The High Calling of Teaching | Sermon 05/08/2022

James 3:1-2 and the High Calling of Teaching

If you would please turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 3, we're on a new chapter. Praise God. James chapter 3, we're going to be only in verses 1 and 2. The title of this sermon today, church, is The High Calling of Teaching.

The High Calling of Teaching. Starting in verse 1 of chapter 3, hear now the words of the living and one true God. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able to bridle the whole body as well. Thus ending the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray quickly, church.

Father, would you please be with us today? Would you help us to understand, Lord, what this passage means and how it applies for us today in the church? Lord, would you please help us as your people to narrow in on it, to be focused in on what you want us to see, Lord?

God, I thank you for the ability, Lord, to be able to proclaim your word here in this place in freedom. God, would you please speak through me that I might decrease and you would increase? I pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.

When we think of teachers, some of us undoubtedly think of our favorite teachers from grade school, maybe an influential professor from college. Maybe you had a Sunday school teacher that greatly impacted you as a child or growing up, maybe even used in your conversion.

When I thought of teachers, I couldn't help but think of the late Dr. R .C. Sproul. This godly man wrote over 100 books. He taught at numerous colleges and seminaries. He taught at Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary.

He was a chief architect in the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. That was huge, 1978. And he started what we know to be the theological powerhouse today, Ligonier Ministries. Just fantastic resource.

Praise God for that. This brother spent decades with his feet under a desk, training, studying, learning the word of God. Learning it inside and out, honestly. To the point where it's been said he could literally grab a pew Bible on his way up.

He had studied for decades and by the end of his life, he could grab a pew Bible and just speak so eloquently about the word of God. Just amazing. In our Apologia South Phoenix reach group before we moved here, in fact, we were going through one of Sproul's teaching series called From Dust to Glory.

You got to check that out. From Dust to Glory, you can get the DVDs as well, and that covers major biblical events all the way from Genesis to Revelation. So if you're a person who's like, I just don't know how to wrap my mind around when the two kingdoms of Israel split and, you know, the exile and the captivity and then this and that, really Dust to Glory would be a great resource for you.

We were going over that. But if you've watched any lesson from R .C. Sproul, the brother is truly old school. I think me and Daniel were talking about this one time. R .C. has a big old chalkboard behind him.

He's got, you know, like his glasses hanging on his lip like a professor, and he's pretty much covered in chalk dust, you know, just an amazing teacher. He was electric in a way. He brought the Word of God to life in many ways.

He made it come alive. But most importantly, he believed every single word that God had written, every single word that God had spoken, R .C. believed it. He lived it. He lived it as well. God used R .C. Sproul in the lives of so many people, likely thousands and thousands of people, a reach that we probably will never be able to quantify.

He had great influence. But he understood he had to be careful with that influence. Then there are those of the completely opposite side of the teaching spectrum, more accurately those in a completely different category, and that would be false teachers.

One such person came to my mind as I was preparing this that greatly fits that title of false teacher, and that is Jim Jones, Jim Jones. He decided to enter into ministry after graduating from college.

Jones was a charismatic man. He claimed to have psychic powers. He could foretell the future, he'd say. He could miraculously heal people with a touch, he'd say. In 1955, Jones established the Pentecostal church that later became known as the People's Temple.

Jones became obsessed with power as he recognized the influence that he had on people. He made them eventually call him the prophet. They couldn't call him anything else, they'd say, call me the prophet.

And it wasn't a deep devotion to God or a deep devotion to God's Word that made him desire to teach and lead in ministry. It was his sinful political influence and desire and convictions, and that was mostly Marxism.

Marxism and socialism. He taught that if you were born into his church, his socialist revolution, then you were born sinless, that you didn't need Christ if you were born into his church. Little by little, Jim Jones didn't point people to Christ through his teachings.

In fact, he said that he was a reincarnation of Christ. He was saying he was Christ, along with Buddha and Gandhi and Lenin. In the midst of numerous controversies and even an arrest for molestation, in 1977, Jones had learned the San Francisco Chronicle was about to publish an expose on him in the People's Temple.

It was all about to be opened wide, and he knew he had to get out of Dodge. He knew he had to get out of there. And so, along with hundreds of Jim Jones followers, they moved to a compound he named Jonestown in Guyana, South America.

