Posted: 02-05-02

       "I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I have not love, my speech is no more that a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains - but if I have not love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned - but if I have not love, it does me no good." ( I Corinthians 13:1-3 Good News )

       But then he adds these disturbing words, "My dear friends, with our tongues we speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse people who were created to be like God, and this isn't right. Can clean water and dirty water come from the same spring? Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs?"
       If that is disturbing listen to these words from the Son of God to whom all judgment has been committed: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. And I say to you, that every careless (useless) word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment, and by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned" (Matthew 12:33-36).

I.  EVERY WORD THAT YOU AND I SPEAK IS BEING RECORDED
       1. It is recorded in your own magnificent computer's memory, your brain. At the final judgment it is said by John, "And the books were opened and every man was judged according to his works." You will find that in the 20th chapter of the Revelation.
       2. It is impossible for those recordings to be erased except by God Himself. You cannot erase a single syllable!
       3. But God loves you so much, He has made it possible for your sinful words and deeds to be erased.

II.  JESUS SAID THAT WE ARE LIKE A TREE. TREES ARE KNOWN BY THEIR FRUIT. MEN ARE KNOWN BY THE FRUIT OF THEIR LIPS
       1. Jesus said evil men speak evil words and He says they are a "brood of vipers." The viper is one of the most deadly of snakes.
       2. Jesus said that what comes out of the mouth depends on the condition of the heart. An evil heart brings forth evil words. Therefore we know what is in our hearts by the words that come out of our mouth. Your words determine your destiny!
       3. You may be shocked that Jesus called us, "a brood of vipers." The word "brood" is from a Greek word that means to bring something into existence such as particular specie of animals or birds. In this case Jesus applies it to the whole family of man. God did not create men as a brood of vipers. He created a perfect man and a perfect woman. But in the Garden, man and woman disobeyed God and became subject to sin and death. Satan came in the form of a serpent and he is one who caused to be produced a sinful man and a sinful woman, hence "the brood of vipers" (serpents). He accomplished this by lying about the nature of God.
       Our parents believed this lie and we all came into this world with a sinful nature that manifests itself very early in life. The viper spits death in its venom; man in his words. It is because of this Jesus told the Pharisees that they were the "children of the devil."
       David says in Psalm 51, "We were born in sin and conceived in iniquity." Paul declares that "we all have sinned." The fields of the earth are under a curse. Leave a field alone and it will never produce wheat or corn. Weeds will take it over. Man, too, can never change his tongue or his words by his own power.
       4. It is for this reason that everyone has to be born again. When we accept the Lord, He causes a fundamental change to take place in our speaking. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold! all things have become new."

III.  GOD LOVES US AND HE HAS PROVIDED ETERNAL SALVATION BY WHICH OUR HEARTS AND OUR TONGUES ARE CLEANSED AND MADE PURE
       God is omniscient. He has never been surprised by any man at any time. He knew that man and woman, created in his own image and given powers like His own would fail before the power of the fallen angel, called Lucifer or the Devil. His own Son had agreed before the world came into existence that He would destroy the lie by which the Fallen Angel had seduced millions of angels and Adam and Eve.
       What was the lie? That God is selfish. He is not the God of love that He claims to be.
       How could Jesus destroy that lie? By giving Himself as a sin-offering for the whole world. By submitting to the cross, the lie was crushed forever.
       The whole universe rings from galaxy to galaxy with the words, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

IV.  THE BROOD OF THE SERPENT BECOMES THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD!
       1. Once a sinful man believes in his heart that God loved him so much that He gave His Son as the Lamb of God and paid for all his sins, he is immediately transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. His name is inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life. –Colossians 1.13-14
       2, This Person's sinful nature is gone because he now learns that his old nature was crucified with Christ! He now has a nature that desires to please God not himself.
       3, This believing Person now begins to love God because he is understanding how much God loves him!
       4. This Person now knows that his sins have been buried in the depths of the sea; they have been blotted out as a thick cloud; though "they were as scarlet, they have become as white as snow; though they were red like crimson, they are like wool."

THE BELIEVING PERSON DISCOVERS THAT A NEW PERSON HAS COME TO BE WITH HIM FOREVER AS HIS HELPER
       1. This Person is not of flesh and bone. He is Spirit.
       2. This Person is present everywhere in the world.
       3. This Person is all-powerful. He can do anything!
       4. This Person knows everything. He even knows the future!
       5. This Person has come to live in our spirit and in our body and He will never leave us for one moment. He will be with us forever!
       6. This Person comes with the most important gift that you will ever receive. It is called "agape". By this gift, you will be able to control your tongue because the Holy Spirit will constantly pour this gift of unconditional love into your heart! (Romans 5:5)
       7. By this gift you will be able to witness that Jesus is alive! Four-letter words are now reduced to one: L O V E!
-from Eugene McGee@cs.com

Before I speak I should ask myself:
       1. Is it true what I am saying?
       2. Will it help the person who hears?
       3. Is it necessary to say it?
       4. Am I speaking the truth in love?

       Before I begin my day I will ask the Lord to "set a guard over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips?" –Psalm 141:3

       May the Lord bless our tongues!