Hi, I'm Marty McKenzie with His Love Ministries. Welcome to the Least of These Podcasts. We reach out to those the world has forgotten. If you'd like to know more about us and how you can donate to help us fulfill our mission, go to hisloveministries.net. Thank you very much and God bless you. To every believer, the promise of God. The pious offender, who truly believes, That moment of Jesus, a pardon receives. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory. Well, we're gonna be back in Romans and we're gonna finish up a section this morning on chapter 3 verse 9 through 20 where he talks about the wickedness of man. We saw about his wickedness of his character. Now we're gonna see the wickedness of his tongue. Still in that section where we're talking about man's problem. That man's a sinner and hopelessly a sinner and nothing we can do about it till God gets a hold of us and changes us, right? That's what a lot of people don't understand and that is why there's so many works religions today. People think that they can do something to get to God. They can take communion. They can be baptized. They can join the church. They can do good works or try to keep the Ten Commandments or they do this or they don't do that. Remember, false religion says do. And Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross, what was the thing that he said? It's done. It's finished. It's complete, right? And so false religion says let's do something and we'll go to heaven. And Jesus says, look, There's nothing you could ever do to earn it, to deserve it, to pay for it. But as the old psalm says, Jesus paid it all. He didn't leave anything for us to do. The Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So remember the book of Romans is really about the righteousness that comes from God. And there is no righteousness of man. We'll get to that next week, I guess. So he talks about all of sin that comes short of the glory of God. There's none righteous. No, not one. That's what we've been talking about in this section here. He says, no, not one, no, not one, no, not one. And he says it over and over and over again in chapter three. Remember chapter 1, what did he do? He condemned a man out in the jungle, the man that's never heard the word of God because he's rejected that which he does know. Like I said, man's attempt at, so-called attempt at coming to God through works and all these things, that is really rejecting God. Because when we try to do something to come to God, he says, look, there's nothing you can do. You need to just believe me and trust me. Chapter two, what did he do? He condemned the moral man and then ultimately honed it on down to the Pharisees and the religious Jews who thought they could do something to get into heaven. And in chapter three, what does he do? He's still kind of pounding on the Jews and then he's going to pound on everybody else and say, look, nobody can make it to heaven on their own. And he goes through all these sins, all these things. There's none righteous, no, not one. We talked about they turn, there's none that understands, there's none who seeks after God. They've all turned aside, they have together become unprofitable. And I like how they've got all these so-called seeker-sensitive churches nowadays. But what does the Bible say? There's none that sees God, no not one. So, I don't know how you can have a seeker-sensitive guy church if there's none that seeks God. The Bible says, none comes unless the Father draws him. There's none that does good, no not one. And then we get to chapter 3 verse 13 is kind of where we're at. And we're going to talk about the wickedness of the tongue of man or his conversation. He begins to say there, their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in its sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So we're going to see the wickedness of the tongue of man. And he starts out talking about that. He says, their throat is an open tomb. And if you notice, he goes from the throat inside, and then he comes to the tongue, and then he goes to the lips, and then he comes to the mouth. And he just encompasses the whole thing. He starts from the inside out. And really, you know, if you're around somebody long enough, you'll find out that what's inside of them comes out of their mouth, right? I mean, eventually, whatever a person's character is, it'll come out of their mouth. It amazes me, sometimes I get around people and they don't know what I do for a living. They're cussing and doing, and then soon as they find out what I do, then they're like, oh, excuse me, preacher. I said, look, I'm not the one you need to be worrying about. It's God you need to be worried about. I'm just a man. You don't have to worry about me. I said, it's God that you need to be worried about. Because God's the one that hears everything that you're saying and doing. We seem to be more worried about what people think than what God thinks sometimes. Proverbs 10 verse 31, 32 basically says, the lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverted. What is this talking about? He says the throat is an open tomb. And so really, one guy says that the grave's been opened with the result that it stands open. It speaks of a grave that stands open, and their mouth, their words is like the odor of a newly opened grave. In Matthew 15, verse 18 and 19, he says, but those things which proceeded out of the mouth, this is Jesus speaking, and they defile a man, for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemy. And that's what Jesus is saying about that. That's why he starts from the inside. And then he talks about that in 1234, Matthew 1234, the connection between our words and our character. And he says, brew the vipers. And that's where, you know, he gets to this next section. He talks about the poison of asbestos under their lips. He says, brew the vipers. How can you be an evil? Speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What is Ephesians? You know, we