The Importance Of Our Speech by Zac Poonen

[Music] I want to turn to proverbs in chapter 10 [Music] we have often spoken about the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit and I believe that most if not all of us have asked God to fill us and probably have at some time in the past experience being filled with the Holy Spirit - and in my observation of many people in many churches that emphasize the baptism the Holy Spirit is that when you see them after sometimes sometimes even after a year they are not filled of the Holy Spirit at least there's no evidence of that jesus said by their fruit you shall know them and there doesn't seem to be much fruit and we can imagine that once we were filled with the Holy Spirit oh that's it and forever after it's like a driving license I get and renew every five years it's not like that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit one day and not be filled the next day you can start backsliding the next day it says in Hebrews 3:13 that it requires only 24 hours to become a backslider exhort encourage one another daily daily otherwise you'll be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin so hardening takes only 24 hours so anyone who is not walking with a lot daily Paul said in second Corinthians 4:16 that the inner man is being renewed day by day you either allow it to be renewed or to be hardened so since the Holy Spirit's pictured by Jesus as water that's gushing out should be gushing out of our hearts we know that water in a vessel can liek if there's a hole in it and yeah and that leakage can come through sin sin that we're conscious of but as I've observed many many believers and sought my own heart and search my own life I found that very often that leakage comes through the tongue through a careless use of the tongue or a misuse of the tongue so here it says in Proverbs 10 verse 11 we have seen what the Bible says about the righteous shall live by faith we've seen the part of the righteous is something that is to shine more and more unto the perfect day proverbs 4:18 here it says the mouth of the righteous is to be a fountain of life and the only alternative to that is the mouth of the wicked which conceals violence you can either have a fountain of life or like the message Bible says the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave full of abuse etc [Music] so if we don't allow the Holy Spirit to take complete control of our tongue not just when we are going to share the word but all the time there's going to be leakage particularly when you are with your relatives unconverted friends maybe at home where you feel you can relax and speak as you like that's fine but you can speak as you like and they can be leakage and the next time you want to be used by the Lord he doesn't use you because there's no power left it's like a petrol tank that's got a hole in it and all leaked out even though you fill it up yesterday it's all leaked out and you wonder where all the petrol went there was a hole in the tank and that hole is in the tongue it's through the tongue that the leakage takes place you seem jesus said that in matthew chapter 12 you know this is so important that if you take just this one message seriously I believe it can radically change your life anybody young or old brother or sister Matthew 12 jesus says verse 33 onwards 9012 33 the fruit is what comes out of the tongue but he says you can't make the fruit good unless the tree is good you can't just hang good fruit on a bad tree you can fool people but it's not really the fruit of the tree so Jesus says you need to make the tree good then you don't have to worry about always making sure that the good fruit is hanging on the branches it'll only produce good fruit and the tree is the heart the branches the branches the tongue from which the fruit comes out the words so the tree is the heart the tongue is the branch the words are our fruit so he says you've got to make the tree good then it's fruit will be good the trees bad fruit is bad and the tree is known by its fruit so the condition of your heart is known by the words you speak that's basically what it's saying in verse 33 and he turned to these Pharisees and said you brood of vipers how can you when your heart is evil produce what is good fruit you see now where all the anger and the bitterness and the foul language and the dirty jokes and and the laughing at the dirty jokes and everything comes from it comes from a heart that's will not allow the Holy Spirit deal with we can control our tongue it's like chopping out the bad fruit we can say nice words that's like hanging good fruit on a bad tree but jesus said that's all deception it's all hypocrisy deal with the heart and then the branches and fruit to be okay because the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart the mouth is like an overflow valve so whatever is in the heart spills out through the mouth particularly when there's pressure it could be the pressure caused by somebody provoking you it could be the pressure caused by somebody hurting you it could be pressured you do any circumstance but what fills the heart overflows now occasionally something very good happens and then our hearts temporarily filled with some thankfulness to God and that overflows through our mouth thank you Lord for doing that praise the Lord but it's only temporary for a short time then that's squeezed out and there's the rest of time our heart is filled with all types of other thoughts about other people whenever you speak about other people not when you're guarded when you're guarded we are