The Satan Controlled Tongue - Part 1 — Zac Poonen

The Tongue of a Disciple as Jesus’ Example

So today we want to continue with our study in the Scriptures about the use of the tongue in everything Jesus is our example. I want to turn to Isaiah chapter 50. This is a very important verse and if you are not familiar with it, I would suggest that you memorize it.

Isaiah 50 and verse 4. This is a prophetic verse referring to the Lord Jesus and it says concerning Jesus in his earthly life, The Lord God, that is the Father, has given me the tongue of a disciple. That's a beautiful expression.

The tongue of a disciple. Keep that in mind. God gave Jesus the tongue of a disciple. What God did for Jesus, he can do for you if you trust him. I asked the Lord about something. I said, will you do for me Lord what you did for Jesus?

The reply I got was, if you fulfill the same conditions, yes. There was no partiality. God gives his grace to the humble. Jesus was so utterly humble that the Father could do so much for him, through him.

Pride, Self-Confidence, and Dependence on Christ

He is limited because of our pride. Part of our pride is in our self-confidence. Part of our self-confidence is seen in saying, I can do it. I just got to grit my teeth a little more and determine and I'll do it.

God said, okay, go ahead and try. When will you come to the end of yourself? When will you learn that most important lesson of the New Testament? Without Christ, you can do nothing. Jesus' humility was not just seen in external actions like washing the disciples' feet.

His humility was seen in his attitude towards God. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Humility that is done towards other people can get you honor. In fact, a lot of humility among Christians is just to get honor.

We want a reputation that I'm a humble brother and a humble sister. It's an abomination in God's eyes. I want to be humble before God and part of that humility is to acknowledge that without your help, Lord, I can never make it.

I can't do a single thing right. Even what I think I do right, I'll mess up. And one mark of our having taken that position is we won't be so hard in judging other people when they mess up. Why do people judge others so harshly when they mess up something?

It's because they themselves feel, I'm not like them. I don't mess up. No wonder you can't control your tongue. You won't control it in a hundred years. Pride. God resists the proud. Do you think there's any hope for you if God resists you?

Grace Is Sufficient for Controlling the Tongue

Where in the world will you control your tongue? Not in a million years. But if grace, my grace is sufficient for you, that can do everything. Like in the world they say money can do everything, in the kingdom of God we say grace can do everything.

And that's the real truth. So it's only God. What does it say here? The Lord God has given me the tongue of a disciple. How did God give that for Jesus? Won't he do it for me? Won't he give it to me? What's the answer?

He fulfilled the same conditions. There is no respect of persons with God. All are the same. So we see here the reason why God gave Jesus the tongue of a disciple is so that Jesus could use his tongue to help weary people who came across his path.

Using Words to Bless the Weary

He had a burden to bless others with his tongue. And he knew that his tongue had to be completely available to his father to be able to bless others. Maybe we don't have such a burden to bless others with our tongue.

He's not talking about so that I may know how to preach to 10 ,000 people. No, no, no. So that I may know how to speak to one weary, discouraged person who comes across my path today. That's the one Jesus was looking for.

Don't you have weary, gloomy, discouraged people who come across your path every day? Think if God can give you a word to sustain that weary one. Think if you can save a person from committing suicide because you spoke a word of encouragement to that person.

The world is full of weary people. And it says here that God the Father awakens me up morning by morning to listen. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. So before I get the tongue of a disciple, I've got to have the ear of a disciple.

Hearing God Before Speaking for God

And if you don't have the ear of a disciple, you'll never get the tongue of a disciple. Because you're too busy to hear what God has to say. Oh, I've got so much to do. Well, go ahead. There's no hope of you ever controlling your tongue no matter how many messages you hear.

You can hear a thousand messages like this. It'll be just the same. Because you're not keen on having the ear of a disciple. You're too busy. Oh, there's so many things to do. Twenty-four hours a day is not enough.

We don't have time to listen to what God has to say to us. There's no hope of our controlling our tongue. It was like that with Jesus. Do you think it's going to be any different with us? And so, my brothers and sisters, I want you to listen to the Word of God.

Wisdom, Foolishness, and the Tongue in Proverbs

And the Book of Proverbs, that's what I want to look at. I've been studying through this and seeing what the Book of Proverbs speaks about the tongue. There is no book in the entire Bible which speaks about the use of the tongue as much as the Book of Proverbs.

And if you study the Book of Proverbs just for that one reason, it'll be worth it. No book. No book that speaks so much about the way we use our tongue and the way we use our words. And the other thing, there's no book in the Bible which speaks so much about wisdom and foolishness like the Book of Proverbs.

So, there's a connection. The wise man is the man who knows how to control his tongue and the foolish person is the one who does not know how to control his tongue. So, immediately, you know yourself whether you fall in the category of the wise or the foolish.

So, in the Book of Proverbs, and I want to take a study through many, many verses. We won't have time to meditate on each of them, but if you jot them down, you can look at them yourself later and meditate on it.

And hear what the Lord is trying to say to you. The Book of Proverbs speaks about seven...