studied that a few months ago and it talked about how Ephesians 2 that man is dead and is trespasses and sins, right? And a dead man can't do anything, can he? You can kick a dead man, you can beat him, you can do anything you want to him and he can't do anything. And that's why the Bible says we're unable to help ourselves because we're dead. A dead mouth, the only thing it can do is bring forth bad things. But the moment we trust Jesus Christ and become saved, we can confess that Jesus is Lord. And then out of our mouth becomes those good things. What did Jesus tell Peter? He said, Who do men say that I am? And Peter says, I art the Christ, the Son of the Most High God. And he says, blessed are you, Peter, for flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but the Father in heaven, right? So the only reason you're saying that is because God put that in your mouth, right? And so really, what is he talking about here, that their throat's an open tongue? open to them that their, that filth of their human speech and that rottenness comes from within as a grave is sealed to keep the stench or the smell in. And then he talks about in the next section, he says right here with their tongues, they have practiced deceit. And that word deceit means basically to bait with a hook. In other words, what do we do when we go fishing? We put something on a hook and we make that fish think that he's got something good, right? Next thing you know, you got him hooked. I guess, I don't know, they call that when you're hooked on drugs or all these things, you get hooked on this or hooked on that. John 844, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees. And he says, you're of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you wanna do. He was a murderer from the beginning. and he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it. One man says that the tense of the verb with their tongues they have practiced deceit then it really means they continually practice deceit. It's not just a one-time thing but it's a condition. Remember that's the difference between a believer and a Unbeliever, a believer may still do some of these things at times, but the practice of our life is that we wanna please God and we do the best we can through the power of Christ, dependence on Him to do what we're supposed to do. And there's times we fail and we fall, but the practice, the habitual lifestyle of the unbeliever is that he does that or she does this all the time. They don't even try to stop, they just do it continually. And that's the difference. But then he says here, last part of verse 13, the poison of Asp is under their lips. And this talking about lying about their neighbors and ruining their good names. Asp are apparently little small snakes and is probably the Egyptian cobra. But just like the tongue, James talks about it. It's a little member, but it does what? It sets on fire the world. Sets the world on fire, right, is what he talks about the tongue. Who can control it? And even Christians have trouble with their tongues at times. Even though this thing's small, it does much harm. And he says here that it was probably that Egyptian cobra. It was found in the desert in the fields and was extremely poisonous. And the guy says, one can scarcely think of a more graphic way in which to express the pain and the suffering caused by these vindictive and unjust words. And what did Jesus call the Pharisees? I just read the verse a minute ago. He called them the brood of vipers, right? And because they were so poisonous to the people, they infected with their false religion and everything. Everywhere you look, I get so frustrated. I got one of those things that you put on your TV that's basically a curse-free TV. The TV Guardian, I bought it and I had it about a year or something, I couldn't figure out how to work it. And finally my son looked on his phone and looked up the instructions and he helped me figure out how to do it. Sometimes it cuts out whole sections, but you'll see down in the, it'll do closed caption when it cuts out the cuss words. It cuts out everything and sometimes it's a little aggravating, but it just amazes me, some of the stuff. I mean I was trying to watch TV the other night and I watched this one channel and the show was fine but once it hit about 10 o'clock I was like whoa wait a minute I had to hit the off button real quick I said you got to watch this channel I mean it was okay and the movie I just got through watching and it had closed caption and then cutting out the words and stuff and I just said why can't people make write books, why can't people make shows, why can't people do stuff without having all this filth in there? You can make a good TV show without that, but the problem is, is most of the people in the world, the way they live and the way they think and the way they act, that's what they want, you know? And the whole reason, I don't know about the books, but the whole reason that the TV's on is because they want you to get you to the commercials, right? If they can't say you something, And if you're not watching the show, so they're targeting a certain audience, you know. But it's just frustrating. I'll go down to the library and pick up a book and I'll try to read some westerns. I used to read Louie Ellimore and Zane Gray and you didn't have to worry about them. And I'll go down there and all I can read is a little short description of the summary and I'll pick one up and I'll start flipping through it. until I actually get the book I can't tell whether it's any good or bad I start flipping through the books trying to figure out if it's going to be good or bad like well I have to put that one back in the pile can't read that one because it's just terrible it just amazes me and that's what he's talking about here just the filth that comes out of people's mouth the poison the The stuff that comes out of man's mouth is this deceit and this poison that people use their tongues to, as