Preserving Piety - 3/25/26 - Meadows Baptist Church - Pastor Charlie Branch

Welcome to the podcast of Meadows

Baptist Church of Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. We're so glad you joined us

today. If you enjoy today's message, be

sure to subscribe, follow, and share

with your friends. Now, let's join

Pastor Charlie Branch with a word from

God.

Matthew chapter 5. I want to read a few

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

verses tonight and you pray for me. And

uh I'll be honest with you tonight, the

last couple of messages here dealing

with the subject of uh purity and then

dealing with uh partnership uh there on

last week, they may not have hit you so

directly, but what I'm going to deal

with tonight's going to hit you right in

the head. And the reason why I say that

is because it hits me right in the head.

And I'm praying God will help us with

this tonight. Something we could all uh

grow in. And I want to I want to look

here at this this text tonight and the

thought here this evening. We considered

preserving uh purity there. Last year we

looked a long time ago at preserving

peace and then we started that series

again there just a few weeks ago on

preserving purity and then we talked

about preserving partnership. And

tonight I want to talk about preserving

piety. And I use that word for sake of

literation, but I'm just talking about

right Christian living and uh proper

Christian language. And I want to try to

be a blessing to you tonight. This may

be more uh practical and topical than

anything, but I am going to give you a

lot of scripture. So just hang with me

tonight and we'll get through this

together. Matthew 5:33.

Matthew 5:33

The Bible says, Jesus speaking again, ye

have heard that hath been said by them

of old time, thou shalt not forear

thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord

thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear

not at all, neither by heaven, for it's

God's throne, nor by the earth, for it

is his foottool, neither by Jerusalem,

for it is the city of the great king.

Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,

because thou canst not make one hair

white or black. Verse 37, the Bible

says, "But let your communication be

yay, yay, nay, nay, for whatsoever is

more than these cometh of evil." Father,

I ask you tonight that you would help us

as we look at these verses tonight. God,

I realize I have nothing to say in and

of myself, and Lord, I want to deal with

these verses properly tonight. And so

God, I pray you would fill me with the

Holy Spirit. Give me uncction and

anointing tonight uh Lord to preach and

demonstration of the spirit with power.

God, I ask you, Father, tonight for

every hearer, Lord, if it's if they're

here tonight, I pray, God, that they

would be obedient, but Lord, if it's

somebody uh down the road, Father,

that'll be listening uh over the

internet ways, God. I don't know who

will be listening, but Lord, I pray,

God, that you would help them, Lord, to

receive these truths into their heart.

And Lord, I pray for all of us, God,

that we would draw nearer to you. And

God, I pray, Father, that our language,

Father, and our uh discourses about each

day, Lord, would be cleansed. And uh

Lord, it'd be better as Christians uh

for you going forward as a result of

this. Help us tonight, Father, and exalt

your son and edify the church. Well,

thank you for what you do because we ask

it in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, tonight,

if you've read this scripture, you you

may think that this doesn't really apply

to you. You say, "Preacher, well, uh,

I'm I don't have any trouble with oaths.

I don't make oaths." And and the truth

is, this is a lot about this this text

right here. What Jesus is dealing with.

He was dealing with a people who were

not who were uh, I guess in in the

greatest sense, not guilty of perjury.

That's the sin that he mentions in verse

33. But just like all of these texts, it

goes beyond perjury. And what Jesus is

dealing with in this text is not just

perjury. He's going to say in verse

number 33 that perjury is wrong. We

would agree with that tonight. That if

you are, if you have taken an oath and

you, you know, if you lay your hand on

the Bible, when you go to the courthouse

and swear to tell the truth, the whole

truth, and nothing but the truth, you

are bound by that. Amen. And we, we

would agree that those who would disobey

that, they are guilty of that sin of

perjury. But it goes further than that.

And that's what Jesus wants to deal with

in this text. And I I'm going to give

you this and then we'll go back and look

at the background of this, but he he

wants to deal not just with perjury, but

he wants to deal with the issue of

profanity. Now, you may not have a

problem with that tonight, but I'll be

honest with you, profanity goes a little

farther than what the Americanized

version of profanity is described by.

