Introduction and Overview

Introduction: Context and Occasion

0:04 This adult Sunday school class was held on January 8, 1984 at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 I'm sure that many of you are aware of the fact that Pastor Nichols is away today with our senior high young people. We have never before had a retreat that has extended over into the Lord's Day, but this was an unusual set of circumstances, and your elders felt that in the light of considering all of the circumstances, we would make an exception to our normal pattern. They are not being encouraged to dishonor the Lord on His Day. Pastor Nichols will be leading in a worship service this morning and bringing the Word of God to our young people.

0:56 And, of course, we want to be upholding them in our prayers, and God willing, they will be coming back this afternoon, hopefully to be with us in the evening service. And as we've mapped out the subject matter for the adult class over the next weeks, Pastor Nichols is going to make a bona fide effort to conclude the series on infant baptism by the end of February, which will be another six or seven Lord's Day mornings in the adult class, in which he'll take up the final two categories of the five, that he has promised to cover, namely baptism in relationship to the biblical doctrine of the Church, and then baptism in relationship to the biblical doctrine of the Covenants. Now, both he and I and your fellow elders are very much aware that some of this material has been heavy going. It's been plodding. Some of it, perhaps, you feel is not the most burningly relevant to your own circumstances.

1:59 However, we do believe that this polemic, this opening up and defending of the biblical doctrine of baptism is something that has been a long time coming and is needed, and we trust that though it may not appear on the surface of things to be the most relevant of truths, if you are with us for any period of time to come, you will see how again and again many of these truths have realms of implication that you'll see. You'll see them tying together over the months and years to come, and I trust we'll come to an increasing appreciation of the material that has been set before us. Now, I had this one opportunity before he takes up the class next Lord's Day morning and returns to the subject of infant baptism, and as I prayerfully considered how best to use this time, I felt what I would do is really give you what I hope will be sort of a teaser, and I've got something that's sort of brewing in the depths of my mind and spirit, and hopefully when it's thoroughly cooked, it'll come out in the form of a series probably of sermons. I'm not quite sure, but I want to throw out the subject and get your minds working in this direction, and then I would welcome any sort of unofficial input from you,

3:24 and that may further trigger the process, which is often a complicated process, by which sermons, series of sermons get born. And what we're going to do this morning is to set before you what I'm calling an introduction and overview of the biblical doctrine of verbal communication. An introduction and overview of the biblical doctrine of verbal communication. That is the biblical doctrine of talking to human beings.

Why This Subject? The Urgency of the Tongue

3:56 Now, why in the world would I ever choose some of these sermons, such a strange subject? Well, my answer is very straightforward and up front. Recent pastoral experience combined with recent concentrated parental guidance and with many strands of general observation have convinced me that many of you have fundamental problems in this whole area of verbal communication, and, furthermore, knowing something of my own heart and my own problems as a Christian, I am convinced that no little part of growth in grace is growth in the ability to communicate in a manner that reflects a sensitivity to the standard of the Word of God. Now lest any be tempted to slough this off as one of Pastor Martin's exaggerated areas of pastoral concern, I would like to give you a brief introduction to some of these sermons. First, I would like to remind you of what the Scripture says about this little member called the tongue. Jesus said in Matthew 12, 36 and 37, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

5:13 Therefore, by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. In other words, your patterns and my patterns of verbal communication are such a sure index of the true moral state of the soul that they will become part of the basis of God's judgment in the final day. Now that's pretty serious business. By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

5:46 In other words, when God says to a certain class of people, depart from me ye wicked, all he will need to do to demonstrate that that assessment of their character as wicked is a valid assessment is to be respect. is to bring forward their speech patterns. Now that's pretty serious business. And when he says, Come, ye blessed of my Father, all he needs to do to vindicate before the entire moral universe that they are indeed righteous, not forgiven on the basis of their speech, forgiven on the grounds of the righteousness of Christ, yes, but that their character has indeed been made righteous, all God will have to do to vindicate that designation of them as righteous is to bring forward their speech patterns. Now that's pretty serious business. And if you believe that, and if I believe that, then surely we cannot be indifferent to the biblical doctrine of verbal communication. Furthermore, I remind you of James' words in James 1.26.

