A Pure Heart And A Controlled Tongue

Thank you very much. The new covenant is called a better covenant. In Hebrews 8, in verse 6, Jesus is called the mediator of a better covenant. Better covenant, verse 6, Hebrews 8, verse 6. He is the mediator. So, the old covenant was also made by God. God could not accomplish his full purpose. We need to understand this very clearly. That the Old Testament men and women are not examples for us. The old covenant men and women are not examples for us. We need to understand this very clearly. There are certain good qualities that Moses, David, all of them had. So, those good qualities we can imitate. But if you look at their total life, they are not our example. Because there are many people who look at these Old Testament examples and make them their example. For example, people fall into adultery and say, well, David also fell into adultery and he remained as king. But that is not our example. Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant for us. See Hebrews 3, comparing Jesus with Moses. And it says, verse 1, we are partakers of a heavenly calling. And Jesus is our leader, apostle and high priest. Now, Moses was in a different level. Moses, verse 5, was also faithful in his house as a servant. But Christ is not a servant, he is a son, verse 6. Moses was not a son. He was a good servant. There is a lot of difference between a servant and a son. If you have a servant in your house and a son in your house, there is a lot of difference between the two. We must see that as the difference between old covenant and new covenant. So imagine if you had a very good servant in your house, no matter how good he is, he is not your son. When you write your will about all your inheritance, you don't give it to your servant. You don't share your wealth with your servant. It is very important to understand this. We must never find an excuse for our sin from some old testament example. That is what we read in Hebrews 11 and 12. For example, there are some wonderful men mentioned in Hebrews 11. Noah, verse 11 and 7. He was a wonderful man. But after all that God did for him, he just gets drunk and lies down naked in his house. Can you imagine Paul doing that? No. Forget about Jesus. Can you imagine Paul doing that? Or Abraham. Abraham is another great man. Hebrews 11 verse 8. He went to Egypt and he was afraid that Pharaoh will take his wife because she is very good looking. So he said he would kill Abraham to take his wife. So he told Sarah, you are my sister. And Pharaoh still took her. And what is Abraham doing? He allows his wife to be taken. Pharaoh to have as his 20th wife or something. And Abraham didn't do anything about it. God only saved him. And he did it a second time with another king. You can't imagine Peter doing something like that with his wife. So these old testament people were like that. Or you take 20, Isaac. Verse 20. He was a good man. He did some good things. Like when he dug his father's well and the Philistines said, this is ours. He said, okay, take it. Second time he dug, they said, this is ours. He said, take it. Those are all good. But God had told him and Rebecca, your younger son Jacob is going to be blessed more than your older son Esau. So those days the father would give the blessing when he was about to die. So he knows clearly what God said. But he loved this deer meat so much. That he told Esau, you go and get some of that venison and I will give you the blessing. Never mind what God said. We forget that. I'll give you the blessing. See, we know that Jacob cheated by pretending to be Esau. But God was going to give that blessing to Jacob in any case. So imagine a man like Isaac, he loved food so much that he was willing to disobey God to give the blessing to the older son because it was his favorite. So many of these men listed here, I'm surprised at the names of some of these people. Verse 32, Gideon. He won a wonderful victory with God's help. But after that, what did he do? He called all the people and just like these pastors say, please give me your money. Give me all your gold ornaments. And he made an idol. Gideon. After God had blessed him. But his name is here. Barak. What type of man was he? He won a battle. But you read in Judges chapter 5, that the judge was not Barak at that time. The judge was a woman. Why does God choose a woman when the Bible says, the man is the head of the house? But if God doesn't find a man, then he'll choose a woman because God has to lead his people. So many missionaries have gone out into the world who have done a fantastic work for God. But when Deborah says, okay, we have to go and fight against the enemy. And he told Barak, you're going to be the leader. God will be with you. Do you know what Barak said to Deborah? Sister, you please come with me. Then only I can go to this battle. I'm a bit scared. Imagine being like that. If a thief comes knocking at the door of your house, who goes there? The wife or the husband? I used this example once. To say that when the devil comes, you send Jesus because he's the head of the house. Let him go. So I said, just like if a thief comes, the husband goes, not the wife. So when I said this in Mongolia, they told me afterwards, in Mongolia it's not like that. The man is lazy sleeping. The wife only goes to bed. It's very interesting. It's very true. The women are the capable people there. Deborah was like that. So all these people, you know, it's amazing that God, they did wonderful things, but it's all external things. And Jesus spoke about those who did