Pursuing God: Speaking Truth
Amen. Good morning, friends. How are you this morning? Good. My name is Cameron.
Cameron:I'm one of the pastors here at Conduit, and, we're glad you're here. We've been praying for you this week and, are anticipating that the this would be a place where you can meet with the lord and his word this morning. We have been in a small beginning of the year series in Psalm 24. And, so in in a specific part of Psalm 24 even, the fur or the 3 verses or verse 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Psalm 24, which has kind of been a a little bit of, the heartbeat of our, like, direction for the beginning of this year and really for the whole year. And so we're gonna continue in Psalm 24 this morning to hit one of those sections that we haven't hit yet.
Cameron:But, we're gonna also gonna be in a couple of different places here in the word as well. So let's, go back to Psalm 24 and refamiliarize ourself with the word there and, and press on. The psalmist opens this section by saying, Psalm 24 verse 3, who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
Cameron:He will receive blessing from the lord and vindication from god, his savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, oh, God of Jacob. That is a major part of our prayer for this year is that God would form us and make us into a people and into a generation and even into a multigenerational people who seek his face. Not who seek his purely his hand. Seeking of God's hand is the seeking of gifts from the Lord or blessing from the Lord, but as a people who seek his face.
Cameron:When the psalmist talks about those who seek his face, they're talking about those who seek the actual presence of God, who are not content simply to receive the gifts of God, but who want God himself, his presence, his holiness, his life, his life in their life. That is our prayer, for our family, our congregation, this year is that we would be a people who seek the face of God, who experience the presence of God, who get full who get who get enveloped in the glory and the holiness of God. And that is kind of what the psalmist asks kind of rhetorically in the first in the first verse there, of Psalm chapter 24 verse 3. He asked these rhetorical questions. We've talked about them already.
Cameron:Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Who gets to who gets to go to that place of God's presence? Yeah. Right?
Cameron:Who how do we create the space or create the environment or make it even possible so far as it depends upon us to step into a place where we can, with integrity of heart and mind, say, lord, I want you here in my life, your presence in my life, your power in my life, your transformation in my life, your, your healing in my life, and I am making room in my life, Lord, so that there is no obstacle that stands in the way of, of you being fully here with me. I invite you here with me, Lord. I want you in my life. And now, Lord, I am going about the work of ensuring that there's room in a manner of speaking. So that's the those are kinda like the rhetorical questions.
Cameron:Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in his holy place? And then the psalmist does us a solid by answering it. Alright? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift a soul up to an idol, and does not swear by what is false.
Cameron:Now someone asked me this week, is it just 4 things? Like, that's all it takes. Right? Clean hands, pure heart, no idols, don't speak what is false. And I would say I mean, it probably a bigger conversation that I'm gonna give to it right here.
Cameron:Of course, there is more. Right? But the pursuit of holiness, the pursuit of God's presence, the development of a hunger and thirst for God that fills us with his righteousness can be pretty clearly summed up in these four things. That a cleanliness of hands, that my actions are reflective of a heart that is purified by him. At the heart being the center of all that I do, my motivations, my passions, my affections, the words that I say, the thoughts that I have, the things that I think.
Cameron:Right? The idols that I have in my life we talked to we talked to all about idols last week, and the the, intentionality by which what's interesting in scripture I talked a little bit about this last week. What's interesting in scripture is that anytime that there is an idol that needed to be destroyed in scripture, it was never God that destroyed the idol. It was always the command of God for either the prophet of God or the people of God to destroy the idol. Right?
Cameron:So it becomes our responsibility to take the idols of our lives, those things that have stood in opposition to the holiness of God in our lives, that have divided our affection, that has divided our devotion, that has divided our consecrated heart, that God says, you need to smash this idol. You have given your love, your worship to it. It is your responsibility to take it from the altar of your life and to smash it to pieces. And, of course, we saw in Exodus that that's what Moses did with the golden calf, the most famous idol in scripture. What a great part of the story.
Cameron:Right? That was everyone's favorite part of the story. So when the idol was thrown into the fire, the ashes were smashed into dust. He put it in the water and then made the people drink it. Yeah.
