Let us open our Bibles today
again to the letter of James, chapter 3. James, chapter 3, and beginning
with verse 8. 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 the 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. Who is a wise man
and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good
conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter
envy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against
the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envy and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. I acknowledge to God the Holy
Spirit This past week, as I prepared this message, my need of his
help. I know that all scripture, as
we read earlier, is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. And that's my prayer every time
I stand in this pulpit, every message that I bring, that the
message will be profitable for each and every one of us. And
I know that without his help, Without God's help, that will
not be the case. So I encourage you to pray for
me that as I study and prepare these messages that God will
lead and guide me and anoint me as I bring the word that it
may be profitable to all of us. Now, in these verses that we've
just read, as I read over them several times, I saw these three
topics, these three topics which we have already seen in our studies
here in James. The first is the tongue. Let
me point these out to us. The tongue, we see that in verse
8, but the tongue. Now, if you look back to chapter
1 and verse 26, We've already seen this. 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. And then in verse 17 of our text,
we read of wisdom, but the wisdom, and we've run into that before
also in chapter 1 and verse 5, where the apostle said, if any
of you lack wisdom, Let him ask of God, which giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him.
And then also in verse 17 of our text, but the wisdom that
is from above, every good thing, comes from above. Remember, James
said that in chapter 1 and verse 17, when he said, every good
gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from
the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. I was reading this past week
in 2 Chronicles, where they dedicated the temple that Solomon had built,
the temple of the Lord. And this stood out to me, this
verse of scripture, when they all were there in Jerusalem and
they were dedicating that magnificent building. And Solomon confessed
that it was impossible to build a building that could contain
God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain. that he dwells
not in temples made with hands. But the scripture that stood
out to me was this, when all the children of Israel saw how
the fire came down, the fire descended down to consume the
sacrifices that were being offered that day, and the glory of the
Lord upon the house, They bowed themselves with their faces to
the ground upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the
Lord, saying, God is good. God is good and his mercy endureth
forever. God is good. When we look around
us in this world, and it is God's world, it is his creation, We
see a lot of evil, a lot of bad, a lot of things because of the
curse of sin. You cannot turn on your news
and listen to the news or watch the news and not see all of the
evil things, the bad things in this world. God is good. Can we even imagine when that
day comes, and it will come for all of us, For those of us who
know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, can we even
begin to imagine what it will be like to be taken into the
presence of Him who is good and everything in His presence is
good? There will be no more evil because
the curse will have been removed. The scripture says there will
be no more death, There will be no more sorrow. There will
be no more crying. There will be no more pain. Because
where God is, God is good. And in his presence, only good
may dwell. What a blessing that's going
to be. Paul said, a crown of life is reserved for me, and
not for me only, but for all those who love his appearing. I want to build my message this
morning around these three topics, the tongue, wisdom, and every
good comes from above. So first, the tongue, verse 8.
The tongue. James tells us, but the tongue
can no man tame. The tongue. With God, all things
are possible. Our Lord said that, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he said that. He said, with men it is impossible,
but with God, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. Now James says the tongue can
no man tame, and in effect what he is saying is that with man
it is impossible to tame the tongue. But our Lord said, with
God, all things are possible. So that tells me that, yes, though
by myself and in and of myself, it is impossible for me or for
any other person to tame the tongue, With God, all things
are possible. By the grace of God, which is
found in Jesus Christ our Lord, yes, the tongue may be tamed. Now, our Lord said this as we
think about the tongue being tamed by God. I want to remind
us that our Lord emphasized that the tongue, it only reflects
what's in the heart. That's it. Our Lord said that
on several occasions. Let me give you three examples.
