Proverbs 18, seven, a fool's
mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his
soul. Now this proverb is based upon
a very simple principle, plainly stated by our Lord in Matthew
chapter 15. So if you would turn there with
me, Matthew chapter 15 in verse 10. Scripture sheds light on scripture A fool's mouth is his destruction
and his lips are the snare of his soul Now look what our Lord
taught in Matthew 15 10 and he called the multitude and said
unto them hear and understand Not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man The Jews had these traditional teachings
and laws that said if you, you have to eat certain things on
certain days and things like that, and you had to be careful
to wash your hands ceremonially really well before you eat. But
he said, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man,
but that which cometh out of the mouth. I imagine that was
a shocking doctrine to them. This defileth a man. Then came
his disciples and said unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees
were offended after they heard this say? Not only is he destroying
their traditional teachings, but you know their wills are
turning what comes out of my mouth defiles me. And they may
have reason to the logical conclusion of that. and that was offensive
to them. But he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. Then answered Peter and said
unto him, declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, are
ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that
whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and
is cast out into the drought? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the
man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. Therefore, a fool's mouth is
his destruction. Because of what comes out of
the mouth, where it comes from. is our problem. Basic gospel
truth that religion still doesn't understand. And being careful what you say
is not the answer to this. I thought,
what is the lesson here? Well, be very careful what you
say. Guard what comes out of your mouth. We should be careful what we
say. And we pray, Lord, keep the door of my lips. Don't let
me dishonor you or harm your children or discourage
your children by what comes out of my mouth. But what you say
is not the root problem. The lesson in this is we need
a new heart. What comes out of the mouth reveals
the sinful heart. And only God can change that.
We should be careful, we should, don't get me wrong, we should
be guarded about what we say. Let your speech be always with
grace. But the real lesson here is that
our problem is what's inside, not what's outside or comes out
or goes into the mouth. It's our heart. So what would
our advice be? What would the lesson be? Be
careful what you say? Not really. Do that. But you know what my advice always
is, and it's clear here. You need to hear from God. God
changes the heart. How does he do that? How does
God change hearts? How does God teach us to forgive
and to love and to be kind one to another? And our speech to
be seasoned with grace and to think on the things of others
and not just ourselves. How does he teach us that? His word by his gospel Christ
is not just our example in this It's important to understand
that he clearly is our example when he was reviled he reviled
not again He was kind and long-suffering
and gracious to sinners The scripture says grace pours
from his lips and it did it does and But it was not just an example
to follow. It's Christ in us that is our
hope of glory, and it's our hope of ever being like Him at all. It's Him in us. I live, nevertheless
not I, but Christ liveth in me. That's what we need. More than
just an example. He is our example. We do wanna
follow Him, which we know that word means imitate. We do wanna do that, but how
are you gonna do that? You're gonna fail miserably in
that endeavor unless something's going on in here, something supernatural,
something by the grace of God alone. Turn with me to Matthew 12 in reference to that. Christ in us it's a it's a complete
transformation Of the person Matthew 1233 Either
make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt
and his fruit corrupt For the tree is known by his fruit again
such a simple Parable, illustration, example. You know what kind of
tree it is. Some people can tell by the bark,
but I guarantee you, it's unmistakable. If it has bananas on it, it's
a banana tree. You can't miss that. It's an
apple tree if it has apples on it. Old generation of vipers. How
can ye being evil speak good things? The way you talk is because
of what you are, you're snakes. And snakes have poison in their
mouth. For out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh. You see that? It's what you are.
You're either a good tree or an evil tree. And you're not
born like that. That's clear all through scripture.
You're not born a good tree or an evil tree. But look at verse
35 of good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth
forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil
treasure Notice of the heart. That's why the Lord said, I'll
give you a new heart. People object to the idea of
us having a new nature. How about a new heart then? Is
that all right with you? A new heart, a new person, a
new being, a new creation. Those are stronger words than
nature. So why would you have a problem with that? We are by
nature the children of wrath. Are you a child of wrath then?
You're going to hell? Then you're gonna have to have
a new nature, if not. But I say unto you, verse 36, that every idle word that men
shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of
judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned, because they
reveal what you are, good tree, bad tree, a snake, or a sheep. Then notice the word snare in
our text. I always wanna Talk about this,
because this word snare is used in the scripture quite a bit,
and the illustration clearly is of an animal caught in a snare. You use stairs for one thing,
as far as I know. You trap an animal in it, a rabbit
or whatever. A bird caught in a snare. And the nature of snares is that
the more you do, the more you're caught. That's why this word
is used in scripture. Our struggles are not the solution. Our struggles just make the snare
that much tighter because everything we do is sin. The more we do,
the more we sin. The tighter the snare fastens
itself upon us. And our words are like that.
