[Music] Your goal is spiritual maturity,
that's what the Book of James is about, growing in
your faith and becoming more mature in Christ. That's your
goal. A true mark of Christian maturity, life maturity, is how
you use your mouth, how you manage your mouth, how you use
your tongue. Let's begin reading in chapter 3 verse 1. "Not many
of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that
we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." Always
gives me pause when I read that because I know I'm highly
accountable to God for what I say and what I do. Verse 2 says
"For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not
stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man", meaning a mature
man, "also able to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into
the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their
whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also, though they are
so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by
a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So
also is the tongue a small member, yet it boasts of great
things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The
tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting
on fire the entire", watch these words, "course of life", will of
existence literally, "and set on fire by hell." "For every kind
of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed
and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the
tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it
we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who
are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come
blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not
to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both
fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives,
or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield
fresh water." James is a master illustrator. In this passage on
the tongue he gives us some metaphors regarding our mouths.
There are 6 of them, he talks about the bit in the mouth of a
horse, he talks about the rudder on a ship, he talks about a
fire, a spark that can set ablaze, he talks about a beast,
that the tongue is like a beast or like a monster in the mouth.
It's like poison, it can produce poison. He said it's like a
fountain and it is like a fig tree. With all of these
llustrative comments, very practical, James ever practical
tells us about the tongue and what it can do and how it sets
the course and even the character and the destiny of our
lives. A couple of things, one our words give us direction,
that's the first thing. Our words, what we say give us
direction in life. That's why he uses the illustration about the
horse and the bridle. It's amazing you could take a 1,200
pound animal and put a 90 pound child on it but with reins and a
bit a small child can control that great horse. Same is true
of the rudder on a ship, no matter how big the ship it is
moved by the pilot at the direction of the rudder. He's
saying here that our tongue controls the direction of our
lives. Change the way you speak, change what you say and how you
talk and you can change the direction of your life. It's
true. I'm going to say it again, change the way you speak,
how you use your tongue and it will change the course, the
direction of your life. Proverbs tells us in proverbs 8:21 that
life and death are in the power of the tongue. A very powerful
thing is the tongue. If you speak negatively, if you're
constantly reflecting negativity in what you then ultimately you
will live a negative life. It's a simple principle really. How
you talk to God, how you talk to yourself, how you talk to others
dramatically influences the course of your life. If you are
filled with words that are worthless or careless or empty
or even profane, then ultimately that's the way your life's going
to turn out. Let me share a couple of ideas. For examples,
words are powerful, they can change your life. You go to an
altar and you say "I do", and I promise you that changes your
life. If someone stands before a judge and the judge says "You're
not guilty" that changes everything. If you're before a
doctor and you hear your doctor say "You're cancer free" those
words are life changing. If say no to a temptation, when you're
under attack and you can feel the breath of Satan on your neck
and you say no in the power of God's spirit to temptation, that
can change the course or the direction of your life. When you
say "Yes I will follow Jesus Christ" that not only changes
your direction, it changes the destiny, your eternal future.
Your words matter. Words can change history and have. If
words are demonized out of the mouth of a Hitler then war and
disaster comes, but words that come out of the mouth of a great
evangelist like Billy Graham can change history as well. Words
are powerful. If you speak words of faith then your life is
filled with faith. If you speak God's word, God's promises,
God's will upon your life, it changes everything for the good,
and the reverse is true. Colossians 3 verse 17 is a
scripture you should note. It says "For whatever you do, in
word and deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, with gratitude in your heart, giving thanks to God the
Father through him." When we put Christ first in our lives, we
put him first into what we do and what we say. We are able,
according to this, we shouldn't speak or say anything or write
anything or post anything or send anything, which we can not
sign the name of the Lord Jesus. If you cannot glorify God and
magnify God with your words then don't say them. You need to ask
in every situation if you post it, if you send it, if you say
it, social media is a whole new world of being able to express
ourselves but as Christians and followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I shall always ask myself, "Does this represent
Jesus Christ and reflect His love in my life?" Growing
Christians learn how to control their tongues under the guidance
of the holy spirit because it sets the course of our lives.
Secondly our words can bring destruction, not only they bring
direction but our words can bring destruction. James
illustrates with a spark and a fire. Just a small spark, we've
all had experiences with matches and fire. Just a small spark can
destroy a house or destroy an entire forest. James says the
tongue, (I noted and stopped when I read it), sets
on fire the course of nature, the very wheel of existence. In
other words all of life is affected by our words, and all
the people in our lives. James says here that the tongue can be
set on fire of hell. The word is [Gahanna 00:18:56]. Gahanna was
the garbage dump outside of Jerusalem, burning constantly,
smelling sulfuric. It was disgusting. Jesus described hell
as the eternal garbage dump burning with fire. It's the
rubbish of the universe. He said the tongue can reflect garbage,
regurgitate filth. James tells us an evil tongue defiles and
destroys the entire body. A tongue set on fire of hell. You
ever heard that in conversation? Somebody says to somebody else
"Okay, give them hell." Give them hell, it's what he's
talking about here. The tongue can start a hell fire that can
never be put out in a person's life. When you think about the
words we use on the negative side, let's start there. We'll
flip it in just a second. Here are the kinds of words that can
start a fire that you can't control. Let's start with
careless words. You ever been run over by a hit and run mouth?
