Episode Transcript
All right, we'll be in Proverbs 14. 3 tonight.
Proverbs 14.
3.
Title of the message is Disabling the Rod.
Disabling the Rod.
Not too many verses back, we learned about God's ordained use of a rod to discipline children.
In our verse tonight, we're going to learn more about the subject of a rod, but it's going to be a different kind of rod.
The rod used on a child, as we spoke about when we were learning about that a few verses back.
It might be found on a wall, like in my principal's office in that illustration I used at school.
But the rod in our text tonight is found within us.
It makes it very different.
Proverbs 14:3 says, In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride.
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
A rod is used to inflict pain and suffering upon an evildoer.
And the rod in our text tonight is not primarily for children, but for adults.
And the pain and the suffering that the rod that we're looking at tonight inflicts upon grown-ups can sometimes be quite severe.
For ease of learning we're going to divide this verse into four different parts.
If you're taking notes, the rod's opportunistic location.
The Rod's opportunistic location.
Number two.
The rod's only loser.
The Rod's only loser.
Number three The Rod's Official Language The rod's official language.
Number four, the righteous Observing lips, the righteous observing lips.
And the four parts To these verses, we're going to see simple and easy ways to ensure us That the rod that's in the mouth is never used against us.
I don't want a rod in my mouth.
Striking me and inflicting pain against me.
And so we're going to look at simple and easy ways.
I like it simple and easy.
I like everything simple and easy if I can.
Simple and easy ways that the rod is insured to never be used against us.
Here's the first part, the rod's opportunistic location. the rod's opportunistic location.
When I was growing up, my parents used a belt to administer their spankings.
So the rod in my parents' house was in their clothes closet in the master bedroom.
And my parents' closet was a typical clothes closet.
How many of y'all have a clothes closet with a lock on it?
Nobody.
My parents didn't have a lock on theirs either.
But I can promise you this: if it had a lock on it and I was the only one that had a key to it, I would have never got a spanking.
Because I'd have never let them into it.
And so that's the incredible advantage I would have if the rod Was locked up somewhere, and I was the one who had complete control over that closet.
And the rod we're talking about tonight Is not hanging on a wall.
It's not laying over a bar in a closet.
A clothes closet where a parent or a teacher can readily grab that rod and use it against us anytime they feel it's necessary.
Rather, the rod in our verse tonight, look in your text now, is we're in the mouth.
In the mouth.
Do you know what's so wonderful about the mouth?
And the rod, it's because the mouth is like my imaginary clothes closet with a lock on it.
Because we alone have the key to this right here.
Nobody else controls our mouth But us.
By God's design, we have complete control over our mouths.
The rod in a person's mouth can only strike a person.
When that person provides it an opportunity to do so, we'll repeat that again.
The rod in a person's mouth can only strike that person.
When he or she provides it an opportunity to do so.
So the first simple and easy way To ensure that the rod in the mouth is never used against you, is this.
You ready?
Keep your mouth shut.
Just keep your mouth.
Simple and easy.
Keep that closet door shut on the closet.
And if the closet door is shut, the rod can't ever be let out to be used against you.
And keep that mouth shut, and if it's kept shut, then the rod in the mouth can never be used against you.
It's really that simple.
Proverbs chapter 17, verse 28.
Proverbs chapter 17, verse 28, will be there in a few chapters.
Says this, Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise.
And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
You might have thought I was a little cut when I said, keep your mouth shut, but here it is.
The man who shuts his lips or shuts his mouth is esteemed a man of understanding.
Someone will say, Well, hey, at least he had enough sense to keep his mouth shut, right?
If we could just learn to keep our mouths shut, we could spare ourselves a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.
For when we open our mouths when we shouldn't, we give that rod an opportunity to smite us.
Number one, the rod's opportunistic location Number two, the rod's only loser.
The rod's only loser.
You see, the rod in the mouth doesn't belong to everybody.
Not everybody has a rod in their mouth.
The rod belongs to foolish people.
Salma says it is the rod, look in your text, of what?
Of the foolish.
Only the foolish have a rod in their mouth.
Now, can we act foolishly and have a rod in our mouth?
Yes, at that time we're foolish because we were behaving foolishly.
And so the rod only has one loser, and that's the person that is behaving foolishly.
