The sermon titled 'The Tongue of the Wise' focuses on the power and impact of our speech. It highlights the sins of the tongue mentioned in the Bible and emphasizes the importance of preparing our hearts and being on a mission to bless in our conversations. The sermon discusses harmful patterns of communication to avoid and provides life-giving patterns of communication based on biblical principles. It also emphasizes the need to control our body language, avoid harping on old conversations or sins, and refrain from using inflammatory default expressions. The sermon concludes by emphasizing the role of the tongue in creating a Christian counterculture and how we can use our tongues to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

And please open your Bibles to Proverbs 15 and find verse 1. Proverbs 15 verse 1. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter-than-honey word of God. Proverbs 15 verse one. I'll just be reading the first seven verses.

A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. A fool despises his father's instruction, but he who receives correction is prudent.

In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but in the revenue of the wicked is trouble. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the fool does not do so. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these wonderful words of life.

Thank you for words that take us out of our own sinfulness and Into such a wonderful kingdom your own kingdom that's created by Your words and we're so thankful to be able to ponder them now pray that you would You would use these words to bring many sons to glory Amen Please be seated So this is a topical message on the government of the tongue. This is the second one. Last week was the first And we'll cover various practical matters in the government of the tongue. That first of all, the tongue is such a good gift, It creates really a superior culture in your family and in your church and everywhere else. We're also gonna talk about the fact that the tongue is a troublemaker.

It's a big bad troublemaker. And then finally we're gonna examine what the Bible says about how to have difficult conversations. The Bible is supremely practical to help us to know how to live and how to talk with one another, even about things that are controversial and difficult. The last time, last week we were in James 1, 1 through 12, and today our focus will be Proverbs 15 and all over the place. And we've been acknowledging that when you first become a Christian, you start talking differently.

That's one of the first things that happens. And the most obvious thing that happens is that you feel very convicted about cursing. Profanity is usually the first thing that goes. But then all of a sudden after you've you've gotten rid of your profanity you realize the sins of your tongue were far deeper than that that was just the surface and so God when he converts a sinner he converts his speech and they the believers begin to talk different and they start speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord. And they begin to purify the brackish waters of their own soul, but also those souls around them as well.

Wonderful words of life, aren't they? They are beautiful words. They're wonderful words of life. They're rescuing words. That's what the word of God gives us.

And so I wanna talk about that. You know, the believer begins to refrain from boasting and be convicted about lying. Also one of the first things that happens to a person when they become a Christian is they go to the people that they've lied to and they confess their sin and they repent, or if they've stolen, they go and they make restitution. This is just the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But at the same time, you know, we're always dealing with remaining sin in our speech, and all of us understand that.

But the tongue is a good gift. Proverbs 10.1 says, the mouth of the righteous is a well of life. Jesus said the words that I give you are spirit and our life and so the the believer feeds on the Word of God and Everybody knows that whatever you feed on comes out so it makes it very critical to consider everything that we feed upon, everything that we watch and listen to and even the people that we listen to, we mirror those that are around us and so it's so critical. In Proverbs 15 there are so many points to show us the good gift of the tongue, and what a wonderful culture is created by the tongue. So look at it with me.

Look at verse one. The way we answer, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. This is one of the most fundamental things parents need to teach their children, but first of all, they often need to teach themselves. And then in verse two, it acknowledges that we have particular experiences in life, but what do we do with those experiences in the way that we talk? It says, the tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly.

In other words, there's a certain amount of knowledge that you have of something, oh, the weather is so bad. You know, you have knowledge. Now, what are you going to say about it? Or you've been treated poorly or some calamity is befalling you, what are you gonna say about it? The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, In other words, we all have knowledge, but how do we use our tongues in relation to that knowledge?

Because our words come out of a well of knowledge, And the believer quickly recognizes that that well of knowledge has to be dealt with verbally and that's what Solomon is talking about here. But then in verse four he talks about the life-giving potential of the tongue. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. You have a tree of life. And then you have, in verse five, you have sort of a shift in the scenery, and it's the scenery of a child hearing words.

Hearing words of instruction from his father. And it's very important that parents teach their children how to receive instruction. A fool despises his father's instruction, you know, And children despise their parents' instruction, they need to be worked with. They need to be instructed and carried along and taught how good instruction actually is. But then it says, but he who receives correction is prudent.

