In the sermon 'Recognizing and Mortifying Sins of the Tongue' by Mike Davenport, the speaker delves into Colossians 3:8-17 to address the sins of the tongue, such as blasphemy, filthy language, lying, boasting, idle words, slander, gossip, complaining, and disputing. He emphasizes the destructive power of the tongue throughout biblical history and underscores the importance of recognizing and mortifying these sins. The sermon is divided into two main sections: a consideration of sin and a consideration of the Savior. Davenport encourages believers to reflect on the sins of the tongue as outlined by biblical teachings, particularly exhorting the audience to put off anger, wrath, and malice. He draws from Richard Baxter's 'A Christian Directory' to provide a more extensive list of tongue-related sins. The sermon also highlights the necessity of aligning speech with the purity and holiness of God, emphasizing that the tongue should be used for edification and to impart grace. Furthermore, Davenport points to Christ as the ultimate example of pure speech, noting that Jesus' words were always edifying and grace-filled. The sermon concludes with a call to look to Christ for transformation and victory over the sins of the tongue, stressing the role of God’s Spirit in conforming believers to the image of Christ.

Colossians chapter 3 verse 8 through 17. But now you yourselves are to put off all these things anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another even as Christ forgave you so you also must do but above all these things put on love which is the bond of perfection and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and Whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him Let's pray Lord I pray that you would make us a thankful people. Lord, that you, by your Spirit, would change us as we hear your word into the likeness of your son. Lord we thank you that the work that you begun in us you will complete it until that last day. Thank you that you will give us redeemed bodies Lord where we will be like you and see you face to face in heaven.

We bless your name and we praise you Lord. I pray that you speak to us and change us. Use Mike and Lord I pray that your word would be preached boldly. For it is your word and it is inspired. Your very words Lord thank you.

Thank you for these words. It's in Christ and we pray. Amen. Well think back a few minutes over the course of biblical history and pause to consider the power of words in determining the course of history, whether that course involved an individual or an entire nation. I will be like the Most High.

High. Has God indeed said, I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go. As for me Israel go. As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. You are the man.

Let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. Is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty, think of the New Testament. Follow me. Your house is left to you desolate. I do not know the man.

Let him be crucified, His blood be on us and on our children. It is finished. Yes, for so much money we sold the land. Go away for now. When I have convenient time, I will call for you.

The power of the tongue. Yes, the tongue sets on fire the entire course of nature. Things unfold because of the tongue. Things happen. Things occur because of the tongue.

It brings death, or it brings life. Well, having considered last week the priority of the tongue, the power of the tongue, the potential of the tongue, and the purity of the tongue that God calls us to. I thought it would be good to have our hearts stirred up this week to our duty of recognizing and mortifying sins of the tongue. Recognizing and mortifying sins of the tongue. And we will do so under just two headings today, just two.

The first is a consideration of our sin, a consideration of our sin. And then secondly, a consideration of our Savior. So first, a consideration of our 10, of our sins, excuse me. I would like to deal briefly with eight sins of the tongue. If you would like a more detailed list of the sins of the tongue with longer explanations, I would refer you to Richard Baxter's A Christian Directory, Chapter 9, in the section of Christian ethics.

And as Mr. Baxter says, draws this to an end, he lists 39 sins of the tongue, and yet he says this, these among others are the sins of the tongue to be avoided. No wonder if there be yet more for the tongue is a world of iniquity." He's quoting James what we saw last week, a world of iniquity. Well the first three that we will cover this morning are actually found in the text that was read just before I came up and that's in Colossians 3, 8 through 10. But now you yourselves are to put off all of these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him." And so we see in this list, first of all, blasphemy. Now, we could back up and we could talk about anger. We could talk about wrath and malice because Those are sins in and of themselves that often find vent through the tongue. But the root cause there is the anger, the wrath, and the malice within. So I want to first focus on Blasphemy.

This Greek word for blasphemy here is also found in a similar list in Ephesians 4.31. There, Paul tells the church at Ephesus to let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking, that's the word for blasphemy there in Ephesians, evil speaking, same Greek word, let it be put away from you with all malice. You will notice that when sins are dealt with with the tongue, there's often a list that the apostles in their writing, these epistles give to us. To blaspheme is to reproach God, to speak contentiously of God, or to vilify Him, or to dishonor Him by the denying of His perfections, and to debase him by false titles or doctrines or images, resemblances as likening him to man in any of our imperfections. In Matthew 12 31 Jesus declares that blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.