6:51 He said, If any man among you seems to be religious, you look at a person, he seems to have devotion, as she seems to have devotions, goes to church, goes to prayer meeting, has all the marks of what we would call an external religious lifestyle. James says, If any man among you seems to be religious, while he does not bridle his own tongue, this man's religion is vain. It's a puff of nothing. Now that's blunt, plain, straightforward, unambiguous language.

7:25 So this is a vital, vital subject. And in order to set this study on a very sound, reinforced, concrete, biblical base, like those pillars out there that are going to hold up the main structural beams will be reinforced concrete, I want us to turn to the book of Genesis and to consider, first of all, God himself as the perfect model of a verbal communicator. God himself, as the perfect model of a verbal communicator. Genesis chapter 1.

God as the Perfect Model of Verbal Communication (Creation)

8:09 Now we read in verse 26 of chapter 1 this summary statement of the creation of man. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the cattle and over all the earth and over everything else. And over everything else. And over everything else.

8:30 And over everything else. And over everything else. And over everything else. And over everything else.

8:30 And over everything else. And over everything else. And over everything else. And God created man in his own image.

8:37 In the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them. Now may I say reverently that according to verse 26, God is a God who speaks to himself.

8:53 God is a God who before man was ever created is recorded as speaking to himself. It doesn't say, God is a God who speaks to himself. thought, or God considered, it says, and God said, let us make man after our image and after our likeness, speaking of inner Trinitarian communion, described to us in the language of verbal communication. Now, I'm not here to explain, I'm just reading and highlighting what the passage says. And no sooner does he create man, male and female, but the first thing he does, verse 28, God bless them. Now, whether that blessing was in terms of a verbal conferral of his goodwill upon them, we do not know. It simply says God bless them. But if we interpret the term blessed them by what's called the analogy of scripture, that is, we go to other scriptures, it could well be that God actually blessed them.

9:56 He actually conferred some kind of a verbal blessing upon the man and the woman when they came from his created hand. But be that as it may, you'll notice after blessing them, the first thing God did was to talk to them. God blessed them and God said unto them. So he obviously wove into the very fabric of Adam and Eve in the act of creation the ability to do that.

10:26 To receive verbal signals upon the outer ear, to have those vibrations go by the auditory nerve to the brain and there to register intelligible concepts. Man was made with a capacity to speak and to understand speech. Now, what language did God speak? I don't know. That's none of my business, none of yours. The Bible says God said unto them. And this is what he said. Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is

11:15 upon the face of the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for food and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps upon the earth where in there is life I have given every green herb for food And it was so. So, here we have the first thing God does after he makes man and blesses him is to speak to him. And then when we come to Chapter Two where we have this expanded account of the actual creation of man and woman, we find again God speaking. We read verse seven.

11:54 Verse seven. man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Then we have this zooming in upon the particular place prepared for Adam. Verse 9, And out of the ground God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, etc. Now having done this, we now read verse 15, The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, he's speaking to him again, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die. Now what are the characteristics of God's communication verbally with man before sin ever ends? If ever man had a capacity to hear whatever God is saying from the creation, that capacity was at its heightened expression before sin entered. The heavens declare the glory of

13:08 God. The firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows forth knowledge. But it's interesting that Adam, in an unfallen state, with 2015 vision to perceive, God's creation, and with an ear that was perfectly attuned to hear everything that God was saying through what we call general revelation, that was not adequate for Adam to know the will of God. God spoke to him. And the things that characterize God's speech are these. Number one, it was a prominent element of his interaction with Adam. God did not occasionally grunt something out of the side of his mouth. He did not grunt something out of the side of his mouth. He did not grunt something out of the side of his mouth. He did not grunt

13:54 something out of the side of his mouth. He did not grunt something out of the side of his mouth. And have Adam standing there, scratching his head, saying I wonder what God really expects of me. What in the world did he...excuse me, God, what did you say? There is every indication that when God spoke, he spoke as a prominent element of his interaction with Adam. Second thing is everything he said was true. God didn't deceive Adam about a thing. Everything he said was clear. There was no ambiguity. He said I want you to exercise dominion over I want you to be fruitful and to multiply, subdue the creation. He went on further to tell him that he was to dress the garden, to keep it, and then he marked out the boundaries of Adam's free choice of all the trees you may freely eat, but of that particular tree in the midst of the garden, you shall not eat of it.

