WWUTT 1680 Q&A Elon Prefers Hell, Where is Hell, Using Hell as a Curse

Did Elon Musk say that he prefers hell to heaven? Where is hell anyway?

Can you find it on a map? And should we be using hell as a curse word? The answers to these questions, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study in the word of God, that we may comprehend with all the saints, how wide, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ.

Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .tt .com. Here once again is

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. How are you? Doing well. Good. I haven't seen you much this week.

No. This has been one of those really busy weeks. Yes. I've been really busy too. I like the ponytails.

Thanks. Well, sort of. It's like a braid thing, and then the tails down on the - Yes. It's like pigtails.

Is there a name for that? Raya helped me. The five -year -old helped her style her hair.

Oh, yeah. That's pretty good for a five -year -old. Well, I did the twist, and then she made sure that I had the ponytails.

Good deal. Yeah. We played a little beauty shop. I had no idea that I'd be talking beauty shop at the beginning of this podcast, but -

Well, you know. Here we are. It is Friday, and today we're taking questions from the listeners.

It's been a little while. It has been a little while. Yeah. The middle of April was the last time we did a listener -oriented

Q &A. Now, I mentioned that on this program, on this episode, I was going to read 10 parenting tips that I did a few years ago in a sermon.

I'm going to make that a blog. Oh, okay. That'll work. So, that's coming up another time. Yep. That's going to come up in a blog. I do have a question today that flows from the last few episodes that we've done, talking about discussing difficult topics with your children.

Mm -hmm. So, a follow -up question to that, and if you have any other questions about parenting tips, if you think, after listening to all of that,

Gabe and Becky are two people I trust about parenting. It's the Lord.

Or any other theology question. He takes care of our children. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we are not, by our natures, great parents.

No. It is only by the grace of God. It is. And it takes a whole lot of grace.

And. To be a good parent. And a village. And a village. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to raise just one.

Another name for that is the church. Amen. Helping the church. Exactly. Brothers and sisters in the Lord. Helping build one another up.

Find good parenting advice in your own church. Yes. That's a great place to find it, too. Gather your village.

Anyway, as I was mentioning, the email address. Yes. When we understand the text at gmail .com,

this first question is from Alex in Tennessee. He says, hey,

Pastor Gabe, how do you feel about Elon buying Twitter? Maybe you won't get banned so much anymore.

We'll find out. Yeah, I was. I loved seeing the the game that was afoot.

Oh, yeah. In the midst of all of that. Like the stock game, stock market game that Elon was playing with the shareholders of Twitter.

And all of that was really fascinating. It was neat to watch all of that. It didn't matter to me one way or the other in the end who was going to own

Twitter. Because it's a person who needs the Lord. Yes. One way or the other. But I do think

Elon's going to bring more of a free speech kind of a platform to it. Definitely. I'm under some kind of a shadow ban right now.

Oh? My likes on Twitter are way down. I just had Megan Basham, as a matter of fact, just commented yesterday and it said,

I never see your tweets anymore. So Twitter's done something with their algorithm that I'm switching it up.

Yeah. Even among people who follow me, my tweets aren't showing up that much anymore. So when

Elon gets a hold of it, finally, all that purchasing power is is completed and it's actually his possession.

He'll release all those algorithms and then maybe everything will flow a little more evenly. Yeah. So for that reason, yeah,

I like that he bought Twitter. But otherwise I'm, I think in the scheme of things,

I'm probably indifferent. Yeah. Well, I mean, you don't know until it happens.

Right. We'll find out and then we can compare. Now, a few of you had sent me a screen grab of a tweet that Elon made earlier this week.

And in fact, I mentioned this tweet on the podcast. I think it was Tuesday's episode that I talked about this.

So there was a fellow who on Twitter goes by the name Mohammed. And yes, he's he's

Islam. All right. I went to his Twitter page and he had a mix. I mean, in some places he would actually quote the

Bible, but he also had quotes from the Koran. So pretty reasonable to assume he might be some kind of nominal

Muslim. Yeah. Yeah. His Twitter page was written in in some kind of Arabic.

I had to click the little translate this tweet in order to see, you know, understand exactly what it was that he was tweeting.

But he tweeted this to Elon in English. Okay. So this is this was this Mohammed guy.

Elon had said, if I die under mysterious circumstances, it's been nice knowing you. Okay.

That was a joke because people have been threatening now that he's going to be the owner of Twitter. Yeah. And he's going to make it a free speech platform.

Right. Of course, all the leftists are going. He's going to suppress us. Yes. We're going to have headlines.

Oh, the white patriarchal list guy who's who's going to. Yeah. That's interesting.

Anyway, it's an interesting take on it. They're all they're all rending their garments and gnashing their teeth. Yes. So because of these threats that he's been getting because he loves free speech, this fellow or anyway, he made that tweet as a result of that.

