The Lip Guard – a Christian’s Necessary Accessory

Psalm 141:1-4, James 3:1-12

I remember when I was young, before we ever went out, Mom used to put her lipstick on. She’d sit before her vanity and apply a film of lipstick wax. She’d purse her lips, rub them together, to smoothen and spread out the lipstick to the edge of her lips. This is etched in my memory. And since I have sisters, I also remember the introduction of lip liner. They’d apply lipstick, lip liner, and also lip gloss. Then there was the instrument called the lip brush. Why? So they’d not use so much lipstick, and so they could blend the lip liner and lip stick - so they’d not look like clowns. To assure people here, my knowledge is strictly theoretical - through research and observation. But I remember my Mom and sisters always carrying the lipstick with them to apply when needed. It was their necessary accessory. After food, they’d top it up - because they’d eaten some. It’s said that a lady could consume as much as 2 - 2 3/4 kilograms of lipstick in her life time. That’s the same as 24 MacDonald’s Quarter Pounders.

Many ladies desire to look good. That’s why there are many lip accessories – lip stick, lip gloss, lip liner, lip wax, lip brush, lip balm, etc. But there’s one lip accessory, however, that we all desperately need - male and female - in order to be beautiful. That accessory is the lip guard. We may have all the lip accessories to beautify us, but if we don’t have the lip guard to control our words, we are ugly. Proverbs 11:22 says, “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.” No matter how beautiful you are, if you have no discretion in speech and behavior, you’re as beautiful as a pig with a ring in its snout. Which is - not very beautiful. We are considering Lord’s Day 43 today - which is on the ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness. But we read that it’s not merely not to lie, it’s also not to twist words, nor to gossip, slander, condemn anyone, nor join others in doing this. It’s to love, speak, and confess the truth; and to defend another person’s honor and reputation. To do this, we need the lip guard. And we will explore Psalm 141 in 3 points. Firstly, the reasons for the lip guard; secondly, the role of the lip guard; and thirdly, the results of the lip guard.

Firstly, the reasons for the lip guard. In verse 3, the Psalmist said, “Set a watch over my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.” The word “watch” means a guard, a sentry - a watchman. He was asking God for a sentry to keep watch over his mouth, to guard the doors of his lips. Essentially, he was asking God to restrain what came out of his mouth. Why? The Psalmist was David. David was a king - a military conqueror. He had led many campaigns against the enemies of his people. And he had to protect his people from the assaults of his enemies. And so he used an example from the battlefield and military. The watchman was someone appointed to stay awake outside of a prison compound and keep watch so that none can come out of that prison compound who should not come out. And so he viewed his mouth as a prison of criminals. Why? Because our mouths are wicked. As James 3:8 says, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” It’s not just an evil, but an unruly evil. This is why David asks for a lip guard. The Heidelberg speaks of false testimony. Mrs Potiphar’s false testimony got Joseph sent to prison. It speaks of not twisting words. The Pharisees accused Jesus of saying he’d destroy the temple, when he didn’t. It speaks of not gossiping or slandering. Jezebel got false witnesses to slander Naboth. It speaks of not condemning or joining in to condemn anyone rashly and unheard. We all know how the crowds shouted “Crucify him!” at Jesus. This is why James 3:6 says it’s a fire - a whole world of sin. That’s quite an indictment. It’s so small, but so incredibly wicked. And verse 6 says, it defiles the whole body, sets our whole life on fire, because it’s set on fire by hell itself. And this should be no surprise. The Devil tempted Eve with lies. He set the whole course of human nature on fire.

But the tongue is evil, because of the heart. Christ said that the reason why the mouth speaks forth evil is because the heart is evil; wicked words will proceed from a wicked heart. Luke 6:45 says, “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.” We all know Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” It’s most deceitful - that’s why the tongue lies. It’s desperately wicked - that’s why the tongue slanders and is used to condemn. Who can comprehend the heart’s wickedness? That’s why the same word is used with the heart in Proverbs 4:23 - “Keep (or watch, or guard) the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” The heart is a source - like a water source. If the source is corrupted, it spreads the corruption to wherever it flows. The River Nile has two sources — Lake Victoria and Lake Tana. If one of these lakes was poisoned, the water that flows down into the Nile River Delta, with a network of smaller branches and canals, those who rely on the water source will also be poisoned. About 60 percent of Egypt’s population lives in the Nile Delta, benefiting from the river’s gifts of water and soil. What if the gift was poison? They’d die. And this is why the tongue is a poison - it’s because of the heart.