14:45 In the day you eat, you'll die. Verbal communication was prominent. It was true. It was clear. It was comprehensive. All Adam needed to know in order to honor God and glorify God that could only be conveyed by verbal communication. God's communication was comprehensive. It was sincere. God meant everything he said, and we have to assume that it was loving.

15:13 Secondly, it can only cause a jarring of all of our innate senses to think that God said, now Adam, subdue the earth. That's your job. You're my creature. Now get on with it. I'm calling the shots. I'm the boss. Get with it. It's incongruous, isn't it? We snicker.

15:34 So we can assume that through all of this, there was an expression of the loving heart of God. Now, had sin not entered, man who was made...

15:45 Man who was made in the image of God would have in the development of humanity reflected perfectly not only God in what we would call his moral likeness, loving only, truth and righteousness and holiness, but think of it, man would have been a perfect image bearer of God as a verbal communicator, and the world would have been full of people who in all of their interaction with one another, there would be the... The prominence of verbal communication. You wouldn't have people standing off at a distance trying to pick up an inarticulate grunt and wonder what someone is saying or mumbling.

16:27 Everything spoken would be true, clear, comprehensive, sincere and loving. Can you imagine what a world would be like in which all verbal communication was like God's verbal communication? That's one of the implications of what mankind...

16:46 That's one of the implications of what mankind would have been if it had been perpetuated as mankind made in the image of God. But now you know the tragedy. Genesis chapter 3 tells us the terrible tragedy of man's defection. The fall of man.

The Fall and Its Devastation of Human Speech

17:04 And the fall has brought nothing less than cosmic disruptions into God's order of things. It's brought major alterations in God's relationship to man. Man. Man.

17:17 Man's relationship to God. But, very interestingly, the fall does not alter the basic characteristics of God's communication with man, the creature. The substance of it is altered, but not the major characteristics. In other words, when man sinned, did he offend God?

17:41 Yes or no?

17:43 Was God angry? Was God disturbed? Was God hurt? Did God know off?

17:48 Did God insult?

17:52 I will talk to you.

17:55 You did that to me? I will talk to you. God didn't go off and have a sulk. In fact, it's an amazing thing, and it struck me with tremendous freshness in preparing these notes yesterday.

18:08 Man runs from God. But God comes seeking man, and what's the first thing with which he seeks?

18:17 Verbal communication. Verbal communication. Look at it. In chapter 3.

18:23 Adam and Eve are hiding, attempting to hide from the presence of the Lord amidst the trees of the garden. Verse 9. And the Lord God called. It didn't say he went and wrenched him from behind the bush and stood him there and glowered at him.

18:45 He could have done that, but he didn't. The text says, The Lord God called unto the man and said unto him, Where are you? And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Who told you you were naked?

19:06 Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you you should not eat? Have you disobeyed me? And already we begin to see the waffling, you see. The speech of man now, his verbal communication is not utterly and totally honest.

19:21 It's a mingling of fact with action. It's a mingling of fact with accusation, with subtle innuendo of blaming God. Instead of saying, Yes, I have disobeyed you, God. The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree.

19:41 And on the tail end of it, my culpability, and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the woman, What is this that you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord said, The Lord God said unto the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.

20:01 Upon your belly you shall go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, thou shalt bruise his heel. And God goes on then to speak in great detail of some of the major dimensions of the results of man's defection from himself.

20:23 God speaks of man having to bring forth now in the sweat of his brow and the woman bringing forth her children with pain and the multiplication of her childbirth. All of this, you see, is God continuing to communicate clearly, comprehensively, sincerely, and even in the midst of this lovingly, because he announces his own intention to do something about this. And here we have what's called the first gospel promise, this first seed of declaration that God's going to do something in establishing enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and that ultimately the seed of the woman would come forth to crush the serpent's head. But the point that I want us to see is that the fall, with all of the disruptions that it brought in God's relationship to man, did not change God as the ideal verbal communicator. Man hides. God comes and calls to him, speaks to him, pronounces judgment upon him, intimates mercy that will be open before him, honestly sets forth what some of the fruits of the fall will be.