Elon did. Elon did. Yes. You know, you've reached like elite of elite status when everybody knows you by one single name.

This is true. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, he's he's got he's he has a trail behind him.

So, I mean, he's in a lot of different places. So, you know, even Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan did not attain that status because you couldn't just know them as Michael or Jordan.

Jordan. I guess he did. Jordan did. Yeah. He did kind of achieve that. He kind of cheated on that by having his own clothing line.

Right. Or shoes. Yeah. I mean, hey, if you get so big, yeah, you're your own brand that, you know, you've achieved elite of the elite status.

All right. I get it. I get it. But then people Tiger. Tiger. Right. Yeah. Tiger. Tiger. Tiger.

Then again, there's not many people named Tiger or Elon. So, I mean, but you still know when you say

Tiger. Yeah. People aren't going, oh, the bangled cat. It's true. They're thinking golfer.

Right. Yeah. So, Elon, he's just Elon. He has achieved that single name status.

I don't know why, but I think of like King Leonidas, you know, the leader of the Spartans, just Leonidas could just called him

Leo. All right. You totally lost me. Anyway, Jesus, you know what

I'm talking about. There you go. Okay. Now I've got you. That's a history I'm familiar with. Okay. I've got you back in now.

So, this fellow, this Muslim guy, he said to Elon, you won't die before your day,

Elon. Anyhow, you are slash were a unique figure in this world.

I'm only wondering one thing. As a genius, haven't you found out that there is a great creator of this world yet?

If you did, make sure you confess this before your last heartbeat. Bless you.

Which, if you were to do what Muhammad said there, that wouldn't save you. Confess that you know there's a creator of everything.

Yeah. That's not the gospel. No. That's not how you get saved. Even the demons know there's a creator of everything.

Right. So, this fellow is not really extending anything to Elon that is a life -changing or life -saving message.

But that should influence Christians to... Be clear about the gospel.

Be very clear. Yeah. Yes. I think we're familiar... Ensuring it. We're familiar with the Babylon Bee debacle that happened at the end of 2021 where they had

Elon on and didn't exactly share the gospel with him either. Yeah. However, I've heard...

I've received word that Ray Comfort was just recently at the Babylon Bee studios and interviewed with the guys.

Now, if there's anybody who's going to give you a lesson on evangelism, it's Ray Comfort. Surely.

And Ray was one of the guys that made a video responding to what the Babylon Bee guys said. Oh, really? I didn't know that.

Oh, yeah. It's got millions of views. Oh, well, one of them wasn't mine. Sorry.

It was a great video. He did wonderful. So, it's neat to see Ray and the Babylon Bee guys together.

Yeah. And I can't wait to see that interview. It's still a few weeks out before we'll all get to see it. Okay. So, they posted pictures of Ray being there.

Very cool. Interviewing with the guys. So, anyway, that wasn't the point why I mentioned all of that. It was actually

Elon's response to Muhammad. Oh, okay. I was going to highlight here. All right. Let's do it. So, he said, thank you for the blessing, but I'm okay with going to hell if that is indeed my destination since the vast majority of all humans ever born will be there.

It's really sad that Elon happens to know that, but it doesn't put into him any fear of God or a desire to turn to Christ for the forgiveness of his sins and salvation from the wrath of God.

Yeah, that was really disappointing. Yeah. So, that's sad. To hear that from Elon. And I want to believe that he has heard the true gospel and it hasn't changed his heart.

So, it's not that he would be going to judgment ignorant. It would be because he's heard it and he's rejected it.

But nonetheless, the Holy Spirit can still do a work in this man's heart to transform the richest man in the world from being a wicked, sinning, rebel against God.

I was going to say rebeller. Rebeller. A rebel against God to somebody who now desires

God and loves Jesus Christ and wants to do what is pleasing in his sight.

So, pray for Elon because that would certainly be great. Definitely. He would have a lot of influence.

Now, with regards to that, that was actually going to be a transition into the topic of hell, since these next two questions have to do with that.

Okay. This first one comes from right here in Lindale, Texas. All right. It's our friend Dylan. Okay. And Dylan says,

Hi. Question tonight from Adventure Club. Oh, boy. Did hell exist before Adam and Eve sinned?

So, Adventure Club is the younger group. I think it's pre -kindergarten through,

I want to say sixth grade, maybe? I think that's right. Yeah, because we've got middle school here that's with Eric, our youth leader, and they don't do

Adventure Club. No. Now, whether Adventure Club offers a middle school program, I don't know, but we've got it pre -k through.

So, they're on the younger side of things. Yeah. Okay. So, read me the question one more time.

So, the question is, question of the night from Adventure Club. Did hell exist before Adam and Eve sinned?

Okay. Now, I've received a question like this a lot. I don't think we've ever answered it on the program before, but I've heard this quite a few times.

And the question assumes that hell is like a geographical location.

