Taming the Tongue | Sermon 05/16/2022

Apologia Utah

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We're going to be in verses 3 through 12. The title of this sermon is

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Taming the Tongue. Taming the Tongue. This is one of my favorite sections in scripture.

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I hope it is for you as well. Starting in verse 3 of chapter 3 of the book of James, hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living

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God. Now, if we put the bits into the horse's mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

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Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

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So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire.

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And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell.

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For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.

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But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

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With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God.

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From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

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Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?

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Nor can salt water produce fresh. Thus ending the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray quickly, church.

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Father, would you please do a work today? Would you speak through me, dear Lord, to your people?

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God, would you help us, Lord, to understand? And how important it is as Christians that we consider the tongue and the ways that we can sin with the tongue and also the ways that we can do glorious things with the tongue that you have ordained.

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God, please help me today to speak in a way that is helpful to your people. Let it be clear and let it always be true.

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In the name of your Son, Jesus, amen. I remember when

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I was a child, as I grew and learned new words, the temptation to say foul things grew as well.

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It started with little things that you could maybe hear your older brother say or what the cartoons said on Saturday morning when they made you laugh.

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And as time went on, I'd learn the slip of a cuss word.

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I'd hear it from family members, maybe at a function with aunts and uncles and cousins at my grandma's house.

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There were bad words that I had no idea even existed until the elementary school bully called me it.

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I had no idea. The greater the awareness, the more we learn to speak straight filthiness.

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My mother would correct me or hush me up as often as she could. We had what we called the spanking spoon.

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She would spank us real good with that spanking spoon, but it would only work for a short time for me, of course.

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I became acquainted with it very well. Then of course, after that, you're off riding bikes with friends.

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You're trying to showcase the latest bad word that you had learned the previous week and show your buddies what you're made of.

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I remember I was 12 years old and we had just gotten out of church.

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We had literally just left church. I don't even think we were out of the parking lot yet. I was in the third row of the minivan.

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My brother and my sister were in the row in between me and my parents and they're in the front.

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I let out a cuss word. It's like my father's arm grew like Stretch Armstrong all the way to the back of the van, smacked me on the side of the head, and I was just crying.

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That's how bad I was with it. I'd like to say I learned my lesson, but the older I got, the more

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I was inclined to act with my nature. That is sin nature. When the

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Apostle Peter denied Christ three times, the last time he denied

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Christ, he changed his speech. As a serving girl, recognize his voice as that like of Jesus's, a

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Galilean's. So what did Peter do when the serving girl recognized his voice?

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He fouled it up. He started cursing. He spoke harshly.

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He said, I don't know him. I don't know Jesus. And of course, the rooster crowed.

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I myself, like many, probably many of you, I didn't need to change my speech to sound more rotten and sinful like Peter did there, because that's actually who

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I was. That's who I was. I had to change my voice at church or around relatives to sound more virtuous, more righteous.

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That was the act. But then 10 years ago, Christ saved me.

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And when Christ saves a person, he doesn't just save them from the consequences of sin, but he saves them also from the power of it, truly.

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Those of us in Christ have a new nature now. We ought to have different desires than before because the

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Lord has desired for us to live a certain way. We ought to act different than we did before because the

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Lord's desires are called commandments. And when we do them, we have new actions.

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And we ought to talk differently than we talked before. Our speech and our words should be different.

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And in fact, our words should betray us now as Christians like it did for Peter, except we now should sound, you sound just like that Jesus guy.

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That's what people should say of us. You sound just like a Christian. At your work, people go, wow,

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I knew you were a Christian just by the way you spoke. Can people say that of you? But the tongue is a powerful force, church.

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Paul tells the Christians at Colossae to consider the members of the physical body dead to immorality, impurity and degrading passions.

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And that would include the tongue. But so often in this Christian life, we struggle with this very thing.

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I gave you my own example. We have been raised up since childhood to enjoy the wild uses of the mouth.

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Ever since we were small children, we've been raised, we've seen it on TV, we've seen it with our parents to wag that tongue, to say whatever we want.

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But the believer now no longer hates with his lips, he hates his lips. But our

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God has called you and I to speak, to speak noble and glorious truths, to replace the bitter with sweet, the foul with fresh.