21:50 But now the tragedy is that man in sin, sin is no longer like God in many ways, not the least of which is in his verbal communication. Now there are some things that could be drawn out of the speech of Adam and Eve, but if we look at the record concerning the first child born of fallen man and woman, this son called Cain, it's very, very interesting that he shows a perfect likeness, not to God, but to his spiritual father, the father of the devil. What does Jesus say in John 8? Two things he says about the devil.

22:29 He is a what? A murderer and a liar. Remember that from John 8? Ye are of your father the devil, in the lust of your father you will do.

22:38 He is a murderer and he is a liar. Now those two qualities are the two prominent qualities that are unrestored about Cain. The first full-blown son of the devil. Who had never like Adam known perfect innocence.

22:58 He was conceived in sin, born in sin, and when he comes to age, he becomes the murderer of his brother, like his father the devil, a destroyer of life, and no sooner does God come and speak to him, verse 6, the Lord said unto Cain, Genesis 4, 6, Why are you angry? Why is your confidence fallen? If you've done well, this is after the rejection of his, sacrifice and before the murder. And we find that Cain is wroth, and then we read verse 8, He told Abel his brother, It came to pass when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

23:39 Now God comes speaking to Cain, and the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And his answer should have been, Right where he lay when I saw him in the twitches of death, and where he expired. But now he just outright lies and says,

24:00 I know not. And then he tries to bring forth his self-justification, Am I my brother's keeper? When did you ever tell me, God, that I was to be my little brother's constant babysitter?

24:18 He lies. And then he adds, as it were, almost an insult to his lie. And I think it's very interesting that the first son, the fallen mankind, manifests the two great qualities of his spiritual father. And then as we see the scriptures unfold, it's very interesting again to note that as fallen man gets, as it were, locked into the patterns of his fallenness in the concrete details of life, how prominent the sins of verbal communication are brought forward again, and again, and again, in the scriptures.

Romans 3: The Tongue as the Crown of Total Depravity

25:01 Now, if I were to ask you, what chapters in the New Testament contain the most detailed description of human sinfulness, what would you answer? What chapters in the New Testament contain the most detailed description of human sinfulness? Anyone want to venture a guess? George?

25:21 All right, Romans 1.18 through Romans 3 and verse 20. Right? Was someone else thinking of another?

25:28 Was anyone thinking of another passage? No. How many of you were thinking of that passage? Good.

25:32 Very good. Well, it's very interesting. When we turn to that passage and Paul comes to his summary statement, he is demonstrating the universality of sin amongst those who have only general revelation, among those who have special revelation, and now he's going to summarize, beginning with verse 9 of Romans 3. What then?

25:57 Are we better than... No, in no wise, for we before laid to the charge both the Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

26:09 Now he's going to bring together from the Psalms and from a reference from Isaiah this collage of divine description of human sin in the concrete. He's not dealing in the abstract now. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands.

26:36 There's none that seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that does good, no, not so much as one.

26:48 There's what we might call the generic description of the universality of man's defection from God. None comes up to the standard of God's law. None thinks God's thoughts after him. The affections are perverted.

27:04 They do not seek him. The entire lifestyle is one of turning aside from the ways of God. Now he's going to move from generic to specific descriptions. And you notice where his first focal point of concentration is.

27:19 Look at it. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues, they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

27:39 Throat, tongues, lips, and mouth. A fourfold concentration upon the organs of verbal communication. Isn't that interesting?

27:53 Paul is absolutely certain that whatever peculiar sins may be found in the Bible, may be found in the Bible, may be found in the Bible, may be found in the Bible, may be found in the Bible, may be found in the Jewish community, found in the Gentile community. Whatever particular sins may be more aggravated in various societies, like Paul says in Titus 1, the Cretans were gluttons, idle people.

28:22 He has no fear of contradiction when he says among Jew and Gentile, in all societies, in all circumstances, these are the crowning expressions of the Bible. of man's state of entire sinfulness, lips, throat, mouth, and tongues.