Right. So, you can point to it and go, there's hell. Right. Because we think of hell being down there.

And heaven being up there. That's right. Right. So, you're either going to go down or you're going to go up. Or we think of the story in Luke chapter 16, where Jesus talks about the rich man and Lazarus.

The rich man goes to a place of torment, a fiery torment, and Lazarus is carried to Abraham's side, referred to as Abraham's bosom, or what we would also know to be paradise.

And from there, Abraham talks to the rich man and says that there's a chasm that's been fixed between us and you.

You can't come over here and we can't come over there to you. Mm -hmm. Because the rich man's been asking Abraham, I mean, just send

Lazarus down here, put a cool drop of water on my tongue. Yeah. That these fires would not consume me the way that they are.

But we can't cross over, Abraham is saying. Right. And so, the rich man says, well, then send someone to warn my brothers of this awful place.

Mm -hmm. And Abraham says, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Mm -hmm.

And the rich man says, no, but if someone will rise from the dead, then they will believe. Mm -hmm.

And that is where Abraham responds, again, this is Jesus telling this story. Mm -hmm. So the word of Christ, repeating the word of Abraham in verse 31,

Luke 16, 31, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone should rise from the dead.

Mm -hmm. Now, that is about the clearest picture of paradise and hell that we have in the

Bible. Mm -hmm. Because we have these persons in this story that are actually communicating across those distances.

The rich man in hell, Lazarus and Abraham in paradise. Mm -hmm. And then something that is affixed between them that one cannot cross into the other.

Right. Those who are in hell are – and the understanding there being that those who are in hell are permanently there.

Yes. They won't ever get back out. And those who are in heaven, though, likewise, permanently there.

Right. And we will never lose that place, that close abiding with God that we will have forever.

Mm -hmm. Now, even though that's the picture we have there in Luke 16, that doesn't mean that these are geographic locations.

Because we're talking about an existence that's in the spiritual, not in the physical. Right. It's in the physical that we understand the difference between here and there.

Mm -hmm. Right. I am here right now in this office. If I were to go –

And you were there. That's right. If I were to go three feet in that direction, I would be on the other side of the office and I would be outside.

Mm -hmm. So, you know, we have geographic locations of here and there. Right. Spiritually, this doesn't quite work the same way.

Mm -hmm. Now, how this is going to look to us – I'm not saying that Jesus' story is wrong.

Don't hear me say that. He's just trying to take words and put it into something we can kind of comprehend.

Well, yeah. I mean, we can definitely comprehend here that there's going to be a difference between a person who's in heaven and a person who is in hell.

Mm -hmm. There is a difference in placement. Right. But it's not a geographic location.

It's not like there's physical space. Mm -hmm. It's not like there's –

I don't know what else I'm going to – I mean, even time won't work the same way. Mm -hmm. When we're in eternity. Right.

As the time in which we inhabit now. It's going to be different. The apostle

Paul is saying to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, what is mortal cannot receive the immortal.

Mm -hmm. We must put off the mortal and put on immortality. So, something about that existence will be different.

Mm -hmm. So, when we talk about heaven and hell, we're not talking about geographic locations necessarily. We are talking about placement, a place here or a place there.

Right. But it's not physically here or physically there. So, heaven is where God is.

Right. It's our place with God forever, whereas hell is a place where you are not in fellowship with God.

You are rather under his wrath. Mm -hmm. So, it's where God's wrath is being poured out on the unjust forever.

And where that place is, that's hell. Mm -hmm. So, it's not that when

God created the heavens and the earth. When we read in Genesis 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

That's likely not he created the spiritual realm and he created the physical realm. Mm -hmm. That's likely he created space and he created the earth.

Right. That's what... Outer space. Exactly, right. Like the universe. Yes. And then the earth and its placement in the universe.

That's what we're seeing there in Genesis 1. And Augustine talked about this as also being the creation of time.

Because with the creation of matter is also the beginning of time. Yeah. Since matter exists in time, the relationship between time and matter.

Anyway, that might end up getting philosophical, even somewhat into physics.

Science -y, definitely. Science -y stuff. Science -y stuff. Yeah. But the... Anyway. But God loves order.

That's true. He created everything with order. He did not leave the earth formless and void. Right. But he said, let there be light and there was light.

God creating everything by the speaking of a word and it just came into existence.

Mm -hmm. But time, God did not exist in time before he created time.

He lives in the heavens, but he also inhabits this time and space with us.

We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. So God does dwell with us, but he also inhabits heaven where there is no time.

These things are mysterious to us now. Definitely. But we'll come to understand them when we step into the other side.

Yes. As I talked about yesterday when we were in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, I made a reference to 1

Corinthians 13 where it says, Now we see as though through a glass dimly, but soon we will see face to face.

Mm -hmm. And then we will know just as we are fully known. Yeah. So we talk about these things in the spiritual realm as much as we can know them according to what scripture says.

