James chapter three, and we're reading from verse one, and we'll read down to verse 12. James chapter three and verse one. My brethren, James is writing, he says, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all, If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

Interesting the way in which these passages today, Corinthians and 2 Kings and here in James, all have elements that are joining together and linking together. Words are our subject today. Words are powerful. Words are powerful and more powerful than we can conceive or quantify. Words can court love and break a heart. They can provoke anger or calm troubles. They can motivate and mobilize vast numbers of people and in the same moment bring shame to the person who is uttering those words.

Our words can give thanks to God and be used to praise God. And in the next instance, slay a person's character by speaking ill against them, a person whom God created and for whom Christ died. With words, we both worship and blaspheme. And James says, out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

So today we're going to be speaking about words or rather the tongue, the tongue as a symbol of speaking and the things that we say by our tongue. James has important things to say to us about words and what we say and how we say it. can have a powerful, far-reaching consequence. And the apostle has some strong words of his own, and yet wise words, words of counsel, words of warning, concerning the damage that we do and the hurt that our words can cause.

James calls the tongue a fire, for the firestorms that it can kindle. He calls it a world of iniquity among our members. He says it's untamable, an unruly evil full of deadly poison. And here the inspired writer tells us that the tongue defiles the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. James is showing us that Satan, the father of lies, is the root cause, the first cause of our sinful words. And in this comment, in this statement, he agrees with the psalmist. David says in Psalm 58 verse 3, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. The manifestation of the nature of man, the revelation of the heart of man and its sinfulness is manifested in the words that we use. Our words defile the whole body.

Now, when James says that, that they defile the whole body. He could be talking here about the nation, what we call the body politics. The words that are spoken, they bring a nation down. The way in which words are used, the way in which communications are spread, they bring a nation down. or he could be speaking about the body of a fellowship. And again, there has to be an awareness on the way in which we speak to one another and the way in which we interact and engage with one another.

Or he could be speaking, James could be speaking about our personal character when he speaks about this whole body. It sets fire to the course of nature. It provokes confrontations and nastiness that fill the natural world with tears and sadness. The tongue inflames the lust of our own heart so that we pursue paths that we should not tread. We walk in ways we should not travel.

And James is himself in the way in which he writes this, both probing and piercing with the words that he uses. I doubt that there is a child of God can read this passage without applying it personally for the things that we have spoken. Sharp things, shameful things, things we wish we'd never said, but things that cannot be retracted.

Sometimes we find ourselves thinking, I wish I had just said that. Well, perhaps the Lord withholds our tongues on those occasions. More likely, we find ourselves thinking, I wish I hadn't said that. And those times the Lord lets us speak and we live with the outcomes and the consequences of the things that we have said.

I mentioned yesterday, James is throughout this epistle distinguishing between true and false religion. That's his point, that's his purpose. And he has been speaking in the early chapters of pure religion and how faith implanted in a man's heart by the Holy Spirit must change the allegiances, the attitudes and the ambitions of every redeemed child of God. It just does. The grace of God does not leave a sinner where it finds him. When the Spirit of God enters into a man's soul, when the Lord Jesus Christ makes a new heart, it lifts him from the miry clay of satanic servitude, and it sets his feet on the solid rock which is Christ Jesus.

And upon this foundation, it is every true believer's desire to worship God in spirit and in truth. It is every believer's desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in gratitude and in love, which we do to a greater or lesser extent, and which we wish we could do more.

A couple of weeks ago, we used a hymn by Joseph Hart, which subsequently got remembered to me. And I just again thought of it as we were preparing, as I was preparing for this service. It says something, I think, to this very point. Here's what it said. Let me remind you.

The true believer fears the Lord.
obeys his precepts, keeps his word,
commits his works to God alone,
and seeks his will before his own.
Never did men by faith divine
to selfishness and sloth incline.
The Christian works with all his power
and grieves that he can work no more.

And James is teaching us that within every believer, there is a desire to honour the Lord. But he is also reminding us that every company of professing Christians will contain tares as well as wheat, goats as well as sheep. those who have pure religion alongside those who have no real faith and whose lives reveal no true enduring evidence of spiritual transformation.

And James's words are a rebuke to such men and women as he exposes their hypocrisy At the same time, true believers are being warned not to imitate the evil lifestyle, the evil attitudes, the evil practices of these unbelievers amongst them.

