Episode Transcript
All right, now if we'll take God's Word and we'll turn to the book of Proverbs, please.
Book of Proverbs, chapter 12.
Proverbs, chapter 12.
God willing, we'll be expounding verse 17 tonight.
Proverbs 12, 17.
The title of the message tonight is "Treasures in the Air."
"Treasures in the Air."
In tonight's proverb, the Lord speaks to us about the difference between the person who speaks the truth and the person who speaks lies.
This small verse is a delightful revelation of wisdom to me and I believe it will be to you as well.
And it begins by saying, "He that speaketh the truth."
"He that speaketh the truth."
Now the Hebrew word that's translated "speaketh" here in this verse is not used very often in the Old Testament.
The English word "speaketh" is used quite often.
But this particular Hebrew word translated "speaketh" is only used not very many times.
And in fact, if you look in the very next verse in Proverbs 12, 18, you'll see the word "speaketh" in that verse.
You see it in Proverbs 12, 18?
Well, the Hebrew word translated "speaketh" in Proverbs 12, 18 is not the same Hebrew word translated "speaketh" in Proverbs 17.
It's the same English word.
It's not the same Hebrew word.
It's saying the same thing, but it's meaning something different.
So, it's both speaking, but it's different concepts of the speech.
So, the word that's being used tonight in our verse, in verse 17, that's translated "speaketh," it means to breathe.
It means a puff of air from our mouth.
So, whenever we're speaking, it has the idea of the air that's coming from our mouth.
Alright?
And so, ever since you walked in here tonight, everybody's been breathing.
In and out, in and out, and probably haven't been thinking a whole lot about it.
And we consume a great deal of air every day.
And we never worry about running out.
We never think, "Well, I need to conserve the air here," you know.
We just breathe.
Breathe however much we want to.
We consume a great deal of air every day.
And we thank God for that air.
We thank God that it's plenteous and it's free.
But we pay no attention to the air as it goes out of our lungs.
We just don't pay any attention to it at all because it's waste, it's exhaust.
And most of the oxygen is used up when it goes out.
And you can't be breathing in and out the same air over and over again.
You've got to get fresh air.
And the Hebrew word here is literally describing, again, the breath that comes out of our mouth because when we speak, the air goes over our vocal folds.
And that air then leaves our mouth.
If there's no air coming out, no words are going to come out.
No air, no words.
The air becomes the vehicle, if you would, that the words are placed in and they give transportation to those words from our vocal folds out to your ear.
But it's got to come through the breath.
And that's the word that's translated "speaketh" tonight in our verse.
And that's the concept that God is wanting us to see.
Again, most of the oxygen has already been used up by the time it leaves our bodies.
And so it's not very significant to us.
We don't think, "Oh, I hate for that to go to waste."
You know, "Let's see if I can hang on to it."
But we cast that air out of us just like I did the food scraps when I came home today and I tossed them to the chickens.
And the point of that is this.
The puff of air.
He that speaketh, the puff of air.
God uses something so insignificant as used air.
Not fresh air that comes in.
We don't speak with the oxygenated air.
We speak with the deoxygenated air.
We speak with the waste.
We speak with the exhaust.
And God uses something so insignificant as used air to carry the most precious, life-giving, hope-sustaining truth to the world.
Amazing.
The vehicle God uses to transport His Word, that breath, it breaks apart.
I've always been fascinated, at least when I was a kid anyway, I'd watch these people smoke cigarettes.
And they'd-- [blows out cigarette] Like that.
And when I was a kid-- Am I the only one that's ever done this before?
I'd watch the smoke come out, and it would just kind of linger and kind of do like it does.
And the next thing you know, I'd watch, and I'd just see how long it stayed there.
And the next thing you know, it starts breaking up, and you can't see it anymore.
Does anyone else ever pay attention to that?
I've got one Jeremiah kid back there.
Thank you.
And Miss Colvin.
We've got two other very observant people here, at least.
But that's the way the air is.
It comes out of our mouths.
As soon as that vehicle comes out of your mouth, carrying that sound, those words, it just kind of-- all the little particles, all the little gaseous molecules, they just kind of float and break apart and absorb back into the atmosphere.
The body that puffs the air is dying every day.
So it's not only waste air, but it's coming from a dying body that's also going to turn to waste and break and decay and go back to the dirt.
God uses the fleeting air of these aging bodies to bear His glorious truths to the world.
Now, with that understood, we've got this air, this waste air, carrying these precious treasures out to the world.
2 Corinthians 4, verses 5-7.
2 Corinthians 4, verses 5-7.
Paul says, "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
It's very majestic.
We don't preach ourselves.
We preach Christ Jesus the Lord.
Yet we're preaching the light of God that shines in the darkness to give the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But, verse 7, we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
Absolutely amazing when you think of it.
The treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ that raises people from the dead, that gives them hope beyond the grave, that encourages their hearts every time they come to church and they hear God's Word, and they grow in grace, the knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Those words come out and are carried out by the most fragile vehicle there is, that used air.
