch is set to keep unwarranted people from entering somewhere whether it's the camp of the philistines whether it's entering into the tomb of our lord jesus but we do have that instance in which the word watch is used with saul setting a watch at the house of david lest david escape and he is not able to lay hold of him and to kill him now here in this passage david with that military image is asking god to do this set a watch oh lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips now do you see what the imagery is he's saying lord i want a sentinel to be set outside my lips that

20:04 i'm likening to a door i'll not be able to speak unless the door swings open and then i will speak as long as the door is shut i'm silent now lord i want you to set a watch i want you to set a watch before my mouth i want you lord to be the doorkeeper as a sentinel of soldiers before my lips i'm conscious lord that unless you do this the hinges on the door my lips will be opening in times and in circumstances where they ought not to lord would you not be able to do this i want you to set a watch i want you to set a watch will you not please will you not please act like a sentinel upon the door of my lips that's david's prayer now having prayed that and picturing that prayer coming like incense into the ears of god let me ask you this question if god were to speak to david and respond to that prayer audibly what

21:13 But he'd say, alright David, I'll do that. Leave the whole thing to me. I'll take care of it. No. I believe from the analogy of scripture we can say that God would say, my son David, I will answer that prayer. And in answer to that prayer, I will set four sentinels in front of the door of your lips.

21:35 In fact, I'll send four captains. And on that door of your lips, I'm going to put four locks in vertical arrangement. Every one of them with a deadbolt. Two, three, four.

21:54 And David, when you pray that I would set a watch upon your mouth, and that I would guard the door of your lips. David, I answer your prayer by sending you four sentinels, each with a key in his hand. And David, when your words are knocking on the back side of the door, I charge my sentinels to ask them, do you meet my criteria for coming out? If so, I'll put my key into the lock and turn it.

22:35 And David? Unless all four of the captains turn their key, the door should be kept shut, and you should keep your words to yourself. And I'm going to call them Captain Purity or Sanctity, Captain Love, Captain Necessity, and Captain Propriety.

23:02 Lord, keep the door of my lips. All right, David. When you knock, about the same time. And Captain Purity or Sanctity says, David, are the words that are coming out of your mouth up to the standard of sanctity?

23:22 They are not lying words. They are not corrupt words. They are not abusive words. They are not intrusive and meddlesome words.

23:34 And David can say, yes, Captain Sanctity. They are none of those. And when he says those things, Captain Sanctity says, I'll put my key in, David. And he hears the deadbolt retract.

23:48 Then Captain Love speaks up. David's still knocking. I want these words to have an exit. Captain Love says, David, are you going to speak the truth in love?

24:05 Ephesians 4 and verse 15. Romans 13.10. Love works.

24:10 Love works no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Are the words you are about to speak motivated by love? A love that does not seek to do ill?

24:25 A love that is determined, in some cases, to wound? For faithful are the wounds of a friend. Paul can say of the Romans, I'm persuaded of you. You are full of goodness.

24:39 Able to admonish. Not the gushy notion of love that will never rebuke, never admonish. But is the word that desires exit a word motivated by love? Love that seeks the good of its object?

24:58 Love that is not easily provoked, that seeks not its own? And if David can say, yes, Captain Love, these words are motivated by love and shaped by love. Captain Love will say, I'll place my key in the door. He plays it in.

25:16 And another dead boat is retracted. But then Captain Necessity speaks. Captain Necessity speaks.

25:29 Are these words necessary to be spoken? Or, David, are they just words that want to come out and run all over the place? For the scripture says, in Proverbs 10 and verse 19, this very interesting and practical thing. In the multitude of words, there lacks not transgression, but he that refrains his lips does wisely.

25:54 Yes, Captain Necessity, love demands that I speak these words. For a number of good reasons, I believe it is right that they should be spoken. Captain Necessity says, I'll put my key in the door. He retracts his boat.

26:10 But then finally, there's Captain Propriety. And what's Propriety? What is proper, what is fitting, what is suitable? There's a marvelous passage that indicates that Elihu, the younger man who stood around and watched and listened as Job's comforted spewed out all of their verbiage, he had a sense of the propriety of words.

26:37 Listen to what Elihu says in Job chapter 32. Job chapter 32. Elihu says this, verse 6, or verse 4. Elihu had waited to speak unto Job.