It is what has been called the unpardonable sin. In that context the Pharisees were attributing the work of Jesus to the devil rather than attributing his work to the Holy Spirit who filled Jesus without measure. Often God is made out to be incompetent or evil or distant. Evil or distant. If God is good then why does he allow my loved one to suffer?

If there is a God why is there so much evil in the world? Why is there so much calamity? Why would He allow that to happen? In our day and time as well, the name of God and of His Son are used profusely as words for swearing, not just in our day-to-day life, but they permeate so-called entertainment of this world. Dear ones, we may never be so bold as to blaspheme the name of God in the hearing of others, But how guilty might we be of denying God of any of his perfections?

To experience something hard in this life and begin to doubt his goodness, to doubt his long suffering, to doubt his love, to question the veracity of his promises. In the middle of that circumstance, how ready would we have been to have heeded the words of Job's wife to curse God? Had she been present to suggest such a thing? What's in our hearts? What is in our hearts?

Wherein lies the sinfulness of blasphemy? Wherein lies the sinfulness? Well, it is a sin that strikes at the very nature of God. It distorts his glory. The scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God.

We've been learning that together, haven't we? The scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God. To believe about or to speak of God in any way other than the way that the scriptures portray him is blasphemy. And in terms of his holy name the third commandment speaks thus, You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." But secondly, Paul also says that we are to put off filthy language. We are to put off filthy language.

Filthy language is rude, rough, unpolished, impure, or coarse language. Words that pollute and defile, that do not reflect the holiness of God, nor the purity of the things he created as they were created." Consider also the words of Paul to the Ephesians. Again, we have a list, Ephesians 5, 3 to 4. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting.

But rather, what is fitting? Giving of thanks. Also there in Ephesians 4.29 it says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. That word corrupt means rotten or putrefying words. The world around us is filled with such filthy language such that sometimes our ears cannot find a refuge from the onslaught.

But has this brought a desensitizing effect upon our souls? Maybe it is not even our own lips that speak such things, but do we laugh at such language when among others? Do we allow such things in forms of entertainment that we choose for ourselves and for our families. Dads, do you speak one way with those who you work alongside and speak a different way as soon as you drive into the driveway at night. Parents is what you listen to or watch, sometimes off limits to your children or even your spouse.

You do it when they are not around. If so, you need to consider the reasons why. You need to consider the reasons why. Is it because of this? And you will allow it for your own ears.

But say, I don't want my children to hear this. Consider the reasons. Well, Wherein lies the sinfulness of filthy language? Proverbs 30 verse 5 says every word of God is pure. Every word of God is pure.

And we are to be holy just as He is holy, as His words are Pure, free from all impurity, from all filthiness, so our words are to be. Thirdly, also in this Colossians 3 passage, Paul admonishes to put aside all lying. All lying. To lie is to utter falsehood with an intention to deceive or with an immoral design. It's to exhibit a false representation to say or do that which deceives another when he has a right to know the truth or when morality requires a just representation.

We are so crafty in our sinful thinking that we have created phrases that put a different spin on what the Bible calls lying. We were just simply stretching the truth. That was only a half lie. It was a little white lie. Or most of what I said was true.

Solomon lists for us in Proverbs 16-19 six things that the Lord hates. Yes, Seven things it lists that are an abomination to the Lord. Let those words sink into you. Not dislike. Not he doesn't care for.

He hates. He abominates. Among that list are two sins of the tongue. And these two sins have to do with lying. God hates a lying tongue.

And he hates a false witness who speaks lies. But another way that we are susceptible to the sin of lying is simply in the covering with words, the true state of the heart, not dealing honestly with others. We know what we should be, we know what we should be able to say about ourselves, but what we communicate is not accurate. It's a cover-up of what is really going on. Yes, there are times when the sharing of things would not be prudent.

That just doesn't mean we go and dump our hearts constantly. There are times when wisdom and prudence would say, I shouldn't share this. But rather than answering the question, how are you doing? Fine. Fine.

Why not say truly, I'm really struggling. I'm having a hard time. I'm having a hard time. Pray for me. Please pray for me.

That's truth. Dear brothers and sisters, God will not allow lying in his church. He won't allow it. It's an abomination to him. It was in the New Testament church, okay, not the church of the Old Covenant, not those who were in the Old covenant who were attached to Jesus Christ in the New Testament church.