I mean, this guy persuaded people to leave their jobs, long-standing careers, their homes, their family, everything against all judgment, all sound judgment. And they gave him millions and millions of dollars that he even used personally.

They gave him everything. But little by little, the U .S. Embassy in Guyana had been receiving reports that people in Jonestown were being subjected to physical and psychological abuse. So a U .S. congressman, Leo Ryan, and a delegation from the United States went down to visit Jonestown, the compound, and the congressman was quickly met by a People's Temple member with a knife.

I mean, they were like, nope, we're done, and they went running for the plane. They're literally running away for their lives, and Jones' armed guards catch up with them and slaughter a U .S. congressman and everyone else with them, including the pilot.

Everyone was dead. So Jones had already been prepping his people to do these mass suicide drills, and he convinced them it was finally time to commit what he called a revolutionary act. They were going to take their lives.

The people consumed a lethal combination of potassium cyanide and sedatives with a fruit drink flavor aid, and this is where the phrase drinking the Kool-Aid comes from. Drink the Kool-Aid. The death toll at Jonestown was an astounding 909 people.

909 people, three of four of which were children. I mean, I remember when Coltish did the first episode on Jim Jones, and I heard the audio tape of when they did this. I don't even recommend it. I mean, it is one of the most horrific things I've ever listened to in my life, hearing what these people were going through.

Now, I gave you two examples of completely different teachers. The fact is, one man feared God while the other man believed he was God. Our Lord is supremely concerned with how men and women use teaching authority to influence other image bearers.

He is especially concerned with how men use his word to teach his own children. And while our verses today are really at the beginning of a discourse on the tongue, on the misuse and use of the mouth, I wanted us to look more deeply into the verses 1 and 2 regarding teaching.

So we're going to be thinking about what is a teacher? What are the qualifications of a teacher? The temptations for a teacher? And why is there, as he says, stricter judgment for them? Let's consider that now in our text, starting in verse 1 again.

He says, "'Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.'". Geneste is in the imperative here. Geneste in the Greek, become. James is very serious about this, so he commands, "'Let not many become teachers.'".

Did James have something against teachers? Did he not see that there was a great need for them? And there's even a great need for them today? Of course not. But who has been some of the teachers James had likely seen in his day?

He saw the scribes. He saw the Pharisees, the rabbis. They loved to sit on the seat of Moses, and they made their phylacteries broad, they say. The Word says that is. Oh, how they loved to be called teacher or rabbi.

Rabbi. Rabbi. They wanted everyone to recognize who they were in the marketplace. To be recognized for some sort of prestige. It was expected in those days for the people to hold them in high regard. To even care for rabbis, sometimes above their own family, was ordered.

These men loved to showcase their intelligence. There were so many temptations for these teachers, which we'll get into in just about a bit here. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about teachers.

He said in 1 Corinthians 12 .28,. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles. Then the gift of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues.

You see, it says God appointed these roles. Nothing here is arbitrary. God is concerned with how His church functions. And teachers are pretty high on the list here. Ephesians 4 .11 -12 says,. And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.

Once again, we see God appointed in the Corinthians. Now God gave in Ephesians. He gave teachers to the equipping of God's people for the work of service for the building up of the body of Christ. So it would be safe to say then, without these roles, the church wouldn't have the ordained means to grow in Christ.

We're not meant to do this Christian life alone. There's a reason there are roles here. It's not just me alone in my bedroom with Jesus. That's a great devotional or study time, but we see roles in the church because we're supposed to be together.

There are supposed to be pastors. There are supposed to be shepherds and teachers. In fact, he says, Teachers are to be used in such a way to give men and women more knowledge of the Son of God to help bring them to maturity.

In Paul's letter to Timothy, Paul says that he is a preacher, that he's an apostle and a teacher. So we see there from that, that it's capable for a man to have multiple roles within the church, multiple God-appointed roles.

The Great Commission, which is a declaration to all believers, is a call to disciple and teach all peoples of the world in the ways and doctrines of Christ. And although I recognize there are many fine female teachers out there who God has used, no doubt, whether in a more formal capacity to other women in the church or to their children or in some sort of vocation, for the purposes of this sermon, I will be speaking about teachers more in the preacher and pastor position that is, of course, exclusively male, according to the Word of God.