Just because you think profanity is just

a four-letter word, that's not really

the limits of what profanity is. And

when I think about this term profanity,

the root word there is profane. And it

means this. It means irreverent to

anything sacred. It means proceeding

from contempt of sacred things. And when

you think about the world in which we

live today, the reason why that the

world spews profanity, why the music

industry spews profanity, and and why

the government and our governmental

leaders, man, there was a day, it ain't

been that long ago, when our

governmental leaders would never talk

the way that our leadership does in this

day and time. And frankly, I'm ashamed

that they're our leadership because they

do it on the world stage. And it's a sp

it's a mockery in the face of God for a

president or any governmental leader to

stand up and say that we're a nation

under God and then spew a mouthful of

filthiness in the next five minutes in

the same speech. Now, somebody help me

preach tonight. You know that's right.

Amen. And what I'm saying is is we've

lost decency and we've lost respect and

morality in this country. And if there's

anything that needs to be preached in

this day and time, it's this subject.

Amen. And uh the the truth is the reason

that they spew profanity is because

they're guilty of perjury as well.

Somebody say amen. I mean they lie under

oath all the time. If they're speaking

they're lying. Amen. And when I look at

this text, Jesus is rebuking all of

that. Jesus is not when he looks when he

says in verse 33, he gives the command

that is described. Now this command is

found of course uh it's found in

Leviticus. is found in Deuteronomy 23:es

21-23.

Um the description of the verse, the

latter part of the verse or the first

part of the verse is found in Leviticus

19 and verse 12. And the essence of the

verse is in the ten commandments. Exodus

20 and verse number 7 that you're not to

take the Lord the name of the Lord thy

God in vain. And that is the essence of

what this is. Now I want to look at

those verses in just a minute, but I

want to remind you of this. Jesus is

trying to preserve righteousness here.

>> All of this text, what he is dealing

with is how these Pharisees have watered

down the truth.

>> They've watered down what the Bible says

about these issues. They watered down

what the Bible said about divorce. They

watered down what the Bible said about

adultery. And they had watered down this

issue here of the oath. Now, let me deal

with this subject of the oath first and

deal with the command described. Turn

with me to the book of Deuteron or

Leviticus chapter 19. We'll look there

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

first and we'll give you the description

of what Moses pinned. Now, we know

Leviticus here is the record of the law.

This is a greater record. It's not just

the ten commandments, but this is a

record of the law that Moses gave. Now,

listen to what your Bible says.

Leviticus 19 verse number 11 and 12.

The Bible says in Leviticus 19:1, "Ye

Leviticus 19:1

shall not steal, neither deal falsely,

neither lie one to another." Verse 12,

"And ye shall not swear by my name

falsely, neither shalt thou profain the

name of the of thy God, I am the Lord."

Now, I'll say this tonight. God takes

this just as seriously in this day and

time as he did when he pinned this. It

is just as serious before God for you to

swear in God's name or on God's Bible or

by God's heaven. It's just as serious

for you to do that in this day as it was

in that day.

>> Amen. And what the problem is, we have

lightened this truth. But the the

judgment that comes for this is the

same. Now listen to what your Bible says

in the book of Deuteronomy. Turn with me

to Deuteronomy 23.

Deuteronomy chapter number 23, he is

giving the description of this this sin

of perjury.

Now listen to what he says. Deuteronomy

23 21-

23. When thou shalt vow a vow unto the

Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to

pay it. For the Lord thy God will surely

require of thee, and it would be sin in

thee. But if thou shalt forbear to thou,

it shall be no sin in thee. That which

is gone out of thy lips, thou shalt keep

and perform, even a free will offering

according as thou has vowed unto the

Lord thy God, which thou hast promised

with thy mouth. Now, let me say this

first of all tonight. When we think

about this sense of a vow, what's the

first thing that comes to our mind? It's

the marriage.

And let me remind you something tonight.

That vow is made before God.

>> It's made before God. It's made before

your spouse and it's made before the

congregants that will be there when you

sign that. When somebody signs that

marriage license, they are signing to

certify the vow that's in your life. You

made that vow before God. And God says

this in verse number 21. When thou shalt

vow a vow to the Lord, thou shalt not

slack to pay it. For the Lord thy God

will surely require of thee, and it

would be sin in thee. Verse 22. But if

thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be

no sin in thee. Now we think about the

marriage vow. But this is a vow here to

give. It's a vow of man. And when I say

a vow of man, it has to do with giving a

sacrifice. What you have vowed unto the

Lord, you are to pay that. Now, I want

to say this tonight. I wouldn't

recommend anybody to make a deal with

God.

>> I wouldn't recommend that tonight

because the truth is you'll never hold

up your end.