It takes it out, it does its job, and it falls apart.
And the apostle Paul says, "We preach Jesus Christ, we preach the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels."
We are holding this incredible treasure in just earthy, fleshly vessels of clay.
Us, our bodies, our mouths.
It's incredible.
Why do we have the treasure in earthen vessels, Paul said?
Look back in 2 Corinthians 4, 7.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
Why?
That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
God did not give us tongues of silver and lips of gold.
Nor does He send His words through us, or through His preachers, or through those who are bearing witness to His name.
He doesn't send His words through us in some kind of glorious flame of fire for all to see.
Boy, wouldn't that really get people's attention.
If I could get up and start preaching the gospel, preaching the glory of God, and light start to illuminate for me, and then the fire come out of my mouth, and people say, "Praise the Lord, this has to be the truth."
God didn't give us tongues of silver and lips of gold.
If He did, here's what would happen.
If He did, then we would be prone to admire what was saying the words above that which was being said.
You understand?
We'd be prone to admire that which was saying the words above the words that were being said.
In the 1800s, a pastor named Charles Spurgeon wrote a book about the gospel, "All of Grace," and he later died, and he went to heaven after he wrote that book.
In the 1900s, about 100 years later, I read that book, and I believed on Christ as my Savior.
Now, when I read that book, the hand that had communicated and written those words, it already returned to dust by the time I read that book, and the words were documented on old dead slice of a tree paper.
Just such insignificant things.
The vessel, the earthen vessel that carried those words to me had died, but the words continued to live.
You see?
They continue to live right now.
They're still alive in me.
They're still sharp and they're powerful, and they're living as the Scripture says.
And we thank God.
You know, the vessels decayed, but the words gave me life, and they're eternally glorious.
And we thank God for the vessels.
We thank God for the men and women of God who share the gospel and who bear witness of the glory of God.
We thank God for the puffs of air.
Man, I've heard some good preaching in my life.
I thank God for it.
There are some things that I heard that you ever hear a message, and you learn a truth, and that truth you know at that moment is life-changing.
It's absolutely life-changing truth.
And we thank God for the puffs of air that carried the treasures of God's Word to us, but we have to recognize the difference between the treasure and the air.
We have to.
James chapter 4 verse 14b says, "For what is your life?
It is even a vapor."
It's a puff of air that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
The puffs of air remind us of the brevity and worthlessness of our lives apart from God.
The fact that God deposits His eternal treasures into our temporary breath reminds us that nobody is too meager or too inadequate to bear the holy vessels of God.
You remember that.
Nobody is too meager or too inadequate to bear the holy vessels of God because God is seen pleased to put that treasure in earthen vessels and to carry it out in chariots of air.
Fascinating to me.
"He that speaketh truth."
Every treasure that God has for man is given to us through the medium of truth.
Every single treasure, whether it's life, love, joy, excitement, wealth, every single truth that we receive from God is given to us I'm sorry, every single treasure that we receive from God is given to us through the medium of truth.
It means it's obtained that way.
It's given that way.
In the Hebrew word translated truth here in this text, it means firm, secure, and established.
That's the word for truth.
Something that's firm, something that's secure, something that is established.
Do you know what happens when you rest your hope on God's truth?
You become firm, secure, and established in the truth that you believe.
Praise the Lord.
Truth cannot fail.
Truth is steadfast.
Truth is immovable.
Because truth is established and based on God.
In whoever speaks truth, look back in your text, "showeth forth righteousness."
Meaning they manifest righteousness.
They manifest righteousness.
Amen, Brother Brandon.
Righteousness.
Manifest righteousness.
Do you know what righteousness is?
Righteousness is that which is naturally, legally, and morally right.
That which is naturally, legally, and morally right.
In other words, righteousness conforms to God's natural design and creation.
Righteousness conforms to God's legal design and His law.
Righteousness conforms to God's moral design and His character.
He that speaketh truth, speaks righteousness.
Do you know what that means?
It means it is naturally, legally, and morally right for us to speak truth.
And that means it is unnatural, illegal, and immoral for us to tell a lie.
When you speak the truth, you are speaking that which is natural, legal, and moral by God's design.
Telling the truth is the natural thing for man to do.
Did you know that?
Telling the truth is the natural thing for man to do.
Now I'm not saying it's the common thing for man to do.
It may not be the common thing for man to do, but it is the natural thing for man to do.
It is unnatural for us to tell a lie.
Unnatural.
Do you know what makes homosexuality wrong?
It's unnatural.
Watch how truth and nature go hand in hand in Romans chapter 1, verses 25 through 27.
Romans chapter 1, verses 25 through 27, which speaks of people who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever.
Amen.
For this cause God gave them up into vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.
So they exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
When they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, they exchanged that which was natural to that which is against nature.
Lies and unnatural go hand in hand, truth and nature go hand in hand.
Verse 27 says, "And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet, or which was suitable."
Homosexuality is not natural and that makes it immoral and therefore it is illegal in God's Word.
You see how it goes?
Homosexuality is unnatural, therefore it is immoral and that makes it illegal in God's Word.
But it's all based upon nature and nature is based upon truth.
Any legal commandment in God's Word is based on the moral character of God and can be therefore found in the natural creation of God.
You all following that?
1 Corinthians 11 verse 14, "Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him?"
Nature, that which is true, is natural, therefore it is legal and it is moral.
It's a shame for a man to have long hair, it's a shame for a man to sleep with another man, and it's a shame for a man to lie.
Why?
Because they all go against nature.
The world was created by God's truth.
God spoke and it stood fast.
What does that tell us?
God spoke truth, the truth stood fast, the psalmist says.
Why did it stand fast?
Because it is firm.
It is steadfast, it is established.
So the truth, the nature, the permanence of God's Word all go hand in hand and the righteousness of it all go hand in hand.
So God spoke truth and when He did, He brought our earth and our world and us into existence.
And thus it is unnatural for man, who was created by truth, to speak a lie.
The devil doesn't want us to know these things.
He just wants us to think, "Well, lying is a sin because it's in the Bible, telling us not to lie."
He doesn't want us to understand why it's wrong.
It is not natural for a man who was created by truth to speak a lie.
It goes against our nature.
And I want to encourage each one of you tonight to always tell the truth.
Always tell the truth.
Your church, your neighbor, your spouse should consistently hear truth from your lips.
It's so wonderful to know, and I tell you man, I tell you, it's absolutely wonderful to know that my wife won't lie to me.
Man, that's absolutely wonderful.
There's a lot of spouses that their husband or wife tell them something and they don't know if it's true or not.
And they got to go do a little investigating to see if their spouse lied to them.
Unfortunately, I would believe that many of you all have been in that situation before.
And people listening online and I have probably been in that situation before.
I hope no one's in that situation now, but if you are and you're listening, I want to encourage you to do the natural thing, to do the moral thing, to do the legal thing, and always speak truth because when you do, you're manifesting God's righteousness.
I want to encourage you to create an atmosphere of truth in your home.
An atmosphere of truth in your home.
So that you know, if my wife says this, if my husband says this, if my child says this, you know it's going to be true.
Create an atmosphere of truth in your home.
Truth will make your relationship what?
You know what truth will do in your relationship with your spouse?
You know what truth will do in your relationship with the home?
It will make it firm, secure, and established.
Because that's what truth is.
And if you don't have the atmosphere of truth in your home, then your relationship is not going to be firm, it's not going to be secure, and it's not going to be established.
It's going to be shaky.
God speaks truth, and whoever speaks truth shows forth righteousness.
Look back in your text as we begin to wrap this up.
But a false witness, in contrast, a false witness, and a false witness literally is someone who does not repeat truth as a witness.
So what's a false witness?
Truth is not created by people, it's repeated by people.
We don't create truth, we report it.
And so we bear witness to truth.
And a false witness is someone who doesn't repeat truth.
A true witness is a repeater.
I'm talking about the Hebrew definitions here, and how this etymology works.
A true witness is a repeater, therefore, they repeat what they heard and what they saw.
A false witness is not a repeater, they're a creator.
They create lies.
You repeat truth, if you're the origin of that truth, you're repeating that truth, what you heard, what you saw, what you know.
A false witness is not a repeater, he's a creator.
They just make stuff up.
That's what a lie is.
It's not repeated as a witness, it's made up.
And when they do make that stuff up, they manifest, look back at the last word now, deceit.
They manifest deceit in contrast to manifesting righteousness.
Righteousness is firm, it's secure, it's established.
And that's what truth gives.
But a false witness, they manifest deceit.
And deceit here, literally in the Hebrew, it means to throw, as if throwing a spear at the enemy.
Literally means to hurl something.
You know how you take a spear and just go, "Hurl!"
Or a stone, and hurl the stone, "Shoo!"
So that's what deceit means here.
So the idea is that deceit harms the person it's thrown at.
Deceit is throwing a lie.
And so we see that deceit causes damage, fraud.
It damages somebody, it defrauds them.
And so one man is throwing treasures upon his fellow man.
The other is throwing lies, deceit.
The breath of man was made to bear the treasures of our God.
So never use your breath to defy God's nature.
To bear your shame and to harm your neighbor.
Let's have an atmosphere of truth in our home.
And make it firm, secure, and established in the grace of God.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
God, we thank you, thank you, thank you.
That we have a God who we can always count on.
To tell us the pure, unadulterated, and complete truth.
Who loves us enough to never lie to us.
To never deceive us, to never defraud us, to never harm us.
But to give treasures through your breath.
Even as your word says that all scripture is God breathed.
And Father, we thank you.
That you've given us that treasure in earthen vessels as well.
And may our mouth, Lord, send forth sweet water and never bitter.
In Jesus' wonderful name, amen.