Cameron:Alright. Great part of great part of Exodus. Today, so we've been looking at these kind of four things that the psalmist responds with. Clean hands, pure heart, do not lift your soul up to an idol, and do not speak what is false. Now we did pure heart and idols the 1st 2 weeks.
Cameron:Pastor Luke is gonna preach next week on clean hands. Really excited about that. And so this week, we're gonna talk about that that other one, swearing by what is false. Now, depending on what version or translation of the bible that you have, it may read it may read differently for you. Some of our versions or translations have, when it says swear by what is false, do not swear falsely.
Cameron:Does not swear by a false god. I think the ESV says do not does not swear deceitfully. I think the NLT or, no, the the New King James says something like does not swear an oath deceitfully. There's many different ways that this has, like, kind of worked its way out in our English Bibles, but the but the foundational point behind all of those translations remains the same. It is and that is that it is clear that in pursuit of holiness and pursuit of presence with God, we cannot ignore the words that come out of our mouth.
Cameron:We cannot ignore the conduct of our speech if we are standing in that place of being like, who can ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in this holy place? That even the content of our speech is a marker of a fully consecrated and devoted life that is making room for the holiness of God. We've talked about this before. In fact, just 2 weeks ago, we talked about that our words or our mouths, what comes out of us is spiritually connected or spiritually tethered to the conduct or the content of our hearts.
Cameron:We wanna know what the content of our hearts is. Ask the Lord to do an audit of our speech because what comes out is what is in. Right? So there is a there is a direct connection in scripture between the words that come out of our mouths and the content of our heart. It says the scripture says that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Cameron:They are spiritually connected. Now the interesting thing here is that just like as our heart overflows into our our out of our mouths, kinda re our words reflect the content of our heart, I want you to hear this as well. Our words, the words that we speak, in the process of God transforming our hearts k? The process of God transforming our we recognize, okay, Lord, the content of my heart and the the speech of my mouth or the words of my mouth is not glorify always glorifying to you, Lord. So, father, put, put a guard over my mouth, put a governor over my mouth that you may give me enough holy spirit delay between from the heart to the mouth so that I may stop the words that are coming out that do not glorify you.
Cameron:And as you begin to pray that prayer and and and listen to the holy spirit as he transforms your heart where your words come from, what you begin to see, what you begin to recognize is that not just if you change your heart so that it reflects the change in your words. If you begin to change your words, it begins to change the culture of your heart. Alright? That it's not it's not just a one way a one way road. Right?
Cameron:That the words that come out of our heart is all that matter to kind of describe the culture of our heart. It's also the other way too that the words of our the words of our mouth can actually work to, in cooperation with the holy spirit, transform the culture of our heart. We speak something into, for lack of a better term, speaking something into existence in the culture of our heart. I'll share with you an example that happened just this morning. Told you last week, I don't like to use myself as as an example in sermons, but, like, we're gonna do it.
Cameron:We'll do it anyway. I shared last week, preached a sermon on idol worship last week. Right? And I told you about how, God had convicted me of my idolatry to coffee and how I felt like, wow, lord. This is such a silly thing.
Cameron:Like, really coffee? Like, do I are you really telling me that, like, coffee is an idol? And so we talked a little bit about that last week and kinda shared with you the story of that. Well, I was in, I was in the kitchen downstairs this morning right before first service, and I poured myself a glass of hot a cup of hot water, and I took, a tea bag out from the little basket there, and I was, like, steeping, steeping myself a cup of tea. And, Danielle Bachiti, who I think is downstairs right now getting ready for the food truck, she comes in and she looks at it.
Cameron:And she said she came and she was like she went through her head. She's like, why is he drinking tea? Like, this is so strange. I've never seen him drink tea before. And then she remembered the sermon from last week, and so she came up to me kind of, like, jokingly, kind of, like, kiddingly.
Cameron:She's like, so how's the tea drinking going lately? We're not gonna talk about it. Actually, we are gonna talk about it right now. So there was 2 things. Listen.
Cameron:There was 2 responses that wanted to come up out of my heart. There was a response of the flesh, And the response of the flesh was what I talked to you about last week, about how we, that it would be that the response of the flesh would have been like, can you believe god made me do this? So depressed. Can't even have coffee. It's such a normal thing for everyone else, but for some reason, it's a comforting thing for me.
