Pure and Undefiled Religion

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Ascension Presbyterian Church - Longwood, Florida Rev. Christopher Brenyo "Pure and Undefiled Religion" James 1:26-27 October 8th, 2023

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Please remain standing for the reading of the word from the book of James and chapter 1
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I'm going to begin reading in verse 16 this is
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God's holy and infallible word Do not be deceived my beloved brethren
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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights
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With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning of His own will he brought us forth by the word of truth
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That we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures So then my beloved brethren
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Let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath
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For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and Receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls
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But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves
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For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer He is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror
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For he observes himself goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and Continues in it and is not a forgetful here, but a doer of the work.
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This one will be blessed in what he does If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart
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This one's religion is useless Pure and undefiled religion before God in the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and To keep oneself unspotted from the world
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Please pray with me now. Oh Lord, we desire to be a faithful people and I ask that you would use your word to bridle our tongues and our hearts that we would have a religion that is useful that we would practice and teach and model a pure and undefiled religion
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No, Lord, I pray that your people would derive great encouragement and comfort
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That their lives would be changed and transformed. Holy Spirit We ask for power and unction and illumination and conviction
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And we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Please be seated the title of the message today is pure and undefiled religion and what we're getting at today is what it means to be a doer of the word and To put it another way.
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We're looking to have pure and undefiled religion in practice For those of you who are need needing an outline there are three measures of faithfulness in our text the first is
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Bridling the tongue the first point for consideration is bridling the tongue
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The second is visiting orphans and widows in their trouble visiting orphans and widows in their trouble and the third
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Keep yourself unspotted from the world all of this derived very simply from the text bridling the tongue
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Visiting orphans and widows in their trouble and keeping yourself
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Unspotted from the world a bridled tongue reveals a pure heart
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To visit orphans and widows in their trouble is to give without getting
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To keep oneself Unspotted from the world.
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You have to see the beauty of holiness. You have to love God in his holiness
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Do you take pleasure in holiness? Do you practice holiness?
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That's how you keep yourself unspotted from the world Let's look at our text again.
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If anyone among you thinks he is Religious and Does not bridle his tongue
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But deceives his own heart. This one's religion is useless That should get our attention the most important thing in the
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Christians life is His relationship communion with God through the person of Jesus Christ For you to have your religion described as useless
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Or potentially to be useless this should stop you and cause you to pause and to ask am
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I living up to the standard the the Obligations that are incumbent upon the people of God who have forgiveness in Christ Who have been made new in him you and I want to have a useful
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Potent faith in Christ Let's consider the first point speech is produced by an airstream from the lungs and this air flows through the trachea and into the oral and nasal cavities
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The tongue in your mouth has to be Properly oriented and it has to be manipulated behind the teeth sometimes on the roof of your mouth extending through the teeth retracted and sometimes even curled and and made wavy and somehow this produces words and these words are intelligible to others and in great demonstration of the union of the body and soul
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I want you to pay attention to this the thoughts and intents of the heart and mind
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Springing from the soul of man appear upon the machinery of the brain
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And travel through a four -stage process of initiation in the lungs phonation through the vibrating anatomy of the trachea
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Then shaped by the articulators of the mouth and nose and somehow words come out we are fearfully and wonderfully made and just as remarkably
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The hearers of these vibrating sounds take in the waves through their auditory faculties beginning with the outer ear and They're transmitted to the brain whereby they are instantly recognized
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Interpreted understood and they become thoughts As image bearers of God this verbal ability speaking hearing thinking understanding writing and singing
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Distinguishes us from other animals of God's earthly creation we are so language oriented that the deaf can speak and hear with their hands and The blind can read by running their fingers over raised dots we have to acknowledge that this whole process is very fast and Has an intrinsic reactionism to it our text today
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Reveals that the well from which the water of words are drawn are from the person's heart
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And out of his heart flows the issues of life
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Proverbs 4 says keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life
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Matthew 15 says for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies
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These are the things which defile a man Matthew 12 says for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
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The verse before Matthew 12 33 for a tree is known by its fruit
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The big principle in James, isn't it? It's really a central idea of James under Appreciated fact that a tree is known by its fruit
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And again in Matthew 12 a good man out of the good treasures of his heart brings forth the good things and An evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things
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But I say to you that for every idle word that men speak They will give an account of it in the day of judgment
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For by your words you will be justified and by your words
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You will be condemned Looking at this text.