vicious weapons. And sometimes people even just attack people they don't know for no good reason, just because they like to vent on people. They just perverse. Was that little story that was old little diddy sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. That was the biggest lie that was ever told because there's been more people killed themselves and live lives of whatever a lot of these kids and stuff. It's just amazing. I don't know. My wife was talking about one of the kids that she saw the other day. And the kid was just crying and crying and crying and crying. She'd been crying all day. And she had to wonder what the mama or what the family had done to her or what was going on that she just wouldn't stop crying. Can't all be the kid's fault. I mean, there's got to be more than that to it. And people are just evil. It's just. It amazes me how evil people are. They'll do anything to anybody just to advance their cause or get money or whatever. And then he talks about verse 14, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Cursing means wanting the worst for somebody. He's not talking about just what we call cussing, but he's talking about calling down curses on people, you know, wishing the worst for people. They say like the people, the witches or whatever supposedly curse you or whatever. put a hex or a spell on you, I want the worst for you to happen. I wish this would happen to you. That's basically what he's talking about. And then talking about bitterness and he talks about the public expression of open hostility towards somebody you hate. And so like I said, he comes from the throat And then he goes to the lips, I mean to the tongue, and then he goes to the lips, and then he goes to the whole mouth. He just basically says everything that comes out of this space up here, if you're not saved, it's just filthy and wicked, right? And so then he leaves the mouth and he goes down to the feet and he talks about the wickedness of the conduct of men and how we sit against people by violence. And so he goes down to the feet in verse 15 and he says, Their feet are swift to shed blood. And then he's talking about these words actually come from Isaiah 59 verse 7. And it kind of, I think those spoke of that guy named Manasseh who shed so much innocent blood. He was one of these rulers. He had no regard from life. And that's what these people are. They don't care what they do as long as they get what they want to. And then he goes on to talk about destruction and misery are in their ways, destruction and misery. And the word destruction means to crush or rub together and it shows that they only live to hurt others and make others just as miserable as they are, right? And then that word misery, we know what that means. It just means that everywhere they go, as these people go, the landscape, the path behind them is just littered with people that are hurting and full of pain and despair. And one man said that the Christians' feet are shod with the gospel of peace. And we're as Christians trying to bring peace to people through the gospel and the way we live and the things we do. But what do the unbelievers do? They bring despair and destruction. Jesus put it this way. He says that the ones that are not with me, what do they do? They scatter. In other words, they destroy. That's all their lives are, is destruction. But those that are with me, they gather. They bring together. They bring people together. This lost sinner, he's on the road to destruction. He's on that wide road. But he needs to get on a narrow road that leads to life. Look at verse 17. He says, in the ways of peace, they have not known. The ways of peace, they have not known in that word. Peace, it really talks about that their lives are in turmoil. In other words, that word turmoil means confused motion, that they don't even know what they're doing. And they're so out of whack that they don't even know what they're doing. And it's not really talking about an inner peace, but it's just talking about an essential way of living. They don't know peace. They don't have inner peace. But their whole life is just not a life of peace. I mean, it's just constantly mixed up, constantly messed up. What was that old saying? I know they used to have it on a bumper sticker. It said, if you have N-O God, you have N-O peace. But if you K-N-O-W God, then you K-N-O-W peace. If you know God, then you know his peace right and notice what he says here this all these reference to these body parts is what he's been doing and you know that's what Paul talks about in Romans 6 12 that that sin expresses itself through its bodily members right and Paul remember says who shall deliver me from this body of death right And he tells them in 612, Romans 612, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust. And do not present your members as members of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. So he says, you know, these things get us in trouble, right? These mouth and all these eyes and all these things, Jesus says, If your hand offends you, cut it off. If you have, plug it out. He's not talking about literally, but he says, you know, there's a problem with the members of your body. They cause problems. And then he says in verse 18, there is no fear before their eyes. Here's the motive behind all the things that people do. They really don't fear God. What does the Bible tell us over in Proverbs 1, 7? It says several times, to fear the Lord is the beginning knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction. There is no fear of God. From talking of sin they commit sin to the point of quickly murdering then they become destroyed and are miserable and this is all summed up in that sentence there is no fear of God in their eyes. I mean if people understood God and knew who he was and the fear of God is really reverencing him by worship and trust, obedience and service. But if people really understood who God was, then they would, you know, they would fear