I prepared and preached many
messages, but I don't know when I prepared a study which was
more interesting to me than this chapter three that we're going
to look at tonight. I don't know when I prepared
a study that was more needed, I felt, by me. than this chapter 3. More needed. And I don't know when I prepared
a message that's more applicable to me. And when I finished the
study, determined to try to walk in its counsel. And in the instructions
that God gives us here through his servant, James. So let's,
I hope that whets your appetite a little bit. And you're as blessed
as I was by this study. And corrected, rebuked, instructed
by this study. Alright, verse 1, my brethren.
He's talking to us believers. Be not many masters, knowing
that we shall receive the greater condemnation. The word masters
everybody that I study and whose writings I have confidence in
says this word is teachers, preachers. My brethren, be not many teachers
and preachers. Do not rush eagerly. to be teachers
of the scriptures or preachers of the scriptures. Don't aspire
to this office so quickly. Don't take this office presumptuously
upon yourself. But seek some evidence and encouragement
that God is putting you in this office. That's what he's saying.
For we know, you know this and I know this, that unqualified,
untaught, uncalled preachers and teachers are partly responsible
for the errors in doctrine and practice in churches today. Uncalled,
untaught, unqualified preachers and teachers have got us in the
mess we're in over all these hundreds of years. So don't rush
into it. Don't eagerly aspire to handle
the word of God. It's an awesome, awesome responsibility. Now we must not discourage men
from this office. We must not discourage men from
being teachers and preachers. We need teachers and preachers
and elders. But we should use restraint.
We should avoid novices. You know, Paul warns us about
that. Lay hands suddenly on no man.
Don't ordain, send forth a man to be a teacher of the Scriptures,
a teacher, a preacher of the Scriptures, hurriedly. Lay hands
suddenly on no man. And when other men do it, don't
you partake of their evil deeds. Don't do that. Avoid novices. Pray that the Lord will call
out His elders and make known to us who they are, who should
teach and who should preach. Give us some evidence, some signs,
some leadership. Our Lord said in Luke 10, Pray
ye, pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He that
he will send forth laborers into his vineyard, into his harvest. You see, being a teacher of the
scriptures, being a preacher of the word, requires not only
fluency of tongue, it requires not only a knowledge of the scriptures,
It requires not only a sincere heart. Those are three basic
requirements. Ability to speak, knowledge of
the scripture, and a sincere heart. But in addition to those
three things, teaching the word, preaching the gospel, absolutely
requires an anointing of the Lord. Paul said, God put me in the
ministry. The priesthood in the Old Testament,
the Scripture says, no man takes this office upon himself, but
he that's called of God. And then it says here in verse
1, my brethren, be not many teachers, preachers, elders, don't aspire,
rush into this thing to be a teacher of the Scripture, knowing that
we shall receive the greater judgment, the greater condemnation.
What does this mean? It means simply what it says.
Those who teach and preach the Word are judged by the Lord by
a higher standard and with greater severity than others in regard
to what they say. What we say from the pulpit and
from the lectern in teaching the word. What we say in the
assembly and to the people of God, carries with it a greater
responsibility. The preacher said this. The teacher
said this. We shall give an account. If
we are ambassadors of Christ and we say we are speaking for
Christ, Oh, we have such great accountability and responsibility. We shall receive the greater
judgment. Back here, one page in Hebrews
13. You know, we covered this some
time ago, looked at this passage. We didn't cover it by any means.
We looked at this passage. Hebrews 13, 17, Obey them that
have the rule over you. and submit yourselves, they watch
for your souls as they that must give account." To whom? To God. When? Now. Now. Our Lord said if a man breaks
the commandment and teaches men so, he, this man, transgresses
the doctrine. and teaches men so, he'll be
called least in the kingdom of heaven. So it's a great responsibility,
and we don't want to discourage men, young men and other men
from entering into the teaching ministry, the preaching ministry,
but use restraint and care and caution, and remember, it requires
an ability to speak, To communicate, preaching, teaching, communicating
requires an ability to communicate, a knowledge of the Word, a sincerity
of heart, but an anointing of the Lord. That is essential. All right, verse 2. For in many
ways we offend, all of us offend, all of us, teachers, preachers,
pupils, doesn't matter who we are, We're going to stumble and
fumble and fall and fail and offend in many ways. It doesn't
matter who they are. If any man offend not in word,
the same is a mature man and able also to bridle the whole
body. Those who teach and those who
are taught have many infirmities and failures, but the tongue
is the major source of problems. That's what he's saying. In many
things we offend. All of us offend. In many things
we fail and fall and have infirmities. But the tongue, that's the major
source of offense. So, if a man can learn to control
that tongue, he can achieve spiritual maturity. That's exactly what that's saying.