careful when talking about when you're not guarded usually when you're talking to your wife or husband at home we're not usually guarded there or when you're talking with your very close friends of your own age you're not usually guarded there and there you know what's really in your heart don't examine yourself by the way you speak to the elders or older brothers because that could be put on but if you really want to know the condition of your heart see how you speak to those who you're closest to on earth there we are not guarded there we're not clipping out the bad fruit we're just saying everything that's in our heart there if you want to discover it you'll discover what's in your heart and that's why I believe the way you speak your husband or wife at home is a very accurate test of the condition of your heart and it's not how you speak to each other on Sunday morning the meeting so the mouth is overflow valve of the heart and the good man because he's got good treasure in his heart so Lee brings forth good you know like Amy Carmichael said if you carry a glass of sweet water no matter how heavily somebody shakes you it's only sweet water that can spill out you can't say that man made my heart bitter that is impossible he only shakes you by his provocation irritation what spills out is what's in the heart that was always there maybe somebody shook you and you discovered it you got to thank him for shaking you up because otherwise you may not have discovered what was in your heart I tell you we really have to thank God for enemies for those who provoke us those who irritate us those omegas angry because they shake us and we discover what's inside our jar and we got to be so thankful lord I never knew it was like this in my heart I'm fooling myself because I speak so nicely to all the believers the good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good and the evil man brings out his evil treasure what is evil and listen to this these are some very serious words I tell you that every careless word that's people speak words that are spoken to hurt to injure careless words then give an account in the day of judgment my conviction is that perhaps 99% of believers don't believe that verse you know I it's like if I was given if I was working in office here and they gave me five hundred thousand rupees in cash in a box saying take this on the train to Delhi and give it in the office there I wouldn't sleep during that two-day journey because I wouldn't want to lose one rupee from that box I'm asleep somebody could steal it I'd be so careful because when I go there I know they're going to count every repeat why do I take that seriously because I know I'm accountable for every single rupee in that box now why don't we feel like that about the words we speak because we don't believe that when we reach the other end we have to give an account for every word we speak how many of you can honestly say you've answered this to yourself that you really believe that every single word you spoke at least from the time you were born again and understood the first every single word every single thing is said in secret about other people you are going it's going to come up on the screen and through the loudspeakers and the day of judgment and the Lord is going to ask you why did you say that everybody's going to hear it jesus said that what you whisper in the years will be proclaimed from the housetops in that day he said that so if you really believed it I know I've had a hard time believing it for many years but I've learned to be very very careful jesus said the Bible says in Isaiah 66 I will look at the man who trembles at my word who sees a word which is God I don't tremble at that every single word I speak I'm going to give an account in the day of judgment and then here is a tougher word than that verse 37 you're going to be justified not just by your faith you know James says faith without works is dead so he said that's not real faith if you really have faith he says it'll be seen in your works and Jesus said that first he said you're going to be justified by your words Jesus hardly ever spoke about being justified by faith that's Paul's great theme it's true but many people have misunderstood faith it's a faith which is just in their head doesn't seem to change their life in any way and therefore it's most probably a dead faith so just like James says in Chapter two check up your faith by your works Jesus would say check up your faith by the words you speak all the time and those words will tell you whether you got real faith or not and whether you'll be justified or not in the final day and if those words tell you that your Christianity is a lot of rubbish it's just an act put on on Sunday morning and you're talking about being filled with a spirit and maybe some of you even speak in tongues it's just all hot air maybe once upon a time you did have a genuine experience and perhaps what you receive at that time was a genuine gift but Satan got some gifts before he was we've already became the devil in fact all the gifts of Satan has today God gave it to him before he became the devil and God didn't take it away you know like just like you give a birthday gift to somebody one day turned around becomes your enemy you don't know ask for your gift back so let him have it so God also gave gifts to the angel to my the Archangel and when he became the devil God didn't ask for the gifts back and that's how Satan has all this power and a person can have a genuine gift of the Spirit exorcise it and be lost eternally that's an amazing thing only jesus said