This is one of the most important things a child will ever learn is how to receive correction. You know, I've been around people. I used to own a company with lots of employees. And it really matters whether a person who's working with you can receive instruction, especially in the church instruction from the Lord. And then in verse six you find that words are treasures.

In the house of the righteous there's much treasure, but in the revenue of the wicked is trouble. This is such a pivotal verse for all of us, even today as we fellowship together. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. We often become depositories of good things and not dispensers of them and we don't share the good things that we've encountered and thought about, read, heard, and often this happens in homes, you know, a father will come home from work and he's heard these remarkable podcasts on the drive. But he doesn't say anything about them.

He doesn't teach his children the good thing that he heard. But we've all, even this week, you know, how many good things have you heard? Will you be a depository? Just keep it inside, keep it all to yourself. Or will you be a dispenser of good knowledge?

And then there's a different kind of speech in verse eight, it's the speech of prayer. When we pray, Of course we pray aloud. The prayer of the upright is his delight. God delights to hear the prayers of his children. That's a certain classification of speech.

You know, we live in a world where people pray silently, but it wasn't always that way. I mean, in the early church, everybody read out loud. In fact, people read out loud until just not very long ago. Every time they opened a book, they would verbalize it, not just read it silently. But because of libraries and schools and things like that, now everybody feels like they have to keep their mouth shut when they pray or when they read.

And then you have, again, this touch point on correction. Harsh discipline is for, this is verse 10, harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way and he who hates correction will die. That's a very terrifying because that has to do with things that people say to you when they're correcting you. Learning how to receive correction is a wonderful gift. In verse 14, the mouth of the fool feeds on foolishness.

Whatever you feed on comes out of your mouth again. Verse 23, a word spoken in due season, how good it is. Verse 26, but the words of the pure are pleasant. The words of the pure are pleasant. I pray that in this church, these wonderful words of life are spoken, coming out of a wellspring of love for God, the desire to glorify God, to please God in every respect.

Verse 28, here's a piece of wisdom. The heart of the righteous studies how to answer. Usually we just shoot our mouths off, but the heart of the wise studies how to answer. Well, all of this really speaks about the glory of God being expressed in the lives of his children and for us, gathered together in a local church, particularly this local church. That's what I have concern for.

And we're talking about really the creation of a Christian counterculture. This is absolutely an alternative culture. The false church conforms to the world rather than counters it. The false church climatizes itself to the speech of the current culture. But the true church renounces the world order and creates truly Christian community.

The church is a new community. It's the community of the King of Kings and the Lord of lords. And really, one of the worst accusations that can come against a church is this. You're just like everybody else. But the Bible takes us to such levels of beauty and goodness, particularly in this way of speech.

And that's why assimilation into the culture is the most harmful thing to the church. Because in the church, we're creating a distinctive community, a Christian counterculture. And you know, we all learn how to talk growing up, don't we? And We often learn really bad patterns. Sometimes we learn them from our parents, most of them we learn from ourselves.

Or our siblings, we begin to mimic the way our siblings talk, and we pick up all kinds of bad patterns. But the Christian seeks to avoid that. And as you're raising your children, you have an obligation to teach your children how to talk Christianly. You know, some of the greatest condemnations in the Old Testament church were things like this. They walked in the customs of the nations, 1 Kings 17.

They mingled with the nations and learned their ways, Numbers 23, verse nine. Let us be like the nations, Ezekiel 20 verse 32. And then Jeremiah's admonition, do not learn the ways of the Gentiles nor walk in their ways. Jeremiah 10, one and two. And all of these are written to help the church to create an alternative community, a new community, a Christian counterculture.

And that Christian counterculture is actually created by the things that we say. And it includes what we say to one another, it includes what we say about one another, and it includes how we speak of God, and of everything else that's going on in the world. So This is the whole doctrine of the church. The writer of Hebrews talked about this in Hebrews 10, 24. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.

This is the good gift of the tongue that we have. I was reading in Mark chapter 12 this last week. Mark 12 is the parable of the vineyard. In the story, God creates this wonderful vineyard, and it's well appointed. It can do everything.

