Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of James. The book of James will be continuing
our study in this wonderful little book that we've been going through.
It will be in chapter 3, James chapter 3. And the last message
we had in this book was on the tongue, covered verses 3 to 6,
where we saw three illustrations brought forth by our dear brother
James. Number one, how a horse is reined
in. with just a bridle and a bit,
how a large ship is steered by a small rudder, and how a spark
can become a huge fire, can become a huge fire. Now remember the
context that we looked at for this chapter. James is dealing
with, or remember the context of the book itself. James has
been dealing with how we are to be swift to hear, slow to
anger, and slow to speak in chapter
one. And he also dealt with how faith
without works is dead. And in the works he discussed
in no way justify us before God, because the only way that we're
justified before God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, we looked at how those works justify us in the eyes
of man. And in verses one and two of
this chapter, James is dealing with those who are seeking standing
in the church. Three weeks ago, we looked at
that, people trying to seek standing in the church, trying to vault
themselves over others. And then once they get in those
positions, then they lord over people or they control the situations
that they're in. And it ought never to be that
way. Lord raises up leaders within the church, and we leaders don't
lord over God's people. No, we're right there with you.
We're right there with you. There's no way, in no way does
being a preacher make anyone better than anyone else, or being
in any kind of leadership in the church make anyone else be
better than anyone else. We're all the same. We're one
in Christ. We need to remember that. And we're not to lord over
each other. And then, in the context of that,
he's speaking about the tongue. He's speaking about the tongue.
And two weeks ago, James brought forth that he or
she who can govern the tongue can govern the whole body. Now
let's read verses 1 to 12. And we'll finish this portion
in the chapter, if the Lord wills, on the tongue this week. 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. The only one who was able
to bridle his tongue was the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't
sin in any way. He was sinless in his thoughts,
sinless in his words, and sinless in his deeds. He was the only
perfect man. Behold, we put bits in the horse's
mouth that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole
body. Behold, also the ships, which though they be so great,
are driven of fierce winds. Yet, they are turned about with
a very small helm, whithersoever the governor lists us. Even so,
the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold,
how great a matter a little fire kindleth. In Italian, it 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 is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast,
and of birds, and of serpents, and of all things in the sea,
is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue, look
at this, the tongue can no man tame. No man, no woman can tame
the tongue. It's our worst enemy, isn't it,
in that sense? Oh my, it's 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 proceeded
blessings and cursings. My brethren, these things ought
not so to be. That the fountain bring forth
at the same place sweet water and bitter, Can the fig tree,
my brethren, bear olives? Either a vine fig, so can no
fountain bowl yield salt water and fresh. So we see here in
verses seven and eight that man has succeeded in taming beasts,
birds, serpents, even the fish of the sea. But the tongue, one
of the smallest members of our body, no man, no woman can tame. Isn't that amazing? We can domesticate
animals, but we can't control this little member in our mouth.
Oh my. And this is brought forth in
the scriptures here. This isn't just my opinion. This
is the Word of God telling us this. And we know, we know it's
true. We know it in ourselves. Listen
to what these two verses, listen to verse 78. I pulled out the
Greek literal Bible and take note of what it says. And as
I'm reading these, note the words, no one of man. in verse eight,
okay? So it starts off, verse seven,
for every species of both of beasts and birds, both of creeping
things and things of the sea, is subdued and has been subdued
by the human race. Verse eight is really interesting.
It says here, but no one of man, no one of man, this is in the
literal Greek, no one of man is able to subdue the tongue.
No one. And people say, well, I got control
of my tongue. You're lying. No one, the scripture says, no
one of man is able to subdue the tongue. It is an unruly evil,
full of deadly poison. As I said earlier, the only one
who was perfect was the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he could control
his tongue. And we read some of the things
he said to them Pharisees, eh? But that was all done with no
sin, no, you know, he was defending righteousness. The Lord hates
the workers of iniquity. That's what the scripture said.
He's angry with the wicked. And here was the Lord of glory,
God incarnated in the flesh, and these people were telling
him, they were saying that he was a false prophet, and he's
God in the flesh. My oh my. So no man or woman
can control the tongue. No man or woman can hold this
tongue and check. or stop its bitterness and evil.
No one can tame the tongue. Like I said, we can tame animals.
