Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Okay, let's go to the book of Proverbs. And we are going to, in our study, what, what we call the major theme, study of proverbs, tools for life. That's what we've got. That's kind of what I've been using as a theme here. And we're looking at the major themes of proverbs, and we're going to be in, we're talking about words today, specifically. Last week, we started. Of course, we most often refer, it seems at least we often refer to the use of the tongue as death and life and the power of the tongue. And we also often look only at the death part, but I want to look at the life part. And so that's what we did last week. Last week we talked about the different ways that we might use our tongue for good, biblical ways, scriptural ways, and ways that are found specifically in proverbs. And so we saw this, if you're taking notes, we saw, number one, the tongue can give life. And we saw that. And it was actually, I think it was quoted, a wholesome tongue is a tree of life. Proverbs 15 four. Proverbs ten, verse eleven. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life. So it's possible to minister life to others through our words. The second thing we saw is our tongue can be used to give praise.
We looked at proverbs 27 two, let another man praise thee not thine own mouth. And then one Corinthians eleven two says, now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them unto you. And as I said last week, just as a review, often what determines whether or not we are willing to praise others has less to do with the quality of that person. Because, listen, if you're looking with grace in your heart toward another, toward your brother, your sister, toward your family member, if you're looking with grace in your heart toward them, you will be able to find something to praise them for which to praise them. You will be able to often what limits our praise of other people who are due praise has more to do with us than what they do.
It has more to do with our own heart, oftentimes jealousy, envy, and our own conscience not being clear. And so these are important things for us to work on, on ourselves, to enable us to praise another who is worthy of praise. And then also, number three, we saw how that the tongue can be used for good by giving knowledge and wisdom. Giving knowledge and wisdom.
And just a few verses as a review, it says the lips. Proverbs 15, verse seven. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. We also saw proverbs 20, verse 15.
There is gold and a multitude of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel, something that is rarer. And so we looked at that, and then, as was brother Ari quoted, we also looked at the wisdom that comes from above and the wisdom that comes from below beneath and the words that come out of that wisdom. All right, two more ways that we can use our tongue for good. Very quickly, before we get into something a little bit. Well, in the same vein, but expanding a little bit further, number four is. Well, let's pause and pray. All right, let's pray together.
Lord, thank you for the opportunity to meet together and to study your word with one another, to set our hearts, set our face, set our intentions.
To see what your word says, Lord, I pray you would take away the numbness and apathy of spiritual apathy that seems to settle over us during the week, even if we try to follow you. Yet this world just has so much in it, designed by the devil to distract us from our following of you with our whole heart. So please, Lord, help us, Lord, to engage our mind, engage our heart, and by your spirit, and I pray that you would teach us what your word says and guide me, Lord, to help your people. Lord, I can't do anything without you. And, Lord, even as your people, we cannot receive what you have for us unless you help us. So, Lord, please help us. Bless our Sunday school time, but also downstairs, bless all that's being taught down there as well. In Jesus name. Amen.
So the fourth way that we can use our tongue for good, which this is going to sound a little bit od, but in proverbs, it's mentioned over and over again, which is we can use our tongue to do good by giving health. Health. H e a l t. Health. Look at Proverbs, chapter twelve, if you would. Verse number, verse number 18.
You might be curious as to what we're talking about when we say giving health.
That's kind of an unusual way to put it. And when we look at the word proverbs and health, oftentimes we look at it, we spiritualize the word health or similar concepts in proverbs, and there's a good reason to do that, but I don't think it's entirely proper to do that in all cases. So let's look at proverbs twelve. Verse number 18. The Bible says there is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health.
Same chapter. Verse number 25 says this. We'll just go through our verses, and then I'll make some comments on it. Verse 25. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad. Now we know the verse as a companion verse with verse number 28. Is that a merry heart doth good like a medicine. Right? But a broken spirit drieth the bones. How many of you are familiar with this verse? Merry heart doth good like a medicine.