It's just so lavishly appointed as a vineyard. And then there are tenants, there are stewards that are put in charge of the vineyard, but they don't love God. And they actually, they're violating God in God's vineyard. And I was reading what the commentator Matthew Henry said and it really struck me and I thought about this vineyard, the vineyard of this local church, which we're cultivating. And we're cultivating it in various ways, in the way that we walk with one another, love one another, practice hospitality, in the way that we receive the word of God, in the way we fellowship, in the way we sing, in the way we evangelize, like we're creating this community, this vineyard.

And it's very actually complex in some ways because there's so many facets of this vineyard. And you think of all of us here together as tenants of the vineyard. But here was what Matthew Henry said. It really struck me and I thought about my family and I thought about our church and our responsibility to cultivate a beautiful vineyard. Matthew Henry says this about the unfaithful tenants of the vineyard.

He says, they that enjoy the privileges of the visible church have a vineyard let out to them. Have you ever thought of this local church as a vineyard let out to us? It is. Which is capable of great improvement, oh we do need that, And from the occupiers of which rent is justly expected. And then he says, members of the church are God's tenants.

And they have both a good landlord and a good bargain and may live well upon it. Isn't that beautiful? This is the vineyard of the Lord. I remember one time Joel Beeke came here and he preached. And I'll never forget something he prayed.

He said, Lord, tend this vine. And of course, He meant water it, prune it, fertilize it, cause it to grow. But the Christian church is kind of a Christian underground, where you create a superior culture, a different culture, than the rest of the world. The tenants in the vineyard of the church are creating an alternative society, truly a Christian counterculture. And that's why one of the worst things anybody can say about this church is that, oh, they're just like everybody else.

You know, when somebody comes into the church, they should think, oh, this is so different. This is weird. This is not like the rest of the world. It might even be really appropriate for them to say, I'm uncomfortable here, I feel out of place. Well, what's this all about?

But hopefully they would stay around long enough to see the goodness of the Lord and to hear the gospel and to be converted. And have a counterculture growing in their own heart that expands like the leaven in the parable, and it grows, and it overtakes your whole life. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ, when a person repents of their sins. They receive the kingdom of heaven. It's so wonderful.

Don't you wish it would grow faster? Yes, yes we do. But God, God is the designer of this society. You know, today we're going to have, begin some members, new members meetings, people who want to become members. And we're going to talk about this new society.

What kind of society are we trying to create here? What kind of number are we trying to put over everybody, on everybody? Well, it's the number that's in here. It's the culture of the king. It's the Christian underground.

We don't live like everybody else. We had a memorial service. It was very clear we don't grieve like everybody else either. We do grieve, but we don't grieve like those without hope. Deuteronomy 33, 26.

There is no one like the God of Jeshurun. There is no rock like your rock. There is no shepherd like your good shepherd. There is no water like the living water. There is no light like the light of the world is the best.

About three or four days ago, I was reading Deuteronomy 33. Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sit down at your feet. Everyone receives your words.

That's the heart of the Christian counterculture. And the tongue is a good gift to create that counterculture. So that's point number one. You have an outline in front of you, you know exactly what I'm talking about here. The creation of a Christian counterculture through the use of the tongue, the words of life that flow through the heart of the soul and they actually create an alternative Christian underground.

Well, the tongue is also a trouble maker. That's point number two. There are sins of the tongue. Last time we were in James chapter three where we heard that the tongue is a fire, it's a restless evil full of deadly poison. But this, we always have to be careful with our tongues because there is remaining sin.

Now the Westminster larger catechism provides a list of the sins of the tongue. This is question 145. The sins of the tongue reflected in the ninth commandment. The ninth commandment is you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. That's in Exodus 20 verse 16.

But the authors of the Catechism understood that there were many ways that we sin with our tongues. And bearing false witness is one of them. It's a representative sin of the tongue. It's not the only sin of the tongue. And so the authors of the Westminster Catechism give us a list.

I'm gonna give you a portion of that list and I'm gonna paraphrase some of the items there. And the question I would just have us ask, I'm asking these questions of myself, are there any of these true of you? What are the sins forbidden in the ninth commandment? The sins forbidden in the ninth commandment are all twisting the truth and the good name of our neighbors as well as our own, especially in public action. Number two, giving false evidence, encourage false witnesses, willingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause, intentionally covering up the truth.