Yes. But then when we get there, then all of it's going to make sense to us. Right. So anyway, all that to say, hell is the place where God's wrath is being poured out and heaven is the place where we dwell with God forever.

Mm -hmm. If we get to heaven and God's not there, you're not in heaven, you're in hell.

Right. Because when you hear the stories of heaven from heaven is for real or 90 minutes in heaven, it's just funny that these people die and they go to heaven, but they don't see

God there. Yeah. Then what's so great about it? Yeah. Because that's the greatest thing about heaven is that you get to be with God forever.

Sounds more like a dream. Yeah. Right. Yeah. What was that? There was a Robin Williams movie about that.

What Dreams May Come. No, I don't remember. About afterlife. I never saw it, but I just know that that's what it was about.

Oh, okay. It had some great computer effect in it or something like that, and that's why it was so popular for the time that it came out.

Oh, okay. Sure. Anyway, or what the afterlife might look like. Whatever it was, it was not what was in that movie.

Yeah. But that's the way that people talk about it. The afterlife is some great paradise that we're going to live in.

Yeah. Sure. It's going to be. It's everything you ever wanted. Exactly. Yeah. Our own personal human ideal.

Yes. But what makes heaven great is that we get to be with God. And we won't be in our human form anyway.

So what we think is ideal now will definitely not be ideal then.

Well, we'll be in. It'll be different. I think there will be a human form. I don't know. That's difficult to.

I mean, it's just it's not going to be what we are now. That's what I'm trying to say. But our bodies will be resurrected to be like his glorious body.

Very true. By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. Right. Philippians chapter 3. And then as it says in 1

John 3 2, we will see him as he is because we will be made to be like him. Right. The disciples recognized him when he rose from the dead.

That's what I was going to say is whenever he was walking, he was in his glorious form. That's why they didn't recognize him at first.

And then they did later. Yeah. He's in his he has the resurrected body. So that kind of body that we live in, it's going to be different than the body that we have now.

I'm just saying our our wants and needs will be different because we won't have any. We won't be hungry anymore.

We won't experience pain anymore. There will be no more tears. Every tear will be wiped away. So as long as you focus on the

Lord, you're going to get that in paradise. Yeah. You'll get to be with God forever. Yeah. Exactly.

Exactly. But where God is pouring out his wrath is hell. That place is hell.

So these were not geographic locations that that God brought into existence at creation.

But when the first person dies and goes to be under the wrath of God, then that would be essentially the creation of hell.

And as crude as that statement might be, but that that's how we would understand it. So the creation of hell would be a person who is under the wrath of God dying and then being under that wrath forever.

So the answer to the child is no. Yes. Hell did not exist before Adam and Eve.

Sure. There you go. Thanks for getting to the absolute practical response to that question, babe.

You're welcome. If there's anybody who can land the plane, it's my wife. On occasion.

All right. This next question comes from he says, Dear Pastor Gabe. Now, this goes back to our our parenting episode.

I really appreciate. Oh, and he sent this to me on my my personal email address. So that's why it's it's just to me and not to you.

Oh, OK. But your name is in here. Dear Pastor Gabe, I really appreciate the episodes that you and Becky did on parenting.

I will definitely be listening to those more than once in the last episode. And I guess you talked about this in another episode, too.

But you talked about swearing. You said to tell your kids not to use words that they they don't hear mommy and daddy use.

Right. If we don't use it, then you can't say it. Right. Yeah. That's just that's just I mean, we teach them

Ephesians 429. Let the words that come out of your mouth be wholesome and be good for building one another up.

Right. But when it comes to like, is this a good word or not? Yes. If you've never heard mommy or daddy use it, then you don't use it.

Right. But you can come ask us about it. Yes. You can come say, yeah, I heard this word. Yes.

Is this a bad word? Yes. Have you had many adventures with that? Or do they just come to me and ask those questions?

They just go to you. I'll ask daddy if this word is OK. Yeah. Anyway, you said to tell your kids not to.

OK, I read that sentence. That really convicted me because I do swear. Reese says.

Yeah. I know it's a problem, but it's one of those things that I just ignore like it's no big deal.

My wife used to discourage it saying in our marriage. Oh, no, sorry.

My wife used to discourage it early in our marriage. But I think she eventually realized

I was never going to stop. So she didn't try to correct me anymore. So I have two questions.

Number one, do you have any tips, any biblical advice on how I can stop swearing? And number two, what words are considered swear words?

I think some are pretty obvious. But what about saying something like what the H -E double hockey sticks?

Since we're talking about hell. I've always wondered about that one. I know I'm not supposed to blaspheme

God or take his name in vain. But then shouldn't it be OK to take hell's name in vain?

Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for all that you do. I just go by what's crude and what's not.

You know, if it's edifying, wholesome, if my children can say the phrase in front of their grandparents and their grandparents not faint.

