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Tongue Trouble - Part 1
James 3:1-4
Skip Heitzig

James 3 (NKJV™)
1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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59 James - 1985

The book of James deals with maturity and practical Christian living by faith. Skip Heitzig teaches on the wisdom in James for enduring trials, handling temptations, and taming the tongue.

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Tonight we're talking about a subject that's in everybody's mouths these days- the tongue (laughter). And beginning with Chapter 3 we wanna cover (laughs) verses 1 through 4 tonight. Speaking about the most ferocious beast on the earth- your tongue and my tongue. Something that can be used to bless people, something that can be used to curse and hurt people. And we can say things, but we can say things in a way that is really cutting and burning. And so james spends a good portion of his letter speaking about this very thing, the thing of the tongue. Now James talks about spiritual maturity- always remember that's the theme of his book, spiritual maturity: how to grow up in Christ. How to mature in Christ. And he's given us so far two characteristics-two characteristics of a mature Christian. Number one, he's patient in trouble. That's what Chapter 1 is all about. He's patient in tribulation. He's patient. He has endurance, not only in tribulation, uh, in the trials of life, but during temptation. He's mature in that. He's persevering in that. Even amidst the storms of life, he hangs in there. His roots are deep. He's not the kind that falls by the wayside simply because it's getting tough out there. He's strong in the word. And the second characteristics of a mature Christian is that he practices the truth. And so James Chapter 2 gives us all those examples of if someone comes into your midst and has a need and you say, "God bless you, brother. Let me pray for your need. 'Lord just supply this brother his need and just really look after him in Jesus name.' God bless you, brother." And God taps you on the shoulder and goes, "Psst. Feed him. Help him." That we should be practicing the truth.

And the third characteristic of a mature Christian we're covering tonight. And that is the control of the tongue. And this is a tough one, let's admit it. All of us I think could really use a whole series on controlling the tongue, and so the next few weeks we're gonna do that. When I was a little kid, my brother and I used to always harass each other and just say, "Oh, grow up." Whenever we did something that we didn't like and we thought it would foolish, we'd always, you know, sort of try to get the edge out of each other and he would do something dumb and although he was older, I'd say, "Oh, grow up," and then I'd run (laughter). James, in a good way, says to us, "Grow up." He sort of puts out his hand, shows us the truth as we face it, his message in the book of James is, "grow up. Be a mature Christian, not a child, not a baby anymore, breaking the mold of immaturity." Now, heh, there seems to be a lot of controversy today about tongues, plural. The gift of tongues. I guess I've never run into more controversy about it then maybe this part of the country. At least on the west coast it's not as, well, I guess it's a big of an issue anywhere, but I've just noticed it here more, a big issue people make about tongues. And it's almost like, you know, the issue is, "Well, if you speak in tongues, then I can fellowship with you.That's the little badge of authority here that I can, if you speak in tongues, then then I think you're okay." And so we gauge spiritual maturity by a spiritual gift. Which is a very imbalanced, immature way to look at life, spiritual life anyway. But while there's so much controversy about tongues, why don't we speak about the real problem, the tongue. The gossip. And, you know, there can be a person who has all of the spiritual gifts, and yet his tongue is out of control. The whole book of Corinth was written to a immature church who had all of the spiritual gifts going for em, but they had divisions and part of their problem was their mouths. They just didn't know when and how to control the tongue. And that's the real controversy I think today and the real issue isn't tongues, but the tongue. And I think you know what I mean. That's the wrong use of the tongue.

