Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12. I'd like to look at verses 16 to
19. The Spirit of God. revealed in
Ecclesiastes 3, 7, that there's a time to keep silence
and a time to speak. I suppose I've tried to think
of a passage of scripture that would bear that out, and I think
that there's no scripture that bears it out any plainer. Let me just read this to you.
Matthew 26, verses 62 and 63, when our Lord stood before his
accusers and said, The high priest arose and said unto him, Answerest
thou nothing? What is it which these witness
against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered
and said unto him, I assure thee by the living God that thou tellest
whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. A couple of witnesses there accused
him, said this fellow said I'm able to destroy the temple of
God and to build it. three days, and the high priest
arose and said to him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which
these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace." Oh, the wisdom that was exhibited
by our precious Savior as He submitted to the will of His
Father. He had to die. All those that the father had
given him, their debt is going to have to be paid. That debt was made to be his
own. He didn't just bear, he did bear
the penalty of it, but it was not in a way that many say. He was actually made what they
are, and he hung there as them. He hung there being made sin. He knew no sin. He was made sin. I still, I think on that scripture
as many times as I've tried to think it over and ball it over
in my mind. And there hanging on that cross,
The holy, harmless Lamb of God made sin. Hanging upon that cross was sin. Father forsook him. Forsook him. Because he hung there being made
sin, God poured out his wrath on him. If he wasn't actually made sin,
then God killed an innocent man. He must suffer. He must be taken
by wicked hands and crucified. Accomplishing the perfect purpose
of Almighty God, his people must be redeemed. And with perfect wisdom, he was sacked. Isaiah said, Isaiah
53, he was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not
his mouth. He brought the lamb to the slaughter,
and the sheep before her shearers his dung. So he openeth not his
mouth. And as we'll observe the perfect
obedience of our Savior, from that perfect obedience on learning
when to be quiet, when to speak, we're going to look in the book
of Proverbs here, chapter 12. Consider a few scriptures. Verse
16, let's start there. wrath is presently, in that day,
is presently known, but a prudent man coveteth shame." Now, in
light of what these words mean, and I'll try to set forth as
clearly as I understand them to be, this verse of Scripture
has to do with the anger that is in the natural man's heart,
there's anger, and we're all like this. Now listen, we're
all born, the carnal man, the carnal heart, the carnal mind
is enmity against God. Now this is, as I've said before,
now listen to me, there's nobody here, nobody here is without
a heart like that. Everybody in this room's got
a heart like that. It starts right here in this
pulpit. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, I see in me, he said, that is in my flesh there dwells no
good thing. So don't try to justify yourself. We've all got a heart that's
just so wicked. He hates God. That's why there's
got to be a new heart put in. A man's got to be born again.
There's got to be a new man put in there, Bob. A new man. One created in righteousness
and truth, holiness, the life of Christ himself. That's that
new creature. That's that new creation. It's
Christ in you. The hope of glory. There's a
new, that's why it sins not. It's so hard. A fool's wrath
is presently known. You know how quickly a fool is
known by his anger. His anger against God. His anger
against God's gospel. His anger against God's people.
And his anger against God's dealings with men. You know when Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar, the scripture
says that Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and the form of
his visage was changed toward those men. When he realized,
are you fellas telling me that you're not going to bow down
to this golden image that I've created? Is that what you're
telling me? Up till that point, you know, He kind of liked them. But when he realized, you're
not going to bow to me, my image and his visage was turned, changed
to war. And because of man's total and
complete fall in Adam, man is self-centered. It's all about
me. It's all about my selfishness. And man by nature, based on God's
Word, hates God. The Lord told his disciples,
he said, remember, he said, they hated me before they hated you. Boy, I try to think back, you
know, and think on that scripture right there. I'd read that right there and
I can remember thinking to myself, I know that says that, that man
hates God, but you know what? I don't hate God. But you know Mitch, the only
problem is that God is true and I'm a liar. I don't hate God, God says
yes you do. Apart from Christ, yes you do. It's going to take the Spirit
of God to reveal that to me. Because I'm going to justify
myself, believe me. A fool's wrath is presently known,
but a prudent man covereth shame. Now, when you first read that,
you think it means something that it doesn't. But it has to
do with the mouth. It has to do with the speech.