James wishes to convey to the Lord's people some general principles of conduct so that they might be doers of the word and not hearers only. And he is especially warning against the bad example of double-minded men. He had spoken of them in chapter 1 verse 8. Double-minded men who are unstable in all their ways.

And he makes an application with respect to these double-minded men. And he speaks about their loose speech. And he speaks about their unbridled tongue. It is a feature of such people, both in general conversation and in doctrine.

James had previously said, if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. That was verse 26 of chapter 1. So now in chapter three, he is picking up upon this vanity, this vanity that is exhibited by the unbridled tongue. And he wants to enlarge and he wants to dwell on the immeasurable trouble caused by an unbridled and uncontrolled tongue and the damage that it does.

And here again, we can see the consistency of doctrine between James and Paul. Sometimes people like to contrast and pick out differences that they imagine exist between the Apostle James and the Apostle Paul. That has not been my experience. That is not my understanding of what James is teaching here at all.

And here we see again the consistency of doctrine between these two apostles. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 that the ungodly live speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. And that's exactly what James is telling us here.

Now, he is speaking, of course, about the ungodly, but let us be clear. The godly, so to speak, that is those who are after the Lord Jesus, those who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the godly are not immune from these crimes. But the distinction is this. The conscience of the godly isn't seared. The conscience of the godly smarts. Our conscience stings when it is offended by our foolish actions and our sinful urges.

The book of Hebrews tells us our conscience is purged by the blood of Christ, purged from dead works to serve the living God. Speaking here about service, But the scrubbing board on which our conscience is purged can be very rough indeed. And this is what the apostle is showing us here.

He begins this section. He begins chapter three by telling the Lord's people, be not many masters. That is, don't be too eager. to speak. Don't be too eager to be teaching others. Don't be too eager to be putting yourself forward as a leader. Don't assume the position of teacher or preacher of the Word of God.

And James speaks thus because he knows that that is a role fraught with pitfalls and temptations and heavy obligations. It is a solemn task indeed to be entrusted with the spiritual direction of a congregation. It is a great burden. to undertake the oversight of men's souls. And that's the principal duty of a preacher. Preaching is a calling. It's not a career. Now the tongue, which is the point that James is making, the tongue is the principal tool of a preacher. Words are his stock in trade. The tongue is a most useful instrument for good. It is essential for preaching the gospel, but it is also a most potent power for evil. And because of the peculiar dangers inherent in speaking and preaching, James says, it is better to be swift to hear and slow to speak. If you can get away without speaking, that's the best approach. Such is the potency of our tongue as soon as we open our mouths.

All men, being sinners, are prone to speak amiss. James acknowledges that all men are sinners, again, consistent with Paul, and he includes himself as a prime offender in many things, again, consistent with the Apostle Paul. And the tongue, says James, is the source of greatest offense. The man who can control his tongue, says James, can control his whole body. And such a man would then be perfect. But there is no such man this side of heaven. None of us can control our tongues.

And in pursuing his advice, James contrasts the size of the tongue, which really is not very big. Some people have bigger tongues than others, but the size of the tongue is not very big. And he contrasts the size with the greatness of the damage that it can cause. It is damage out of all proportion to the size of the tongue. You know the saying, I'm sure, that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. And how much more is that the case now with the internet and all the means of communication at our disposal? It is getting increasingly difficult to tell what is true and what is false. And this little tongue can spawn a great deal of harm.

James likens it to the bit that is placed in a horse's mouth that turns the horse's head. As the rider uses the reins, it turns the bit in the horse's mouth to alter the horse's direction of movement. Or again, the tongue is small like a rudder that steers a great ship. And what he's saying is that these words have power, the small bit, the small rudder. But these words have power to change momentum, to change the direction of these larger, more massive powers that be. And he points out how a little fire can consume a vast amount of tinder. A loose tongue can unleash a world of anger and iniquity. And foolish, vicious, and devious talk from an unbridled tongue is, says the apostle, an unruly evil full of deadly poison.

So James is calling on you and me. He is calling upon the Lord's people to be wise and wary in our speech, to be circumspect, to be guarded, to recognize the tongue's power for both good and evil. From the same mouth can come blessings and curses. James wonders that this should be. For James, believers' works and their words should reflect the state of their spirit and the nature of their affections and the desire of their soul after Christ. Sweet water. and suitable fruit. He uses the picture of the fountain and the picture of the olives and the vine. Sweet water and suitable fruit will be produced of a new heart. A man's speech betrays where it comes from.

