I AM A MAN OF UNCLEAN LIPS

OK, first of all, please forgive me for the mug shot. I know it's not pretty, but God thinks that I am beautiful. He thinks that of you too. Did you know that Almighty God carries around a picture of you in the palms of His hands? I can just see Him dancing and singing every time He thinks of you and I. Great is His affection for us. You can see for yourself. Let's look at Isaiah 49:15,16. "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands."

Like my grandson says, "No, seriously," I too must say that it's time to get busy partaking of the Living Bread together. May we begin with prayer? I have found that anything we do without the Lord's help is counter productive, to say the least. "Glorious Father, we come to You with a great thirst to be nearer. With a great thirst to be righteous and holy, for You are holy. We come on bended knees, with a reverence for You and all that You stand for. You are high above us and we bow before You. Come now Holy Spirit and teach us the ways of God. Give us grace to do what our Father commands. Reduce us to love. Give us joy at the expectancy of Your Coming. In Jesus name.........AMEN.

Have you ever found yourself saying things that you wish you could take back? Sure you have. I bet Peter wished he had not denied the Lord. Isaiah seemed to understand the evil of the tongue. Let's read Isaiah 6:1-6. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.' At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." First let me say....WOW ! This is an awesome passage.

Did you see what was first on the mind of Isaiah? It wasn't his impure thoughts, disobedience or unforgiveness. Don't get me wrong, these things are bad, but his most blatant sin (which just couldn't come before the Lord) was his speech. Now, this passage doesn't say exactly what our man Isaiah has spoken with his lips, to bring such dread, godly sorrow and repentance. But I can say for certainty that he was a man just like us. That takes me back to asking you one more time. Have you ever spoken words which you wished with all your heart you hadn't? Lord knows that I have. And like you, I hate it with a passion. Such nasty and hateful things too. Oh the people we have hurt because of our unrestrained tongues. Of course it hurts our Daddy too. He created our tongues to praise Him and speak words of faith. I embrace Isaiah's cry. "Woe to me!" I cry. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips."

Time for some scary stuff. I apologize in advance. You guys and gals are so funny. I think I heard someone say, "I thought the mug shot was scary enough." I still love you though. Anyway, go to Matthew 12:36,37 with me would you please. "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

OK, please let me interject some good news at this point, before we beat up on ourselves some more. I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness." And that means gone completely. Psalms 103:12 says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." That's some good news indeed. We can take that to mean....all sinful acts. Included in that would be our words and thought life. Take it all to the blood my dearly beloved.

Time for a bunny trail. I know you have missed them. (LOL) Turn to Matthew 5:29 please. "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." I assure you that Jesus is not talking about body dismemberment. But, he is letting us know that sometimes we have to do extreme things, to keep us going in the right direction. The Israelites did just that. They found that keeping God's Word in front of their eyes would help keep their thoughts going in the right direction. They would write it on their doors, tie it to their forearms, whatever it took. We can do the same thing. For example, if we are having problems in the area of what our eyes look at, we can tie something around our wrist reminding us to look at something else. We can't look at two things at once. Neither can we have two thoughts at once. Protect our gates at all cost. What goes in our eyes and ears go directly to our soul and spirit. But, what can we do about the gate of the mouth? It has an outgoing flow.

We can't do anything. In this area we must rely on the might of the Holy Spirit. We must believe that He will help us if we ask. We must be patient while He works. Let's now look at what James said about the tongue and then we will follow up with King David's solution. James 3:3-12 says, "When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 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. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and 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. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." Oh God help us with this terrible beast !! Now, take a look at how King David approached the problem with his mouth. Yes, we all have a problem from time to time. We find it in Psalms 141:3. "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."

How do we conclude? When we sin, go to the blood as quick as possible. Understand that we need God's help to be righteous. We can not do it ourselves. BELIEVE !