Don't expect to be perfect. Don't expect to be perfect in
this life. No matter if you're a teacher,
preacher, leader, whomever you are, we're all going to fail.
Teachers and pupils and everybody else. But if we can, if we can,
if we can control this tongue, learn to control this tongue,
if we can learn when to speak, if we can learn what to say,
if we can learn How to say it. Get me? You get what I said?
When to speak. We don't have to speak. All the
time. That's my problem. Secondly,
what to speak. When and what and how to say
it. It must be said. But it can be
said two or three different ways. How to say it. And if we can
do that, we can attain some spiritual maturity. That's what that says. The same is a perfect man, he's
a mature man. Just think of it. If he could just handle this
one little organ in his mouth, if he could learn to handle that,
he could be a mature man. He could speak for the glory
of God. He could speak always for the good of the church. His
tongue controlled by love and grace, may be a blessing to people. It's a small member. The tongue,
turn to verse 3 now. It's a small member. But this
little fella can produce some amazing results. Amazing, astounding
results. Sometimes disastrous. Sometimes
marvelous. Sometimes terrible. This one
little instance. And he gives us three illustrations. Look at verse 3. Behold, we put
bits in horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn
about their whole body. The horse is a big animal. He's a strong animal. Sometimes
a wild animal. Yet by placing a small bit in
his mouth, We're able to turn him in the
direction we want him to go. We're able to subdue him, stop
him, make him go, turn him. It's a small member, a small
instrument, but it can control great animals. Secondly, he uses
a ship's rudder. Behold, verse 4, also the ships,
which though they be so great, so huge, these ocean liners,
aircraft carriers, cruisers destroyers and They're driven with fierce
winds and yet They're turned about with a very small rudder
Whether so ever the captain desires And I know you men in the Navy
we used to go and drive up Put that big old ship in dry dock
Drain all the water and I'd be just sitting up there in the
air And you walk around that ship in the back and there's
the motors, you know, the propellers that drive it and there's that
rudder. It's so small compared to the size of that ship and
yet it turns that ship wherever it goes. You can use that rudder
and put that ship in the harbor or use that rudder and put it
on the rocks. That's what he says about the
tongue. Use it to put a ship in the harbor. or on the rocks. Just the rudder. And then he
says, he compares it to a horse's bit,
to a rudder, and then verse 5, he compares it to a little fire
striking a match. A match is a tiny wood with a
little fire on the end of it. And yet, that match can destroy
a home, it can destroy a forest, Out in California, 800 homes
burned one time in one forest fire, started by one match. It can destroy a city, San Francisco,
Chicago fire. And yet fire can melt steel and
build ambulances, airplanes, trains. It can do good. Fire,
you can strike a match and cook meals, warm buildings. And so the tongue, he says here
in verse 5, even so the tongue is a little member, it boasts
of great things, but how great a matter a little fire can kindle,
how great a matter. The tongue can do great things
or evil things. The tongue can preach the gospel, Sunday morning, I pitched on
television. There was a businessman from
South Africa in the area, getting mining equipment or something.
He tuned that television on. Heard the message. He was wondering
where he was going to go worship Sunday. He said, that's where
I'm going. Hear what he said. Came Sunday
morning to hear me. Shook hands with him at the door
and he said, what time is service tonight? I said, 6.30. He said,
I'll be back. He came to hear John. Who knows
what effect those messages will have on him or his family or
friends or wherever he goes. So the tongue can preach the
gospel. The tongue can comfort hearts.
The tongue can encourage the weak. The tongue can teach children. Things they need to know. The
tongue can build friendships. The tongue can unite people in
a cause. Winston Churchill made that speech
in World War II and united the entire nation of England. Remember that great speech? Sweat, blood and tears. Remember
that speech? It united the whole nation. That man's tongue. It can praise
and glorify God. But what we hear is we're being
warned about what it can do also. Now watch this, verse 6. But
the tongue is a fire. It's a world of iniquity. So
is the tongue among our members. It defileth the whole body. It
setteth on fire the course of nature. It's set on fire of hell. We're being warned here about
what the tongue can do when it's moved by anger. When it's moved
by grace and moved by love, it can do great things. But when
it's moved by anger, or envy, or jealousy, or vengeance, or
ambition, it's like a fire. It's like a destructive fire.