Christ as the Greatest Teacher and the Need for Truthful Teaching

Now, if I were to ask you who was the greatest teacher that had ever lived, some of us may sit there a little puzzled, but the typical Sunday school answer will suffice today. Jesus. Just go ahead and call out Jesus, someone.

That'll work. Thank you. Jesus is the greatest teacher that has ever lived. That still lives. I'm sorry. All throughout the Gospels, it says Jesus was going all over the land teaching and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom in the synagogues, cities, mountainsides, you name it.

I mean, they're literally multiplying bread and fish in the wilderness and He's teaching there. Jesus will teach anywhere. In the Sermon on the Mount, the very beginning of Matthew 5 says, and He opened His mouth and began to teach.

Immediately, Sermon on the Mount, He began to teach. Who is better fit to open their mouth and teach than the One who created all things? The One who is literally truth embodied according to John 14. Jesus is the truth in bodily form.

And so anything He says is truth. There are over 60 instances in the Gospels that either reference Jesus as a teacher or teaching in some capacity. And that's just using a concordance and finding the word teaching.

Literally, the whole time, basically, Jesus Christ is teaching in the Gospels. His whole earthly ministry was wrapped up in it. Teaching the apostles. Teaching the disciples. And eventually, it goes down to elders taking the baton and who would teach God's people.

And today, thousands of miles away from Israel, and thousands of years later, here we are and we're learning the words of Jesus Christ. Truly remarkable. Now that's influence. That's power. That's supernatural power.

The teachings of Jesus are in northern Utah and started in Israel. It's unfathomable. That's influence. And God Almighty should have influence. Let every mouth be shut when the Lord speaks. Jesus said He teaches from the Father in John 7 and 8.

It stands to say, again, that a teacher is one who teaches truth. If you're a real teacher, you teach truth. Otherwise, you're a false teacher. Okay? That's the reality of the Word of God. They teach fact.

A teacher always demonstrates the lesson is from God, due to God, and for the glory of God. That even includes things like mathematics, logic, rhetoric, science. One day, teachers will stand before the holy God and they'll give an account for not giving God the glory for the Pythagorean theorem.

The quadratic formula, differentiation, integrals, all that favorite stuff. That's all pointing to the glory of God. Now, can anyone become a teacher or preacher? Are there qualifications? I think there are.

By precept and by principle. And there's different types of teachers. We'll go into that a little bit. Think about it. If teachers will face greater judgment in the future, then let's commit to higher scrutiny now.

Commit to higher scrutiny now. Where could you go wrong? Maybe you feel led to teach. Scrutinize yourself. Examine yourself. Let other men examine you. It'd be better now than later, is what it's saying.

You should ask yourself some of these things. I'm sorry, these are just some examples. Am I well learned enough to teach others and am continuing to learn myself? Has God called me to teach? Is my life free from habitual sins?

Do I have a passion for God's Word that puts my nose in this book every day? Essentially, is one morally, intellectually, and spiritually qualified? Those are important things. The overseer requirements that are in 1 Timothy 3, they also lay a great foundation of what a teacher should look like morally.

Because really, the overseer qualifications in 1 Timothy, the pastoral epistles, are simply things that any mature believer I believe should arrive to one day. They're to be an elder for sure, but we're not to divorce ourselves from those qualifications and go, eh, that's just for the pastor to become like that.

No, we are all to attain to those things even though we may not eventually be called into ministry. A man who is not morally above reproach is not fit to teach others. That's the reality. Otherwise, it would be hypocrisy.

The angry man should not teach people to abstain from anger. The lustful man should not teach those to flee youthful lusts. The jealous man should not be the one to give lessons on sin of jealousy and envy.

The anxious man can't employ his own lesson in his life to trust God and not give in to anxiety. It doesn't mean you're going to be perfect. It doesn't mean you're going to have lapses of these things sometimes.

But if that is the sin you're walking through, we are not to be hypocrites and try to teach on them. You see, before a blacksmith can teach his trade, he must first master it to some degree. Right? No apprentice attaches himself to a man who is just as unlearned and unqualified and unexperienced as himself.

He won't become a tradesman. He won't learn. In other words, a preacher or teacher of the Word must also be a doer of the Word if I can borrow something from James. The teacher or preacher must also be a doer of the Word.

I for one think actually things like full-time missionaries, I think full-time missionaries honestly should meet all elder qualifications. Because I believe a biblical missionary is one who is like Paul who goes out and he shares the Gospel and the end goal, the end result, will be a planting of a church in a place where he's shared the Gospel and therefore, who's going to be the first elder?