That verse is a direct reference to the effect upon our health, our body, from what is inside of us, all right? Because there is in us. We're, of course, tripartite. That means we're made up of three parts. We're body, we're soul, we're spirit. They are not independent of one another.
The body affects the soul and the spirit, and the soul and the spirit affect the body. And so when the heart, which would be probably categorized as part of the soul, when the heart is merry and joyful, there is a positive effect upon the body that is similar to medicine. This is not what I think. This is what the Lord says. A merry heart doth good like a medicine. All right?
But the reverse is also true. But a broken spirit, okay? That's the inside of man.
When we are depressed and despondent, it drieth the bones. Now, we're going to see in just a minute the mention of bones in proverbs is a reference to one's physical health, one's physical help.
So knowing that when we read this verse in verse number 25. I said 28. I meant verse 25. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word. Maketh it glad. See that? Gladness of heart can affect the health of the individual.
The gladness of heart can affect the health. Now, the Lord. Now, I'll say this from the outset, before we look at the rest of the verses. The Lord doesn't want us happy all the time. All right, this might come as a surprise, but the Lord brings things into our life that cause us sadness. Ecclesiastes tells us that, and we know that's true. We don't like those things. We don't ask for those things. But the Lord does do that in our lives because he has purposes in it, in the sadness. But nevertheless, as a rule, a Christian should be a happy person.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Right. As a rule, a Christian should be a happy person, kind of the default. Now, we know sadness kind of overshadows that sometimes and competes with our feelings. But as a rule, a believer should be a joyful, happy person. And I'm just speaking of just raw emotion here. Now, I know at this point, we always say, well, joy is different than happy. Yeah, I know all that. I know all that. But I'm just talking about the benefit of if you have the joy of the Lord. Is the joy of the Lord part of an emotional part of you?
I've heard preachers describe joy as something as if it's not emotional. I mean, there is emotion involved, right? If you're happy. Now, of course we know joy. What's really different between a believer and an unbeliever and the joys? Is this the source?
That's the difference, because we say, well, joy comes from eternal truths, right? But happiness, people will describe it as coming from circumstances. Right? And that's true. But I think you could also say, well, if I have the joy of the Lord, based upon what? The eternal truths that I know, does that not make me happy?
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Right. That's the idea.
And how many of you also have happiness and joy from good things that happen in your life? I mean, that's okay. That's okay. Rejoice with them that. Rejoice. It's okay to be happy about good things that happen in your life?
Listen, we don't need to try to over spiritualize everything, all right?
But as a believer, even when circumstances are contrary to us, we have a source of joy that does not change.
Right? And so we have cause even in the midst. And this is the paradox, and many of you know exactly what I'm talking about.
We have a paradox where a believer, a child of God, can have at the same time joy from those eternal truths of where we stand with the Lord and our relationship to him, while at the same time sorrow as a result of circumstances of life, they can both exist at the same time. It's hard to explain that reality, but that's absolutely true. Now, if we have joy, this is the reason I say this as a believer, the baseline should be a baseline of joy. Let me ask you a question. Are you a happy Christian?
That's the question.
Because if you and I are not happy Christians, something is wrong. Something is wrong. Now, I'm not saying necessarily you or I are in sin necessarily. That doesn't necessarily mean that it could be that circumstances in your life are drowning you, and that happens. It could be health problems and that happens.
It could be various other kinds of issues that we run into. You're dealing with persecution, or you're dealing with difficult people in your life that also will affect our happiness.
But one of the things that affects our happiness as a Christian, assuming those other things are not the case, is if we're walking with the Lord or whether we're not.
Listen, a Christian, a child of God, is happiest when he or she is walking with God, when he or she is living in obedience to the Lord.
That is where happiness is found.
And what you also find is whenever that relationship is not as it should be, whenever you're not following the Lord, you're not walking with him, you're not obedient to him, that joy will go away because the joy comes from the spirit of God. Okay, why am I saying all that?
Because as a Christian, the joy that you have positively affects your body.
