This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking God's grace to keep silent in the face of opposition, especially within the home, to avoid losing relationships due to impulsive reactions. It highlights the power of silence, the example of Christ not retaliating, and the need to trust God to fight battles. The message stresses the impact of words on relationships and the need for wisdom in speech to edify others. It also underscores the significance of seeking God's grace to handle conflicts and challenges with a spirit of meekness and forgiveness.

Father in mercy on all of us, come and visit us now. Come and wash me in the blood of Christ and cleanse me and anoint by the Holy Ghost, by word. Come and visit every heart as only God can, for without thee we can do nothing of eternal value, nothing of any worth that will count in the light of eternity, especially when dealing with the heart and the conscience and the word of God. Come, thou Holy Spirit, and visit us. May we ask these things of thee, our Father in heaven, in Jesus the Christ's sacred name. Amen. To everything, to everything, there is a season, a season. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 1 says, to everything there is a season and a time, a time to every purpose under heaven. To everything there is a season and a time, a time to every purpose under heaven. Verse 7, there is a time to keep silent. There is a time to keep silent and a time to speak. There is a time to keep silent and a time to speak. One of the greatest tragedies, one of the greatest tragedies that could ever happen in any person's life, one of the greatest tragedies that could ever happen in any person's life is if they do not swiftly learn that most occasions in most circumstances throughout life are a time to keep silent. I want to repeat that. One of the greatest tragedies that could ever happen in any person's life is if they do not swiftly learn that most occasions in most circumstances throughout life are a time to keep silent. He that hath knowledge spareth his words. Proverbs 17 verse 20, the Bible speaks of unprofitable talk, unprofitable talk. Job 15 verse 3, a fool is full of words. A fool is full of words. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 14, a fool uttereth all his mind. Proverbs 29 verse 11. In Proverbs 29 verse 20, God condemns a man that is hasty in his words. A man that is hasty in his words, a fool's voice, a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. By multitude of words, Ecclesiastes 5 verse 3, the mouth of fools, the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. The mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. Proverbs 15 verse 14, and then Proverbs 15 verse 2 says, the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. Proverbs 15 verse 2, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil, for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6 verse 45, those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and these defile the man. These defile the man. Matthew 15 verse 18, 1 Timothy 2 verse 16, shun, shun vain babblings, shun vain babblings. What does that mean? Worthless talk, worthless talk, shun vain babbling, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. They will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, literally, and their words will spread as cancer. The lips, the lips of a fool will swallow him up. The lips of a fool will swallow up himself. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 12, a pratting fool, pratting fool shall fall. Proverbs 10 verse 8, literally, a babbling fool shall be ruined, ruined, God says. The mouth of the foolish, the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. Proverbs 10 verse 14, if he's not careful, but if he isn't, a fool's mouth is his destruction. A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. Proverbs 18 verse 7, whoso keepeth his mouth, whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul, whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble. Proverbs 21 verse 23, he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. Proverbs 13 verse 3, oh keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile, that's worthless talk, wasted rubbish. Keep thy tongue from evil, thy lips from speaking guile. Proverbs 34 verse 13, you can, you can, set a watch, oh Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. Set a watch, oh Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. Psalm 141 verse 3, I don't know how many times I've prayed that more than any other prayer in my life. I have prayed that hundreds, I would say thousands of times from my soul, desperately requiring grace for God to give me that ability. In circumstance upon circumstance, in my home, to my children, I've cried that as things go wrong, as shocks come upon every single family at certain times, I've cried that from my soul, oh God, please give me the grace right now. Set a watch before my mouth, keep the door of my lips, or I lose the right for the rest of my life to speak to this child about God, in a way he'll never listen to me, and want what I've got. Oh, set a watch, oh Lord, before my mouth, in front of enemies. In circumstance upon circumstance, I've sat there crying from my soul, nobody knows I'm crying to God. Set a watch, now God, please, before my mouth, keep the doors of my lips in this circumstance, give me that grace. Psalm 141 verse 3, I am purposed, I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Psalm 17 verse 3, even a fool, even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise. He