miracles and so many other things, wonderful things. And the Lord says, go away, I'm not interested in you. So we're not impressed with all these external things. God, verse 40, has provided something better for us. Which none of these people could have. You take a man like David. He was a wonderful man up to the age of 30. After that he did so many wrong things. Most people know only one wrong thing that David did. What is that? He not only committed adultery with somebody's wife, but he killed the husband and married her. Can you imagine a man like that? And he didn't have one wife, he had about eight wives. And one of the worst things he did, read in One Kings. Many people don't know this, that's why I want to point it out to you. He was appointing Solomon as the next king. Before we go there, I want to show you something else. When David was going to die, One Kings, chapter 1, verse 1. There was one of his sons, he had so many wives, and one of his sons called Adonijah, verse 5. He said, I'm going to be the king. And David did not appoint him, he just said, I'm going to be the king, my father is an old man. He got the horses and men to fight for him. Why did he become like this? How does a son grow up like that? Why do some children grow up like that today? Do you want to know the answer? Read verse 6. His father never caused him any pain. That's what it says here. He did not cause him any pain. He never punished him. When he did something wrong, Adonijah, when he was a small boy, David never asked him, why are you doing that? He would just pat him on the back, it's alright son. You're a good boy. Why? It says here, because he was a very good looking. You know some parents have got their favourite son or daughter because they are so good looking and nice. They don't have any fear of God. They don't want to bring them up in the fear of God. They are just nice to them and they grow up to rebel against their parents and rebelling against God also. So David was a pretty useless father. And then Solomon, the Lord said, make Solomon the king. So he called Solomon, chapter 2 and said, now I'm going to die. Now show yourself to be a man, be strong. Verse 2. Keep the charge of the Lord, verse 3. Keep the charge of the Lord, walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments. Verse 3. Maybe verse 4 there, I don't know. Sometimes Tamil comes after that because the language is put like that. In Tamil, it comes after verse 4. If he had said that much, Solomon, the Lord be with you. It would have been a wonderful way to die. If he had stopped at verse 4, it would have been a wonderful death. But he didn't stop. He said, I want you to do two or three more things. One is this Joab, verse 5. He killed some people. It was a time of peace and he went and killed people. So don't let him have a peaceful death. And the way he puts it, see how he puts it. If he just said kill him, that's one thing. But he says in verse 6, don't let his grey hair go down to hell in peace. What a way to say. In five minutes you are about to die and this is what you are thinking about. And then there is one more chap. You know that Shimei, verse 8. He cursed me once. But he also asked forgiveness. But David forgot about all that. He says afterwards, I told him, okay, I've forgiven you. I will not kill you. Verse 8. He told Shimei, because you asked forgiveness for your cursing me, I promise you I will not kill you. But like these lawyers argue in the court, I promised I will not kill you. But Solomon, you never made that promise. Remember? You can kill him. That's what he says here. Don't let his grey hair go down to hell without blood. Verse 9. Next sentence. And David died. Dear brothers and sisters, don't let any of you die like this. That your last words are some act of revenge against somebody you hate, that you kept in your mind for so many years. This is old covenant. These are some of the best people in the old covenant. I'll give you another example. 1 Samuel, chapter 8. These are some of the great men of the old covenant. Chapter 8, verse 1. When Samuel was old, he appointed his own sons as judges in Israel. This is like some of today's politicians. They put their own son to get elected and make him a minister or something like that. Samuel, the man Samuel, this great prophet behaves like that. Okay, if his two sons are really God fearing, good. His sons were evil. Verse 3. They did not walk in his ways and they turned aside and took bribes and perverted justice against the poor people. Samuel, when he was a young boy, he had seen how Eli the high priest had brought up his sons in a bad way. And he found fault with him. He found fault with Eli. God told him. But now his own sons have come there, he's bringing them up in the same way. Till the other elders came to him and said, we are fed up with your sons. Verse 5. Samuel, you've grown old and your sons are not walking in your ways. We don't want any of your sons. All the other nations have a king, make a king for us. And Samuel was one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. Do you know that according to the New Testament standard, a man cannot be an elder if his sons are not walking in the Lord's ways. So, if Samuel was living today, I'd say, brother Samuel, you can't be an elder in CFC. You're not fit. I'd say, listen, your sons are so wayward. How can we make you an elder? Now you understand what Old Covenant was. They did so many wonderful things. But the heart remained the same. That is what Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 7. That