26:54 There was a bolt yet on Elihu's door. He was listening. He was feeling things very deeply. Verse 2, Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barakel the Buzite of the family of Ram.

27:13 Against Job was his wrath. Kindled, because he justified himself also. Against his three friends was his wrath. Kindled, because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job.

27:24 Now Elihu had waited to speak because they were older than he.

27:34 You see, Elihu believed that he had vital words to speak. Words that needed to be spoken in a love that is not contradictory. He did with righteous anger. But there was one sentinel that he couldn't get past.

27:53 And that was the sentinel, Captain Propriety. Kid. These are the older berserkers. These are the people that ought to be giving wisdom in their speech.

28:05 And I'm younger. And it is not seemly for a young squirt to be shooting off his mouth in the presence of older, reputedly wise men. And it's deeply. As I feel, none of them has hit the mark.

28:21 Job's off the mark. His friends are off the mark. It is not proper in ordinary circumstances for a young man to be shooting off his mouth in the presence of older men.

28:37 Then we read in verse 6. Then Elihu the son of Barakel the Buzite answered and said, I am young. You're very old. Wherefore, I held back.

28:49 And I dared not show. You my opinion. I said, days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But now he goes on to tell them why his initial sense of the impropriety of his speaking is being overcome so that he is now ready to speak.

29:14 I think it's a marvelous example of Captain Propriety standing at the door of Elihu. Until he can say to Captain Propriety, look, initially your refusal to open the door, I consent was right, however. And then he persuades him it's time to draw back the boat and out come his words. Love does not behave itself unseemly.

29:48 Paul says to Timothy, an apostolic representative. The authority of the apostle standing above him and behind him. Timothy, 1 Timothy 5.1.

29:59 Don't rebuke an older man, but entreat him like a father. Timothy, make sure that the manner in which you speak to older men can pass muster with Captain Propriety.

30:19 And when those four sentinels turn the boat, then you can say, Lord, thank you, thank you for watching over the door of my lips that I might not speak that which is dishonoring to you and grievous and unedifying to others. Lord, thank you for hearing my prayer that you would set a watch upon my mouth and before my mouth and that you would. Lord, keep the door of my lips. You say, Pastor, are you serious that before I say anything, I should run down that checklist? Well, for some of you, it wouldn't help to do it for a while.

31:12 But when you've conditioned your conscience to think in these biblical categories, it is amazing how quickly those things can be run through at times in milliseconds. If men with their gray matter can make computer. That in fractions of seconds can access millions of bits of information. What about the thing that produces that?

31:40 This marvelous thing called the human brain. And what I'm appealing for is not some kind of legalism that we all go around with a checklist mute until we come up to one another. And someone dares, dares to say, I think I've got a word that came by the four sentinels.

32:01 And then you. Stand there mute for another five minutes while you're going to. No, no, no, no. I'm not talking about that.

32:08 God doesn't lay upon us the ludicrous. But I do believe the text that I've quoted under each of these heading validates that our speech is to be speech that does indeed pass the test of purity or sanctity. It is not dishonest speech. It is not corrupting speech.

32:28 It is not abusive speech. It is not medicine speech. We spent four weeks demonstrating that from the scriptures.

32:38 And surely if we are to walk in love and speak the truth in love and whatever else is present in us. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not love, it profits me nothing. Surely it is right that our speech should pass the scrutiny of sentinel captain love. And then likewise with necessity.

33:01 All that the scriptures. Speaks about a necessary speech and captain propriety. Then. Then.

33:11 We'll have much less repenting to do. About the careless. Loveless. Improprietous things we say.

33:21 To one another. About. One another. Could it be.

33:26 That many of our sins of the tongue are the result of simply not crying to God. Like David did. For James says you have not. Why?

33:38 Because. You ask not. And may I. Pastorally entreat you.

33:45 I can't bind your conscience. But I certainly can. Plead with you.

33:52 To determine. That in the coming week. You will incorporate into your own devotional prayers. At least one utterance.

34:03 From. From the heart. Of Psalm 141. And verse 3.

34:10 Once a day.

34:13 That's an entreaty. I can't bind your conscience by it. I can bind your conscience with the word of God. That your speech.

34:21 Ought to be pure. And loving. And necessary. And proprietous.

34:28 I can't bind your conscience. To take this step of saying. You must pray at least once a day. Psalm 141.

34:35 3. But I can entreat you. Can't I?