That's what it says here. It's set on fire the course of
nature, set on fire of hell. It's like a destructive spreading
fire which destroys without partiality, without pity, anything in its
path. How is the tongue like a fire? Well, one man says it's like
a fire from the heat of it. An uncontrolled tongue, speaking out of anger. or envy,
or jealousy, or vengeance, stirs passions like fire boils water. It stirs everybody. Just the tongue does that. It
stirs the passions. And then secondly, it's like
a fire, not only from the heat of it, but the danger of it.
A fire destroys without partiality everything in its path. It doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter to that tongue who gets hurt or
how badly they're hurt. Children, mothers, fathers, friends
just destroy us. It can turn a happy home into
a wilderness. It can turn a happy church into a place of conflict and
strife. It can turn a workplace that
has been happy, just one tongue can turn that whole workplace
into a situation where no one wants to go there anymore. It's like a fire and the heat
of it and it boils like fire boils water. The tongue stirs
passions and then it destroys without partiality. That's the
danger of it. And then thirdly, what's this,
the duration of it. Its destruction often is never
revealed. I thought when I read that, the
duration of fire destroys And most of the time it can never
be rebuilt. I remember not so much nowadays
as years ago. You used to drive down the highway
and invariably every few miles you'd see where a house stood
and there stood a chimney. Remember how you used to drive
down there? There was just a chimney. And all around, black earth and
stones lying around the house had burned down. That's gone for good. Gone for
good. Never be rebuilt. Stands there
as a monument to somebody's carelessness. Stands as a monument to somebody's
foolishness. It's burned down. I've seen that
happen in church splits. I've seen that happen in homes
where people want... That tongue and it just destroys
and it's never rebuilt. The tongue destroys friendships
that have stood for years. The tongue destroys homes that
once were happy and content. The tongue destroys churches
which have blessed hundreds. The tongue destroys reputations. A man or woman can never restore
a reputation if a tongue has destroyed it. Nothing he can
say or do that will recover what he had. Character, reputation. The tongue plants doubts. It
plants doubts. It plants suspicions. Where trust
at one time reigned. The tongue turns men from truth
to error. Just a tongue. That's the reason it says here
in verse 6, it's a fire. It's a world of iniquity. It
defiles the whole body. It's set on fire the course of
nature, the wheel of nature, and it's set on fire of hell. Look at verse 7 and 8. Now this
is interesting. For every kind of beast, elephants,
giraffes, dogs, lions, birds, Serpents, fish of the sea, dolphins,
whales have been tamed. Every kind of bird, animal, beast,
serpents is tamed and have been tamed of mankind. Men have tamed
those animals and those even fish. But the tongue, watch this
now, but the tongue can No man tame. Forget it. It's an unruly evil. It's full of deadly poison. And
no man or woman can of themselves tame the tongue, hold it in check,
stop the bitterness and stop the hate and stop the evil. Can't
do it. But is there no hope? Oh yes
there is. The grace of God can do it. You can't. He can. I can't. He can. God, by his grace, can
tame that which man cannot tame. The tongue. And I'll tell you
how he does it. By his grace, he gives a new
heart out of which the tongue speaks. The scripture says, out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So God, in place of that
old evil heart, gives a new heart. And that new heart speaks out
of its abundance. What's in it? Grace, love, and
truth. God gives us a new fountain. He digs a new well, the new heart
out of which the tongue speaks. Secondly, grace shows a man what
he is. And then he's not so quick to
condemn others. Most of the time, when our tongues
are critical of others, it's because we think we're better
than they are, more holier than they, more worthy than they,
more gifted than they, more intelligent than they, and therefore we condemn.
The only person we condemn is the one beneath us. So when God shows us what we
are, we're in reality, we're not nearly so hasty to condemn
others. And then thirdly, grace implants
the love of God in the heart. And that love of God quenches
the flames of hate and jealousy. And that love influences the
tongue to speak kindly. Because we love God and we love
the object of our speech. We're talking about Christ, we
love him. We talk about him with love and
compassion. And when we're talking about
our children, we love them. So we speak tenderly of them. Mighty tenderly. If we love the
other people like we love them, we speak the same way about them. So grace implants love, and that
changes the attitude. When you love somebody, you just
handle them with more care and consideration. And then grace
reveals the truth in Christ, and truth cannot tolerate lies. Truth cannot tolerate hypocrisy. Truth cannot tolerate vain glory. When vain glory rears up its
ugly head, we know better than that. You know, people talk about a fellow preaching the gospel.