in the last day, many will come to him. Now these are New Testament believers. They say in verse 22, in the name of Jesus we prophesied. In the name of Jesus, verse 22, we cast out demons. In the name of Jesus, we did not one miracle, many miracles. And what did Jesus say? He said, no, no, no, you never did it. You are just telling lies. He said, I know you did it. But you are committing sin in your life. You did all this ministry. Ministry is an Old Covenant thing to preach powerfully. Moses, Samuel all did that. Elijah, Elisha all did that. It's Old Covenant. What about the sin in the heart? That you never got rid of. So go away from me, go to hell. You will never hear people telling you that some of these great preachers who do miracles will go to hell. You know many years ago when the Lord called me to start preaching his word, there are two things. One, the Lord said, I want you to study clearly what I have taught in the New Testament. Read it, read it, read it, understand it thoroughly and see what I have taught. And then listen to all these other preachers whom you can read about or hear about in the world today. And see what is the thing in the Bible which they are not preaching. That means what is in the Bible but they are not preaching it. They are preaching some things but leaving out certain other things. And those other things which they are not preaching, you must preach that. You don't have to preach what they are preaching because they are already doing that. So, for example, that salvation is by faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. There are lots of people preaching that. I preach it but I don't need to preach it so much because so many people are preaching it. But the apostles preached first repent and then believe. So, that is left out. So, I preach repentance. You know repentance means turning around from sin and self. God is here and I am facing the world and sin and self. Repentance means I turn around. In geometry that is 180 degrees. So, if I turn 90 degrees, that is not repentance. Many people have not repented 180 degrees. Possibly some of you are sitting here also, your repentance is only half way. That means there are certain things in your life you have not given up 100%. You don't want to give it up also. If I face the world and myself and I don't turn from both completely, I have not repented. That's why they don't make much progress towards God in their life. See, I live 100% for the world and myself in my unconverted days. Now I want to accept Christ. Oh, I want to be saved. I want my sins to be forgiven. And I turn 90 degrees. God is here and I keep going. Where am I going to get near God? Even if I turn 120 degrees, I am still not going to get near God. Why is it some people make very quick progress in one year? They come close to God. I have seen young people like this. Others even after 20 years, they don't get closer to the Lord. It is simple geometry. If you turn 180 degrees, you will reach your destination quickly. If you turn half way or 120 degrees, you are never going to get there. This is the reason why some people make very quick progress in their spiritual life. And some don't make such progress. The reason is they believe but they have not repented. That's why we preach repentance. There is a well-known song, To God be the glory, great things he has done. And one line in that is a very well-known song in English. And one line in that song says, the filthiest sinner, the moment he believes, that moment he will receive pardon. He will get forgiveness. I say, we can't sing that. Because it is not believing. The moment he repents and believes, he gets forgiveness. But that repentance is left out even in that song. For example, you listen to all the Tamil songs and English songs that you sing. Try and find one song which speaks about repentance. If you find one, let me know. They don't write about repentance even in our songs. They just believe and believe and believe and believe. That is like, you know, supposing we don't know what the face of Jesus is like, but we have seen some artist drawings of the face of Jesus. No, he is not like that. When we really see him, we will find he is not at all like all these paintings we have seen. He is far better than that. But to explain to children in children's Bible story books, we put some face of Jesus. Ok, so it reminds us of Jesus. So let's say, the Bible, the New Testament is a picture of the painting of Jesus, the whole message of the New Testament. Full message means the full face of Jesus is there. But if somebody only paints the hair, long hair, and the ear, and the chin, most of the face is left out. Is that Jesus or who is it? That is how the gospel is being preached. Few parts. So if I want to make that a full gospel, I have to put all the rest of it and say, this is what Jesus is like. So that is what I do. I say, this is what Jesus is like. So if you want to really come into this new covenant life, you must see the face of Jesus clearly in the gospels. What does he really look like? I don't mean the face, I mean the character. I am using the face only as a picture of the character. Here is one of the things. He is not interested in your miracles and your preaching if you are not free from sin. That is the real Jesus. You can do 100 miracles and preach 100 sermons, if you don't give up sin, you will go to hell. Let's now imagine the opposite of that. Somebody stands in the final day and says, Lord by your grace, I hated sin and I tried my best to avoid all sin. I forgave everybody. I