Tongue Heart Treasure

Welcome back to the Sound Faith Channel, a place where we emphasize putting sound doctrine into practice. This week's topic is called Tongue, Heart, and Treasure. The focus is mostly on the power of our words to do good or evil, for lifting up and for tearing down, and the need to control what we say. For some of us watching, this is a Sunday school lesson prepared for the quarantine caused by the coronavirus, COVID-19. If you have elected to join another family this weekend for fellowship, after watching, please spend some time confessing your struggles, sharing your victories, and any other practical thing you have learned on your journey that has helped you to tame your tongue. The majority of this video is straight from the Bible.

We often refer to this type of topical lesson as a patchwork. A patchwork is simply a conglomeration of Scripture on one topic patched together to give a more thorough picture of what God wants us to know about that topic.

If you like the audio Bible we have used for this production, you can find it in the link below. Now, without further ado, let's jump into the Word of God.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person. Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble. For lack of wood, the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies.

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. From the fruit of a man's mouth, his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them. The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand. An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.

From the fruit of his mouth, a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hand comes back to him. There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Chapter 3.

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 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.

If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also; though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. 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.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 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?

Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.

But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I hope those scriptures encouraged you as much as they did me. I want to share with you a small story and some illustrations giving you three ways that can help you tame your tongue. First is to frequently pray a prayer as David did, asking God to guard the door of your mouth and heart and to keep us from doing evil and to yoking and being influenced by wicked people. Second, when we were in China, we used to listen to a band called Seeds Family Worship, and all of their songs were made straight from Scripture. One of the song's lyrics was Matthew 12:34, which said, "From out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."

After this burned into my brain, I realized my heart had too much bad in it. My mouth kind of became a litmus test of my spiritual health condition. I realized the things I was putting into my heart were overflowing into my words and actions. So secondly, we need to listen to the condition of our heart and to fill our heart with things worthy of the kingdom of God that will not burn up in the last days. We need to make sure we're not watching anything or listening to anything that's unwholesome. We need to listen to only things that are edifying. If we work alongside God to make sure that the things that are going in are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, surely the overflow of our heart will reflect these things in our speech and actions.

And we know the tongue is like a rudder on a huge ship, or a bit in the horse's mouth controlling where we go to destruction or to salvation. Let us use our heart to drive our tongue. The third practical application comes from the last scripture we saw in the video, Matthew 6:21.

I know the scripture is talking about storing up treasures in heaven, but it has earthly applications as well. Let me give you an example. How many of you every day go and see how Coca-Cola is doing in the stock market? Probably none of you. Now let's say you invest 90% of your money into Coca-Cola stocks. Now what is the likelihood you spend your time checking their stocks? I would venture to say that every day, probably even two or three times a day, you'd go see how Coca-Cola is doing in the stock market.

If your desire is for your heart to travel the road that leads to the kingdom of God, I suggest that you invest your time and your money into the kingdom and its ministries so that your heart will more naturally follow. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If your heart is going for spiritual things, then your tongue should also start steering in that direction.