The Well-Tuned Heart: The Fountain of Wise Speech Text: Proverbs 16:23
Introduction: The Great Disconnect
We live in an age that is drowning in words. We have more avenues for communication than any generation in human history, from twenty-four-hour news cycles to the ceaseless chatter of social media. And yet, for all our talking, we have very little to say. Our public discourse is a polluted river, filled with outrage, foolishness, slander, and vanity. We have mastered the mechanics of communication but have utterly lost the art of it. Why? It is because we suffer from a great disconnect. We believe that the problem with our words is a problem with our words. We think the solution is to be more polished, more articulate, more persuasive, or perhaps just more clever.
But the Bible diagnoses the problem at a much deeper level. The problem with our words is not a problem with our mouths; it is a problem with our hearts. Jesus was blunt about this. He told the Pharisees, those masters of religious rhetoric, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). Your speech is a diagnostic tool. It is an EKG for the soul. What comes out of your mouth is a reliable indicator of what is actually in your heart. You cannot fix foolish speech by simply trying to talk smarter, any more than you can fix a polluted spring by painting the pump handle. You must go to the source.
Our proverb for today gets right to the root of this issue. It shows us the direct, causal link between the state of a man's heart and the quality of his words. It shows us that true wisdom is not a matter of external technique but of internal transformation. For the Christian, our words are not simply tools for conveying information. They are instruments of either construction or destruction. They can build up or tear down. They can minister grace or they can minister poison. And the difference between the two is not found in a speech class, but in the heart that has been captured and transformed by the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.
This proverb is a compact lesson in spiritual physiology. It shows us how a sanctified heart produces sanctified speech. It is the divine logic that connects the root to the fruit, the fountain to the stream. If we want our words to have weight, to be filled with grace and truth, we must begin where God begins, with the heart.
The Text
The heart of the wise gives insight to his mouth
And increases learning to his lips.
(Proverbs 16:23 LSB)
The Wise Heart as Teacher (v. 23a)
The first clause lays the foundation:
"The heart of the wise gives insight to his mouth..." (Proverbs 16:23a)
Notice the direction of the instruction. It is not the mouth that teaches the heart. It is not the man who, through sheer willpower, decides to start speaking wisely and thereby makes his heart wise. That is the error of the moralist, the self-help guru, and the Pharisee. They believe in outside-in transformation. The Bible teaches inside-out transformation. The heart is the command center, and the mouth is the obedient servant. The heart is the teacher, and the mouth is the student.
So what is a "wise heart"? A wise heart, in the biblical sense, is not one that is merely crammed with information. You can have a PhD and still be a fool. A wise heart is a rightly-ordered heart. It is a heart that fears God (Prov. 1:7). It is a heart that trusts in the Lord and does not lean on its own understanding (Prov. 3:5). It is a heart that has been humbled by the gospel and understands its own desperate need for grace. It is a heart that loves what God loves and hates what God hates. This kind of heart has been tuned by the Holy Spirit to resonate with God's reality.
And it is this tuned heart that "gives insight" to the mouth. The Hebrew word here can be translated as "instructs" or "makes skillful." A wise heart acts as a constant tutor to the tongue. Before a word is spoken, it is first vetted by the heart. The wise heart asks questions that the foolish heart never considers: Is this true? Is this kind? Is this necessary? Is this the right time? Will this build up or tear down? The foolish man's mouth is an open sewer, spewing out whatever happens to be flowing through his mind at that moment. The wise man's mouth is a guarded gate, and his heart is the gatekeeper.
This is why true eloquence is a theological virtue before it is a rhetorical one. A man whose heart is steeped in Scripture, who meditates on God's law day and night, will find that his mouth is being discipled. His vocabulary, his illustrations, his timing, his tone, all of it will begin to be shaped by the wisdom that governs his heart. He doesn't just learn to say wise things; he learns how to say things wisely. His speech becomes skillful, not just correct.
Persuasive Lips as a Result (v. 23b)
The second clause shows the external effect of this internal reality.
"And increases learning to his lips." (Proverbs 16:23b)
This phrase "increases learning" is a rich one. It carries the idea of persuasive power. It means that the words spoken are not just wise, but they are compelling. They land with weight. They are received by the hearer. The New King James translates it as "adds learning to his lips," while the ESV says it "makes his speech more persuasive." Both get at the same central truth: wisdom that begins in the heart makes its way to the lips and results in effective, instructive communication.
This is not the persuasion of the manipulative salesman or the slick politician. Their persuasion is rooted in deceit, flattery, and preying on the lusts of their audience. That is the wisdom from below, which James tells us is earthly, sensual, and demonic (James 3:15). The persuasion described here is the fruit of wisdom from above. It is the natural authority that flows from a life and a heart that are aligned with the grain of God's universe.
When a wise man speaks, his words have a certain heft. They are not hollow. This is because they are backed by the currency of a transformed character. People listen not just because the argument is clever, but because they sense that the words are coming from a place of integrity. The learning, or persuasiveness, on the lips is the overflow of the wisdom in the heart.
This also means that the wise man is himself always learning. The man who "increases learning to his lips" is not a know-it-all. His heart is teachable, and therefore his lips are able to teach. He listens more than he speaks. He is slow to speak and quick to hear (James 1:19). Because his heart is submitted to God, he is not threatened by correction or rebuke. This humility makes his speech all the more persuasive, because it is not driven by ego. He is not trying to win an argument; he is trying to impart truth. He is not trying to display his own brilliance; he is trying to display the brilliance of the wisdom he serves.
Conclusion: The Gospel for Our Words
So what is the takeaway for us? If our mouths are simply broadcasting the state of our hearts, and our hearts are, by nature, deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9), then we are in a world of trouble. Our natural condition is to have foolish hearts that give foolish instruction to our mouths, adding folly to our lips. This is why the world's communication is such a mess. It is a world full of foolish hearts chattering away.
The solution is not to try harder to talk better. The solution is the gospel. We need a heart transplant. This is exactly what God promises in the new covenant: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). The gospel is the announcement that God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, performs this radical heart surgery on all who repent and believe.
When Christ takes up residence in our hearts by faith, He begins the lifelong process of teaching our hearts wisdom. The Holy Spirit begins to tune our hearts to the key of Scripture. And as our hearts are progressively sanctified, our speech will be as well. We will find that our hearts begin to give new, godly insight to our mouths. We will find that our lips, which were once instruments of pride and folly, can become instruments that increase learning, minister grace, and bring glory to God.
Therefore, guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the issues of life, including the words of your mouth (Prov. 4:23). Immerse your heart in the Word of God. Confess the sins of your heart and your mouth quickly. Ask God to fill you with His Spirit, so that the wisdom from above might govern your heart. When this happens, your words will change. They will become what God intended them to be: not just sounds, but instruments of life, truth, and grace. A wise heart is the only fountain from which gracious words can flow.