Wrath – Page 2 – Praying Pint

36.w. “For the look on their faces bears witness against them”

Genesis 19:30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

Proverbs 20:1  Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

Proverbs 23:29-35    Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?  Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.  Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.  In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.  Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.  You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.  “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”

Habakkuk 2:15-16 “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness!  You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!

Isaiah 3:9     For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves

See the peril of security. Lot, who kept chaste in Sodom, and was a mourner for the wickedness of the place, and a witness against it, when in the mountain, alone, and, as he thought, out of the way of temptation, is shamefully overtaken. Let him that thinks he stands high, and stands firm, take heed lest he fall. See the peril of drunkenness; it is not only a great sin itself, but lets in many sins, which bring a lasting wound and dishonour. Many a man does that, when he is drunk, which, when he is sober, he could not think of without horror. See also the peril of temptation, even from relations and friends, whom we love and esteem, and expect kindness from. We must dread a snare, wherever we are, and be always upon our guard. No excuse can be made for the daughters, nor for Lot. Scarcely any account can be given of the affair but this, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? From the silence of the Scripture concerning Lot henceforward, learn that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them to be forgotten. (Henry)

Although, upon the whole, Lot was a righteous man, and possessed of many amiable qualities, yet it evidently appears that his principles also, as well as those of his daughters, had suffered some degree of contamination by the society of evil-doers, otherwise surely he would have withstood every temptation to excess of drinking. Here the history of Lot ends; after this we hear no more of him or of his daughters. (Benson)

If it was not lust, therefore, which impelled them to this shameful deed, their conduct was worthy of Sodom, and shows quite as much as their previous betrothal to men of Sodom, that they were deeply imbued with the sinful character of that city. (Keil and Delitzsch )

31.i. “Keep your life free from love of money”

Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Psalms 39:6    Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

1 John 2:15-16   Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Proverbs 11:4   Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

James 5:1-3   Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.  Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

Proverbs 23:5   When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.

Ecclesiastes 2:26    For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-14    He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

Zephaniah 1:18    Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD

Hebrews 13:5    Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The idea is that earthly treasure is temporary and fading away (where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal), but heavenly treasure is secure. The issue isn’t that earthly treasures are intrinsically bad, but they are of no ultimate value either. If this is the case, then it is wrong for the disciple of Jesus to dedicate his life to continually expanding his earthly treasures.

“The Master does not say it is wrong to possess earthly treasure. He does say it is wrong to lay it up for self. We are to hold it as stewards.” (Morgan)

To lay up for yourselves treasure on earth is also to doom yourself to a life of frustration and emptiness. Regarding material things the secret to happiness is not more, it is contentment. How many wealthy people have died at their own hands because they found no pleasure from the wealth of what they accumulated? There is no lasting satisfaction from wealth. It is here today and gone tomorrow, or we are. In contrast, heavenly treasures are everlasting and incorruptible. Treasures in heaven give enjoyment now, in the contentment and sense of well-being that comes from being a giver. But their ultimate enjoyment comes on the other side of eternity. It has been wisely observed that a moving truck full of possessions never follows a hearse. Everything one might take with them to the world beyond is left behind and we can use our material resources right now for eternal good – even though we can’t bring them with us. Our material treasures will not pass from this life to the next, but the good that has been done for the kingdom of God through the use of our treasures lasts for eternity, and the work God does in us through faithful giving will last for eternity. (Guzik)

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

30.e. “My anger and my wrath will be poured out”

Matthew 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 13:49-50    So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous  and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Malachi 4:1   “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

Isaiah 5:24   Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah 7:20  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.”

The Jewish leaders thought that the Messiah would come with judgment, but only against Israel’s enemies. They were blind in their self-righteous confidence that only others needed to get right with God. Many today have the same idea. “John the Baptist is sadly needed today. Much of what we call Christianity is but Christianized heathenism…we need that John the Baptist should come with his stern words about the ax, the winnowing-fan, and the fire. Nothing less will avail to prepare the way for a new coming of Christ.” (Meyer)

They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal angrier with great numbers that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell.
So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such a one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God bums against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them. It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God’s hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not depend less at all the on the mere will of God, whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell, but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.