It has to do with the attitude. It covereth shame. In the same way that our Lord
perfectly submitted to His Father's will to be our substitute, His
people, regenerated by the grace of God, have a heart that submits to His providential
dealings. When it says that they cover
shame, the fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth
shame. It means anger. They bow, when it says cover
shame, it means to bow to God's providential chastenings. They bow to it. Let me tell you
what goes on when you hear or see or behold something that
comes your way, comes my way. This is the way we all are. We're
all like this. When something comes our way,
here's the first thing that happens. What? There's the old man. What? You've got to be kidding
me. But that new man, that new man
is going to bow. That new man will bow. Listen to David. It's good for
me that I've been afflicted that I might learn my statutes. Now that old man will never say
that. He'll never say that. But that
new man bows. He bows. He bows. You've done right. Job said,
naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return
to her. The Lord gave, the Lord hath
taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, and all this Job
sinned not. What, because Job was so good
in himself? No, that which is born of God
sinneth not, nor charged God foolishly. Now, I'll be the first
to tell you, I'll be the first to admit it. Believe me, I know
that we struggle with the presence of sin. It's there. It's there. And that old man wars against
that new man, and there's a battle that's going on. And as I told
you last week, I look within and I read what the Scripture
says about that which is born of God, sinneth not. I just can't see it, Fred. I
can't see it. Where the scripture says, I believe
God, I come to Him, the way I see that is sins mixed with everything
that I do. Thanks be unto God that God Almighty
says it so. That I will struggle, I can enter
into that. Here's the heart of verse 16. It says, A fool's wrath is presently
known, but a prudent man covered in shame. Here's the truth of
it. There's a spirit of meekness. That is submissiveness in God's
people. And there's a tongue that's governed
by grace. Verse 17 says, He that speaketh
truth, showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness, deceit. He that speaketh truth. Now, when we speak of truth concerning
Scripture right here, there is but one that is He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. So when we talk about speaking truth, what we're saying
right there is that we're going to set forth and speak that which
is concerning God's honor in Christ. What God has to do, the
report that God has to say, He that speaketh truth, showeth
forth righteousness. His righteousness. Verse 17 is sending forth that
the believer that has a new heart, that confesses Christ, confesses,
speaks truth. I mean, I could tell you that
today is Sunday, and you say, well, that's the truth. Well,
apart from The pardon and grace of Christ,
that's a lie. Because I don't really believe
everything that I know about today. I mean, I just told you
that there's enough rebellion in me. That's a lie. No, truth
is concerning Christ. He that speaketh truth. But there's something else about
this Scripture. It's obvious from the scripture, he that would
speak truth, would speak of Christ. But I want you to read it again.
He that speaketh truth, showeth forth righteousness. He that hath a heart, and out
of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks. He that speaketh,
he that confesses Christ, manifests the grace of God. He said something,
but he does something too. He that speaketh truth, showeth
forth righteousness. What God has done for him. He
that breathes faithfulness, reveals righteousness, is what he literally
says. He, in regenerating grace, that new man, where that new
heart is imparted, where the life of Christ himself is. That believer that confesses
the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, he has a conversation about it,
a walk about it, that is according to faith. Here again, I'm going
to just tell you, Don't ever think that any believer, anybody
that ever tells you that they just don't see themselves continually
plagued with the presence of sin. Don't let anybody tell you,
that doesn't admit that, that they know anything about God's
grace. I'm telling you, we struggle
in this life every day. Struggle before you get up. Struggle
when you get up. Struggle until you go to sleep
at night and you don't know it anymore. Struggling. But the Spirit of God, the Scripture
reveals and calls out God's guides, God's people. They expose or
publish God's work of grace in their heart. There's a consistency. And that consistency, I've never
seen more consistency than in one day amidst His need of Christ. There's the very heart of consistency. I need Him. Oh, that God Almighty
would do something for me. Lord, I appeal to Your strength.
Lord, I appeal to You who is all of my hope. Lord, in me I
see nothing. or like to be of grace, a believer
that walks with consistency before God, struggles every moment of
this life, calling upon Him, coming to Him again. Coming to
Him afresh. God's people never separate from
the body of this death. Struggle until they leave this
world. But I'm telling you, they walk in a horrible way. They
walk as needy people. That's how they walk. Reading,
searching God's scriptures, asking, Lord, would you open my eyes? Lord, would you speak to me through
your word? Lord, I feel myself just being
just a helpless, struggling, Paul said in Ephesians 4, when
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. He that speaketh
truth showeth forth righteousness, but false witness beseecheth. Just as a believer speaks the
truth concerning Christ and His honor and glory and grace, And
he manifests the mercy of God in himself toward others. They
see it. They see it. The unbeliever not
only speaks a lie concerning how God justifies a sinner, but
there's a deceit in everything that they do. They just fake. They just fake. I mean, there's
enough. But here again, we're all like this. I want to fool
you. That's what's hard about me.
I want to fool you. I want you to think that I'm
nicer than I am. I want you to think that I'm
kinder than I am. I want you to think that I'm more generous
than I am. See, I know better. So I'd like
to fool you. heart of deceit within me. But listen to this when our Lord
spoke. John 1.47, Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is
no guile. What a word. You think Nathaniel
knew that? Everyone that Almighty God has
done something for, in Christ, in Him, behold, one in whom is
no God. And one day, by the grace of
God, that old man is going to be put on a body of death. Who
shall deliver me from the body of death? God will. God will. The Scripture says, He that speaketh
truth showeth forth righteousness. He shows forth what God does
for a sinner. He shows forth the need that
he has. He manifests his weakness, but
a false witness, deceit. This is an amazing Scripture. Proverbs 21 and 24. A high look
and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin. Nothing that that old man, nothing
that an unbeliever does has any honor to it. Well, I'm just out
there working. Sam, the wagon gets going. Why? Because Christ is not there.
