JAMES 3:1-122009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: James 3:1-12

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009. Here we are in James chapter 3 this morning, and you know, every time that there's a holiday, I have this dilemma of,

Praying about, struggling with, you know, should I teach a special message? It's Mother's Day, should I teach a message for the moms? Should I continue on where we are in our portion as we study through the Bible? And so I was praying this time and seeking counsel. I talked with Pastor Pooley and Pastor Pooley said, you know, there's nothing moms need to hear more than taming the tongue. So that's why we're... No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

So I just wanted to prove right off the bat, we all stumble in many ways and let you know that that is true. No, we're here in chapter 3 this morning because that's where we are. And the point is not that moms need to hear it, but that we all need to hear it. That these are things that have been written for you and I to pay attention to, to take heed to. James here in verses 1 through 12 of chapter 3 writes to us about the tongue.

And this is not really a how-to kind of passage, but it's an advisory warning. It's a, hey, pay attention. You need to be warned because there's some dangerous things afoot. And we are often too loose with our tongues, with our words, with the things that we say, and we forget how important the things that we say are.

There's a saying that we had when we were kids. I'm sure you've heard it as well. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. And you say that because, well, as you're growing up, well, the kids around you, they...

Well, they say mean things about you and they make fun of you and they talk each other back and forth and there's a lot of words that are spiteful, that are mean, that are vicious, that are thrown around. And so we convince ourselves, hey, sticks and stones, they break my bones, they hurt, but words, they don't hurt me. But that's not what the Bible teaches. James is sharing here that words do hurt us.

And they can bring great destruction. And that's why we need to pay attention to the things that we say. The words that we use and the way that we use our mouth can be destructive to our own selves. The author of Proverbs in Proverbs 13.3 says, He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

You can destroy yourself, you will destroy yourself, if you do not guard your mouth, if there's no control over the tongue. There's very destructive power that is there for your own self that will destroy you. But he who guards his mouth, he says, preserves or protects his life.

The tongue also can be used to destroy others. In Proverbs 11, 9, the author of Proverbs there says, the hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered. And so there's many other verses we can look at, but you get the idea. There's a great destruction that is available. And there's a need then to have control of our mouths and control of our tongues because they're very, very dangerous.

It's a little bit like when you walk into a store and there on the floor they have like an orange or yellow cone that says slippery when wet. I think that would be appropriate to place right here next to our mouth. As long as it's wet, it's slippery. It's dangerous. It needs to have a good grasp on it. You need to be able to train it and tame it because the tongue can be very destructive. It's

Slippery when wet. And so five things this morning that James shares with us that I want to share with you about our words, about our tongue that we need to pay attention to. And the first of five this morning is that we all stumble in word. We all stumble in word. Look at verses one and two. He says, 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, able also to bridle the whole body. Here James starts off this discussion with a quick warning. He's not just speaking to those who are teachers, but he does give a quick warning here at the beginning that we would understand we should not rush into the role of instructing others in the faith. Why? Well, he says, don't rush to become a teacher. Don't let a lot of you become teachers because

Because those who teach will receive a stricter judgment. There's going to be a stricter judgment, a stricter rule that is used when judging, when you or I give an account if we teach others.

We will stand before God one day to give an account. And Jesus told us in Luke chapter 12, for to everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required. There's a stronger accountability. There's a higher requirement, a stricter judgment that will be applied.

And so James gives this warning so that we don't rush into this idea, this arena of teaching others. Not that we shouldn't, it's just you shouldn't if God has not called you to because there's a greater judgment that is applied in that way. But we all, he goes on in verse 2, says, we all stumble in many things. We all stumble. Now, here's the thing. We all stumble in many ways, which means we all stumble in word as well.

And we all will stand before God to give an account one day. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10, the Apostle Paul explains that we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

It's not the judgment for sin, but it's the judgment for how we lived our life and how we used what God has given to us. It's like a reward ceremony at the Olympics. But he says that we will be judged according to what we have done, whether good or bad. And so we will stand before Christ one day to give an account. And Jesus tells us in Matthew 12, verse 36,

He says, but I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. We know that we will stand before God to give an account. And Jesus says, part of that process, part of that accounting that we will give is we will give an account for every idle word. Now those who teach, you need to be warned, we all stumble in many ways, we all fall short, and teachers are held to a stricter judgment than

But all of us, whether you teach or not, all of us will stand before God to give an account. And that accounting will include, Jesus says, for every idle word, you will give an account on the day of judgment. For every useless word, for every just nonsense word, for those times when you just spoke and had nothing to say, or you weren't speaking on behalf of God, or you weren't speaking that which was...

bringing forth fruits or that which was building up. We will give account for those things that we say, for those discussions that we have, for those things that we communicate that really have no business being a part of our lives, our vocabularies that have nothing to do with the plan of God. We will give an account for those things. And so James tells us right off the bat, he wants to remind us, listen, we're going to have to stand before God.

And that should be a little bit scary for us because we all stumble in many things. We have to realize that the tongue is important. He says, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

So here you get an idea of how hard it is to have some control of the tongue. Because whoever is able to walk and not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, James says. Able to bridle the whole body.