You know, I mean, that's a good way of I don't know.

We discourage a lot of phrases because we realize that they are just a gateway to the other words.

And like whenever we realize that G's. Oh yeah, like gosh.

Gosh. G's. Darn it. What was the Jim started with a

J. Jiminy Cricket. No, it was crikey. That was. It was crikey.

Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't start with a J. No, but you went Jiminy Cricket. And then that reminded me. That's what it was.

Oh yeah. Because I went. There was an episode where I said that and then somebody emailed and said, no, that's actually Australian slang for taking

Christ's name in vain. Right. Yeah. So there's a lot of words that I was I'm shocked by.

You know, like I didn't even think they would be connected, but they really are.

And phrases and stuff like that. So it's I think it's a heart issue. Yeah. Definitely a heart issue of, you know, what would you say that in front of God?

You know, like, because ultimately that's. Well, Christ is our standard. Yeah. Right. So, you know, so just like I said, just like we say to our kids, if you've not heard mommy and daddy say it, then you can't say it.

Right. Well, if you haven't heard God say it. Right. That's a very good standard. Yeah.

If you're going to establish a standard for what words are okay, then go by what we have in scripture. Yeah. And speak words that are honorable and pleasing to God.

Now, while my wife is wonderful at landing the plane, she loves to answer the last question first.

I do. I do. I get stuck going through magazines backwards even. Like, it's strange.

You're that person who reads the last page of the book to find out the ending before you go back and. Sometimes.

Read the whole thing. Yeah. Not usually, but sometimes. If it's a mystery. If it's a mystery. Definitely. Right. So, the first question was, hang on,

I've got to come back to it now. Do you have any tips, any biblical advice on how I can stop swearing? Well, that's where you were going with your answer.

Yeah. Yeah. You got there at the conclusion of that. So, what helped me, because I used to swear a lot.

I've been there too. So, what helped me was to do the rubber band on the wrist thing, and every time

I'd catch myself, I would really wallop myself with that. And it's almost like the adult.

It's a personal spanking. Yeah. That's what I was going to say. It's the adult version of giving yourself a slap on the hand, you know?

Like, don't do that, you know? Yeah. And that's how I was raised anyway.

I was raised with spankings. And so, it's the physical reminder of don't do that. Yeah. Stop that.

Right. And I know it sounds really silly, but it really does help. Well, it helped me get out of that habit.

And, you know, I mean, I probably couldn't have done it without the Lord, without being saved. Sure. Now, those kinds of disciplinary measures are fine.

The risk that you run, though, is what's called asceticism, where you've personally punished yourself, and so you think, now

I've given myself a punishment for saying that, so now I'm absolved, you know, or something like that.

Oh, okay. Like, as long as I do something to myself, then... Right, then it makes it all okay. Then it makes it all okay, right.

No, that's not the purpose. The purpose is the end goal of getting yourself out of that habit. But, yeah,

I get where you're coming from. Right. The best pain that you can experience is the conviction of the

Holy Spirit. Amen. So, if we have minds that are being conformed to Christ, what we speak should be out of the overflow of the heart.

I think you said this last week. It was when we were talking about foul language. I thought I said that. It was a heart issue.

Yeah, a heart issue, yeah. But last week you actually said, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Okay. Because that was what

Jesus said. That's what I was referring to. Right. It's fine. So, where our minds are affixed, having the mind of Christ, Philippians 2 .5,

where our hearts are, as it says in Matthew 6, where your treasure will be, there your heart will be also.

Sure. So, as we affix ourselves to Christ, then may the words that come from our mouths be

Christ -honoring. Mm -hmm. So, devote yourself to the Lord, draw near to Christ, and then even the things that you say will be honoring of Christ.

In all your conversations, not just when you get mad or when you get frustrated, you'll respond in a more godly way.

Mm -hmm. But in everything. Right. In the way that you speak about anything. To your wife, to your kids, to your friends, about the news, whatever.

Mm -hmm. Everything that comes out of your mouth. Yeah. Being behind the wheel. I'm just going to put that out there.

So, I took our two girls, our two middle girls, Aria and Mariah, to the grocery store.

Aria's seven, Mariah's five. I took them to the grocery store, and they had one of those carts that had two steering wheels on it.

You know, it's shaped like a taxi cab. It's got two steering wheels. Aria is like right at the end of being able to fit in these things.

Yes. She's getting really tall. I'm giving her as many opportunities as possible before she won't fit in these shopping carts anymore.

So, I put her in there, and I put the girls in there, and they're pretending they're driving around the store. Well, they're getting road rage.

They have no control over the shopping cart. None whatsoever. But they're getting road rage in the shopping cart. And my five -year -old at one point goes, oh, come on.

What? Hands out and everything. They're like hands out, like leaning over the steering wheel. She goes, come on.