him and reverence him. And I don't know, there's a certain sense in which we fear God in a sense, but we don't as Christians. We fear the fact that he's so holy and awesome. And sometimes we fear, you know, we don't do stuff because of the fear of the consequences. Because we know that there's gonna be retribution. But the people that don't know God, they just have no fear of it. Like I said, they seem to be more worried about what people do, think about them than what God thinks about them. That seems to be true for a lot of us all the time. And so a man's true spiritual condition is seen clearly by the fact that he doesn't have a proper submission and reverence for God. Let's look at verse 19. He says, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. So the next thing we see is the wickedness of man condemned, or we cannot be declared by our works. What does he say here? He says, whatever the law says, it says. So it's kind of like he says, whatever the law says, it says. And there's really two Greek words here. I'm not a Greek scholar, but I read the people that know the Greek, and it says there's really two different words here. It can be translated this way, whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. In other words, what Paul's doing here is he says there's many Jews, there's many people that know what the law says. But not many have heard it speaking directly to them. Like the guy who went to church every Sunday and one Sunday that it snowed and the guy lived right across the street, nobody else could make it to church. And the pastor, I guess he lived in the pastorium or something right behind the church. It was him and one guy at the church. He says, well, maybe one day, maybe today, this guy's gonna get it. He's gonna listen and realize it's for him. And when he gets through, the guy comes up and says, man, Pastor, they should have been here. They should have heard it. You told them today, Pastor. It's always for somebody else, right? It's not for us, but it's for somebody else. He says here, first of all, that to those who are under the law. And so he's really talking to the Jew. And he says that the Jews are under the law, and that every mouth shall be stopped. So first of all, he says, first, as man is convicted by law, he says that the mouth may be stopped. And then second, the man is condemned by the law, because he says in all the world, they become guilty before God. So he goes to those who are under the law, and then he says that every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. So remember the Jews had the written law, and we talked about that back in Romans 2.15, that the Gentiles, that's us, right? Unless there's somebody here that's Jewish, that we have the law of God written on our heart. And our conscience bears witness that either accuses us or excuses us, is what the Bible tells us in Romans 2, 15 and 16. Psalms 130 verse three says, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand but there's forgiveness with you that you may be feared. And then lastly, in verse 20, we'll finish up here with this verse. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in the sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So lastly, we see the wickedness of the works of men. The law just does declare that it's not a way to be made, declared righteous in the sight. That's not the purpose, but the law was given that through it we might be conscious of that sin. And then what it says, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul says, I would not have known sin unless the law. And then the law came in and it condemned me and it killed me. And Paul says, I didn't sin until I knew the law. And then once I knew the law, there's that sin inside of our life that we see the do not touch the wet paint sign or do not walk on the grass sign. And what do we do? The first thing in it says, Tell me what to do, I'm gonna touch this if I want to, or we just wanna touch it, right? I mean, that's that sin in us, right? The law was written, talking about by the deeds of the law, what law is he talking about? He's probably talking about the Jewish law, the Mosaic law, particularly that which when the Jewish mind referred back again to that circumcision that they thought they were getting to heaven by, but the law was written to show us a need for our Savior. Let me read one verse here, or a couple of verses in Galatians 3.10. It says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things, not some things, but all things. In other words, you have to keep every single law perfectly, right? All things which are written in the book of the law to do them, but that no one is justified by the law when the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not a faith, but the man who doesn't shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, from the law, by having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on the tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith. Nobody ever saw, except for God, the evil of the human nature except for Paul. But yet Paul didn't believe that that was a call to despair, but it was a call to hope because the worst sinner I was just listening to a guy on the way over here this morning. I love to listen to Alistair Begg and some of these guys, but he just said that everybody, that Paul says, I'm what? But he says, not I was, but I am the chief of sinners. I was the worst, the least of the apostles. I am the worst of sinners. And there was a guy named William J. Bath, and when he was an old man, he said, my memory is failing, but there are two things I shall never forget, that I am a great sinner, and Jesus Christ is a great Savior. Paul never underestimated the sin of man, but he never underestimated the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. I mean, what did he say in Romans 116? That's kind of where this all started. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God, the salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. And so Paul believed no man was too bad to save if God could do it for him. He could do it for anybody. Because remember, Paul was the one that was holding the people's clothes as a stone righteous Stephen, right? He was the one that was doing that. And so one man said, the best way to close this section would be to ask this simple question. Has your mouth ever been stopped? Are you boasting of your own self-righteousness and defending yourself before God? If so, then you've probably never been saved by God's grace. It's only when we stand silent before him as sinners that he can save us. As long as we defend ourselves and commend ourselves, we cannot be saved by God's grace. The whole world is guilty before God, and that includes you and me. I was reminded of a little story that I talked about a little boy. He saw this big old rock, this big old rock. He was trying to push it out of the way. He decided he was gonna move it, and he was grunting and groaning and pushing and pushing and pushing. His dad looked at him and said, son, have you done your best? And he said, yeah. He said, no, you haven't, you haven't asked me. And we've never done our best until we ask God to fix us. The lessons, have you ever felt the need for real forgiveness for your sin? Have you ever felt the need to be right with God? Have you ever felt the desire to be righteous and being tired of doing the wrong things? We were talking last night or night before about how people do the things they do. And I said, well, one guy told me one time, he says, this is all I've ever known. And he got mad with me when I started kind of pinning him down. But he says, this is all I've ever known. I don't know anything any different. And then I came in and I said, well, have you ever asked God to forgive and save you and change you? That's what we need to do cuz we can't change on our own. Second Corinthians 520, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled for God. Go back to that story I told about Ringo the duck. Y'all remember that story a couple weeks ago about Ringo that he had the tab caught on his beak and they never did find out what happened to Ringo cuz they never did catch him. They don't know if he died or he got loose or what, but probably just went off somewhere and died. But he's like the rest of us as sinners. Sometimes we don't want nobody to help us and we think when people try to do something for us, they're trying to hurt us. But what we're really trying to do is help people when we tell them the truth about Jesus Christ. So one of the things we can do as we started out this whole time together today is we need to pray. We need to pray for people in this building, for the staff, for people in this city, in this state, in this country, in this nation, in this world, to know the truth, to hear the truth, and that we as believers would share the truth with them and let them know that God's amazing grace can save them and change them. They don't have to be like Ringo the Duck. God's not trying to hurt them. God's trying to help them. Until we begin to do that, we're never gonna see the changes in this city, in this state, in this building, in this world until we begin to do what we're supposed to do and live like we're supposed to do. So let's pray and let's close. Father, we just thank you for who you are and we just beg you and plead with you today, Lord, that you would work in our lives. The Bible says, let judgment begin at the house of the Lord. We need you to help us clean our lives up and live pure and clean lives, Lord, that when people look at us, that they would see your good works and they would glorify you, our Father in heaven, because the things that we do are not because of anything we can do, Lord, but it's because you live in us and through us. So Lord, help us to let our light shine and that people would truly see the difference in the way we live and the way the world lives. Father, draw people unto yourself. Let us be those that share your gospel, that pray, Lord, that live out your life so that others may be saved and forgiven and changed, Lord. Help us be the people of God. Lord, you blessed us that we might be a blessing to others. Help us to fulfill that and be obedient to that today in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi, I'm Marty McKenzie with His Love Ministries. Please help us reach out to those the world has forgotten. Everyone we minister to is locked up in some way, shape, or form. Those in the nursing home facilities are locked up in bodies that do not work, in a wheelchair, or in a bed. We minister to children and youth who are locked up because of behavioral problems. Some have told us we want to have a real family because their parents have lost or given up custody of them. Other kids are locked up because they've committed crimes. We also minister to those locked up at the jails and the prisons, to those locked up in addictions to drugs, alcohol, depression, and suicidal thoughts, to those locked up in a variety of other things that keep them from becoming who Jesus wants them to be. He came to give us abundant life, joy, and set us free. And these people that we minister to are not free. Our desire is to show them whatever their background, no matter what they've done, to see how much God loves them. We seek to help them receive forgiveness and freedom from their sin in Jesus Christ. We minister in the local area of Savannah, Georgia and surrounding Effingham and Chatham area. We have recently expanded our ministry to the Lexington, Columbia, South Carolina area. We do over 2,000 services every year. We hope and pray that you will support us in some way so we can continue our mission. Go to HisLoveMinistries.net and click on the Donate Now button or send it via regular mail to Post Office Box 1881, Lexington, South Carolina, 29071. We hope and pray that you will do that. Thank you and God bless you. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. John 8 32.