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It seems like a short list for What pure and undefiled religion is bridling the tongue
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Visiting orphans and widows And their trouble and keeping Oneself unspotted from the world.
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So the question is how deep does this tongue bridling go? The psalmist says set a watch
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Oh Lord before my mouth Keep the door of my lips
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Keep my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking lies
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And Proverbs it says Gracious words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and health to the body
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The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life But violence covers the mouth of the wicked
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Those who guard their mouths and their tongues Keep themselves from calamity
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Proverbs 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue
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If anyone among you thinks he is religious
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And does not bridle his tongue This one this one's religion
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Is useless The first idea
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I want us to consider is religion in the last 30 years or so a common phrase has become popular within the church and It's this
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Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship Christianity they say it's not a religion but a relationship
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Noah Webster and 1828 dictionary I Have two of these if any of you and your families want one,
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I'd be happy to give it to you It really helps you understand particularly King James English And how tied our forefathers in our country in the
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Christian world were to the Bible and their? understanding of everything even the meaning of ordinary words
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In his definition for religion Noah Webster Cites as the cross -reference
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James chapter 1 His best definition of religion the cross -reference is
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James chapter 1 This is what he says in its most
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Comprehensive sense. This is the definition of religion in its most comprehensive sense
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Includes a belief in the being and perfections of God in the revelation of his will to man in man's obligation to obey his commands in a state of reward and punishment and in man's accountableness to God and also true godliness or piety of life with the practice of moral duties it therefore comprehends theology as a system of doctrines or principles as well as practical for the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine lawgiver and without Reference to his will or commands is not
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Religion and religion as distinct from theology is godliness or real piety in practice
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Consisting in the performance of all known duties to God in our fellow man.
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I don't know if you notice That's what we just prayed through in the Ten Commandments all of this and obedience to divine command or from the love to God and his
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Law you are practicing the religion
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There are many false religions, but the Christian religion the the
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Orthodox Christian religion Which which has its by the Bible as its final authority if you are a
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Christian you are practitioners and participants in the real religion
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I Find the statement Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship to be flippant and misleading
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Pray a prayer and Go on your merry way There's a a set of doctrines to be believed
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But but more than that those doctrines say my life has to be ordered in a certain way
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I need to live as a Christian And this seems to be in a deficient state in the life of the church particularly in the
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West Christianity is most certainly a religion.
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It's the only true religion we are by definition a religious people we have gone through rites and ceremonies even this morning and we will continue to do so and particularly we get to the sacrament of the
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Lord's Supper So let's set aside this notion that the word religious or religion is bad and James is speaking of here a true faith in Christ a real genuine belief in the
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Son of God made man the incarnate Christ and all that goes with it and we like to leave off what goes with it and Here he challenges us
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I think surprisingly Given where we've come he starts with this idea of bridling the tongue
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What does it mean to bridle it means to guide? To hold in check to restrain you and I have to have bridled tongues as Christians and We are
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Wanting in this area. We are a people of loose lips
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We're a people of coarse mouths We're a people of cursing tongues and these things ought not to be
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I'd like you to turn over to James in chapter 3 in several weeks
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We will be taking this subject up with even some greater Depth and exposition, but it's going to help us understand where James is going here in chapter 1
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Look at verse 2 for we all stumble in many things
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If anyone does not stumble in word he is a perfect man Able also to bridle the whole body if your tongue is bridled
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Your body is bridled in order for your tongue to be bridled your heart
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Has to be bridled these words that Miraculously appear on our lips this incredible biology and all these things happening
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They spring from the heart of what's in us And if that place in us is corrupt and not walking in faith our words will be spewing a venom
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Look at verse 3.