If a fellow knows the gospel, he has to preach it. He has no
alternative. That's what Paul said, necessity
is laid upon me, I must preach the gospel. Woe is unto me if
I don't preach the gospel. I'm not worried about any man
not preaching the gospel if he knows it. And I'm not worried
about any man telling the truth if he knows it. Or standing for
it. Or contending for it. Or finishing
the race. He will. Because truth will not
tolerate lies. Truth won't tolerate vainglory. But a man, we don't want to brag
on a fellow, he might get lifted up. Not if he knows the truth,
he won't. He can't stand vainglory. Only the grace of God can do
that, though, tame the tongue. So Lord, give us the grace. Give us the grace to control
these tongues. Verse 9 and 10. Now, this is
interesting. Verse 9 says, therefore, therewith,
with the tongue, bless we God. Praise God, speak well of God.
Bless God, with the tongue, bless we God, even the Father. Some
people use their tongues to bless God. They sing, they pray, they
witness, they speak of the glory and goodness of God. You do.
We were talking tonight in the study how easy it is to preach
here because the truth is love and appreciated and received.
That's what we agreed, it's easy to preach here. And you use your
tongues to bless God and praise God and speak in a way that's
honoring to God. But some people, they use their
tongues to curse men, to criticize men, to gossip. Some people use these tongues
to curse men which are made after the similitude of God, in the
image of God. In other words, some people,
by the grace of God, use their tongues to bless God. Some people,
because of the absence of the grace of God, use their tongues
to criticize and hate and say all manner of evil. Just hard
to get along with. And unfortunately, verse 10,
Some people try to do both. Out of the same mouth proceeds
blessings and cursings. Some people, they try to do both. They try to talk religion when
they're with this group, and they talk another way when they're
with that group. And they bless God, praise God, use all these
religious words in some company, and then they use In other words,
in other company. And he said, my brethren, this
ought not to be. This ought not to be. This is
a contradiction. Verse 11, I tell you why it's
a contradiction. Does a fountain send forth at
the same hole sweet water and bitter? Uh-uh. I tell you, if
I come to a fountain, And I have the water check and it's poison.
I better put a sign up there because it's not going to change.
It's going to stay poison when you come by. No matter who comes
by. You don't get sweet water and
bitter water out of the same fountain. And the tree, the fig tree, my
brethren, verse 12, can it bear olives? Figs and olives both? Or a vine, a grapevine, will
it bear figs? No. All these answers are no.
So can no fountain yield salt water and fresh water, and no
mouth can honestly bless God and curse men. Can't be done. Now, verse 13. We're coming down
to the summary of all that we've talked about. Who is a wise man,
a wise woman, endued with knowledge among you and among me. Who are
the wise people in our city, in our community? Who are the
wise people? Well, we all like to think we're
wise. Who are the knowledgeable people? We all like to think
we're knowledgeable. But here's how it's shown. Here's
how true wisdom and true knowledge is revealed. Look at the next
line. Let him show it out of a good conversation, his works
with meekness of wisdom. Two ways that wisdom and knowledge,
true knowledge and true wisdom, are proved and shown by our words
and by our works. You know what it says? Who is
a wise man endued with knowledge among you? He will show it out
of a good conversation. His words will be wholesome,
seasoned with grace, kind, gentle, truthful. And His works with humility of wisdom. And
we're not talking about a single word. No, we're not talking about
one single word doesn't make a man evil, and one single word
doesn't make a man good. In fact, it's too often we revert
to words that we regret, for which we apologize, and for which
we're ashamed. So you don't base a man's judgment,
whether he's wise and knowledgeable, by one word or one act. We're
talking about a series of words. We're talking about conversation,
general conversation. We're talking about tenor of
life, tenor of conversation, tenor of works. I know even David
said, I'm going to quit. Didn't he? I'm quitting. Jeremiah
said the same thing. Elijah asked God to kill him.
He said, I don't know if one's got any sense in this old outfit.
No one knows anything, so just take me on to glory. So, he shouldn't
have said that. He shouldn't have said that.