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And that is what James, the Jerusalem preacher, is shouting for us to do now with these verses, as if to jolt us out of a stupor, we need to wake up and examine ourselves.

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Because the way you talk is like the litmus test of your maturity in Christ.

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So, let's put ourselves up to the test, or I should say the text, actually.

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So starting in verse 3, going through verse 5, I'll read it again now.

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If we put the bits into the horse's mouth so that they will obey us, we direct the entire body as well.

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Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

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So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire.

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James brought up the word bridle in verse 2, we went over it last week. Now he expounds upon bridling.

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The bit is such a small object in relation to the horse. It goes into the horse's mouth, and then the reins are connected to the bit in the horse's mouth.

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But the horse is no small animal. The average horse is 900 to 2 ,200 pounds.

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2 ,000 pounds, depending on the type. The bit, the bridle, the reins, these are, in relation, pretty small objects.

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But they can direct such a large creature. It says it causes the horse to obey us.

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It allows us to direct their entire body. Just like the perfect or complete man who does not stumble in what he says is able to bridle the whole body, when a bit is put into the mouth of a horse, one is able to pull the horse by the reins.

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You can steer this large horse any way you want when it has the bit, bridle, and reins. The question you have to ask yourself is, where does my mouth typically steer my body?

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Am I often leading myself into sin and trouble with my tongue?

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Proverbs 12, 13 says, An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous will escape from trouble.

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An evil man is ensnared by his lips. He gets trapped. Grabbing the reins of our mouths, we often lead ourselves into traps.

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But we ought to steer ourselves out of trouble. We do that as believers by seeking righteousness with our mouths so that we can control the rest of the body.

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We can consume goodness and you will bring forth goodness. He makes it clear.

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But James gives another illustration to emphasize his point. Those ships are driven by wind.

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They are ultimately directed by a small rudder in the back. The pilot changes direction with a move of the wheel.

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Jews considered the great sea to be a place of amazing mystery and power, the

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Mediterranean there. The waves, they thought, were pure violence. They thought the sea was a very violent place.

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Once again, a very small object, a rudder, is used to direct a large ship.

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But there's a couple other levels added to this. When he says, strong winds, the word strong here means hard, harsh, or cruel.

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The ships are driven by violent gales, but the rudder still steers the ship, still directs the ship.

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Now, I don't know for certain if James was trying to emphasize something with the winds, but when

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I think about this, I think wind is wild. Wind can be uncontrollable. So the uncontrollable forces may hit the ship, which is the body, remember?

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But the uncontrollable becomes controlled by the rudder, which is the tongue.

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What uncontrollable forces are coming upon you like the wind, church? Because God will use everything that comes at us for our good and His glory.

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Those winds, they drive us forward like the wind drives the ship, but they aren't always calm breezes, are they?

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The violent winds come at us in this Christian life. Sickness, maybe, unexpected death in the family, loss of job, change of job, marital strife, temptations to be anxious or depressed.

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Those winds can come at us, take your hands off the wheel and not control the rudder, and you will sink.

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That's the picture. But when these things come at you, by the

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Spirit of our God, grab hold of things, control the tongue, control your outlook, and don't sin when the wind comes.

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Don't sin when the wind comes and you will be propelled forward into sanctified maturity in Christ.

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The winds are always going to come at you, church. Are you going to let them cause you to sink, or are you going to cause them to drive you forward?

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Control, by the help of our God, what seems to be uncontrollable. You can't change the violent winds coming at you, but you can control how you'll steer the ship through it.

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And that's the other level that He brings to this. Ultimately, the rudder, the tongue, moves based on the desires of the pilot or captain.

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That's something we didn't see with the horse and the bit. The bit is, of course, still pulled by the rider of the horse.

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So we are responsible for how we wield the tongue. James comes out of his illustrations for just a brief moment and says, so also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

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At first, he demonstrated the tongue, an insignificantly small part of the body, was able to control or bridle other parts of the body so as not to sin.

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That's what he says first. But he brings on a new point. So also, he says, so also, in verse 5, it boasts of, in the

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Greek, megas, mega, great, loud, large things.

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Brother Andrew read it earlier, Psalm 12, speaks to this when it says, May the

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Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks great things.

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The tongue that speaks great things. Just like our verse, Psalm 73, verses 8 and 9, they mock and wickedly speak of oppression.

