Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent sermons preached at Wilton Baptist Church. It is our desire as a church to strive together in building a faith, family, and future that honors and glorifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we can be a help to you in any way, please visit our website at wiltonbaptistchurch.com. I hope you're having a good week. I'm glad you're here with us tonight. Looking forward to Sunday and the good things that we can look at in the Bible together. Proverbs chapter 12 is our text. Proverbs chapter 12, verse three in particular, and we'll be looking at verses one through seven throughout our study tonight. Years ago, I was up in a mountain in West Virginia, and I noticed a man across the street from somebody I was visiting. He was over there in his pickup truck in the front of the house that he was working at, And there's a bush in front of the house. And he had this pickup truck, four-wheel drive. It was half ton, three-quarter ton. It was a big truck. And he had it chained to the bush. And he was ramming it forward, and he was going back. And then he went forward and back. And then before long, I could tell that he was kind of getting upset because he was really like that. And he was digging a hole in the ground. He could not move that bush. Thank you for the water there. He couldn't move the bush. I think that the angle that the truck was pulling more sideways than up didn't work. It gave me an idea because I was trying to remove bushes out of my front lawn around the same time, and so I got one of those two-ton come-alongs. You know I'm talking about kind of ratchets like this? I call it a come-along. I don't know what the term is. It's just what I always called it, but Dad always called it that. So I found a big tree, a really thick tree, and I pulled more up than over, and it pulled a very similar bush right out of the ground. You know, there are some plants, their roots are just right in there and can't be moved. I mean, you can put a truck on it and it doesn't make a difference. Wouldn't you like that to be true in your Christian life, that you're so rooted that even a pickup truck can't pull you out? I mean, you're just staying put where God has you planted. Have you ever wondered about the, pardon me, you know, some of you have been praying for this cough and today I expressed to somebody, I'm tired of taking medicine and I said that to someone yesterday as well. and I'm taking a lot of medicine, and today the doctor's office called about something different, and I said, while you're here, I'm wondering, you know, can I get a chest x-ray, and so the doctor called in a chest x-ray, I got a chest x-ray, and two new different medications, so more medicine, we'll see what happens, keep praying. Maybe by Sunday it'll be a little bit better. I don't really appreciate coughing at you, so thank you for hanging in there. So have you ever wondered about Japanese, they develop these ornamental trees. You know I'm talking about those kind of exotic looking trees. And they look like full-grown trees, but they're only 16, 18 inches, kind of small like that. And what they do is they take a small seedling, that was how God designed it, to grow maybe 80 feet even, and they sever the tap root with scissors. Then that little tree is forced to live off the shallow roots, just some of those shallow ones on the side. Therefore, it only grows maybe 16 to 18 inches. Yeah, that's a good illustration for us and a good thought for us. We want to avoid shallow Christianity. Avoid shallow Christianity. How can I avoid shallow Christianity? We'll find the answer to that. in our text here tonight. And as we read these verses, think about how I can be purposeful about putting my roots down. Putting our roots down doesn't just happen by accident. You don't become firmly grounded and firmly rooted and establish a good foundation by accident. It takes purpose and effort on your part as well. So look at these verses, if you would, verse one. Whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish. A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. Verse three, our key text, a man shall not be established by wickedness. He's not gonna have a good foundation because of wickedness. He's not gonna be established. But the root of the righteous shall not be moved. So a Christian here, a believer who's putting his roots down deep, a righteous person shall not be A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is as rotten as in his bones. The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. The wicked are overthrown, and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand. Avoid shallow Christianity by being purposeful about putting your roots down. So how can I be more firmly planted in place? Let's look at verse one again and find this love learning. Love learning. Whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge. Now contrast that to this person, but he that hateth reproof is brutish. He's being foolish about this thing. He doesn't want to receive reproof. That's somebody saying that's wrong. And he doesn't want to learn on doing something that's wrong. Notice how we're to love learning. This word instruction, it means training, training. Instruction is training. and it's either by word or deed. So tonight we're receiving some instruction, but you also receive instruction when you watch someone or in a tactile way when someone's teaching you how to do something. That could also be instruction as well. Training is by word or deed, and we should be constantly learning. I encourage you as a Christian, if you've been saved two weeks, like some people have in our church, or 20 years, like several of us as well, that you would keep learning, that you would read the Bible. I encourage you to read maybe a biography of a Christian missionary. I think that we should know some of the names of people like David Livingston and Jim Elliott and different missionaries and know what happened to them and how God used their lives to impact continents and people groups with the gospel, read biographies of great Christians, read Christian periodicals. You know why we get the Baptist bread, and the call to glory, and the Baptist voice? and the God Bless America magazine. You know why we get those things? It's so that we can set them out there on that table and they just look beautiful sitting right there. Is that why? No. It's so that we can read it. It's because it'll help us in the Christian life. It helps us to grow, mature, to develop, to better understand the Bible, to better understand the Lord and His working in our lives. So read about great Christians. Read about Christian periodicals. Get around the guest preachers that come through. Learn from them. One of the great benefits when you host a missionary or a preacher for dinner or lunch or you have them at your house and you are there, you can connect with them and you can learn from them. You can see instruction by being around them. And so I encourage you, especially if you have extra space and if you have young people in your home, kids, they will find some good things and learn some good lessons from them. And by the way, parents, you do not need a classroom to be teaching your children. They are watching your every move. You don't have to have everyone sit down. OK, I'm going to teach you something today. You don't have to do that. They're watching you. They're learning. They're listening to you. They're learning. They're seeing what you do. They're seeing how you respond. They're seeing how you talk. They're seeing what you are involved in. Take time to explain, this is why we do this. Take time to develop them, their thought processes by explaining your thought processes to them and teach them. This is training and instruction. If you want to be rooted where God has you, you're not going to say, I already know it all, so I'm going to stop learning. A foolish person does that. Here, according to this, it's a person who loves to learn. He's a person who's going to be rooted. and have a good established base that his life is built upon. And so training and instruction. Next is truth. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, knowledge. In John 8, verse 32, he shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. There are some things that we should know in life and in a Christian life. It all begins with truth. We should know Jesus. Thy word is truth. We should know the word of God as well. Let's put it down in real practical ways. We need to know what is real. A lot of people don't know what is real. They believe lies, they believe errors, they're looking at the wrong thing, they don't know what is real and what is fake or what is false. Aren't we good as human beings to put on facades? I mean, we see that, it's in media, it's in life, it's in people in your neighborhood, kids at school, and try to portray what's not real. But Proverbs 22, 21 says that, I may make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee." We can know the truth. We can know what is real, we can know what is fake. And that's real knowledge. We should know those things. Know what is right in 1 John 4, verse 6. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit of truth. and a spirit of error. Get that contrast there? Here's a spirit of truth, here's a spirit of error. This is real, this is right, this is lies, this is wrong. So we need to know what is real, we need to know what is right. Now when we have Bible knowledge, when we live with godly knowledge, we can make wise decisions. Knowledge is good, But we need to know when to act and when to say and when to do the right thing. That's when it becomes wisdom, that I'm going to become wise. It's one thing to know what I should do. Another thing, it's a wise thing to go ahead and do what God would have you to do. Notice then thoughts, thoughts of love learning, whether it's training, truth, or thoughts. We develop our thoughts. Who we listen to, who we learn from, that develops our thinking. We do not want to learn from evil people. Here's a man that hateth reproof, and he is brutish. He's an ignorant fellow, and he's choosing to do that because he has wickedness in his heart. We do not want to learn from people like that, from evil people. Now we can have differing opinions with other brothers and sisters in Christ. I enjoy hearing people that have a different understanding so I know where they're coming from. And then I can better understand how I can help them think biblically or think right about whatever it is or help someone that thinks in a similar way as they do. So I love healthy discussions when somebody doesn't understand something and they want to learn and they're expressing maybe a differing understanding or a differing viewpoint. And I like to hear that so then we can know where they're at and intelligently talk and come to right thinking. We decide how we think. You make a decision every day. How am I going to perceive this? How am I going to think about this? What is going to be dwelling on my mind? And you think about that. Now, sometimes images flash across and that may distract you or you may focus upon that, but you choose what you think about. This all starts with the decision to love learning. all sorts of places and people we can learn from. There are books, DVDs, church services, preaching, podcasts, radio, people in their houses, in the car, trips you may take, relationships that you have with other people. If we think we already know, we hurt ourselves, and according to this verse, we are called brutish. Some learning will challenge us. It'll maybe convict us. I've been thinking wrong or doing wrong by whatever it is. It may reprove us to the point that there's something wrong in my life. We shouldn't get angry about that. We should listen and learn and grow and change. So if I'm gonna be rooted right here, I'm gonna love learning. Number two, crown character. I'm talking about actually putting a crown on. Put it up as something that's paramount in your life and in your home. Notice in verse four, if you would, that a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. But she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." Crown character. We could talk about virtue versus vice. Virtue versus vice. Virtuous. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. Now the word virtuous in the Old Testament, it's used like this. It has to do with a force, a force. And sometimes it could be maybe a force of men or a force of means or resources, like an army, or here's a lot of wealth. Valor, we tend to use it like that with valor or doing something valiantly. It also means strength and something that's worthy or somebody whose character is worthy. So we use it like this, a virtuous woman or person is good, and honorable, and worthy, they do what is moral, they do what is right. A virtuous person lives with conviction and fortitude and they're striving to do what is right and honorable. That's what their whole focus is. That's why we would call them a virtuous person. So they're like a force. Not quite like a force of nature, like you hear people say, but I mean, they're just like, I'm gonna do good. I'm gonna do right. God, help me to do right. And they have that character about them of wanting to do what is right. So virtue. I encourage you, when we think about this term, virtue, we teach our kids what is right and honorable, even from the very start. And a lot of our kids are growing up, and as they get their first job, and as your kids get their first job, I encourage you and encourage the young people that we should be more focused on that job developing character and worth, ethic, and responsibility than earning money. Money's not the whole goal of the first job. Well, you know, they're 15, 14, 15, 16. They gotta get some money. They don't have to get some money. They need to get some character. They need to get some work ethic. They need to know how to work, how to be responsible, how to do what's right. Money's a secondary thing. Money is not the objective of the first job or any job. Is that true? It is. It's not the objective. And so, teach them. Now, adding money to a child's life, it can be exciting. and it can be enjoyable to see that and the excitement that's attached to the first job and having the money that comes with it, but it can be a distraction to the Christian life. I'm talking about to their development. It can be a distraction. This is why, this is why when you ask some kids, what do you wanna do with your life? I'm talking about 18, 19, and 20. They'll say, I wanna make money. Okay, something, there's a disconnect between the character, the work ethic, all that, and making money. Making money, some reason, was the primary objective, or it became that from their first job on. And so we want to develop character and see character as the more important thing. They can make money the rest of their lives. They need to continue to learn character somewhere along the way. They get their eyes off the difference of a job well done and a job just for money. Now vice, vice comes along, and that word is, it means evil or corruption or depravity or deprave. And so notice how the verse reads here, a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. So this is very good. She's a crown because of virtue. She's terrific because of the character of her life, but she that maketh a shame, someone with poor character, someone who doesn't have the right outlook or attitude in life is as rottenness in his bones. Evil or corruption. Humans are bent toward vice, we are prone to sin, the reason is we're sinners. We're sinners, we choose to sin. And any evil action, any evil action or attitude when it's tolerated over time will erase the virtue. It's like it's not there, it's like where's the character at? If you love the sin, where's the character at? So vice comes along. How about this? Unforgiveness, that would be an example. Resentment, thinking bad about someone, coveting, loving money, doing good for the wrong reasons. I like what one person said just this last week. Encourage your kids to pursue eulogy virtues over resume virtues. It's the difference between achievement character. Can I say that one again? That's a really good statement. Encourage your kids to pursue eulogy virtues over resume virtues. It's the difference between achievement and character. And so we have virtue versus vice. Next then, we have responsibility versus rottenness. Rottenness. So see that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in the bones. and in his bones in particular. She is planting rottenness. She isn't being rooted with good character. She's not following the Lord. and having the character that we need in the Christian life, planting rottenness, irresponsibility would bring shame. Irresponsibility can bring sickness. Notice the rottenness to the bones. Well, you hear people say, well, I feel awful. And they're talking about their emotions. I really feel bad about this scenario that's playing out or what took place. And I feel emotionally distressed or emotionally sick about it. At the same time, our emotions can impact how our body feels. And according to this verse, this fella whose wife is not virtuous, but rotten, she is making ashamed as there's rottenness in his bones, her sin is actually impacting his life. You ever think about that? I mean, he actually is feeling physically ill because of the sin of somebody else. You ever been there? I've been there before. You've been there before? Some of you been there? Where you feel sick because, physically ill because of the sin or the wrong of someone else. Responsibility versus rottenness. Some people plant rottenness, we should plant responsibility. Develop ourselves and develop those around us, especially our homes, the person with character. Notice how she is praiseworthy. This kind of echoes what Proverbs 31.30 says, favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman fears the Lord, she shall be praised. a person more concerned with the inner quality than mere outward beauty, seeking a presence of character on the inside, not merely the prettiness on the exterior. She is praiseworthy, she is trustworthy, this woman, in verse 4, Proverbs 31.11, the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil. He doesn't have to worry about how am I going to pay for her lifestyle or her living or bad choices. He fully trusts her. She is trustworthy. Now, when relationships are rooted in trust, they go deeper and will not be moved. We're talking about being rooted, the plant that cannot be moved or cannot move. And if you want to be planted where God has you, this is one of those things to be trustworthy, like what she is exhibiting in that verse, Proverbs 31, 11. Relationships that are based on character are the ones that last. And so she is very worthy, if you would. She is newsworthy as well. She is praiseworthy, trustworthy, and newsworthy. Folks, the character we're talking about is rare. It's very rare. It's rare. Sometimes even in Christians, a person would crown character, and may God help us crown character in our lives. You know, it's not about the job and money, it's about the character. It's about deeper things. It's about a proper attitude. It's about a right relationship with God. It's about following the Spirit of God. It's about those things in our lives. Number three, then, control your thoughts. Control your thoughts. Verse five, the thoughts of the righteous are right. that the counsels of the wicked are deceit." Another contrast is taking place in this verse. There was a farmer who lived in the middle of Kansas, and he raised two sons. Both of his sons joined the Navy. The farmer's brother was a psychologist, and he came to visit. At dinner, the farmer said to his brother, while you're a doctor, he said, I want you to tell me how a farmer living in the middle of Kansas, where there's almost no water, can raise two sons, and both of them go join the Navy, and absolutely love it. I mean, how did that happen? His brother said, that's a good question, let me think about it. He spent the night in the boys' room, their childhood room. The next morning he got up, he came downstairs and he told his brother, I think I've got an answer for you, come up here with me, come up to the room. They went up to the room. And as they walked into the boy's room, the very first thing they saw was a picture on the wall. It was a beautiful picture of the sea. And in the middle of the sea was a ship. And the brother told his brother, he said, I want you to lay down on the bed and tell me what you see when you get up from the bed. The farmer said, as he got up, he said, I see the picture. There's the picture right there. The doctor said, the first thing that you see when you walk into the room, what is it? Well, it was the picture. The last thing you see when you turn the lights out and go to sleep at night, it's the picture on the wall. And the first thing that you see in the morning when you get up is this picture of the ship in the middle of the sea, this beautiful picture. Did the boys have this picture for a long time? The farmer said, yes, since they were about three years old. The brother said to him, then if you think about a picture like that long enough, you just may become a sailor. You know what we need to do as Christians? We need to think about Jesus, not so that we become Christians, but so that we become more like Christ. I need to think about Jesus. I need to meditate on the Bible. You need to think about Jesus. You need to think about the Bible. We need to meditate on this book, and we need to seek Bible wisdom. We need to seek Bible wisdom. This is how you control your thoughts. Control your mind, and it's allowing the Word of God to soak into your life. It's allowing the Spirit of God to connect the Word of God to your thinking. The word thoughts that's used here in verse five, it means a contrivance or intention or a plan, like a plot, maybe a good plot or a bad plot, this is how the word thoughts is used in the Old Testament. It means you're thinking, something that you're purposing about. And right thinking, what you're purposing about, leads to right doing. So then what helps us to think? What helps us to think? The Bible does. This book will help you. It'll help you not to sin. It'll help you to process right. It'll help you to perceive right. Isn't the Bible a light to our feet and a lamp into our path? Okay, that helps you with direction and choices and your thinking. What else helps us to think right? Other Christians. One good word that goes along with other Christians is the word accountability. We're accountable to one another. We need to encourage one another. There are times we need to challenge one another. There are times when we need to correct one another. There are times when we need to comfort one another. I mean, there's times for all of that. And that God can use another brother or sister to help you think right. Well, you need to rethink what you're considering or what you're doing. to the Bible, other Christians, ultimately it's the Holy Spirit. Who's the one who convicts us of sin? Who's the one who convicts us to live the righteous life that Christ would have us to live? It's the Holy Spirit of God. Sometimes doing right, just doing right out of habit, can ingrain right thinking into us. That's part of parenting. You are training, like an archer with his bow and arrow, you are training the child how to look, how to think, how to act. And you are training them so that eventually they don't have to depart one way or the other from it. They can just keep going the way that they've been pointed. That's the part of parenting, is ingraining right thinking. And sometimes because it becomes habit, then it becomes natural thinking for the child. At some point, it's more than just habit. Parents, you need to gain the heart of your child. So like the passage in Proverbs, my son, give me thine heart. That's very important as well. But just training, pointing in the right direction, making habits, that goes a long way. Eventually, they've got to internalize that for themselves. we have to think of it for themselves. And so you're trying to train their thoughts. So seek Bible wisdom, thoughts. Letter B then, steer clear of bad water. Steer clear of bad water. What are you talking about? Notice the last part of verse five. The counsels of the wicked are deceit. Now the word counsels, it means a steerage as in managing or manipulating ropes. Some of you have been on ships. And you've been on boats and maybe fishing boats. I mean, we have people that have been on submarines here, just different sizes of ships. And on every size ship, there's some kind of a boat. Whether it's for sailboats or any other kind of boat, whenever you come up close to shore, somebody, doesn't matter the size of the boat, they're going to throw out either a chain or a rope. Or the lower one down, when you're coming into dock, Here's what happens. Maybe a smaller boat, or if it's a small boat like a fishing boat, somebody will be on shore, or they'll jump out into the water, and they'll grab the rope, and they'll guide the boat in safely to the dock. or to the shoreline, or to wherever it is. That's the word counsels here. Good advice, or steerage. Like a ship coming to shore, you want to steer it in so it doesn't wreck into the dock, or so it doesn't puncture a rock on the shoreline, so you'll use ropes to pull it in safely. You want to steer in safely. And the Proverbs here means, the counsel of the wicked are deceit. They're going to pull you into the rock. They're going to crash you into the dock. They're going to lead you astray into dangerous waters. And we are told here to watch out for that. So the counsels of the wicked are deceit. They are lies. Folks, if a person causes you to think bad about other people, to have a false impression of God or a disbelief of the Bible or an animosity or negative spirit about God's people or his church, listen to this, avoid that person. They're gonna steer you in the wrong way. Watch out for that type of person. If you wanna stay rooted and put your roots down deep, you wanna avoid, a person who would encourage you to hit your life against the rocks. If you want to stay married, be around people that cheer for you and your spouse. Doesn't make a lot of sense. They're not like, you should leave this person, you should get rid of that. They're not saying stuff like that. A person like that is not your friend. You want someone who cheers for you. If you want to remain faithful in church, listen to people who are positive in spirit for the work of God in the church. If you want to succeed in relationships, whether it's work or any other family relationships or whatever they are, be around people who are steering your thoughts into waters that are not dangerous waters. Get away from people that are taking you into murky waters or dangerous territory. Guard yourself from Deuteronomy 6, verse 6 and 7, these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. Thou shalt talk with them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest in a way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And so control your thoughts. If you wanna be rooted, love learning, crown character, control thoughts. And number four then, verse six, guard your mouth. Guard your own mouth. So not only should you watch out who you're listening to, but also guard your mouth as well. Verse six, for the words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. Don't you love how these verses are reading, there's like these obvious contrasts, this is right, this is wrong. So, guard your mouth. Guard your mouth for good, because what you say can either help people and encourage them, like the Bible says, to edify and exhort one another, or, it can hurt them and discourage them. Look over in James 3, and we have one more passage that we'll read in Matthew 15. So James 3, I'll begin reading verse one, we'll go down to verse 12. Notice how important the mouth is, and your tongue, and the words that you say. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. So that means the person just wanting to be a teacher just for being a teacher's sake. There's a responsibility with that. For in many things, we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. So if you speak to anyone any time in your life, the potential for offending is always gonna be there. If you don't want to offend somebody, just never say anything. But we can't live like that. Behold, we put bits in, and by the way, you shouldn't purposely go out and try to offend people. But just because we're people, it's gonna happen. People will misunderstand or you'll be misunderstood. Verse three, then. Behold, we put bits in a horse's mouth that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold how A greater matter a little fire kindleth. A fire can become a forest fire, and a small rudder on a ship can guide the entire ship. The tongue is a fire in a world of iniquity, so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell. where every kind of beast, and of birds, and serpents, and of things in the sea is tame, and hath been tamed with mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith, bless we God, even the Father, therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God." Wait a minute, they're made after the similitude of God and we want to curse at them too? There's another contrast there that doesn't make sense. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so. The fountains send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter, and a fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, a vine, figs. So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. What you say can help or hurt other people. The mouth must be under control and it should be under the control of the Holy Spirit. Now, in our society today, we have these incredible cell phones and we have media on our computers. And by way of application, what you type is a form of communication, what you text, what you post. You know, Christians put a lot of garbage in, and you see people fighting and arguing and trying to show they're better than somebody else, and that's foolish stuff. We shouldn't post foolish stuff on the internet. We shouldn't do that. But sometimes Christians will do that. We need to guard our mouth for what is good. limited to what is good and what is right. Help other Christians think on right things with whatever you text, type, post, or speak in person. So use your mouth for good. How about for God? Look back in Matthew, if you would, 15. Matthew 15, verses 10 through 20. Matthew 15, verse 10. He called the multitude and said to them, hear and understand, not that which goes into the mouth of the defileth man, but that which cometh out of the mouth this defiles a man. Then came his disciples and said unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? And let's keep reading then verse 13. But he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draw? It goes into the gutter. What you eat, whether you have clean hands or dirty hands, is the teaching here, that's not as big of a deal as what comes out of the man in verse 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, or witness blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. So you can use that hand sanitizer and wash your hands. You can do that, but it's more important to guard what you say. I want to protect what I eat, so I'm going to wash. We should wash our hands. It's a good practice to do. The Bible talks about washing your hands, and it's recommended, it's told. They were commanded to do that in the Old Testament. So wash your hands, but more important than having the best soap and the best hand-washing practices is being able to bridle your tongue. You can't do it by yourself. You have to rely on the Holy Spirit. Lord, what do you want me to say right now? What do you want me to do? How do you want me to convey what I am about to say? Most problems with relationships, when people come and go in relationships, most issues with people skipping from job to job, church to church, classroom to classroom, can be avoided when the tongue is under control. Period. With the tongue. under control. People that cannot control their mouth do not have lives that are rooted in the Lord. They're not going down as deep as they could. They can uproot the lives of other people with what they say, because what we say has a big impact. I encourage you, clarify when you do not understand what others say. Do not let anger or retaliation control you. Forgive others when you are hurt. talk again to the person, reconcile any emotional distress. One more illustration then. On Sunday morning, January 9th, 2005, a woman named Rebecca, her world literally caved in. Her home on Springbank Avenue in Orange City, Florida, the first home that she had ever owned, slipped into a sinkhole that day. It began at 7 a.m. that morning, and the earth cracked open beneath her home as she was fixing her son's baby bottle. She found the front door was jammed. Its frame was lodged into the ground. She got her son, Alan, out first. She got her animals out next. She moved the Jeep and went across the street and leaned on a tree as she watched her house go into a hole, and this hole developed 40 feet deep. I mean, her house totally disappeared. 120 feet wide. Other neighbors' houses started to fall in. as well. Hysterical from the events, she was sedated by emergency workers to help her with the tragedy that was unfolding. They said, it's a large sinkhole. It's a fairly typical one, but it's very large, the spokesman of Volusia County said. A year later, one year later after that, Rebecca reflected on the disaster. She said, the sinkhole has made me alert to what's really important in life. It's not stuff, it's people. My son and my family. Folks, in a world where everything can be pulled from our grasp in a moment, we just need to keep focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to put our roots down in Him. The house of the righteous, that brings us to the last verse in our text here, verse seven. This house went into the ground, but notice how this passage or this section of teaching rounds out. The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand. How come? Because they've been rooted. How do they keep enduring? They have their roots down deep. You can be tonight a plant that is not moved. Strong circumstances, fierce tests will come, but your roots can remain if you are purposeful about putting your roots down. Let's bow together in prayers. Thank you for your good listening here tonight.