tried to love my enemies. But I never did any miracles Lord. I did not have any gift of preaching. But I hated sin and I tried to please you. What will the Lord say to him? Will he say, you who did no miracles, go to hell? No. The opposite of this, the Lord will say, come to heaven. See, these people did so many miracles and preached so many sermons and they go to hell. What about the thief on the cross? How did he go to heaven? He repented. Lord, I am guilty. There was only one difference between this thief and the other thief on the other side. That man said, bring me down from the cross. I have done wrong things but not so bad to be killed. Maybe 2-3 years in jail, that's all I have done. But this thief said, I am so bad that I deserve this cross only. Not 10 years in jail. I deserve to be killed. I am guilty. Lord, please remember me. Have mercy on me. The Lord said, you really feel you are so guilty? Come to heaven today. He said, Lord, when you come in your kingdom, remember me. The Lord said, no, you don't have to wait 2000 years. You can come today itself. That is, you learn something from there about what Jesus values. You compare that person with these people who did miracles and preached so many sermons. Jesus came to call people to repentance. He said, I have not come to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance. And there was one sinner on the cross repenting. He said, come to paradise immediately. How many good works do you have to do to go to paradise? How many good works could that thief do on the cross? He could not even go and ask forgiveness from the widows whose husbands he murdered. He could not ask forgiveness from all the people he stole money from. But he really repented. And he went to paradise. We have to understand that. Compare that with these people who did so many miracles and went to hell. So, what we learn from that is, God is looking at the heart, not at all your activities. I went to church every Sunday. You can still go to hell. But that's an activity. What about your heart? What is your heart's attitude towards sin? That is the most important thing. For example, you know the Bible says about one particular type of sin, which is a world of evil. The Bible says about one particular type of sin, which is a world of evil. In James chapter 3, it speaks about the tongue. You know how it is described? James 3 verse 6. I don't know how it is in Tamil, but it says, it is a world of sin. Which is that? James 3 verse 6, the tongue. It is said like that in Tamil? Which is this world of sin? If you say what is the world of sin, you say adultery, murder and so many things. No, the Holy Spirit says your tongue. The world of sin is in your tongue. It is set on fire with the fire of hell, verse 6. But how many Christians believe that? How many Christians really believe there is a world of sin inside my mouth? And if I don't control it, this sin will keep on coming out every single day. This fire of hell will keep on coming out of my mouth, against your wife, against your husband, against your children, against your neighbors, and backbiting against other people in the church. It's a world of sin. That's what the tongue is. Is that important? Or turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans 3 is talking about how, verse 10, there is nobody righteous, no not one. Nobody understands, nobody is seeking after God, verse 11. All have gone astray. They have become useless, verse 12. There is no one who does good. There is not even one. So, what is the proof of that? Does he say they are all murderers and adulterers and thieves? No. First of all, he is only talking about the tongue. Their throat is an open grave. All the dead stuff, you know, stinking dead stuff in a grave, that's what comes out of that. Their tongues are deceiving. Under their lips is the poison of asthma. Mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. What is he talking about? He is not talking about murderers and adulterers and thieves. He is talking about the mouth. And even with their mouth, verse 15, they shed blood. That means they hurt people. And destruction and misery, it comes from their tongue. And there is no peace in the way they speak. The whole thing is about the tongue. That is how the Holy Spirit says in verse 10, there is no righteous person, there is nobody understands, no one seeks after God. So, you say, Spirit of God, how do you prove there is no one seeking after God? How do you say there is nobody righteous? The Holy Spirit says, just see how they speak. Look at how these Christians speak. Then you will know none of them are righteous. They sit like holy people in the church. Just go home and listen to how they speak at home. Go and see how they speak in the office. They don't seek after God. In verse 18, there is no fear of God in their eyes. What is the proof? See how they use their tongue. That was the problem in the Old Testament. Even Moses, the great man of God, in his time, the Bible says he was the humblest man on earth. But a really humble man will say, Lord, you tell me what to do, I will do it. I will not do what I want to do. The humility of Jesus was seen in this that he would not do his own will. He would not speak what he wants to speak. We speak whatever we like. But Jesus would not. He says, whatever the Father tells me, I speak. I will not speak what I want to speak. Whatever the Father tells me, I speak. See John 14 verse 10. This is the humility of Jesus. If you want to learn humility, here it is. Middle of verse 10. The words that I say to