The Gospel Of Matthew Chapter 15 Part 2 Guard Our Mouths And Keep The Door Of Our Lips Closed

Those who follow doctrines of men circumvent the Word of God to their own peril.

Matthew 15:7-9 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 

Hateful scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus of violating the traditions of the elders. 

We explained how these oral traditions were elevated to a place of higher authority than the Spirit inspired scriptures.

Jesus strongly rejected the traditions of elders and proved how traditions transgressed the commands of God.

Jesus said we must grasp the severity of listening to another voice instead of God's.

Matthew 15:10-11  And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: 11  Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. 

Jesus continued to confront the issue of the traditions of the elders propagated by the Pharisees and scribes.

Right after He said they worship God in vain, Jesus told the multitude standing nearby that they must hear and understand what He is going to say.

Eating without washing our hands does not defile us, but what comes out of our mouths most definitely can defile us.

The word "defile" means to do something which makes one unclean according to the law God gave to Moses.

He is teaching us what real defilement is.

This is a most important command from Christ. 

He wants us to hear and make it a point to attend to the ministry of the word. 

He wants us to understand and apply His teaching.

We must see the difference between teaching from God and the man centered traditions of elders so that we fully believe and embrace what God says in His Word.

The words "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth" is Jesus' answer to the Pharisees accusation. 

Jesus replied that what goes into our mouth does not defile us. 

Ingesting a some dust or specks of dirt does not make us a sinner. 

Thus, if Jesus' disciples ate food and had dust or dirt clinging to their hands, such an act is not a sin. This does not defile someone.

Jesus rebuked those who followed traditions of the elders because God's Word condemns lying tongues and wicked hearts.

Jewish traditions of the elders perverted truth from God into a lie of men. 

Psalm 10:7  His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. 

The Psalmist describes those who are the enemies of God and His people as those who curse, who propagate deceit and fraud.

This description speaks to enforcing the traditions of elders as if they are superior to God's Word.

It is a wicked thing to promote traditions from the corrupt imaginations of men's depraved minds to supplant the authority of the scriptures.

Psalm 12:2-3  They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. 3  The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 

Those whose tongues speak lies are double hearted men. 

They say one thing and do the opposite because they are serving the prince of this world instead of their Creator.

Thus, all who propagate false religion like Judaism or the tradition of elders, will by severely judged by Jehovah at the final judgment.

God will cut them off by condemning them to eternal damnation.

A Christian should not say or post anything that dishonors God for He will hold us accountable.

Psalm 52:2-4  Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 3  Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. 4  Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. 

Listen to the awful things that an ungoverned tongue will do.

It will cut people down, spread false rumors and shred someone's integrity like a sharp razor making deep wounds in our flesh.

Pharisees and scribes loved evil because they did not seek repentance and faith in Christ.

They spoke lies and falsehoods rather than being truth tellers.

This truth connects with people making anonymous posts containing lies on social media instead of taking a Bible to read what Christ and God's Word says.

Anything we post on social media must conform to truth and principles found in the scriptures.

Therefore, much of what the Bible teaches about our tongue and the words we speak are directly applicable to what we post online.

Let us be known as consistent truth tellers who speak God's Word into people's lives.

Proverbs 6:19  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. 

In King Solomon's list of seven things God hates, four are connected to a wicked heart and a lying tongue.

Christians who post content online must be known for speaking truth. 

We must never share posts of other people or groups that are steeped in lies and misinformation.

Jeremiah 17:9-10  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. 

Jesus always aimed at the heart of those with whom He spoke and Jeremiah tells us why.

Our heart is born full of deceit, and full of wicked intentions. 

We cannot change our tongue or amend our heart for this kind of work belongs to God.

The LORD knows our heart and searches it out and nothing is hidden from His piercing gaze.

This is our condition by birth and it is inherited from Adam's original sin.

This is why the gospel of Christ is so vital to us individually and why we must be Christ's faithful witnesses.

Let us ask our gracious Lord to guard our mouths and to restrain the door of our lips.

Psalm 141:1-4  A Psalm of David. LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. 2  Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. 3  Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. 4  Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. 

This is the text where King David combined the priestly function of offering incense with the daily sacrifices both of which point to Jesus Christ as our High priest (See Ephesians 5:1-2).

David's prayer is one that we should pray at the beginning of each day.

We ought to ask the Lord to set a watch, or to put a guard so that we do not say or post anything that dishonors God's Word.

All too often, we can speak or post something before our mind is engaged and this usually detracts from God' glory and injures those who hear or read it.

Thus, we need the restraining power of God's indwelling Spirit to help us to think Biblically before we speak or post anything. 

Instead, we must turn away from those who post lies on social media so that we do not think corrupt thoughts that they publish.

We must turn away from those whose lives are marked by depravity instead of holiness.

We must not ingest polluted material or "dainties" that we find on social media, that look like they taste good, but when eaten actually taste terrible.

Let us do our part to advance the gospel by keeping our thoughts and words pure.

Psalm 39:1  To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

David shows us that we also must do our part in this attempt to advance the gospel of Christ into a depraved culture.

We must take heed to what we think, say and do. 

If our thoughts, words or actions are influenced by a polluted culture and not shaped by God's Word, then we must confess this as sin. 

We will receive cleansing and forgiveness as God promises to do for us (See 1 John 1:7 to 2:2). 

It is good to ask the Spirit of God to place His holy bit and bridle into our mouths so that we yield to His direction and turn away from sinning with our words.

Psalm 71:8  Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day. 

We must not fill our heart and mind with cultural depravity like toxic posts, conspiracy theories, and blatant lies.

Instead, let our mouth be full of praise for God above and a strong desire that He be glorified on earth as in heaven.

Proverbs 21:23-24  Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. 24  Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath. 

King Solomon's wisdom teaches us much about setting a watch over our mouth and keeping the door of our lips closed, so that which does come out has been filtered through the lens of scripture.

We must keep or actively guard our mouth and tongue because our tongue is set on the course for the fires of Hell as we will read below from James 3.

Much of what is posted online is from those who are haughty and arrogant, thinking that they know what is best and that everyone else is wrong.

Proud wrath is a good description of a large percentage of social media content these days. 

People are swift to rush to judgment, quick to trash someone's reputation or integrity and ready to propagate lies to support their position.

Be both an active hearer and doer of God's Word, not an inattentive, careless listener.

James 1:22-26  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 

The apostle James tells us that we cannot be mere hearers of the Word when our Pastor's preach and teach the scriptures to us.

Instead, we must be doers of the Word, that is we must be committed to hearing God's Word with the intent to obey what He says.

Those who profess to know God but have evil tongues like the Psalmist and Solomon speak of, have made a false profession of faith.

James 3:5-6  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!6  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

James tells us why we need to be born again. Our tongue is full of the fire of iniquity and its path is set toward the fires of hell.

We cannot change this, but God can and He stands ready and willing to save us and give us a new heart and spirit as He promised.

This is why Jesus said we must be born again (See John 3:1-8).

Psalm 19:13-14  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

May the words of King David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, bring comfort and joy and hope to our hearts.

Let us ask our LORD to help us avoid presumptuous sins which are sins of pride and arrogance, most noticeable in what we say or post.

Let us actively seek to have all the words of our mouth both spoken and written, be acceptable in the sight of God.

May we seek to glorify God in our thoughts and words and actions!

Bob