One time this, I heard a story of a pastor who went to visit the church and the church was all having a big argument about tongues, you know, and and the manifestation of tongues and a big division and the visiting pastor stood up on the pulpit and said, "Would everybody please stick out their tongue? (light laughter)" Everybody stuck out their tongue and he said, "That is the greatest manifestation of tongues I've ever seen in my life (laughter)." I don't think they appreciated his humor since that was the big fight in the church. Gossip is the issue. I have seen so many individuals and churches split up because people can't shut up. They don't know how to control the tongue. They love to gossip. You know, the church is attacked by termites on the inside rather than by attackers on the outside. People come in and and and backbite and they have some new little, uh, uh, tidbit about somebody. And it usually goes like this, "Hey can I really confide in you brother? No, this is just between you and me, okay? So don't tell anybody." "Yeah, okay." "I wanna tell you what so-and-so's doing. You know don't tell anybody, this is just between you and me." And so, you know, "Sure, I got it. Praise the Lord," you know. Great. And that person finds another friend. "Hey, can I confide in you sister? Now I know you good enough, it's just between you and me, but I just gotta..." and pretty soon it passes around the whole church. It travels by the grapevine and it usually produces sour grapes. I've noticed that when gossip travels, it comes back totally different than the way it went out. Somebody adds to the story and flavors it up a little bit so the time it gets back to the person who first said it, it's way out of hand. And that's how gossip travels. And really, James is speaking about in this chapter control of the tongue, and specifically, it's this area of gossiping. The sins of the tongue.

There was, and this is a true story, a pastor at Moody Bible Church in Chicago one time who knew a lady in the congregation who was, uh, notorious for gossip. I mean, she sat on the phone every day and she talked and she talked and she told stories and everyone at this church knew that she had a problem with gossip. And the pastor knew what was going on. And one day the woman came to the pastor. She said, "Oh, I've just really gotta confess my sin of gossip, you know, it's just such a bad thing. And God really convicted me of this." Well, he'd been through this before with her. And he knew just from the way she was that she was totally insincere. She had just happen to got caught on a certain issue between a couple people in the church and so she went to him and said, "I just, you know, the Lord's really been convicting me about the sin of gossip." He knew that she was insin-insincere. And he says, "Well, madam, what do you plan to do about it?" "Oh," she said real piously, "I just wanna place my tongue on the altar." He said, "Mam, there's not an altar big enough." And left that lady to think about it, because she had pulled that before.

Gossip. Now he says in verse 1, "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, also able to bridle the whole body. In deed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles? And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and is set on fire by hell." Notice the descriptions that James is using in this chapter. "For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God," or the likeness of God, "out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does the spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grape vine bear figs? Thus, no spring can yield both saltwater and fresh."

Now in describing the sins of the tongue, James speaks of six things, or six metaphors, six things that the tongue is like. First of all there is, uh, the bit. Second of all, there is the rudder. That's verse 1 through 4. And then in verses 5 through 9, he speaks about fire and a poisonous animal and likens the tongue to it. And in the last few verses of this section, he speaks about the tongue as a fountain and as a fig tree. Now there's three parts to this that we wanna cover this week and next week. First of all, the tongue has the power to direct. Verse 1 through 4, like a bit in a horses' mouth or like a rudder on a ship, it has the power to direct our lives and other people's lives. But the pump, the tongue, also has power to destroy, just like fire and like a poisonous snake. And then the tongue also has power to bless and to encourage, like it says in the last few verses.

Now tonight we wanna cover just the first four verses, and I think we can make it. Um, turn with me to, uh, well don't turn there yet. Look at verses, uh, Chapter 1, verse 19. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath." Look at verse 26, "If anyone among you thinks that he's religious and doesn't bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless." Look at Chapter 2, uh, verse 12, "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty" Now it seems just from James' writing so far that there was a problem in the early church with the tongue. That the people to whom James is writing had a problem with their tongues, and he devotes a whole section of the Book of James, what we're reading here in Chapter 3, and also what he's written before in the verses that we just read. It seems that there were problems in the early church. Now, the early church had, for a period of time, a practice that got out of hand, and a lot of the scholars think that he's writing about this. And that was the testimony meetings where people would get up and give their testimonies and so forth, but it would got so out of hand, they'd begin to preach and teach and they didn't know what they were talking about. They didn't even know the doctrines of the Bible and they just, it went around the room. It was a free-for-al and it got totally out of hand. And that is one of the things that James is speaking about. That's why he begins this by saying, "Brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that he will receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, and also able to bridle the whole bo-body."