you, I don't speak on my own. That means, I don't just speak whatever comes to my mind. Proverbs, it says, a fool will speak whatever comes to his tongue. He doesn't think, is this something I should say? Is it from the Lord or is it just my own mind? Even believers, they don't even speak, you know, we say our family is our loved ones. But we speak to our loved ones in such a rude way. I heard a story once. One wife told her husband, see if a stranger comes to the door, some strange woman comes to the door. Especially if she is a young pretty woman. How nicely you speak to that stranger. You just speak to me like that. That is enough. See, that is how we speak to strangers. They are not loved ones. But we call these loved ones and we don't speak like that. I'm just telling you how Christians do not control their tongue. The Bible speaks, it's a world of sin there. We really need to take it seriously. We talk about pressing on to perfection. We don't reach perfection in one day. So I'm not trying to make anybody feel guilty. I'm only asking you, if you were in first standard last year, have you gone to second standard at least this year? Are you going year by year, little better, little better, little better? No one is perfect. But if you are not pressing on to perfection, then our repentance is not 180 degrees, it's 90 degrees. What is the better thing God has provided for us? Listen, the power to control our tongue. James chapter 1. Have you read this verse? Verse 26. If a man thinks he is religious and he cannot control his tongue. Let's go slowly. If a man thinks he is religious and he cannot control his tongue. Once again. If a man thinks he is religious and he cannot control his tongue. He is deceiving himself. What is he deceiving? He thinks he is such a spiritual man. He is not a spiritual man. His entire Christianity is worth zero. But I go to church, he says. I'm leading the singing. I even share the word. But you can't control your tongue at home. Even if you go to the church meeting three times a week, and you sing like an angel, and you preach like Paul, your whole Christianity is worth zero. What I want to ask is, how many people believe that? Even though it's written there, most Christians don't believe it. My Christianity is not worth zero. I know I cannot control my tongue, but it's not worth zero. It's got some marks at least. No, it is zero. Worthless means zero. See, you will not pay any money for what is in the garbage bin. What is in the garbage bin, you won't pay any money for that. It has no value. When it says it's worthless, it means like what you throw in the garbage bin. Worthless. My entire Christianity is worth zero if I cannot control my tongue. And Moses was like that. His great desire was to enter the land of Canaan. And for forty years he led the people. Few more days and he would have gone into Canaan. And all the people were thirsty. And the Lord said to him, there's a rock there. Just speak to the rock. Don't hit it like you hit the rock forty years ago. God did not explain the reason for it. But the meaning is, the rock is a picture of Christ and he has to be crucified only once. That is the meaning of hitting the rock only once. After that you only have to speak to it. The water will come. So the Lord told Moses, just speak to the rock. But you know it says in Numbers chapter 21, Moses was so angry he hit the rock twice. Read that if you don't know that story. Numbers and you read there in chapter 20 and verse 10. The Lord said to Moses, take your rod and get the people and speak to the rock and it will yield its water. The water will come out. But Moses took the rod and he goes angry with the people. And he tells them, listen you rebels you want water from this rock. Look at the way he is speaking to them. You rebels, you want water right? Ok here I will give it to you. And he hit it twice. Now the question is, did the water come out? Yes or no? It says there, water came out. Why? Because God loved those twenty lakhs of people who were there, the two million people. Why should they all be punished because one man disobeyed? You know this is the answer to the question people ask. Can a woman preach and teach the word of God? 1 Timothy 2 verse 12 is very clear, women should not teach. They can share the testimony or something they got from scripture but they can't be teachers. But then they say on television I see so many Pentecostal women preaching and so many people are being blessed. So God must be approving of it. You want to know the answer? Here. Does God bless disobedience? Because he loved the people. So here is a woman disobeying God's word. Thousands are blessed. But afterwards God punished Moses. No, afterwards God punished Moses after the people drank the water. God punished Moses. And after these people are blessed God will punish those women also, don't worry. So many people think if a man is sinning God cannot use him. Here is a man who sinned and two million people were blessed with water. And then the Lord told Moses, now you will not enter the land of Canaan. He tells him later on in the same chapter. Your heirs will die and you will die. You cannot enter into the land of Canaan. And later on when Moses tells the Israelites, I don't have time to show it to you in Deuteronomy. You people only created problems for me, now I cannot enter the land of Canaan. We have such a habit of blaming other people when we do something wrong. Why did he miss the land of Canaan? Because he spoke, he was not careful with his tongue. He disobeyed God's word. So the tongue is very important, even Moses could not control it. But God has provided something better for us. He gives us the ability to control our tongue. Many people want to speak in other tongues, filled with the Holy Spirit. I tell people, when I sought God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, I did not seek for other tongues. I said, Lord please control my mother tongue. Help me to control my mother tongue. Overcome anger and getting angry with people. To be firm. There is a place for anger in the house of God, if people are making money in the name of religion, like Jesus was angry there. He chased them out. That is a holy anger. But if they slapped him on the face, he did not get angry. So what I learned from that is, we got to be angry when God's name is dishonored in his church. If you are not angry, you are a sinner. You are not fit to preach if you are not angry against sin in the church. But if people spit on your face and call you the devil, you must not be angry. No, I must not sin, I must not get angry when people hurt me or spit on me or call me the devil. But if they touch the glory of God, there I must be angry. That is the righteous anger. So the control of the tongue is what Jesus has taught us in the new covenant. This is one of the better things God has given us. My question is, have you got this better thing? Do you find a real progression in the control of your tongue? The best person to ask is your wife or your husband. Don't ask people in the church. They will all say, yes brother, you are really very self-controlled and all that. And the sisters, they will not want to offend you. You are a very good sister. You speak so nicely. Sister, please go and ask your husband. Brother, please go and ask your wife. Because that's where we are really ourselves. In the church, we are little acting because we want a good testimony. Even in your office, you may be acting because you don't want to lose your job. We are real self in the home. There you can find out whether you control your tongue or not. Don't think this is a burden. See, this word that we read in Romans 3. One expression. Verse 13. What does it say about the tongue? The last part. The poison of asps is under their lips. Tongue of a snake is what comes out and gives poison to others. So it says many people's tongue is like that. It compares our tongue to the way a snake stings another person with poison. It says it shouldn't be like that. The reason is, verse 18, there is no fear of God. I remember reading a little story once. And it was written in a poetic form. If Jesus came to your house one day, that's the subject. So, one day you hear a knock at the door. Oh, Jesus is there. He says, I've come to spend a few days with you. Surprise visit. What do you say? Sure Lord, come. And you make the best room available. You put all the bed sheets and everything else. You say, please come, you will make the best food. You speak very nicely to your wife during those couple of days. All husband and wife are speaking very nicely to each other. And everything is so wonderful. It's like heaven. Is that the normal thing? No. It's not the way you normally live. And then after 2-3 days, he says, okay, I'm going. What would you say? Now I can behave like myself. Then, what's the use putting on the verse, Jesus is the head of this house and he's always here. He's not there. That really spoke to me when I read that. If Jesus came to your house for a few days, would you behave differently? Just one area I'm talking about. Just your speech. Forget all the other areas. Would there be a difference in the way you speak to each other in your home if Jesus came to live for a couple of days with you? Do you believe it's a better thing to have a tongue that is pure? A tongue that is pure speech. Is that a better thing or not? It is one of the better things of the new covenant. There's a beautiful verse in Psalm, Proverbs 22. Verse 11. He who loves purity of heart and who's got grace on his lips, the king will be his friend. He who loves purity of heart and who's got grace on his lips, the king will be his friend. Because his tongue comes out of the pure heart. See, you cannot control your tongue if you don't control your heart. You cannot control. Controlling the tongue is yoga or Buddhism. The Christianity is where the heart is controlled and so the tongue is pure. So, it says here, blessed is the man whose heart is pure and his grace is on his lips. And the king is his friend. The Lord is his friend. I want King Jesus to be my friend. Then I must have a pure heart and a controlled tongue. In my place of work, when driving on the road and everybody is angry, I must control my tongue. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen overnight. We have to improve little by little, like going for first standard, second standard, third standard, like that we keep pressing on to perfection. It's like, you know, sometimes you see in the roads in India, two scooters have collided. They are all yelling at each other. The rule is, whoever shouts loudest, he is right. So, as soon as you hit one fellow, he will start shouting. So, I've also been in such situations. And I learned slowly to become a little better and better. So, I wouldn't shout at people. But if somebody turned in front of me and I had to brake suddenly, I would say, who gave you a driving license? It's not shouting. It's just a little hit. I would go from there and the Lord says, that's not the way Jesus would speak. So, I said, Lord, I have to go to a higher standard. I have to get a promotion. Please forgive me. Help me. You know, if you're honest, say, Lord, that was wrong. That's not the way to speak. Next time, if you really work on it, you will not say that. You just look at him with a stern face. That's a little better. The Lord says, that's also not good enough. You've got to get another promotion. So, then I came to the place where even if it is the other person's fault, I would immediately say, sir, I'm sorry. Then he'll smile at me. Oh, it's quite okay. Even though he made the mistake. Okay, fine. At least we are partying in peace. What is there if I have to pay a hundred rupees to fix my scooter? It's not a serious thing. To control my tongue is more important than that hundred rupees. I'll tell you, God has helped me little by little by little. It did not happen in one day. Don't get discouraged if you don't suddenly jump to college in one year. If you got one standard promotion, thank God. Next year, little by little, you go to the top. You get plenty of practice in your home for this. You don't have to do it in the road. In the home itself, a lot of practice sessions we get. Work on it. Work on it. And say, Lord, I want this better thing that you have for me. See Matthew 12. How to control my tongue? Again, the Lord uses the picture of snakes. Like we read in Romans 3. Snakes. It's amazing how the Bible speaks about bad speech like snakes. Matthew 12.34. You brood of vipers. How can you, if you are evil, speak what is good? You brood of vipers. How can you, if you are evil, speak what is good? Very strong. He told them the truth. To whom is he saying? Listen. They called him, verse 24, bilzible ruler of demons. In verse 24, when Jesus said, bilzible ruler of demons, they spoke like snakes. First he forgave them. Verse 32. Okay, whatever you have said is forgiven. I've got nothing against you. But now having said that, that I have forgiven you, now I have to tell you the truth about yourself. Verse 34. You are a brood of vipers. How can you speak what is good when you are evil in your heart? Why did you call me bilzible now? You cannot speak like that if you have not already forgiven. He had already forgiven in verse 32. I've forgiven you, I want you to know that. But now let me help you. Your heart is evil, that is why you speak like this. If you are good, verse 35, from a good treasure, good will come out. Here is a law. Verse 34, last part. The mouth speaks out of what fills the heart. So if you want a good fruit, verse 33, make the tree good first of all. If the tree is bad, the fruit will be bad. The evil man, verse 35, from his evil in his heart, he brings out evil. So it is not controlling the tongue, that is yoga, that is Buddhism. Christianity is dealing with the source, the heart. So it is not just controlling the tongue. It is that the heart is made loving. You say, okay, I don't yell at my wife or husband, you may be just a good Buddhist, that's all. No, in the heart, you are merciful, you are forgiving. Who can do that? No human being can purify his heart. That is why you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord, I cannot control my tongue because I cannot control my heart. You may say, oh, it was a moment of pressure, it came out. I am not really like that. As long as you keep saying that, you will always be like that. Believe what Jesus said. Lord, there was some evil in my heart. It's not full of evil, 90% is good. But there was a little poison there. I want to get rid of it. I want 100% good in my heart. I don't believe all of you, your hearts are evil. It's not evil. Most of you, all of you got good hearts. But there's a little bit of poison that can be there. Get rid of it. That's what I'm saying. Seek for 100% purity. You know, you have a little grudge in your heart against somebody. It's not full of evil. 95% is good. There's a little grudge against someone. And you don't cleanse it. One day you meet that person, it will come out. Oh, you keep a little grudge against your husband or your wife. You don't hate your husband or wife. You really love, you do so many things for each other. There's a little thing inside about something you don't like. One day it will come out in your tongue. Husband-wife relationship is very important in the New Testament. Don't think you're a spiritual person if you are not able to live in a good way as husband and wife. We're not perfect, but we must first begin with controlling our heart and our tongue. And if you want to know how serious this is, read verse 36. Every single careless word you speak, you'll have to give an account. How many of you believe that verse? I'm absolutely convinced most Christians don't believe verse 36. You're all believers. How many of you can honestly say, I believe verse 36? I believe with all my heart, heaven and earth will pass away, but this word will not pass away. I want to take it seriously. Even if I'm not perfect, I want to move towards perfection. Even in the way I speak to my children, I must have control over my speech. It's very, very important. Is this something better God has given us? Our theme is God has something better for you. And that better thing is that you can have a control over your heart and your tongue. See, there's a balance in the teaching of scripture. One truth, another truth. That's the balance. You know, the devil said it is written, Jesus said it is also written. See, Romans 5, you're justified by faith. James 2 says you're justified by your works. Which is right? I said both are right. Which is your hand, left hand or right