Careless words, meaningless words, vain words. Some people
they don't use vile words, they just use vain words. Jesus said
"We'll give it a count at the judgment seat of Christ for
every vain, idle word that we speak. Scary. Careless words
can destroy lives in a matter of minutes. Sticks and stones may
break my bones but words will never hurt me. Not true. Words
can hurt and they can hurt a lot. A sports writer for the
Atlanta Constitution several years ago wrote these words
about the tongue. He said "I am more deadly than the screaming
shell from the howitzer. I win without killing, I tear down
homes and break hearts and wreck lives. I travel on the wings of
the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no
purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no
respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My victims
are as numerous as the sands of the sea and often as innocent. I
never forget and seldom forgive. My name is gossip." Just idle
words that can become very hurtful words. I wonder how
many careless, thoughtless words have ruined relationships and
fractured families and torn churches apart and destroyed
reputations. Careless words, words without thinking. We
should always ask the Holy Spirit to help us think before
we speak, that we would think before we sinned. Then there are
contemptuous words. Angry, hostile words. Someone said
"Make your words sweet because some day you may have to eat
them." I wonder how many wives have been beaten down by the
words, the verbal abuse of an angry husband. How many children
have been wounded for life by the hostile words, the angry
words of parents who don't pay attention. They're like weapons,
they can break down spirits. Criticism and destructive
language, words that wound. You have to live with the
consequences of what you say and often people around you live
with the consequences of what we say. Contemptuous words,
hateful, angry. Censorious that's the next kind
of words, censorious words. Negative, critical, caustic,
slanderous, backstabbing, backbiting. James who is our
brother here says "Brothers and sisters, this should not be true
about us." If we open our mouths and say ah, and the great
physician looks down, what does he see? What's coming out of our
hearts? I say, "Well I don't gossip but people tell me
stuff." Don't let somebody use your ears for garbage cans.
Don't participate in gossip or slander, in censorious words.
And then carnal words, fleshly words, filthy words, profane
words. He speaks of both blessing and cursing in this
passage. Blaspheming God and blaspheming others. Filthy
words, potty mouth, porno words, immoral words that come out of
the heart. Did you know that all of the 10 commandments can be
broken by our words, not just our deeds? That's why we can
pretty much know that we've broken all the commandments, at
least by our words if not our deeds. We could dishonor by our
words. We can exhibit false worship and idle worship with
our words. We can offer murderous accusations and
assassinations with our words. We can tell lies and bear false
witness with our words. We can covet with our words. We can
express vile and lustfull thoughts, adulterous thoughts
with our words. We can steal a person's reputation with our
words. Words matter. It's true when James says this can set off
a course of events, a fire in your life that can destroy
everything. He talks then about this monster, a beast. He said
"We can tame the animals." James takes us on a trip to the zoo,
he said "You can tame animals but this beast uncontrolled in
your mouth, this monster in your mouth is restless and is
powerful and is poisonous. A few drops can kill." But that brings
me to the final word here, which says "Our words then display our
character." That's what he's talking when he says out of one
side of our mouth comes blessing and the other side of our mouth
comes blaspheming or cursing. Blessing and cursing. Someone
said that the profanity of the church is greater than the
profanity of the streets. What that means is we come to church,
"Hey brother how are you doing? Let's praise God together" and
then in the parking lot same guy cuts you off, "You jerk! What's
wrong with you?" Or we go home and before we even get home
we're in on a rancorous argument with someone in the family. It
happens all the time because our tongues cause us a great deal of
trouble. One minute we're praising God, the next minute
we're profaning people that God made. That's what he's saying
here. Great people in the Bible had trouble with their tongues.
Job who overcame such disaster in his life said "I am vile. I
lay a hand over my mouth." Like that. Isaiah, the great
prophet, when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he said "I
am a man of unclean lips amidst a generation of people of
unclean lips." That's descriptive of our generation.
There's just so much filth in the air. There's just so much
vileness in vocabularies. Both men and women are spewing out
this filth, words. Sending out poisonous words. Moses was angry
one day, he ended up out of the promised land because of it. It
says in Psalm 106 verse 33 that because he was angry he said "I
spoke rashly with my lips". How many times have we spoken
rashly, we wish we could get it back but of course it's like
slitting open a feather pillow and the wind blowing the
feathers everywhere. You could never get some of that stuff
back in the pillow. Peter sinned against Christ in denying
Christ, with the same mouth he confessed him and said "I will
never deny you." And yet when he was warming his hands by the
fires of the Romans he ended up running away, denying Christ.