A fool is someone who lacks the wisdom of God or who would have it in Disregard it, deny it, and act against the wisdom of God.
A foolish someone who does not is someone who doesn't act according to God's Word, but according to their own nonsensical, carnal, secular, worldly, however you want to put it, understanding, and their own thinking.
I saw where a man recently was arrested for threatening to kill our United States Attorney General Pam Bondi.
And he didn't threaten to kill her in secret and then someone go rat him out.
He did this on TikTok, where the whole world could see it.
And this he, I think, threatened or offered $45,000, $50,000, something like that, to someone that would kill Pam Bondi.
And I doubt that man he probably didn't even have the money to pay, you know, for a hit man.
More than likely, he was. making the statement to get attention, to gain popularity, hoping to get famous, hoping to stir somebody up to where maybe they would do harm to Miss Bondi.
And now, because of his foolish thinking, he's facing federal charges.
And you know what those federal charges are?
They're the rod of his mouth.
The rod of his foolish mouth.
The Bible says in the book of Exodus chapter 20, verse 13: Thou shalt not kill.
Now, had that man Simply followed God's word, he would have never been smitten by the rod of his mouth.
He wouldn't have been a fool.
But instead, he was trying to get someone killed who was trying to simply enforce the law.
And now, because of that, of his foolishness, and the rod of his foolish mouth is smiting him.
So what's the second simple and easy way to ensure that the rod in the mouth is never used against you?
It's this.
Follow God's Word.
Just follow God's Word.
You will never have the rod in your mouth smite you for following the Word of God.
Now, you may have the world smite you.
The Apostle Paul was smitten.
Most all the apostles were smitten, beaten, stoned.
Crucified, but that was not the rod of their mouth.
Oh, it may have been because they were preaching in the name of Jesus.
But that's not the rod in the fool's mouth.
In fact, there's not a single person who ever spoke in the name of Christ and who ever suffered in the name of Christ for what they said.
There's not a single one that regrets.
Speaking in the name of Christ.
God will always reward them.
And you know who will get the rod in the end?
The people who smote God's folks.
So, number one, The rod's opportunistic location.
What is that opportunistic location?
The mouth.
Number two, the rod's only loser.
The fool.
Follow God's word.
Number three, the rod's official language.
The rod's official language.
The rod in a fool's mouth, look in your text, is a rod of what?
It's a rod of pride.
When a fool speaks, he's speaking the language of pride.
Why does a fool not listen to God's word?
One reason: pride.
Pride.
Everything the devil said when he got those angels to follow him.
Everything the devil said when he got Adam and Eve to follow him. was based on pride.
Why does a fool not take advice from an older and wiser person?
Pride can't tell me anything.
Oh, I know, I know.
You try telling somebody something, and when you're starting to tell them, they'll say, I know.
You'll know right then that person's proud and they're foolish.
I was outside yesterday in the parking garage.
Of our courthouse.
And we've had someone that's worked for our courthouse for a while.
And I noticed that his tire would keep going low, and then he would just air it back up again.
Then it would go low and he'd air it back up.
And the tire was getting dry rot on the rubber, you could tell.
And he's, you know, about one of my kids' ages.
And so I went down, and I was thinking, as I was going down stairs to where he works, I was thinking, now, Richard, show this man some respect here.
Don't embarrass him in front of his coworkers.
But, you know, talk to him like you'd talk to one of your kids.
So I go down there and I said his name and I said, look.
I got kids your age, so I'm going to talk to you like you're one of my kids.
And I said, that tire's got dry rot.
And I said, and the air pressure is low.
And I said, you need to get that thing fixed or replaced.
I said, when you've got weak tires, low air pressure.
And it's on your steering axle.
And that tire were to pop, you're going to lose your steering.
You're going to get yourself hurt.
You're going to get your kids hurt.
And the next thing you know what he did?
Next thing I saw him, he's going outside to try to see the size of his tire.
So he could go around and start checking prices.
And what was that?
He was humble enough to listen to advice.
And he had been airing that tyrant for a long time, humble enough to at least listen to advice.
The Bible says in Proverbs 16:18, pride goeth before destruction. and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Someone who's going to be destroyed, unnecessarily destroyed Is someone with pride, unwilling to listen to advice, unwilling to take guidance, unwilling to humble themselves to the word of God?