God acted against a couple who lied, striking them dead on the spot for something that many in the church today would simply wink at or overlook as something that is not that big a deal. It's not all that bad. I mean, after all, they put money into the offering. Focus on that, not what they kept back or didn't quite tell the whole truth. God struck them dead.

He struck them dead. Wherein lies the sinfulness of lying. Jesus declared himself to be the truth there in the upper room. In his high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus declared that God's Word is truth. You see, truth is at the very essence of who God is.

Things are true simply because of who God is. Question for you. Can God do all things? Can he do all things? You say, of course he can.

He's God. But it's the very fact that he is God. He cannot lie. He is the God who cannot lie. Titus 1-2.

The devil on the other hand is called the father of lies. Just as truth finds its source in God, so lying is from the evil one, from the very pit of hell itself. That's why lying is sinful. Fourth, boasting. Boasting.

To boast is to brag. It is to vaunt one's self. It's to make an ostentatious display in speech of one's own worth, property, or actions. It's to exalt one's self. It is often a proud demonstration or conversation about one's learning or greatness or riches or honor or strength or beauty or piety.

Much of the sinfulness of the tongue finds its source in the sin of pride itself, but none more so glaringly than the sin of boasting. Paul reminds the church members in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 4, 7 of the foolishness of boasting. His foolishness. For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?

Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? Do you recall Do you recall what God did to Lucifer? Do you recall from our study in Isaiah what God did to Sennacherib and the Ravshaka? Do you recall what God did to Nebuchadnezzar? And do you recall what God did to Herod when the people cried out, the voice of a God and not a man.

His heart rose with pride and he took those words as his own and worms devoured him on the spot. Wherein lies the sinfulness of boasting. Isaiah 42 verse 8 is a declaration of Jehovah. I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory I will not give to another. Think about it going back to the first question in the Catechism.

If man's chief end is to glorify God, how Great is that sin which robs God of that glory and then places that glory upon another, even upon our own selves. If that's man's chief end, to glorify Him, How great is that sin to rob him of that glory. Fifth, idle words that are unimportant, unprofitable, useless, barren, worthless, empty, or foolish. Speech that is not given for the purpose of edification or for any good use of the mind, the body, or the affairs of life. Back in Ephesians 429 the Apostle Paul declares what should flow from the mouth of the believer it is what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers.

If this is our standard, what is edifying and grace imparting, What place is there for idle talk? We live in a society that is enamored with talk, with noise, talk radio, 24 hours newscasts, podcasts. And then when you think of what the internet has done, it has opened up an opportunity for anyone to grab a microphone as it were and say what's on their mind. What they are eating, what they are wearing, what they are listening to, what they are watching, what they are doing, what they are thinking about, where they are going, how they feel about this current event or about this or that post. And very few are they who pause to think, will this be edifying?

Will this impart grace to the hearer, to the reader? How is it with you? Do you think before you type, before you speak? That's the standard. Is it edifying?

Will this impart grace to the hearers? Grace to the hearers. Do we not feel an awkwardness when we're there with somebody and ten seconds go by and it's silence. You kind of begin to look around and what can I say, what can I say? We're so used to noise.

We're so used to small talk that we feel very uneasy when there is silence. How much better would that silence be? How more prone would we be to silence were we to consider with sobriety that we will give an account for every idle word in the day of judgment. Every idle word. Wherein lies the simpleness of idle talk?

Well, it contradicts the very edifying grace-imparting communication of our God. Are there idle words with God? Take this book and show me where are the idle words in this book. There are none. Listen to David as he declares what the words of God are in their very nature and what they impart to the hearer.

I've never really sought to consider the second part of it so much, but when you think about how words are to be edifying, they're to impart grace. Think about what God's Word does. Psalm 19, 7 through 9. The law of the Lord is perfect and because it's perfect, what does it do? Converting the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure. And what does it do? Making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Also in the New Testament, we have the following God breathe declaration about this book. In Paul's letter to Timothy, he says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And that all scripture, all of it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. To what end?

That the man of God may be complete, that he may be mature. Remember that completeness and maturity that James talked about last week? That maturity, that completeness is seen in how the tongue is used. The man bridles his tongue. The mature man, the complete man does that.

God's Word equips us to be able to bridle that tongue, to know something of that maturity, that completeness, and it thoroughly equips for every good work. There are no idle words with God. Let's be like him. Sixth, sin of the tongue, slander. Slander.

Slander is to speak evil falsely of others out of a spirit of malice and ill will in order to make them despicable in the sight of others or in order to bring them hurt. The world teaches us what? Look out for number one. Have it your way. Have it your way.

