Proverbs 18 8 the words of a
tailbearer are as wounds And they go down into the innermost
parts of the belly Now the word tailbearer It helps to look at the original
definition there because it's not just somebody telling stories
that's Let's put that in this context slender or backbiter. That's the actual
wording in the original definition. Slanderer or backbiter. And of
course we're reminded when we see these verses concerning words
and the evil that comes out of our mouths as sinners. We're always reminded of that
passage in James. We read it several times lately,
so we won't turn there this morning, but you remember where James
said the tongue is a fire. And it's a flame that was kindled
in hell, he said. It was set on fire of hell. And
it's a destructive fire. Words are vastly destructive. And look at this verse in comparison
with the previous two. Let me get over there to Proverbs
18. There's a three verse set there
that talk about words and what comes out of the mouth of a sinner. Look at verse six, a fool's lips
enter into contention. Now contention is a confrontation,
a face-to-face confrontation. And then in verse 7 or 8, or
yes, 7, a fool's mouth is his destruction. It's when a fool
opens his mouth and says what he says, it's destructive to
himself. But here in our verse this morning,
we see that it's also destructive of other people. Spread destruction
everywhere you go And you cause that by what you
say And until we see ourselves like that It ain't gonna get
better the Lord's gonna show us that before he Puts a restraint upon it This wretch in our verse this
morning doesn't even have the courage to face and confront
the person that he destroys. I've told you all several times
before, and I ask you again this morning, as nice as I can, if
you ever have a problem with me, have the decency to come
to me about it. And I'll try to do you the same
courtesy. But let me give you this one
caveat about that because it's important. And it better be good, if you
know what I mean. If you're going to come to me
or anybody with a problem and confront them with that, maybe
a rebuke or whatever it is, whatever form it takes, don't come with
some stupid nonsense that should have just been let go. Does that
make sense? It's a lot better to just let
it go. I wish they'd never written that
song, because I feel like busting out of that song every time I
say, let it go. But I won't. Trust me, people have had to
let things go when it comes to you. So don't be so quick to make an
issue out of things. So with that caveat, come to
me with it. There's probably a logical explanation
for it. I don't do too many crazy things,
so I probably have a reason for it. It might not be a good one. But if you and I both point out
each other's faults every time we see them, we're not gonna
be friends. Does that make sense? Which brings
me to my next point, let it go. One of the remedies of this problem
in our text is just let things go. It's called being a grownup. It's called being a man. It's called being a strong, mature
woman. Listen to what the scripture
says about controlling, especially the second part of this verse.
In fact, turn over there to Proverbs 16, since you're in 19 already,
or 18. Just turn back a few pages, Proverbs
16, 32. This is a verse I bet you hadn't
thought of lately. But what an instructive verse. Proverbs 16, 32, he that is slow
to anger is better than the mighty. But here's the part that applies
to our text. And he that ruleth his spirit, he that instead of just reacting
like we normally do, instead of just giving in to the temptation
of our wretched sinful hearts and saying the dumb things that
we are prone to say, rule your spirit. You can't do that. In fact, you remember that passage
in James we referred to? He said the tongue can't be tamed,
not by you. We're gonna talk about that in
a minute. You can't tame it. But by the
grace of God, by his strength, the strength of the inner man,
the new man, tame, he that ruleth his spirit is better than he
that taketh a city. We tend to think that strength
and power and might is expressed in violent things or braggadocious
things. No, no. Silence. That's power. That's strength. Restraint. You're doing the impossible
by the grace of God is what you're doing. We need to change our thoughts
on that, don't we? The way that strength is expressed. Strength is shutting up. Strength
is not showing out and making yourself look strong. James didn't say that our tongues
are sometimes set on fire of hell. You know, we're not always, you
know, destroying with our tongues. You've got to actually rule your
spirit to overcome what your tongue naturally is. Our tongues
are always set on fire of hell. because the fires of hell are
kindled in our hearts and it comes out unless, by God's grace,
we're able to overcome the rule over that restraint. I'll tell you this, I highly
recommend, not these exact words maybe, but a prayer like this,
set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. You do that, Lord. The tongue
can't be tamed, but with God, all things are possible. Philippians 4.13, I can do all
things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Terminated Colossians 4 6 this
is a beautiful Scripture that will help us on
this subject Colossians 4 6 This is by, again, the grace
of God. I can do all things through Christ
now. And I pray to God, you set a watch, oh Lord, before my mouth.