Pride.
And it's so sad.
Why does a fool spout his mouth off and stir up trouble?
When he could simply keep his mouth shut and preserve peace.
Why does he do that?
Pride.
You know what they like to do?
They like to leave and then tell somebody the story and say, And you know what I told him?
They like to do that.
Pride.
But pride goes before destruction.
And when a fool falls, When a fool gets shot, when a fool gets stabbed, when a fool gets beat up, when a fool gets fired, y'all ever known someone to get fired for popping their mouth off when they shouldn't?
I do.
You do too?
Yep.
And when that happens, do you know what that is?
That's the rod of his mouth smiting him when he loses his job.
The rod of his mouth smiting him when he gets shot.
The person may have been wrong to shoot him, but still it's unnecessary destruction caused by the pride.
In his mouth.
I believe the vast majority.
Now, Brother Shepherd, y'all do a lot of, y'all respond to a lot of family violence stuff.
I mean, this is what this man does.
A lot of assaults and murders.
And I believe the vast majority of assaults and even homicides could be prevented if people would just humble themselves and pay a little respect to the people around them.
Do you believe it, Brother Shepherd?
How many murders, how many assaults start off with a verbal argument?
Almost every one of them?
It starts off right here.
And then the rod in that mouth turns into a gun, turns into a knife, turns into a fist, turns into a car running over them.
The second simple and easy way to ensure That the rod in the mouth is never used against you is this: humble yourself and honor others.
Humble yourself.
And honor others.
Actually, I think that's the third simple and easy way, not the second, excuse me.
I was about to rip you off.
That's the third simple and easy way.
Humble yourself.
And honor others.
Number one, the rod's opportunistic location, the mouth.
Number two, the rod's only loser, the fool.
Number three, the rod's official language, pride.
Number four, the righteous observing lips.
Look back in your text, but the lips of the wise.
A wise man is a man who walks according to God's word.
Now here's what God's Word will do.
God's word will tell you when to speak.
And when not to speak.
So you will know when to keep your mouth shut.
Now that takes care of the first simple and easy thing to do, right?
Keep your mouth shut.
God's Word will guide you through life so you won't be a fool.
Now that takes care of the second simple and easy thing that you can do, right?
Follow God's Word.
God's word will set you in your proper place.
It will put you in your heart and your mind in your proper place in creation.
In the order of authority, so you won't be full of pride.
That takes care of the third simple and easy thing.
That you can do.
God's Word will then teach you.
This is the beautiful thing.
God's Word will then teach you when to speak and what to say.
Because Keeping your mouth shut is fantastic.
It's simple and easy.
But there's some times that we need to speak, right?
There's sometimes we really need to speak.
It says, the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
Now, the only way the lips of the wise are going to preserve them is if they do one or two things: keep their mouth shut.
When they shouldn't speak, and then speak when they should.
And that's what God's Word will do: it'll teach you when to speak.
And what to say.
And when a wise person speaks when and what God wants them to say.
The lips of the wise, look in your text, shall preserve them.
Meaning, the lips that know when not to speak. and know when and how to speak graciously will guard, they'll safeguard the person that they belong to.
They will show respect to people.
They will refrain from inciting anger.
They will plead a righteous cause before a righteous judge.
They will extend grace and secure friendship.
And in so doing, they will preserve the wise person.
In 1 Samuel, the Bible gives us a fine example of a foolish mouth And the rod, and also the lips of the wise, preserving a woman, her family, and her wealth, her household.
David was about, the soon-to-be king David, was about to destroy the house of Nabal.
Nabel was a fool, and Nabel could not keep his mouth shut.
And Nabal would not humble himself and show respect to anybody.
King David had asked Nabal for some provisions for him and his men.
He had been protecting Nabal's flock out in the field.
And Naval basically said, you're no better than any other rebel out there that's running off from his master.
Working for King Saul like you should.
And he just run David down, run his mouth off, disrespected him, and then refused to give him and his men provision.
So David was about to come and destroy that household.
So Nabal spoke with a foolish and a prideful mouth, and now he was about to get.
The rod of his mouth in return.