Next, passing unjust sentence, calling evil good and good evil. Next, forgery, concealing the truth, undo silence and adjust cause and holding our peace when iniquity calls for either reproof from ourselves or complaint to others. Next, speaking the truth unseasonably or maliciously to a wrong end or perverting it to a wrong meaning or in doubtful or equivocal expressions to the prejudice of truth or justice. Next, speaking untruth, lying, slandering, backbiting, detracting, tail-bearing, whispering, scoffing, reviling, rash, harsh, and partial censuring. Next, misconstructing intentions, words or actions.

Next, flattering, vainglorious boasting. Next, unnecessary revealing of infirmities. Next, raising false rumors, receiving and considering evil reports. So these are various sins of the tongue. You can find all these in the Bible.

The Westminster Catechism found them and put them before us. Perhaps one of the most common sins of the tongue is tail bearing. What's tail bearing? It's described in different places. Proverbs 20, 19 says, he who goes about as a tale bearer reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips.

The Hebrew term slanderer is often also translated as tale bearer. In the Greek New Testament, the word is often translated to speak against or to blaspheme. And of course, it usually happens when someone is offended. And it usually works like this. Someone gets their feelings hurt and instead of the offended going to the offender, they go to a third party.

This is perhaps one of the most common and really one of the most egregious sins of the time. And usually we do this to go get counsel. We do this to have a sounding board, to get wisdom. But the Bible actually calls us to go to your brother. You don't go to your friend, you go to your brother, you go to the offender.

And that's really what Matthew 18 speaks about, Matthew 18.15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. So you don't write him a letter, you don't send him a text, you don't put it out on Facebook or Instagram. You go to your brother eyeball to eyeball. You know, we've invented so many ways to communicate that are a little bit different than this one right here, where you actually go to the person face to face.

If he hears you, you've gained your brother, but if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen or a tax collector. So we go to our brother, not our friend, and we try to resolve it one on one. You could eliminate So many problems in local churches that people just did this.

By the way, there are two things. If you wanna wipe out 98% of the relational problems in a local church, have it be the practice in this new community, this alternative culture, this Christian underground, where we don't go to somebody else, we go to the person, and we talk it through. That's the first thing. The second thing is, you could also eliminate most problems in a church If people just thought the best of one another, rather they're injecting all kinds of motives and all this stuff you want, oh he didn't look at me. Well how many times you think you didn't look at somebody?

You know we don't, we expect that everyone is just so intentional toward us, and we don't give them the benefit of the doubt. We don't have patience. Even if it was sin, we're not covering over a multitude of sins. 99.999% of the time, it's not sin. It's just somebody presuming they've been slighted by somebody in the church.

Well, we don't wanna have a culture like that. You know, we wanna have a culture where the people think the best of one another and that will solve you a lot of problems. Oh, I'm being left out. Well, Are you leaving people out? Usually the people I feel left out are leaving people out.

That's my experience. So, going to your brother, But also, the Bible talks about how to treat a tail-bearer. There are two steps. Well, the worst thing you can do for a tail-bearer is to listen, but there are two steps. First of all, drive it away with an angry countenance.

Drive it away with an angry countenance. That is Proverbs 25, 23. The north wind brings forth rain and a backbiting tongue and angry countenance. This is, you know, a backbiting tongue comes to you and you you act like the North Wind and you blow it away. You bring an angry countenance.

John Gill, he says, Drive it away, discourage it, silence it, he says. It checks them, it puts a stop on their practices, whereas listening to them, especially with an air of pleasure, encourages them. He says, deal with it roughly like a blustery wind. That's John Gill. The second step is stop the conversation.

Proverbs 26 20, where there is no wood the fire goes out and where there is no tail bearer strife ceases. Send the slanderer back to the person who he was offended by. Send them back. Stop the conversation. Just say stop it.

That's an aspect of a Christian culture, informed by the word of God. Next, the next thing I wanna talk about this morning is learning how to talk. Learning how to talk through difficult subjects. Remember last week when we were in James 3, The Bible tells us that your tongue is a rudder. That you have a ship and a captain, but the captain turns the rudder.

The rudder creates the direction of the ship. So the tongue is a directional tool. It's driven by massive spiritual forces, but that tongue is like a rudder, and it always takes you in a direction. Your tongue always takes you in a direction. And the way that we converse about difficult subjects takes relationships in a particular direction.