things like that you will say to me many will say to me Lord we cast out demons in your name we prophesied in your name we he did miracles in your name Nancy I never knew get away from there that's really going to be true and so by your words you'll be justified by your word you'll be condemned so for a moment let's forget about our faith and our doctrinal understanding the triad present let's forget all that and let's just think of the words we have spoken in past years or let's say one year you can't remember everything if you take the sum total of those words that you spoke in the year 2006 would you be justified in the judgement seat of Christ it's a very important question Jesus said it faith without works is dead I'm only trying to save people from having a counterfeit faith a faith that doesn't change their life that doesn't change their speech now you know there were no words like this in the Old Testament in the Old Testament they didn't speak much about the tongue at all but something happened on the day of Pentecost why the Old Testament didn't speak about the tongue because the Holy Spirit was only on the outside of people in the Old Testament in fact like people wearing a shirt or a sari covers you but it's only on the outside and you can take it off that's exactly how it was Samson would put it on and take it off just like you go home and take off your shirt oh sorry and put something else Samson would put it on and then he'd go to the prostitutes house and take it out and wear something else and Gideon he had it says the Spirit of God clothed Gideon that's how it says in judges 634 the margin he closed Gideon and then you're reading the next couple of chapters he took it off and started worshipping idols the entire Old Testament was like this Saul one day spirit of God upon him and he's chained into another man we read in 1 samuel 10 and then a little later you read in chapter 18 that an evil spirit came on him the spirit had left him Holy Spirit left him so that's how it was in the Old Testament but jesus said now something's different going to happen from the innermost being this river will start flowing John 7:38 so the difference is in the New Testament what happened on the day of Pentecost the spirit that for so many years was only on the outside and that could never dwell inside a man because man's heart was filthy and the Spirit of God will never dwell inside a filthy heart and all the blood of bulls and goats that they sacrificed it's only a picture that couldn't cleanse anybody's heart it was picture they were saying one day we believe the Messiah will come and die but then Jesus came he was the first person who walked on the earth in whom the Spirit dwell because his heart was pure and he told his disciples the same spirit it's going to dwell in you then you'll have a power which you don't have right now I mean they had power Elijah had power to raise the dead so the external power they split the Red Sea pull down the walls of Jericho they raise the dead Elijah raised a dead person even after he died have you read that through somebody into Elijah's grave and the guy rose up from the dead there was so much there's more anointing in Elijah's dead bones than in a lot of living people today that's how it was that was only on the outside for external things but Jesus said it's not going to be like that now the Spirit of God is going to come inside you and he's really going to give you a par with in which you just don't have up till now any amount of Bible study in the amount of listening to the greatest preacher on earth that was Jesus Christ for three and a half years one change you imagine listening to the greatest preacher on earth for three and a half years walking with him living with him his example his words and you know every time Jesus spoke which is the people's hearts were warm your hearts may be warmed when you hear something it's only temporary after some BAM the stove cools off and so heat left that's how those disciples were in the presence of Jesus they'd have some faith and different things with once he was away that back to normal but Jesus said it's going to be different after the day of Pentecost you're going to get a power within you that's really going to change your life and those who are hungry for that waited for that power 1 Corinthians 15 says that Jesus appeared to 500 people after his resurrection 500 people saw the risen Lord but only 120 of them had a hunger to wait for this inner power that teaches us something that not everybody who believes has a great hunger for this power the attaining is too much moderation to wait on God for a power because they're quite happy the way they live yeah well I lost my temper 20 years ago I still lose it I presume I'll continue losing it till the day I die I'll keep confessing my hope they're not bothered yes I do speak bad words now and then but one of Jesus cleanses me do you think such people will get power in a hundred years no those folks got it in 10 days but some folk folks won't get it in 100 years because it's not thirst they're not desperate and they're happy to live their Christian life whatever God's given them you know that God's given them this wonderful gospel it's like getting a Mercedes Benz car but you don't put any petrol and you keep pushing it all your life a lot of Christians I really believe they got a Mercedes Benz car the most fantastic gospel in the whole world and you see them pushing it and sweating and struggling and hardly moving at all people under the law who didn't have the car they walk faster this Christians are walking