>> That's right.

>> Amen. He always holds up his end. Amen.

But the truth is, how many times have we

promised God on an altar wet with tears

somewhere, promised God something? We're

going to be different. We're going to be

changed. But the truth is, the flesh

that's in us is going to do the exact

same thing that it did before. At some

point later on, you say, "Well,

preacher, I promise God that I'd never

drink again, and I never have." But you

can't tell me there ain't been a time

where you wanted one.

>> Oh, that's good preaching tonight.

>> Amen. Remember what Jesus said? He said

those that commit adultery, he said it

ain't got nothing to do with the action.

He said, "But if a man look upon a woman

to lust after her." You see, it's the

desire that's sinful.

>> It's not It's not just the action. It's

the desire that is sinful. And so this

issue of the vow, Solomon said it this

way. It's better to not vow than to vow

and not pay. And so when you take an

oath, when you take a vow, you better

make sure that you can keep up with that

because God is keeping record. And the

Bible says here in this text, Jesus

said, "You've heard that it hath been

said by them of old time, thou shalt not

forswear thyself, but thou shalt perform

unto the Lord thine." Now the Pharisees

had made this an issue that was just

present at the tabernacle. But what he

is dealing with in this text is the

Pharisees has made it had made it

acceptable in their economy that they

could swear over anything else.

>> You say, "How is that?" Well, just give

you a good example. Look at the world we

live in today.

>> Amen.

>> You see, perjury for the most part,

people are I mean, I I'll just say this

tonight. You know, we live in the the

country, you know, the the land of the

good old boys,

>> you know, and and for the most part,

they're not guilty of perjury. I mean,

let's just be honest. If they tell you

they'll do something, most of the time

they will. It's getting to where it

ain't that way anymore. But I will say

this, the problem is not with that. The

problem is with their language.

>> Amen.

>> Jesus is not dealing here in the text.

See, they the the pergered issue, the

Pharisees, they were fine with that, but

they wanted to be able to swear and talk

about anything that they wanted to talk

about. So Jesus is not dealing so much

with that sin of perjury, but he wants

to deal with the sin of profanity.

Listen to what he says in verse 34. Now

there is the command described in verse

33. There is the common discourse in

verse 34. Look what the Bible says. But

I say unto you, swear not at all. Now,

I'm going I'm going to get very

practical with this tonight. Okay? And

here's what I want you to understand

this. You say, "Preacher, does that mean

that when I go to the courthouse that I

can't lay my hand on?" No, that's not

what that means. Okay? Here's what this

means. All right? If it is unnecessary,

if it's not necessary, don't do it.

>> So, and and you say, "What does that

come back to?" Well, notice what you

your Bible says in the book of Exodus 20

and verse number 7. Exodus 20 and verse

number 7.

I want to give you this and then we'll

go back to the text and I'll make the

parallel and you'll understand where I'm

going. Exodus 20:7.

Exodus 20:7

Exodus 20:7. Thou shalt not take the

Exodus 20:7

name of the Lord thy God in vain, for

the Lord will not hold him guiltless

that taketh his name in vain. Now, what

does that mean to take God's name in

vain? It means to use it in a place

where there is no emphasis on it. That's

right.

>> It means to use it in an empty,

disrespectful,

irreverent way.

>> And you say, "Well, when what does that

apply to?" Well, Jesus gives it in the

text. Look what he says in verse 34. He

says, "But I say unto you, swear not at

all." All right. So, he he lays the

groundwork right here and says, "It's

wrong to swear." Period.

>> Amen.

>> All right. We'll deal with the custom

issue in a minute, but you need to stay

with me on this. All right. He says,

"Swear not at all." Now, what's it?

What's the explanation that he gives?

Swear not at all, neither by heaven.

Notice this phrase, "For it's God's

throne." Now, you know the common

discourse. Jesus has to tell them to

swear not at all because across the

board, everybody does. You may not think

that you do, but at some point in your

mind, you you you have a attitude of

this. Now, Adrien Rogers illustrated

this very well. He talked about lying

and this is what he said when he talked

about lying. He said that he was

traveling down the road one night in his

little car and his little car had a

headlight out. You may have heard him

tell this story before and he said his

little car had a headlight out and said

an officer pulled him over and they

asked him said uh sir did you he said

sir do you know that your headlights out

and he said he said the thing about

lying is is he said you you can tell the

truth but lie with your tone of voice.