Cameron:I was more excited to get up in the morning and have a cup of coffee than I was to spend time with the Lord. Poor me. Poor me. Poor me. I miss my coffee.
Cameron:Blah blah blah blah blah. Right? That was a that was I could I could feel that response, literally. I could feel that response wanting to come up out. But at the same time, in a parallel way, I could feel the the ongoing work of sanctification in my life by the holy spirit that that allowed me to speak into the culture of my heart, the reality that actually existed.
Cameron:Right? Which was like, I am so grateful to the Lord for for revealing I'm so grateful for the Lord for revealing something I didn't even know that I was enslaved to and giving me joyful obedience to walk away from it. And so and I I literally spoke that out, and it was kind of like a is you're you're really serious about what you're saying right now? You know, like, is there joyful obedience there? Is there is there gratefulness to the Lord for setting you free from the idol that you didn't know that you were enslaved to?
Cameron:And listen, as you continue to surrender the surrender your heart to the Lord and smash the idols in your life, no matter how normal or insignificant they are in in the world, right, You begin to see that the Lord changes the culture of your heart, which changes the culture of your speech, which in then in turn re changes the culture of your heart. Because yes, I can tell you that every day I am walking more and more in the joy of obedience for having laid down an idol for 21 days now. Who's counting? Right? Then I didn't even know that I was enslaved to, but the lord was like, this is more important to you than my presence.
Cameron:You seek comfort out of a thing. I am your source of comfort. I am your place of refuge. I am your place of strength. Right?
Cameron:So just like, right, just like the words, just like the our hearts can overflow into our mouths. Right? Our mouths can speak words that change the culture of our hearts because my heart really is joyful in obedience and joyful in freedom. K? So when we go to Psalm 24 and we look at this one phrase, does not speak or does not swear what is falsely, does not come let let let deceiving words come out of their mouth.
Cameron:If you just look at Psalm 24, there's not a whole lot there that's instructive in terms of practical application about speech. Right? It basically just says, hey. Don't speak what is false. It doesn't give us a whole lot there.
Cameron:Right? But by God's grace and in God's word, we have a really comprehensive a really comprehensive, source of teaching and wisdom about our speech and about the tongue and about the power of our words in the whole of scripture. Alright? So we can we can go to the scripture to help us gain a better, understanding. And, actually, where we're gonna start is just 9 Psalms backward in Psalm chapter 15.
Cameron:What you're gonna see here is that Psalm 15 almost exists as a parallel psalm to Psalm 24. It's very short. It's only 5 verses long. But in Psalm 15, you're gonna hear some really common themes, phrases, ideas, especially in the first few verses. And then what we're gonna see is that Psalm 15 adds some dimension or some depth to this idea that those whose walk is blameless and who want to dwell in the sanctuary of God should keep a tight ring, should keep a tight rein on their tongues and watch what comes out of their mouth.
Cameron:Okay? So Psalm 15, starting at verse 1. These few line first few lines you see should be very familiar based on where we've been the last couple of weeks. Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary and who may live on your holy hill. It's like the same guy wrote both of them.
Cameron:Right? He did, by the way. Who may who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy well hill. Lord, who gets to be in the place where you're at?
Cameron:Who gets to be in your presence? Who gets to be on your holy hill? Who gets to be in your sanctuary, lord? That's the question that I want answered from my life. I want the Lord's presence here.
Cameron:I wanna be with the Lord. I want his presence. His presence is life. He answers his own rhetorical questions. He whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury or interest and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
Cameron:He who does these things will never be shaken. So you see, Psalm 15 is fairly similar to Psalm 24. It has those same type of rhetorical questions. Who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy will?
Cameron:And then it gives some some characteristics or some qualifications for the person that gets to reside in those places. Our for our purposes this morning, we're looking at this, the content of speech and the words that come out of our hearts. And in verse 2 in Psalm, 15, it says, he whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous. And in the second or the third part of, verse 2, it says this, who speaks the truth from his heart. Now truth has been quite the topic of conversation the last several years.