But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another reply, “No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself — I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief — Death outwitted me: God’s wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me.” (Jonathan Edwards)

30.b. “To whom shall I speak and give warning”

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Matthew 5:20     For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 11:39-44   And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

Psalms 58:3-6    The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.  They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

Isaiah 57:4    Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit,

Jeremiah 6:10   To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.

2 Thessalonians 1:10   They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

Being a follower of and lover of God is so much more than an outward observance of doing acts believed to upgrade your worth before God. The Pharisees believed that one was made righteous by keeping the law, and they believed themselves to be righteous in this way. They believed they were made right before God by what they did and what they were doing. It is as if they were keeping a ledger of all the good they did and the practices they followed. True repentance is so much more than words spoken and religiously followed actions.

Repentance comes from a heart, mind, and soul that has been awakened to the Holiness of God and their sin and sinful nature. Many will have their mind awakened but their heart and soul are not. They, like the Pharisees, give lip service to God and continue to do what they think is right in their own eyes. There is no total reliance and trust in God. They trust in what they say and do to make themselves right before God.

No act of man thought of man, and wisdom of man employed to their righteousness will make them right before God or cleanse their sins. It is only when the heart, mind, and soul have been awakened by the Holy Spirit is there an understanding of what must be done. In Acts over 5,000 people cried out, “what must we do to be saved?” They were cut to the heart by the Word of God and their souls awakened to the need for salvation. They, in humbleness they surrendered to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believed, relied upon, followed, and obeyed. True repentance comes from a humble spirit. Belief comes by faith in God alone. Reliance comes from trusting In Jesus Christ. Obedience comes from a desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. Our single purpose in life is to do that which honors and glorifies Him alone. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people speak and they seem to want to share in what should be only for Jesus Christ.

In all that you say, think, and do, make sure that it honors and glorifies Jesus Christ for His honor and glory alone.

30. “Their feet run to evil”

Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Proverbs 27:3-4 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.  Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?

Daniel 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.

Daniel 3:19  Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.

2 Kings 8:12   And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”

Proverbs 28:15   Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

Isaiah 59:7   Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.

We never understand the minds of those who carry out very wicked acts of violence. It is if they have no regard for others or the pain they are causing. Across history, there have been leaders and individuals who give no thought to the lives they are destroying. It is as if their hearts and minds have been incased and filled with hatred, anger, and unyielding fury. There is no compassion or love other than for fulfilling the destructive desire of their deep-rooted anger. Pride, selfishness, and self-worth drive them. No life has meaning other than theirs. Their acts are cruel. There is no thought of God or the power of God, or judgment of God. They are lost and doing things that the most wicked of the lost do.

We can think we are better than these wicked people and if we used human judgment our conclusion is true, but in the eyes of God, all are lost. The eternal judgment for the lost is all the same – eternal punishment and torment forever and ever. Our human thoughts might say this is not fair, but who are we compared to God, the creator, and author of all there is and all there ever will be. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, and is full of love, mercy, and grace. All of His judgments are right and true. The lost – those who have not trusted in, relied upon, followed, obeyed, and humbly surrendered to His offer of salvation and redemption – all end up lacking and will be cast into eternal hell. There is no partial ground with which to stand. No reliance upon our own good and good things we have done that will make us right before God, only faith and trust in Jesus Christ. There are no degrees of “lostness” in the eyes of God. Being separated from God has the same end for all without Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

29.m. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you”

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Romans 6:6   We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

James 4:1   What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

Romans 1:18   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Ephesians 2:2-3   in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