This is what he said. He said that

officer asked him, "Sir, do you know

your headlights out?" And he's looked

back and he said, "My headlights out."

He was telling the truth. But he lied

with the tone of his voice. You see,

your attitude

goes, it's more than just what you say.

>> But it's the attitude that you say,

"Preacher, what is this trying to

express?" Jesus is trying to express to

them the bad how bad humanity really is,

how sinful we are. Now notice what's

said in the text. I'll make sense of

this in a minute. I promise. You see not

only the common discourse, but notice

the connection to deity. Verse 34. Swear

neither by heaven. Don't don't swear,

you know, unto heaven by God's dwelling

place. He says, for it's God's throne,

nor by the earth because it's his

foottool. That's a place where he

stands. Neither by Jerusalem, for it is

the city of the great king. We're not to

swear by Jerusalem because it is the

place where he will reign. Verse 36,

neither shalt thou swear. Notice where

he goes to by thy head because thou

can't not make one hair white or black.

You say, preacher, what does that mean?

Jesus says, swear not at all for this

reason. Because whatever you swear by,

it belongs to God.

>> If you swear by the grass out there in

that yard, you know who made that thing

to grow. Yes, that's right.

>> If you swear by any If you swear by your

legs, by your hands, by your wife, by

your children, you know what? Every bit

of that belongs to God.

>> Amen.

>> And so, what's the truth Jesus is

expressing? Whatever you're swearing by

is you you are taking God's name in

vain. One writer said it this way. I

think it's John Butler. He said this. He

said, "The truth is Jesus says, "Swear

not at all." And he said the reason why

he says that because whatever you swear

by it all leads to profanity.

You say how does that lead to profanity?

Well, notice the definition of profanity

again. Profane, irreverent to anything

what? Sacred. Proceeding from contempt

of sacred things. All right. Now, let me

just give you this. Okay. You say,

"Preacher, well, I'm not in contempt.

I'm not trying to be a reverend. It's

natural to you to be a reverend.

>> You know why children run in t run in

church without you having to tell them?

>> I'm being real. Okay? Look, I'm not

being I'm not being ugly tonight, but

I'm saying we are naturally irreverent,

disrespectful beings. If you're going to

be sacred and holy and honor and respect

things that are sacred and holy, you

will have to choose to do so.

>> Amen. It's not in you to do those

things. And Jesus, he connects this to

deity. He says, "You're not to swear by

heaven because that's where he dwells.

You're not to swear by that by the earth

because that's where he stands. You're

not to swear by Jerusalem because that's

where he'll reign. You're not to swear

by your own head," he said, because you

can't change whether your hair is white

or black. God made you the way that he

made you. You can't swear by your wife

because God made her. You can't swear by

your children because God made them. You

say, "Preacher, what are you saying?"

I'm saying that profanity when you speak

God's name in an empty irreverent way

that is profaining his name regardless

>> right

>> of the time that you say it. Now it goes

further than that.

Notice the text. This is where I want to

get to. Okay? I know all of that's

Jewish ground. This is an application

sense right here. Verse 37. And this is

good for us today. All right. This is

where I want to get to and I'll be done.

Verse 37. And he tells them, "You're not

to swear at all." He reveals the command

described. He shows the common

discourse, swear not at all. It's

obviously a problem across the board. We

would agree with that. Okay. Um he

reveals the connection to deity.

But notice the communication desired in

verse 37. But let your communication be

yay yay nay nay. For whatsoever is more

than these cometh of evil. Now I want to

give you three thoughts tonight on this

thought of preserving piety. Let me ask

you something. Do you do you want to

talk right?

>> Do you want to be blameless in your

speech?

>> There's three words here that'll set you

up to be blameless in your speech. You

say, "Preacher, if I want to talk right,

if I want my speech to be entirely 100%

pure, preacher, are you saying that

you're there?" No, but I want to be. I

realize that there's little terms that I

use at times and it convicted me this

this afternoon while I was looking over

this. God convicted my heart about some

of the things that I say. Of course, I

don't cuss, friend. I'm not going to do

that. Amen. But what I will tell you is

this. There's things Adrien Rogers, he

said this. He said, "You say darn gosh

and dang. It's just as bad."

You say, "Preacher, you got Bible for

that?" I do. I'll give it to you. Three

things. You say, "How can I have my

communication proper before God?" Number

one, I would say this. Your

communication needs to be short.