28:50 Very interesting, isn't it? So you see, this is not something that is a little hobby of mine. But for weeks and months now, growing out of pastoral counseling, parental observation and input, general observation, I'm convinced more and more, that we need to begin to take with renewed seriousness this emphasis of the Word of God.

The Sins of Silence and the Obligation to Speak

29:18 Man's sin is a creature who's become fouled up in the whole area of verbal communication. Now along with these gross, positive sins of verbal communication, such as deceit, that which is like the venom of a snake, cursing and bitterness, there are the more subtle sins, such as the torture of no communication. Do you know that one of the most cruel forms of torture between one human being and another is a shot mouth?

30:03 I have had to try to patch up people who were as battered psychologically and emotionally as the typical battered wife who has bruises on her face and on her back from the crime of murder. The cruel profusions of the angry spirit of the husband. The tyranny of being a clown. That's a form of cruelty when you just shut your mouth and say it.

30:38 When there are people who desperately need to know what's going on inside. They need the affirmation of your love. They need your wise counsel. They may need for you to just get your gripe out to where they can relate to it, and do something.

30:55 They may need for you to just get your gripe out to where they can relate to it, and do something. They may need for you to just get your gripe out to where they can relate to it, and do something. to alter their behavior that's causing your gripe. But what do you do?

31:03 Go into your cursed clam shell and torture your wife, torture your husband, torture your children, torture your overseers, torture anybody. Then God has made a communicating beam through your cursed wicked silence. You torture. You torture.

31:30 You won't be like God. And be clear, truthful, comprehensive, loveable in your speech. And be clear, truthful, comprehensive, loveable in your speech. Would you say, but I can't.

31:41 You go to an eye, ear, nose and throat man, an ENT man, and have him give you a slip, and say, you have something wrong with the physical mechanism of your tongue and your lines and your lips and then I'll believe you can't. What you mean is I won't. I don't want to, and I won't! Because you see, giving due allowance for the whole world, Because you see, giving due allowance for the whole world, full spectrum of diversity of personality, giving due allowance for the full spectrum of the diversity of temperaments often flowing along genetic lines, and I'm not insensitive to those things. Some people are more naturally loquacious, others are more reserved. I'm fully aware of all of that. But was God aware of that when he made man in his image and said we are to be like him? So you see, this whole subject is not one that we can slough aside, because when we turn to the word of God, we see the prominence of it in the original creation, the tragic defection of man from God, and the results of this in the area of verbal communication, but bless God, when the reign of grace comes, so you see what the threefold foundation is, creation, fall, and redemption. We always start every subject with those great realities. God is not at all reluctant to

Redemption and the Sanctification of the Tongue

33:06 let us know that when the dynamics of grace touch the heart and life of a man, they radically alter this type. Remember Paul's teaching in Romans 6? In the days of your sinful submission to the Lord and Master called sin and evil and unrighteousness, he says you presented your members. But he said now, through union with Christ, you have died. The old man is dead and buried, and you are new men and women in Christ. As you presented your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, so now present yourselves unto God and your members, including your tongue, as instruments of righteousness unto God. And we turn then to Romans 6. Romans 6.

34:00 Romans 6. Romans 6. Romans 6. Romans 6.

34:04 Romans 6. Romans 6. Romans 6. Romans 6.

34:08 Let us turn then to the New Testament and see this tremendous emphasis upon the sanctifying grace of God as it touches the tongue. And let's just look at a couple of chapters. And as I said, this is just a broad overview and general introduction that I hope will get us all thinking along these lines in Ephesians chapter four, where Paul is calling the saints of God to a radically different lifestyle. Ephesians chapter four.

34:32 Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four.

34:35 Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. from that of the Gentiles. Verse 17, This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk.

34:48 That's the great theme of this section. Don't walk like the unconverted hordes of the nations. Then he describes what lies at the root of that lifestyle, the darkness of the understanding, the alienation from the life of God, the giving over of themselves to sensuality. But he says you did not so learn Christ, if so be that you heard him and were taught of him.

