Close Thy Mouth

Today I have just a few things to say about the most damaging excess of all. We know by the scriptures, as well as by life experience that all excess is harmful in some way, and against the will of God for our lives. One scripture says it very well I believe: “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand” (Philip. 4:5). But if another is needed, this passage should suffice to the point: “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible… But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Cor. 9:25-27). Now we all know that there are many kinds of excesses, some of which are more well known than others. There is excess of eating, otherwise known as gluttony; and there is covetousness which the scripture condemns as idolatry, and there is lavish living which is also referred to as lasciviousness. The Bible is clear that any of these excesses retained in the life of a believer will cost him his soul in the end (Deut. 21:20,21; Col. 3:5; Gal. 5:19-21). But the most damaging and the most damning of all excesses is one that almost everyone is overlooking, and therefore most are committing on a regular basis. I’m ‘talking’ about the sin of excessive TALKING. I could easily write a book just consisting of scriptures that go to this point and confirm it with great clarity, but I’ll just point out a few that really drive the point home with gusto. Proverbs 10:19 clearly tells us that there is no lack of sinning involved in the excess of talking. Ecclesiastes 5:3 tells us that “a FOOL’S voice is known by multitude of words.” Fools by the way will not be saved from the wrath of God that Jesus will pour out on this world “without mixture” at his second coming. It should also be pointed out that excessive talking applies to excessive 'chatting’ and such on the internet. As there are many ‘talking heads’ all around, so are there many ‘typing heads’ on the internet who are spewing out “corrupt communication” of many kinds (Eph. 4:29).

One of the elements of the 'fast’ that is acceptable to God, outlined in Isaiah 58, is to cease from “speaking vanity [futile words],” and from “speaking [our] own words” in general (Isa. 58:9,13). This 'fast’ is not something to be kept periodically, but rather a mode of living to stay on. If these things are not convincing enough, Jesus told us the following with no uncertainty: "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Mat. 12:36,37). Yet the most telling scripture of all, and the one that shows us that this excess of talking is the most damaging of all, is this potent saying from the book of Proverbs: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Prov. 18:21). It simply doesn’t get more serious than life and death, and the ability to speak either life or death out of one’s mouth is clearly as big as it gets in that arena. Overeating is serious, and it is harmful to those who do it, but they do not minister death to someone else by doing it. The same applies even to alcoholism or smoking, which most of God’s people are not involved with anyway. Being covetous is seriously bad, but it doesn’t give one the capacity to administer death unto those around them. Slander on the other hand is as deadly a weapon as there is in the earth, and it most assuredly DOES administer death to those who are afflicted by it. In fact the word 'devil’ is defined as 'slanderer,’ and we know that the devil is a murderer, so there’s the 'death’ part of that equation (Jn. 8:44). One of the requirements for salvation, as detailed in Psalms 15, is to “not take up [receive] a reproach against [your] neighbour” (Psm. 15:3). The reason for that requirement is obvious: Slander is sin, and when someone receives it from someone speaking it, they become a partaker of their sin. And of course, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

Make no mistake my friend, though slander is the most deadly of the excesses of talking, ANY excess of speech is damning if not repented of and ceased from (Prov. 28:13). There is just nothing more unedifying than empty futile words flying around in the air. So how does someone get cured of this condition of excessive talking? The same exact way we get cured of any and all sin, by the sanctifying power of the holy Ghost working in our hearts and souls. When the apostle Paul said that he kept his own body under subjection, he did not mean that he did it by passive means (I Cor. 9:27). He was a man of much prayer and perseverance therein, and that is how he kept himself empowered with God’s Spirit of holiness which purified and preserved him from all sin. That is still the way to get the job done, which job is to be “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,” and to be preserved from all “ungodliness and worldly lusts… Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (I Pet. 1:5; Tit. 2:12-14). I believe the beloved apostle punctuated that scriptural reality as well as it can be done: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I Jn. 3:2,3). As long as we are guilty of excessive talking, we are not purified or sanctified like we need to be. On the other hand James told us, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (Jas. 3:2). To that I can only add this: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha” (I Cor. 16:22). Amen.