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They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth.

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Tongues parading through the earth, exalting themselves, thinking they have the right.

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But the word for boast here, acheo, is used only here in all of the

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New Testament. Acheo is only used here in James 3. And it has been determined that it has been used in more of a neutral sense, even though we typically think of boasting as a bad or negative thing.

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So Curtis Vaughn rightly says then this, The tongue can sway men to violence, or it can move them to the noblest actions.

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The tongue can instruct the ignorant, encourage the dejected, comfort the sorrowing, and soothe the dying, or it can crush the human spirit, destroy reputations, and spread distrust and hate, and bring nations to the brink of war.

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That is all in the power of the tongue. The tongue accomplishes great things.

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It boasts great things, sometimes terrible, sometimes benevolent, but always great, large, megas things.

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To illustrate this additional comment, James says, See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire?

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You know, I remember, I've lived the majority of my life in Phoenix, of course. And people ask me, where are you from?

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I say Arizona. But I was born and lived until I was 12 years old in Southern California.

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I remember every year, every summer, the wildfires coming, all the wildfires.

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We lived in the Conejo Valley. It was literally northwest of Los Angeles, right butted up against the

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Santa Monica Mountains. And so our home was next to these hills by the mountain.

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I remember that. And there was several times living there that I remember the possibility of having to evacuate our homes.

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I would be playing on our swing set in our backyard and see the hill behind my house on fire.

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And they're like, you don't have to leave yet. And it's on fire, black, burnt, smoke everywhere.

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They want you to stay inside. It's just everywhere. I remember growing up in that.

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And often, the fire department would do an investigation. They would find a single cigarette butt, or a small campfire, or a little kid just playing with a match.

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And that little spark would set the whole mountain range on fire. It happens every year, every year.

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Helicos is the word here to describe the great or large forest.

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But it is also the word to describe small. So look at that. In verse 5, great and small is literally the same word in the

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Greek, helicos. And there is no way to properly translate it in English.

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It's such an amazing Greek word. Helicos can literally mean something of great magnitude of size, either large or small.

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So he's using this word here to show us this big contrast between these two things.

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The tiniest spark can ignite the whole of the Judean wilderness. But there is something different now that James has introduced that he did not convey with the horse or the ship.

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What is James introducing now with this forest fire? For the first time, it's just not simply little or big.

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How something that is small directs something so large. Destruction is now presented.

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Destruction is being brought. This shows the consequences of lack of control.

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Fleeing the reins connected to the horse's bit and bridle can disorient the horse and eject the rider, right?

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The captain abusing the wheel of the ship and moving the rudder back and forth to and fro can cause the rudder to break off in the waves, and it can even cause the ship to tip over.

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Misuse has consequences. Being careless with the tongue can bring lives to ruin.

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Misuse of the tongue can bring lives to ruin. The next verse expounds on that.

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Go to verse 6. It reads,

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And the tongue is a fire in the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell.

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James is sharpening the point he is making. This isn't just some sort of light simile.

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This is a definite and direct metaphor. The tongue is fire. The tongue is fire, he says.

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Proverbs 16 speaks to this as well. It says, A worthless man digs up evil and his words are a scorching fire.

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What is James trying to say with this verse though? The scholars all agree.

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James has all the hard ones for scholars. They say this is one of the hardest verses in James to translate.

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Because remember, in the Greek, this is one long sentence. There's no punctuation. There's no changes.

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In Greek, you don't translate in the order that the words are written in the manuscript.

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You could have things all jumbled. I could move all those around in the Greek and a

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Greek scholar would be able to translate it. There's no order in the Greek. The way you translate a

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Greek sentence is based off of the endings. It's based off of the types of words.

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It's based off of basically, the words themselves determines the structure, the syntax, the clauses, the objects, the subjects, you name it.

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That's what was so hard in Greek class is like, they could just switch it around and you'd have to identify what the object and subject was of the sentence.

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I don't think the NASB, which is the translation we're using today, I don't think it conveys the meaning exactly perfectly how

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I would understand it. That's okay. We know the New American Standard Bible to be a very word -for -word translation.

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We'll give it a break. I think the best way to say this verse is this, and the tongue is a fire, period.