Now one of the most important things you'll ever learn is to learn how to talk and how to listen. You know, I've done some marriage counseling over the years. And most of the time, Not all the time, but most of the time, the problem comes from husbands and wives that never really learned how to talk. They learned how to interrupt, they learned how to hurl accusations, but they never learned how to actually talk. But the Bible teaches you how to talk.

And this is especially important, okay? When there are controversial subjects on the table, When there are pivotal relationships that are in play, when there are strong opinions, when there are important outcomes, that's when it really matters that you know how to talk. Because we're creating a Christian counterculture. You know, with all that's at stake, we should be careful to be informed by the Word of God and be taught how to talk. Talking is the way that we work through disagreements.

Talking is how we express strong opinions. Talking is how we interact with one another when we're, our minds are changing about things. Has that ever happened to you? Like, have you ever shifted a doctrinal position in your life ever? And you had to talk about it.

Those can be some of the most difficult conversations. Opinions about all kinds of things, you know. But talking is how we share our concerns. I think I've lost the audio, is that correct? I'm okay.

Yeah, talking is how we express strong opinions. Talking is how we express our concerns. Talking is how we make plans. It's so important that we know how to talk. Some of the most pivotal things in our lives get played out and are really subject and are almost slaves of our ability to talk.

And the outcomes are often bad because we have bad patterns of talking. Learning how to talk really is a fruit of love. It's also a fruit of the Word of God. Because the Bible does teach you how to talk. I'm so thankful for the Word of God.

It teaches you how to do everything. I'm going to give you harmful patterns of communication. I'm going to give you harmful patterns and then I'm going to give you life-giving patterns. And I don't have time to examine all the scriptures that support these landmines that blow up conversations, these harmful patterns, but I'm just going to give them to you. First, interrupt the other person mid-sentence.

Second, contradict them. Third, Third, presume you understand what they're saying. Focus on winning. And by the way, the moment you focused on winning a conversation, you've just lost the conversation. Make threats.

Name call. Discredit rather than actually evaluate the differences of opinion. Withdraw, give the silent treatment. You know, people often just learn how to clam up. And the others learned only how to power up and they act with aggression.

Hurl insults. Exaggerate what you've heard. Overshare. Walk out in the middle of a conversation. In our home, you are never allowed to walk out of a conversation.

We had to finish it. We don't walk out. We stay at it until we get to reconciliation. Or you can also just lie. So there are lots of harmful patterns of communication.

But is that how you want to talk? Maybe you grew up learning how to talk like that. Maybe that was the only pattern that you saw. But there are life-giving patterns from the Word of God. And I hope maybe you're taking an inventory even now.

Now I'm going to give you behaviors, I'm going to give you nine behaviors from scripture that sweeten conversations. Conversations that are befitting of this kingdom of love that Jesus Christ is establishing in our hearts. Number one, prepare your heart. Now this is Matthew 12, 34 through 37. Everything begins in the heart.

When you're getting into a difficult conversation, examine your own heart. Prepare your own heart. Pause and ask, am I being guided by love in this conversation? Your heart will always determine your speech. So slow down and guard your heart.

The second, be on a mission to bless. Believe, be on a mission to bless. For two Sundays in a row we have recited 1 Peter chapter 3, particularly verses 8 and 9. And it goes like this, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this that you may inherit a blessing. God designed our tongues that someone might inherit a blessing.

Be on a mission to bless. When you go into battle You need to understand what your mission is. You need, you need knowing to understand what you're going to try to accomplish in this little skirmish called a conversation. Be on a mission to bless. Number three.

Be judicious with your words. Be judicious with your words. This is Proverbs 15 verse 2. Don't vent everything. The psychological community wants to tell you to Just say everything you're thinking.

This is one of the stupidest pieces of advice anybody can ever get about a conversation. Christians guard their tongues. We don't say everything we want. We don't say everything we think. We think things that are so wrong, if we said everything we thought, oh boy, well how about this, how about if everything that you thought was put up on the video screen right now.

Wouldn't that be precious? And therefore saying everything you think is just as bad. Number four, prepare to listen. James 1.19, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. God gave us one mouth and two ears for a reason, to be slow to speak.