He said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So out of the abundance of the
heart, The mouth, the tongue, speaks. And then he said, a good
man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good
things, an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth
evil things. The emphasis I want to call our
attention to is our Lord over and over. He tells us that what's
in the heart comes out of the mouth. And James tells us, the
tongue no man can tame, but our Lord said, with God all things
are possible. Another verse, he said, but those
things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, come
forth from the heart, and they defile the man. How then is the
tongue to be tamed by the grace of God in Christ? Well, let me
give you Three things. First of all, a new heart is
necessary. Isn't that right? If our Lord
says the tongue speaks out of the heart, and if our heart is
evil, then the only possible thing that's going to come out
is evil. You go to the grocery store,
and you buy one of these two liters of Coca-Cola, and you
start pouring it out, what's going to come out? Well, Coca-Cola. What's in the bottle, that's
what's going to come out. And so if our heart is evil,
then out of the heart the mouth speaketh. The first thing that
is necessary in taming the heart is a man, a woman must have a
new heart. Now you can't make yourself a
new heart. Now I know God tells you to do
that. He tells you make yourself a
new heart. But He tells you that to show
you and to show me the impossibility of it. No man can make himself
a new heart. A new heart is a gift. It is
a gift from God, and it is a gift that is given in the new birth. The Lord Jesus Christ said, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The new
birth is a necessity. Every person must have a new
heart, and that new heart is received in the new birth. That's
when we are given a new heart. And in the letter of John, 1
John, the heart is also called the seed. He said, his seed that
cannot sin, this new heart, this new nature, this seed, This nature
of God that is impressed or stamped upon us in the new birth, it
cannot sin. So, in order for the tongue to
be tamed, a man, a woman must have experienced a new birth,
must have received a new heart, have a new nature. Without that,
the tongue cannot be tamed. I have a friend, I haven't seen
him in a number of years, but he used to like to tell this
story. You know, there have been monasteries where the monks took
vows of silence. And he told about one in which
once a year, all through the year, 364 days of the year, no
one could speak. But on one day in the year, one
person was allowed to speak. And so, this particular year,
this man, his opportunity was to speak, and he stood up and
he said, the mashed potatoes in this place are filled with
lumps. He sat down. 364 days later,
another monk was allowed to speak. He stood up and said, there's
too much complaining in this place. The heart, a person has to have
a new heart in order for the tongue to be tamed. With man,
it's impossible. The new birth is impossible with
man. Nowhere in the scripture are
we told how to be born again. Now, I know preachers, they like
to tell you how to be born again, but the Bible doesn't tell us
that. Christ didn't tell us that. What he told us is, you must
be born again. Well, not only is it necessary
that we have a new heart if the tongue is going to be tamed,
but number two, we must have a new spirit. And you read that
promise of the new covenant in Ezekiel chapter 36, and you see
that along with the new heart, God promises to give a new spirit. And that new spirit is God the
Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit. He comes
to live within. Do you ever just stop and Meditate
and think upon the fact that your body, if you are a child
of God, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, that God
lives in you. I think I've read Charles Spurgeon
say one time that he could not imagine which was the greatest.
that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, or that God
the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. But truly, both are
great. A new spirit is necessary, God
the Holy Spirit, because it is the grace of the Spirit, the
power of the Spirit, that enables us to use this tongue. for God's glory. And the third
thing that I would mention, not only is a new heart necessary
and a new spirit, which is God the Holy Spirit, but a new purpose
must be practiced. Did you hear the words of our
Lord I read just a moment ago when he said, out of the abundance
of the heart, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So then if we purpose to have
our tongues used for the glory of God, what is necessary? What must be in our heart? The
abundance, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,
what must be in our heart? The word of God. The psalmist
said, thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin
against thee. Out of the abundance of the heart.
Well, if our heart is filled with the Word of God, then out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak. And it
will speak good things, well things. What do we put into our
hearts? That's a good question, isn't
it? What do we put into our hearts? Do we put the Word of God in
our hearts? Do we hide it in our hearts?
Do we put the messages of grace in our hearts? Are we faithful
in attending upon the Word of God, hearing the Word? Is the message of Christ, is
that what we are constantly putting into our heart? Look with me
in Philippians. Keep your place here in James,
but remember this scripture in Philippians chapter 4 and verse
8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true. Now, what are we going to put
into our heart? That which is true. What did
our Lord say? Thy word is truth. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest. The Word of God is honest, isn't
it? It is honest with us. It doesn't
cut any corners. It tells us exactly what is true
about ourselves. It doesn't flatter us in any
way. Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure. Whatsoever things are good of
a good report. If there be any virtue and if
there be any praise, think on these things. Put these things
into your heart. But the opposite of all those
things, if we put that into our heart, then surely out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth is going to speak, and it's going
to speak that which is not good. Listen to these verses from Proverbs
chapter 6. And the context is the Word of
God, the commandments of the Father and the Mother, which
is speaking, of course, of God's Word. But the proverb says, bind
them continually upon thine heart. This is where we must put the
Word of God, in the heart, or out of the heart, the mouth speaketh,
or out of the abundance of the heart. Bind them continually
upon thy heart. and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead
thee. When thou sleepest, it shall
keep thee. And when thou awakest, it shall
talk with thee. And I'm not adding to the word
of God, but couldn't we also say, when thou talkest, when
thou talkest, it will help thee. It will help thee to control
that a tongue which is a little member, but may be set on fire
of hell. Think about the blessing that
you have received from the tongue. If you are here this morning
and you have been saved, you heard the gospel from the tongue
of some man. For faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without
a preacher? The tongue, as James has already
said in this chapter, is a small member, and it may be used for
the greatest of goods or for the greatest of evils. And so
I would challenge all of us here this morning once again to be
serious about our tongues, to fill our hearts with his word
so that out of the abundance of our heart, the word of God,
we may speak. And then if you notice in our
text, James, he tells us in verses 9 through 12 how unnatural it
is Out of the same hole, that's literally what the word is here,
the same hole, there comes out salt water, bitter water, and
fresh water at the same time. That's just unusual, isn't it?