We got dolphins that are tamed, and orcas. But we can't tame
the tongue. One of the smallest members of
our body. Birds can be tamed. Serpents,
even you get those little Komodo dragons and everything, they
can tame them things. Ferrets can be tamed. Animals can be
tamed. But the tongue can no man tame. But you know what can tame the
tongue? You know what can subdue the tongue? The grace of God. Grace of God can subdue the tongue.
We're living proof of that, aren't we? What happens now when we
say something that we used to say? It's like a stab, right?
Oh, my. Why did I say that? Why did I
say that, Lord? The grace of God has subdued
our tongue. Not completely, though, right? Because that's our nature,
right? But we are different people now,
aren't we, in Christ? The grace of God can tame and
subdue a tongue. Do you know the grace of God
can make the instrument that we cannot tame, the grace of
God can tame it so it sings praises to God. Isn't that incredible? The tongue
that used to be full of bitterness and cursing is now full of praise
to our great God. That's a miracle, isn't it? That's
a miracle, beloved. It's absolutely incredible. It's
absolutely incredible. When the grace of God acts on
the heart, it will subdue the tongue. Grace slays the corruption,
which uses the tongue as an outlet. So that old dead nature, right? We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We're born again. So now there's
a new source from which the tongue speaks, from which the tongue
praises God. The new nature within us. Grace
quenches the flames of hate and jealousy which motivate the tongue. We're more prone to forgive people
now than to fan flames of hate and jealousy. Grace implants a new nature of
love, right? The love of God shed abroad in
our hearts. Grace does this. which influences the tongue,
to speak in kindness, truth, and sincerity. All for what? For the glory of God. We used
to speak for the glory of ourselves. Vicki and I were sitting in a
restaurant this week, and there was two religious fellows. One
was a pastor at the local church in town here, and the other guy
was a visiting guy. And the visiting guy was telling the pastor about
all that he does and who he works with. You know what word we heard
a whole lot? I. I. I. You know what we didn't hear?
The Lord did that. Oh my. And we were there. Vicki and I came out of that.
So we, you know, we're not looking down on them. We came out of
that. But you just notice that now. Who gets the glory? Well, that man was taking all
the glory, wasn't he? But we give glory to God now,
don't we? We say the Lord saved us. And we're called strange
for being that way, aren't we? For giving all the glory to God,
people call us strange. Well, I'm going to just keep
giving. They can call me whatever they want. I don't care. I'm
just going to keep giving the glory to God. You too, right?
Just keep giving Him all the glory. Just keep giving Him all
the praise. Don't care what anyone says about
us. We're going to give him all the glory for our salvation.
He's the author, and he's the finisher of our salvation. He's
the alpha, and he's the omega of our salvation. Praise his
mighty name. That's what we're going to say.
We're going to give him all the glory. We don't care what other
people say. And there's only one great power that can change
that little member, and that's the power of God. That's the
power of God. The grace of God in Christ. Only
the grace of God in Christ can take this instrument of evil
in our natural state, right? And turn it into an instrument
of good in praising our great God and our glorious God. He
put a song in our hearts, hadn't he? We're new creatures in Christ
now. We have new loves, new motivations. It's wonderful. Listen to this
quote by John Calvin. It says, we must especially strive
to restrain the tongue, for no part of man does more harm. So
even as believers, we pray, God, restrain my tongue, don't we?
Give me grace to restrain my tongue. Give me grace not, you
know, sometimes in the past I've been in some meetings and things
get a little hairy and I'm always praying, Lord, please give me
grace. Give me grace to speak thy words. Give me grace not to react in
the situation. And that's for all of us, isn't
it? Praying for grace to restrain our tongues, because you know
what? You know what we naturally want to do, eh? We know what
we naturally want to say. We want to put that person in
their place. But who's our defender? Amen,
sister, yeah. The Lord. The Lord's our defender. Who fights our battles? The Lord
fights our battles, doesn't he? He goes before us and clears
the way. And clears the way. Oh my. So this little tongue, this little
tongue can leave scars which no one can see. No one can see
them but the receiver of those scars. You ever get a tongue lashing? You ever get a tongue lashing?