The tongue is the most dangerous weapon that you and I have. You know that it has the power to destroy people and you're not even around them. You don't even have to pull a trigger or anything. You can have someone that's in another city and you can destroy their reputation by talking down a person. It is the most dangerous weapon on earth, or
it can be the greatest source of encouragement and edification and blessing to a person. Just depends on how you use it. Now, there's a few Scriptures that I'm gonna read to you. You can turn to them if you want. Proverbs 18, Chapter 21. Or you can write them down. Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat it's fruit." Death and life are in the power of the tongue. It has the power to build up, or it has the power to destroy. You see, the tongue of man can be used by satan or it can be used by God. Think of Adolf Hitler whose mouth, whose tongue, whose whole life was used by Satan and the horrible atrocities that happened way back in Nazi Germany. The power of persuasive speech that one man had in controlling a crowd and destroying six million Jews. Now think of Billy Graham who, with his mouth, in preaching the Gospel, can lead thousands, millions of people to repentance in saving the lost out of hell. Just depends on who use it as the power of life and as the power of death. Now, write those Scriptures down if you're not looking them up so you can refer to them later on. You need to know these. That's Proverbs 18:21. Proverbs 16:23 says, "The heart of the wise teaches his mouth and adds learning to his lips." The heart of the wise teaches his mouth and adds learning unto his lips. Psalm 141, verse 3 says, David says, "Set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity. Do not let me eat of their delicacies." I once heard a good little poem that said, "A dog is loved by old and young because it wags it's tail and not it's tongue (light laughter)." David himself in the Psalms later on says, "God set a bridle in my mouth." The same thing that James speaks about, a bit. And here he says, "Set a watch over my lips, over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips." And then Matthew, Chapter 12, verse 34, Jesus says, "Brood of vipers. How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." And then He says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you, that for every idle word that men may speak, they will give account of it at the day of judgement. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Every idle word, yikes. Think about that. Every idle word men will be judged for that they may speak. They will give an account in the day of judgement.

What if everything you ever said was written in a book and read aloud or put on tape? What if everything you said about someone else was put on tape and played for that person? Ooh (light laughter). There'd be some fisticuffs flying, I bet. It is estimated that the average human being speaks 30,000 words a day, enough to write a good sized little book. Per day. Now I know people that far exceed 30,000 words (laughter). They could maybe write at a book of encyclopedias a day or something but in a lifetime we have a capacity, with our words, to write, to author and entire library of books. But every idle word, man will give an account. Boy that sets a different perspective on it, doesn't it? And so, James, you can see why now, speaks so much about this issue of the tongue. It was plaguing the early church, and believe me, it plagues the church in the twentieth century, too. I've seen entire congregations split up, I've seen relationships split up. Simply because of people's tongues. Or because people say something and it's taken out of context by someone else and they tell someone else and everybody else knows and it's completely not what the person says. What a person means to say as it goes out of his mouth enters someone else's ear, meaning an entire different thing, because it's taken wrong. But the tongue, what power it has. And so, back to James. He says, "let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive stricter judgment." Now this is a warning for anyone who would seek to go into the ministry, to teach the Bible, or you who are already teachers- Sunday school teachers, kinship leaders, different groups in the church, or whatever. Those that minister and teach the word will receive a stricter judgement. They're accountable for what they teach. There is an accountability for every single word and every doctrine and everything that they teach people, they will be accountable before God for that. The most tragic thing of all is to give people false information concerning their eternal destiny. I get so angry when I see false information being given out concerning a person's eternal destiny. That's why it says, "Be not many masters," or literally, teachers.