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The tongue is appointed among our members as the world of iniquity, staining the whole body, setting on fire the course of existence and is itself set on fire by hell.

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Just a slight change there with world of iniquity. Oftentimes in the

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New Testament, the world is meant the world as in that which stands in opposition to Christ and His word.

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That is often the way cosmos, that's the way world is typically, not typically, but one way it's used in the

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Bible, the world of iniquity. Like the world which tries to stain and pollute

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God's holy church, so is the tongue like the world trying to pollute the rest of the body.

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That's what he means here. Like the world of iniquity trying to pollute

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God's people, so is the tongue like the world of iniquity trying to pollute the entire body, the person's body, their members.

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God isn't the one who sets the tongue amongst our members to sin. The tongue appoints itself to this position.

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That's what James is trying to argue. John Calvin marveled.

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He said, could such a slender piece of flesh be the very world of iniquity?

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He marveled. Just this small tongue, the very world of iniquity.

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The tongue destroys true religion. The true religion that James talked about in chapter 1 because James said pure and undefiled religion is also to remain spotless and unblemished from the world.

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So when we give in to sin with our tongue, we blemish ourselves with the world.

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So this is not the hands to hurt, or the feet that are swift to hasten to bloodshed, or genitalia to commit adulteries or fornications, but the tongue is set among all the other members of our body, our physical body that defiles the entire thing.

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Spelousa is the word in Greek. It seeks to stain throughout. It looks to pollute everything else.

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One could avoid sinning with his hands or feet, but the tongue corrupts them.

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You could avoid sinning with your hands and feet, but it says your tongue can still corrupt your body.

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This is much like what Jesus said in His earthly ministry. The mouth contains the heart of man.

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The scribes and Pharisees, if you remember from the Gospels, were attacking Jesus because His disciples were eating bread with unwashed hands, if you remember that.

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They did not wash their hands, the Jews said, according to tradition. He rebukes them, bringing to light their commandment breaking for the sake of their traditions.

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Jesus then tells them, it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth that defiles a man.

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Now, He wasn't speaking on being physically ill or something like you consume something and then something comes out of your mouth and therefore you're gross and you're defiled.

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He's talking about something else. And He explains that to the apostles in private.

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He says, are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?

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Jesus is a biologist. He designed it. Impeccable. But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and those defile the man.

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For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

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These are the things which defile the man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.

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And every kid will go home tonight and be like, do I have to wash my hands before dinner? That's not the point, okay?

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In other words, the mouth displays the very condition of the inner man or woman. The maturity or immaturity of a believer proceeds out of their mouth.

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How you speak, how you talk shows what you're like on the inside. That is the deal.

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That's what He's showing. How would your words show what kind of man or woman you are?

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What would they reveal? There are three things here. The tongue corrupts the entire person, which we just covered.

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And then He says, it sets on fire the course of our lives, and it is set on fire by hell itself.

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That word, the course of our life, in the Greek that literally means the wheel of our genesis.

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The wheel of our genesis. It sounds like a journey song, kind of. The wheel of our genesis.

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The course of our existence is set on fire by the tongue.

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It can be destroyed by even one wrong act of the tongue. Can change the whole trajectory of your life with one act of the tongue.

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The hasty and foolish words of a married couple are often, I want a divorce.

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Foolish words. Unless you have biblical grounds, don't ever say the word divorce in your marriage, ever, if you don't have biblical grounds.

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Those words have devastating effects on spouses and the children who can hear that.

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The slander and defamation of another person can have lasting effects. There have been cases where a woman has falsely accused a man of sexual rape and his reputation, his life aspirations are stolen from him.

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This has happened with women too. False accusations. Even if it's discovered that the accuser is lying, it's already done the damage.

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It can follow someone for the rest of their future, their course of existence, the wheel of their genesis.

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Gossip can rip a church apart. If not challenged and corrected biblically, gossip in a church can fester like a disease.

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It's like a cancer that spreads in a congregation. It rots it from the inside out, gossip.

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I've seen people try to be the catalyst for such a thing. They often have to be removed, or typically, when they realize their gossip won't grow into what they want it to be, they leave.

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They leave. It's the flattering lips that disguise someone's envy and jealousy of another person.

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Oh, you look real nice. And you know what they're thinking, right? They praise you, but inwardly they despise you.