35:15 What you heard and learned of Christ was to put off the old man, to put on the new that is being renewed, notice verse 24, and put on the new man that after God, that is after the pattern of God himself, has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. We've been made new men and new women in order to be like God in the realm of righteousness and truth. And what's the next thing that comes within the orbit of his specific exhortation? Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth, each one with his name. He moves. Immediately from this concept of being renewed unto the image-bearing capacity of God to our speech. Very interesting, isn't it?

36:17 This verse has just been working through my mind in recent days. Putting away falsehood, speak with your neighbor. That's the first thing. Speak.

36:27 He assumes you're going to speak. Now he says speak truth. So if you're not speaking, start speaking.

36:35 Repent of that speech. It's a subtle form of vicious cruelty of just not speaking.

36:44 Sometimes it's a form of pride.

36:47 You like to think you're some kind of unknowable creature and you pride yourself in living behind your wall of silence. Sometimes it is cruelty. There can be any number of motives. Mingled with it can be innocent temperamental characteristics.

37:03 I'm fully aware of all that. But he says speak truth, each one with his neighbor. Be angry and do not sin. Well, when you're angry, the sin usually comes with your speech.

37:16 Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Verse 29. 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. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.

37:35 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and railing be put away from you with all malice. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other as God in Christ forgave you. Notice how many of these things find an outlet through speech. Bitterness and wrath and anger, clamor, railing literally means abusive speech.

38:03 You see how much of the emphasis upon reflecting the image of God falls upon this matter of verbal communication? That is like God? Loving, forgiving, gracious, fair, sensitive. Then of course when we come to the Epistle of James, the first twelve verses of the third chapter zero in upon this whole matter of the tongue.

James 3 and the Double-Tongued Danger

38:31 And I will read without comment because I just want to have an overview and then turn to a large segment in the Old Testament that I trust will be the focal point of much of the text. And I will read it to you. So let's go ahead and read it. James 3, Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we should receive heavier judgment.

38:52 For in many things we all stumble. Any man stumbles not in word, the same is a perfect man able to bridle the whole body also. Now if we put the horse's bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. Control a horse's mouth, you've got all twelve or fourteen hundred horses in your house.

39:04 You know what? You know what? You know what? You know what?

39:08 You know what? You know what? You know what? You know what?

39:12 You know what? You know what? You know what? What a dressie it is.

39:16 He pulls on your đầu and against your back you can count the miles you carry, and this is what he says. Now behold the horse ídoipá has the whole of a horse, he who has his hand on the rudder of the ship controls the ship. He is showing the analogy. small a fire, and the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and birds and creeping things and things in the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is a restless evil. It is full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we the Lord and Father. Sing his praises

40:20 on the Lord's day. Speak his name at family worship. And then what else happens? Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men. Bitter, angry, ungodly speech.

40:36 And notice, when we do, what are we doing? We're slapping at God's image bearers who are made after the likeness of God. You see how the image-bearing theme comes in the most unlikely places? When you speak abusively of a fellow creature, he's an image-bearer of God. You may be slapping at God in whose image he has been made. Out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Does the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter? Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives or vine figs? Neither can a tree. Can a tree yield olives or vine figs? Neither can a tree yield olives or figs. Neither can a tree yield olives or vine figs. Neither can a tree yield olives or vine figs. Neither can a tree yield olives or vine figs. Neither can a tree yield olives or vine figs. Neither can a tree yield olives or vine figs. Neither can a tree yield olives or vine figs. фильма icon Now I want you to turn back to the book of Proverbs. Most of you know that Proverbs is a very unique deposit of the mind of God in Scripture in that we are given in the book of Proverbs these petty little statements that embody great principles of what it is to live in the fear of God. It's written the following way, do it right.

Proverbs Survey: The Weight of Evidence

41:51 It's written the following way, do it right. обыти to live a righteous life, not to attain eternal life, but having received the gift of life, what it is to live a life that is honoring to God. And if you're familiar with the book of Proverbs at all, you know that from chapter 10 onward, with but few exceptions toward the end of the book, you don't have any major themes that are opened up even in paragraph form, a couple of exceptions. The first nine chapters, you do have some large themes that are opened up and expanded.

42:24 But beginning with chapter 10, you have what we might call a miscellaneous collection of odds and ends of Solomon's Proverbs, the Proverbs of Solomon, chapter 10, verse 1. And then you have all of these different Proverbs, and any attempt to classify them and organize them and to outline them is really futile. We just have a lovely little miscellaneous collection under the guidance of the Spirit of God. of the Proverbs of Solomon.