There was a lady, and this is a true story, who was traveling on a train with her little child across the United States in a blizzard. As she was waiting on the train, the conductor would go back and forth in the aisles and would yell out the next destination, the name of the town and so forth, and the next two or three destinations and so people could get off. As the conductor was going by the woman cried and she said, "Conductor, uh, how far or how many stops till such-and-such a destination? I need to be there, it's important." "Don't worry, mam, I come by all the time and I'll yell out your destination. You've got about three or four to go. Don't worry about it. I come by, I'll let you know when to get off." She said, "Be sure you do. This is very very important to me." Well there was a fellow sitting next to her in the train who overheard this whole thing and saw the woman's concern and said, "Dear lady, I travel on this train often, all the time. I know all the stops. And a lot of times these conductors, you know, I think they really don't have their act together and they forget to tell a person the stops. So I'll tell you when to get off in case they forget. Don't worry. I've been this route many times." So they're going and the conductor goes down and says, "Next stop is your stop mam, and I'll let you know when it is. I'll let you know when we get to that town, it's the next stop." Train goes a little ways and it slows down and it stops, but the conductor doesn't come. And so the man, who offered his services, leans over and says, "See, I told you guys always don't, they do this a lot and you really gotta watch it. Their busy conductors and they forgot to tell you that you should get off. So, this is your destination. You can get off." She gets off the train. He helps the lady and the little child. The train starts up again. The conductor comes down the aisle of the train and says, "Where's that lady that was just sitting here?" The man says, "Oh, don't worry. I know that you forgot to tell her your destination. I let her off at the stop." He said, "You what?" He said, "Man, you let her off at a water stop in the middle of nowhere." A search party went back later to find the lady and her child and they had frozen to death in the blizzard. Now she was a victim of false information. How much more tragic to be a victim of false information concerning your eternal destiny? To tell other people that they can trust in other things, "Trust in the church. Oh, be a member of this church, that's all you need. Come to church on Sunday, that's all you need." "Give money to this organization and you'll be secure in God's eyes, that's all you need." How horrible! And think about how many people are in hell as victims of false information concerning their eternal destiny. That is why I get so angry when I hear false doctrine and that's why I speak out on it so often. Now, you don't wanna speak against the people, but you wanna speak out against the doctrine that any cult or any religion or any pseudo-christian organization teaches. If it's not biblical, speak out on it. "Oh, but you gotta love them." I do love them, that's why I'm telling them this. Cause I don't want them to go where they don't wanna go. I don't want them to be a victim of false information. "Oh, but you should say it nicer (light laughter)." Oh, come on. Say the truth. If people are being lied to about their eternal destiny then tell them the truth. And I would rather say, "Hey," I'd rather be in heaven and hear someone say, "Man, you know, when you shared that that night about that one church, you know, or that one cult and I got out of it, I'm, I know you, I hated ya at first for saying it but I'm glad to be in heaven." I'd rather hear that than overhear someone's words at the great white throne that said, "Well I've, they never told me that. They never told me that if I was Jehovah Witness that I wasn't a Christian. They never told me that if I wasn't a, that if I was a Mormon that I wasn't a Christian. They never told me that if I was a, you know, a Unitarian or a Christian Science or those kind of thing." Better to tell people the truth about their eternal destiny, even if you're, whenever you're called, tell them the truth.