These people, all they do is they stop and they go. And I was like, is that what

I sound like? Is that what she's imitating? Yeah, he comes home, and he asks me if I do it. And I was like, nope, that's not me.

Yeah, I asked if Becky did it. Yeah, that definitely came from me.

So, that's why Becky was heavily implying her driving. Actually, no.

It wasn't what I had in mind. Oh, sure. But I'm glad you were convicted by that. Again.

Sure, sure. So, anyway, consider these words from James chapter three.

Now, if we put the bits into the mouths of horses so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

Look at the ships also. Though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot wills.

So, also, the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire.

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our existence and is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, reptile, creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our Lord, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Does a fountain pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives? Or a vine produce figs?

Nor can salt water produce fresh. So how do we have mouths that are therefore going to pour forth good speech?

We must be changed from the inside. That was in James 3. Let's skip over to chapter 4.

Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double -minded.

Be miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

That goes back to what you were saying about God being with us everywhere. Yeah. So we need to just have that as our forthright reminder, like on the forefront of your head.

That's right, yeah. My words aren't coming out well. Yeah, sure. But you can fill in the gaps.

As we know that we are with Christ or he is with us in everything, so we speak and act in a way that is honorable to the

Lord. Yes. So my encouragement to you, Reese, would be meditate on Christ. Put your mind and your heart on Christ constantly.

Yeah. Ask him to help you. If you listen to music a lot, there's music out there that's just Bible verses.

Yeah, we'll fill you up with Scripture. That's right. Yes, and you can listen to that and sing along with that, and there's nothing wrong with that.

That's right. It'll help keep your mind in the right spot, and then whenever you hear a phrase or something like that, it'll bring it to mind even, even if it's not what you're talking about.

And it's things like that that also help daily. And then reading

Scripture, of course, is what you were saying. Yeah. And then what else would be something? Well, on the subject of music, so there's a guy by the name of The Corner Room.

The kind of music he does, his ministry is called The Corner Room. Okay. His name's Adam Wright. Highly recommend that because he's just taking words right out of the

Bible and putting music to it. Awesome. Just wanted to give him a plug while we're talking about that.

Yeah, sure. And then it doesn't apply to here, but maybe, maybe there's a wife out there listening, thinking, you know,

I could be more uplifting. What was that Scripture that I just had you look up the other week, last week or something?

It's better for a husband to live on the corner of his roof than in a house with a nagging wife? Yes, that one.

Is that really the one? Yep, that's the one. You ask me like multiple verses all week long. I do. I do.

It's in Proverbs. I can't give you the exact reference. You're going to have me look it up? Yes. Okay, here we go.

I'm looking this up. Nagging wife, or it's quarrelsome wife, depending on the translation you're looking at.

Yeah, see, that's why I can't look things up because I know one translation and it's not what I look up on.

Quarrel wife, well, that one doesn't find it for me. Maybe it is nagging in this translation. I think it's nagging. Nope.

Not that either, huh? Proverbs 25, 24. Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

Proverbs 25, 24. There you go. Okay. Proverbs 21, 9 apparently also says the same thing.

Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Now, I was looking for that in the

Legacy Standard Bible and I was not coming up with it. So the keywords weren't working. Let me see. Proverbs, oops, 25.

Down to verse 24. It is better to live in a corner of the roof than in a house with a contentious woman. Contentious.

Yeah, I was looking quarrelsome wife, nagging wife wasn't working, contentious woman. That's how it comes out in the

Legacy Bible. Okay. Now, why were you having me look that up? Just so a wife will be more encouraging of her husband.

Yes. Is that where you were going with that? Okay. Yes. There are things that people do to irritate their spouse that does lead to sinful behavior as a response.

Now, it shouldn't, but it doesn't help. So to also make sure that you're not putting everything on your spouse.

They're not doing this, they're not doing this, they're not doing that. Putting them on a pedestal. Like you're expecting them to meet all your needs.

Yes. Right. Yeah. That. Yeah. So speaking words to one another that are encouraging of each other and building one another up.

My wife is great about knowing that in my job and in my position, I've probably been receiving a lot of criticism during the day.

That's not to say anything about my coworkers. No. Just in general. In a position of pastoral ministry or as public as my ministry is, because there's constantly people that are pushing back on a video

I've said or a tweet I made or something like that. And she's wonderful about encouraging me and building me up.

I've never felt like in coming home, I'm just going to get more of it at home. I've always felt like I know

I can come home and I'm going to get words of, I mean, it doesn't even have to be that I'm walking in the door and then suddenly you're just pouring out flowery speech on me.

No, not usually. It's just, I know that I can talk to you. Yeah. And we can have a good conversation with each other and it will be meaningful.

We're listening to each other. We're encouraging one another. We're building each other up. And that's what you want your home to be.

Yes. We've said the same thing to our kids, like even preparing them for one of these days, you're not going to be living here anymore.