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It says indeed. We put bits in horses mouths and they may obey us
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And we turn the whole body I saw a video recently of a very young girl
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Saddled on a horse and she was Riding him with such competence and skill
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The horse went everywhere that she directed him in our tongues have this
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Capacity to to lead us in the right direction from out of it. We praise our
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God We preach Christ to the lost
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We we offer words of encouragement and consolation to those who are hurting
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We build one another up We proclaim the glorious name of Christ and with it
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We also curse we tear down we destroy we murder with our words
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Gives another example, it's very powerful Have you ever seen particularly ancient ships or even from the medieval later period?
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The rudder of a ship is very small. Look at verse 4 Look also at ships
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Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds They are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires
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Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things
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The tongue is so said among our members that it defiles the whole body verse 6
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Do you remember those words? I just quoted from Matthew 12 of Jesus for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks a tree is
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Known by its fruit a Christian is known by the words that proceed from their mouths
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And I have to tell you something Since the early 90s when I became very serious about my faith in Christ.
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I have seen a rapid decline in the use of the mouth of Christians Words that would never be uttered in Christian company are now freely used
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There is a coarseness and a crudeness to our language That defies our most holy faith in Christ You must reign in our tongues
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They reflect hearts of corruption we need to reign in our hearts because out of our
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Hearts are coming some very unseemly and unpleasant things
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External conformity is not enough we can't hold our tongues in some external discipline and we must reign in our hearts and cooperation with with the
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Holy Spirit, but but that venom will come out and Coarse and careless lips reveal calloused hearts this religion that James speaks of Must be of central importance to us.
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It's everything for us It encompasses our faith in Christ our worship and adoration of God our privilege and obligation to Keep covenant with him.
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Oh Children, I want you to think of the power of words.
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I love you wonderful to hear isn't it to young people aspiring and hoping for marriage and that magical day when when the husband -to -be
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Poses the question will you marry me and and her heart leaps within her.
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She's so delighted. Yes, I Will marry you But what about I hate you?
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What about the words? I want a divorce Powerful words
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Life -changing words Families being started families being destroyed in words
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What about the great message from Jesus Christ I Forgive you.
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Oh Lord Jesus the weight my guilt is gone. I have forgiveness and salvation in you
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What powerful words? Let everything that has breath praise the
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Lord Let every Christian build up the brethren with words of edification
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Transform your marriage and your parenting in your work life in your church life by being
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Disciplined and proficient in your use of words. I think in verse 10 of chapter 3
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Gives us the problem that James is trying to address and he lays out for us in Chapter 1 it says out of the same mouth
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Proceed blessing and cursing my brethren these things ought not to be so Does the spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening
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Can a fig tree my brethren bear olives or a grapevine bear figs
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The answer is no Thus no spring yields both salt water and Fresh, this is the question
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Do we have a mixture of words? Proceeding from our mouth and if we have a mixture of words proceeding from our mouth, we have a mixed heart
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It's not fully consecrated and dedicated and resolving to live as a
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Christian I'll go back to chapter 1 If you look at other portions of the
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Bible you can imagine the list not as exhaustive as last week But how many verses speak of the tongue and related issues?
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It's a very large number Job calls it a scourge or a whip and Every blow inflicts severe wounds on the character and Leaves welts on a as one author put it a lacerated peace and reputation
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Daniel styles the tongue as a sharp sword a murderous weapon which hues down those upon whom it falls and Drips with the gore of slaughtered innocence or virtue
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Jeremiah says of the tongue. It is an arrow shot out a
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Pointed arrow shot by wicked archers Against those whom they wish to pierce through with anguish and yet themselves keep at a distance
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From the one whose good name they aim to destroy Paul speaking of the lips through which the tongue speaks as the poison of asps is under their lips
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James here says it's full of deadly poison,
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I Hope the case is being made We have to be a people clean lips
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That great scene of Isaiah the righteous most righteous man in the land
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He sees the glory of God the most righteous man and he says
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I'm a man of unclean lips I Don't speak rightly about God or my fellow man.
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I am undone Must recognize that this very simple common thing speaks of a world of our heart look again at our text if I don't bridle my tongue
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If you don't bridle your tongue, you are self -deceived.