How can we control the tongue? How can we guard the tongue? James 3:7-8 says that no man can tame the tongue. While every kind of animal, bird, snakes, and sea creatures are tamed and controlled by man, he hasn’t learned to control the tongue. And this is why beloved, we can never keep this commandment unless we’re first saved. Only the Lord can change our hearts. In Jeremiah 2:22, God says that “no amount of soap or lye (like potassium hydroxide) can make you clean. I still see the stain of your guilt. I’m the Sovereign LORD!” And that’s why he has to give us a new heart. Ezekiel 36:26 - “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” Dearly beloved in the Lord, our hearts have been changed - we love the Lord. And our hearts are still being changed. This Word is addressed to us, because until we are in heaven, we will struggle with our tongues. This is why along with asking God for a guard, David prayed in verse 4, that his heart wouldn’t be inclined to evil nor to practice wicked works. We see that he didn’t delight in evil.

So with a renewed will and heart, we can guard our lips, because our hearts are surrendered to God. Secondly, the role of the lip guard. True religion is practical - if we’re saved, how we use our tongues, mouths, and lips must show forth our faith. This is why James 3:9-12 tell us that if we bless God, how can we curse men who are made in God’s image? How can blessing and cursing come from the same mouth? James says - “My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” Just as a fountain can’t have sweet and bitter water, a fig tree can’t bear forth olives. We need to apply the lip guard as Christians to show forth our changed hearts. James 1:26 asks - “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue,” this man's religion is vain. So we need it to show forth our changed hearts. There’s never a time when Christians don’t need it. Even the spiritually mature need it. Job, of whom God said to Satan that there was none as perfect and upright as he; he also cursed the day of his birth. We read that Moses was the meekest man who lived on earth. Yet he spoke sinfully with his lips. When asked to speak to the rock, he hit the rock and yelled at the children of Israel, calling them rebels who were so difficult for him to lead. He forgot that God was the one who led them. Peter, when he was confronted by the maidservant as being Christ’s disciple, cursed and swore. So David, who was weak, knew the wisdom of asking God for help. This is why he asked God to set a guard before his lips. He didn’t want to sin - he didn’t want, as Psalm 141:4 says, share and eat of these wicked fruits - these delicacies - of the wicked. It tells us that the wicked delight in lying, shaming, gossiping, slandering, condemning. These are the devil’s own works - as the Heidelberg says. And this is what we Christians hate to do because of Christ, but we also love to do it because of lingering sin in us. The church is a hotbed for these things - we learn how to speak evil in a pious way.

The Heidelberg speaks against lying, twisting, gossiping, and condemning. But it speaks for loving, speaking, and confessing the truth; as well as defending and promoting the honor of others. Therefore, we see several roles that the lip guard can perform. It must promote love - because it concerns the neighbor. It must promote truth - because God hates lying. It must induce and compel necessary speech - because sometimes we can’t remain silent. And it must promote wisdom. The Heidelberg says we must do what we can to defend and promote truth. This requires wisdom. So the lip guard will demand that only truth would come out of our mouths. There are times when we want to say things which we have heard - but maybe only one side of the story - it’s not the complete truth. Or there are times we know that what we want to say is not the truth, that it would tend towards slander. We’re not to utter it. The lip guard keeps the falsehood in because we’re believers who love the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the way, the truth, and the life.

The lip guard will also promote love. While the words that come out of our lips may be true, they may not always be the most loving. It concerns our neighbor. Many of us say - I must say the absolute truth in the most plain way because I love my neighbor - but what comes out is the harshest, most unkind pronouncement, and unloving truth. We can be zealous without love. Remember that truth and love are related. “Charity rejoiceth in the truth” - 1 Corinthians 13. “Now the end or goal of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (1 Timothy 1:5). The goal of instruction is love out of a pure heart. What we say must result in more love.