34:40 And I think your conscience tells you. That's not an excessive entreaty. It should not be a laborious. Burdensome.

34:49 Entreaty. To pray. Set a watch. O Lord.

34:53 Before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Furthermore. I urge you.

34:59 When you get on the phone with someone. Lift up your heart with this prayer. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to say. Mary.

35:06 Sally. God's been dealing with me about this matter of overcoming the sins of the tongue. May I just briefly pray back Psalm 141. 3.

35:17 Before we talk. And then you say. O Lord. As Mary and I talk.

35:23 May you Lord. Set a watch. Before our mouths. Keep the door of our lips.

35:34 Is that some kind of. Excessive. Burdensome. Legalistic.

35:39 Concept. To the Christian life.

35:43 I don't think so.

Application of Directive 1 to Marriage, Email, and Relationships

35:46 When sitting at your computer you guys.

35:49 You email freaks.

35:53 You I mail freaks. Brr. Brr. Brr.

35:56 Brr. Brr. Brr. Brr.

35:58 This is one of the great dangers. Of the email and the I mail.

36:05 There isn't the discipline. Of composition that comes. With a formal letter.

36:11 Very very easy. To let all kinds of things come out of the door. Of your lips. Through your fingers.

36:19 And through electrical impulses. In your computer. That would never. Pass the approval.

36:26 And get by the bolts. Of Captain Purity. Captain Love. Captain Necessity.

36:33 Captain Propriety.

36:40 Husbands and wives.

36:44 One of the most wretched manifestations. Of our remaining sin. Is that we feel the liberty. To hurt the most.

36:51 Those with whom we have the most secure relationship.

36:57 Some of you men would never dare. I don't care how aggravated you were. You would never dare speak to your boss. The way you speak to your wife.

37:03 When you get aggravated by her. Why? Because you know your boss might fire you. You know your wife isn't going to divorce you.

37:10 You see it's the security of the relationship. That constitutes a framework. That makes it easy to abuse it.

37:20 And sin.

37:23 Huh?

37:25 Am I the only perverse one here? Hmm? Nobody's nodding their head. Come on.

37:31 Am I the only perverse one here?

37:34 Same thing with you kids. Husbands, wives. I urge you. I entreat you.

37:40 If you're serious about overcoming the sins of the tongue. Then cry to God in all these relationships. You begin to speak for your wife. Your husband.

37:50 And it's evident that something is coming. Into the range of discussion. That's got some burrs on it. You begin to feel something.

37:58 The heat of disagreement. And a disagreement. Bring emotional response if necessary. Husbands, take the lead.

38:05 And say, sweetheart, let's stop right now. Let's pray. And pray together in unison. Psalm 141, verse 3.

38:16 And if you're so heated in your spirit. That you can't hear the voice of the sentinels outside the other side of the door. Walk in the other room. Say, dear.

38:25 Sweetheart. Honey. Darling. Whatever you call one of them.

38:28 You've got no pet names for one another. Something's fishy. Excuse me. All right.

38:32 Whatever you call one of them. Call one another.

38:36 If we're serious, dear people. If we're serious. And we'd better be serious. Because our Bible.

38:43 That initial message. Those five categories of biblical truth. Says you better take what comes out of this tongue seriously.

38:51 And that's the great burden that I have. One more message. And some of you say, okay, I can breathe easy now. And there's no difference.

38:59 Same degree of angry words in the home. Same degree of sharp words. When someone disagrees with you. No real.

39:10 In God's name. What will it take?

39:15 What will it take? I don't know how to open up the text more clearly. More plainly. Apply them more closely.

39:26 Or is it that you really don't take it seriously?

39:30 If indeed we take this seriously. We will engage in consistent. Earnest prayer that God will guard our tongues. Now.

Directive 2: Engage in Conscious, Constant Effort to Bridle the Tongue

39:41 In the second place. We not only ought to engage. In consistent earnest prayer that God will guard our tongues. But we ought to engage.

39:53 In the conscious. Constant effort. To bridle. Our tongues.

40:01 We ought to engage in the conscious. Constant effort to bridle our tongues. Now I know. That a division without a distinction ought not to be.

40:11 In. And some of you more astute thinkers may say. Well Pastor Martin. There's a lot of overlapping in that isn't there?

40:17 Yes. But I want biblical images to be stamped on your heart. And there is a biblical image in two critical texts. That is completely distinct and different from the image of the guard.