You're going to be living out there in the world. But you always know that you can come home here and you will always be loved when you walk in this door.

And so we pay attention to our children now. Yes. And then they know mom and dad will listen to me even when we send them off into the world.

Yes. Yeah. So anyway. All of that playing into good speech.

Yes. And I mean, there's so much that can, so much good that can happen from good speech, not just for yourself, but also for those around you.

It builds them up. Well, true. I mean, and that's exactly what we quoted last week from Ephesians chapter four.

So in Ephesians 4 29, it's that building up one another with our words verse, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed so that it will give grace to those who hear.

And there's another verse in Proverbs too. I can't remember which one it is, but talks about how we speak in such a way so that it's heard even by other people around us.

So as you're talking to the person in front of you, may that even be a blessing to other people that may overhear?

Yeah, that's where I have to be careful because I will be tired and my tone changes and it's not that I'm mad and my family knows

I'm not mad, but it sounds like I'm mad. You know what I mean? And so, so I have to be careful that I'm not short with my answers because I need to eat or I need sleep.

You're angry. I'm very angry. So, so I laugh a lot, like an extensive amount because I'm like,

I need people to know that I'm not angry, but man, I'm sure tired or hungry.

Your voice is intense, but you're not mad, not mad at anybody. Right. So, you know, kind of lightens up things, but the tone, that's what

I was getting at. Yeah. Tone plays a lot into things. So if you're getting irritated by someone who's talking to you a certain way, just ask them.

Now, I hear this is what you're saying. Is that what you're meaning or is it this? And then you kind of get to know whether to take it personally or not, you know?

And then it kind of puts them on the spot, too, of, oh, I was not sounding very pleasant. Sure. Yeah.

I mean, the way that we need each other to help us spot those things, understand those things, build each other up.

Yeah. So even for you, Reese, you're not meant to go through this alone. Right. You said that your wife used to correct you and now she doesn't anymore because it's like she's just kind of accepted the way things are going to be.

But you have your helpmate. Yeah, you have your helpmate. So go to her and apologize. Definitely.

Just tell her, hey, I know years ago you used to correct me on these things. I just ignored you and I'm sorry.

You did that because you loved me and you, I don't, Reese, you don't mention how many kids you have or how old they are, but, you know, your children and your family, how you speak in front of them.

Maybe you need to apologize to your kids. Maybe your kids have picked up some habits from the way that you talk that in order to correct those habits, you're first going to have to apologize and then say, you know, it's not okay that you speak that way, but you pick that up from daddy and it's not okay that I talk that way.

So establish those things. Don't feel like you have to like gradually move into it. Right. Just lay it all out for them right away.

Just point blank say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. And then set some good standards for the kind of language that you use in your house.

And even the way you talk to each other. Right. Like the tone of voice, as Becky had mentioned.

Now there was another part to Reese's question, which you answered first. Sorry. But you were answering like what words can be considered swear words.

Let's skip that one. Let's go to what the H -E double hockey sticks. We were talking about hell earlier.

I was trying to get there, but I didn't ever get there. I think some are pretty obvious, but what about saying something like, what the hell?

Why do we not say that? Why is it bad to say, oh my

God, or taking God's name in vain, using it as a blasphemous swear word? Why is that bad?

But also what the hell is bad? If one is blasphemy, it's blasphemy against God.

Well, who cares if I blaspheme hell, right? So can't I say it blaspheming hell? What would be the problem with that?

Why do we consider that a swear word? I look at it like that's going to lead me to more words, but I don't know.

There's probably a different answer. It's a gateway. It's a gateway. All right, there you go. The gateway to hell. Hell is a gateway to more bad words.

It makes it easier for me to slip up and go back into using cuss words.

Right. But that's just me. I don't know what your answer is. I think this is the biggest reason why we don't use it as a swear.

We don't use hell as a swear, because it trivializes it. Oh, makes it a big deal?

No, it makes it not a big deal. It makes it seem like something insignificant. Oh, I gotcha.

And yet hell is a very, very serious thing. Yes, that is true. Hell is where God's wrath is being poured out on the sinner forever.

So it belittles it. Yeah. Okay. And it makes it not seem like. I mean, when you think about what hell is and who is there, that should make you tremble.

It shouldn't make you want to use it as a swear word. What do I need to do to ensure that the people

I know and love don't go there? Right. And so when you talk about hell, you're going to talk about it in a fearful way.

When you use hell as a swear word, then it loses its reverence. There is a certain sense in which there's a reverence about that.

Like where Peter, in 2 Peter 2, he talks about the heretics who blaspheme the glorious ones.

And he's talking about kind of like how the false teachers will say, well, the devil can't touch me.

No, the devil's already got you. When you think that you have greater power than Satan does, that's when you're going to be most vulnerable to the schemes of Satan.