Who's qualified enough to lead it for a time until they raise local elders up? And that's going to be the missionary. There's many, many prominent men who agree with that. I was just listening to Paul Washer talk about that.

Missionaries should be elder qualified people. Bible study leaders, I don't think necessarily need to be elder qualified, but they too should be mature in the faith in some sense. Mature in their walk.

Knowledgeable about God's Word. This passage should be a warning to all people considering influencing others with the Bible. That should scare potential teachers a bit. It scares me still. It says in the book of Ezra that God's hand was upon Ezra.

It says in chapter 7 that Ezra set his heart to study the law of the Lord. Get this, to practice it. That's what it says. It says in Ezra 7, he studied the Word of the Lord, and it says to practice it and to teach it to other people.

To practice it and to teach it to other people. It was on Ezra's heart to study the Word. To do the Word and teach other people to do the same. Amazing example. There are too many men who are teaching the Bible today and their heart is not set on those things like Ezra.

Their hearts are not in it. Get out of it then, I would say. Don't teach. Shut that book. You mean to tell me you only study and read the Bible when it's your turn to teach? Get out of it. You're not qualified.

You're not ready. Don't do it. Repent. Set your heart on it. Ezra reveals what a true teacher is. They are those who have set their heart on God and His law. They study it. Not just for knowledge, even though that's definitely a part of it, but first and foremost it says so he can practice what it says.

If a preacher or teacher is just studying to teach, then they're not a real teacher. That's hard, but I believe that. If someone's just studying just to teach a lesson and they're not living and doing the Word, then they're not a real teacher.

Because every week, if these sermons are not hitting me and my preparation in between the eyes before I get to this pulpit, then I'm no authority to teach this. If my preparation doesn't hit me square in the eyes, convicts me of sin, and causes me to course correct and change my walk, then who am I being up here?

I'd be just someone who distributes information with no power. Many men don't even teach themselves. They don't even teach their families, but they want all eyes on them. They want the opportunity. Look at me.

They don't even teach their families. They don't even teach themselves. They want you to hang on their every word. And we are in a time where there are so many of these reformed guys who know the terms, and they watch all the right guys, but they aren't even in the Word of God.

They can tell you the best Votibakam sermon they've ever listened to, but they don't even know the Word of God. Switch it up. Change it. Get in the Word. Forget about the Votibakam sermons for a time.

I'll just say it, if you're not even in the Word, then you truly don't know the Word. Right? Because we can watch sermons. We can watch these things and act like we know what we're talking about, but we don't really know what we're talking about until we've been in this book for a good while.

For a good time. Pretty soon the tag lines from the Paul Washer and MacArthur sermons will wear out. People will see right through that. I know. I know because I used to act like that. I used to do that.

But you can't wing this. You can't wing it on this. Teaching takes careful preparation and devotion. The word doctrine has the root word didasko in it, which is the same root word for teachers or teaching.

Titus 1 .9 says, holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to both exhort and sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Keep that in mind.

He says, in accordance with the teaching. Then 2 John 9 says, anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

So what I want you to hear out of that is he says, the teaching. These verses demonstrate there is the teaching. Not a teaching, but a singular, correct teaching about Christ and His Word. There is not many ideas that are right in this Word.

There is one correct teaching according to these. A teacher is not qualified if they do not know the teaching and how to articulate it. Because if you don't know the teaching, then you wouldn't know the false doctrines that we are called to refute.

Did you hear that? How can Titus do what Paul charged him to do to preach with sound doctrine? He's like, ok, I got that. But if he doesn't know sound doctrine, then he can't refute those who contradict.

Those who bring counterfeits. The only way you know a counterfeit is by knowing the truth inside and out. That's what's going on here. Teachers give the truth, and they strike down that which is false.

Temptations for Teachers: Pride, Ears to Be Tickled, and False Doctrine

We've talked a bit about what are some of the temptations for teachers and preachers, but what are they? Let's go into that a little more. Jesus says they simply want to be seen by men. Acknowledged by men.

They want to be given the big boy seats at the parties, in synagogue, in the marketplace. But what's crazy is, our Lord, He is God, and they want men to acknowledge them. Our God sees all that we do, and they don't want to please God.