Get ahead. Get ahead. No matter what the cost of casualties along the way, After all, we just all evolved. It's survival of the fittest. Seize the day.

Seize the day. And it doesn't matter about anybody else. How they feel, their reputation, their future. Our news sources are full of slander, full of it. And the church can be full of slander as well.

And while we ourselves may not be the source of the slander, we give it our consent by passing the information along without checking to see if it's really true. And by doing so we thus aid the originator in making that one despicable in the sight of others and we add to their hurt. And often our deceitful hearts will seek to cover up the slander by the use of words such as, I just have some suspicions, I've got some concerns, I have some doubts, I got a prayer request for you about so-and-so. Wherein lies the sinfulness of slander? But Jesus is our perfect example.

He said this of himself in John 5.30, I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, so I judge. And my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me." It was said of Christ, our perfect substitute, he had no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53, 9. That is to say, he never once did anything cruel, unjust, or oppressive, nor was there any deceitfulness, craftiness, or treachery in his mouth.

That's our standard. Anything short of that is sin. Seventh, gossip. Gossip. Gossip is the purposeful or unintentional spreading of news, even things that are true, that put others in a bad light or promotes one's own self agenda.

For you children, this involves tattling on your brother and on your sister. The sin of gossip is the half brother of the sin of slander. It differs slightly in the intent. Gossip is not necessarily out to destroy the other person. It may be simply to promote our own pride and feeling of self-righteousness.

Also, it doesn't of necessity involve falsehood. Gossip most often involves the truth or some semblance of the truth. And because of that, many will seek to justify what they've done. But it's true! It really is true!

I checked my sources. As if that's now the seal of approval to be able to say what we want to say about someone else. Consider these two verses. Proverbs 12, 23, a tale bearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter. First Peter 4, 8, and above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.

How is it with you? Are you a trusted friend? Do you know how to conceal the matter? Do you know how to love? Wherein lies the sinfulness of gossip?

Think of the precious promise of God that he washes his church with the water of the Word. He does so because his purpose is to remove all the spots and all the wrinkles. That's what Christ is about. To gossip is to point to the spots. It's to point to the wrinkles.

It's to reach out there and just pick at the scabs, the wounds of the church that Jesus is seeking to heal and to cleanse. Christ gave His life. He shed His own precious one, blood, for that one in order to purify them from all their sins. How should we then treat this one for whom Christ gave his life. Eighth and finally, complaining and disputing.

Complaining and disputing. Now why would those two words be together? We'll look at it here in a second. Both of these words, as they're listed in Philippians 2 14, both of these words have to do with finding fault they have to do with finding fault complaining involves displeasure with circumstances It's an inability to find true contentment in the unfolding providence of our God. Disputing, as the word is used in Philippians 2.14, indicates an intellectual rebellion against God, doubting the will and the ways of God in any matter.

See, Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, said in 2.14, do all things without complaining and disputing. Do all things without complaining and disputing. Think of the context there in the beginning of Philippians 2. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. What was that mind?

It was a mind of humility, of taking upon himself the body of a man, being fashioned into the likeness of a servant, being willing by the commands of God to come and to die for a people let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus and then Paul goes on to say I've got confidence in you but that confidence needs to continue So work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it's God who's working in you to will and to do for His good pleasure. What is His good pleasure for you to do? It may be to walk a similar road to His Son Jesus Christ. And whatever that will is, Let it be done without complaining and without disputing. So this isn't disputing between two siblings.

My car, no. My car, no. My car. It's not that disputing. It's disputing about what God has set before us to do.

We are to do all things, all things, Paul says, with contentment and with a trust in the will of our God. In thinking about this complaining, about this murmuring, about this grumbling, about this disputing, the apostle Peter even recognizes the propensity of our hearts to this very sin in the midst of practicing hospitality. Practicing hospitality. God wants us to do that. And what happens?

We can begin to complain. Peter says in 1 Peter 4, 9, Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Same word, without grumbling. Was not this the sin of Martha? She was practicing hospitality to the Lord of Glory.

What a pleasure. What a pleasure. She began to complain. She began to complain. She began to complain.

She began to dispute. Why do I have to do this all myself? Why is my sister not helping me? Are you going to do something about this? Or you just want to sit there and just teach on?

Wherein lies the sinfulness of complaining and finding fault with God? Well these sins attack the very sovereignty of our God. They attack the very wisdom of our God. They attack the goodness of our God. The psalmist says in Psalm 139, 16 and 17, and in your book they all were written.