1 Peter 1:14   As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

“put to death” is very strong and suggests that we are not simply to suppress or control evil acts and attitudes. We are to wipe them out, completely exterminate the old way of life.” (Vaughan) The sins mentioned in Colossians are a minimal list of the way the world lives and not the way Christians should ever live. Every Christian is faced with a question: “Who will I identify with, the world or with Jesus?” Who will you live for, self and its passions or for honoring and glorifying Jesus? Who will your serve, self or Jesus? When our eyes get pulled away from being focused on humbly serving, obeying, following, trusting, and relying on Jesus Christ something else comes into focus. If our hearts and minds had eyes, are they intently looking for more knowledge and understanding and godly wisdom to grow and mature in how we live our lives so that Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified? Paul is saying “put to death” our former earthly, worldly, and fleshly desires and passions. Don’t give them a hidden room in your heart or mind. Don’t give them a place to reside. Baptism symbolizes putting to death such desires and being washed clean of their stain and guilt. Put these desires and passions to death. The problem is that we don’t always put them to death. We may bury them deep but we have not put them to death. Somehow they are able to dig their way back up to the surface of our mind and bring to life these old ways of living. The importance of God’s Word in our lives is very instrumental in how the Holy Spirit will guide us in discerning worldly and fleshly passions and desires in our lives. I wonder if we truly even want to know such things. Do we actually think we can live two separate lives, one serving fleshly and worldly desires and the other living to honor and glorify Jesus Christ? This is not possible. Man cannot serve two masters and yet this is exactly what we try to do all the time. We neglect God’s Word and by doing so we open ourselves up to blindly walking down paths of earthly desires and passions, unable to recognize we are. Putting to death these earthly desires and passions do not mean Satan will not try to resurrect them into our lives. He continually tries. It is only when we are intentionally committed to living to honor and glorify Jesus Christ with heart and mind deep desire to grow in knowledge and understanding of His grace, mercy, and love that we will be guided through life, by the Holy Spirit, and be able to mature in discerning the difference between earthly and godly living.

27.y. “On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak”

Ephesians 5:4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Proverbs 12:23   A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly.

Proverbs 15:2    The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

Jude 1:10   But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively

Colossians 3:8   But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Matthew 12:34-37   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.”

Romans 1:28    And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Paul’s appeal to the Ephesians was to be ever mindful of who they were in Christ and as such there ought to be a difference in how they speak and act even if the rest of the culture approves. They ought to know what is right, pure, and God honoring in their speech and actions. They ought to weigh every word in the light of God-honoring speech. As men, don’t have to spend much time outside our homes before we are bombarded with course language, filthy jokes, or other meaningless talk that adds nothing of value to our soul and certainly not toward God. We need to recognize and be able to discern what is right, honorable, and pleasing to God. The problem is we don’t recognize it as wrong or we shrug it off as fitting in. This problem has many roots that are anchored to our heart, mind, and soul. Neglect, complacency, remaining an infant in things of God, busyness, a lack of desire to honor and glorify God, wanting to fit in, shallow and stagnate knowledge of God’s Word, no hunger or thirst for His leading, and unwilling to fully commit to the will of God.

Psalms says: Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge— the LORD—knows the thoughts of man

27.v. “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths”

Ephesians 4:29 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. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Psalms 5:9   For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

Psalms 52:2   Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.

Psalms 73:7-9   Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.  They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.  They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

James 3:2-8   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.

A small bit in the mouth controls a strong horse. A small rudder turns a large ship. Even so, if we have control over our tongue it is an indication that we have control over our self. Whoever can control the tongue can bridle the whole body. It is possible for something as small as the tongue is to have tremendous power for either good or evil. You don’t solve the problem of an unruly horse by keeping it in the barn, or the problem of a hard-to-steer ship by keeping it tied to the dock. In the same way, even a vow of silence is not the ultimate answer for the misuse of our tongue. If the tongue is like a bit in the mouth of a horse or the rudder on a ship, it leaves us with the question: Who or what holds the reins, or who or what directs the rudder? Some people have no hand on the reins or rudder, and therefore say whatever comes into mind. Others direct their tongue from their emotions or from aspects of their carnal nature. James points us towards having the Spirit of God, working through the new man, set directing hands on the reins and rudder that is our tongue. The untamable tongue is even more dangerous when we consider the deadly poison it can deliver. (Guzik)

What others say to us and what we say to others can last a long time, for good or for evil. The casual sarcastic or critical remark can inflict a lasting injury on another person. The well-timed encouragement or compliment can inspire someone for the rest of their life. We are not told to never speak or to take a vow of silence; in many ways, that would be easier than exercising true self-control over the tongue. The bridle, the rudder, and the fire can all do tremendous good when they are controlled properly. “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.”