They want to please men and receive the pleasure of men. Every week I have to preach as if I'm considering like I have an audience of one in many ways, our Lord. I don't preach and teach to the needs of the people.

These are simple byproducts. I preach and teach what God has spoken and commanded first and foremost because of Him, not because of His people. You might go, Wade, whoa, I thought you were a shepherd.

But look, the amazing thing is, is if it's for God first, if I preach God's Word first for Him and regard Him first, then the needs of the people will follow. They'll follow. But if I'm regarding the people first, then I do you a disservice and I'm not actually going to hit on the things that God needs for you to hear and learn.

Does that make sense? You know, that's not to say, for instance, there's some guys who when 9 -11 happened, they just continued on their sermon series. Look, I think there might be a moment if we had great loss or when COVID happened and we needed to talk about it, I might preach on something regarding that.

That's not to say I can't do that. But there's a difference. There's a difference. I don't try to make a map of all the needs of the people here and preach in such a way that I hit Sally and Johnny and everyone else.

I'm going to preach what the text says and let the Holy Spirit of God do the rest. He's going to convict some of you more than the others. And He's going to work on some of you more than the others. Okay?

God is not pleased if I consider the people first. I would be held to account and the people would not be edified. To teach you, I must teach as if God is grading every sermon, every lesson. Paul tells Timothy, teachers should not become conceited.

The root word for conceited there is tufo in the Greek. It means not to be filled with pride. The root word there is literally smoke. Don't get puffed up is what that word means. Don't get filled with smoke.

Smoke rises. Don't exalt yourself and rise above others and look down upon them when the reality is you're just filled with hot air. My pastor at Levine Baptist Church ten years ago gave me some advice.

No, maybe seven years ago when I first started to preach. He said the worst thing you could do when someone tells you good sermon is believe them. Not that they're lying. And it doesn't mean that you can't give your pastor feedback.

Or even the pastor receive feedback. What he's trying to show me is the temptation for the pastor, for the orator, for the preacher to think that he was the cause of the good sermon. It was all my preparation.

It was all my words. No, no. God will bring that kind of man low real quick. What he meant was don't think you're the one responsible for it. It's God's Word. It's His material. The Holy Spirit uses me and works through me here.

It's all to the glory of God. It's all by His Spirit. It's all by His power. God speaks through men who have humility. Weak men. God uses weak men who are strong in Christ. God cannot use the man who thinks He's stronger than God.

He needs weak men. And He might just crush some of you to get you there. The humble get used by God. The proud get set aside. Another temptation is that teachers and preachers can stop teaching what God desires and teach what man desires.

Paul touches on this with Timothy. He says this amazing charge. I mean, this is so valuable. This is so strong. He says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus Who is to judge the living and the dead and by His appearing and His kingdom preach the Word.

Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. This is so serious for Paul. He says it like a vow in that way. I solemnly charge you in the presence of our God preach the Word.

But here's what I'm getting at. He says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Sound teaching. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.

And they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. So, the temptation for the teacher is to teach to carnal men. To make lessons and sermons for the carnal man. To cater for the carnal man.

That's not to say we shouldn't give the Gospel or things like that. It's that when we exposit God's Word, we don't dumb it down. We don't water it down. We don't remove some hard language because we don't want so-and-so in the back to feel bad or anything like that.

We don't water it down. We don't add to it. We don't remove from it. Because there are people who are out there and they want their ears tickled. They want to come in here and they want to TED Talk. And they want to feel good.

And they want to leave. And then by Friday, they'll feel bad, so they'll drink a little bit on Friday and Saturday and Sunday. They'll feel good again, because they'll get their TED Talk again. That's not the church.

That's not the preaching of the Word of God. They want lessons that will tickle their ears and not make them feel bad. They turn away from the truth. We don't tell people what they want to hear. We tell them what they need to hear.

And get this, what they need to hear is what God wants them to know. Amen? There are so many things a teacher can be tempted with. Fearing man. Desiring power. Wanting influence for self-gain. Men who want money.

They want adulteries. They want exploitation of the weaker minded. And spreading of novel ideas that are not found in Scripture. There are so many temptations. Those are just a few. 2 Peter 2 is literally one of the largest discourses on false teachers.

Read 2 Peter 2 later, okay? The whole thing from start to finish is about false teachers. Incredible. Here are a couple snippets. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies.

