PROVERBS UNIVERSITY: Wising Up In a World Full of Ignorance
SPEECH 101
TEXT: Proverbs 13:3, various Proverbs
INTRODUCTION
1. The word “tongue,” the word “mouth,” the word “lips,” the word “words” are mentioned in Proverbs no less than 150 times. On average, in every one of these thirty-one chapters, at least five times, you’ll find one of those words: words, tongue, lips, and mouth.
2. If those words are repeated that often and that much, then it is probably something that we need to pay attention to.
3. “Preacher, why a sermon on our speech? Is it really that important?“
Well, ask a child if saying “I love you” to them is important.
Ask a lady if saying ‘Will you marry me?‘ is important to her.
Ask a wife if ‘Let’s start a family’ is important to her.
4. Take one word: Yes. That one word, spoken to Jesus Christ, can ensure an eternity with God. Take another word: No. That one word can ensure an eternity without God.
*Proverbs 23: 15-16: My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice, indeed I myself. Yes, my inmost being will rejoice, when your lips speak right things.
5. Solomon tried to teach his kids to think right in their heart, to do right with their hands and to speak right with their lips.
**2 truths Solomon gives us about controlling our tongue. Speech 101.
I. THE GUARDING OF OUR LIPS (3; 21:23)
-Our lips are to be guarded from the use of wrong words.
13:3- He who guards his mouth preserves his life: but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
21: 23 - Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue, keeps his soul from trouble.
*Man, what great advice. What wonderful wisdom. The less you think and the more you say and the quicker you say it, the more likely you are to get into trouble. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I WISHED I HAD NOT SAID WHAT I SAID IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT. IT CAUSES THE SOUL TROUBLE!
*Several types of tongues that we need to tame today. We all battle these for the most part. How we need to guard out lips from what can come from these types of tongues:
A. The Tongue of Frivolous Speech (11:13; 16:28; 18:8; 20:19)
- This is a gossip. A rumor monger. A person who is just a loose cannon. They hear something about someone, and they care not whether it is true or false, they just start talking about it to somebody else.
11:13- A talebearer reveals secrets: but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals the matter.
16: 28- A perverse man sows strife: and a whisperer separates the best of friends.
“gossip”- a false or an unverified report concerning another person, discussed with a third party in a negative fashion with the intent to do verbal harm.
- Solomon says: DON’T DO IT AND DON’T LISTEN TO IT!
- But he not only warns of the frivolous tongue, he warns as well of:
B. The Tongue of Fervent Speech (10:19)
*The tongue that is always wagging. The tongue that is always flapping. If a person has lips that are always speaking, then that means they have ears that are seldom listening. THAT IS A RECIPE FOR DISASTER!
10:19- In the multitude of words sin is not lacking: but he who restrains his lips is wise.
- Hey, the chances of us putting our foot in our mouth greatly increase with the frequency that we open it! The more times you open your mouth, the more of a chance you have of putting your foot in it.
- Solomon says that “A fool vents all of his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.” Solomon is saying that the man or woman who is always shooting from the hip is sooner or later going to shoot themselves in the behind. SOMETIMES, THERE ARE SOME THINGS BETTER OFF NOT SAID!
C. The Tongue of Flattering Speech (29:5)
**Flattery is insincere praise from an insincere motive.
D. The Tongue of Filthy Speech (15:28; 10:32)
- We have a great problem in our society today with profane and filthy language.
Proverbs 15:28
10:32
*EVERY WORD HAS A CONSEQUENCE, AND A WISE PERSON KNOWS THIS.
*The lips of a righteous person automatically know what is acceptable to say, what is not acceptable to say, and keeps in mind that God hears every word.
*GOD IS ALWAYS KEEPING DETAILED RECORDS OF EVERY IDLE WORD.
1. THE GUARDING OF OUR LIPS!
II. THE GUIDING OF OUR LIPS (25:11-12)
- Solomon said the right thing said at the right time in the right way to the right person, is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
**As we apply wisdom to the tongue, that’s what wisdom is. Wisdom is the ability to say the right thing at the right time in the right way to the right person, or not to say anything at all!