"Be not many teachers, knowing that you will receive a stricter judgement. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body." Now, this should put the rest to rest the doctrine of what is called "sinless perfection". That is, people believe that you can reach a plateau in your Christian life where you do not sin, you're not susceptible to sin any longer. You've reached a plateau and you don't, you never ever, you'll never sin again- you've, you're sinless. Sinless perfection. James says, "We all stumble in a lot of thing." In other words, we all blow it. One time Charles Spurgeon spoke after one of his sermons to a man who claimed to be sinlessly perfect. He goes, "Oh, I don't sin anymore. I've reached the plateau," and he went on and on. Spurgeon noticed that behind his pulpit was a glass of ice cold water and he poured it on the guy's head. This is true. And the guy was drenched in water and he started yelling and cussing and all this stuff. And Spurgeon goes, "Well, wait a minute. I thought you didn't sin anymore, brother. How come you're angry at me?" Sinlessly perfect, huh? Now, this should be a comfort to all of us. That we're not perfect. In fact the word "perfect" in this verse, "if any man does not, uh, sin in the area of the tongue, he's perfect," means full-grown, mature. But he says we all offend. We all stumble in many things. That's sort of comforting that God doesn't say, "You know, you have to be sinlessly perfect." Because so often Satan will come and remind you of your sins and God will seek to remind you of His grace. He'll say, "You did this, you did that. You're a sinner. Remember last week when you did that and you thought that? Oh, you can't come into God's presence tonight. You're so unworthy. Get out of here. Don't even bother praying, God don't want to hear you." And you walk away and you go, "Yeah, you're right.God doesn't love me tonight. I did fail in my thought life today. I did yell at that employer at work or that employee. Oh. (Sigh)" Satan will always remind you of that. But God will always remind you of His forgiveness.

Now, you've all heard of Martin Luther and the Great Reformation. There is a story, I don't know how accurate it is that one time Satan appeared to Martin Luther with a list of all of his short-coming and failures and stumblings. And he read this long list to Martin Luther. And Martin Luther's response was, "No, no, no, no. You must be mistaken. You've forgotten a lot more than, I've done a lot more than those things (laughter)." He said, "Think harder, try a little bit harder. There's a lot more that I've done wrong than just those things." And so, sure enough, Satan remembered a few more, wrote em down. And Luther kept going on, "Well, I know there's still a few more," and he named a few himself to put on the list. And now he said, "Okay, now Satan, you write in red ink across all those things, 'Cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ'," and he said Satan split. Cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. We all stumble in many things but he says, "If anyone does not stumble in the word, that is the tongue, he is a complete, fully-grown, developed, spiritually mature man able also to bridle the whole body." If we would only think before we talk. Think things out. Think out and and think out what we're going to say before we talk and, you know, think uh, if we would think, I'm being recorded right now. Now I have to think that every time I speak because I am being recorded (light laughter). But think of that. If every time you're gonna talk to someone, I'm being recorded, your tho-your words will be different. They'll be much sweeter, at least. Now you say, "Oh, but you gotta be honest with everyone." And I agree. We should be honest with people. But you know, I think that you can share honest feelings in a number of different ways. You can say them in a scathing way, or you can say them in a nice way. You know, if my wife wears a dress that, say, I don't particularly like. You know, I could communicate that to her two different ways. I could say, "My, that's real ugly dress you have on tonight (light laughter). In fact, I hate that dress. But just wanted to be honest, you know. Gotta share my true feelings with you." Or the next time she wears something that I particularly like, I can see, "That's beautiful. That's the fa- one of the favorite things that you have. I like that above all of the other things that you wear. I just think that's gorgeous. I really like that a lot." "Oh, thanks! (light laughter)" You know. I can build her up or I can cut her down. I'm essentially conveying the same truth. One's in a very negative way, one's in a very affirming way, affirmation, encouraging kind of a way.