You say, "What do you mean it needs to

be short?" Look what he says. He says in

verse 34, "Swear not at all." Verse 37,

"But let your communication be yay yay

nay nay." Now, number one, I would say

this tonight in this thought that your

communication needs to be short. You

need to say what you mean and mean what

you say.

>> People should not have to question about

what you mean when you're talking.

Get to the point. Okay. What we have in

this day and time and I and you know my

our government, man, I'm telling you,

they they are silver tone devils.

Especially that liberal left-wing crowd.

You say, "What do you mean by that?" If

you ever notice how they always talk and

they'll talk all the way around the

question, but they'll never really

answer the question.

>> Amen.

>> That's unholy.

>> Amen.

>> You say, "Preacher, how is that?" Well,

you remember how the devil dealt with

Eve?

Yeah, he hath God said, "Ye shall not

surely die." He goes all the way around

the question. Never deals with the

actual heart of the matter. Let me say

this to you. Your communication needs to

be short. You say, "How how do you know

that?" Well, look what Jesus says. But

let your communication be yay. Yay. Now,

here's what we do. Okay? And and we

always have to add a word for emphasis.

Okay? This is what people do when they

they use their four favorite four-letter

word, whatever it is. You know what they

do? They add their, you know, their

indicative on the end of that. You know,

you know, their four-letter word, yes.

Their four-letter word, no. You get the

drift.

It's it's a it's a because they have no

no other thoughts. They have no you know

intellect whatsoever. They have to add

that in there. Jesus says let be yay

yay. He said if you need to emphasize it

you say it twice. One writer said this.

Jesus indicative was what he said it was

verily verily.

>> That was his expression. Verily verily I

say unto you. That's what he told his

disciples. And and and you say well what

how does that translate over to me?

Well, I hope you don't cuss, first of

all,

>> but it goes beyond that. It's not just

cuss words, okay? It's not just words

that we know are wrong, okay? It's the

words that you say that really just

aren't polite.

You understand God is he is just as much

against those things that are outright

like, you know, the cuss words that we

think about. He is just as much against

the the words that are just improper.

>> It matters how you speak.

Let your communication be yay. Yay. If

it needs to be emphasized, say it twice,

but that's enough. If if it needs to be

emphasized, emphasize it in a way that's

pure.

I want you to notice this verse, okay?

It needs to be needs to be sure. Now,

let's let's think about this verse for

just a minute. Okay? Notice the word

that's used. But let your communication

be yay. Yay. Now, those are the those

are the two shortest shortest words.

That that's that's about as straight and

to the point as it gets. Let me say

this, sir. Ma'am, ma'am, don't fall out

with your husband when he's short. Let

me say this. When husband, when you're

short for the wrong reason, you you know

you got problems as well. But let me say

this. When conversations just need a

simple yes or a simple no, that's where

it needs to stop.

>> All right, so let's let's move on from

that. Okay, you get that point. But I'll

say this, not only communication

desired, number one, needs to be short.

Number two, it needs to be serious.

It needs to be serious. Here's the verse

I was going to give you for that.

Colossians chapter 4. That was the verse

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

I was looking for. Colossians chapter 4,

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

verse number six.

He says, "But let your communication be

yay, yay, nigh, ne." And Paul says this.

He says, "Let your speech or notice

verse five first." Colossians 4 verse

number five. Walk in wisdom toward them

that are without. You know what he's

talking about? He's talking about lost

people. Let me say this. It matters how

you talk around lost people.

>> If you're saved by the grace of God and

you spew a big bunch of awful, how can

you expect? I mean, how do you expect to

be able to win them people of the Lord?

They've done wrote you off. Listen to

what he says. Walk in wisdom toward them

that are without, redeeming the time.

Verse six, let your speech be always

with grace, seasoned with salt, that you

may know how you ought to answer every

man. You know what that means? It means

think before you speak.

>> Season, let it be with grace.

Let it be with humility. That's what

that means. Let it be with grace.

Seasoned with salt. Let it be proper.

You know what seasoned speech sounds

like? It's timely.

You ever heard somebody speak out of

turn?

We sit. I mean, I I hate to keep using

the government, but it's such a good

example. I mean, you watch them sit in

them meetings and one will be yelling

over the other one and another one be

yelling over the other one, and you know

that God's not pleased with that. That's

out of order. Let your speech be always

with grace, seasoned with salt, that you

may know how you ought to answer every

man. You ought to think before you

speak. You say, "Preacher, I know that."