It's disturbing isn't it? When I look at my own life and I see in
my words both blessing and cursing, it's disturbing. James
uses these words, these illustrations of a fountain.
Whether it's sweet water or salt water, or whether it's a fig
tree, these illustrations of nature, by saying what is the
root will bear the same fruit. The problem is with the heart.
The person with a harsh tongue has an angry heart. The person
with a negative tongue has an anxious heart. The person with
an overactive tongue has an unsettled heart. The person with
a filthy tongue has a impure heart. A person with a critical
censorious tongue has a bitter heart. And so on. Let's flip
that on the other side. A person with compassionate words has a
loving heart. A person with an encouraging tongue has a happy
heart. A person with a truthful tongue has an honest heart. Our
words come from our hearts and the only way to tame the tongue
is first of all to get a new heart. The Bible talks about
getting a brand new heart because the old heart is
deceitful and desperately wicked. The only way to
transform our tongues is not reformation or even education.
You can improve your vocabulary with education, you can improve
maybe your attitude with reformation, but you can only
change your tongue and your actions and your words and your
deeds with transformation. We need a new life. This is how
Jesus Christ changes our hearts and changes our lives. I can
tell you I've seen it over the years many, many times. How a
man or a woman whose tongue was off the charts but then
transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. Then asked the
Holy Spirit to control your tongue, give God control of your
tongue. James says we can't do this on our own, we need the
supernatural power of God. The Psalm has said it this way in
Psalm 141 verse 3 "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep
watch over the door of my lips!" Set a guard over my mouth, Lord
watch my mouth. Or pray the prayer in psalmist in Psalm 19
verse 14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my
heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord, my strength and my
redeemer." God watches our words and looks into our heart. And
then use your tongue to the glory of God. Use your tongue
for God's glory. The best way I know how to transform the tongue
by the power of Christ is to use my tongue and my words to
magnify Christ in praise and in worship. The Psalmist said
"Thy loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise
you. O magnify the Lord with me. I will bless the Lord at all
time, his praise will continually be in my mouth." The
scripture says that we're to bring to God the sacrifice of
praise, the fruit of our lips. I don't know why we seem to be so
reluctant to use our words to worship. What we say or what we
sing. Praise God with your words, with your worship to him.
Remember worship flows out of the heart and it's possible that
you don't worship with your lips because you don't have it in
your heart to do it. I'm not saying tip the cup, but if it
spills over shout to the Lord. Praise God from whom all
blessings flow. "O For a thousand tongues to sing my
great Redeemer's praise!" I wish God would give me a thousand
tongues and a thousand lifetimes to speak of the wonders of his
love and the power of his grace in our lives. That's how we're
to use our tongues. Our words is our witness. Our tongue is a
testimony. How are you doing? How's the testimony of your
words? The testimony of your worship? How's your life going?
Is it negative and downhill going in the wrong direction and
your words are destructive, self destructive? Or are your words
powerful and persuasive. Joshua 1:8 says that we are to keep
God's word in our mouths at all times. Speak the word of God
over your life. Speak God's promises over your situation.
Express God's praise, no matter what. Your words, your tongue
will be transformed through the glory of Jesus Christ. The most
important thing you could say with your tongue are four words.
If I only had four words to say to the world, these would be my
four words, "Jesus Christ is Lord." [Music] The book of James was written a
long time ago, 2000 years ago, to Christians who were dealing
with serious, significant problems just as we face today.
And the strong, direct words of James teach all believers how to
truly live our faith in times of testing, in tough times. The
Christian life isn't just about words but works as well. It's
about our conversations, our conduct, not simply our creeds
but our deeds. VISIBLE FAITH is about the faith that saves and
works. VISIBLE FAITH is our gift to say thank you for your
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us broadcast the transforming message of the gospel 'till the
whole world hears. You know, there's
only one way to tame our tongues and that is to have our lives
transformed by Jesus from the inside out. But when Jesus does
transform your heart, I promise you your words will be a
testimony of your changed life. What you say will be evidence
that Christ has changed your life. So, our prayer now is the
prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 19:14, (one of my favorites),
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be
acceptable in your sight O Lord, my strength and our redeemer."
God transforms our hearts and then purifies our tongues so
that we can reflect his glory, the Lord changes the way we
speak, that's how we are to use our tongues. Our words are our
witness. Our tongues (what we say), that's our testimony. So,
let's all ask ourselves today, ask yourself today what are my
words saying about me? Are my words a good testimony of Jesus
Christ, is my language, the things that I say, what I speak,
does it give evidence that my heart belongs to Jesus. You need
to ask in every situation whether you post it or text it
or tweet it or just say it the old fashioned way... does this
represent Jesus Christ and reflect his love in my life. I
want to thank you for your support of PowerPoint. We are so
grateful that you have chosen to join us each week, to
participate in this ministry and to partner with us financially
so that we can continue to teach
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God's word and preach Jesus.