40:32 And it's the image of the bridle or the muzzle. And I didn't know how to get those texts out. And seek to get them into your conscience without a separate heading. So if.

40:43 I have disrupted your sense of how material ought to be divided. I apologize. But I'm going to do it anyway. All right.

40:50 We ought to engage in the conscious. Constant effort to bridle our tongues.

41:00 In the first directive we focused on crying to God. Yet it did involve our activity of consulting the captains at the door of our lips. This biblical imagery of the bridle or the muzzle. Focuses.

41:14 On our conscious activity. In a totally different category of imagery. Text number one is Psalm 39 and verse 1. Psalm 39 and verse 1.

41:32 If you read through the psalm. It's obvious that there's a situation in which David felt something very very deeply. He says at the end of verse 2. My sorrow was stirred.

41:47 My. My heart was. Within me. Sorrow stirred.

41:54 Was. Within me. Yet. For compelling reasons.

42:00 And if we read the psalm carefully we see. It was the honor of God. He judges it was not yet time to speak. So what does he do?

42:12 Verse 1. I said. I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I.

42:20 I will keep my mouth with a bridle or with a muzzle while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence. I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned.

42:38 Then spoke I with my tongue. So you see the situation here. David feels something very very deeply. His heart is hot within him.

42:50 His sorrow is stirred. Everything in him wants to break out and articulate this with his mouth with his lips. But he's not able to do so. There are good and wise reasons to be restrained.

43:03 So what does he do? He says in verse 1. I renewed my determination that I would be careful about my ways. Particularly that I would not sin with my tongue.

43:17 In other words David knew himself well enough to know. Here's a situation where I could sin with this member. And I was determined that I would not carelessly walk into a path of sin. I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue.

43:36 And then he uses this imagery. I will keep my mouth with a bridle or with a muzzle. Now whether it's the bridle or the muzzle the imagery is graphic. If it's the bridle.

43:50 What do you do when you bridle a horse? Well here is this animal. This bundle of muscle and sinew. And the unbridled horse goes where he will at whatever speed.

44:05 But when he's bridled. No matter how much he wants to move. And picture that horse. That is bringing his head up and down.

44:14 Snorting through his nostrils. Poring with his foot. But the rider is in control. Sitting in that huge beast in all of the muscle and sinew.

44:23 Wants to go here. Wants to go there. In keeping with his own will. But the rider holds him in with a firm grip upon the reins.

44:33 Joined to the bridle. Or if the proper rendering is a muzzle. Think of that yelping dog. Howling on the hill.

44:44 Thinking he's going to scare the moon off to another galaxy. Howling away at a full moon. Can you see him? Can you hear him?

44:52 I won't imitate him. I'd be pushing the thing a little bit too much. And you go over and you say. You dumb animal.

45:00 Shut up. You're going to wake up the neighbors. And you take his upper and lower jaws. And you clamp them shut.

45:06 And you hold them shut. David says. That's what I did with myself. He says.

45:14 He said. I will keep my mouth with a bridle. With a muzzle. My mouth at this time.

45:21 May be. Like an energetic horse. That is pawing the ground. Bobbing its neck up and down.

45:31 Determined to go. But I'm going to rein it in. Conscious deliberate effort. It may be like a yapping yelping dog.

45:40 I'm going to clamp the hands of my soul. Over my mouth. Shut it up. Now my brothers and sisters.

45:49 The point is. You don't do this. Unconsciously. You don't do this while you're sleeping.

45:59 You don't do this without thought. You don't do this without the full engagement and activity of your will. And that's the point I'm making when I say. We ought.

46:13 Having prayed that God would set a guard upon our mouths. And keep the door of our lips. We ought under the imagery. Of this passage.

46:27 We ought to engage in the conscious. Constant effort. To bridle. To muzzle.

46:35 Our tongues. And our mouths. Though we may feel something very deeply. So deeply.

46:43 That we can say our hearts. Are hot. Within us. It's like a fire within our breasts.

46:53 Yearning to break out. And find an egress. Through our mouths. We bridle it.

47:02 We muzzle it. We restrain. The yelping dog. Now the New Testament passage.

47:11 That takes up the same imagery. As James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Text we looked at in our initial study.

47:21 We come back to it now. To focus on this imagery. James chapter 1 verse 26. If any man thinks himself to be religious.