Well, you don't show it.

You say, "How do you know that about

me?" Because all of us are that way.

>> All of us are that way. But this thought

of it being serious. What do I mean by

that? Well, notice what Paul says in

Ephesians chapter number five.

He he points it out in Colossians as

well, but but Ephesians 5 describes this

very well. Listen to what he says. These

are good verses to go back to for this

subject if you ever, you know, need to

reprimand your kids. You know, Ephesians

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. That was supposed to be

funny.

I want to dig in right here for a

minute. Okay.

Your communication needs to be short,

but it needs to be serious.

And the dangerous part about a preacher

and a pastor is this is what I know. I

have to get up here and talk to you,

preach to you for 30 minutes. So I have

to make sure that I'm saying a whole lot

in this time period because I don't want

to waste it. It needs to be serious. Now

notice what he says. Ephesians 5:4 or

Ephesians 5:4

verse three. But fornication, all

uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not

be once named among you, has become the

saints. Verse four, neither filthiness

nor foolish talking nor justesting,

which are not convenient, but rather

giving of thanks. You ever noticed? And

and here's here's what I here's what I

want to express to you out of this. You

ever notice how the most godly people

that you're ever around in your life are

serious?

They don't have they're they're not

really looking to laugh all that much.

Now, Bible says, you know, a merry heart

doth good like a medicine, but I don't I

don't think that's so much about the the

face as it is the heart. I think you can

have a merry heart and be serious. Now,

we going to dig here for a minute. We

going to get deep for just a second. All

right? You need to stay with me. Look

what he says in verse four. Neither

filthiness. Now, all of these are

descriptions of language. Filthiness,

foolish talking, nor justesting. All

three of those are a description of

language. Number one, filthiness is

mentioned. What is filthiness? It's

obscinities.

Obscinities, however you want to say it.

It has to do with perverse language.

Speaking things that are unholy. You

ever been around somebody tell filthy

jokes? Neither filthiness.

That's that that's that's a naughty

heart. That's what that proceeds from.

It's unholy. It's ungodly is what it is.

He says, "Neither filthiness nor foolish

talking." Now, you going to get a kick

out of this. Okay? Listen to what this

means. That word foolish talking in the

English language, it literally

translates to the word buffoonery.

Buffoonery.

You say, "What does that mean?"

buffoonery. When he says foolish

talking, it literally is it just it's

just saying things that are completely

unnecessary in order to get a laugh.

And you know what goes on from that?

You say, "Preacher, is this hitting

hitting you?" Of course it is. That's

why I'm telling you neither filthiness

nor foolish talking norgesting.

You know what the wordesting means?

Means joking.

unnecessary conversation keepers,

time fillers.

Look what he says about this.

This is in your Bible. Neither

filthiness nor foolish talking nor

gesting which are not convenient. It

means it's improper.

You know what Paul is saying here? He's

saying anything that wastes time is

unhold.

Don't you think we got some catching up

to do?

Buffoonery, obscenities,

joking. Look what he says. Neither

filthiness nor foolish talking, nor

gesting, which are not convenient, but

rather what? Giving of thanks.

Now, I'm telling you, if we got right

with that right there, we'd have

revival.

You know, it convicted the daylights out

of me because I think about how much

conversation I waste

talking about things that are just

useless time fillers

joking about things. And and the thing

about it is is it's not it's not that

it's just, you know, you know, I'm not

just thinking wicked thoughts and just

feasting on that. You know, I'm not

guilty of those obscenities. I'm

thankful for that. And you better not

be. Amen. But we all guilty of wasting

words. You understand words is life and

death. What you say to a sinner is life

and death.

>> You know, I've I've seen this and I told

you I was going to be more practical and

topical. I've seen this in the work

world. I remember when I worked my old

job, work around some of those guys up

there. This was their life. This is all

they live for, just to waste time. I

mean, if you work for the State

Department, that's, you know, that's

what they do. So, I'm I'm not knocking

you, Sherman. Amen. But, uh, but that's

what they do. They sit around and waste

time and they would talk about stuff.

And I always wondered why just a normal

conversation could turn into something

so wicked quickly.

And it's that reason. They're just

trying to fill up time.

You know what you do when you have a

conversation with somebody and you're

just trying to fill up time? You know

what that conversation is going to do?

It's going to go left fast.

You say, "How do you know that?" You

just try to fill up a conversation with

your wife and you watch where it goes.