Cameron:It's not as easy to just simply say, speak the truth, because you have a chorus. You have a chorus from the world that says, well, whose truth actually are you talking about? Or asking maybe a rhetorical or a a reciprocal question. What I mean, what is what even is truth? If we say, speaks the truth, who whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, and who speaks the truth from his heart, you must ask the question, what is truth or where is truth or whose truth are we talking about?
Cameron:It has become, quite popular in common culture to use the phrase my truth. This is this is my truth. This is what I believe to be true. This is the this is what I live my life beyond, by. And in some regards, we can understand a dynamic of that.
Cameron:We have personal experiences that have formed us and shaped us and discipled us and conformed us in some ways. There is our experience is the truth of our lives. But what it has become is not just kind of like the the compilation of all of our experiences, but it but it what it has become is, like, no. I am my own source of truth. What I determined to be true, what I determined to be right, what I determined to be righteous, what I determined is actually true.
Cameron:And, stunningly, usually, all of the truth that we believe when we say my truth is not very difficult for us to believe. There are no hard truths in my truth. Right? There are only easy truths for me to digest and swallow to live by. There's nothing that actually ever challenges what I'm feeling or what I'm thinking or how I'm acting or how I'm living.
Cameron:The idea of I live by my truth is always a very comfortable truth for us. Jesus, at the very end of his ministry, prayed in John 16 and 17 some very specific prayers, And we have recording of these prayers. He prayed for himself, first off. Then he prayed for his disciples, those who were following him in his ministry on earth. And then he prayed for all who would come to believe in him via their message.
Cameron:He prayed for you and I. You know that? Jesus, we actually have recording of what Jesus had prayed for you, for me. But as he was praying for his disciples, he, out of the overflow of his own heart, prayed these this prayer about the truth in John chapter 17 verse 7 sorry. No.
Cameron:17 verse 17, actually. If we start in the 15, I guess, it says Jesus says, my prayer is not that you, heavenly father, would take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of it. And then he says this, John chapter 17 verse 17, sanctify them by the truth. And we might be asking the question, well, what is the truth, Jesus?
Cameron:And he answers it in his own prayer. Your word is truth. Your word is truth. That Jesus in the in in a moment of intimacy with the heavenly father, in a moment of declaring, of of asking that the heavenly father would sanctify the disciples, would preserve them from the evil of the world, would protect them from those that sought to do them harm in the spiritual realm that he said, and, lord, and, heavenly father, would you sanctify them by your truth? Your word, lord, is truth.
Cameron:If we take the words of Jesus seriously, and I do and we should always, then we can come to this conclusion about the, admonition in Psalm chapter 15 that it's those who speak the truth from their heart that get to dwell on his sanctuary and live on his holy hill, and that's this. To be able to speak the truth from our heart, we must have the word of God in our heart. Not our own version of the truth, not our own version of what is right, not our own version of what we want to believe. If we intend to speak the truth from our heart, as the psalmist, encourages us us to do in 15 verse 3, we must have the word of God in our heart. Remember, our hearts are the command centers of our life.
Cameron:Everything that we do comes from our hearts. All of our thoughts come from the center of our hearts. All of our words come from our hearts. Right? All of our actions come from our hearts.
Cameron:All of the things that we love come from our hearts. All that we are, all all that we do, everything that is important about us comes from the center of our hearts. That's why the writer of Proverbs says things like in Proverbs 4 verse 23, above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life. Listen, to speak the truth of god's word from our heart, we must have the word of god in our heart. Not a cursory understanding of it.
Cameron:Not a few proof texts here and there that we pull out and use, but we must have a deeply rooted understanding of the word of God that takes that takes that takes deep root in our heart so that it becomes almost like a reflex in a world that only seeks to speak lies. With an enemy whom the whom the that the word says lying is his native tongue. In order for us to speak the truth from our hearts, we must know the truth and it must take root in our hearts. This was this was even this was Jesus' strategy this was Jesus' strategy for for his, for his encounter with the enemy, with Satan in the desert before his ministry started. In Matthew chapter 4, we see that Jesus was baptized in Matthew chapter 3.
