Sticks, Stones And Words

We’re going to begin in John 8:44.

“Ye are of your father the devil...”

When Jesus says “ye are of your father the devil” what’s telling the people is you have the same nature as your father, which is the sin nature. He not saying this because they are arguing with him. It’s not like he’s calling them names. Before we got born again, we were “of our father the devil” too. Okay?

He says “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him (because there is no truth in him, BECAUSE there is no truth in him). When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

I wanted to read that one verse to launch us on where we’re going this morning. It’s one of the lies that Satan has fed us. And this lie started long before I was born and probably before everyone here.

It’s one of the most dangerous lies around. But it’s so subtle, so deceptive, and if you’re not paying attention, so innocent. But we’re taught it as a child. I repeated this more than once as a child and even a time or two as a grown up. It’s one of those sayings that is designed to show people how tough you are. But, in reality, what it has done is blinded us to the fact that this very thing is why some people are going spend an eternity in the lake of fire.

I’m getting ready to show my age. I grew up during the time when Chubby Checker was popular. “I’m going to twist again like I did last summer.” I remember doing the twist and my friends looking at me and laughing. “You are a horrible dancer! We can’t believe you’d even do this in public!”

And so, I looked at them and said “Well, stick and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me!”

“Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me!”

I lied that day because my response showed that the words did indeed hurt me. But it’s one of those lies that Satan has gotten into the world, and in the Body of Christ, that the only things that hurt you are physical.

Satan knows how important words are. But if he can get us to believe that words have no power over us, words can’t hurt us, words can do us no harm – he’s got us right where he wants us.

Sticks. Stones. Words.

When we say words can’t hurt us, we are devaluing the impact of words in our lives. As I was thinking about this again this morning, another lie rose up in my spirit. How many times have you heard someone say “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one preached?”

Listen, for people who say that, if you don’t want to go to church, just don’t go! You don’t have to say that because, you see, you wouldn’t recognize a sermon if you saw it. Again, this saying devalues the Bible, the written Word.

Everything about us, ladies and gentlemen, is in this book. Everything! It’s here. And when we say we’re rather see a sermon than hear one, what we’re saying is this [I’m holding up the Bible.] is not that important to me. What I see in you is what’s important to me. That is what’s going to determine my relationship with God.

I’m going to tell you something right now. If you’re going to determine your relationship God by the Christians you see today, just go ahead and sign the dotted line “I’m on my way to the lake of fire and an eternity away from God.” Most Christians are not preaching a sermon you should be watching.

Now I have a question for you. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me. How many of you have ever had a bone broken by a stick? How many of you have ever had a bone broken by a stone, or a rock, or a brick?

Now how many of you have gone through life and heard words that have not hurt you? Show of hands. [No hands were raised.} None because words do hurt.

I want you to listen to some of this.

With words....

• You can kill a person’s hopes and dreams. For example:

• “You’re not smart enough to be an engineer.”

• “You can sing but you’re not good enough to sing professionally.”

I remember hearing a story about Anita Baker, an R&B singer. You could hear her music all over the place in the late 80s and early 90s. She was told by her fifth grade music teacher that she would never sing professionally because she had a sultry like deep voice.