Mankind Ever Sinning with Their Lips

Speech

(Romans 3:12-14)

Humanity has been indicted as sinners. We do not need to look far to confirm that the charges in this indictment are true. The very “speech” that human beings pour out of their mouths every day stands as the most vivid evidence, revealing exactly what fills their inner hearts.

1. An Open Tomb
A natural man speaks only words of spiritual death. Their throat is like an open tomb, continually providing evidence of the fact that they themselves are dead. It is just like an unsealed tomb where a corpse is decaying, allowing the foul stench to constantly escape. Furthermore, they have practiced deceit with their tongues. Just like hiding a sharp hook by attaching bait to a fishing line, they lure people in with repetitive lies and a flattering tongue. Once they secure the advantage they were seeking to themselves, they use that person to achieve their own ends.

2. The Poison of Asps
The poison of asps is under the lips of human beings, inflicting fatal injuries upon others. It is just like a well-trained cobra that suddenly attacks its owner, with fatal results. In addition, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. They inwardly desire for others to go wrong or openly express that malice before people. At times, they launch malicious attacks directly and fiercely confront others with violent hostility.

3. A Transformed Language
We are no longer natural men. We have become a new man in Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are now able to overcome our wicked nature, and we have come to speak in a completely different way than before. Words of love, words of comfort, words that give courage, and words that lift up those who have fallen—this is the exact manner of speech that God, who poured His love into us, uses when He speaks to us. While the language of the natural man brings forth death and destruction, the language of the new man brings forth life and restoration. The evidence that the Gospel has been planted in our hearts does not lie in grand achievements. The fact that our speech has been transformed—this is the greatest evidence of all.

Overseer Sung-Hyun Kim