that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Proverbs 17 verse 28, Psalm 39 verse 1, I said, I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue, I will keep my mouth with a bridle, I will keep my mouth with a bridle. If any man, if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. That's worthless literally, worthless, James 1 verse 26, keep thy tongue, keep thy tongue from evil, thy lips from speaking guile. Psalm 34 verse 13, in the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs 10 verse 19, in the multitude of words God warns, sin is going to happen, there wanteth not sin, Proverbs 10 verse 9, suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 6, suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell, James 3 warns us. For if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body, God says. James 3 verse 2, if any man offendeth not, you see, this is the tip of the iceberg. If you just fail here, you fail everywhere, God says. This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you fail here, you're in terrible failure over the sensual sins of your life, terrible danger. Or God lied. This is the foremost proof of holiness, beloved. Get victory here, and you get victory everywhere, God says in his book again and again. This, suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, not ultimately perfect, that only happens when you go to heaven. At that moment, not before, until then you growing, God still choosing you into the image of his son. But in the light you've been given, you're in victory. More light comes right through life, the path of the just, those who are rightly ready to God. This is a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. There's no such a thing as ultimate perfection until you go to heaven, sir. But there is victory in the light you've been given. As we walk in the light God's given us, as he's in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son cleansed us. Present continuous tense, from all sin, that is sins committed and ignorance, things we don't even know, but as light comes to him that knoweth to do good and doeth not to him. It is, you see, when Christ, when God refers to Leviticus 16, and the high priest would go and sprinkle the blood for all the people of God once a year. It was for sins, many things, but for sins committed and ignorance. And every single aspect of the Old Testament sacrifices is pointing why Jesus died. For sins committed and ignorance. Now you can live in victory in the light you've been given. And this is what God is speaking, if any man of him not in word, the same as a perfect man, you're living in the light you've been given a victory. That doesn't make you perfect ultimately, God. But you're in victory, but if you fail here, if any man of him not in word, the same as a perfect man, in the light he's given that. And able also to bridle the whole body, God says, you're in control, you're able to control. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, for in the multitude of words they wanteth not sin. It's coming, you will fail. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, justice, and setteth on fire the course of nature. It's set on fire of hell. James 3 verse 6 warns, What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Psalm 34 verse 12. 1 Peter 3 verse 10. For he that will love life and seek good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil. His lips that they speak no guile. Proverbs 4 verse 24. Put away from thee a forward mouth and uncontrolled lips. You can. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth, God says. Proverbs 15 verse 23. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth. I remember years ago, up in the mountains of southern Africa, all the churches in the whole town canceled their meetings to combine, to come and unitedly gather in this very large auditorium, one of the big churches. Every single preacher, even the Roman Catholic man came along, because all the other churches were, so there they all were. The last night of the series, I preached a sermon where I had memorized probably about 200 verses, and I just quoted them, and I didn't say one word, not one word. Outside of the scriptures, that's protected me. For people who fight you condemn themselves, if it's only God's word. I didn't know it, but in that meeting sat one of the most well-known preachers of Africa and across much of the world. He's like a household name across my country, those days. Now, he doesn't exactly believe what I believe in every essential thing. Charismatic, manifestations, gifts, his interpretation of what the gifts are for the edification of the church, his interpretation of what he calls the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the evidence, tongues, and he gives the scriptures, and he calls out the masses to come, and so they lay hand on them, and people start in some unknown land, and every single other thing is slain in the spirit, laughing in the spirit, vomiting in the spirit. No ending, and beyond my understanding. Nonetheless, this man is very well known as a charismatic preacher and leader across my land, unsaved and saved. You've seen and read his newspaper, all his statements, and all the things happening in this massive church that outgrows everything else. Oh, my. So, he's in the meeting. I didn't know that. He happened to be in the town. I don't know why, but there he joined everybody else. Every single church came. The place was filled to the brim. Afterwards, we went into the house. Now, up in the mountains, when it's cold up in Africa, you find the kitchen is the biggest room, that's where a fire is always going. It's a small little kitchen, and that's where people gather. They have big tables and chairs everywhere, and people gather in the winter there in the kitchen fast for fellowship. So, after the meeting, the preachers, among other people who were godly influences for the meetings, there was about 40 people, maybe 50 in that room, and so I walked in there, and I didn't realize the man was in this meeting where I preached and just quoted God's word, and so they introduced me. So, I put my hand out, and he didn't want to take my hand. He just started screaming at me in anger. His veins, and he was angry because everything he stood for as priorities, in order of priorities in the scriptures, every single thing he stood for and fought for from the pulpit and across the country, just with the word of God, was dismantled as not the priority. You see, I put, just with scriptures, the fruit of the spirit, which is Christ-likeness, full stop. You want to say it's love? No, it's just Christ. Take 1 Corinthians 13, it says, put Christ, John Wesley said, in the place of charity, love, and you see what God's speaking about because it's Christ in us. This man, you see, though I speak with the tongues of men, I said, and of angels that had not love, which is the fruit of the spirit, always the first evidence of the root of spirit, before anything else I've ever mentioned, love has to be in place first and priority. Love suffereth long, and is kind. Love envies, not rash, is not popped up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things. Love never fails. You see, whether it be tongue, face, or fail, all these gifts, and I even went into chapter 14 to put the priority of the gifts with Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and every other place, there was the least of the gifts not even mentioned in Romans, as a gift of any importance. Why don't you look at the, you see, the whole light of all scriptures concerning any doctrine, including gifts, otherwise you're in chaos. So I quoted 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, to show what Paul was crying to no one, that you need to seek tongues, but godliness, which is the fruit of the spirit, Christlikeness, that's the evidence to the degree that you're controlled by the Holy Ghost, to the degree you yielded to God. So, nonetheless, I just quoted, and quoted, and quoted, and quoted, and quoted, and quoted, great section, dismantling what he believed in thought, that you're filled with the spirit the moment you speak in tongues, that means you're filled with the spirit, even his interpretation of tongues. So, there he is now screaming at me, lost, just lost control, and he went into such, I almost thought he was going to attack me. So did the others, everybody just stood up from their table, and people were standing at the door, looking at each other, and some praying, for God's protection, what an anticlimax for this whole town, now this ending of this terrible confrontation and dispute. Nonetheless, as he was screaming at me, how dare you, who do you think you are, how dare you, you're an enemy to the Holy Spirit, and fighting the Holy Ghost, and the work of the Holy Ghost, and he went on. So I cried, as I always do, Oh God, set a watch before my mouth, keep the doors of my lips, that I don't stoop to become what he is. Everybody, a lot of them were waiting for me to wipe the floor with them for the scriptures. No, you don't win the argument by losing the soul, sir. You win an argument and lose the soul, you've lost the argument. Set a watch, oh God, before my mouth, keep the doors of my lips, God. I just sat there praying that, watching him. It wasn't easy, I was shattered at the way this man spoke to me, with so much hatred, and anger, and resentment. Eventually there was a pause in his speaking, and he just looked at me. So I spoke. I said, I read in the newspaper that your wife is very ill. I'm so very sorry. I heard she suffered very badly, and came close to death. I'm so sorry, sir. How is she doing? You know, he couldn't believe what I said. And I just changed the subject, that I didn't defend myself. I didn't answer him, didn't attack him back. He was so shocked, that he literally cried out in shock, and fell into his chair. He just looked at me with a smile. He'd never, ever met a Christian in his life that didn't fight back, when he touched his doctrine, in anger. He never thought there's such a thing. He's never experienced, he wouldn't have reacted like that. And there he, just in a, shaken to the core. I spoke of other things, he couldn't speak. He just looked at me. How is this man possible that he didn't fight me back, and defend himself? So then after a while, I said, you've got to forgive me, but I have to go, because I've got to get up early in the morning to catch my plane, as the car's got to take me back to the airport down there in the big city. And I have to go to my room now. I have to sort things out, and have a quiet time, bath, everything else. And I need to leave now, or I'm going to really struggle. For no other reason, I just ask your forgiveness, that I need to really go. So please excuse me. So I stood, and he stood. But the way he stood, made the entire room stand straight, with utter respect. There was such respect in that man's eyes. He just stood there, looking at me, broken, tears welling up in his eyes. He took my hand, and the tears fell down. And as I turned and walked, those men, mostly, preachers and godly people of the town, I looked at every one of them, tears were touching him. Oh, God bless you, brother. Thank you, brother. So I walked down the passage to my room, and as I walked, joy welled up in my heart. Not pride that I had done something in my faith, no. Not my joy, that somehow I had done the right thing. You see, the joy of the Lord is your strength. He's not up there, he's in you. And the grief you always experience is failure, 99% through here, which begins, causes most failure. Get victory here, you get victory. Now, on my room, the joy just welled up, and I worshiped him, the Lord. He gave me grace. God's joy, by the Holy Spirit in you, is welled up in my heart, and I was overflowing with joy, the joy of the Lord. A man hath joy by the answers of his mouth. God's love. And I experienced it that night, God's joy. And sometimes you find God's grief in you, when you didn't pass the exam. In any circumstance, in the school of God, be careful. In the school of God, be careful. A man hath joy or grief written across his face by the answers of his mouth. When thy lips speak right things. When thy lips speak right things, Proverbs 23 verse 16, how forcible, how forcible are right words. How forcible are right words, Job 6 verse 25, a word fitly spoken, a word fitly spoken, Proverbs 25 verse 11, let your speech be always with grace, God says. Let your speech be always with grace, Colossians 4 verse 6, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 12, verse 13, the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is madness. God says, madness, that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. Proverbs 5 verse 2, the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. I want to repeat that, the lips of the righteous, those who are rightly related to God know what is acceptable. In the lips of him that hath understanding, in the lips of him that hath understanding, wisdom is found. Wisdom is found, Proverbs 10 verse 13, a woman that feareth the Lord, Proverbs 31 verse 30, openeth her mouth with wisdom, verse 26, and in her tongue is the law of kindness, but excellent speech becometh not a fool. Proverbs 17 verse 7, Proverbs 59 verse 12, warns us of the sin of their mouth, the sin of their mouth. Paul warns us in Romans 6 verse 19, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. I want to repeat that, neither yield ye your members. You see, James 3 verse 5 says, the tongue is a little member, and Moses, great thing, behold our great, a matter, a little fire, a kindred, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, so is the tongue among our members that it defiled the whole body. The tongue is a little member, and Paul warns us, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Thou givest thy mouth to evil. Thou givest thy mouth to evil. Psalm 50 verse 19, be careful Christian, death and life are in the power of the tongue. I want you to think about that, what God's saying in the light of all the scriptures you've just heard. Death, death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 18 verse 21, surely the serpent will bite without enchantment, and a babbler is no better. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 11, their poison is like the poison of a serpent. Psalm 58 verse 4, the tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. The tongue is an unruly evil, it is not controlled by God as a result of your yieldedness and control, that's all it means to be filled by the Holy Spirit. The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. James 3 verse 8, an hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. Proverbs 11 verse 9, the hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. Who is my neighbor? Quite a question, isn't it? Destroyeth his neighbor. You don't have to take a gun, sir, and shoot a man until his eyes are dead. You don't have to take a knife and stab a man until he's dead. You can destroy him more cruelly, one sentence, I guarantee. It's all Satan needs. I don't know how many people I've met lying ruined, destroyed their honor, their credibility, their testimony, their ministry. I don't know how many I've met across this world. In your country, a man in one of the most revered theological seminars in the world was destroyed by one sentence of two students who took exception to his discipline of them. That man was excommunicated, ostracized. His family threw him out in disgust and shame. He was on the streets, divorced, disowned, dishonored, and destroyed. I don't care what your doctrine is. That man was destroyed. About three years later, one of those two students couldn't live with himself. He came back, and all he did before he fled, never to be seen again, was to say, we lied. It wasn't the truth. A hypocrite with his mouth. That's all the devil needs is one sentence. Destroyeth a life. Proverbs 16, verse 27, an ungodly man diggeth up, diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire. The tongue is a fire, James Mormon. An ungodly man diggeth up evil, he's got to find something to destroy. He that uttereth a slander is a fool, God says. Proverbs 10, verse 18, whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off, God says, or God lied. Him will I cut off, that is destroy. Psalm 101, verse 5, their tongue is as a sharp sword, God says. Psalm 57, verse 4, swords, swords are in their lips. Psalm 59, verse 7, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. That's a dangerous man. Oh, I've met them. You don't know what they're about to do with you, words. A hypocrite is an incredibly good actor. He that hideth hatred with lying lips, God speaks of them. Proverbs 10, verse 18, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords, God warns. Psalm 55, verse 21, he that hideth hatred with lying lips and he that uttereth a slander is a fool. He that hideth hatred, you see, God says, he that hateth his brother is a murderer. In the New Testament, you can commit murder with one sentence, Christian, that the devil gets hold of your lips, and you yield your members to him. He's waiting in every congregation, in every movement. Don't doubt it. He that goeth about as a tale-bearer, he that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets. Proverbs 20, verse 19, a tale-bearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Proverbs 11, verse 13, what does that mean? He that is of a faithful spirit, he that has integrity and is truly godly conceals it to protect everyone while he can, while he can pray for the person to repent, rather than be destroyed because he's found something. A tale-bearer revealeth secrets. Oh, he digs for dirt. The devil will make you find something. Don't worry. But he that is of a faithful spirit doesn't destroy a man if he finds out anything. He conceals the matter. He protects the man rather than destroys him. But as reading in Brandon's home, 1 Corinthians 13, does not keep a record of other people's sin. No. Oh, no, God. He that has integrity, that is. In Port Elizabeth, back in southern Africa, very large city, I saw a young man many years ago now, and he looked so filled with sin that my heart had sunk as I looked at him with these, I don't know, like a mohawk hairstyle, and there he was gloating it, and he knew I was a preacher. And so I walked up to him, and I said with a loud voice, and I just found myself broken looking at him, you need God. You need God desperately. You need to seek God to save your soul before you do something terrible in this world, young man. Then they called me. I couldn't say another word. I loved him. That night, he took a knife, him and a friend, grabbed a woman off the streets down at the beach of the city, dragged her into the field and did the most atrocious things imaginable that sinners would do. Who've given themselves over to the devil unreservedly. Then after their wickedness, they took a knife and stabbed her 24 times, ripping, not just stabbing. They were determined no evidence for their wickedness is going to be left. This woman is dead. Stabbing, stabbing. By a miracle, no one can even comprehend, even medical science was stunned, how she crawled holding her body, inch by inch, screaming in pain. After two hours, she got to the street. And of course, cars stopped, people, the ambulance, the police. They took her somehow by medical science that God gave men wisdom. Don't ever attribute it to men. To know how to make a woman in that condition so moral, so everything they've got to kill. Somehow, they helped that woman to survive. After a while of therapy, she was able to speak to the police and she gave a description. The police didn't have much difficulty knowing who she's speaking about because not all boys are like that. Outwardly, so they went. They found these two boys, they put them in the back of the car, and as they were driving, the one policeman said he heard the other one saying to the other, she can't be alive. No one could survive that. She must, she couldn't be alive. She can't have lived. She must be dead. Jailed for life, three lifetimes, never to see the light of day again, outside of the prison. That woman has written a book, and I've read different interviews she's had and meetings she conducts. I wish she'd bring God into it, though. Nonetheless, I don't judge her. But why do I use such an atrocious, outrageous illustration? You think it's any less wicked? I want you to answer God, every single one of you, in the light of all the scriptures we've been reading, only in the light of God's word. Do you think it's any less wickedness, what men do with this? They've got to find something. They dig for every single thing they've got, and they used to survive. You can't, you can't, you can't be still. Oh, be careful what you do with your lips to destroy someone else. When those men took up stones in anger and indignation and sin, to stone to death a woman who they caught in adultery, they had scriptures justifying not to kill her. But Jesus, as she cast herself at Christ's feet, he shouted with a loud voice to these men as they were casting the stones already, let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Then Jesus stooped down, the Bible says, and in the stunned, shocked silence of men's consciences, unable to move on the ground, on the sand, he began to write with his finger on the ground. One by one, every single man put down the stone, and they walked away. I don't believe anybody spoke only to their own consciences. They walked away from that situation where they had mercilessly judged someone else's sin. Many people have speculated as to what those words were that Christ wrote upon the ground. I've heard different sermons. But no one, no one can be sure about that. Let's be sure of that. I'm not sure about it. But personally, I think it could have been the words that he had already uttered a few chapters before. Some men's sins are open beforehand, like this woman found out here on earth, faced the condemnation of men. Some men's sins are open before and going before to the judgment, and some men, they follow after 1 Timothy 5.24. Some will face judgment on the day of accountability to God, Christ says. Which is why Jesus warned us all in Matthew 7 verse 1, judge not, judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you. Again, God said, Oh, God, in case you say this doesn't apply to you, to grace. And a little prayer after you've destroyed someone. Be careful. Every idle word. Every idle word. Oh, that little statement in the light of all the scriptures. That men shall utter, they shall give account of on the day of judgment. God said, Oh, God lied. You say it's sacrilege to say such things of God. No, it's sacrilege not to say that, not to believe that. God doesn't mince words like we do. Every idle word that men shall utter, they shall give account of on the day of judgment. For by thy words, by thy words, by thy words, thou shall be justified. And by thy words, thou shall be condemned. God said, God said. But now we need to be very careful and prayerful as to what to do when people cruelly attack me and try to destroy me. All that hate me, whisper together against me. Against me, do they devise my hurt? Psalm 41 verse 7. Come and let us smite him with the tongue. Jeremiah 18 verse 18. Literally, come and let us destroy him. With what the devil has shown us is all that's needed. The tongue. Come and let us destroy him with the tongue. Jeremiah 18. But beloved, this is always a time to seek God's grace to keep silence. You say, Paul rebuked a sinner, gave him over to Satan. Careful, careful. Don't forget the rest of the scriptures. I'll tell you something that will shock you. Ninety-nine percent of every single time, and I've seen it again and again, where a man stood up and condemned publicly and destroyed someone's credibility through it, that person who condemned him was exposed in worse sin and was destroyed without mercy. I mean that. On that alone, I become scared before I open my eyes. We, beloved, must know that this is a time to seek God's grace to keep silence when people try and destroy you. Say not, I will recompense evil. Say not, I will recompense evil. I will pay back, repay evil. Wait on the Lord and he shall save thee. Proverbs 20, verse 22. Wait on the Lord and he shall save thee. Strewn across the pages of the sacred book, you will find that there's the message of the cross, Old Testament and New. Strewn across the pages of the sacred book, you will find there's a message of the cross, but there is also the example of the cross. If you miss that, you miss everything. Old Testament and New. There's the message of the cross, but there's also the example of the cross. Isaiah 53, verse 7. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and the sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 1 Peter 2, verse 21. Leaving us an example that he said, follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. When men would destroy you, be careful, leave the fighting to God, beloved. This is the only religion in the entire world where most arguments you win by saying nothing. You'll never forget that, and you lose by fighting back. It's the only religion on earth. I would say 99% of the circumstances you face in life, you will win the argument, no matter what men are doing against you. You seek grace to keep quiet. The 1% of the time when you need to speak back, when God the Holy Ghost has given you such wisdom, such a heart, as you speak, you will destroy your enemy's anger, and dismantle him. When men would destroy you, be careful, beloved, leave the fighting to God, be still the Bible Christ, and know that I am God, Psalm 46 verse 10. What does that mean? Be still. Silence is the closest you come. Silence, God said. Silence. Know that I am God. I'll deal with this, if you let me. Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the town. Job 5 verse 21. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues, the Bible says. Psalm 31 verse 20. In the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle, shall he hide me. Psalm 27 verse 5. Thou art my hiding place, O God. Psalm 83 verse 6. You don't have to go back to the house a few miles, hide in a room to find safety. No, you'll find God. You can be in your hiding place in a crowd, as men try and destroy you. You flee in your heart to God, and you find God protects you in that hiding place. There's a prayer in a song we sing, Hide Me. O my Savior, hide till the storm of life is passed, safe into the haven guide. Thou art my hiding place. It's a wonderful, wonderful concept of Christianity. These things drive us to find God in a way we would never have ever found closeness to him. Psalm 73 verse 7. Verse 3. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort. For thou art my fortress. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpassed. Psalm 57 verse 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow that's the protection of the Almighty, because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, the Most High thy habitation. You see, with every single promise in the Bible is a condition. God has no holy obligation to fulfill his side until you fulfill yours. As I flee to my hiding place to seek God's guidance and instruction, I'm always given instruction of how to behave before my enemies who would destroy me. Psalm 119 verse 97. Oh, how I love thy law. It's my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies. The whole Old Testament is not history. These things are written to you, to me, for us Christians, Paul says, as warnings and as munitions, guidance. God, their strength is to sit still. It's not written to the people of God. It was written for you and me, everything in this book, sir. Yes, it's historical records, but it was meant it won't be in this book. Don't tell me two-thirds of the Bible is record of history of God's dealing with a nation or individuals. No. It's vital for your survival, for mine, to know the heart of God. These commandments are written for us. And oh, beloved, their strength is to sit still, that is to leave the fighting to God in 99%. Oh, he openeth not his mouth, leaving us an example. You see, God has given us promises in the Old Testament right now. He made a pit, God says, digged it and has fallen into the ditch which he made, Psalm 7 verse 15. His mistress shall return upon his own head, Psalm 7 verse 16. They have prepared a net for my steps. They've digged a pit before me into the midst of which they have fallen themselves, Psalm 57 verse 6. So shall they make their own town to fall upon themselves, Psalm 64 verse 8. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it. That's literal, but in the light of the rest of the scriptures, I believe God's speaking. Without cause they've hid for me a net in a pit which they've digged for my soul. Oh, let that net that he hath hid catch himself into the very destruction that he set before me, let him fall. These are things of the Old Testament. Of course, the New Testament has more light, but these things give you the heart of God. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me. Let them fall into their own net. You see, there's something here that's fearful. Without exception, every single man, and there have been so many that you will not believe it, I can't share, that have tried to destroy me. When I found out to the extent of what they were saying, of course I fled to God. Pow! Without exception, it happened to them. I mean this without exception. Over the years, there's not one that didn't destroy themselves. I left it to God to fight now. I asked for grace just to keep quiet, to open up my, perhaps the worst attacks that ever came upon me in my life. Pow! I sought God, and all God said to me is, he openeth not his mouth. Pow! He's brought us a lamb to the slaughter. She before she is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Pow! All God required of me to keep quiet. I want you to seek grace. Don't do anything. And I sought God's grace, and I sought God's grace. Oh. And then I watched them being destroyed by their own mouths. Totally. Oh, be careful. Be careful. I saw a man screaming at me publicly for what I preached, and all I'd done was quote the scriptures. He was so unnerved, he began to scream. And I said, oh God said to watch before my mouth. Keep the doors of my lips, so many are watching now. Oh, I become this man. He's never if I fight back. He just fell dead. Pow! So dead. Oh, I aged. I wept for weeks. I didn't want that. But listen carefully. While thou art in the way with him, there's a terrible warning to every one of us. You see, you never know, this is the last moment you will ever have in eternity, the last moment God will ever give you. Pow! To pass the exam. In front of this man and everybody that's watching. While thou art in the way with him, be careful. You don't know if he's going to fall dead. They told me of three preachers once in one big city that were fighting to keep me, to destroy me, to keep me out of the town, never preaching there again. And they were forced. When I heard, what did I do? I went up in the hills. I went in my face, and I was sobbing, crying to God to stop them. And a farmer came out, put his arms around me, weeping, and he said, oh brother, you've lost 30 minutes since you came out here and prayed about this. All three of those men have fallen dead. Pow! In 30 minutes. I aged a couple of years. In the next two weeks, if that happened, he said, God, I can't. I can't serve thee if this happens to people who try to destroy me. I don't want that. But I did learn something where God says, love your enemies. It isn't just to prove a point. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which will spitefully use you and persecute you. You see, they're not fighting you, they're fighting God. They're in danger. If they're fighting what you're doing for God, it's God they have to do it. I got on my knees a few times, once particularly publicly I had to, and I meant it as I got down weeping and said, I'm begging you to stop. I don't care what happens to me through it. I just don't want you to die. Please don't, don't carry on. I meant it. That's why God says, love your enemies, not just to prove a point. Be careful. The judgment of God comes upon me, this side of eternity, this side of the day of judgment. But listen very carefully now. Listen very, very carefully now. There's a time to keep silence, God says. It's the most occasion I've learned, and there's a time to speak when God permits you to. And all you do is edify every soul that's watching you. Beloved, there's a time to keep silence in the home before your family. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. Micah 7 verse 5, that's your wife. God says there's times you've got to stop speaking, not generally, but about the things that make you, you could lose her. In its context, when a man's enemies are the men of his own house, you don't know how cruel an enemy can be until you get one in your own family. He's talking about the consequences of the gospel of Christ, a life who gets saved and faces the consequences now of his separation from evil in the house. Isn't it to go down the road to some wicked people who you used to sin with? In your house, those who don't want God. It doesn't mean you're seeking God, pushes buttons and everybody in your house is seeking God. No way. When a man's enemies are the members of his own house, you've got to learn something, brother. It's mostly a time to keep silent. You've made your stand. They know it. Their hearts are condemning them. But if you keep going on, coming down on them, expecting to live the saved convictions of a saved man while they're unsafe, you're wrong. You're going to lose your wife, sir. I know men in this country who lost their wives because what they said was right is wrong. This stops. But you don't say that to unsafe people. Getting in the home, that isn't going to save them. I know people who've lost their children's heart and their wife's heart, vice versa, forever, who left, divorced, separated, because they couldn't keep quiet. Their convictions, their anger, their indignation is wrong in the house. Listen, brother. It's a time you've got to stop speaking to men about their sins. All you do is speak to God or you lose those men. It's a time you keep quiet. You silence to people. They know your convictions. Their hearts are condemning them. They know you're on your knees weeping as they're watching television that you used to laugh with them at the moral decadence. They know the music. They know this is now. You didn't mind before, but now these immoral suggestions, these blasphemous statements, the moral decadence in most music today. Now, you can't bear that. They know, and their hearts are condemning them. Let me tell you, the greatest sermon in the world is not when you get them to hear some great preacher. It's your life. But a life that has the grace won't do what has happened across this world, and I've been in many, many, many, many homes where men lost one man, his wife's divorcing him. She can't bear another minute of him with his convictions. I know him in another country. I was in his home, and so he phones me. She's divorcing me. The kid left me. They want to be there. They don't want me. I said, listen, brother. Go to the book of Proverbs. Take a highlighter and carefully on your knees and prayerfully read. Highlight every single verse that says what God says you must do with this. Every circumstance. Highlight it, and then what you've highlighted, read every day. It'll take you a few minutes, and ask God for grace that day to live it. It might stop her. You know, she stopped the divorce. She doesn't want a divorce anymore. Yes, time. Give time. How many children hate as enemies? They don't want you when you didn't listen to God's word as a child of God and ask for grace. No compromise is expected in your life. That would be anathema. You don't have to partake of it, but you don't have to lose everyone. They can be sanctified if you don't throw them away by the saved life. 1 Peter 3. I can give you passages upon passages. The insubjection to your own husband said, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wife, the life of the wife, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. His adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting hair, wearing of gold, putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden of the man, of the heart, that was of a meek and quiet spirit. You win him, don't leave him, and don't drive him before you've got time for God to win him through your life. I tell you what, most victory, beginning in the home, is here in Christianity. When your wife opposes you for your godly convictions, you could lose her, sir, vice versa, lady. You have to seek God for grace, and he'll give it. Always be slow to speak, slow to wrath, James 1 verse 19, especially in the home. It's always in that order, seek God for the grace to keep quiet before you speak your mind out all the time and get them habit. Slow to speak, slow to wrath. He that is soon angry, that's quick-tempered, dealeth foolishly, God warns, Proverbs 14 verse 17. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is hasty, impulsive, short-tempered, exalteth folly, Proverbs 14 verse 29. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, I love that, and it is his glory to pass over transgressions. That doesn't mean to condone, just your face doesn't condone. But be careful of your words, you could lose them. They will hate you so much if you don't ask God for grace. You see, Proverbs 15 verse 1 says, a soft answer turneth away wrath, and I tell you it works. Home upon home, seek God for that grace and he'll give it to you, but you've got to want it in a way that he will give it to you. A soft answer always will turn away wrath, but grief is a harsh word, stir up anger, you don't want to do that and lose your family, do you? Answer God, answer God. If I have wounded any soul today, if I have caused one foot to go astray, if I have walked in my own willful way, O Lord, forgive. If I have uttered idle words or vain, if I have turned aside from want or pain, lest I myself shall suffer through the strain, O Lord, forgive. If I have been perverse or hard or cold, if I have longed for shelter in thy fold, when thou hast given me some fort to hold, O Lord, forgive, forgive the sins I have confessed to thee, forgive the secret sins I do not see, and guide me, love me, and my keeper be, O Lord, forgive. Father, take this message, as thou hast promised, my word shall not return unto me void. Thou wilt never force it on a man, but every single man, woman, and child in this building and in this world that embraces thy word willingly of the choice of their own free will, it will make them godly and stagger the powers of hell as they seek grace delivered. Do this with this message from this night in every heart that wants God.