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What about the adulteress? Proverbs 7 .21 says, with her many persuasions, she entices him.

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With her flattering lips, she seduces him. And just like that, with the mouth and the sin, of course, of the man, the biggest act of betrayal in a marriage is committed adultery.

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With words. It starts with words. It talks about one that speaks perverse things.

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Perverse things ruins, especially a child's mind. They rob them of their innocence and purity of mind.

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Perversion. We must keep our children far from hearing perverse things.

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False witness leads to false accusations, false victims. Proverbs 11 .9 says, with the mouth, the godless man destroys his neighbor.

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With his mouth, the godless man destroys his neighbor. Anger can lead to outbursts with the mouth.

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Outbursts with the mouth can lead to violence. In fact, many domestic disputes start off that way, with an argument, with words.

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And it progresses. It leads to even murders sometimes, all starting with words.

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The Proverbs say a harsh word stirs up anger, and a backbiting tongue is sure to bring an angry countenance.

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And as parents, many of us take lighters and matches to the course of our children's lives, and we set small fires.

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We do it to our own children. Watch what you say around your children.

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Our anger can turn our children into angry adults. Our constant discontentment and grumbling will make adults who are never satisfied with good things.

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Our openness about our anxiety and worries will create panicking adults who can't cope without medication.

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Our foul words and perverse jokes will create children who become adults who find nothing sacred or pure.

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Don't take the fire -covered route of life. Take the road traveled down by the saints who have gone before.

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The one with whom the gate, who is called Christ, opens it to you. Don't take the flamed route.

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The road on fire leads to hell, he says. God detests the misuse of the tongue.

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It's even in his law. Of his ten commandments, he says, you shall not take the name of the

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Lord your God in vain. And we don't read this part, but it says right after that, it says, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain.

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God will literally send people to hell for taking his name in vain. But praise

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God for a Savior who took that punishment. Amen? Otherwise, we would be on the very course to hell.

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I would be. Praise God for that Savior. But what will it be like for those without a penal substitution, someone who bore the penalty?

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Hell. It'll be hell. And the tongue is set on fire by, the word here is

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Gehenna, which turns out to be transliterated Gehenna. Gehenna.

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Gehenna is from the Hebrew, which is the Valley of Hinnom. The Valley of Hinnom.

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In the Valley of Hinnom is where they would do demonic child sacrifices to the demon

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Molech. That's where they did child sacrifice in the Valley of Hinnom. Tons, hundreds, thousands of murdered children were killed in Gehenna in the

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Valley of Hinnom. Later, they would use this area, this tainted area, they would never build upon it.

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Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, where these children were murdered, would become the place where they throw out trash and rubbish outside of Jerusalem.

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Many thought that the last judgment would take place there in the Valley of Hinnom in Gehenna. But they use that name to describe the place of punishment and torment where the wicked dead go.

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In fact, every time Gehenna is used in the New Testament, it's used by Jesus in the Gospels.

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Jesus is the one who mentions it as a place of torment. In fact, there were perpetual fires going on in Gehenna.

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Gehenna, the trash heap, was always burning. There was always fire and smoke coming from Gehenna as they burned the trash.

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So that imagery would stick very well with these Jewish Christians. They would know exactly what he's talking about.

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Set on fire by Gehenna, by hell. This gives us an image that the tongue travels to hell, it travels to Gehenna, and it's lit on fire in hell, and it brings some hell back with it and comes out of the mouth.

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In other words, when one speaks in a way that God detests, hell is coming out of their mouth. Hell comes out of their mouth.

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That's what he's saying here. Don't let hell come out of your mouth. Don't let evil come out of your mouth.

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What's the old idiom? It says, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

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James argues the opposite to be true. James is essentially saying, you can get healed from physical wounds and broken bones, but there are some sins of the tongue that cause irreversible damage.

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Some things that even lead to hell. But moving on, go to verses 7 and 8.

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It says, For every species of beasts and birds of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.

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But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

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James is now going to give evidence in verses 7 through 12 on how the tongue has been affected by hell.

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That's what he's about to go into. But first, in verses 7 and 8, he's bringing the reader's mind back to the creation account in Genesis.

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Beasts, birds, reptiles, sea creatures, all of them were that of the whole of the animals that were made in Genesis chapter 1.