This is good preaching even if I am

doing it. Amen.

>> I'm saying if you ain't got a purpose

for what you're speaking and and my

wife, she's the best about this because

we'll be driving down, we driving down

the road today. We had like 6-hour drive

today.

And uh we was driving down the road and

I looked at her. I said I said, "Am I

really this boring?"

She said, "You're not boring." She was

driving. I was trying to think,

meditate. Camry screaming in the back.

You know, there was no meditation going

on.

But I said, "Am I really this boring?"

And she said, "No." She said, "I'm just

driving." But she don't speak unless she

has something to say.

I need that. That's Christian. That's

godly.

>> Don't speak. You y'all ever remember mom

and daddy saying don't speak unless

you're spoken to.

>> That's that's godly. More godly than you

think it is. There's principle. See

these things. There's purpose for why

this we waste so much time. We waste so

many words by things that do not even

matter.

Desirable communication is short.

Desirable communication is serious.

And I'll say this, this one really, this

one gets under, you know, and and don't

fall out with me on this one, but this

one's going to plow us up, okay? Desired

communication's not only short, and it's

not only serious, but it's slow.

Listen to what James says.

Oh my, God help us. James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

James chapter 1 verse 19.

James 1:19

What's your Bible say? Wherefore, my

beloved brethren, let every man be swift

to hear,

slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the

wrath of man workketh not the

righteousness of God. Now, is it any

coincidence that he says all of that

together?

Is it any coincidence that he says a man

is supposed to be slow to speak, slow to

wrath, and then he says, "For the wrath

of man workketh not the righteousness of

God." You know what we are so common to

do in our anger? What do we do? We spout

off.

>> We spew just like an open Coke bottle.

And you know what it is? It's quick.

It's cutting. It's destructive, isn't

it? James talks about the tongue. Turn

over a chapter. Listen to what he says.

He says in James chapter 3 and verse

James 3 · chapter mention

number five, he said, "Even so the

tongue is a little member boasteth great

things. Behold, how great a matter

little fire kindleth. And the tongue is

a fire a world of iniquity. So is the

tongue among our members that it

defileth the whole body and setth on

fire the course of nature and it is set

on fire of hell. He says your speech

should be slow. Why is that? Because if

it's fast, you don't have time to think.

>> So many people and and this is you

reveal your ignorance. You know, it's

it's one of them things, you know, I've

heard people say this and it's very

true. You know, it's better to keep your

mouth closed and, you know, remain a

fool than open your mouth and remove all

doubts. You've heard that before.

And the truth about your life and mine

is every mess we make with our mouth in

relationships comes because we were too

quick to answer.

I tell you, there's wisdom in silence.

There is great wisdom in science.

We ought to spend, of course, we know

that the principle we're given two ears,

so we ought to hear twice as much as we

speak. He says, "Let every man be swift

to hear and slow to speak."

What does that mean for our life? Well,

I'll tell you this. If you embrace that

truth, number one, the quality of your

relationships is going to improve

greatly

if you take time to listen.

If you stop, I tell you as as a man, as

a woman, m what doesn't matter which

side of the the marriage that you're on

or you know, as children, what's the

number one problem with them? They don't

listen.

Daddy told me that a thousand times

growing up. You don't listen to nothing.

I say

>> and the same and the thing is that's the

same problem we have spiritually. We're

so quick to speak and try to portray

ourselves as spiritual. But the truth

is, we need to be quick to listen so we

can actually be produced as spiritual.

We need spiritual growth. We don't need

to be dumping out what we do have.

We think we we learn a truth and the

first thing we want to do is want to

run, put it on Facebook.

You say, "How do you know?" I have the

same thing in me, man. God shows me

something in the Bible. Man, I'm

thinking, man, that'll be a blessing to

somebody else.

You know what I tell myself? I just I

don't need to do that. It's not about

me. You see, thing about this, your walk

with the Lord's personal.

>> Your marriage is personal.

>> Amen.

>> Your your relationship with your kids is

personal.

>> And let me say this to you, okay? If we

would stop and think

about what we're doing, this doesn't

just go for what we say, but it go the

reason why he says this about what we

say is because it's the most common

problem with our thoughts. We have not

brought our thoughts into obedience to

Christ.

I'm reminding what Paul said. He said,

"The weapons of our warfare are not

carnal, but they're mighty through God

to the bringing down of strongholds." He

said, "It brings into captivity u every

thought to the obedience of Christ.