And every one of us say things we shouldn't have said. So what
I'm saying, that wisdom and knowledge are revealed by our general conversation. When you buy that? General conversation. Our general conduct. Our general
walk. That's how it's revealed. Understand
what he's saying? Words seasoned with grace and
works motivated by faith and love. Daily words and daily walk. Now verse 14, but if you have
bitter, envying, and strife in your hearts, don't glory. Don't glory. If you have bitter,
envying, and strife in our hearts and words, we have no cause to
glory in our wisdom. We're not wise. That's not wise. That's not the knowledge of God.
Verse 15, this kind of wisdom descended not from heaven. It's
earthly, it's sensual, and it's devilish. The kind of wisdom
that has bitterness in the heart, strife in the heart, vengeance
in the heart, hatred in the heart, that didn't come from God. That's
what he's saying. This didn't come from above.
This kind of wisdom, this kind of knowledge is not from God,
it's from the earth. It's natural, it's carnal, it's
sensual, and it's Satan's influence. And verse 16 says, you can be
sure that where envy and strife is, where envy and strife is,
it's not of God, it's an evil influence. There is confusion,
tumult, unquietness, and every evil works. And that's not from
above. That's of the earth. That's avoided. Just be done with it. Just not
have any part of it. Won't have any part of it. But
the wisdom that's from above, here's what it is. Let me give
you four or five things here. Number one, it's pure. What does that mean? Blessed
is the pure in heart to see God. What is this purity of heart?
That's not without thought. That's an impossibility on earth.
The Word is sincere, cleansed by the blood of Christ, free
from hypocrisy, free from pretense, free from sham. It's pure. Paul used that one time about
his preaching. He said, it's of purity. It's
of sensitivity. It's from genuine heart. So this wisdom above is sincerest. Secondly, it's peaceable. Those
who desire peace speak peacefully. It's peaceable. It's gentle.
It's mild. It's courteous. To contend for
the truth is not to be harsh. I wish I'd learned that a long,
long time ago. As is supposed. That's the way
it seemed some of the old timers used to buckle on their swords
and put on their helmets and shields and raise a banner with
a cross on it and go to war. If we can't conquer them with
a gospel, we'll conquer them with a sword. That's not the
way it's done. It's not the way it's done. Turn to 2 Timothy. Listen to this. This is a great
verse here. 2 Timothy 2 It says verse 24,
and the servant of the Lord must not
strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, and patient In meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves. We're not their enemies, they're
their own enemy. They're opposing themselves.
They're not mad at us, they're mad at God. If God, peradventure,
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
So, gentle. That's wisdom. And then let's
look back at the text. The wisdom that is from above
is pure. It's peaceable. It's gentle.
It's easy to be entreated. Willing to listen. Willing to listen. Willing to
forgive. Willing to wait. Willing to be
gracious. That's not weakness now. That's
wisdom. And it's full of mercy and good
fruits. Wisdom knows who makes us to differ. whence our help
comes. And having freely received, we
freely give. Without partiality. Now I know
we have a certain partiality to provide for our own families.
And that has to be. We're concerned for our wives
and a wife for a husband and children. You're devoted to that
family circle. But we're talking here about
the church body. Without partiality. We go back
here to chapter 2. You remember where it says in
verse 2 of chapter 2, if there come in your assembly a man with
a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in a poor man
in vile raiment, and you have respect to him that wears the
gay clothing, you say to him, sit over here in a good place,
you say to the poor, stand over there and sit under my footstool,
you're partial. You become judges of evil thoughts. works based on partiality, based
on appearance, or age, or the power to reimburse. You love
those that love you, give to those from whom you hope to receive
in return, there's no thanks there. So, in the body of believers,
it's a kindness without partiality. And then the last note, back
into my text, it's without hypocrisy. God's wisdom and knowledge and
grace is straightforward, free from insincerity. I believe there's
no sin, no greater sin in the eyes of God Almighty than insincerity. That's hypocrisy. I don't believe
there's any. As I go through the Word, through
the years, and have studied what our Lord has said and what the
apostles taught, is that he despises hypocrisy above all things. A
sincere heart, God blesses. Even a weak sincere heart, even
a failing sincere heart, even a needy sincere heart, even a
whatever, but God blesses a sincere heart. And verse 18, I close, And the
fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
In other words, love begets love. Love begets love. They that sow
in peace usually reap what they sow. Those that sow in peace
and kindness usually reap a harvest of peace. I hope that's a blessing to you
as it was to me. God blesses it to all of us.
Gives us the grace that this scripture is talking about.