The Terrible Tongue (Part 3)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

James 3 and the Christian Use of the Tongue

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. I think we�re going to do a Facebook Live at the time. It is now September 19th, 2020. Tomorrow I�ll be preaching, Lord willing, from the book of James, if I�m alive, James chapter 3.

We�re going chapter by chapter through certain epistles in the New Testament. On Sunday morning, I�m entitling this �Big Picture Theology so you get kind of the sweep. It kind of feels like two sermons in one.

Chapter 1 did, chapter 2 did, and chapter 3 will. It talks about the tongue and then wisdom. Anyway, my name is Mike Abendroth. You can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com. If you�d like to be critiqued in terms of your sermon, if you�re a pastor and you�re preaching, just go to sermoncritique .com.

You can do that. If you want to order �Sexual Fidelity�, it doesn�t mean you have a problem with sexual fidelity. It means you�d like to learn what the Bible says about that topic. It was written based on different things I�ve talked to my son about over the years and thought I could help other people as well.

If you order it, I give you this book for free, �Things That Go Bump in the Church. Just order �Sexual Fidelity� online at NoCompromiseRadio .com. You get that thing for free, �Things That Go Bump in the Church.

Difficult topics Church Discipline, Sin, Homosexuality, etc. Last night, of course, we had a Supreme Court Justice die in the United States, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Easy for me to say. As a matter of fact, I have a new kind of drink of choice these days on No Compromise Radio.

It�s not just coffee, but it�s super coffee. Positive energy, zero sugars added, 10 grams of protein, 200 milligrams caffeine, and just like your host, sweet and creamy. I think I still drink Pete�s coffee a little bit.

What�s his shining forehead there? Last night, Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, and I was surprised and saddened by lots of people who said things, essentially rejoicing that someone died. Now, I don�t know if she got saved before she died, and people said, �This is the Messiah, Psalm 22, Psalm 110, Isaiah 53.

I mean, I have no idea about any of that, and of course, her policies were we could talk about those things. It just reminded me, whatever political spectrum you�re under, you just have to be careful what we say.

That�s one of the problems with Facebook, with Twitter, with Instagram, with Snapchat, with all these things. Now, it�s not only what I say, the tongue, that�s James Chapter 3, this personification of who I am because out of the heart, the tongue speaks, and the fingers type.

We all need a good dose of, �Let�s be careful how we talk. James 3 has been saying, �Listen, since you�re a Christian, since you don�t have to pay for your sins, of even your tongue, of speech, you should live a life of gratitude that honors God with what you say.

Since you�ve been bought with a price, since you�ve been redeemed, since you�ve been forgiven, you�ve been reconciled to God, God�s not angry with you, you get to go to heaven based on the work of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, don�t you think you ought to talk commensurate with your calling, walk in a manner worthy of your calling

And that�s why James is writing. James is not writing to say, �If you don�t talk well, you�re not going to heaven. He�s saying, �It�s sin when you slander, when you speak evil, when you use your mouth to say things about folks.

And what he�s been saying in the first few verses, we�re everybody sins, so be careful, teachers. And then he�s saying, �Small things control. And whether it�s a bit in the horse�s mouth, or it�s a rudder on a ship, little things control.

And little things not only control, they affect, so you can take a little tiny brush fire and it can turn into a forest fire. And that�s where we are now on James chapter 3, verse 6, the last two shows I just did in the last hour.

We didn�t do FaceTime Live. So, if you�re a FaceTime Live people, welcome, there�s three of you, God bless you. It says in James 3, 6, �And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

I mean, it just pollutes, it contaminates. There is Anthony Miller, God bless you as well. I am glad you�re watching. It says I can bring you on camera, but I would be afraid to bring Anthony Miller on camera.

The last show I did, I was trying to think of the stuff that you spray on wood, right, a liquid that you put on wood and you soak it. If you�re at the beach and you want to have a fire and you don�t have any kindling or you don�t have any newspaper or anything like that, what you do is you spray something on there.

I couldn�t remember that liquid, so I looked it up. It�s called charcoal lighter fluid. That�s what you need, charcoal lighter fluid. All of a sudden, you get the fire, right? Our tongues can so influence either negatively, or we�re going to look at it a little bit positively.

If you think about what you�ve said to people or how what you�ve said can cause a church split, it could cause a divorce, it could cause someone to go to war, we all have to be careful. As Christians, let�s just say you read Proverbs.

I don�t do this every day, but I regularly, if today�s the 19th, I read Proverbs 19. I didn�t do that today, I did it yesterday. I�m amazed on how many times there�s something said about the tongue. Even in Proverbs 16, the tongue, fire, gossip, and it just spreads and it does damage.