The lip guard must also induce and compel necessary speech. When you hear gossip and slander, necessity compels us to speak out to stop it. This is a very obvious situation where love and necessity compels us to speak out. But we don’t always do this. Because it compels us to subdue our sinful desire to listen. It compels us to speak out for truth. It compels us to learn to speak with love. On the other hand, it’s important to know when to be necessarily slow to speak. It’s true that some of us don’t know how to differentiate. It’s always a life and death issue for us. It’s always a matter of faithfulness for us - and if we didn’t say it, we’d be unfaithful. So we always feel compelled to say. Wesley spoke of an old curmudgeon in his church - who always spoke out against what he felt was wrong, because necessity dictated he should. The early Methodists were called Methodists because they had methodology to the practice of their faith - their daily disciplines of prayer, Bible reading, evangelism, etc. But what happened was this created an attitude of criticism in some in Wesley’s day who saw a lack of methodology in others. They felt that out of necessity they had to correct everyone else - but they didn’t speak in love. This seems an awful lot like “condemning or joining in condemning others rashly.” We’re all prone to this - not just the primitive Methodists - we speak about the deficiencies of others, blog about it, tiktok it, make social media comments on it, and use different literary devices like sarcasm to twist another’s words. Spurgeon had this to say of chronic practitioners - and how loving, truthful, timely, and wise he was with his words - he said, “But how many have we in our churches of ‘crab-tree Christians,’ who have mixed such a vast amount of vinegar, and such a tremendous quantity of gall in their constitutions, that they can scarcely speak one good word to you. They are like isolated icebergs, no one cares to go near them. They float about on the sea of forgetfulness, until at last they are melted and gone. And though, good souls, we shall be happy enough to meet them in heaven, we are very glad to get rid of them from the earth! They were always so unamiable in disposition, that we would rather live an eternity with them in heaven than five minutes on earth. Don’t you be like this, my brethren. Imitate Christ in your loving spirits; speak kindly, act kindly, and do kindly, that men may say of you, “He has been with Jesus.”” Necessity, but love.

And this requires wisdom. The lip guard promotes wisdom. The Heidelberg says we must do what we can to defend and promote truth. The how is important, the when is important, the which is important. God didn’t get through to Elijah by fire, storm, or earthquake - but by a still, small voice. Nathan waited for the best time to confront David. Christ restored Peter after feeding him by the shores of Galilee. Do you find, dearly beloved, that you are overflowing with the love of God to speak the truth in due season, with wisdom from God? Or have you only, throughout the years of your Christian experience, only done it one way because that’s the only way you know how to do it; and find yourself terribly alone, with only your zeal and righteousness as your only comforts? Own your name, crab-tree Christian. May I own my name, pastor curmudgeon. May I own what I truly am - a pig with a gold ring. May I admit that in doing what I think is right, I may have actually done the devil’s own work. This is how we sin against the 9th commandment.

But if we were to wear this accessory of the lip guard, what would be the result? That’s the third point. Aside from the compulsion to speak truthfully and in love, we see 2 things from this text that would accompany a discrete tongue. These are seen in the prayers of David. Verses 1-2, David prays to God - “LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” And this is the context of his prayer in verse 3 - for God to set a watch over his lips. David asks in humility. He result of the lip guard is humility. It takes humility to ask for it, and it results in humility. Dearly beloved, it requires humility to be corrected in how we speak. It requires surrender to God to acknowledge that we are unwise, untruthful, unloving, and too slow or fast in the things we communicate. It requires humility and surrender to God to discipline our hearts to love this truth.

Verse 4 also speaks about holiness and self-control - “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.” The temptation to listen and speak gossip, to remain safe by not speaking against falsehood, the righteous feeling that comes by condemning “wrong” - and many more - strongly call to us to eat of these dainties, to take a bite out of that forbidden fruit. But if we can control our tongues, we will be controlled in many other areas of our lives. James 3:2 speaks of the sanctifying effect on our lives in other areas, when we guard our lips - “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”

Dearly beloved, we know that we can never control our tongues, if we ourselves aren’t surrendered to the Lord. We will always reject that lip guard that God graciously gifts to us. We can only apply this lip guard if our hearts have been washed by Christ. And this is something for us to know - covenant people of God, you must trust in Christ. If you have trouble with your tongue, it’s a heart issue. Your heart is in need of continual sanctification. But if your heart has never been surrendered to Christ alone for him to change, your effort to guard your lips will come to nothing. Or the speech will be guarded, but not the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak. And that should give us pause for concern. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36-37 - “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” If every idle word God will judge, we will find ourselves in hellfire. James 3:6 says that the tongue is set on fire by hell itself, or it can be translated it will be set on fire in hell. That’s why, come to Christ for cleansing. And if Christ has taken your vile words on himself, even as he bore the stripes on his body, the nails in his hands and feet, the thorns on his brow because of the vile words of others towards him; he can change your heart that your lips will be guarded. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Won’t you cry to him today for his help and his cleansing? That you may honor him with your lips?

1. The Reasons for the Lip Guard

2. The Roles of the Lip Guard

3. The Results of the Lip Guard