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In Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, it says, God made man in his image and likeness.

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It says, He said one role of man would be to, quote, rule over those animals.

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That's what God commissioned man to do when he created Adam in the garden. He said, You will rule over these animals.

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Genesis 1 .28 says that they are to fill the earth and then subdue it.

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Subdue it. The naming of every animal was part of that too.

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There shows ownership and demasetai is tame or subdue.

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The reality is, we have pets that typically obey us.

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Circus animals that perform to the taskmaster's liking. We use animals to our benefit for food, for clothing.

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We hunt big game. We fish. We stock our freezers. We do all this, but we can't even tame the wild tongue.

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That's the comparison. You could do all that with animals, but you can't even subdue your own tongue.

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Striking. Striking contrast. In fact,

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James says in verse 8, no one can tame the tongue. No one.

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Why? Because it is a restless, unstable, full of evil, deadly poison sort of thing.

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The tongue is like a snake's. Restless. A snake's tongue is always moving.

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It's always coming out. It's expelling and coming out. Snake's tongue is always moving, but it's also full of deadly poison.

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In fact, James points to that. He points to the same verse, honestly, that Paul uses in Romans chapter 3.

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The poison of asps is under their lips. Both James and Paul are quoting from Psalm 140.

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The poison of asps is under their lips. It is the utter evil of fallen man.

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But this is where I really want you to listen up. Listen. Consider this. This is amazing.

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This gives me great hope right here. What you don't see hidden in our translation is the word

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Anthropon, which means man. Anthropos. Man. Mankind.

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It literally could say this in verse 8. It could say, but no one among men can tame the tongue.

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Among men. Why is that key? Why does that give me hope? No one among men can tame the tongue.

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Augustine said this regarding this. He said, God, James does not say that no one can tame the tongue, but no one of men.

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So that when it is tamed, we confess that this is brought about by the pity, the help, the grace of God.

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This is not to say that we can be perfect in taming the tongue, but it gives us hope, right?

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Amen, church? We can, by God's grace, tame the tongue. Through the help and grace of God as those indwelt by the

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Spirit, not walking in the flesh, we can be empowered to control the tongue. All is not lost.

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All is not hopeless with your tongue. It was once set on fire by hell, but it can now, by the power of God, be set on righteous things.

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No longer set on fire by hell. Jesus, change that for you. Change that for me.

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Righteous things. Things our God, who is an all -consuming fire, can work in us from the inside out.

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He can change how we speak. He can change how we are on the inside. But let's finish up here.

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Let's go to verses 9 -12. It says,

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With it we bless our Lord and our Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God.

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From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

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Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?

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Nor can salt water produce fresh. James used that word restless in verse 8, which is actually the same word for unstable in chapter 1, verse 8.

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And when he uses that word unstable in chapter 1, verse 8, he is in reference to the de -psychos man, the de -psychos man, the double -minded man.

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The double -minded man is now the double -tongued man. What a swinging pendulum the mouth is.

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Out of one side we bless our God and Father, and out of the other side we curse our neighbor and brother.

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Double -tongued of the double -minded man. The blessing of God was in Jewish devotion.

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They'd say all the time, the Holy One, blessed be He. The Holy One, blessed be He. They'd bless

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God all the time with their words. In fact, there are 18 benedictions that come from rabbinic tradition and literature.

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And those 18 benedictions would all end with a blessing of God. They would recite these all the time.

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They would recite the blessing of God, the blessing of God. Every morning they would do these devotions.

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Maybe James is pointing to singing psalms and hymns together in the Christian community, possibly in the worship service that we've done.

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You bless God in the service, in your recitation and singing of songs, but then some will leave here and curse their brother or their neighbor.

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They will sing blessings to their God. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and then you will leave and curse your neighbor.

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Blessing God could be seen as one of the most elevated and righteous ways to use the tongue, while cursing men could be seen as one of the lowest and most evil ways to use the tongue.

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James's point goes deeper than this double -tongued nature, because he doesn't just say men right here who have been made.

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With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men. He doesn't just stop with cursed men.

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He says men who have been made in the likeness of our God. And that should hit harder, church.