Right. Now, of course, we're not saying that believers don't get sick. Of course they do. But there is a positive effect. Proverbs says, of a merry heart upon us. This is a good reason for us to seek to be happy Christians. Beside the actual fact of being happy, how many of you like to be happy? I like to be happy, but I also like the way it positively affects my life right. On a daily basis. All right, let's look at proverbs 15.
Proverbs 15.
Verse number 30.
The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart, and a good report maketh the bones. Fat, fat bones. That's a proverb.
It's symbolism for good health, not emotional health, physical health. A good report, you hear something that makes you rejoice and makes you happy is a positive effect upon your health.
Proverbs 16. Look at that. Verse number 24.
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. See that? You see both parts here. Sweet to the soul. That's the inner. Health to the bones is the outer.
Again. Now, lest anyone misunderstand what I'm saying, this is. Remember, proverbs are proverbs. They're not promises. So these are not saying, if you're happy, you won't get sick. That's of course, not what is being spoken. But there are proverbs to describe. These are proverbs, general truths that describe the effect of good words.
Pleasant words are as in honeycomb, sweet to the soul, help to the bones. So here's the thing. Now, we know we might talk to ourselves, but especially as it relates to talking to others, if we talk to others, do you not want to convey to others things that cause them joy? Yes, you can't always do that. That's not an absolute rule. You can't always do that. There are times when we have to say corrective things. Right. To our kids. We have to say corrective and unpleasant things to people in certain situations. But generally speaking, should we not use our words for good? Because by speaking good things to people, uplifting things, praiseworthy things, I mean, Philippians, chapter four, right?
We're actually contributing to their well being overall.
It's contributing to their well being overall, because words have a connection to the health of our body.
This is why we should avoid always being negative when we talk to people.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: And some of us are more prone to that than others.
We should endeavor to lift people up and listen. What I'm saying is not, this is not just psychology where you're just tooting people's horns. That's flattery. But again, saying things to uplift people, that's something we have to practice because many of us listen. The flesh is naturally skeptical, cynical, complaining. Right? Is it not negative?
That's a natural tendency of this flesh. So you know what we're going to have to do if we're going to use our words to help people, right? Behold, we're going to have to make it a point to say and point out and engage with people in such a way that lifts them up. And that's a New Testament doctrine, too. Look at proverbs 17, verse number 22, we already quoted. But just to go through our paces, a merry heart doth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Now compare that with this verse. Proverbs eleven nine says this, and hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor.
Now, of course, this is referring to slander, but how I have actually experienced this, and I know you have, too, someone saying something negative about you, how that affects you inwardly. But then again, the inward is connected to the outward. It's just, listen, as I said, there is a connection made between the soul and the body. And when we get into a situation where we are depressed, we are despondent, we are in despair, it negatively affects our health, which then further affects how many of you have had bad health problems. And that makes you feel inwardly bad as well, does it not? It puts you in the dumps, which. It's a cycle. It's a cycle.
And there's a lot of reasons for that. I mean, we know that it's not just as simple as, well, smile, be happy. It doesn't work like that all the time.
But assuming there's no actual health problems we have. We should be working to help people get out of that.
And we should be careful of ourselves, because sometimes we get in a despondent cycle just simply because we prefer to be unhappy.
And that happens, too.
There are times when that's the case as well. All right, number five.
Fifth way that we can use our tongue for good is by giving kindness. And I'll just read these two verses. You can note them down.
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
And then lastly, if you look at Proverbs 31, speaking to the ladies in particular, proverbs 31, verse number 26, speaking of the virtuous woman, says that. It says, one of her characteristics in verse number 26 is that she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Kindness, speaking kindly to others, is one way that we can use our tongue for good. Okay, now let's do a little pivot, especially looking in the New Testament.
Now, if you would, turn to Luke, chapter four.
Because what I want to show you is using your tongue for good is not only a proverbs principle, but it's also a New Testament principle that is clearly articulated in the New Testament.
I'll read this one verse, kind of as a preparatory for our look at Luke. Ecclesiastes, chapter ten, verse twelve, says this.
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious.