Cameron:In Matthew chapter 4, the Holy Spirit led him into the desert, it says, to fast for 40 days 40 nights, where he was then tempted by Satan. And what you'll see is, what you'll see is that Jesus had a specific strategy for dealing with a with attack from the evil one. Very specific strategy. If you look at Matthew chapter 4, I don't have this on the screen because I just threw this in. The tempter came to him, verse 3, and said, if you're the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.
Cameron:What was Jesus' response? Jesus' response was not only his own not just his own word. Right? His truth. He went right to the word of god.
Cameron:Right? It is written, he says. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Can we pray that? Can that be the cry of our heart this morning?
Cameron:May the lord I do not wanna live on on I do not wanna live on bread alone, lord, but just on every every word that comes from your mouth, lord. Let that be my food. Let that be my sustenance. Let that be the thing that sustains me. And for Jesus, in towards the we don't even know where in the fast he was.
Cameron:Right? After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, so he was hungry, it says. Yeah. So he was at the end of the fast, and the enemy was like, I have bread for you. You can have bread.
Cameron:And Jesus was like, man shall not live on bread alone. It is written, shall live on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And so Satan tried to get a little tried to get a little cute with Jesus. Right? It's like, okay.
Cameron:I see how this is gonna go. And so what he did then what does Satan do? Verse 6. Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand in the highest point of the temple. If you're the son of God, he said, throw yourself down.
Cameron:And then what does what does the enemy say? For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. Listen. We better get the word of God in our heart and internalize not just the letter of it, but the spirit of it because the enemy of our souls will use the word of God and twist it to his own purposes. And the only way to determine the thing that is counterfeit is to know clearly the thing that is real.
Cameron:K? And so even Satan himself tried to use the word to push Jesus into sin. And it was the it was like I mean, listen. Not saying anything about it, but the strategy was kinda silly because we're talking about Jesus here, who is the incarnate word of God. Right?
Cameron:But clearly, right, the word of God was internalized in Jesus himself so that he understood the twisting of scripture by the enemy and was able to then reply in a way that was fitting of the spirit of the law. It is also written, Jesus said, do not put the Lord your God to the test. Verse 8. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. All of this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me.
Cameron:Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan, for it is written, Worship the lord your god and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and the angels came and attended to him. The devil flees at the right use of the word of God. When the word of God is applied through the authority of Jesus Christ, the devil flees. But the word of God must be find its home in our hearts if our intention is to use it to speak truth because we have no truth internal to us.
Cameron:We only have that which is true through the word of God. And so if we have not taken the word of God and hidden it in our heart, we have no reservoir of truth from which to speak. And the only thing that can come out is of us, not of him. The psalmist says this in Psalm 119 verse 11. He says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Cameron:How is the hunger of your heart for the truth of God's word? Is it for you like it was for Jesus? Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. How is your hunger for God's word? Listen.
Cameron:It is the it is the it is the content of a heart that speaks truth, and it is the power or the sword against an enemy that seeks to destroy. My encouragement to you this week is to read daily at least a portion of, if not the whole thing, Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the bible. It's a 150 verses long. It's still very manageable to read in one setting.
Cameron:But I want you to read Psalm 1 19 daily this week and ask God to give you the same reverence and hunger for his word that is displayed there. Now if you open up your bible and you just look at Psalm 119, what you will see is that in every single verse of Psalm 119, there is a reference to, or like, reverence of, or worship, or like like desire or hunger for the word of the Lord, the laws of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the commands of the Lord, the word of the Lord is some way of speaking of the law or the word or the precepts or the commands of the Lord. Psalm 119 is this long treatise of, like, I hunger for your word. I love your word. Your law is life to me.
Cameron:I have taken your law, and I have hidden it in my heart that I might not sin against you. It is your word, oh lord. It is your word, oh lord. It is your word, oh lord. Like this like, David was like, it's all about your word.
Cameron:I want it in me. So the same reverence that existed in David's heart can exist in ours. Let Psalm 119 be something that the holy spirit uses to develop that hunger in your heart. Back to Psalm 15 verse 3, who can dwell in his sanctuary? Who can ascend his holy hill?
Cameron:Those whose walk is blameless, does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart. Listen. Verse 3. Has no slander on his tongue. Does his neighbor know wrong and cast no slur on his fellow man?