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That should hit harder. I'll tell you why. Because it's saying you act like you bless our

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God and Father, but then you curse people made in his likeness, and therefore his point is you might as well be cursing

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God. You might as well be cursing God. Direct cursing of people made in the imago

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Dei, made in the image and likeness of our God, is indirectly cursing God. You curse

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God, you curse God's people, people made in his image, you indirectly curse God. He says these things ought not to be this way, my brethren.

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Like a pastor who wants to see the best for his congregation, things should not be like this.

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He pleads with them, things should not be like this. Those transformed by God should manifest that which is good from God in consistency in their speech.

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We once again have questions to ask ourselves. Are you skilled with talking like a

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Christian at church and then talking like the world after you leave? Are you skilled with talking like a

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Christian and then on Monday you get to church and no one would even know you're a Christian? Is that what happens?

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What kind of things do you find intriguing? Do you find gossip intriguing? What kind of things do you find humorous?

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Do you find perverse words funny? Is that what makes you laugh? What kind of things make you feel stronger?

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What kind of things build you up? Hearing the criticisms and belittling of other people?

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Yeah, let's talk about that guy and how bad he is because it makes me feel better.

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Those are some of the ways we can use the tongue in that fashion. But now verses 11 and 12.

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These are structured as rhetorical questions. Questions that honestly can only be answered with the word no.

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Fresh water springs were so important during the Bible times. A fresh water spring church was a source of life.

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Literally, if someone found a fresh water spring, whole towns and villages would populate around a spring.

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That's how important a fresh water spring was in Bible times. But the word for fresh here is actually glucose which gives us the word glucose, sweet.

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This is not actually fresh. This is sweet water. Sweet water. The same single source cannot simultaneously produce sweet and bitter water.

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Can you imagine that? There's not one fountain where bitter and sweet water come out of it.

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It points to absurdity. It should be inconceivable that one could give blessings to God one moment and then curse to their neighbor another.

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We're the fountain. We're the fountain and out of us is coming sweet and bitter.

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But he's saying that's absurd. That can't happen. Are you the kind of person who gives bitter water to other people?

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Are you the kind of person who gives sweet? Or are you the double -tongued one and you give both?

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Think about it. Now Pastor James brings up trees and salt water, wrapping up.

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He continues to show his brotherly connection with Jesus. Why? Because this alludes to Matthew 7, verse 16, concerning the trees producing the correct fruit of its kind.

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You remember Jesus saying that? He says, vines and figs won't produce briars and thorns.

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That's what Jesus says. So James reveals, of course, his brotherly connection to Christ. In a way, it's saying be consistent.

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Be consistent as a Christian. If you are in Christ, speak like one who follows

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Christ and not one who follows evil. If you've been given sweet living waters, let those living waters flow out of you.

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Proverbs 18, verse 21 says, death and life are in the power of the tongue. But now that you have life, is your tongue giving people life?

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Does your tongue give life, not death? James is saying, nature is unable to go against nature.

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Creation is unable to go against the created order. Figs give figs.

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Olives give olives. Grapes give grapes. So be consistent.

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A Christian gives Christ -like things. That's what he's saying. The sinful fallen man will always give the wicked tongue, but we, church, have a new nature now.

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Why do we go against our new nature of those in Christ? We need to repent.

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We need to tame the tongue under the freedom of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, all to the glory of God the

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Father. Tame the tongue. Let us approach our

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God like Isaiah did and confess, Lord, we are men and women of unclean lips.

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Woe are we! Let us approach God in our prayer life like that. Woe is us!

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We are men and women of unclean lips. But through Christ, Lord, would

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You place a coal of fire upon our lips and consecrate them for the sake of Your name.

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Consecrate my lips, dear Lord. Help me to be consistent. Help me to talk the way that Christ talked.

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You see, church, controlling the tongue isn't only the evidence of Christian maturity, it's the way to gain maturity.

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It's also the way to gain maturity. So what do we do to remedy this?

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How do we remedy this? I have two main thoughts to assist you here before we leave.

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Number one, James already said in chapter 1, he said, be slow to speak.

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I think that's a good thing here to consider. Remember the Proverbs?

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It says, a man of understanding knows when to keep silent. Knows when to keep silent.

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And it says, and even when a fool keeps silent, he is considered wise. A fool's lips bring strife.