You have to be careful. Something so small, something so insignificant, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me. That�s not true. I mean, I guess you teach that to a kid if you�re an unbeliever or you�re a pagan and you say, �You know what?

What they say, it doesn�t really matter. Who you are is important and mom and dad love you. Okay, I understand that, but every one of us, living in light of the risen Savior, the just shall live by faith in this Jesus.

How do we respond? We just don�t run our mouths anymore. We don�t say, �Well, whatever is on my heart, I just say it. Out of the heart, the tongue speaks and we know what�s in here. Even as Christians, that sin hangover that we have, the flesh, it�s called, we have to be very, very careful.

How does God want Christians to speak? He wants to remind them through the half-brother of Jesus, that is, James. We have to be careful. There�s so much damage that can be done and it just doesn�t affect a little bit or a little bit of a person.

The entire person, then the entire community, the destructive effects of speech, scorching fire. Of course, you have been watching the fires in California and all of a sudden, it just spreads. I�ve been reading about one fire that kind of went around a certain way, the wind and all that stuff.

Then it came around the other way, around the other side of the lake. You thought you made it because you were over here. Of course, it didn�t. John Calvin said, �The vice of the tongue spreads and prevails over every part of life.

It is as active and potent for evil in old age as it ever was in the days of our youth. That�s so true. You think some of these things we kind of grow out of. It�s similar to what I write in Sexual Fidelity.

They went to a man years ago when, for lung diseases, you�d get put in an iron lung, literally inside the iron lung, can�t get out or you�d die. A man brought a bunch of young men that he was discipling to talk to this Christian man in the iron lung.

The discipler asked the man in the iron lung, �What do you struggle with the most living in an iron lung He said, �The lust of the eyes. You think you�d kind of get over that as you got older. It�s the same thing here, whether you�re young or you�re old.

Whether you�re just doing well with your tongue, all of a sudden, kind of like one slip up. I know it�s not a slip up. Sins aren�t struggles. Sins aren�t accidents. You purposely do what I understand.

You just think, �Oh man, my tongue is deadly. The origin of a tongue that�s deadly, the text says, is set on fire by hell. Of course, what used to be the old dumping ground and the trash heap that just was always on fire, then of course the Lord Jesus uses that idea of this burning trash dump for the real, literal hell that never ends.

It�s almost like when your tongue is saying the wrong things, I�m not saying you�re oppressed by Satan, you�re indwelled by Satan, I�m not saying Christians can be possessed or anything, but the background of the whole thing, who�s the slanderer?

Who�s the one that tries to get people to say things that are inappropriate? Even back in the day when Adam, when he said to the Lord, �It�s the woman you gave me. I mean, that�s not set on its course.

The tongue wasn�t set on its course by the triune God or righteousness. Not at all. I think of what Jesus said in John 8, �You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father�s desire.

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. We as Christians want to live a life of gratitude and thanksgiving.

And how about this? Does this make you want to go sin and say a bunch of bad things, or does this make you want to think, �I need to walk circumspectly. You�ll never, a Christian, have to pay for all the sins you�ve committed, even the sins you�ve committed with your tongue.

Words, criticism, backbiting, gossip, slander. Not a one. You don�t have to pay for any of your sins. I don�t have to pay for any of my sins. They�ve been paid for. No double jeopardy. Oh, a couple of my dear friends are watching.

I�m very glad you still watch. I thought you lost your unconditional election when you moved to Florida, Alex and Yelena, but I guess you�re still Christian, so what do I know? I miss both of you. So we just have to be careful and to say, �You know what?

Even though I don�t have to pay for these sins, that�s not going to make me want to go sin more. No, no. James is saying, here in light of the cross, in light of what Jesus has done for you, let�s just make sure we think about what we say, because the implications are very sobering.

The Tongue Cannot Be Tamed by Human Strength

James 3, 7, �For every kind of beast and bird, reptile, sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. And so what James is trying to say is this.

He�s not trying to say, �Oh, it�s hopeless because of course, the Spirit of God, one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, right, Galatians chapter 5. He�s saying, �You know what? You�re going to need help for this, or you�re going to need divine intervention.

You probably should pray. I like to pray before I preach. Does that sound like it�s an okay thing to do? But how about before we talk, and we also can talk with our fingers, and believe me, if you think I think I�m perfect when it comes to Twitter and social media, I�m not, but I�m trying to mature in all this stuff.

Can you imagine all the different things you could tame in terms of creatures? I don�t know how hard it is to tame a falcon, but when you watch those guys, the falconeers, is that what they�re called?