As I was thinking about this, I remembered the young girl, the maiden who shamed Peter in Matthew 26. I wonder if you recall that as well. Peter was warming himself at a fire in the home. palace of the high priest when Jesus was being interrogated in one of the early interviews of the Lord before he was sent to Pilate. And Peter was there in the midst of all these people. Some of them perhaps had been there at the arrest of Jesus, had been the very soldiers that had come and arrested the Lord. This girl said to Peter, This fellow, or she said, she spoke out loud, this fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And then we read, and again Peter denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter, surely thou art one of them. For thy speech bereath thee. It reveals, it tells. Your speech is a tell. Your speech betrays where you come from. Thy speech bereath thee, it's an old word.

Then, listen to what it says about Peter. Then he began, or then began he, to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man and immediately the cock crew. I'm sure you know the setting of what I'm talking about. Every redeemed child of God has within him two natures. We see it evidenced in Peter, we experience it in our own lives as believers. Each redeemed child of God has in him two natures. And each of those natures strives for ascendancy. The old man of the flesh wars against the new man of the spirit. And the tongue, our talk, our conversation is a powerful weapon in that battle. We all need to be wary about what we say and how we say it, because pride and hypocrisy lie at our door. Someone once said that the tongue is enclosed behind two barriers, the teeth and the lips, and yet it still gets out to cause its trouble. James calls it untamable and so it is and so it remains without the grace of God to bind it and the righteous example of Christ to teach us better.

But we're not going to end there. The tongue can also be a source of great blessing when it speaks truth and faithfully declares the gospel of God. God's preachers, those called to deliver his message, are charged with rightly dividing the word of truth and declaring the whole counsel of God. It is their duty to bring forth Truths old and new, to convince the sceptical, to convert the sinner, and to comfort the downcast and the needy. The true gospel of free and sovereign grace, honestly preached and applied, quickens the dead, enlightens the blind, frees the captive, nourishes the souls of God's people with grace and peace and wisdom from above. and it's our words that convey and communicate these spiritual truths, so the Lord has ordained it. And here I think perhaps the greatest improvement can be made to what it is that we're speaking about here, the greatest benefit of application to our own souls.

The Lord Jesus Christ The Lord Jesus Christ is, of course, that one who is himself the living, eternal word. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the living, eternal word, tells us, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Spirit and life. And if we are directed by those words, Our tongue cannot go far wrong. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4, verse 11, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth. that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Do you see what Peter is saying there? As we speak, whether that is our general conversation or whether that is ministering one to another, whether that is pastoring one another, Whether that is the ministerial responsibility from, as it were, a pulpit, wherever, however, whenever, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. That is the motivating principle to the things that we say and do. Do you remember what Paul said to the Corinthians in the opening reading that we had? The opening chapter when we began our service was 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And the apostle says to the Corinthians there, I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

Now, true it is that Paul was speaking here as a preacher, and we're not all preachers, but there's a principle here. As with Peter's comment, there is a principle here that Paul applied to himself that we all can profit from. He said, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul was single-minded. He made it his determined approach to speak as becomes a servant of Jesus Christ, to speak as becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, to speak as becomes an ambassador of God in a foreign land, to speak as Christ's mouthpiece, as Christ's tongue here on earth.

And true it is that we will fall far short of such a high standard. We shall grieve the Spirit and compromise our own conscience, perhaps a hundred times a day. but how our lights would shine if it were our determined position not to know anything save Jesus Christ. To speak as Christ would speak and to tell out his love and his truth.

Brothers and sisters, do not let this passage make you ashamed or sorrowful. That is not James's desire, it is not my intention. If you are a child of God, your sins are forgiven. Your past sins, your errors, your indiscretions, your stupid statements. They're all gone and forgotten under the blood of Christ. You carry no guilt for those in the sight of God. You are justified. You are whole. You are pure. You are holy in the sight of God.

But let what James says influence how we act tomorrow. Let it influence how we speak tomorrow. Paul says in Philippians 4 verse 8, Brethren, speaking to the Lord's people, speaking to the elect, Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. And after you've thought about them, talk about them.

Hebrews says, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

Amen. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today.