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It says they bring ruin. Because we are a people who believe everyone wants to hear what we have to say.

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Unfortunately, social media has definitely encouraged that. We believe that everyone wants to hear what we have to say.

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We have a platform and everyone's gathered around to go, what will Wade say today?

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Well, that's not true. The majority of people in this world could care less what Wade Orsini has to say.

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We need to be quiet more. I need to be quiet more. When you're feeling angry, discontentment, lustful, jealous, prideful, hateful, or foolishly minded, keep the mouth shut.

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Keep it shut. If you're jealous of someone else, don't give over words to that jealousy.

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If you're angry, don't give words to your spouse in anger.

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Keep the mouth shut. Practice silence sometimes. The second idea

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I have to assist you with is to speak the Word of God. I know we talk about that all the time.

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This church always talks about preaching, reading, being in the Word of God, but it's true.

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Get so engrossed in the Word of God, get it embossed, embedded into your mind, that it be the way you speak, honestly.

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That it be the way you speak. Speak in the same way God has spoken to you.

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You will not err. If you speak in the same way that God has spoken to you in His Word, you will not err.

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Speak and say the same things that Jesus said in His earthly ministry. Speak like the prophets of old.

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Speak like the apostles. Get in the Word to know the Word, to speak the Word. Get in the

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Word to know the Word and to speak the Word. If you speak the

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Word and live the Word, you will be able, by the Spirit of God, begin to be able to bridle the rest of the body.

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You will steer the ship in the right direction. The tongue is a fire and leads to hell, but Christ suffered and died even to redeem your tongue and the words it speaks.

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That is true. Now, here are some things from the

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Proverbs. And actually, I went through every single

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Proverb last month, and there's 130

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Proverbs that are related to the tongue, mouth, or words that we speak. 130. And I went through every single chapter of the

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Proverbs one by one, and I wanted you guys to have this. Take it. Meditate on it.

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But Mo, could you hand this out one per household? Take this.

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Consider it at home. It shows from the Proverbs the righteous way, but also it shows all the wrong ways.

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In fact, what I found was in the Proverbs, it's almost exactly half. Half of the

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Proverbs show how we can use the tongue in a wicked way. Half of the Proverbs show how we could use them in a righteous way.

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Okay? So take that. Use it in your family devotion. But here are some things that it says from that handout.

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Speak the commandments, it says. Speak the knowledge and wisdom from the

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Lord. Speak the truth, uttering no lies. Speak what is acceptable.

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Conceal a matter not. Don't spread secrets. Speak healing, it says.

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Speak gently, turning away wrath. Speak with the soothing tongue as the tree of life.

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Speak like the honeycomb, that which is sweet. Speak with integrity. Speak to preserve justice.

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Here's a good one. Proverbs 30, it says, open your mouth for the afflicted. Don't just close your mouth.

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Open your mouth for the afflicted. It says to bless your family with your lips. And above all, bless your

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Lord. Use the tongue to boast of great things of God.

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The great things of God. Preach Christ crucified and do it daily.

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Use the tongue in the right way. Let your tongue be a fountain of life that brings forth the gospel of life.

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And I was reminded when I finished this up, I was reminded of an old hymn. And the first line of the hymn says this,

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Lord, speak to me that I may speak. Lord, speak to me that I may speak.

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In the living echoes of your tone, speak to me that I may speak. So do you want to control your mouth?

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Do you want to control your tongue, church? Speak how and what our

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Lord has spoken, and then you will tame the tongue. All by the glory of God.

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Let's pray. Lord, apart from you, how could we tame the tongue?

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James shows it's clear it's impossible for one to tame the tongue among men.

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We need a Savior. We need you, Christ, to save us.

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Not just from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin. And you've given us your

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Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit may help us to speak in a way that is good and virtuous and righteous, that glorifies you.

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God, let this not just be a sermon that just comes into our knowledge.

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God, help us to have real godly repentance. Help us to have godly sorrow that leads to real change and transformation.

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For me and for the church, for all those who might listen in the future. God, help us to do this by your power to bridle the tongue, thereby able more and more to control the rest of the body and its sins.

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Mature us in this way, Lord. Sanctify us in this area. Help us to only speak that which you have spoken.

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Store your word in our hearts and our minds, that we can speak those things. Pray this all in Jesus' name.