Now, it's interesting that in this verse he connects the direction of the tongue with the direction of the body. He says, "He's complete, able to bridle the whole body." He connects the words with deeds. That is because words often become deeds. What we say often becomes what we practice. And so he says the tongue needs to be controlled, it'll, it controls our life. What we say within the tongue, uh, as we read, is the power of life and of death. You know, one word, you know, can just wipe a person out. One word can, can, well look at Moses. Because Moses failed in his speech, he failed to enter the Promised Land. Remember he stood before the children of Israel and they wanted water again? And God says, "Now Moses, you go speak to the rock and water will come down." And Moses is so angry at the people and just vengeful and he goes and he goes, "Must I smite this rock and fetch you water?" And he hits it, you know, just throws a little temper tantrum. Get's all angry. So God had to go, "Psst, Moses, wanna talk to you. Moses, when you were out in front of the people today, you totally misrepresented Me. I wasn't angry at the people. You didn't sanctify Me before the people. You misrepresented Me, Moses, and because you did that, you can't enter the Promised Land. Because you've transgressed in speech in the tongue. You will, you're physical body will not go into the Promised Land." And to make it worse, Moses was able to stand and look into the Promised Land and see how beautiful it was and then not go in. Oh, that must've been torture. Looking at all the palm trees and the lakes and River Jordan and how beautiful it is, knowing that you're standing on a mountain and all behind you is desert and rocks and sand. I mean, there's so much desert and sand over there in the deserts of Israel it makes New Mexico look like Hawaii (light laughter) you know over there. And being able to see that but not being able to enter in because he'd sinned in that area of speech.

And so bridling the tongue, oh how we need this. If we could only think before we speak. You know if we could, uh, kind of plan out what we're gonna say before we say it to people. So often, you know, a lot of people just talk and they have nothing to say, they're just, you know, yap yap yap, but they're not really thinking about what they're saying. Because he's dealing in the context of teachers and in the ministry, "be not many teachers" "bridling the tongue" I realize that before I teach any Bible study I am accountable to God for what I teach you. That's why I think out during the day. All day Thursday is spent on what I'm gonna say. I'm studying, I'm reading, I'm gathering information. How should it be worded? Words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in a setting of silver. And that's why I have notes. See? See my notes everyone? That's so that I can know where I'm going, what I have said, I can stay on target. I've thought about it, I've studied it, I've mapped it out, I can back up what I'm saying with the Scripture. So you just don't get up there and just, you know, spew a few things off and just move the tongue. Thinking before we talk. And that's important that we need to think, bridle the tongue. Perfect example of someone who didn't think before he did was Peter. Now I don't wanna always get down on peter, but we know it's true, don't we? Peter had foot in mouth disease, or sandal in mouth disease (light laughter), whatever you wanna call it. But Peter always was impetuous with his speech. Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus is there with Moses and Elijah and Peter, you know, kind of wakes up from a daze, wakes up from his sleep, and you know how it is when you wake up. You're not totally there. And, you know, there's Jesus and Moses and Elijah. Now when you don't know what to say, it's best not to say anything. If you really don't know what's best to say, it's better just to keep the mouth shut. But, you know, Peter, thinking of a conversation filler- have you ever been in the, in the midst of someone important, someone real important and you know you, you just say stupid things. You wanna say something real profound and it comes out and you're thinking, "Oh, why did I even say that? That was dumb." And you blow it in front of someone important. Well, huh, Peter did it front of Jesus, Moses and Elijah (laughter). He sees them all standing there and in his profound way he goes, "It is good that we are here." (laughter) Moses probably said, "Where'd you get this guy, huh?" (laughter) Elijah said, "Let me call fire down from heaven." (laughter) Nah, I'm just kidding with you. The Father interrupted and said, "Peter, this is my beloved Son. You listen to him. Hear him." It's good to think what we're gonna say before we say it. Bridling the tongue. Now, Peter turned out to be used by God later on with his tongue. His mouth was a very powerful instrument in the hands of God as he stood before thousands of people on Pentecost and preached the Gospel, powerfully, with wisdom and words of integrity and truth. God was in control of his tongue.