Yeah. We've both been receivers and
givers of those, haven't we? My oh my. No one likes that,
eh? No one likes that. So that we
who are the people of God pray to our great God that he would
give us grace to restrain our tongue. To restrain our tongue. When we become angry, which we
will, and we do, when we become angry with someone or when we
become angry with the situation. Let us pray to God, Lord, please
restrain my tongue. Don't let me speak evil. Because
that's in us, eh? It is. I'll be the first to admit.
And how do we know that? Well, just have somebody cut
you off on the road. What's your instant reaction? I'm not even
gonna say it. It's not fitting for me to say
it. But boy, we flare up right away, don't we? Someone cut you
off in the parking lot. Or you ever have this, you're
getting ready to go in the parking spot and somebody zooms in the
parking spot on you. Boom, right, boom, off we go. We're all prone to this. So we're
all prone to this little member just lashing out. And my prayer
for me is, Lord, restrain my tongue, please. Please restrain
my tongue. Because it's so easy, it's so
easy for us to instantaneously say something without thinking,
isn't it? Oh my. Now let's read verse 9. It says here, with it being the
tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse
men, those being made according to the likeness of God. So our tongue, we see, is an
instrument that's used in praising God. For all his mercies in Christ.
And how do we do that? Well, we do that both in prayer,
we do that in fellowship, don't we, when we talk about our King?
We do it when we sing a hymn, sing praise to our great God.
I ask you, before you were saved, did your tongue sing praises
to God from your heart? No. Maybe in lip service, right?
But it wasn't from here. Now it's from here, isn't it?
Now we praise God from the heart. In our lips, you see, the source
has changed. We have a new heart now. That
hungers and thirsts after righteousness were new creatures in Christ
to see the great work God's done. See, even through this exhortation
that all of us are, we feel so guilty. And yet there's wonder
and awe within us that we even praise God. Now we praise, now
we bless the Lord when we never did before. It's wonderful. And this tongue which was once
full of cursing, my tongue which was once full of cursing and
bitterness is now used to praise God. I'm just in awe. I told Vicki,
if you had told me when I was in my 20s that I'd be a preacher
and that I'd be worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and giving
Him all glory, I'd have laughed to the scorn. But I'm not in charge, am I?
Left to ourselves, think of this too, left to ourselves, we would
just be still in the pit of iniquity we were in. God rescued us, beloved. He rescued us. He's turned this
lip, this tongue that used to curse to praise. To praise Him. The tongue of
the believer in Christ now is used to thank God. We thank God
for the food we have. We thank God for the life we
have. We thank God that we're able
to come and listen to the gospel. We thank God for ears to hear,
right, and eyes to see him. We thank God that he had mercy
on us, worms such as us, that he had mercy on us, that he even
thought of us as little wee pieces. When you think of this whole
creation and all the stars and all the universe and how big
are we compared to all that, we're just like a speck that
you look under a microscope at. And yet he's had mercy on us.
So we praise God for that, don't we? We give him all the glory.
It's wondrous. So we worship the Lord, and then
we join with other born-again believers in worshiping God,
too. Their tongues have been turned to praise, too. And we wonder in awe of what
God has done amongst us, don't we? When I see you guys, you
are trophies of God's grace. When I preach to you, trophies
of God's grace, it's amazing. It's absolutely incredible. My oh my. So now we praise God
for all his attributes, his holiness, his righteousness. We didn't
know anything about that stuff before. Now he's given us an understanding. And we worship. With other believers,
we worship the one who's redeemed us with his precious blood. Who
purchased our eternal souls. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. How? By dying in our room and
place. It's amazing. And he did it willingly. And we'll find out the source
of that in the main message. You know why he did that? Because he loves us freely. That's amazing, isn't it? He
loves us freely. So we see in this verse here
in verse nine, the tongue is also an instrument used to criticize
and curse and slander and speak harshly and hurtfully to men