Even denying the Master who brought them. You see that? False teachers introduce destructive heresies. Things that are taking away from the one true God. Bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality.

You hear that? How many cults are sex cults? I mean, it's over half. So many of them. Many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.

They will use false words. Talk about the mouth, the tongue. Their judgment from long ago is not idle. And their destruction is not asleep. Peter calls them unreasoning animals. They take pleasure to revel in the daytime.

They carouse having eyes full of adulteries that never cease from sin. Enticing unstable souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Prosperity Gospel, Word of Faith, they have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children.

They forsake the way. The teaching, they forsake the way and follow the way of Balaam. Balaam. They follow after Balaam. You know, Jesus charges some of the churches in Revelation. He's saying, some of you are following other teachers.

You're not following Me, the Teacher. He charges them and He says, you're following the way of Balaam. You're following the way of the Nicolaitans. You're following the way of Jezebel. How many warnings does Jesus give in the Revelation to say, you are a people who stray from the teaching?

To getting ears tickled. A righteous teacher recognizes only the authority of the eternal Teacher, God Almighty. James says, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such, we'll incur a stricter judgment.

Stricter Judgment, Accountability, and the Weight of the Tongue

What does he mean by incur a stricter judgment? What he's not trying to do is discourage individuals from becoming teachers and preachers. He's not trying to discourage them. Remember, the New Testament shows that that is a righteous endeavor.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, he says that is a good thing if you want to do that, if you aspire. That is a good thing. So what is he saying? Well, hopefully he is discouraging those who would enter into that role in a nonchalant, flippant, careless sort of way.

Do they feel the weight of their influence? Do they feel the immense weight of the Holy Scriptures? Do you tremble at God's Word? Do you plead with God to keep you from error? Do you beg God to teach His people to do what you can't do essentially?

That's what the man of God, that's what the teacher does. I can't teach anyone here. I need God to teach His people here. Every week, every week, I've prayed before this service asking God that He would speak through me, that He would teach His people.

Every week, every week, I need Him to do something here. If He doesn't do something here, nothing will be done. Every week I need Him. Every week. There is so much precise care and preservation of ancient documents.

I was watching a documentary on it once. They wear these special gloves. They use special tools. They have special lighting. They have special transport methods for ancient documents. The worker who handles such documents, they are meticulous in their process.

And I saw even the Declaration of Independence is sealed in a bronze case. It's got bulletproof glass and a special filter in the glass to reduce UV and light degradation. And not even that, they suck out all the oxygen out of the case and they put into it humidified helium so as to take away any possibility for erosion.

But men will pick up these holy Scriptures and toss it around not even realizing the sword they carry can pierce them. These folks handled those things with so much care. And then we have men who get zealous and excited and they think they can handle this sword which is sharp, two-edged, can pierce both your body, soul, spirit, bone and marrow.

The writer of the Hebrews says, he says, "'Add thou not to these words lest I rebuke you and you be found a liar.'. The one who adds or takes away from his word in teaching will face the one who spoke it.".

That's the reality. The one who adds or takes away... There are people in this very city right now who are adding and taking away from this Word and they will give an answer for that. And he says, "'I will rebuke you, you will be found a liar.'.

Jesus says in the last chapter of the Revelation, all liars will have their part in a lake of fire that burns with fire and brimstone.". It's serious. Add thou not to these words. Don't take away from these words.

We handle a holy item, my friends, just like the priests and Levites who handle the Ark of the Covenant. The key is don't be presumptuous. Don't do what Uzzah did, who as R .C. Sproul said, thought his hands were less filthy than the earth below the ark and he grabbed the ark as it fell and he died.

He was killed on the spot. He's handling holy items. Don't handle it the wrong way. Don't handle this Word in a way that it was not meant to be handled. And that's why teachers will be judged with higher scrutiny.

They are touching holy things. And if you're not comfortable with that, then don't do it. That's okay. Don't do it then. James puts incur or receive in the first person plural to show he includes himself in this category of people.

When it says we, that's literally a part of the Word. He lumps himself in with that. He knows he will incur stricter judgment himself based off of what he's doing. You see, teachers are leaders. So he's not above what he is commanding.

And teachers and leaders are responsible for the spiritual well-being of God's people. They'll be held to account for that. We're talking about dealing with souls here. The matters of heaven and hell here.