Yeah, you need to read Job again. Yeah. So there is a certain sense in which we do understand the devil does have power.

And he has more power than we have. And his schemes are what is going to drag a person to hell.

It's not that the devil rules hell. And it's not like he's jumping up and down on people that are in hell, which is kind of the way that we think about it.

But where Peter is talking there about blaspheming the glorious ones, it's trivializing the power that Satan and his demons have.

That's what the false teachers will do when their schemes are tricky. And if we are not near to Christ, then we can easily be taken by the devil and his schemes.

And so we need to think about those things in a very serious way. We need to understand that the devil does ask to sift us like wheat.

As Jesus said to Peter, the devil has asked to sift you like wheat. That the devil's schemes want to ensnare us and pull us away from God.

So we need to be wise to that and near to Christ and not trivialize those things that are even evil that can have power over us.

As we just read out of James, the tongue is a fire that's been set on fire by hell.

And when we think that hell can't touch me, then that's when our language becomes something that is more reflective of the fires of hell than it is of the glories of heaven.

So draw near to Christ, have a mind that is changed by Christ. Jesus did not trivialize hell or use it as a swear, so we shouldn't either.

Yeah. Heck would go right along with that. Yeah. That's the, what do you call it? Alternative.

Yeah. The lighter alternative to hell. I mean, all of that is pretty, all of a sudden

I'm losing all my vocabulary. It's arbitrary.

So they're all kind of the same. Like if you get mad and you're saying something in anger. Yeah. If you're just switching the words.

Yeah. You're still cursing. Yeah. Because that's what you wanted to say, even though it's not what came out.

You're still thinking about it and meditating on it. If you're cursing your circumstances, isn't it because you don't trust that God is sovereign and he's in control over this?

Are you not trusting in God and knowing that each and every one of these moments are fully in his hand?

Awesome. So if you know that. Yeah. Then why are you mad about this circumstance?

Why are you cursing your situation when you should be trusting in the

Lord and knowing there is nothing outside of his control? And even this thing that I'm going through, this slow driver in front of me.

There's even something about this that's meant to sanctify me. Yeah. And make me draw near to Christ instead of cursing or trivializing my circumstances.

Yep. And that includes being late and getting behind that slow person.

You know. Yeah. There are always growing character building moments.

There's always places we need to grow. Yeah. Yes, definitely. Growing character building moments.

Yeah. I call them character building because it builds my character.

Scripture does too. Scripture says the same thing. Romans 5, 3. Not only this, but we boast in our afflictions.

Knowing that affliction brings about perseverance. And perseverance, proven character.

Mm -hmm. And proven character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the

Holy Spirit who was given to us. Yes. So shouldn't the words that you say be reflective of the spirit that dwells within you?

Mm -hmm. Definitely. Your body is a temple, as Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 6.

We are indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, so your body is a temple.

Mm -hmm. So shouldn't your tongue also be reflective of the fact that you are the dwelling place, the house of God?

Yes. Yeah. I know I put it to shame daily. Oh, yeah. Me too. All the time.

But that's why we study and go through these things together that we may— And we keep each other accountable.

Exactly. Yeah. That we may grow all the more in Christ. Yes. All the more in holiness every day. Yes. And I hope this has been a blessing to you today.

So once again, if you have any questions for the program, we try to answer those on Friday. Mm -hmm. You can send that to whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com.

God willing, we'll be back next week. Yeah. Answering some more questions. All right, babe, shall we pray? Yes, let's.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the grace you show to us every day. We are undeserving of it any day.

But in Christ Jesus, we've been made new creations. The old is passed away, and the new has come.

And so, as it says in Colossians 3, may our minds constantly be renewed to reflect the knowledge of our

Creator, who has loved us, who sent his Son to die for us, who rose again from the dead, so that all who believe in him, we will not perish, but we will have everlasting life.

So may we speak words that give life, not words that are reflective of dead, dirty corpses.

But as people who have been brought from death to life, may we speak things that are honoring to God, and they build one another up as well.

As we go out sharing the message of the gospel, may we understand doctrines like hell.

The wrath of God is coming against a world of unrighteousness. So we warn sinners, turn from their sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ, that they may be saved from the wrath of God that is poured out on the unrighteous forever.

And in Christ Jesus, as we've read this week in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, in Christ we have his righteousness.

So may we walk in his righteousness, even speaking words of righteousness, in the presence of God and in the presence of one another.

Thank you for the grace you show to us, and may we show the same grace to each other. It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Amen. This is

When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of God, that we may comprehend with all the saints how wide, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ.

Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .tt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Oh, you sound awfully tingy. Do I? Yeah, there you go. Should I go down here? Yeah, we're going to do that again.

We're going to adjust it. All right. No tings for me. It sounded like this.

It's like no depth to it at all. Aw. All right, hang on. Well, I can't have it this far away because you yell at me for not eating it.