Gracious. Let me give you a definition of gracious. Okay.
Gracious.
Characterized by or exhibiting kindness, courtesy, or generosity of spirit. Courteous, considerate, tactful, or generous, gracious words. The words of a wise man are gracious. Let me ask you a question.
Can your speech be characterized honestly by graciousness?
Look at Luke four, verse 16. The Bible says this.
And he came, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
It's interesting. It says, as his custom was, that word is also used of Paul in acts, if you remember. So Paul follows the Lord's example when he goes into the synagogue. Anyway, verse 17. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. That's Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind. To set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day. Is this scripture fulfilled in your ears? Now look at verse 22 carefully.
And all bear him witness.
And wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
And they said, is not this Joseph's son?
Note that what this verse is. It is divine testimony of the character of our Lord's words.
Now, we know what Jesus said, right?
In the scripture. In the gospels, we have the words of Jesus.
But what's written in the gospel most of the time, the vast majority of the time, are just the words. The manner in which he spoke is not always clear. Okay? Now, there are some exceptions. Matthew 24 or Matthew 23. Jesus speaking to the Pharisees. And you can hear that there's some anger. There's some harshness there. And rightfully so, of course.
So what we do is because we know what Jesus said. But we don't know the way in which he often spoke. We fill in the blanks, right? We say, well, Jesus spoke like this. And we have in our own mind. Each one of us, as individuals. Have in our own mind what we think probably the Lord. The character of his speech, right? Even though, you know, his words, the way he said things, his manner of speech. We have in our mind, as individuals. What we think that might be. Have been rather.
But when we fill in the blanks like that.
We make assumptions of Jesus'character and of his speech. That reflect more of our own perspective and our own values than his own. For instance, if you're a person who's a military. A militant minded person. And there are among us independent Baptists that are militant minded, right?
Everything they say is like the piercings of swords.
And so how do you think they're always going to characterize the words of Christ?
In other words, everything Jesus said is going to be all the time, right? And then you have others who have spaghetti noodles as backbones.
And everything that Jesus said to them is going to sound very easy and nice and smooth.
What am I saying? We fill in the blanks based upon our own perspective, right?
But what verse 22 does is it takes that away. Verse 22 tells us the manner in which he spoke, right? So it has nothing to do with the militant person or the wimpy person. Whether they're a man or they're a woman? It has nothing to do with that. The Bible actually says how he spoke. The Bible says his words were gracious words.
Gracious words. That means Jesus was courteous.
He was kind.
As I mentioned a minute ago, he was generous, considerate, he was tactful.
This is the way Jesus spoke. Now, we know for a fact that the Lord did not always speak kindly. Sometimes he spoke things that were harsh because it had to be spoken.
But as a general rule, when the people met Christ, they characterized his words as gracious.
Gracious.
John 746. You know this verse? They sent the officers to go arrest Jesus. And then they came back and said, hey, when did you arrest him? And they said, never man spake like this man. There was a marked distinction and difference between the manner in which Jesus spoke and the manner of people, just average people speaking. Now, that's an important point, because as a believer, your speech, I'm not necessarily referring to what you say, although that could be addressed as well. But your speech and my speech in the manner in which we speak should be markedly different than those around us, and it should be characterized by graciousness.
Graciousness.
And don't get me wrong, to speak with grace. Graciousness, rather, to speak with graciousness does not mean that you never say anything that might be unpleasant or you never say things that say anything that might be direct or pointed. No, that's a misunderstanding. To be gracious refers to the tone and the manner of speaking, not necessarily to what you say.
The manner in which the Lord spoke was different than the normal conversation around him.
And this is the manner in which we should speak, following our Lord's example, not only in what we say, but how we say it now. So we see very clearly that Jesus spoke with graciousness.
We use these words these days. He was affable, right? That means he was easy to was his words. He was not going to bite your head off.
Jesus was not going to ever bite your head off. He was not going to be moody and petulant, difficult to.