That just shouldn't be. And that's what he's saying,
verse 9. Therewith bless we God, even the Father. We come here
and we bless God, we praise God, and with the same tongue, then
we curse, we rail upon some other person who is made in the image
of God. Out of the same mouth, the same
hole, proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things
ought not so to be. Does the 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
man, no fountain, both yield salt water and fresh. So we're
reminded again this morning about the tongue. The second thing
that I see is wisdom. in this passage of Scripture.
If you notice in verse 13, James says, Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? In Matthew chapter 7, our Lord
described a wise man. Who a wise man is, who a wise
woman is. A wise man is not a person who
builds his house upon the sand. A wise man is one who builds
his house upon the rock, and that rock is the Lord Jesus Christ. who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you." John Gill made this interesting comment
on that verse. He said, the first lesson in
the school of spiritual wisdom is for a man to know that he
is a fool. That's the first lesson, according
to John Gill. The first lesson in the school
of spiritual wisdom is for a man to know that he is a fool. Now, as I thought about that,
this is a way I would understand that. To this point, before he's
been a fool, but to this point, if he has given wisdom from this
point or at this point, He begins to act out that wisdom before
he has acted as a fool. Because the scripture says, a
fool has said in his heart, no God. And there's a time, some
of you are still living in this time, when what you are saying
is, no God for me. No God for me. All of us have
lived there until the Lord delivered us, until the Lord came to us in his mercy and grace
and gave us wisdom and knowledge. To that point, we lived as a
fool. What we said is, no God for me. I will run my own life. I don't
need God. That may be all right for some
people, but not for me. I don't need God. I can take
care of things on my own. We have acted the part of a fool. But at a point in time when God
comes to us in His mercy and grace and we are born of the
Spirit of God, we began to reason and say, what a fool. What a
fool I have been. I've been living every day and
I give no thought to my soul. I give no thought to eternity. I give no thought to the fact
that one day I'm going to stand before God Almighty. I've lived
as a fool. I've lived like a beast, like
an oxen, like a calf out in the field. They're out there feeding. There's 10 calves in the field,
and they're eating the grass. And the man comes one day, and
he cuts one of them out from the herd and takes it away. It's
gone off to be slaughtered. And the other nine, they don't
think about it. There's more grass for them.
Many times, the Lord has taken away maybe someone close to you,
something's happened in your life, and as a fool, you give
it no thought. This entertainer that died a
few weeks ago, I have heard on the news, they're
not sure, how much his estate is worth. One estimate that I
have seen is $150 million. But on the news, they asked this
one man, who I believe was this man's lawyer, do you mean to
tell me that he had no will? That he lived and he accumulated
all that wealth and he's now dead and there's no will? And
they asked this man, why is that? And the man responded like this,
honestly. He didn't think he was going
to die. That's the reason. He didn't think he was going
to die. Well, you think that's funny, but there's myriads of
people all around us. who give no thought to the fact
that, yes, there's going to come an end to the life in this world
for me. I'm not going to escape. The
wages of sin is death, and I'm going to die. And when I die,
that's not the end of it. I'm not like one of those calves
out in the field. No, I've got a soul. And one
day, when I leave this world, I'm going to appear in the presence
of God. And I will be called to answer
for my life. And who's going to answer for
me? You've heard people say, well,
I'll tell you what I'm going to tell God. I'll tell you what you're
going to tell God. Zip. Zero. Don't fool yourself. Don't deceive
yourself and think you're going to tell God this, that, and the
other. No, no. Beginning of wisdom is the fear
of the Lord. This wisdom. I was looking for
something earlier and I ran across this in my desk. We've all I
heard of Patrick Henry and his speech that he gave early in
the history of our country when those famous words, he said,
give me life, give me liberty rather, or give me death. I have his words that he spoke
at the end of his life when he made out his will. Now, that
was customary at that time. Men would wait to the last and
make out their will. Patrick Henry made out his will,
and this is what he said, I have now disposed of all my property
to my family. There's one thing I wish that
I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they
had that, and I had not given them one shilling, they would
be rich. And if they have not that, And
I had given them all the world they would be for. Amen and amen. And we all wish we could give
Christ. Christian religion, that's the
religion of Christ, right? The religion that's based solely
upon Christ and his work. Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? The knowledge that this man is
given, first of all, is to know himself. I know myself. I know what I am. It doesn't
matter what I feel. I know what I am because God
tells me, and that is, I am a sinner. I know that I cannot do anything
to please God, not in and of myself. I just cannot do it.
