WWUTT 180 Christians and Swearing?

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Swearing. Is that okay? Can Christians do that? Is it okay for a Christian to cuss? I mean, really, do you need me to answer that question?
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What comes out of our mouth needs to be building one another up and giving glory to God when we understand the text.
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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, promote sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.
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Here's your host, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and thank you for tuning in to this program and our study of Romans 10 this week.
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We'll get into Chapter 11 next week. Being Friday, I generally take questions from listeners or viewers of what videos.
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You can send a question to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. I've got two emails I'm going to be responding to today.
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This first one comes from Kim and concerns episodes of this program that were a week ago.
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She says, Dear Pastor Gabe, I enjoy your whenweunderstandthetext a lot. It is such a blessing.
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I'd like to have your transcripts slash commentary on Dr. Adrian Rogers' sermon about Romans 9.
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I could not find it on your blog. Please email it to me or show me where it is exactly on the web.
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And then gives her email address. Thank you. Blessings in Christ. Well, thank you, Kim. And I did say during those episodes, which aired
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April. And I look at my calendar here. It was Wednesday, April 27th and Thursday, April 28th.
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And I did say that coming up that weekend, I was going to have the transcript of Dr. Rogers' sermon and my commentary on my blog.
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But I got delayed because I ended up posting the blog instead about false teachers, which got very well read this week.
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So I appreciate those who read it, responded to it and shared it. I have the transcript up now and it is dated
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April 29th. So if you go to PastorGabeHughes .blogspot .com,
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the April 29th entry is the full transcript to both episodes. They're in one entry.
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So that's where to find it. Thank you, Kim, for your patience. And I'm sorry I got delayed on getting that posted.
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This next email comes from Eileen. She says, I love your videos. Thank you for doing them. I can't find a search tool on your site.
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Have you ever done one on phrases that are tossed so freely by Christians that are totally irreverent?
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For example, good Lord when not in prayer or OMG or gosh. So many people throw phrases around that make my skin crawl.
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Unbelievers I can accept. Hearing these things in the church is much harder. Thanks, Eileen.
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And thank you, Eileen, for your email. First of all, there is not a search tool on our website. I apologize for that.
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But if you're doing a video or a keyword search, I don't think there is a search bar.
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If you click on the Videos tab, you will find all of our videos, over 100 videos now.
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They are arranged by category into various topics. So you can find a video that way.
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I will tell you that we're in the process of putting all of our videos in transcript form because all these videos have had scripts written out for them anyway.
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So we're taking those scripts and putting them on the website. And when that is complete, there will be a search option where you can search for anything by keyword.
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We just don't have that done yet, and it's probably going to be several more weeks before that gets completed. But anyway, so www .utt
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.com, click on the Videos tab, and you can find all the videos arranged by category. We have not yet done a video on irreverent speech like what you were referring to.
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We haven't done one on swearing at all yet, although that's on the list. Nor have we done one about blaspheming the name of God.
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Though we did do one on the unforgivable sin and address the whole blasphemy challenge thing that atheists do on YouTube sometimes.
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So you can look that one up, the what video, the one unforgivable sin. But related to the phrases that you gave examples of, good
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Lord, OMG, gosh, are those things okay for Christians to say? No, they're not.
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It's still blasphemy. Like you may not intend to be blaspheming God, which is kind of the way that we think of sin sometimes.
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We think of sin is only when we intended to sin. But if I didn't mean to sin, then I didn't really sin. Oh, come on.
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Most of our sins, most of the sins that we commit, we did not intend to commit or did not know that we were committing them.
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Don't forget about Romans 7 where Paul says, I didn't know what it was to covet until I read in the law, do not covet.
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And then Paul became aware of the sins that he had been committing all this time. So, yeah, you don't have to be intending to take the
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Lord's name in vain. You might be using some sort of alternative phrase like gosh, but what is coming out of your heart is insensitive toward the name of God.
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You're not actually thinking about what it is that you are saying. You are still expressing a frustration that is coming out of your heart and pouring forth in a word that is not really being thought through.
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And when we read in Ephesians chapter four, this is probably the most common section to address to address the speech that comes out of our mouth.
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Ephesians 429 says, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.
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So is saying OMG or oh, my gosh, or good Lord, when not meaning to be said in a way that gives praise to God, are these things giving grace to anybody or are you expressing your frustrations?
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Even if you're using an alternative word to express those frustrations, you're actually showing that you are not content with your circumstances, that things are not going your way.
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Things are out of your control. In fact, there may even be an undertone of thinking that things are not even under God's control right now.
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So I'm expressing my frustration with the moment and using this word to express it.
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Does that sound OK? So so here in Ephesians 429, Paul is saying that all the speech that we use needs to be good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.