hand? Both are your hands. You need both. You're justified by faith, you're justified by works. Both are in the New Testament. And here's one of those works, verse 37. You are justified by your words. Have you read that? You're justified by faith. But that faith must produce works. What works? The words you speak. Because by your words you'll be justified, by your words you'll be condemned. Who will take this seriously? Those who see that this is a better thing. Those who see that if their words are gracious, the king will be their friend. See, I want this. You know, there's a thing called cancer of the tongue. There are people who eat all this stuff. What is that red stuff that people eat? Paan. And they can get cancer of the tongue. Some get it. Do you want that? Cancer of the tongue, who wants that? This is the worst cancer. Isn't it a good news that you can be healed of this cancer? This cancer of the tongue, this spiritual cancer of the tongue, you can be cured. Isn't that good news? God has provided something better? You know, for so many years they could not discover a cure for smallpox. But then they discovered it one day. Like that, all different tuberculosis, there was no cure for it. And then they discovered something. Thank God. Control of the tongue, there was no cure for it in the old covenant, thousands of years. Everybody had to have cancer of the tongue. Now Jesus came and said, there's a cure for it. I can fill your heart with the Holy Spirit. And make you have a good attitude, even towards your enemies, that you can control your tongue. Dear brothers and sisters, this is not a heavy burden. You know, like I said yesterday, thou shalt control thy tongue. No, it's not like that. It's a good news. You can be free from the cancer of the tongue. Take it like that. Don't take it as, oh, you must control your tongue, otherwise you'll go to hell. No, no, no, no. I can be healed from the cancer of the tongue. It's a good news. God has provided something better. So, like all treatment, it takes some time for the treatment to work and you get healed. Take the tablets every day. And if your wife forgets, remind her. If the husband forgets, remind her, you must take your tablets today, don't forget. We have both decided to be cured of our cancer. Darling, have you taken the tablets today? Have you taken it? We have to help each other. This is not hurting each other. We should not think of it as a burden. The moment you think holiness is a burden, that's the devil. Holiness is not a burden. I have preached for many years, holiness is like health. Supposing a father tells his children, I want you to be perfectly healthy. Oh, daddy, what a commandment you're giving, I have to be healthy every day. I have to be healthy. Can't I have one or two sicknesses at least? No, totally. Your mother takes the child to the doctor. Doctor, my child has got ten sicknesses. Please heal at least eight of them, one or two if they keep, it doesn't matter. Is that how you go to the doctor? Why should I say I have overcome adultery? I have overcome hatred. I have overcome stealing. The little control of the tongue, it's okay if you're not able to control it. One sickness is alright, I can keep one sickness. We never take that attitude to sickness. Do I see lack of control of the tongue as a sickness? I hope you and I will never forget what we heard today. What I preached to you, I preached to myself. Word of God is a two-edged sword, it cuts you and cuts me. I do not want to preach anything that I do not seek to pursue myself. God is my witness that I seek with all my heart to control my tongue. I am not perfect, but I have come a long way from what I was many years ago. So, I am not asking you whether you are perfect. I am asking you, do you want to get a promotion day by day by day, that you become a better person, that your heart becomes purer and purer, and gradually what comes out of your tongue becomes sweeter and sweeter. Don't ever say, that was just in a moment I said that. There's a very godly lady who worked in India called Amy Carmichael. She worked in Tirunelveli among the orphan children. So, she said a statement, listen to this, if a cup is full of sweet water, how hard you shake it, no bitter water will come out. You understand the meaning of that parable? Somebody irritated you so much, shook you. What came out? What was inside came out. So, if some wrong words came out, that fellow who shook you made you angry, Thank you very much for showing me what is in my heart. Till now I thought I was all sweetness inside. My enemy, I am so thankful that you showed me what is in my heart. I am very thankful. I mean, if somebody came to your house and knocked down one cupboard in anger, and one snake came out from inside, thank you for pushing that cupboard down, I didn't know there was a snake living there. So, when people irritate us, what comes out shows what is in our heart. Whether we really have the Holy Spirit controlling our heart or not. So, I believe the fullness of the Holy Spirit makes us control our tongue, our mother tongue. So, let's pray that God will help us. Heavenly Father, we know that all things are possible with you. And like Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Forgive us our past failure. Help us to press on to perfection. In Jesus name. I want to say one last thing. The first step to this perfection is to ask forgiveness whenever you hurt somebody with your tongue. Say I am sorry. Whoever it is, ask forgiveness. Then God will see that you are serious about overcoming your sin.