27.r. “But now you must put them all away”

Ephesians 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Romans 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Colossians 3:5-8 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Galatians 5:21 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We should walk in a different way than the world around us does. There seems to be consistency for Christians to portray themselves as not so different than the world around them. We are not to have a spirit of compromise with the world. There ought to be something different about us. When there is fear, worry, anxiousness, and confusion we should be a reflection of the light of Jesus Christ displaying, peace, joy, understanding, and love. What kind of conversations do we allow ourselves to get into? What kind of things do we say that we would never say in church? What kind of things do we listen to or watch? How do we treat others? How kind, generous, forgiving…… are we outside of church? Sadly I fear that many Christians reflect they are much closer to things that are more worldly than things Godly. Do we forget that in all we say, think, and do we are to honor and glorify Jesus Christ? How much of what we think, say, and do throughout the day is accomplished without giving a single thought to honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ?

Die to self – Live for Christ

27.c. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance”

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 6:11    And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

2 Timothy 4:10    For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

James 4:4     You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 2:15-17    Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Isaiah 30:1    “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;

1 John 5:4   For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

1 Peter 1:14   As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

John 8:44   You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

1 John 5:19   We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 3:10    By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil

Though, as Christians, we are now alive, we must never forget where we came from. We were dead in trespasses and sins. There are many kinds of life: vegetable life, animal life, mental life, moral life, and spiritual life. A being might be alive in one sense but dead in another. To be spiritually dead does not mean that we are physically dead, socially dead, or psychologically dead. Yet it is a real death, a “dead death” nonetheless. “The most vital part of man’s personality – the spirit – is dead to the most important factor in life – God.” (Wood) “Not in a moral sense, nor a mental sense, but in a spiritual sense, poor humanity is dead, and so the word of God, again and again, most positively describes it.” (Spurgeon) We err if we think that dead in trespasses and sins says everything about man’s lost condition. It is an err because the Bible uses many different pictures to describe the state of the unsaved man, saying he is: Blind, A slave to sin, A lover of darkness, Sick, Lost, An alien, A stranger, A foreigner, A child of wrath, and Under the power of darkness.

Every single person was born out of and into sin. All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. Everyone ever born has been born into sin. Through birth, we have were born into death and destruction and if God’s righteousness was a line we not only have crossed it, but we continually challenge its boundaries. We are born on the other side of God’s perfect, holy, and righteous standards through our sinful birth. We lived in sin, we embraced it and did not even give it a second thought. We followed after the course of this world and the prince of lies, Satan. We followed after it and sought it and its pleasures, wants, and desires. Granted we were born into sin, inherited from Adam, but Satan adds to this sinful nature the temptations and influences through deception and lies to do even more ungodliness. He influences and convinces us that pride, self-worth, self-centeredness, self-reliance, lust, worldly satisfaction, worldly pleasures, and immoral things are not only right but through them, we will gain purpose and meaning in life. Such is the life of the “dead in their sin” mankind. Those born again must never forget where they came from. Those who are made alive must remember that we were very comfortable in this old life just as a dead person would be comfortable in a coffin. We are alive in Christ and there ought to be a strong urge to escape the confines of the coffin and leave it behind. We used to respond to Satan’s temptations, influence, and guidance. We ought to be growing and maturing in things of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. We ought to be able to discern the things of God and the lies of Satan.

One of Satan’s lies is that he would have us believe that all are children of God, hell is only reserved for really bad people, and as children of God, all good people go to heaven, confusing what it means to be a child of God. In one sense we are, He is our common creator. Satan will throw clouds of doubt over the need to be born again, the need for Jesus Christ, the coming judgment, heaven, and hell. There ought to be a big difference, a change, a new way of thinking, living, and doing when we are born again. The problem is we are continually tempted to choose the worldly and fleshly over the things of God. We choose to seek what the world has to offer more than desiring to honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

Another of his lies is that there is no God and all there is to life is what we take from it. We live, we die, the end. Believing in either one of these lies has eternal consequences, eternal hell. We are to remember this is not only how we once lived, but this is what we have been saved from through the grace and mercy of God. What manner of person ought we to be in light of this?