“As a man grows wiser, he talks less and says more.”
- The Bible says that your tongue is the key to your heart. Many times your words reveal what is in your heart. What you are pre-occupied with. What you feel and think and dwell on.
Proverbs 18:4 - The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.
- Back in the days of Solomon, they drew water from wells. And if you know anything about well water- WE HAVE ONE HERE AT BRV THAT WE USED FOR A LONG TIME-, you know that the deeper you go into a well, the colder the water gets and the cleaner the water is.
**Deep water refers to water at the bottom of the well. If you want to know what kind of water a well has, don’t draw water off the top, draw water off of the bottom.
- Likewise, Solomon is saying if you want to know what is really in somebody’s heart just listen to their words.
- That’s why heart instruction to his children was just as important as head instruction to Solomon! BECAUSE SOLOMON KNEW THAT IF THEIR HEART WAS RIGHT, THEY HAD A GREATER POTENTIAL TO SAY WHAT WAS RIGHT!
- Your tongue is not only a barometer of how you are physically, your tongue is a barometer of how healthy you are spiritually.
3 positive ways your speech- your tongue can be used:
A. Be Cautious With Your Speech (Prov. 17:27-28)
- Sometimes the wisest words you will ever say are the words you never speak.
Thomas Jefferson- “A wise man is the man who thinks twice before saying nothing.”
- Solomon says use your tongue cautiously.
QUESTION: Which would you prefer? Would you rather people think that you’re smarter than you really are? Or would you rather people know that you’re dumber than they thought you were?
Proverbs 17:27-28
- We are better off keeping our mouths shut and letting people think we are fools than to open our mouths and remove all doubt!
B. Be Careful With Your Speech (11:13)
- We have seen how Solomon condemns the start of gossip. I want you to see how he praises the tongue that stops gossip.
11:13 /17:9.
- Our tongues can be used in one of two ways. We can use it to start gossip, or we can use it to put a stop to gossip!
- Am I a starter or stopper of gossip? Are you a reservoir that spreads it, or a dam that stops it?
*I challenge us this evening to teach our children four questions they ought to ask anybody that ever comes to them with a piece of information about somebody else. I will guarantee you, you will stop gossip dead in its tracks if you’ll ask these four questions. ALL OF US NEED TO ASK THIS:
1. HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE?
2. IS THIS CONFIDENTIAL?
3. IS THIS KIND AND HELPFUL?
4. IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY?
C. Be Constructive With Your Speech (12:25)
- Solomon, many times in the book of Proverbs, talks about how wonderful it is to give an encouraging word, to hear somebody encourage you. As a matter of fact, he says in the book of Proverbs that there is not a greater word you could ever say to another person than a word of encouragement.
12: 25- Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression: but a good word makes it glad.
CONCLUSION
ILLUSTRATION
I think about a little boy I heard about. His mother was fixing dinner one night; he’d been out all day long just playing, and he came running in and his mother looked at him [he was only about 4 or 5 years old] and she said, “What has Mama’s little darling been doing all day long?”
He said, “Mama, I’ve been playing mailman.” She said, “What?” He said, “I’ve been playing mailman.” She said, “How could you do that? You didn’t have any letters.” He said, “Oh, Mama, I had a whole bunch of letters.” She said, “What letters?” He said, “Mama, I found them in the old trunk up there in the attic. They were all tied up with a red ribbon. I put one in every mailbox on the street.”
- Listen to me church. What a great lesson. Every word that comes out of your mouth goes into God’s mailbox. Jesus said you’ll be judged by every word you say; so we better teach our kids early and often:
Be careful of the words you say,
And keep them soft and sweet.
For you never know from day to day,
Which one’s you’ll have to eat.
*We can all say 'Amen' to that!
Remember today: death and life are in the power of the tongue! Speak life to someone today!
Brother Stuart
Works Cited:
1. "How to Deal With Friends, Foes and Fools." Dr. James Merritt
2. "The Solomon Secrets." Dr. Robert Jeffress