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How many times has he been concerned about? deceiving ourselves twice in just the section we read
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Three times in the section we read today two prior to our text Be doers of the word if you're not a doer of the word
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You're deceiving yourself To do not be deceived my beloved brethren
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Previous text each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed
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Then when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full -grown brings forth death
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I'm gonna pause here parents This is a hard lesson for you today
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Because your pattern of words is covenantally being transmitted to your children
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If you're harsh with your wife your children are gonna be harsh with each other and really harsh on your wife
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If you're a backbiter and you gossip and slander and talk bad about people your little sweet Children will be corrupted by your poison
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They're gonna be back biters, they're gonna be gossipers We must put this to death now for the sake of our children and our grandchildren
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We're modeling the Christian life inappropriately Improperly misleadingly so if we do not bridle our tongues
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If anyone among you thinks he's religious And does not bridle his tongue he deceives his own heart terrifying words this one's
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Religion is useless this term is
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To be described as without purpose fleeting ineffectual devoid of force a weak impotent faith
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Used negatively this language to describe heathen deities and the worship that surrounds them worthless
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We're the people of God our faith in our religion our
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Salvation cannot be worthless It can't be useless It has to be useful and effectual and impotent and powerful and filled with hope and joy and Thanksgiving You and I better bridle our tongues and pull back on the reins of our sin -stained hearts
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There are several sins that are attached to The tongue this isn't all of them some of them will go over in chapter 3
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Proverbs 10 8 says a prating fool will fall
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And this is a person who talks much on a trifling subject idle talk talking a lot about trivial affairs
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They're busybodies who out of idleness roam from house to house
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Gossiping about what they heard their tail bearers Proverbs 26 19 says this kind of man
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Scatters firebrands arrows and deaths and says I Was only joking there's something
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I've noticed a proliferation of in the life of the church is a Subtle passive aggressiveness and getting your jabs in on a person and a creative use of words
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Underhanded compliment a little jab Attached to it not coming out and really saying it but meaning it with all of your heart that has to be gone
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We have to be people of integrity And this isn't just not allowing the words to come out of my mouth
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I have to put to death the thought and bring it in captivity to Christ I shouldn't be thinking evil of my brethren.
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I have to back there in the deepness of my heart I have to put it to death there.
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It's not some external prevention of the words coming out of my mouth I cannot hate my brother another sin of the tongue is slander and God says whoever slanders his neighbor in secret.
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I will cut off slander is
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Speaking of evil of someone usually a lie Defaming someone's good name having envious jealousies and secret whisperings and innuendos all the ways by which the tongue wounds and injures the name and reputation of Another and of course the greatest form of slander is
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Bearing false witness which we prayed through a good thing to consider this
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Lord's Day afternoon maybe when you get home is to to consider something like the the third and ninth commandment and the larger
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Catechisms full treatment of what's forbidden and permitted and what should be done in relation to those commandments
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You're getting this body of information to understand just how deep and how wide this issue of the tongue is
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Satan is the greatest accuser of the brethren. We don't want to be like him there's another sin of the tongue and it's a
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Murmuring complaining tongue. The one who murmurs is always discontent and complaining
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This is so opposite the Christian virtue of gratitude and thanksgiving. They are always ready to find fault
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Not only in their dealings with their fellow man But reality is the deep one is they find fault with God and his providences
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I Don't like what you're doing God So I murmur the children of Israel murmured at God's provision in the wilderness
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And most of them perished there the basic falsehood and lies every
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Sin of the lie is a sin against one's own soul It's a sin against your fellow man.
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It's a sin against God And it will invite the judgment and chastening of God No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house.