What? What were written? The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. God's fashioned our days. He's fashioned our days.

That sickness, that death, that loss of employment, the sins we struggle with. God's sovereign over all things. And the psalmist said, my days were fashioned for me before there was one of them. And then he goes on to say the most wonderful thing. How precious also are your thoughts to me, oh God.

How great is to some of them. We should rest in the promise of Romans 8.28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. So let all things be done without complaining and without disputing. So That's a consideration of our sin.

Now, secondly and finally, a consideration of our Savior. A consideration of our Savior. When asked by the Pharisees who had sent them there originally to arrest Jesus Christ, asking them, why have you returned empty-handed? Where is he? We read in John 7, 46 that the officers who had been sent answered, no man ever spoke like this man.

How right those unrighteous men were. No one had before that time and no one has since spoken like that man. James told us last week that no man can tame the tongue. It's an unruly evil full of poison. Ah, but this man, But this man, this is no ordinary man.

This is the God man. Fully man and yet fully God. Having not been tainted by the sin of Adam, this man did tame his tongue. As Peter declared, Christ truly has the words of eternal life. Jesus told the Jews of his day, John 8 26, I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I heard from him." In another place, John 12, 49, he cried aloud, saying, aloud, saying, For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command what I should say and what I should speak." Even Isaiah, in his prophecy concerning the coming Messiah, he prophesied of the righteous fruit that would be upon his lips.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Deceit in his mouth.

Behold my servant to my uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. And that's not saying that he would be silent and not like wisdom that cries out in the book of Proverbs.

No, he was heard in the street. 5, 000 men plus women and children were able to hear him. He raised his voice and cried out. But it's in such a way that a bruised reed is not broken, that smoking flax is not quenched. He will not cry out nor raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

And there are these two passages with words attributed to Christ, words that he would say. The Lord has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. You want to talk about edification? You want to talk about grace-filled words? Come to me, all you who lay one, ever heavy lay one, I will give you rest.

Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered your children to me as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Yes. No man ever spoke like this man.

So how do we go about recognizing and mortifying these sins of the tongue. How do we do it? We do it by beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. By coming to the light that our deeds, that our sins, those things done in darkness and in secret may be exposed. Isaiah who wrote most of these words that I quoted, Isaiah was brought to his sense of sin.

How did that happen? How did that happen? It was gazing upon the glory of the thrice holy Christ as he was high and lifted up. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood Seraphim.

Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of them who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said, woe is me, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Why? For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." Dear ones, have your sins been exposed by the light of the Word of God?

Has your conscience been stirred up to declare that you are a man, that you are a woman, that you are a son or a daughter of unclean lips? Have you been awakened to patterns of sinfulness? If not, if not my friend, you've probably lost sight of Jesus. You've probably lost sight of the thrice holy Christ, high and lifted up. What so distinguishes him?

What attribute is repeated three times? None other in the Bible, but holy, holy, holy. You cannot spend time in the presence of Christ without coming away with a fresh sense of His holiness. Not if you're there truly in the presence of Christ. You cannot but come away with a fresh sense of his holiness.

And so if you indeed have been in his presence, you simply can't remain the way you are. You can't do it. You can't do it. Yes, it is our duty to put to death the deeds of the body In the spirit you know that from Romans 8 yes, I'm not denying that I Understand that completely But Christ is our answer. He is our only hope.

In Christ alone, my hope is found. Oh wretched, oh wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God. It's through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Maybe you're here today and maybe you're here every week And you've not come face to face with the sins of your tongue, yea with any of your sins. Isaiah probably was the man who had other sins in his life. But when he saw Christ high and lifted up, he said, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips. Look up, look up, See Christ in all of his glory. This may be your only opportunity.

Community. Think of the blind man standing by the road and he Heard people say, He's passing by. He's passing by. Jesus is on His way, but He's passing by. What if that man had said like Felix, I'll call upon him in a more convenient time.

Today I've got a lot on my schedule. I'll catch him the next time he passes through. He don't know if he'll ever pass by again, but he's passing by now. He stands before you now, and he says, look to me, all you ends of the earth, and be saved. Be saved.

He's passing by. Look to Him. Father, we thank you for your Word. Bring it home to our hearts. Oh, how we long to be like our Savior.

We thank you that it's your purpose to conform us to his image. Oh, how far, how far I have to go, God. Forgive us, wash us clean, continue to be about that promise that you will have a bride on that last day without spot and without wrinkle. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen.