2005-06-26 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church
Part 1 of "The Sermon on the Mount"
Matthew 4:23 - 5:2
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and [from] Decapolis, and [from] Jerusalem, and [from] Judaea, and [from] beyond Jordan.
1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2 And he opened his mouth...
The word translated here as "mouth" is 'stoma', and in the New Testament, 'stoma' has also been translated to mean "the edge of the sword" (the part of the sword that does the most damage). Jesus tells us that what man puts in his mouth isn't nearly as bad as what comes out. What we eat is here today and gone tomorrow, but the words we say have power to defile us (Matthew 15:11-20). Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
We've all been hurt by words from others, and we've all hurt others with our words. James tells us that the tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison, and no man can tame it (James 3:8), but man can use his teeth to bite his tongue, and no matter how hard we think it is to do, when we can refrain from opening our mouths.
On that day on a hillside in Galilee, Jesus sat down, and when He opened His mouth, what proceeded forth from His heart was the greatest sermon ever recorded. In the Revelation, we're told about the sword which will proceed forth from His mouth. What a joy it is that He left us His Holy Word, that we can sharpen our mettle against the metal of this book, and prepare for the offenses to come. Blessed are we for the courage You give us. Thank you Jesus.