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He says No one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence the fifth one is filthy language and in decent speech
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Why do reformed theological students like to have potty mouths
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Doesn't make any sense Why does a virtuous
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Christian man? Speak crudely. He shouldn't Do not let any unwholesome language or talk come out of your mouth the unclean tongue
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Evidence is an unclean heart There are jokes that you shouldn't laugh at and The laugh should not be restrained
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The laugh the the punchline should be repulsive to us Because we love holiness and we love good words and we love
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Christ and we we seek the better things another sin of the tongue is boasting
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It reflects an over Estimate of ourselves
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In Scripture, it teaches that the
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Lord will picturesquely cut off every boastful tongue
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And if you're a boaster, I want here today to tell you it betrays weakness littleness ignorance vanity self -conceit and pride
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Your boasting makes you look smaller Not bigger It's self -seeking
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It's pursuing a vain glory It's because we want to elevate ourselves and tear down others
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Another sin of the tongue is flattery. The Lord's going to cut off all flattering lips
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The flattering mouth works ruin It's a desire to say something which pleases the person whom they're appraising or To get the esteem of those who hear it
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It's usually given and sometimes given in a backhanded way, but really it's intended to curry favor for some selfish end and the flatterer
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I know flatters I've known they are jealous and The flatterer often covets what the other has they often actually despise the one
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Whom they flatter And they should be the ones themselves to get the attention
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The final one I'll do here now is profaning the name of God the third commandment
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Obviously the Lord will not hold him guiltless Who takes his name in vain?
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The words of Paul ring true We consider this list that it has more to it more to be discussed in chapter 3
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Ephesians 4 But no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but What is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers?
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in earthly terms the tongue is both a thermometer and a thermostat as A thermometer it takes our spiritual temperature if your language is coarse
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If you're grumbling under your breath if you're speaking ill of brethren if you're cursing if you're angry
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It tells us something about your heart. Are you hot for God or?
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Or are you burning with a sin fever Are we lukewarm?
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We're neither hot nor cold Or are we cold toward God and our fellow man the tongue our words our speech will reflect the realities of our hearts it's also a thermostat which regulates temperature
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The bridal tongue is steered in the direction of holiness It's reciting the words of Scripture.
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It's singing songs and hymns. It's got an orientation a direction toward God an unbridled tongue veers toward destruction
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Our right use of the tongue and employing the means that God has given us in our most holy faith can
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Temper the tongue it can tamp down pride and anger and jealousy and spite
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And renewed minds and hearts spring forth and praise and build up rather than tear down I'm gonna give you a simple formula to regulate your speech.
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You've heard these before. I'm sure is it true
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Is it kind is? It needful if you
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Asked does is this dress nice and you don't think it's nice.
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You should be nice We should be the kind of people who?
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Restrain our words knowing that our words would be Interpreted if you don't prefer the dress you could offer some counsel
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I don't prefer this dress But you shouldn't say I I think that dress is ugly and any person who would like that dress is an idiot
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That's a big difference But taking that simple kind of easy formula, let's take it a step further
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Does my speech what I'm about to say does it bring glory to God? If not,
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I shouldn't say it Does it promote holiness? No, I shouldn't say it.
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Does it build up the church? Is it befitting is this conduct these words befitting the gospel of Christ Brethren today.
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I have to ask you. What do your words say about you Stop making excuses
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You may have been slack in this area it's time today to bridle your tongues to put these things in order and To bridle your tongue means to bridle your heart
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Your desires have to change Only the
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Holy Spirit can do this, but he seems to do it in cooperation with the obedience and the striving of the believer
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Well, that was going to be the smaller part of the message, but I'm going to stop there today
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We'll continue the next part of our study pure and undefiled religion next week
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Lord willing How's your language?
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How's your words? Are you bridling your tongue a?
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bridled tongue reveals a Pure heart. Please pray with me.
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Oh Lord, we We have to confess we have much room for growth and improvement
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We do not speak to our spouses and our parents The way we ought.
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Oh Lord, I pray that you would transform us That we would not be deceived that that we would have a pure Useful Undefiled religion
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And Oh Lord, we we are getting the message that the defilement comes from within we like to blame and and shift responsibility
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Oh Lord our Defilement comes from within and we desperately need you
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Christ and we thank you for coming and saving us and we ask that you would be pleased with the powerful working of your spirit
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Coupled with that spirit enabled obedience that we would purge the defilement of our hearts
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It would be evidenced in our speech our treatment of one another