Verse 18, there is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword,
but the tongue of the wise is held. You know, I know much can be
said concerning the use of the tongue in a wicked or dishonorable
way. But the heart of that passage
right there goes all the way back to the garden, I believe.
That's where it all started. And everything else that I could
say about this scripture right here would just be building upon
what I praise, the very heart of this. It says, that which
speaketh There is that, speaketh like the piercings of a sword. Whenever Satan came to Eve after
God had told him, Adam and Eve, you eat of all the fruit in this
garden, of this one tree. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. Don't eat of that. The day you
eat of it, you're going to die. And Satan came to Eve, and he
said to her, Thou shalt not surely die. You're not going to die. And those words heard and acted
upon was like the piercings of a sword through mankind. And all men died. These scriptures set forth The only hope for mankind, the
only hope for a man and a woman is to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ
as He is revealed in these scriptures. Sovereign, electing, absolutely salvation, all of
grace, no works of righteousness. Bow to Him or you're going to
die. And Satan will tell you right now, you're not going to
die. He's lying to you. He's lying to you. You know in
your heart, you know that that far out doctrine that he's preaching,
they've been preaching that here for years. And look, don't believe
him. Don't believe him. Show me one thing in the Word
of God that I've said this morning that you can refute. Show me
one thing that's wrong. Show me one thing wrong. or bow
to him, one of the two. In the indescribable mercy of
God, while Satan yet spoke and said,
you will not die, The Scripture says forth, the
tongue of the wise is health. Health. I keep saying health. It is health. Health. The tongue of the wise. There
is but one wise. The wisdom of God. Christ. In the beginning was the Word
The Word was with God, the Word was God, the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. The Lord asked his disciples,
will you go away also? Simon Peter answered him, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Lord, you're the prophet of God. You have revealed man's depravity. Lord, you've told us what we
are. You're the one that said there's
none good. You read that back in Psalms?
Who said that? The Word of God Himself. God speaks through one only,
His Son. It's my beloved Son whom I'm
well pleased to hear Him. The only one, the wise one, the
tongue of the wise is hell. He's the One who revealed Himself. I'm the Way, I'm the Truth, I'm
the Life. He alone is the Spirit's subject
in regenerating the race. It's all about Him. John 6, 6 and 3 is the Spirit
that quickened it, the flesh profited from nothing. The flesh, property, nothing! The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit and they're life. In this last verse, verse 19
for today, the lip of truth shall be established forever, but a
lying tongue is but for a moment. Oh, how we should keep an eye toward
eternity in what we preach, believe, and confess. Somebody in this
congregation this morning is closer to eternity and leaving
this earth than anybody else. Somebody here, who was just in
Crossville, Tennessee, a little boy, passed away. Boy, it was brought back to my
mind again, the frailty of this life, how quickly it's just gone. And if this was the last time
that I ever preached to you, I'd hate to know that I didn't
set forth how God saves a sinner. I'd hate to think back and I
thought, that person, heard me preach and I didn't tell them
how God saves sinners. I didn't warn them. I didn't tell them the truth.
I didn't tell them afresh. I didn't tell them again what
they are in themselves. I didn't tell them again where
life was. I wasn't consistent with the word of God. Paul said,
woe unto me if I don't preach the gospel. Truth. The lip of truth. He is truth. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but He is living of truth. Endureth forever. But the lion's
tongue is but for a moment. If God's Word alone That is that
which shall endure. The lying tongue that's going
to pass away, now I will tell you this, the consequences of
it won't. But this lying tongue is but for a moment. A man that
lies on God, That's not going to endure. The lying tongue of self-righteous
works before God. Though men may avoid detection
for a while and tell you that they love you and they care about
you and they care about this, that, and the other in this world,
no, they don't care about anything. What does a man think about Christ?
All of these little programs and all of this things and mess
and stuff. I told you about this lady, she
and her husband now sitting in the system. Her brother Chris
Cunningham in Franklin, Tennessee. I'll never forget one of the
first times that I ever met her. She came back after, she heard
me preach on Sunday and then she came back on Wednesday. And
she said, I wanted to come back today to make sure that I heard
what you were saying. And I asked her, I said, well,
did I say the same thing? She said, yeah. She said, the
first thing I noticed is you preach out of the Bible every
time. I said, where did your pastor
preach from? She said, well, Portuguese, current events, newspaper
articles. The lip of truth is forever. That is established,
that endures. The line comes, the signal. I would rather, I would rather
this world despise me I don't want to be despised, but I've
got to be honest with men, and honest with you. We're going
to leave this world, and we're going to stand before God. There's
life in Christ. Thou to Him. Here's that saying
I heard Gary Bourne say, what's wrong with God getting all the
glory? May the Lord bless these words
with our heart for the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ.