Proverbs 4:24 (Mini Sermon)

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24. Pro 4:24 - "Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee." A. Put away from thee a froward mouth, i. Froward adj. - 1. Disposed to go counter to what is demanded or what is reasonable; perverse, difficult to deal with, hard to please; refractory, ungovernable; †also, in a wider sense, bad, evilly-disposed, ‘naughty’. (The opposite of toward.) ii. A man with a froward mouth is difficult to deal with. a. He is rebellious and refuses to obey reasonable rules or commands from a legitimate authority. b. He is implacable (cannot be appeased) (Rom 1:31). c. His mouth is ungovernable; his tongue cannot be tamed (Jam 3:8). d. A man like this should be avoided. e. His mouth is evilly-disposed and unreasonable, and we should pray that God would deliver our church from such evil men (2Th 3:2). f. God hates a froward mouth (Pro 8:13; Pro 3:32) and so should we, both in ourselves and in others. g. Those that have froward mouths are going to find that God will be froward toward them (Psa 18:26). iii. A froward mouth needs to be put away from us. a. Put v. - 39. put away. a. See simple senses and away. b. trans. To send away, dismiss, get rid of; to reject; spec. to divorce. c. To drive away, dispel; to do away with, abolish, put an end to. d. To part with, dispose of, sell b. We should rid ourselves personally of a froward mouth. c. The words of our mouths should be in righteousness and there should be no frowardness in them (Pro 8:8). d. We should also put away from our church (1Co 5:13) those with froward mouths (1Co 5:11; Psa 101:4). (i) Railer v. - One who rails; a reviler. (ii) Rail v. - 1. a. intr. To utter abusive language. e. If we don't, they will sow strife in the church and cause its destruction (Pro 16:28). B. and perverse lips put far from thee. i. Perverse adj. - 1. Turned away from the right way or from what is right or good; perverted; wicked. b. Not in accordance with the accepted standard or practice; incorrect; wrong. 2. Obstinate or persistent in what is wrong; selfwilled or stubborn (in error). 3. Untoward, froward; disposed to go counter to what is reasonable or required; hence, wayward, petulant, cross-grained, ill-tempered, peevish. ii. Corrupt communication should not proceed out of our mouths (Eph 4:29; Col 3:8). a. Corrupt adj. - 1. Changed from the naturally sound condition, esp. by decomposition or putrefaction developed or incipient; putrid, rotten or rotting; infected or defiled by that which causes decay. arch. 3. Debased in character; infected with evil; depraved; perverted; evil, wicked. b. Corrupt communication is evil and wicked conversation. c. Filthy adj. - 1. a. Full of filth; besmeared or defiled with filth; dirty, foul, nasty, unclean. 3. Morally foul or polluted; obscene. 1611 Bible Col. iii. 8 You also put off all these, anger+filthy communication out of your mouth. (i) Something that is filthy is sinful (Psa 14:2-3). (ii) Filthy communication is sinful communication. d. God defines what is evil and wicked in His word (1Jo 3:4). e. We must not let this world define corrupt communication for us. iii. Corrupt communication includes: a. Lying (Eph 4:25) b. Using the Lord's name in vain (Exo 20:7) c. Blasphemy (Mat 15:19) d. Whispering and backbiting (2Co 12:20) e. Slander (Psa 101:5) f. Cursing men (Jam 3:9-10) g. Heresy (Gal 5:20) h. Foolish talking (Eph 5:4) i. Talking approvingly of sinful things j. Language that entices people to sin (Pro 7:14-21) iv. Perverse lips and evil speaking should be put away from us (Eph 4:31). C. But corrupt communication as the Bible defines it is not how most people define it. i. All cursing is not forbidden. a. Jesus cursed a fig tree (Mar 11:12-14 c/w Mar 11:20-21). (i) Therefore, it's not a sin to curse an inanimate object or an animal. (ii) You would not be sinning if a dog bit your daughter and you said "That damned dog bit my daughter." (iii) The dog is cursed and needs to die, so what you said was perfectly acceptable. (iv) Damned adj. - 1. a. Condemned, judicially sentenced. b. Condemned by publicly expressed disapproval, as a play, etc. b. But remember that our mouths are not to be full of cursing and bitterness like the wicked (Rom 3:14). ii. Using what some delicate people consider to be "swear words" or "cuss words" is not necessarily wrong either depending on what words are used and when they are used. a. The Bible uses the word "dung" frequently. (i) Paul said he counted his former religion as dung (Php 3:8). (ii) God called Israel's corrupted religion dung and said that He would spread dung on their faces (Mal 2:3). (iii) God said He would take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam as a man takes away dung (1Ki 14:10). (iv) God said that the carcase of Jezebel would be as dung upon the face of the field (2Ki 9:37). (v) The Lord inspired a prophet to record the words of the wicked Rabshakeh who said that the men of Israel would eat their own dung and drink their own piss (2Ki 18:27). (vi) God said that the slain Midianites would become as the dung of the earth (Psa 83:10). (vii) The Lord said His own people would die grievous deaths and would be as dung upon the face of the earth (Jer 9:22; Jer 16:4; Jer 25:33). 1. Dung n. - 1. Excrementitious and decayed matter employed to fertilize the soil; manure. 2. (As constituting the usual manure) The excrement or fæces of animals (rarely of human beings): as cow-dung, horse-dung, pig's-dung, etc. 2. Manure n. - 1. Dung or compost spread over or mixed with soil to fertilize it. Also, other substances, esp. various chemicals, used as fertilizers. 3. Excrement n. - 1. That which remains after a process of sifting or refining; the dregs, lees, refuse. In quots. pl. only. Obs. 2. Phys. a. ‘That which is cast out of the animal body by any of the natural emunctories’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); superfluous matter thrown off by the bodily organs; an excreted substance. Now rare in general sense. b. esp. ‘The alvine fæces or the waste matter discharged from the bowels’ 4. Faeces n. (feces) - 1. Sediment; dregs, lees, subsidence, refuse. 2. Waste matter that is discharged from the bowels; excrement. 5. Poop n. - 1. A short blast in a hollow tube, as a wind instrument; a toot; a gulping sound. Also, the report of a gun. 2. slang (orig. children's). An act of breaking wind or of defecation; faeces. 6. Crap n. - 7. a. coarse slang. Excrement; defecation. Also Comb., as crap-house, a privy. b. transf. Rubbish, nonsense; something (occas. someone) worthless, inferior or disgusting. slang. 7. Shit n. - 1. a. Excrement from the bowels, dung. b. A contemptuous epithet applied to a person. c. In negative contexts: Anything. Phr. not to give a shit: not to care at all. d. transf. Rubbish, trash. e. fig. Misfortune, unpleasantness. Esp. in phr. to be in the shit: to be in trouble or difficulty. f. An intoxicating or euphoriant drug, spec. cannabis, heroin, or marijuana. g. In phrases up shit creek: in an unpleasant situation or awkward predicament (cf. up the creek s.v. creek n.1 2c); shit out of luck: (see quot. 1942); (when) the shit flies or hits the fan: alluding to a moment of crisis or its disastrous consequences; to beat, kick, or knock the shit out of (someone): to thrash or beat severely; to get one's shit together (U.S.): to collect oneself, to manage one's affairs. 8. Shit v. - 1. intr. To void excrement. 2. trans. To void as excrement. lit. and fig. 3. a. To defile with excrement. Esp. in phr. to shit oneself: (a) to defile oneself with excrement; (b) fig., to be afraid. b. In slang phrases to shit (someone): to tease or attempt to deceive; to shit a brick: (viii) Before you condemn me for saying "shit", you need to show me a Bible verse that says "Thou shalt not say shit", or show me a Bible verse that says that "shit" is corrupt communication or that it is an evil word. (ix) As the definitions show, dung, manure, excrement, poop, crap, and shit all mean the same thing. (x) They range from scientific to proper to slang, but they are all synonyms. (xi) Different words carry with them different connotations. 1. We have technical words for scientific journals. 2. We have technical words for legal documents. 3. We have slang words that are used in informal speech. 4. We have strong words that convey strong emotions. a. If you accidentally defecated on yourself five minutes prior to giving a speech, there would be nothing wrong with telling your wife that "I just shit my pants!" b. You would not be sinning by doing so. 5. There is nothing wrong with using strong language to describe something abhorrent, filthy, or disgusting. a. If you saw a "pride" parade, there would be nothing wrong with saying "Look at that shit!" in disgust. b. You would not be sinning by doing so. (xii) Therefore, we should not make a man an offender for a word if he says "crap" or "shit" (Isa 29:21). (xiii) On the other hand, we should not use such language around people who find it offensive (Rom 14:13-14, 21-22; 1Co 10:32-33). b. The Bible, and God Himself, also use the word "piss" numerous times (1Sa 25:22; 1Ki 14:10; 1Ki 21:21; 2Ki 9:8). (i) Piss n. - 1. Urine, ‘water’. Also, the action or an act of urinating. (ii) Piss v. - 1. a. intr. To discharge urine, urinate, make water. (iii) There are Christians out there who would never utter the word "piss" despite the fact that God Himself does so in His Holy Word. (iv) We must remember that we dare not try to be holier than God. c. The Bible calls people bastards (Deut 23:2; Zec 9:6; Heb 12:8). (i) Bastard n. - 1. a. One begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate or natural child. (ii) If this word were used in our everyday speech to refer to children born out of wedlock there would be less of them. d. The Bible calls homosexuals sodomites (Deut 23:17; 1Ki 14:24). (i) One does not have perverse lips who calls "gay" people sodomites. (ii) If queers were widely called sodomites today, we would have a lot less of them, or they would at least be back in the closet. iii. There is harsh name-calling in the Bible. a. Jesus called the Pharisees serpents and vipers (Mat 23:33). b. Jesus called King Herod a fox (Luk 13:32). c. Jesus called unbelievers dogs and swine (Mat 7:6). d. Paul called unbelieving Jews dogs (Php 3:2). e. Paul called wicked people beasts (1Co 15:32). f. Peter and Jude also called the wicked brute beasts (stupid animals) (2Pe 2:12; Jud 1:10). g. Paul affirmed that the Cretians were liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies (Tit 1:12-13). h. God called sodomites dogs (Deut 23:18). i. These harsh names were used by the Son of God Himself and by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2Pe 1:21). (i) Paul commanded us to be follows of him who was a follower of Christ (1Co 11:1). (ii) It is therefore not perverse speaking or corrupt communication to call wicked people derogatory names when it is justified. D. If we are to put away from us perverse lips and avoid using corrupt communication, we should speak as the scriptures do (1Pe 4:11). i. God's words are pure (Pro 30:5) and there is nothing froward or perverse in them (Pro 8:8). ii. If we use words and synonyms of words that the Bible does under the guidelines it gives, we will not be guilty of evil communication. iii. If the Bible doesn't condemn the use of a particular word in a particular context, then it is not sinful to use it (1Jo 3:4 c/w Rom 4:15). iv. The word of God also tells us what kind of language to abstain from using. v. If we refrain from using it, we will be pleasing to God.