I think they�re called the falconeers, the falcon trainers. That�s unbelievable. How did somebody go, �You know what? I think I can train this falcon. I can put this little hood over its eyes. I can do this, that, or the other, and it�s going to fly over there and do such and such, or a carrier pigeon.

I mean, I would just think they�re going to fly off the first time. I don�t think they�re ever going to come back. The idea here is the dominion that God gave man is true, and you can train all kinds of species.

The funniest story that I have is I was in the lake of Ozarks, one of the lakes of the Ozarks, when I was a kid. I don�t know how old I was, 10 or something, and a guy named Scott Labs, my friend, we would catch crawdads and then sell them to the local shop.

Hey, Mark is watching. Welcome, Mark. We would sell them to the local bait shop, because people use them for bait, right? So you could, you know, worms or whatever. So we had this one particular crawdad and only had one craw.

Now, this is going to sound really stupid, but in light of our passage today, in light of you get what you pay for, we trained it not to pinch us. And we were training it to go through this obstacle course that we made.

And so you know the mat, you�re going to walk into a cabin and there�s a mat before you walk in. Hey, there�s Mark too. It says, �Blessings to you, Pastor Mike. �Blessings to you, Mark, as well. It�s the same Mark as the old Mark.

One that says, �Mark is watching. The other says, �Okay. And so we had this mat. And you know, you dust your feet off on this mat before you go into the cabin. And if you lift up the mat, there�s like these little rectangular holes in there.

And so we were training the crawdad with the one pincher to go through this obstacle course. And I was holding up that mat. Those are heavy mats, by the way, kind of this rubber-ish, kind of made out of old tires or something.

And I slipped. It crushed our trick crawdad. I�m sure we had a name for it. And my friend Scott started to cry. You can tame all kinds of animals, including crawdads. But there�s something that�s untameable.

Hey, Stephen, I hope your studies at Reformation Bible College are going well. Let me know when you�re a paedo-baptist. Genesis 9 -2,. �And the fear of you and the terror of you shall be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky and everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea into your hand that are given.

Buddy Dunn didn�t say the tongue there back in Genesis. Did he not? No one can tame the tongue. And that�s why we have to be careful when Adam sinned, right? The old Puritan primer, the New England primer even, A.

In Adam�s fall, we sinned all. And when Adam sinned as our federal head, we also got credit for that first sin. And then by consequence, we have a sin nature. And now we have lost the ability to control our tongue, to govern our tongue, to tame our tongue.

And I really don�t think James is being condescending here. I think he�s being forthright. I think James is either a sermon or some extracts of sermons put together in this way that�s very staccato-like, 108 verses, 54 imperatives, and he�s preaching away.

And it�s meant to be convicting. I�m convicted. But it�s not meant to be crushing, soul-crushing, like, you know, I can never live up to the standard and God�s going to judge me for every word. No, no.

It�s meant to be, you know what? Live in light of a risen Savior. This is what sanctification is, right? You�re good with God. That�s what Galatians 2 .20 talks about. I�m remembering today, as I walk by faith, that everything�s fine between God and myself because of my mediator and advocate, the Lord Jesus, and out of a life of gratitude and thanksgiving.

I want to make sure I understand the tongue, and okay, no one can tame it. That means I�m going to have to be dependent on the Spirit of God, I�m going to have to have my mind full of Scripture, and I�m going to have to walk circumspectly.

But it�s not as if, okay, when I sin with my tongue, then I�m out. No, no. One man said, �This is harder regarding taming the tongue, �than the drunk leaving his bottle, the heroin addict leaving his needle, or the gambler tossing his cards.

Because you can actually stop those things, right? Even unbelievers can stop those. But I don�t care if it�s a believer or an unbeliever. You can�t tame the tongue. What�s the point? Well, the point is, I can�t do this, but of course, the Lord Jesus� I mean, can you imagine, by the way, Jesus never sinned, including by what He said, or didn�t say?

That�s amazing. It�s a restless evil full of deadly poison. We want to make very, very sure that when we talk, it�s not like we�re spewing forth. I looked up a couple poisons, and maybe you think of cyanide or arsenic or strychnine, but ricin, R-I-C-I-N.

They just used ricin. It was from a plant to kill the Bulgarian dissident, Markov, September 78, and he felt something that hit his back thigh, and he saw a man bending down to pick up an umbrella, and then all of a sudden, he�s dead, or batrachotoxin.

And of course, you know about the South American Indians who use the venom-tipped blowpipes to hunt their prey. It�s from that deadliest toxin. You know, with our tongues, we�re doing such a great job.