47:35 If any man judges himself to be a possessor. Of true and vital religion. In its internal reality. And its external expressions.

47:47 While he bridles not his tongue. Who bridles it? Not the Lord. He does.

47:57 While he does not bridle his tongue. This man's religion. But deceives his heart. This man's religion.

48:08 Is vain. And there's the imagery again. Anyone who thinks himself. Herself.

48:16 To be the possessor. Of true and vital saving religion. In its internal reality. And its external expressions.

48:24 Who is a stranger to conscious. Deliberate. Effective restraint. Of the natural impulses.

48:31 Of the tongue. That person. Is self deceived. That's what James says.

48:39 If you're a stranger. If you don't know what it's like. At times to feel that restraining your tongue. Is like holding back.

48:47 A horse that wants to bust out of the gate. And go running at breakneck speed. You're a stranger to real religion. Or you're so sanctified my friend.

48:59 That I've got to rethink. My whole biblical doctrine. Of remaining sin. The possessor.

49:08 Of true and vital religion. Is no stranger. To this activity. This conscious.

49:12 Deliberate. Reigning in. Of the tongue. Now this has peculiar application.

49:16 When we are in social settings. When there's an atmosphere. Of conviviality. Sorry.

49:24 Leslie. Conviviality. Is just a nice happy atmosphere. All right.

49:28 So. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

49:33 Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

49:39 Let's go. Let's go. All right. All right.

49:43 And words are flowing. And the hands are moving. All right. It's particularly.

49:48 Particularly. An area. In which we can. In that context.

49:52 So quickly. Get careless. And we need to cry to God. When we come into such circumstances.

49:57 Oh. God. Help me to take hold of the reins. And the bridle.

50:01 Lord. Give me grace. That I not sin. With my tongue.

50:05 And you. Young people. You. You.

50:09 You. You. You. You.

50:15 You. You. You. You.

50:21 You. You. You. Your parents will tell it to my younger ones.

50:28 In the presence of your parents. I'm getting a classical education. I. I can speak latin.

50:34 I know more at grade ten than my parents knew when they finished college. Well fiddly do. Knowledge. Puffs.

50:46 There's a lot of things they ain't gonna teach you in Trinity Christmas school. Your parents have learned in the crucible of life. You. You.

50:57 able to pronounce one latin word right they've got an encyclopedia of proven knowledge to which you are utterly ignorant and it is your wisdom to acknowledge it and to put a bridle on your mouth when you're ready to debate with mom and dad and ready to smart mouth them that stinks in the nostrils of god you may be smarter they may say things that you could argue them and show them up don't do it now if they say now look dad knows he's ignorant in this area can you help him well then you sit down and say well very humbly dad i'll be glad to you see okay that's different from you taking the initiative with no bridle upon your smart mouth no muzzle no muzzle no muzzle no muzzle upon your smart mouth that's unseemly kids you want to have any credibility with your parents and those who observe you don't do it i want you to look at a couple of passages again in

52:11 proverbs proverbs 17 28 proverbs 17 and verse 28 even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise when he shuts his lips he's esteemed as prudent his guy done no much he keeps his mouth shut and you just don't know how little he knows so solomon observed that and he said hmm even the fool when he holds his peace is counted wise at least he's got enough wisdom to know how to take the reins upon his mouth and keep quiet when he ought to and not be running off at the mouth proverbs 13 and verse 3 is in a similar vein not identical but similar he that guards his mouth keeps his life but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction remember what james said in chapter 3 every kind of bird and beast has been tamed but the tongue can no man tame it's unruly he says and that's true of all of us and we need to cry to god not only for the divine sentinel that we may know the grace and power of god to guard our mouths and our the

53:38 door of our lips but that we may have a holy bridle and muzzle upon our mouths and then very briefly as we conclude this morning because i do want to conclude on this gospel note not only ought we to engage in consistent earnest prayer that god will guard our tongues not only ought we to engage in conscious constant effort to bridle our tongues but we ought to engage in continuous faith suffused response to the reality of our union with christ we ought to engage in continual faith suffused response to the implications or the reality of our union with christ now what in the world am i talking about we'll turn to romans 6 for just a few moments and i hope to answer that question many of you will know that paul has opened up in chapters 321 to the end of chapter 5 the marvelous doctrine of justification by faith god imputing to sinners the very righteousness of christ