Why? Because everything I do is tainted
with sin because I am a sinner. I know that. And I know, this
man, he knows. that it is only through the person
of Jesus Christ our Lord and him satisfying God's strict and
holy justice that he may forgive someone like me, a sinner, and
receive me into glory. This is the knowledge. Now James
says that such a man who's given this knowledge, a wise man who
has given this knowledge, then he should show his faith by his
works, his good conversation. Look at the verse again, verse
13. Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom. We know from the Word of God
that the enemies of the gospel of the sovereign grace of God
have always, have always responded the same way, and they still
do. Preacher, do you mean to tell
me that a man is saved by faith in Christ alone? that he's not
saved by his works, by his doing? Are you saying that a man is
saved only by the doing and the dying of Jesus Christ? Yes, I
am. Well, if you say that, then men
will live sinful lives. That's always been the charge
of lost men against the gospel. And James, as well as the Apostle
Paul, tells us that is not a possibility. Why? Because a man is now a new
creation in Christ Jesus. And he is to show, out of a good
conversation, his faith. And he will. There's no question
about it. Now, the third topic here is
that which is good comes from above, that is, heavenly wisdom. But the wisdom that is from above,
remember in the first chapter we looked at it, James said,
if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all
men liberally and upbraideth not. James here describes this
wisdom that God gives. Now, I know And some of you may
be thinking right now, well, isn't Christ the wisdom of God? Yes, he is. Proverbs chapter
8, wisdom is personified and it is Christ, the eternal son
of God. And in 1 Corinthians 1, the apostle
Paul tells us that Christ is both the wisdom and the power
of God. But this wisdom that James here
describes is a wisdom that God works in the hearts of his people. They mention seven things about
it. Let's go through them quickly.
First of all, this wisdom is pure. Our Lord said, blessed are the
pure in heart. Remember, out of the heart the
mouth speaketh. Blessed are the pure in heart,
and out of the heart the mouth will speak words that are pure,
words of comfort, words of encouragement. And I would encourage all of
us, encourage one another. There's many ways that we encourage
each other, and we need encouragement, all of us do. Encourage one another. Some people are always dragging
you down. They're always so negative. Well, there's plenty of negative
things I see in this world, don't you? We need to be encouraged in those
things which are positive. Christ, this wisdom is pure. It's pure. Number two, this wisdom
is peaceable. Be justified by faith. We have
peace with God. We have peace with God and therefore
we live in peace. Peace in our homes. I can't imagine
some homes where there's continuous turmoil, and discord, husband
against wife, and wife against husband, and parents against
children, children against parents, and all of that going on. This wisdom is peaceable. When a person is given this wisdom,
he has peace with God, and he desires to live in peace with
others, not always finding fault with other people. You know,
some people, they just have to answer. They just cannot respond. They cannot keep from responding. Sometimes the best way to control
the tongue is to clench your teeth and shut your lips. And
do not respond to everything that you hear. This wisdom is gentle. One of
the writers said, here is a true gentleman or gentle woman. This is the fruit of the spirit
as related in Galatians 5. And remember this, Paul spoke
of the gentleness of Christ. He was a gentle person. He wasn't
in the streets crying. Remember the verse of scripture
that speaks of him not raising his voice. And this wisdom is
easy to be entreated. In other words, it's willing
to listen. It's willing to listen and it's
quick to forgive. And it's very opposite of that
overbearing spirit. My way or the highway. That's not the wisdom that comes
from above. And number five, this wisdom
is full of mercy and good fruits. Someone said the person with
this heavenly wisdom knows who maketh us to differ from another,
that is God, and also knows from whom our help comes. Number six,
this wisdom is without partiality. It doesn't show respect to one
person or the other. It treats all the same. And lastly,
this wisdom is without hypocrisy. We don't try to feign before
God. He knows our hearts. He knows
all about us. Nor do we try to put on a face
to others as well. It's without hypocrisy. Now a
man, one of the Proverbs says, a man must show himself friendly
to have friends. We must be friendly with others. And so there's a lot of negativity
that we could express to others, but what good would it do? Whatsoever you do, the apostle
said, do all for the glory of God. And it would be good if
we could ask ourselves before speaking, will this be for God's
glory? Oh yeah, it's true, it's true.
What you're going to say is true, no doubt about it, but is it
for God's glory? Will it help the person? Will
it help in any way? Well, that's just some practical
things I believe the apostle gives us in this passage of scripture. And I pray the Lord will bless
this word to all of us here today. We all have a tongue, don't we?
That's one thing for sure. We all have a tongue. And without
the grace of God, it may cause a lot of difficulty. But with
the grace of God and the blessing of God, It may be a great comfort
and a great help to others. I trust it would be so. Let's
sing this hymn, number 51.