and women who were made by God's image. Look at this. With it,
we bless our Lord and father, and with it we curse men, those
being made according to the likeness of God. My oh my, the similitude
of God, it says therewith bless we God, even the father and therewith
curse we men, which are made after the same result. Of the
fact that we're born again by a miracle of grace, look at this
with it, we bless our Lord and father. The only reason we do
that is because we're born again. Because God has done a mighty
work. And then, as far as using our
tongue to curse, criticize, slander, and speak harshly and hurtfully,
that comes naturally. So one part is what God's, the
reason for us praising God is our regeneration, that we're
born again. The reason for us cursing and
slandering man is because of our natural state, our flesh. And we still battle with that,
don't we? That's why Spurgeon said our own worst enemy, he
said his own worst enemy was himself. He's talking about his
flesh. His own worst enemy. So that stuff comes naturally,
to curse, criticize, slander, speak harshly and hurtfully to
man. That comes naturally for us. It comes from the flesh. And
it can rear its eddly head just like that, can't it? So fast. So fast, even for we who are
believers, so fast. And if one says, no, no, it's
not that way with me. Again, I ask you, what happens
when someone crosses your way? What happens when someone does
you wrong? Well, sometimes we don't always
show it, but we can be really angry inside. Donny Bell said,
he said, I could sit in my easy chair and think the worst things,
the worst things, and no one even knows it. True, isn't it? True of all of
us. My, oh my. My, oh my. So look at verse 10 now. Out
of the same mouth proceeds forth blessing and cursing. My brothers,
these things ought not to be so. So some, by the grace of
God, use their tongues to bless God. And some, whose tongues
are untamed by grace, use their tongues to curse others and speak
unkindly. And unfortunately, there are
some that try to do both. With the same tongue, they bless
God and talk religion and profess holiness, while they also curse,
criticize, and speak evil of another. They're always finding
fault with people. Remember the context of this. So the context of this is these
people lording over God's people. These people controlling God's
people. Seeking standing within the church to control the church.
And out of their mouth comes both praise and bitterness. Criticism. Right? Slander. My oh my. So James brings forth
that this is a contradiction. This is a contradiction. Turn,
if you would, to Psalm 50. Psalm 50. We have here a vivid
picture of the wicked and what God says to them. Psalm 50, verses
16 to 23. But unto the wicked God saith,
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes. Oh, what that thou
shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth. Seeing thou hatest
instruction. Can't teach them. These people
are unteachable. That's our natural state, isn't
it? We don't want nothing to do with God in our natural state.
See, that's why there's no difference between us and the wicked, but
the grace of God. It's He who has made us to differ. And castest my words behind thee.
They don't even care for the words of God. They don't want
to hear them. When thou sawest a thief, and thou consentest
with him, and hast been a partaker with adulterers, thou gavest
thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. They're lies.
They frame deceits. Thou sittest and speakest against
thy brother. Thou slanderest thine own mother's
son. These things hast thou done.
And I kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such in one as thyself. See, people think God's like
us. Look what he says here. But I
will prove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. Now
consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces.
Look at that. And there be none to deliver. That's a chilling verse, isn't
it? No one will deliver. No sinner will be delivered from
the wrath of God except through Christ. No one. The only way to be delivered,
to be rescued from the wrath of God, is in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look what it says here. Whosoever
offereth praise glorifieth me. And to him that ordereth his
conversation right will I show the salvation of God. That ties,
verse 23 ties right into what we're looking at. We glorify
God now, don't we? Our tongues have been, our hearts
have been changed, therefore our tongues now praise God. Praise
Him. And it's all according to His
order. It's all according to His will.