We need we need a spiritual awakening in

our lives of allowing our thoughts to be

brought in. And you know what'll happen?

You'll speak a whole lot less.

Jesus says, "But let your communication

be yay, yay, nay, nay." And then notice

the phrase, "I'm done." Look what he

says. Verse 37, Matthew 5. For

whatsoever is more than these cometh of

evil. You know what that means? It

literally means that it comes from the

devil.

When you answer somebody and you have to

put a swear word on that, that's of the

devil.

There's no excuse for a child of God to

ever curse.

>> There's no excuse for a child of God to

ever take part in in that filthy

talking. Amen. You know, you say, "Well,

we wouldn't do that around women folk."

I've heard men say that. Wouldn't do

that around women folk. Well, you do it

around that little boy that's 12 or 13

years old.

>> Amen.

>> It's not right.

>> Because the truth is, it's not just the

fact that you're saying it, but the fact

that you would even think something like

that, that it would even come into your

mind,

those obscenities. And and let me say

this, you know, you say, "Preacher,

well, where is the line on on, you know,

profaining, taking God's name? Where is

the name?" You you should never, you

know, the you know, OMG, you know,

people say that say that over and over

and over again. And and and the thing

about is is it's become such a redundant

statement in our society that if we're

not careful, we'll catch ourselves

saying it.

>> Amen.

>> We'll put God's name on the end of

everything.

And the thing about it is we're all

guilty of this in some point.

Dang darn gosh.

It's useless words. Meaningless words.

Gap fillers.

Let your words be with grace seasoned

with salt. Every word you say ought to

have meaning to it.

They say Jonathan Edwards preached his

sermon sinners in in the hands of an

angry God. He preached it. He read it

verbatim.

read it in a monotone voice. This is

what they said about that sermon that

captivated them. Number one, it was the

power of God. But number two, it was the

thought that every word he said had

weight.

You know what scares me to death? That I

would get up here and preach to you and

teach to you and my words not have

meaning.

That my sermons just be gap fillers.

That ain't what I want. And you don't

need that with your wife. You don't need

that with your children.

>> Say what you mean. Mean what you say.

>> Don't let I love you just be something

to fill a spot.

>> That's right.

>> Don't let I'm praying for you just be

something to comfort somebody's mind.

>> Amen.

>> If you love them, love them.

>> If you're praying for them,

>> pray for them.

>> That's right. If you're using God's name

for something, it better be to tell

somebody how good he's been to you.

>> It ought to never be a gap filler. It

ought to never be a a a prefix to your

cuss word. Amen. But it ought to always

be to honor his name. Father, thank you

for this time. Lord, I I say, "Oh, me."

But God, I thank you that you still

speak to me this way. I thank you that

uh Lord, you saved me. You you changed.

Lord, you took out that that old those

old cuss words, Father, and moved them

from me. And I I'm thankful for that.

But Lord, I know I still miss the mark,

God, to say things that I shouldn't.

Lord, I speak things at times I

shouldn't. God, we all do. Lord, would

you help us, Lord, to make every word

count because, Lord, I know we've only

got so many in this life. Lord, I want

them to be spoken for you. God, will you

help us, Lord, to apply these truths to

our life, Lord, to allow our

communication to be uh short, but to be

serious. And uh Lord, to let it be u u

seasoned with salt, Father, and proper

uh before you. And uh Lord, I thank you

for this church. Thank you for these

people, Lord. I know they'll embrace

this, Lord, because they've embraced so

much, God, in the last uh Lord, two

years I've been here. And God, I I thank

you, Father, that it ain't got nothing

to do with me. But Lord, I just love to

see them hungry for the same truth, God,

that you feed to me each day. And Lord,

I pray, God, you'd help us to be

obedient to it. Lord, I love you. Thank

you for loving us. We give you thanks

for all that you do because we ask it in

Jesus name. God's children said,

>> "Amen."

>> Thank you for being here.

>> Thank you for joining our service today.

We'd love it if you'd join us in person

the next time you are able at Meadows

Baptist Church. Our physical address is

2988 Stewart Road in Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. Our service times are Sunday

school at 10:00 a.m., Sunday morning

worship at 11:00 a.m., Sunday evening

worship at 6:00 p.m., and Wednesday

evening Bible study at 7:00 p.m. For

more information, visit us at

meadowsbaptisturch.com.

Thanks again for tuning in.