We�re on the radio show, teaching about the Bible and the Lord Jesus, and then the next second, it�s like, okay, what did I just say? What did I just think? No wonder there are Bible verses to help me in this, and it�s not just lay back and let God and be passive.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies, Psalm 34. Proverbs 10, �When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. Proverbs 13, �He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

We have to be very, very careful, and we have to be additionally careful as Christians that we don�t fall into moralism. Unbelievers know, better be careful, unbelievers know slander, unbelievers know gossip, it�s in the court system.

We have to be careful that we don�t use our tongue to sin, and we have to be careful that in the context of sanctification for the Christians, we don�t act like moralistic, pietistic, therapeutic deists.

Blessing God and Cursing People with the Same Mouth

I mean, how crazy is the tongue? Look at James 3 .9, �With it we bless the Lord and Father. I read Nehemiah 9 this morning. I mean, talk about a blessing to a compassionate, gracious God. You have to read Nehemiah 9, in light of all the elections and crazy stuff.

Read Nehemiah 9. I mean, I had to keep going all the way to the end of the book, and as I was reading Nehemiah 9, I thought, I never wanted to preach through Nehemiah, because I get, okay, this is my no-co moment here for a second, I better be careful with my tongue, but I am so sick and tired of leadership sermons from Nehemiah.

How to be a good leader by Nehemiah. It is just the worst. So I can�t stand that. So I�ve kind of always rebelled against preaching from Nehemiah, even though I know I should, and even though I know it�s a good book.

But I read Nehemiah 9 today, and I mean, �With it we bless our Lord and Father. And then James 3, 9 goes on to say, �And with it, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.

And you can hear the appeal, this pastoral appeal. My brothers, these things are not to be so. I mean, on Facebook, you put a great thing about the Lord Jesus and how He�s your captain and author of salvation, and then you just totally attack.

I mean, I do it. I don�t want to do it. Oh, he tries to use logic. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and salt water? I mean, what�s nature tell you? Can a fig tree, my brothers?

We�ve got some cool fig tree plants, by the way, in our house now. They�re just growing to who knows what. Do they bear olives? Or grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. The tongue�s crazy.

The tongue�s insidious. The tongue is duplicitous. Is that how you say it? Duplicitous. Duplicitous. There we go. If I could only read. Anyway, we have to be careful. We�re living in light of the risen Savior, and we are made to praise the Lord.

By the way, fast forward to heaven. Aren�t you going to be glad for heaven for many reasons? A glorified body? That�s fine, but how about the glory of Jesus, the Shekinah glory, the Lamb standing as if was slain?

One of the great benefits, though, I think, you know, after�I know there�s no time in heaven, but after a million years of heaven, whatever that might be, I�ll never say anything bad. I�ll never say anything wrong.

My theology will be perfect. As a finite creature, I�ll still be growing in the infinite knowledge of who God is, because He�s infinite. But I won�t ever say anything bad. Never. I�ll never have to say anything like, �I�m sorry for what I said.

I mean, for me, I�ve learned this lesson. I want to say to my wife and my kids or other people, �I didn�t mean that. But now I�ve been taught better, so theologically, you know, you have to auto-correct, and if ever I say anything bad, I could say something like this.

This would be true. �I�m sorry for what I said. Please forgive me. But I�ll never say, �No, I didn�t mean it. Because when I said it, I meant it, because out of here flows this or this, typing. Boy, that�s going to be great.

There�s only going to be one side of this in heaven, and that is we�re going to be extolling and praising our triune God. I mean, on earth, I mean, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it�s not that, I mean, I guess I get where he got the story.

Who wrote Jekyll and Hyde? I can�t remember. What�s that stuff you call charcoal lighter fluid? Peter said to Jesus, �Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. That�s good. That�s a good thing to say.

You too, Peter, were with Jesus the Galilean. I do not know what you�re talking about. Well, my name is Mike Havenroth. This is No Compromise Radio. We just did a Facebook Live, and we�ll play this here probably in a couple weeks on the radio show.

If you�ve got questions, you can always email me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com. And today, we�re living in light of the Lord Jesus, the risen Savior, as Christians, so let�s make sure we ask God to protect our tongues and that we speak well of Him and others.

God bless you. I�m just hurting. You would have the gall to come up to me and say, �I don�t know if you�re a Christian or not because you�re not handling this trial right. But that�s what we have now in evangelicalism.

It�s crazy. Oh, the show�s already over. My name�s Mike Havenroth. God bless you.

I�m Mike Havenroth.