It really helps in being slow to speak to when you hear someone say in a difficult pivotal conversation that you, your opponent in the conversation speaks and you repeat what they said to see if you got it right. My experience is we often don't get it right or paraphrase it and ask them is that what you're saying he who has knowledge spares his words and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit Proverbs 17 27 next this might be one of the most important common problems but yeah on the other hand blessings don't interrupt don't interrupt Let people say what they're gonna say. Proverbs 18, 13. Interrupting is the bane of good communication. We're often so locked up on our own position, we just can't wait to say what we're gonna say, and we just blurt it out while the other person is in mid-sentence.

It's very impolite and it's unbiblical speech. Yeah, it is actually unbiblical speech. Proverbs 21, 23, whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles. How true is that? Proverbs 13 3, he who guards his mouth preserves his life but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

So don't interrupt. Number six, the next one, ask questions. Ask questions. Proverbs 20 verse 5. Solomon writes, the council, council in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Ask questions. Don't just make propositions. Ask questions. What did you mean by that? Can you tell me more?

Many years ago, Deborah and I encountered someone who had a technique, he was a Christian counselor, I thought it was a great technique. He had a tennis ball and he would give it to one of the couples in marriage counseling of people who don't know how to talk. And that person who has the tennis ball is allowed to talk. And they hold that and no one and the other person is not allowed to talk until the tennis ball gets passed over to the other person. That really hinders interrupting and facilitates listening.

But the tennis ball is not shared, it's not passed over until the other person repeats what they heard and the person with the tennis ball says, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. So Then the tennis ball gets passed and it goes back and forth. But that just allows actually sort of a biblical government of the tongue. Next, monitor your tone. First Timothy 416, Proverbs 15, 1.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. That's a must memorize for all children and parents. Doesn't it strike you as funny that sometimes when you want your children to stop yelling, you yell at them? Somebody said, don't expect immaturity to create maturity in your house. Monitor your tone.

Next, control your body language. That's Ecclesiastes 8 verse 1, but grievous words stir up anger and when it comes to conversations it really matters what your body language is speaking. Next, don't harp. Don't just keep repeating old sins, old conversations. You've told me that 50 times.

You know, you're like a broken record. And you just can't stop saying the same old things. It's like you're just on auto-repeat of a video clip. And nobody enjoys that. That doesn't work.

Next, don't use inflammatory default expressions. Don't use inflammatory default expressions, Proverbs 17, 14. You know, things like, oh, give me a break. Are you serious? Come on.

What? We have all these pet phrases, you know, default expressions that they're just inflammatory. Do you need them? Do they help actually? Does anybody know what gas pouring gasoline on fire is all about that's what that is see how great a forest a little fire kindles and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity James 3 5 through 6 well okay so we've talked about this creation of this Christian underground the Christian counterculture and I'll say I'll say it again the conversations in our church and in true churches are not like the slanderous conversations that take place in corporate America or in other institutions.

It's so much better here. This is a little piece of heaven in this church compared to what's out there. So creating a Christian counterculture through the words that we speak and then the tongue is really a troublemaker. Here are the sins of the tongue. Let me count their ways.

We just did. And then learning how to talk is really, really important. It's a lot, it's a, it's an ongoing lifelong challenge, but the power of the gospel is manifested in the different kind of speech that comes out of the mouth of a converted sinner who's repenting of his sins who's seeking the good of his brethren who's forgiving who's long-suffering who passes over sense who thinks the best of one another, who loves his brothers, who is like Jesus Christ. He went about doing good. That's what Luke says.

Jesus said, the words that I give you are spirit and they are life. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly. Well let's do that. The Lord has given us these tongues for such good purposes. Every good gift comes down from above.

Richard Alistree in the 17th century wrote a book called The Government of the Tongue. And he opens the book talking about the tongue in very unflattering ways. He says that the tongue is an uncircumcised Philistine and you must take stones and throw them at the Philistine as David did. And I pray that we've just thrown some stones at that uncircumcised Philistine that is in our members and that we would we would do all things for the glory of God after all the man said it earlier what is the chief end of man man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. May it be so.

Lord we thank you. Thank you for giving us your word. It's so beautiful, so powerful. We need it. We thank you for this counterculture that you're creating here in your church.

These words of life that move through this place. Lord, I'm so thankful for it. I pray that you would also give us victory. Victory in our own hearts. Victory with our friends.

Victory with our co-workers. Victory with our bosses. Victory with our children. And Lord, I also pray that you would give these children a good education for how they might use their tongues. Amen.