Verse 3 says, "Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires." Using two of these analogies – a bit in a horse's mouth and a rudder – two small things, but very powerful. Able to control large objects, like a horse. Now, he compares them to the tongue because, number one, the bit and the rudder on a ship have to go against strong forces. The bit has to go against the strong will of a horse. What if you didn't put a bit and bridle in a horses mouth? Does a horse grow up just saying, can you just say, "Um, excuse me, Mr. Horse, would you just come over here for a minute, I'd like to ride you. And then I'll just say 'turn right, turn left' and you just do what I'd like to do." No, you have to control them by putting a bit in their mouth. And so that small objects going against the contrary natural forces. And a rudder has to go against the force of the wind and currents of the sea. And so the tongue also has to go against some pretty strong forces. That is the old man, the old nature that seeks to control the tongue. I can prove it. Do some carpentry work sometime and miss the nail and hit your thumb. Your old man and your new man have an intense battle at that point for your tongue. And it is intense. You're going "Oh! Praise the Lord (laughter). Alright." And that's how it is with the bit and the rudder. Going against the strong forces of nature. The tongue going against the strong forces of the natural man. Now both the bit and the rudder need a strong hand to guide it. A strong helm-helmsman in the boat to control the ship, a strong hand of a person on the reins and knowing how to control the horse. And so our tongue needs to be in control by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one, the Bible says, "No man can tame the tongue." So it has to be in control by the Lord. The Lord has to be using it, like He used Peter on the day of Pentecost. Like Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman in John, Chapter 4. Directing their lives. You see, the rudder and the bit have the ability to control that ship and that horse. And so the tongue also has the ability to control and direct. We can direct people's lives by sharing with them the truth of the word of God. Sharing principles, sharing truth. Or it can be used for wrong things too. So he says, "Look at the ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires." The tongue, in summing up this section, can do more damage oftentimes than a fist can do. You know sometimes, you know if somebody smacks you in the mouth, you can recover, if it's between you and him. But if someone goes out and destroys your reputation, it can hurt a lot worse. It can cut you down a lot worse. That's why, when every, whenever anyone comes up to you and gives you, shares gossip with you, take a strong stand against it. Set a covenant with your ears and your mind and your heart that you're not gonna listen to something that's gossip. We're always so prone to believe gossip, especially if it's bad about someone. You go, "Oh, yeah I can believe that. I knew it all along. Rotten person. I knew that." But how bout this, next time someone comes up to you and shares gossip, why don't you say, "Uh, do you have evidence for what you just said?" Or how about this one, they share gossip, say, "Can I quote you on that?" (laughter) "Oh, well, not really, I just heard it from so-and-so." When you hear gossip the best thing is say, tell a person just to keep his mouth shut. Try to say that in love if you can (light laughter). But tell that person, "Look, I'm not, that's gossip. You don't have any evidence for that and you can't back that up. You're just cutting that person's name down and that's wrong and I'm not gonna listen it it." That's a stern rebuke and that's needful. Just don't play along to be the friend of that person. Love that person, but stand up for that righteousness and that truth against the power of the tongue in working evil and let it work good.

Additional Messages in this Series

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Date Title   Watch Listen Notes Share Save Buy
4/25/1985
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Introduction: James
James 1:1
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5/2/1985
completed
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Victory In Trials
James 1:2-8
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5/9/1985
completed
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Asking For Wisdom
James 1:5-8
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6/6/1985
completed
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God Levels Us
James 1:9-12
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6/13/1985
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Handling Temptations
James 1:13-18
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6/20/1985
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Maturing through the Word - Part 1
James 1:18-21
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6/27/1985
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Maturing through the Word - Part 2
James 1:22-27
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7/11/1985
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An Usher's Dilemna
James 2:1-13
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7/18/1985
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What Kind of a Faith? - Part 1
James 2:14-17
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7/25/1985
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What Kind of a Faith? - Part 2
James 2:18-26
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8/22/1985
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Tongue Trouble - Part 2
James 3:5-12
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8/29/1985
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Wisdom: True and False
James 3:13-18
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9/12/1985
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Worldliness and its Cure - Part 1
James 4:1-10
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9/26/1985
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Worldliness and its Cure - Part 2
James 4:7-17
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10/3/1985
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The Cares of Riches
James 5:1-6
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10/17/1985
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James 5:7-12
James 5:7-12
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10/24/1985
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James 5:13-20
James 5:13-20
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There are 17 additional messages in this series.
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