But when his wife Abigail understood what was about to happen, she had wise lips.
And when she saw David coming in 1 Samuel 25, 23 through 33, it says, And when Abigail saw David, she hasted or hurried up. and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face.
Now, when she fell before David on her face, what was that?
Was that pride?
No.
So she couldn't have had a rod of pride in her mouth, could she?
There was no pride.
That was humility.
She was humbling herself and honoring her neighbor when she came off and bowed herself to the ground.
Verse 24, and fell at his feet and said, Upon me, my Lord, upon me, let this iniquity be.
And let thine handmaiden, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaiden.
What is she doing?
She's about to give the words of the wise.
She approaches in humility.
She keeps her mouth shut instead of coming out there and berating David and saying, Who are you to come against us?
My husband will get you, and all this.
No.
She's wise enough to keep her mouth shut when it comes to not saying what she shouldn't say.
And then she humbles herself, and now wise words come out.
In respectful words, let my Lord, I pray thee, in verse 25, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he.
Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.
In other words, I won't apologize for my husband.
He's a fool.
Okay?
But I, thine handmaid, saw not the young men of my Lord whom thou didst send.
Now, therefore, my Lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood. and from avenging thyself with thine own hand.
Now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my Lord, be as neighbour.
And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my Lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my Lord.
I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid.
For the Lord will certainly make my Lord a surehouse, because my Lord now when she's saying my Lord, she's talking about David.
As saying, Sir, that's a small L.
My Lord fighteth the battles of thee, Lord.
See the all-caps, Lord, there, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul.
But the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God, and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out.
As out of the middle of a sling.
And it shall come to pass when the LORD shall have done to my LORD according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel.
That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my Lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my Lord hath avenged himself.
Now, pause right there.
Do you see what she's doing?
Not only does she have great humility, she's empathizing with David.
Understanding where he's coming from, she's saying, Someone's chasing you, you haven't done anything wrong, and now Saul's after you.
And then she expresses great faith.
I know it's going to come to pass that everything the Lord said about you, the Lord's going to bring that to pass.
And, David, here's what I don't want to happen.
When you become king and God puts you in that incredible position, I don't want your conscience.
For having come here and killed innocent blood today, I don't want your conscience to be troubled with that.
I want you to be able to go into your position as king.
With a clear mind, and not let this trouble you all the days of your life, knowing that you did this.
And you know what's happening with David?
The Lord's humbling David back because he or she is so caring for David's.
Life, caring for his conscience, caring for his position, caring for how the Lord views everything that's going on here.
And David's like.
Wow, this woman makes sense.
What she's saying is right.
And so she says, At the end of verse 31, But when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord, then remember thine handmaid.
Verse 32, And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel. which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou Which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
Wow.
You know what we just saw there?
We saw a murder stopped.
Several murders stopped.
With keeping the mouth shut, not saying what she shouldn't say, humbling herself, taking away the pride from the rod.
If you remove the pride, there is no rod in the mouth.
And so here her humility.
Well, number one, she kept the mouth shut.
She locked the closet.
Number two, what does she do?
She removed the pride.
She humbled herself when she humbled her heart.
What happened?
The belt was gone out of the closet.
Not only was the closet locked, but now the belt's broken.
The belt is disabled.
Because there's no pride there to drive that belt.
And then, number three, she followed God's word.
She started exercising her faith and saying, Now, here's what God's word says, and I know God's going to fulfill it, and we don't want you to shed innocent blood.
And here he goes, and he says, you're right.
Thank God you came and gave me.
The lips of the wise.
And now murder solved, assaults are stopped.
And the conscience is clear.
Wise, humble lips preserve life that day.
Life that the foolish lips had almost lost.
With that, we'll go ahead and close tonight.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
And I pray, dear Lord God, that you'll help us, Father, to exercise this wonderful proverb.
I pray, dear Lord God, for each and every one of us, Father, to lock it into our heart, to meditate on it, and the next time that we feel The need to open our mouth and speak in pride, that you'll remind us, Father God, of who we are.
Remind us of what your word says and what and how we should speak.
Remind us, Lord, to humble ourselves and pay respect to somebody else, and to think of somebody else's calls.
And not just our own, as Abigail did.
We thank you.
In Jesus' precious name, Amen.