The more we say, the deeper we get. According to God, the more you
say, the more ensnared you are. The more you do, the more you
sin. The only way you get out of a snare is if someone comes
where you are and loses you from that snare. And here's what that looks like
in spiritual things. Getting out of the snare. You
want to know what that looks like? Look at John 831. John 8, 31, then said Jesus to
those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word,
then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. And they answered him, we be
Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. They're
caught in the snare and don't even know it. How sayest thou
you shall be made free? Now since they believed on him,
that doesn't necessarily mean that they had saving faith, because
some believed on him because of the miracles, and the Lord
knew what was in their heart. He didn't commit himself to them,
because he knew what was in their heart. So I'm not sure here,
but maybe they did, and they just were ignorant as of yet. What do you mean set free? What
do you mean? We're not in bondage. Jesus answered
them, verse 34, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth
sin is the slave of sin. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever. The son, the son abideth forever. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, then ye shall be free indeed. That's how you
get out of the snare. The Son and His truth. Now we know from Scripture that
when the Son, with the truth of the gospel, sets you free,
He gives you a new heart. That's why we've read what we've
read about the heart. Out of the heart proceedeth these
things. And when God gives you a new
heart, as he said of that good tree, it bringeth forth good
things. That's why Paul worded it the way that he did. He said,
in me, that is in my flesh, in me as I am by nature dwelleth
no good thing. But if Christ be in you, then
something good dwells in you. He who alone is good dwells in
you. His spirit dwells in you, and
from that heart proceeds better things So I also look at a couple
of on the positive side of this As a believer look at Colossians
4 3 let's just turn to a few scriptures here will be through
Colossians 4 3 With all praying also for us
that God would open unto us a door of utterance. Here we are talking
about what comes out of your lips, what comes out of your
mouth. Pray for us that God would open us a door of utterance to
speak the mystery of Christ, to speak of the Lord Jesus, for
which I am also in bonds, that I may make it clear manifest
as I ought to. That's the way I ought to speak. Plainly, clearly, revealing what
God's revealed to me. And then verse five, walk in
wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time and let your
speech. He's just talked about, you pray
for me that what I might say would be Christ. Clearly, plainly,
the simplicity that's in Christ. And then he turns around and
says this, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with
salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. What
a wonderful thing that would be. Let the Lord would grant us that. And may
God make this so of us. Titus 2.7, turn to Titus 2.7
with me. I'll have you turn to a couple
more verses and we'll be through. Titus 2.7. In all things, showing thyself
a pattern of good work. Show yourself an example. of good works in doctrine, showing
uncorruptness in the teaching of Christ, say
what he said. Gravity, sincerity, sound speech that
cannot be condemned. You remember when the apostles,
by the power of Christ, raised that layman and they said, don't look at us like we did
something. This is the Lord Jesus Christ that shed this abroad,
the one that you crucified. And they could say nothing against
it. Remember when it said that? They could say nothing against
it. If you preach the truth of the gospel, plain and clear and
show people, look what it says. They can deny it, they can gnash
their teeth, but they can't say anything against it. Well, that doesn't mean that.
Well, then what does it mean then? Well, I don't know, but
it doesn't mean that. Yeah, you don't know. Until God
shows you, you're not gonna know. It cannot be condemned. that
he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed. They may not
let on that they are, but he's sitting there telling you, put
them to shame with the truth of Christ. Not just because you
want to shame them or you want to be superior, I know better
than you. But if somebody believes that
God loves everybody, they ought to be ashamed of that. How can
you read this book and say that? If somebody believes and says
Christ died for everybody, you ought to be ashamed of that. It's not unclear. having no evil thing to say of
you. They can't deny it. They can avoid it, get mad at
you and all that, but you can't deny the truth. And then Ephesians 4.29, let's
look at this together in closing. Ephesians 4.29. Ephesians 4, 29, let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is
good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto
the hearers. Now you see what he's talking
about by corrupt communication. It's not using bad words, which,
you know, why use bad words? But listen, that which is good
to the use of building up. that it may minister grace to
the hearers. And that word corrupt, it means
putrefaction. When you lie about God, it is
putrid. We don't just disagree with it,
it makes us sick in our stomach to hear it. It's disgusting. To defile The truth of him who
is altogether lovely is disgusting to those who know him. And grieve not, verse 30, grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption. So you see what he's talking
about? Don't let it come out of your mouth. So that's what
he's talking about all through this. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Let all bitterness, don't let
bitterness come out of your mouth and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil what? Speaking. So you see what he's
saying here. Don't let it come out. Let it be put away from you with
all malice and be kind one to another. tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. What comes out of your mouth
is what it is because of the condition of your heart. May God give us kind and humble,
forgiving, Christ-honoring hearts And let the redeemed of the Lord,
what did David say? Let the redeemed of the Lord
talk like it. May God make it so, let's pray.