slower because they are pushing the car they're not meant to be like they're supposed to have a power in that car that drives it to fantastic speed they can go 50 times faster than those people who walk then the people under the law but it's not like that because they they don't have this terrific hunger for power so in Acts chapter 2 you read that when the when this power came upon these people in Acts chapter 2 hmm though it says there was this violent acts 2 verse 2 there was this violent rushing wind a pig you know - symbolizing the Holy Spirit coming upon just like a gala tornado hmm that swept into that room where these 120 people were praying and it filled the whole house and then immediately after that the very first thing you read is before they spoke in tongues tongues of fire you know the shape of a tongue of fire in the shape of a human tongue rested on all the hundred and twenty people's heads what was that message you know I wish the Pentecostals and charismatics had spoken more about acts two three then about X - 4 X - 3 is a tongue on fire of the Holy Spirit acts 2:4 after that is speaking in tongues so what I see from that is that what the Lord was saying is that once this spirit comes inside you and gives you this power that I told you you'll get one of the first things he's going to do is to control your tongue your whole tongue will be under the control of the fire of the Holy Spirit that's what Jesus I mean John the Baptist said Jesus comes he'll baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire it's going to purify every part of our bodies gonna purify the way we look will overcome lust it's going to purify the way we do things with our hands but purify especially our tongue that's the meaning I mean the Lord could have put a hand a fire or an eye of fire or a leg of fire with all these instruments God uses in the body but it was a tongue please remember this it was a tongue set on fire and then after that they were filled the Holy Spirit hold simultaneously and they began to speak in other languages as the Holy Spirit give the mutterings so that was a gift in the day of Pentecost it was used to preach the gospel to so many people who were of different languages over there because they all heard in their own tongue Peter didn't speak all those languages but they all heard in their own tongue it says but all the disciples spoke in unknown languages it's one of the gifts the Holy Spirit gives 1 Corinthians 14 says it's primarily today for communication with God to relieve the pressure from our hearts to help us to overcome discouragement to help us to overcome the pressures we face from the world around we can release our heart and speaking in unknown languages to God start primarily for public use 1 Corinthians 14 makes that clear but before that I said this tongue is of fire in other words the Holy Spirit first wants to control our mother tongue and then give us other terms so if you only got the Holy Spirit giving you other tongues but he can't control your mother tongue and you miss the main thing you miss the tongues of fire and you just got the unknown tongues that's sad it's happened to lots and lots of people the tongues of is a tongue of fire that came first and that's what I want and 1 Corinthians 12 says God doesn't give tongues unknown languages to everyone but the tongue of fire that's for everyone you think God wants even one child of his not to have its tongue controlled by the Holy Spirit not even one so I want to encourage you you may never got me never for I don't know the reasons but God may not give the gift of speaking in tongues or interpreting tongues to everybody in fact 1 Corinthians 12 says do all speak in tongues the answer is no do all are all apostles the answer is no same type of answer so just like you all can't be apostles all will not speak in tongues but all can have a tongue set controlled by the Holy Spirit the tongues set on fire by the Spirit of God and you must not rest until that is real in your life because all leakage is through the tongue you can get the greatest man of God lay hands on you and pray for you and your fill in the Holy Spirit and in one day it's all gone because the vessel is leaking and before the day is out it's gone we wouldn't go and collect milk in a vessel that's got a hole in it not even one hole we'd plug every hole before we even collect water which is so cheap why are we careless when it comes to the river the living water flowing through us I want you to turn with me please to Ephesians in chapter 5 this is the only place in all the episodes where we have a direct command to be filled with the Holy Spirit there's no other command like that anywhere from Romans to Jude I mean there are examples of it in Acts of the Apostles but as a command you must be filled with the Holy Spirit's only one place in the episodes Ephesians 5 verse 18 and I don't know Greek but I read from those who I've studied it that the actual word is continuous tense you know like you say walked that happened walking means you're still doing it so here the meaning is continuous be being filled with the holy spirit all the time that's the meaning of that verse that's how you got to read it be being filled all the time I can't fill myself it doesn't say fill yourself with a spirit no because how can I do it I have to ask the Lord to fill me with the Holy Spirit and he will do that continuously if I keep the holes plugged by confess sin immediately as soon as I'm aware of a sin if I confess it I always humble myself because water always flows to the lowest place remember that water always flows to the lowest place first so the more you humble yourself chances are that you'll be filled with the spirit sooner than other people who think too much of themselves and especially the tongue now the only way to plug the hole is by immediately as soon as you're aware that you've told a lie perhaps can you confess it to God and to the person to whom you told the lie and I'll tell you this it's easier to confess to God than to confess to the person to whom you told the lie because the first requires no humility the second requires humility which many people don't have you ask yourself when you have told somebody a lie isn't it easy to go to God and say Lord I'm sorry I told a lie there that doesn't require any humanity at all but try going to that person two minutes later and saying brother brother I'm sorry I told you a lie two minutes ago just there's where we see many of us who think we're very humble then discover in that moment your humility is pretty close to zero you know these are moments of Revelation I've gone the same way myself but I've hesitated to go and apologize the Lord says that you discover that your humility is pretty close to zero I'm not preaching to you what the Lord has not shown me myself but when I've seen it I've said Lord thank you for showing me I'm not going to fool myself imagine if you fool yourself all your earthly life thinking you're a very humble brother very humble sister and you stand before the Lord in the final day and the Lord exposes you as the proudest of all people how will you feel and you discover that he couldn't give you grace because you kept up this impression of humility and when the Lord gave you a revelation here is a situation where you're not willing to go and apologize to that person you tossed it around your mind and after I'll tell you what happens after two or three days you forget it and you say oh it's okay it's not okay the wound is now festering inside the outside is all sealed up but now it's festering inside and one day it will kill you so the best thing is face up to what God is saying and if you spoke a rude word to somebody and pass it to God go to that person and say I'm sorry I spoke rudely to you as soon as you're aware of it doesn't matter who it is I tell you believe me if you follow my prescription you will plug all the holes in your life pretty quickly I know you agree with me I don't know whether you'll do it you know that verse where Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God and we think in terms of money oh I don't have money so I'm okay no hang on riches are not just money you can be rich intellectually and look down on others who are not so smart and clever as you it's difficult for you to go through that needles eye you can be rich with a sense of your own importance very difficult for you to go through the needles eye you may be very poor financially but very rich with a sense of how important the person you are that you won't stoop to us for M is very difficult to go through the needles ID when Jesus said the way to life is narrow how narrow is it six inches one inch one centimeter on millimeter I think it's pretty close to one millimeter little less than that actually because Jesus defined it the narrow way is the width of the whole of the needles eye how wide is that it's less than a millimeter by the way it's the thickness of a thin thread that's the size of the gate and that's the size of the wing anybody can find it anybody can walk that way anybody can understand if they want to humble themselves that's all that's required this big man is to become small and go through a camel finds it difficult even a mouse will find it difficult but there are little creatures in the world called amoebas amoebas is almost the smallest living being it's so small you gotta see it through a microscope and you tell this amoeba do you find it difficult to go through them needles I always it not at all so broad I just walk through it I can run through it he says because it's so small it finds the needles eye so big it just runs through it it's all a question of smallness small people go through the needles I very quickly those are rich for the sense of their own importance find it very difficult so in the use of the tongue if you want to plug the hole if you're serious about plugging the hole Jesus said the weight of life is narrow and few there be that find it now there's a difference between understanding it and finding it many understand it I think what I'm saying today it's simple enough for all of you understand a little bit of English to understand what I'm saying but it doesn't mean you have found it that will be tested in this week whether you found this way or not you understood it oh yeah sure you probably can understand it so well that you can even explain it to somebody else but to find it Jesus didn't say whew baby that understand it many therapy that understand it but few there be that find it so Ephesians 5:18 says be filled with the Holy Spirit in contrast to don't get drunk with wine see one negative one positive negatively don't get drunk with alcohol but be filled with the spirit it's like a coin with two sides now what would you think of a brother who came here to Sunday morning drunk and tottering into his seat I'm sure you'd all be talking about him after you go home did you see that brother what would you think of a brother who came here without being filled with the Holy Spirit I would he would talk about him oh that's ok do you see how we think one is such a terrible sin we drunk with wine and the other oh it's a sort of a suggestion is it a suggestion don't get drunk it's in the same words don't get drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit now I apply this to the parable that Jesus spoke about a man who had a demon let's say the demon is a demon of drunkenness he's a safe - drunkenness his demon has controlled him drunk drunk drunk drunk drunk and one day Jesus casts out that demon now what did Jesus say he leaves his heart empty the demon of drink is gone what should he do with his heart according to this verse he filled with the Holy Spirit he doesn't do that he says that's not important I got rid of the demon you know what would happen what did Jesus say eight of them will come he that one plus seven more guile get more drunk now it may not be drunkenness it may be something else be not drunk with wine but be filled with the holy spirit and when you're filled with the Holy Spirit you know what's going to happen that three things mentioned here all three have got to do with the tongue that's very interesting when you're filled with the spirit you start speaking and you won't be speaking like you used to speak in the old days you'll start speaking in things that glorify God that's the main point speaking to one other sounds and hymns spiritual songs singing and making melody with your heart and I told you what's in your heart will overflow through your mouth there'll be a song in your heart there'll be joy there'll be love and that's what's going to come out of your mouth speaking singing and the third thing giving thanks that's also with the tongue speaking singing giving thanks for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ so there again we see the connection between being filled with the holy spirit and the tongue it's consistent there throughout scripture the day of Pentecost the only place in the episodes where it says be filled with the Holy Spirit again the tongue I want to show you one more thing the Primeau verses you turn back to chapter four of Ephesians the opposite of being filled with the Holy Spirit in relation to the Holy Spirit Himself is um verse 30 Ephesians 4:30 don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God here it is positively be filled with the Holy Spirit but before that in Ephesians 4:30 it says don't grieve don't make the Holy Spirit sad don't break his heart and how do you grieve the Holy Spirit there again is through the tongue see verse 29 don't watch the way you talk don't let anything dirty come out of your mouth say only that which will help others according to the need of the moment each word should be like a gift that you give to others and then he are speaking about the use of the tongue he says don't grieve the Holy Spirit do you see how being filled with the Holy Spirit relates to the tongue dreaming the Holy Spirit also relates to the tongue and therefore he says if you want to control this done verse 31 make sure that there's no bitterness in your heart make sure there's no anger in your heart make sure there's no slander in your heart there's no slander in your heart hug and slander come from your tongue watch the heart proverbs 4:23 I think says watch your heart with all diligence because from it are all the issues of life so it too means being very interesting to see these things because I have a tremendous respect for scripture as the inspired Word of God and when I see this consistently the connection of the Holy Spirit with the tongue I realize that a lot of people who think their fill of the Holy Spirit are not filled the spirit see 1 Thessalonians in chapter 5 we're really taking a Bible study through the New Testament on the holy spawn the use of the tongue of the Holy Spirit 1 Thessalonians 5 we read here again this word verse 19 don't quench the Holy Spirit see earlier we saw don't grieve the Holy Spirit that means the Holy Spirit's like such an close friend of yours and don't make him sad by the things you speak now the Holy Spirit is pictured like a fire don't quench it that means don't pour water on that fire and quench the whole thing that tongue of fire don't quench it and again he is speaking about speech in verse 16 rejoice always pray without ceasing that's our speech in everything give thanks that's our speech don't quench the Holy Spirit don't despise prophetic utterances that's our speech do you see how the Holy Spirit in our speech are so closely connected almost everywhere it talks about grieving the spirit or quenching the spirit of being filled with the spirit and on the day of Pentecost I hope these verses will convince you that this is the primary source of leakage and any amount of praying God filming the Holy Spirit for me though it doesn't solve the problem I also believe that a lot of physic not all physical sicknesses but certainly some physical sicknesses come because we don't allow the Holy Spirit to take care of his temple we don't allow the Holy Spirit to fill our body as this temple can you imagine what would happen if you say Lord this body is the temple of Holy Spirit you know after we renovated this Hall we keep emphasizing make sure nobody no children one spoil the walls the curtains don't touch the curtains with dirty hands and this expensive equipment here don't touch it but you know that this is not the temple of God no no it's only a building the real temple is your body and I wish me to be as careful with that don't touch it with soiled hands this is the temple of God don't dirty the walls don't spoil the tongue imagine if we were careful like that like we'd care if you'd be careful if you advantage your house and put new curtains there and your children own toilet but this is a temple of God you know we care more for buildings than for this body that's why even eating and drinking we eat and drink a lot of stuff that destroys his body we'd never do that but we're so careful about the type of paint we use for walls is the one type of paint for the exterior and another type of paint for the interior and oh how careful we are we need to be careful with our bodies too especially our tongue so in Romans chapter 3 when he describes the sin of humanity Romans 3 you know it's a great chapter describing how concludes with all have sinned in Romans 3:23 all have sinned but see how he describes this the sin of man in verse 10 onwards as does written there is no one righteous not even one no one who understands no one who seeks after God all have turned aside there's no one who does good there's not even one and shall I tell you why because of their speech that throat is like a grave that tongues they used to deceive it's all tongue the poison of ASPs is under their lips their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness four sentences all got to do with the tongue their throat their tongues their lips and their mouth what is the show verse eighteen there is no fear of God before their eyes so when the Holy Spirit's one to describe the sin of humanity he says look at the way they talk that shows what rotten sinners they are what would the Holy Spirit say about the way you speak in private snakes look very beautiful I tell you stream li beautiful such multicolored snakes poison underneath so also a lot of believers poison of ASPs is under their lips every word they speak is teased with poison they open their mouths and pollute the air to believe that that you pollute the air by the words you speak now some of these things if we take seriously I really believe it will change our whole life James chapter one James a very practical man this is one of the first letters of the New Testament written by the way one of the very first it's in order it comes there but in terms of time it's one of the first letters written and James was watching Christianity developed for about 20 years before he wrote there were no books of the New Testament written for about 20 years of the day of Pentecost and then as James watched the development of Christianity over 20 years and he was writing one of the first books the New Testament he speaks about the town he said that's what I've seen him on all these so-called believers who say they're filled with all these burdens being done and so he says in James 1:26 if anybody thinks he is very spiritual in Econ bridle his tongue he is deceiving himself I want to say to that to all of you in the name of Jesus if you think you're very spiritual and you can't control your tongue in your office in your home anywhere you can't bridle it I'm not saying there's no hope for you but right now you're deceiving yourself you're deceiving yourself that you're a spiritual person you're just fooling everybody in the church but you're not fooling God and you're certainly not fooling the devil he sees through the whole thing and why is James saying that it says you've got to do something about it it deceives himself and his religion is worth zero that's Bible you present your Christianity to God what I went to a thousand meetings I know the Bible I've preached I've done this I've done this I've done that I've done the other thing and I've helped the poor now give money for God's work and I even gave money for the renovation of the building great I couldn't control my tongue how much do I get Lord zero out of a hundred zero I mean no marks for all the other thing no everything got cancelled out because the way you use your tongue I'm convinced that most believers don't believe that if they did they would really take it seriously the condition of our tongue is our spiritual condition and the olden days before doctors had stethoscopes and other gadgets 1700s and all if the physician came to your house you said you were sick you'd said show me your tongue let me have a look at it even today doctors say that oh you're sick that's what James is saying let me see your tongue not how you use it in the meeting I'll use it at home oh you use it in the office how you use it in the bus and somebody stands on your leg or something [Music] bad sick how you use it when only unbelievers are around you my brothers and sisters let's take this seriously and in James chapter 3 this is remember this one of the first letters that written in the New Testament and James had this tremendous burden seeing the condition of Christians around him for 20 years he writes a whole chapter on the tongue and he says it's not just the tongue of fire set on fire by the Holy Spirit here he says in verse 6 there's another type of fire that can set your heart on that can set your tongue alight James 3 6 it's a tongue which is set on fire by the fire of hell see the last part of that verse there are two fires that can set our tongue alight one is the fire the Holy Spirit and here it says the fire of hell and you have the choice whom you're going to give your tongue to you can give it to God sure or you can give it to the devil that's your choice God won't force you and don't think that you can give it part of the time to the devil and part of the time to God now you can't render how six days of the week to the devil and one day saying lord please come and live it here today no if it's God's it's this completely if it's the devil's you may put a whitewash of religion on it on Sunday morning but it's only a whitewash underneath the house belongs to the devil it's serious but tongue is a world of sin we think of the world outside the world of sin no it says it's inside your mouth see that verse 6 the very world of sin is right inside your mouth and then he says you can go to the zoo and find the animals leopards and the lion and everybody came but nobody's been able to contain the tongue verse 8 it's a restless evil full of deadly poison he's writing to believers he's writing in verse 1 my brother's he's not talking about those ungodly people out there my dear brothers you know what's inside your mouth my dear brothers a world of iniquity something full of deadly poison a restless evil with it we bless the Lord and praise the Lord on Sunday mornings and then go home and curse men who've been made in the likeness of God all my brothers he's talking about to believers my dear brothers it should not be like this can a fountain give fresh water and then bitter water and fresh water and bitter water something is wrong the problem is with the tree a fig tree cannot produce some other fruit it produces FIGS a wine will produce grapes and so on so he says if you're a wise person show that by the control of your tongue I want you to turn now to Psalm 12 the Old Testament is also got a psalm a chapter on the tongue just like James 3 is a chapter on the tongue of the New Testament it's good to know these chapters James 3 take time to read it and Psalm 12 what is he saying sound to a lord godly people are not there nowadays faithful people are disappearing he's talking about godly men and women faithful men and women why are they not to be found and he talks about the tongue you see they tell lies they flatter they speak with a double heart that tongue verse 3 speaks great things they say verse 4 with the tongue we will prevail our lips are our own and they devastate people with their tongue that's why there are no godly people we think godly people is somebody who looks very holy comes to the meeting regularly no even in the Old Testament the psalmist said I've seen God rarely seen a godly man because I hardly find a person who can control his tongue this is Old Testament and he says the words basically it's because of this last part of verse 4 people saying my lips are my home who in the world is going to control my tongue not Jesus nobody not the Holy Spirit's me my tongue is my own my lips are my own I open it when I feel like it I shut it when I feel like it who's going to be lord over my tongue nobody uh-huh okay well then you'd be like that but in contrast he says look at this the words of the Lord verse 6 are pure words as silver tried in a furnace refined 17 you Lord can keep them you can preserve them from this generation the wicked may strut about in every time the Lord can keep us and that I have taken that word seriously verse 6 the words of the Lord are pure words means you know many thoughts come into our mind some of those thoughts are temptation don't think that every thought that comes in your mind is sin a lot of it is temptations if you accept it it's sin that means even if you relish it in your mind it's sin but temptation comes into the mind and you'll be tempted at the end of your life temptation came to Jesus might when the devil said to Jesus turned the stones into bread so thought in his mind he rejected it so temptation is not sin but they're all types of thought were thoughts come in our mind to say this and say this and you got to be careful what is filtered and comes through the mouth and what should be thrown out you know like this Aquaguard water filter when they demonstrated they'll put some dirty water in here and clean water comes out here it's not wonderful God can do something like that to the Holy Spirit all these dirty thoughts coming into our mind and it's all filtered and what comes out of my mouth is pure because when I think of saying a word I say hey that's not the right word I say I throw it back into the furnace purified one once I think of another word known and not even that we're buying the furnace maybe seven times that's what it says verse 6 then it comes out as pure sometimes you write a letter and a icon write it like that I have written some letters 20 times before I ever send it out throw it back throw it back throw it back do you do that you think about what you say or do you speak without thinking you know in Proverbs it says that the wise person thinks about what he said think about not about another Dane let me just say this in closing if you turn to the book of Proverbs it says in chapter 15 and verse 4 chapter 15 and verse 4 a soothing tongue is a tree of life you know that that tree of life from the Garden of Eden the other tree is a tree of knowledge you can dish out all the knowledge of the Bible you have good and evil good and evil you can teach people about it and your tongue can be a tongue of death like that tree of knowledge brought death to Adam the other thing it says is your tongue can be a tree of life your tongue can bring life to other people a soothing tongue a healing tongue can be a tree of life I don't want a world of iniquity inside my mouth I want a tree of life I hope you want it too and I hope you will not understand just understand what I said but you'll find this way say Lord whatever the cost I want the Holy Spirit to control my tongue amen

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Keywords: Zac, Poonen, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: Tx43-RcQG1Q

Length: 58min 9sec (3489 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 19 2009