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What about swearing when you're by yourself? The follow up question that I would ask to that is, are you really by yourself?
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Doesn't the Lord God hear the words that come out of your mouth, whether you're talking about a swear word or saying something that would be blasphemy, taking his name in vain?
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And isn't it coming from a heart that is showing contempt for your circumstances? And so it's still pouring from a contemptuous heart.
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Or are you following the instruction that's given to us in Second Corinthians 10 verse five?
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I believe it is. Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. See, when those words are pouring out of our mouths that way, it is revealing that in our hearts we don't actually have control over our speech and we're commanded to have control over our speech.
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James gives this clearly. I mean, a huge section in James chapter three, verses one through twelve.
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I'm going to read this whole section for you. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
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There you go. That one applies to me. OK, for we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.
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If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
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Look at the ships also, though they are so large and they're driven by strong winds.
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They are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also is the tongue, a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
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How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.
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The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell.
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For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
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But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
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With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
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From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
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Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or a grapevine produce figs?
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Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. So what hope is there for us then, reading this in James 3, 1 -12, if no man can tame the tongue, what hope is there?
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And this is why we have that instruction that I gave to you a moment ago in 2 Corinthians 10, to take every thought captive and make it obey
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Christ. To let Christ govern all of our members so that what pours forth from us is not corrupting talk, but is rather talk that in everything, in everything we say or do, we are giving glory to God in all things.
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Coming back to a verse that we read earlier this week, Romans 10, 9. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
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Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
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And as I pointed out yesterday, this is not Paul adding confession into the equation of salvation, but rather it's that process of sanctification and understanding that what comes out of our mouth is what is in our hearts.
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This came from Jesus, Luke 6, 45. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
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For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.
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What is coming out of your mouth? Is it, as it says in Ephesians 4, 29, corrupting?
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Or is it good for building up, giving grace to those who hear?
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Paul goes on in that same chapter to say, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.
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And somebody might say, well, yeah, but I'm not directing it at anybody. I'm just, you know, in the moment I'm saying it's still bitterness.
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All right. It's still wrath and anger. It is still expressing that from your heart. And that's what's pouring out of your mouth instead of what is giving grace to others and what is pleasing and acceptable and giving glory to God.
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Colossians 4, 6, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
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First Timothy 4, 12, let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
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And somebody might say, well, Gabe, you're taking that out of context. Paul was telling that to Timothy as a teacher of the church.
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Right. But Timothy is setting an example for everybody else. Right. Set the believers an example that they all may follow his example.
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And the first thing that Paul says is speech. Set an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
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James 1, 26, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
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So we can claim to have religion, but if we show no evidence of having control of our own tongues, then the religion that we are claiming is worthless.
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And notice that James puts it here by saying, he who does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart.
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Compare that with Romans 10, 10. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
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Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So let everything that we say be giving glory and honor to God.
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This means, as I'm putting this forward to you, you're going to have to be more mindful of what it is that is coming out of your mouth.
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You're going to actually have to think about your words. Even if you don't think that, you know, like you're saying,
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OMG. Oh, but it doesn't mean, oh my God. I'm saying, oh my gosh, I'm just, I'm putting the
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SH on it. Right, but nobody's receiving it that way. And when you say, OMG, what they hear is the blasphemy.
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They don't hear you trying to soften the blow with something else. It's just insensitive.
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It is inconsiderate to not be thinking about what it is that you are actually saying. With every word that we speak, we need to give consideration to it.
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Even when we're talking about dang it or something like that, that's not appropriate either. It's not taking the
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Lord's name in vain, but again, it's still expressing discontentment with your circumstances.
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I said the word recently in front of my kids, and then I think it was my son that repeated it. And it's kind of like I didn't think about it as it was coming out of my mouth, but when
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I heard my son say it, then I was going, you know, that's really not the example that I want to set for my son. So my wife and I have a deal worked out with our kids.
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If you have never heard mommy and daddy say it, you can't say it. And so we just have to be careful with what it is that we say in front of our children.
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And I get a pretty good idea of what I sound like in front of my kids when they start repeating those things back to me.
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So be more mindful about what it is that you say and how you use your words.
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Commit Ephesians 429 to memory, because that's really going to be the most helpful instruction to help guide you in this.
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Let nothing corrupting come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
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Our Lord God, we thank you so much for the patience that you give to us. We slip up all the time and our tongues get away from us, but as we read in your word, 1
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John 1, 9, if we are faithful to ask forgiveness for our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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And so Lord, we thank you for the patience that you have displayed with us. Help our minds and our hearts be completely submissive to you so that what comes out of our mouth is just giving you praise and glory and building up others.
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We pray and ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.