Directive 3: Engage in Continual Faith-Suffused Response to Union with Christ

55:01 so that where sin abounds grace does much more abound and then paul takes up what i call the devil's logic to that verse one of chapter six what should we say then shall we continue to continue in sin that grace may abound paul says may it never be and then he says these words we who are such as have died to sin that's my translation that brings forth the emphasis of the words and construction in the original we who are such we who in our true identity as christians we who are such as have died to sin how shall we any longer sin and how shall we die to sin how shall we live therein and having made that seminal statement then paul goes on in verses three through ten to give us what we would call these wonderful indicatives he is declaring what is true of us if we are in christ if we have known that radical life transforming work of the spirit we are now united to christ and we are united to him in such a way that the virtue of his death burial in resurrection is passed over into us we died with him we were

56:21 raised with him we are now in union with christ such as have as have died to sin those are the great indicatives then he takes up the imperatives that grow out of that what am i to do in the light of who i am in union with christ verse eleven he says even so reckon countenance as reality yourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto god in christ jesus you say i don't feel very dead unto sin had nothing to do with your feelings it's the reality of who you are and then it's as if someone said well reckoning it to be so what are the practical things growing out of that paul says i'll tell you don't let sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey the lust thereof neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves unto god as a lie from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto god for sin shall not exercise lordship over you for you're not under law but under grace here are the imperatives in the light of the great indicatives who i am as a new man new woman in christ i am such as has died have died to sin in christ and that's what i do and i'm going to pray with the only life that is what i'm going to in union with Christ, and in the light of that,

57:47 I'm to reckon on that reality, I'm to count it as true, and counting that as true, I am to assert that I do not need to be under the lordship of sin. My tongue does not need to be. There is no moral necessity that my tongue be an instrument of sin. And if it is not to be, this is what I must do.

58:13 I must determine that I will not present my members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Sin has not died to me. I've died to it. But sin will come as a usurper master and say, give me your tongue.

58:25 I want to use it for my purposes. He personifies sin as a master that says, I want this member. I want your hands to steal. I want your eyes to lust.

58:36 I want your feet to go into forbidden paths. I want your tongue to lie, to speak abusive speech. Corrupting speech. Intrusive, meddlesome speech.

58:47 Paul says, no. You refuse to present your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But, you say, as one alive from the dead, I belong to God through the work of Christ. I present myself to Him and I present my members to be instruments of righteousness unto God.

59:11 Lord, here is my tongue. May it know the virtue and power of my union with Christ. That the sin-breaking, sin-conquering power of Jesus that is mine in Him. O Lord, may my tongue know that sin-conquering power.

59:31 For You have said, sin shall not exercise lordship over me. I am no longer in that realm where there is nothing but naked law demanding, galling, demanding, condemning. I am in the new age, in Christ, free in Christ, empowered by Christ to live a life of righteousness.

59:55 And you and I must learn more and more to bring these gospel dynamics, what I've called faith-suffused response to the implications of our union with Christ if we are to know increasing measures of victory over the sins of our tongue. Well, I lay before you then those three very basic Biblical directives if you and I are going to make progress in conquering the sins of our tongue. And I underscore what we considered last week. If you're sitting here and you're a stranger to God's renewing, transforming grace that comes in the way of repentance and faith, in the way of God's sovereign, gracious renewal in which He takes out the heart of stone, imparts the heart of flesh. My friend, the Bible says, the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

61:03 Can't please God with their tongue.

61:06 Don't try to implement these directives we've looked at today until you've reckoned with that essential prerequisite. Pre-requisite. And cry to God that for Christ's sake He would have mercy. Go to Jesus as mediator of the new covenant and say, Oh Lord Jesus, do in me what you said you will do in the new covenant.

61:32 Take out my heart of stone. Give me a heart of flesh. Impart your spirit to me. Write your law upon my heart.

61:41 And the scripture says, him that comes to Him, he will in no wise cast out. Let's pray together.

Closing Call to the Unconverted and Prayer

61:53 Our Father, we thank you for your word that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray that in this matter of the sins of our tongues we may know your grace to internalize and apply and work out with fear and trembling all that we have considered from the scriptures today. Lord, don't let us be let us simply take these things as another sermon. But by your grace, may we know your working in us in power even as you have promised.

62:34 So we ask you to dismiss us with your blessing. Watch over us through the remainder of this day and bring us back together this night that we may know your blessed presence and the working of your spirit among us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

62:51 Amen.