Never. When you approach Jesus, this is all in the word, in the concept of graciousness. When you approach the Lord Jesus to talk to him, you never had to worry about which version of him you were getting.
You were never going to be on eggshells.
Now, if your heart wasn't right, you might get a rebuke.
Right.
But it wasn't like that, where it was explosive, or he also wasn't one that was going to, on the pretext of being gracious, avoid saying things that should be said.
This is what it was like according to the Bible. When if you converse with the Lord Jesus. He was the most gracious person you would ever meet. That's amazing.
Should dispel every idea about what we think about. For the militant person who thinks everything Jesus says was. That's what Ben thinks. I'm just joking.
Everybody knows that's not true about Ben.
But there are people that think that, you know, what it does, it affects. They justify a nasty, carnal attitude.
You know what? It's wicked. Just say it's wicked. It's wicked.
Independent Baptists have been chief in this sin.
Exalting arrogance, which is not graciousness. And pride.
That is not right. I don't care what you believe about whatever Jesus. Listen. There was no one more doctrinally sound than the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet his words were gracious, weren't they? No one believed righter than him. That's a wrong. That's not the right way to say it. No one believed more rightly.
And yet his words were still gracious.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Pastor, when we say that word, gracious words will always help.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: Beneficial.
You know, sometimes as men, you know, we thump our chest and men should be manly. That's a biblical concept. But we thump our chest, and we use that as an excuse to not be gracious. Was Jesus a man or not?
Was he a man who walked with his tail between his legs or not? No, he was very much so bold to speak.
Right. He was the one who alone, right now, of course, we know he's God, but as a man, he alone by himself, went into the temple. This huge complex where all these people were selling things. And had made himself in advance a whip, had woven it together and went up to the money changers who were with all their money and overturned the tables and literally ran people out. I wouldn't say that that was a man who walked with his tail between his legs, but he was still gracious.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: You see, that are my words. Gracious?
Does that characterize the way we speak when we talk to people? Is that how others would characterize us? But listen, being gracious in your speech will not mean that. And this is what's often misunderstood right here. We think no matter what we have to say, if we say it nice enough, people will receive it. That's false.
And therefore, if someone does not receive what we have to say, we blame ourselves and we think, well, maybe I just didn't say it right. It could be that they didn't like what you said, regardless of your attitude. All right, how do I know that? Look at this. In verse 42 22, they says, he was gracious. Verse 23. In the same context. And he said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself. Verse 24. And he said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. Verse 25. But I tell you of a truth, so I'm just following the context. Okay, follow it with me. Jesus is still speaking. Verse 26. But none of them of Elias was Elias sent. Verse 27. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elysius the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving, naming the leper naman the leper, naman the Syrian, he was a leper. But sorry. Verse 28. In the same context in which the Lord is, his speech is characterized as gracious in the same context.
How do they react?
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him under the brow of the hill, whereupon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. You see, that gracious words did not mean that he refused to say something that must be said. And gracious words also did not mean that he was received.
Let that be a lesson to us. Number one, if we're going to be like Jesus, WWJD, right?
If we're going to be like Jesus, should we not mimic the graciousness of his speech, but do not use that as an excuse to avoid saying things that must be said? But at the same time, we have to remember that often. Sometimes people do not receive what we say, not because of the way we say it, but because of what the thing is that we said.
Now, the reverse of that is also true. So this is a little complicated. Sometimes people reject what we say, not because of what we said, but because of the way we said it. And that's also a truth in proverbs that we'll look at later. But listen, let our speech be in such a way that people characterize us as man. Talking to them is just so easy.
They're so gracious. It's not pins and needles. There's no arrogance.
They want to be like brother Burgess said. They want to be helpful. They care about me when I'm talking to them. It's obvious this is what it was like to talk to Jesus. Isn't that fantastic? It just makes me feel better knowing those truths. Were you going to say something, brother?
[00:35:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
Sometimes it doesn't matter how you say, brother, but the most important thing sometimes is.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: You preaching my sermon, brother. We're going to be getting to that, but not today. All right, let's pray together.
