- [Narrator] The root of the problem.
Your words have power.
Use it wisely.
God has made a plan in the word of God
for the healing of our tongues.
The primary step in obtaining this
is to identify the roots of the problem.
The declaration of scripture is clear and frank.
The source of every problem affecting our tongues
is our hearts.
In Matthew 12:33-35, Jesus said,
"Either make the tree good and his fruit good
"or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt.
"For the tree is known by his fruit.
"Oh, generation of Vipers,
"how can ye, being evil, speak good things?
"For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
"A good man out of good treasure of the heart
"bringeth forth good things
"and an evil man out of the evil treasure
"bringeth forth evil things."
Your hearts is the tree
and the words you utter are the fruits.
The words that proceed out of the mouth
show the state of the heart.
If your heart is good, your words will be good.
If the heart is evil, the speech will also be evil.
Our hearts are either good or evil all the way through.
Anything that flows out of your lips
indicates the contents of your heart.
If you unintentionally spill a certain amount of water
from a bucket onto the living room floor
and see that the water you spilled is filthy and greasy,
you do not need to check the water left in the container.
You know it is filthy and greasy.
The same pertains to our hearts.
If damaging, impure, unbelieving,
corrupt words come out of our mouths,
that indicates that the same condition
prevails in our hearts.
Let us compare the text from Matthew with James 3:9-12
where James spoke about religious people's inconsistencies.
"Therewith bless we God, even the father,
"and therewith curse we men,
"which are made after the similitude of God.
"Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.
"My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
"Doth a fountain send forth at the same place
"sweet water and bitter?
"Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries,
"either a vine, figs,
"so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh."
James joined two pictures there.
The first is of a spring of water.
The other is of a tree.
He said that an olive tree
would never bear any kind of fruit, such as figs.
The kind of tree shows the type of fruit.
James was using the same image as Jesus.
The tree is the heart
and the fruit is the words that come out of the mouth.
He also used another classification, a spring of water.
He says that if brackish salty water comes out of a spring,
you know the spring's water is brackish and salty.
These two images are parallel, but not the same.
The two trees represent two natures.
The corrupt tree is the old man.
The good tree is the new man in Jesus Christ.
The old man cannot bring forth good fruit.
Jesus said that many times.
Out of that old central nature will always come fruit
that corresponds to that nature.
The fountain or the spring describes something spiritual.
A pure spring is the Holy Spirit.
A salty, impure, corrupt, brackish spring is another spirit.
Hence, we have two potential problems
symbolized by the mouth.
First, the old corrupt nature, that has not been changed,
goes on generating corrupt fruit,
and the second some kind of spirit,
which is not the Holy Spirit,
brings forth impure, brackish water.
The instruction's essence is the same in both.
What is inside us, the condition of our hearts,
defines what comes out of our mouth.
So the problem of the tongue takes us back inescapably
to the problem of the heart.
We are confronted by the truth that Solomon spoke
in Proverbs 4:23.
"Guard your heart with all diligence,
"for out of it is the wellspring of life."
The word wellspring agrees with James' account of a spring
that brings forth the kind of water
that is representative of that spring.
Another interpretation of Proverbs 4:23 says,
"Keep thy heart with all diligence,
"for out of it are the issues of life."
Whatever comes out in your life or through your mouth
begins in your heart.
If the source is pure, what comes out will be refined.
If the source is contaminated,
what comes out will be defective.
With that, we can compare the words of Hebrews 12:15-16.
"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God,
"lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you,
"and thereby many be defiled.
"Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau,
"who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."
Esau was authorized to the birthright,
but he sold it and lost it.
We can have an inheritance or promise from God,
but if we do not conduct ourselves properly,
we will lose our inheritance and heritage.
The reason why Esau behaved like that
is drawn back to a root of bitterness in his heart.
He was bitter toward his brother, Jacob.
This root of bitterness in his heart
brought forth bitter fruit in his life
that poisoned his life and made him to lose his birthright.
Consequently, the root of the problem was in his heart.
The Bible warns us that if there is a root of bitterness
in anyone's heart, others might be defiled by it.
Similar to the 10 spies who came with the negative report
in Numbers 13 and 14.
Numbers 13:25-28 says,
"And they returned from searching of the land after 40 days,
"and they went and came to Moses and to Aaron
"and to all the congregation of the children of Israel,
"onto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh,
"and brought back word unto them
"and unto all the congregation,
"and showed them the fruits of the land.
"And they told him and said, we came onto the land
"whither thou sentest us,
"and surely it floweth with milk and honey,
"and this is the fruit of it.
"Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land,
"and the cities are walled, and very great,
"and moreover we saw the children of Anak there."
The corrupt malice use of the tongues is contagious.
The 10 spies came back with a negative report.
They corrupted the entire nation.
The whole nation was contaminated with that harmful disease.
This is one reason why God treats it so gravely.
It is an infectious illness.
Numbers 14:20-24 says,
"And the Lord said, 'I have pardoned according to thy word.
"'But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled
"'with the glory of the Lord.
"'Because all those men which have seen my glory,
"'and my miracles, which I did in Egypt
"'and in the wilderness,
"'and have tempted me now those 10 times,
"'and have not hearkened to my voice,
"'surely they shall not see the land
"'which I swear unto their fathers,
"'neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.
"'But my servant, Caleb,
"'which he had another spirit with him,
"'and hath followed me fully,
"'him will I bring into the land whereinto he went,
"'and his seed shall possess it.'"
There are other cases of evil roots in our hearts
that manifest themselves through our lips
and cause problems that rob us of God's blessings.
We can have roots of resentment,
unbelief, impurity, or pride.
Whatever the nature of the roots in our hearts,
they will display in the way we speak.
We may want to be gracious and kind,
but a root of resentment will poison our words
with a kind of resentful spirit.
We will try to say wonderful things,
but they will not come out right.
We may claim to be disciples,
but a root of unbelief will cause us to do as the 10 spies
and add our nevertheless to God's promises.
The same is true of impurity and pride.
When God gives you a promise,
will you accept the promise as its face value?
Or are you going to accept it and say nevertheless?
That was a deadly word
that caused the people to be displaced and distressed.
However, two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua,
refused to go along with this negative attitude,
and Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said,
"Let us go up at once and possess it,
"for we are well able to overcome it."
But the men that went up with him said,
"We be not able to go up against the people,
"for they are stronger than we."
Let us take notice of the words that were applied.
Caleb said, "We can certainly conquer it."
The other 10 spies said, "We can't go up against them."
One collection of spies said the positive,
"We are able."
The other circle said the negative, "We are not able."
When we follow this story,
we will see that each group got precisely what they said.
Each group's conclusion was settled by their words.
The type of words that come out of your mouth
will let you know the condition of your heart.
Jesus makes us aware.
For instance, a good man out of the good treasure
of his heart brings forth good words.
An evil man out of the evil treasure in his heart
brings forth evil words.
You may see Jesus uses the word good a total of three times.
And Jesus also uses the word evil three times.
If the heart is good,
then out of the mouth will come words that are good.
But if the heart is evil,
then out of the mouth will come words that are evil.
Also in Matthew 7:17-18,
Jesus expresses in similar language,
"Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,
"but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
"neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."
A song of loves, my heart is inditing a good matter.
I speak of the things which I have made touching the King.
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fair than the children of men.
Grace is poured into thy lips.
Therefore, God have blessed thee forever.
This is a picture of the Messiah in his splendor,
beauty, grace, and moral purity.
What was the first aspect of that beauty
which is manifested?
His lips.
Grace, it tells us, is poured upon by lips.
Then it says, "Therefore, God has blessed thee forever."
We have two powerful principles here.
First, the grace of the Messiah
is manifested primarily in his lips.
The second, God has blessed him forever
because of the grace of his lips.
Let us pray.
Lord, I know my tongue
often gets ahead of my mind and heart.
I am keen to speak,
and I apologize for the many mindless things I have spoken.
I am sorry for words I have said in anger or in gossip.
Lord, help me to see when I'm about to converse
without thinking and check my heart.
Please help me be slow to speak.
Assist me Lord to be a person full of loving words,
overflowing with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
full of your spirit, gentleness and self control.
Amen.
I am appreciative for my life and I wanna see good days.
So I pray that I keep my tongue from evil
and my lips from dishonest speech.
Make the words that I use be transparent and trustworthy
to be a proper reflection of you.
I pray against thoughts of lying, wicked talk,
or any other negative use of words
because speech was not given for me to abuse.
Rather, let me build up things with words
that come from you.
Amen.
Wonderful teacher,
let our conversations be full of grace
and seasoned with salt
so that we may know how to answer everyone.
We pray that we do not return out of malice
or anger towards people,
but let the words that we utter
be words that we have reflected on.
Let the words that we utter be words with a purpose
in line with your will.
Let the words that we speak be words from lips
that have been blessed by you.
Amen.
We hope you were blessed by this message.
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