Keep the door of my lips, do what I can't do. Restrain my
evil from coming out and being destructive. It's destructive. It's like a wound. Way down in
your belly, our verse says. A mortal wound. Colossians 4, 6, let your speech
be always with grace. How is a tongue set on fire of
hell, but always be gracious? The Lord, grace, Christ, the
power of the Lord resting on us. Seasoned with salt, that you
may know how you ought to answer. every man, all way. Notice that
word, all way. All way with grace, our Lord
Jesus Christ. What would you say was the Lord's, when you see the Lord, the most
angry? The Lord got angry. When you think about the Lord
being angry, what scene comes to your mind? when he was in
the temple, right? And he saw the money changers
in the temple and he platted, he platted a whip and drove them
out. But you remember what he said? Remember what came out
of his mouth, even at his most angry? The scripture. My house shall be called the
house of prayer, it's written. But you've made it a den of thieves.
You've made it a den of thieves. The scriptures came when he was
confronted by Satan what came out of his mouth man shall not
live by bread Alone If you were actually confronted by the devil
himself we'd probably have some choice words for him and it wouldn't
have been gracious And he wasn't, of course, being
gracious to the devil, but the words that came out of his mouth,
even then, and I'm giving you extreme examples, when the Lord might have railed and real venom might have come
out of his mouth. Instead, it was the word of God,
the truth of Scripture, the bread of life, words of eternal life. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. You remember
when the Jews took up stones to stone him? What would you have said to them?
Maybe you'd have just taken off running, but then again, you
might've called them a few names as you were running away. You remember what our Lord said
when they took up stones to violently murder the Son of God? Many good works have I showed
you from my Father. For which of these do you stone
me? You see how, what a perfect, to say the least, example our
Savior is in this. Way all way with grace Turn please
to first Peter 220 let's close with Taking a quick look at this
passage of scripture first Peter 220 With this prayer in our hearts
Lord keep set a watch before our mouth Keep the door of our lips 1 Peter 2.20, for what glory is
it if when you be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently?
But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. Now this is a situation where
you might just slander somebody. If you are wronged, if you are
accused falsely, If you've done good and somebody calls it evil,
you might just have a few things to say, and you might say it
behind their back. Because listen to the rest of
this. If when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For even here unto were you called, because Christ also suffered
for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps,
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when
he was reviled, that is reproached, he reviled not again. When he
suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously. when you're wronged, when you're
slandered. Don't return the favor. Don't say, well, okay, they said
that about me, I know a few things on it. Commit the whole thing
to God. Well, I might end up suffering
some consequences, I gotta set the record straight. The Lord
is the one that keeps the records. The Lord is the one that balances
the books. Trust him. Don't feel like you
have to settle everything, every score. The Lord does that. He committed himself to him that
judges righteously. And there's a little conspicuous
implication there. When your flesh gets involved,
it's not gonna get handled right. He judged it righteously. You don't, I don't, let him handle
it. And I say let him, you know what
I mean by that. He's gonna handle it. Stay out
of the way. And the Lord teaches this. By
the way, who his own self bear our sins, in his own body on the tree.
He forgave our sins. He bore our
sins. He did away with our sins. So are we going to look on the
sins of somebody else and commit more sin in order to counteract
their sins? that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were as sheep going astray,
but now are returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. I want to be like him, don't
you? I sure do. You see that, to follow that
word follow? that we should follow in his
steps. That word follow means to follow
in one's footsteps, but also to imitate his example. A follower is an imitator of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
think about this, we always make this Qualification and we'll
close with this thought Christ is our example in this but he's
a lot more than that. He's our substitute He's our example we follow him
we imitate him by not slandering by not being a backbiter but
not reviling But we fail he don't So he's not just our example,
and it's not our following of him that's meritorious before
God. It's him that's meritorious before
God. You see what I mean? He's our
example, but he's also our substitute. He's the one that kept this saying
for us. He's our righteousness. And I
want to follow him too. I want to follow him. Not to
be righteous before God, Christ is my righteousness. So, we fail in this, but he did not. And it's the unfailing Christ
who is our substitute before God. It's not our following of
him that is our merit before God, but his vicarious righteousness
in which we stand. So we whisperers, we murmurers,
if you're a slanderer, a backbiter, and you are by nature with no
restraint, without the grace of God, you need Christ. Is that not what we just read?
Remind yourself to go read that again later today first Peter
2 20 through 25 You need Christ And we who know the Lord Jesus
Christ This ought not to be named among us To be slanderers and
backbiters and revilers may the Lord Make it so that it's never
named among us. Amen