42:50 So what I did in my preparation yesterday, I said, I'm going to do something at random. I'm convinced that if the thesis I'm setting forth is an accurate one, that one place you'll find that underscore will be the book of Proverbs. So at random, I picked three chapters from 10 onward, and I read them through, and I circled every verse that spoke about the tongue. And you know what I discovered?

43:16 I discovered when I started the chapter. Chapter 12, that of the 28 verses in chapter 12, do you know how many make reference to the tongue and to speech? Eight of the 28.

43:32 Verse 6, the words of the wicked are of lying in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. Verse 13, in the transgression of the lips is a snare to the evil man, but the righteous shall come out of trouble. Verse 14, a man shall be. He shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth.

43:54 Verse 17, he that utters truth shows forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. Verse 18, there is that speaks rashly like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is held. Ever been around someone whose speech is like a sword, constantly pricking, pricking, pricking, pricking? If a thing can be said graciously and gently.

44:21 Or harshly, insensitively, you can always count it, they'll say it in the latter way. Their speech is like the piercing of a sword. Solomon observed that. But the tongue of the wise is held.

44:34 The lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Verse 19. Verse 22, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. Verse 25, heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stupid.

44:51 But a good word makes it glad. Eight references in the 28 verses. Now do a little math and you'll figure out that that's somewhere between a fourth and a third. That's a pretty strong emphasis, isn't it?

45:05 Then we turn to chapter 15. And I just picked it out at random. And you'll notice there are 33 verses in chapter 15, and no fewer than nine of the 33. Nine of the 33 make reference to the tongue.

45:21 Verse 1, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a grievous word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise, verse 2, utters knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools pours out folly. Verse 4, a gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein, that is, in the tongue, is a breaking of the spirit. And oh, how many broken spirits we as pastors have to try to patch up.

45:51 I have never yet had to deal with someone in my own pastoral counseling who came into my study with bruises and welts all over his body from a parent who had, in uncontrollable fits of rage, taken a prune and beat on a child. But I tell you, I spend hours trying to patch up the bruised and broken spirit of young people whose father's with them. But their demeaning speech, you dummy, you can't do this, you stupid, you can't do that, is enough to make angels weep. No wonder those kids want nothing to do with the Christian faith when they see that same father sitting in a church like Trinity Church, singing the praises of God. The very mouth with which that father or that mother creates a club then whips and beats and pummels the tender spirit. That precious young life.

47:05 Perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit. Verse 7, lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the foolish does not so. Verse 14, the heart of him that has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. Verse 18, it's questionable the wrathful man stirs up contention, and usually does it by his speech.

47:31 It's not. If there's a communication of his spirit, he stirs up contention with his speech. When he's full of wrath, his speech becomes the outlet of his wrath to stir up contention. But he that is slow to anger appeases strife.

47:46 And how do you appease strife? Verbally communicating, trying to sort out the parties that are at odds with one another, being conciliatory and gracious and seeking to get them to be understanding. Verse 23, a man has joy in the answer of his mother. Verse 24, a man has joy in the answer of his mother.

48:02 And a word in due season, how good it is. Verse 26, evil devices are an abomination to the Lord, but pleasant words are pure. Verse 28, the heart of the righteous studies to answer, swift to hear, slow to speak, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. Nine verses of the 33.

48:27 Then I picked out chapter 17 at random, and I found there. Twenty-eight verses, and you know how many in there speak of the tongue? Ten. Ten of the twenty-eight.

48:39 I am beginning to feel the cumulative weight of this, because I felt it sitting in my study.

Self-Examination and Closing Exhortation

48:45 If you don't know what it is to have the use of your tongue, a matter of constant prayerfulness, constant watchfulness, and hear me now, constant repentance, you know little of using your tongue in the prayer. You know little of what it is to have the use of your tongue in the prayer. And I want to press that in these three remaining minutes. I've chosen my words carefully.

