Before the first song is sung, God has already been listening. Scripture teaches that worship begins not with melody, but with speech. Every word we utter is weighed before God as an act of allegiance, obedience, or rebellion. Proverbs exposes the unsettling truth that prayer itself can be rejected, that religious language can become profane, and that careless words can function as false worship. This sermon confronts how our speech reveals what we fear, what we excuse, and who we truly serve. It presses the unavoidable verdict that our words condemn us, then holds out the only hope left to sinners caught by their own mouths: confession through Christ, the perfect Word, who makes polluted worship acceptable before a holy God.