Cameron:Has no slander on his tongue and cast no slur on his fellow man. Now slander is not a word that we typically use too much in our culture. However, it is extraordinarily prevalent in our in our lives. So let's understand it, and then, work to ask the Lord to rid us of it. Slander are words that cause damage to another person's reputation or character.
Cameron:They are, they're words that are spoken, not words that are written. Right? That's libel. Slander is words that are spoken, things that come from the content of our hearts up out of our mouths for the purpose of dismantling, destroying, or eroding the character or the reputation of another person. They are an intentional act to break or malign another's character to someone else or to a group of people.
Cameron:Scripture here in Psalm 15 says, those whose walk as blameless, those who want to ascend the holy hill should have no slander on their tongues, cast no slur on their fellow man. This is irrespective of whether or not the person in reference deserves it or what you say is true. Because you can certainly say what is true in a spirit that is meant to do harm and destruction and that becomes sin. You can say what is true. You can speak the facts.
Cameron:And if the heart's aim is to tear the person down, destroy the character, malign the reputation, erode their personhood to another person in front of another group of people. You are committing slander. James, the brother of Jesus, we presume this is the same James who is the brother of Jesus, and his epistle speaks pretty significantly on words that come from our mouths, the power of the tongue, the taming of the tongue, being slow to speak and slow to become angry because it does not bring about the righteous life, that God desires. And in this section in James chapter 3 verses 1 through 12, we have, a pretty a pretty piercing, exhortation on the power of the tongue. I'm gonna read it for you, and then we're gonna talk about it a little bit.
Cameron:Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. It's because of what they say. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what they do, they are a perfect person able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.
Cameron:Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.
Cameron:It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on by the fire of hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue, we praise our lord and father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in god's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.
Cameron:My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both freshwater and saltwater flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. One of the most interesting parts of James 3 here, that I have found is this dynamic where James says that the in verse 5, likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
Cameron:We typically, because of the context of all that James says here, take that and only apply it to our negative speech. Right? That that the tongue has the power to tear down. The tongue has the power to destroy. The tongue has the power to set on fire.
Cameron:The tongue has the power to slander and gossip and malign. The tongue has the power in all these negative and really bad ways. But listen. That verse that verse 5 really just says like this. The tongue has great capacity.
Cameron:It has a great capacity. It makes great boasts. It's a value neutral sentence, which means the same power that lives within the tongue to tear down and destroy. There exists the same power to build up, to bless, to encourage, to worship, to inspire, and to speak truth. It has tremendous capacity for both evil and for good.
Cameron:Proverbs chapter 16 verse 24 says, pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. That our words, pleasant words, have a healing dynamic to them. They bring healing to someone's life. They encourage life in them. They can be sweet to the soul.
Cameron:Many of the proverbs that we hear on many different topics have a this or that dynamic written right within them. K? It's like a this is one way, but this is the other way. This is one way. This is wisdom.
Cameron:This is folly. This is one way. This is the other. And words and Proverbs about this, about the tongue are the same way or about words are the same way. Proverbs chapter 12 verse 18, an act excellent example.
Cameron:Reckless words pierce like a sword. True. The tongue has tremendous capacity for evil, for piercing, for recklessness. Same verse, second part, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. We have capacity for destruction with our tongue, with our words.
Cameron:We also have the capacity for healing, for sweetness, for encouragement. This is one of my favorite Proverbs 1111. Through the blessing of the upright, a city is exalted, But by the mouth of the wicked, it is destroyed. Why is that one of my favorites? Well, I believe the word of God with every fiber of my being.
Cameron:And I believe that the words that we speak as people holding the authority of Jesus Christ have power when they are spoken, both for good and for evil. Right? And I have said as many times as I can or as many places as of I is that I can find places to say it, as many environments as I can say it. It's usually on social media that we see it. Right?
Cameron:Man, I hate Jamestown. This place stinks. Everyone is depressed. So much, sickness and illness, so much addiction. It's always dark.
Cameron:It's always snowy. There's nothing to do. There's no jobs. Everything about this place, I can't wait till I can move away from this place. I can't stay in this place.
