INTRODUCTION: The untamed tongue is a special problem with the people of God. Yet, it is a sin that often goes unacknowledged. It is the saint’s dirty little secret and it is almost universal.

• Personal Experience: 1)self; 2)the ‘godly;’ 3)the church.
• Direct Statement of Scripture: the untamed member (James 3:8But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
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• Example of the Israelites: What sin is repeatedly recorded and judged in the wilderness wanderings? Murmuring .

• The word is used 22 times in Exodus through Deuteronomy.
• Numbers 14:27How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
  See All... – “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.”

We look today at some of the related sins of the tongue that Christians often commit:

1. MURMURERS
1. The Warning Example of the Israelites (1 Corinthians 10:10-11 [10] Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. [11] Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
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2. A Selfish Complaining (Jude 1:16These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
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3. Not to be Among Believers (Philippians 2:14For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
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2. WHISPERERS
1. Among the Lost (Romans 1:29-30 [29] Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, [30] Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
   See All...) and the Saved (2 Corinthians 12:20For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
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2. Separating Chief Friends (Proverbs 16:28A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.
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3. BACKBITERS
1. To Speak Maliciously of Others; to Slander (2 Corinthians 12:20For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
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2. Must be Dealt With Fiercely (Proverbs 25:23The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
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4. EVIL SPEAKERS
1. A Form of Malice (Ephesians 4:31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
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2. Disobedience to God (James 4:11Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
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5. TATTLERS
1. A Consequence of Idleness (1 Timothy 5:13And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
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2. A Talebearer Delivering Hurtful Wounds (Proverbs 18:8The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
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3. One Who Stirs Up Much Strife (Proverbs 26:20Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
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6. BUSYBODIES
1. Speaking Things They Ought Not (1 Timothy 5:13And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
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2. A Consequence of Idleness (2 Thessalonians 3:11For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
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3. Dealing in Other Men’s Matters (1 Peter 4:15But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
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7. MISCOMMUNICATORS
1. Evil Communications (1 Corinthians 15:33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
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2. Corrupt Communication (Ephesians 4:29-31 [29] Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. [30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. [31] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
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3. Filthy Communication (Colossians 3:8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
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CONCLUSION: These sins seem small compared to others. Why are they spoken against so strongly in the Bible?

• The harm they do (Proverbs 18:8The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
  See All...; Proverbs 16:28A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.
  See All...; Psalm 106:25-26 [25] But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD. [26] Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:
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• Our denial of the problem.
• Our hypocrisy—claiming godliness for ungodly speech
• The coming judgment (Matthew 12:36But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
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Dealing with the Gossipy Tongue – Numbers 11:4And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
See All... states, “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?” “So also when we happen to be in company with those who indulge in the wicked practice of speaking against the Lord’s people, if we cannot succeed in changing the current of the conversation, let us rise and leave the place, thus bearing testimony against that which is so hateful to Christ. Let us never sit by and listen to a backbiter. We may rest assured he is doing the work of the devil, and inflicting positive injury upon three distinct parties, namely, himself, his hearer, and the subject of his censorious remarks.” –from Notes on the Pentateuch by C. H. Mackintosh (p.502).

Entering the Presence of the King – Donald W. McCullough, in The Trivialization of God (p.112), recounts this story: “A chapel service during my year at Wheaton College had an unforgettable impact on me. The speaker was Dr. V. Raymond Edman, beloved past President of the College. His health had been precarious, and so it was a special moment when he stepped into the pulpit.

“He wanted us to learn greater reverence before God. Worship is a serious matter, he told us, and to illustrate the point he recalled visiting Haile Selassie, then Emperor of Ethiopia. He described the preliminary briefings, the protocol he had to follow, and the way he bowed with respect as he entered the presence of the king. In the same way, he said, we must prepare ourselves to meet God.

“At that moment Dr. Edman slumped onto the pulpit, fell to the floor… and entered the presence of the King of kings. He was dead, but for a few moments at least we had come to life. The dividing line between heaven and earth suddenly dissolved, and we were no longer restless college students with textbooks on our laps, worried about exams the next hour and dates the next weekend; we had joined angels and archangels around the throne.”