Now that we've got a glimpse of who God is. But the context
is so very important. That's why I keep stressing the
context. The context is speaking of people
who seek standing in the church and seek the Lord over God's
people, and with one mouth they praise God, and with one side
of their mouth they criticize God, or criticize man. Criticize their supposed brothers
and sisters in Christ. Always fault-finding. And these things ought not to
be so. So to fix this thought, the apostle
shows that contrary effects from the same cause are not to be
found in nature. Look at verses 11 and 12. Doth
a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? There used to be a spring when
we were driving up north in Canada, and we always pulled over and
took our bottles with us, because it was one of those natural springs
that came out of the rocks. And we'd all fill our bottles,
our water bottles up, and eventually the county put in a little tap
thing so people could turn it on and off. And I'll tell you
what, you get some of that water, it was some of the sweetest water
you'd ever want to taste. You probably have some of that
stuff down in West Virginia, right? Springs that just come out, and
you start, you drink that water, oh my gosh, it's so, oh, it just,
it tastes amazing. So here he's bringing us, even
nature teaches us that it can't be so. Does a fountain send forth
at the same place sweet water and bitter? No, that water's
really sweet. And then you can get another one that just sends
forth bitter water. I think of salt water and fresh
water. So if you have a spring with
salt water and the water's coming, that's gonna have that bitter
salt water taste that we can't even drink. You get fresh water,
like a spring, oh my, it's so sweet. But they can't, that fresh
water can't bring forth the bitter water, you see? And neither can
the bitter water bring forth fresh water, because it comes
from the spring, comes from the source. Again, the source in
us now is to praise God, to worship our great God and King. And then
it says, in verse 12, can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olive
berries? Either a vine, figs? So can no
fountain both yield salt water and fresh? Again, so it can't
be a mixed well. It can't be a mixed source. It'll
either be one or the other. A fig tree will bear figs, and
an olive tree will bear olives. A vine will bring forth grapes. So these illustrations in verse
11 and 12 are given to us to show how ridiculous and absurd
it is to think that a man may truly praise God and at the same
time lie, curse, and blasphemy. Man. Turn, if you would, to Mark chapter
7. Mark chapter 7. We look at verses 14 to 23, where
again we see that the words we speak spring from our hearts,
beloved. we can get a better understanding,
I believe, of these two illustrations that James is bringing forth
with what our master says here. Mark chapter 7, verses 14 to
23. And when he had called all the people
unto him, he said unto them, hearken unto me, every one of
you, and understand. There is nothing from without
a man that entering into him can defile him. Now look at that. I heard some people say, if you
get that vaccine, you get the mark of the beast. Well, this
scripture just destroys that, doesn't it? It's not what comes
from without a man that defiles a man. And another side note
on that, because there's so much foolishness on that. We're already
marked as God's people. were sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise. That means to be marked in the
Greek. I love it. I love how the scripture does away with
foolishness. Does away with foolishness. So,
there is nothing from without a man that entering into him
can defile him. But the things which come out
of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears,
to hear, let him hear. Oh my, let me hear this. When
he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples
asked him concerning the parable. And he saith unto them, are you
so without understanding also? And that's us, right? We're without
understanding. Unless God reveals to us the truth of the scriptures,
we're just like these disciples. What do you say, Lord? I don't
understand. That's how we are. Do you not
perceive that Whatsoever thing from without entereth into the
man, it cannot defile him. Look how clear that is. Look
how clear that is. Because it entereth not into
his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the drought,
purging all meats. So it goes in the body, and it
goes out the body. And he said, that which cometh
out of a man defiles the man. Look at that. That which comes
from the source, right? For from within, out of our heart
of man proceeds evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile the man. Look at that. Comes from the fountain. Comes
from the source. That which we speak comes from
the source. A fountain cannot yield both
fresh and bitter water at the same time, or a fig tree can't
bear olives. And again, this is speaking in
context of lording over God's people. So one who praises God
and is so critical to God's people and other people, James is bringing
into doubt some things here, isn't he? A truly spiritual person cannot
send forth contradictions, either in words or his actions. There's
a story that, I like this little story Jack Shanks brings forth.
I've been using some of Jack Shanks' studies for our study
here, and it's just been a wealth of study information. But he
brings forth this story about a little boy who's a Boy Scout,
and he brings home a school report that was disappointing to his
mom and his dad. And it indicated that he was
below average. However, his teacher added these words, Jim works
hard and shows such promise. He works hard and he shows such
promise. And Jack said more of us should
speak encouraging words such as these. Listen to these words
in Isaiah. This is one of them verses I
never saw before. Listen to this, though, in Isaiah chapter 41,
verse six. They helped everyone, his neighbor
and everyone said to his brother, be of good courage. That's what
we should say to one another. Be a good courage, brother. Be
a good courage, sister. Our Lord reigns. He is the king
of kings and the Lord of Lords. And we are the people of God
are already convicted when we read these words. We are. But all let us marvel at what
a great change God has done in us. The tongue that once cursed. Is now used to praise. Praise
our great and glorious God. And. That's all done by the. power and might of God. And,
you know, it's easy to speak discouraging words. It's easy
for us to complain. It comes naturally for us, no
matter what the situation is. But we need to just sit and wait
upon the Lord, don't we? We just need to sit and wait
upon him. Rest in him in all circumstances and remember who
we wait upon. We wait upon the absolute, all
powerful, sovereign God. And with him, he can do all things,
can't he? If he pleases to do them. Oh, my heavenly father,
we thank you for your.