Cameron:Out of Chautau County for good. Get away. Get away. Get away. Get away.
Cameron:Get away. Listen. I want you to know that we are ruthlessly and fully and 100% for the blessing of this city, That we will speak at every time at every opportunity that we have. That the Lord has plans to bring redemption and revival and restoration and health and wholeness and fullness and prosperity to this city. And I will stand here, and I will proclaim words of blessing over the city because I believe that the words matter.
Cameron:Just like the words of this place stinks matters. Mhmm. We we we will be we will be ruthlessly attached to the hope of the gospel for this region. Because I believe that when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, that he meant Jamestown, New York too. Amen.
Cameron:That the that the prayer meant, hey, lord, as it is in heaven, lord, we are praying that it would be here. As it is in heaven, lord, we are praying that it would be done here. And, Lord, let us partner with you by faith to say, we will bless the city. The upright through the blessing of the upright, a city is what? Exalted.
Cameron:But by the mouth of the wicked, it is destroyed. Another interesting part from James, James chapter 3 verse 8 is this, Only God can tame our tongue. It is not merely a measure of self control, but of heart change. You may have recognized that you have a power with, or you have a problem with the words of your mouth, your tongue, the words that come out, and have tried really hard and tried really hard and tried really hard. Maybe you bought a book or 2 about it.
Cameron:How do I control my speech? How do I control my speech? How do I control my speech? Maybe you even have a swear jar or something like that. Right?
Cameron:See those of you who are smirking right now? Right? You have a swear every time I swear, I'm gonna put it in there until until I convince myself to stop giving myself my own money when I say the words I don't wanna say. Again, what does it display? It just displays this ongoing cycle that we have with believing that we can transform our hearts on our own.
Cameron:That we have that we have the power to take the place where our words come from and to change them so that the words change. You don't. You all I'm looking at the room. You all have lived enough life now to know that you've tried a 1000000 times to change yourself and you failed a 1000000 times, and when you've trusted in Jesus, you've succeeded. Right?
Cameron:And James references the same truth and reality here. He says this. He says, man has tamed every animal in the earth. Birds, reptiles, fish of the sea, animals on the land, whatever. But verse 8, but no man has tamed the tongue.
Cameron:No one has tamed the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. Listen. If you want to experience lasting change, you must give up the effort to do it in your own strength, in your own way, on your own time, with your own conditions. This is not just the words of your mouth.
Cameron:This is every affection, every, every your heart, every devotion of your life, every, every habit that you have, every thing that you think, every action that you take, every relationship that you have. If you wanna see transformation, you must step into not your own self improvement power. You must step into total surrender and consecration unto the Lord. It is when we give our hearts fully to him that, like Ezekiel said, he takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. We're gonna end with this from James this morning.
Cameron:Now the if we if we're talking about, like, the content of our mouth avoiding slander, like the psalmist says in verse 15, but we're talking about it as, like, these are the qualities and the characteristics of the one who gets to dwell in the sanctuary of the Lord, who gets to ascend his holy hill. Now, it doesn't say it here in the psalm in that particular psalm, but I I have it on good authority from God's word that in the presence of God, there is praise to God. Right? That in the presence of God, there is praise to God. Holy praise.
Cameron:In fact, eternally so. The book of Revelation and the prophet Isaiah. We get a picture of the throne room of praise happening eternally. The book of Revelation, we see that the angels are constantly surrounding the throne of God singing, holy, holy, holy is the lamb that was and is and is to come. Holy is his name.
Cameron:Right? Worship is happening eternally all the time in god's presence. Right? So listen. If praise is something that happens in his presence and his presence is where we want to be, then we must rid our mouths of slander and evil speech and unclean words because salt water and fresh water can't come from the same place.
Cameron:Right? If we want to lift our hands and lift our voices in praise, we must even consecrate our voice. Consecrate our words. Set them apart so that only that which is pleasing and encouraging and blessing and uplifting and exalting to the lord comes from our mouth, and that we avoid everything that comes that brings destruction and slander and gossip and malice and tearing down. Praise and slander cannot come from the same source.