49:13 If you do not know what it is to have the use of your tongue, a constant concern leading to prayer, to watchfulness, and to penitence, you know little of what it is to exercise that stewardship of verbal communication in the field. And to the extent that your professed relationship to Jesus Christ does not regulate your tongue, God says your religion is vain. I didn't say it. God did.

49:50 Now let me ask you. Would you like to go to judgment in the next half hour, and have the Lord Jesus vindicate before angels and all intelligent creatures the true state of your character simply on the basis of how you used your tongue last week? Would you like the Lord Jesus, how much fuel did he have, how much material have you given the Lord Jesus to say to all intelligent creatures, this is indeed one who is the object of my transforming grace, one over whom I've cast the canopy of my perfect righteousness, in whom I have done my work of the new creation, evidence please, judge of the universe, and he says yes. I have enough evidence. This past week, this person's eyes have been made salty with the tears of repentance over a caustic word spoken to wife or husband or child. I can gather this person's sons and daughters to witness that when he has spoken angrily, he has confessed those sins to them, if necessary, a dozen times in the past week.

51:08 I can bring the people with whom he or she has spoken angrily, I can bring the people with whom he or she has spoken angrily, I can bring the people with whom he or she has said, no, no, no, not I can. I can bring the people with whom he or she has spoken angrily, I can bring the people with whom she works who will acknowledge that he or she has come and said, look, I wasn't perfectly truthful about that, will you forgive me? And there will be no lack of witnesses that sins of the tongue have been thoroughly repented of and dealt with vertically and horizontally. Furthermore, this person's mouth used to pour out invective lies, innuendo, filth, double talk, all the rest.

51:41 All the rest. But this person'sname, Pritudic. person's lips now speak truth and uprightness. This person used to be a clam who punished everyone around him by refusing to communicate, but he now makes a conscious, prayerful, diligent effort not to punish people, for he's learned that as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. Could the Lord Jesus say any of those things about you? It's a serious business, isn't it? Serious business. And I pray, God, that this introductory study this morning has not been a model of homiletical order. I know that. I'm fully conscious of that. And it won't be the last thing you're going to hear, God willing, but I hope you've heard enough that it will drive us all into our knees to cry to God, Lord, teach me how to communicate in a way that reflects true likeness to you. Lord, make me understand.

52:44 Then as you read through the Gospels, what a beautiful thing it is to behold the Lord Jesus as our perfect model, how he spoke comfortingly, pointedly where necessary, patiently explaining to these thick-headed disciples. They were a bunch of duds when it came to grasping certain things. And there are times when it grieved them and they said, oh, faithless and unbelieving generation. But how patiently. He kept telling them over and over again, I've got to go to Jerusalem.

53:17 I'm going to have to die. You see, he's the great model for us as parents. You say, how many times do I have to tell my kids this? Do you want to batter them? Just say, you dummy, how many times? No, no, don't say you dummy. You pray for the patience and the gentleness and the meekness of Christ to keep telling them, keep telling them, keep telling them. And lo and behold, one day, you know what will happen? They'll turn around and laugh. You'll hear them telling you. Someone else. And you say, thank you, Lord. Got in there somehow. Got in there somehow.

53:53 Are your kids going to be like you and your speech patterns? You men, listen to me. Your sons will probably end up treating their wives just like you treat yours. You treat her as a creature of honor who didn't be mocked. You treat her like she's half a human being and your speech patterns? Don't be surprised. When your boy gets to be a teenager, he starts talking to you. You're not going to have much clout to say you're going to spank him. He'll turn right around and say, Dad, I learned to do that from you. May God write upon our hearts this very weighty concern of our verbal communication, no little part of true godliness. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we understand a little more why the prophet Isaiah cried out.

54:56 I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen Jehovah of hosts. And as we have gazed upon you as the great and model and righteous communicator, we confess, O Lord, that we see our duplicity and our deceit, our lies, the way we have turned words into swords and clubs, the way we have refused to speak as a form of punishment at times to those we most deeply love. And we can only cry this morning, God have mercy upon us, for the sins of omission and commission with respect to our tongues. O teach us, teach us, teach us, Lord. Take us in hand and teach us. And give us willing hearts that we may learn more and more to be like you as we communicate

56:06 with one another. Seal the word to our hearts, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.