Cameron:With the tongue, we praise our lord and father, and with it, we curse men who have been made out of god's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and curses. My brothers and sisters, this should not be, James says. Can both fresh water and salt water come from the same mouth? Can a fig tree bear olives?
Cameron:Can a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. As we seek holiness and presence and praise of God, we must let the Lord purify our speech. Not just our speech in general. Of course, our speech in general.
Cameron:But in specifics, as we were talking in Psalm chapter 15, our speech about others. Slanderous words. Is there someone that you have slandered? What? Slander usually happens behind people's backs because not many of us are courageous enough to actually speak our hearts to someone's faces.
Cameron:Slander usually happens behind someone's back. Is there someone that you have slandered? Do you want to seek holiness? Seek their forgiveness. Display your hunger for righteousness by going to them even if they do not know that you have slandered them and ask for forgiveness.
Cameron:This is like I'm not gonna lie. Like, this is like I was gonna say it one way, and then I thought, well, maybe the lord wants me to say it another way. I'm gonna say it both ways because I I bet you're gonna understand why I'll say it both. This is like expert level pursuit of holiness Because it just requires it requires nothing but courage and humility. Like, it just is it it is just like an emptying of yourself.
Cameron:I have slandered you. You didn't even know that I was speaking poorly about you. I have sought to ruin your character or your reputation, or I said this, I repent of it. I am sorry. Please forgive me.
Cameron:It is both, like, expert level because it requires an extraordinary amount of commitment to righteousness and a hunger for like, you gotta be hungry for righteousness and holiness. You gotta be hungry for it to do this. But it's also, it's so I say it's, like, expert level, but it's also, like, basic level. It's also, like, basic level. And why I say that is because the reason, one of the reasons that so many of us are stuck in habitual patterns of non transformation is because we are unwilling to do the hard things that the holy spirit calls us to do.
Cameron:We are simply unwilling to yield to the work of the spirit to bring transformation. We are. The juice is not worth the squeeze. I'd rather be I'd rather be in bondage. I'd rather be untransformed than go and do that.
Cameron:I'd rather be hard hearted or darkened. I'd rather be alone. I'd rather be addicted. I'd rather be x, y, or z. I'd rather be that than have to go do that hard thing.
Cameron:Right? So it is both expert level requires extraordinary humility and courage. But over here, it's also like basic level. The reason we stay untransformed is because we are unwilling to surrender to the Lord. We are holding on to the we are holding on to that which is precious to us.
Cameron:And sometimes that which is precious to us is the exact thing that destroys us. I don't know where else to go other than the Lord, so let's pray right now. Gonna welcome the worship team back up. Heavenly father, Lord, I pray that you would reveal the content of our hearts now. And in the revelation of the content of our hearts, Lord, I would ask, father, that you would reveal to us how that has affected our speech.
Cameron:What have we said about others? What have we said about ourselves? What have we said about you or to you? And heavenly father, I pray that you would bring conviction and hunger and surrender, lord, into this place. That we would not just be random individuals that come and are experiencing various levels of surrender or consecration.
Cameron:Lord, that you would bring a spirit of surrender and repentance into this place. That no one, lord, may remain unmoved by the pressing of your holy spirit to sanctify them with your truth, Lord. Father, may you grow in us such a rabid hunger for holiness and righteousness that we would go to what is could be considered extreme measures of humility in pursuit of being in your presence. Lord, let the light of your sun shine down upon us and in us. Let it bring to us revelation, lord.
Cameron:Your love for us, your care for us. Lord, we come before you now in these next few minutes as people who seek to praise out of the fountain of the fresh water of our heart and our mouth. Lord, rid us and forgive us from all slander. Lord, that out of our mouths this morning may come a praise, Lord, that is pleasing to you. We hunger after you, Lord.
Cameron:We seek your face. Make your presence known to us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Jesus, we speak your name. Yes.
Cameron:Yeshua. Yes. Your name name is above every other name. The salvation is found in no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Jesus, we call on your name.
Cameron:We glorify and exalt your name. Bring your presence here. Let it dwell richly with us. We consecrate, lord, our lives to you. Devote our lives to you.
Cameron:In Jesus' name, amen. Conner, you are loved. Have a great week, and we will see you next time.