So when you've got your whole body in check, you know it started first with having your tongue in check. Having your tongue under control. Using your tongue the way that God has called you to and not the way that is natural to you. Now, what James is saying here is not that

Look, if anyone doesn't stumble in word, then that person is perfect. Meaning that, you know, that's a hypothetical situation. Nobody's perfect. This is not possible. And so you should just give up. That's not what James is saying. This word perfect means complete or mature. We looked at this word and talked about it in James chapter 1. Where James was talking about trials. And he was telling us that trials and patience bring us peace.

to perfection or completion or maturity. Trials and patience grow us up and cause us to become more mature in the faith. And that's what he's talking about here as well. He says, look, if anyone does not stumble in word, he's perfect, he's matured, he's complete. Trials and patience produce this completion, this maturity in us.

See, James' point is not that this is unattainable and, you know, why even bother? But he's saying, look, this is the goal. You need to grow up in this area. You need to go forward and grow in the way that you use your mouth and the way that you use your tongue and the way that your words come forth from you so that people are blessed by the things that you say and not harmed or hurt or destroyed by the things that you say.

We all stumble in many things, and especially in word. This is one area that we really need to grow, that we really need to bridle our tongue. There was a woman once who went up to John Wesley, and she told John Wesley, I've discovered what my talent is. She says, my talent from God is to speak my mind correctly.

And John Wesley replied, I don't think God would mind if you buried that talent. We need to be careful. Our job is not to speak everything that comes across our mind or comes out of our hearts. We all stumble in word. We all fall short. It's an area that we all struggle in.

And we need to pay attention to it. This is a big deal. It's not that, oh, we all stumble in words, so, I mean, you know, I'm just as bad as everybody else. And no big deal. No, James will now go on to tell us, this is an important thing. This is an area that we need to grow in because the tongue is devastating and it's destructive and it has great power for good or bad.

We need to grow up. It's just like power tools. Maybe not just like, but similar to. So if you were to give a young child a power tool, well that could be very, very scary. Because a child not having maturity...

Well, they would probably hurt themselves. They would very possibly hurt someone else. They would do damage to buildings. They would do all kinds of destruction with tools that they don't know how to use, that they're not prepared for. But as they grow up, as they mature, as they are growing, they're able then to handle more power.

And they're able to use those tools. In the same way, our tongue is powerful, as James will declare to us. It's powerful. There's great power there. Now, as immature people, as immature believers, well, that's pretty scary because there's this great power for destruction that if we don't use it well, well, it will be very destructive to our own selves and to those around us.

But if we learn to use it well and for God, this power then can be used by God to impact the kingdom of God and to be used for His glory and can accomplish great things and people can be edified and built up around us and there can be a wonderful work of God. And so it's all up to our maturity, whether or not we're able to handle

This powerful instrument that God has given to us. And so that's what James is saying. That's our goal. We need to grow up that we can use this tool effectively. We all stumble in word. And so we need to take caution. Why? Well, James will now go on to tell us some of the problems, the dangers of the tongue. Verse 3, he says, Indeed...

Verse 4. Verse 5. Point number 2 this morning is that the tongue boasts great things.

The tongue proclaims great things. And to help us understand what he means by this, James gives us a couple of examples. He says, look, we put bits in horses' mouths. And then with the bit in their mouth, now they obey us. And we're able to turn their whole body. Now, just by a show of hands, has anybody ever held the reins of a horse?

Anybody? Okay, so you guys can testify. You're all witnesses. You understand the picture that James is painting here. You hold the reins of the horse, which are attached to the bit in its mouth, and you are then able to control...

where the horse goes. You can tell the horse which way, right or left or straight, just by little nudges or loosening or slacking or whatever. You get the point. I'm not a horseman. I'm sorry. But by using the reins, by manipulating the bit in the horse's mouth...

you're able to turn the whole horse's body. You're able to send it on the direction, to take it on the path that you're supposed to follow, or your own path that you carve on the mountainside. You can take it wherever you want. That little bit in that horse's mouth controls where that horse goes. And if you have the reins, then you're able to point that horse in the direction that you want to go. The point that he's making here is you have this big horse, a little tiny bit,

And it's that little tiny bit in that horse's mouth that is able to control the whole body of the horse. And you can take it in any direction. He gives another example. He says, look also at ships. Now ships are large. They're driven by fierce winds. They're out on the ocean. I mean, the storms can be quite crazy. And these fierce winds drive these ships. Of course, that was when they were all powered by sail or by oar.

But then, and even now, these large ships that are built are turned by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires. And so, for an example, to help paint the picture in our mind, I have for you here a boat. Maybe you've heard of it. It's the Queen Mary II. This white silhouette here that you see is the Queen Mary II. It's a huge ocean liner that has just been built in the past few years, past 10 years or so.

Now, the black silhouette, anybody guess what that is? It's the Titanic. Very good. That's the Titanic, the original Titanic that sunk. So the Queen Mary 2, you can see the size of it in comparison to the Titanic. It's quite a lot bigger than the Titanic. Of course, then you can see an Airbus A380 in there. You can see a normal city bus. You can see a car. And then there's you right there.

To give you an idea of how large this boat is, this picture lays out for us, this thing is huge. Huge.

It's about 150,000 gross tons. This thing is huge. It's 1,100 feet in length. It's 235 feet high. It carries up to 3,000 passengers, not counting the 1,200 crew members. 14 decks, and my personal favorite, its whistle is audible for 10 miles. That's awesome. This is a big vessel. But how is this vessel steered? How does it turn? How does it...

in the waters? Well, it has four propellers which make it go. Two in the front, you can see those there and then these two right here, those are the back two, those turn, they swivel and that is what steers this incredibly powerful

monstrous boat. These two, they look kind of big in here in the picture, but look down, you can see the full length of the boat. You can't even see it, it kind of, you know, carries off beyond what you can see in the picture. They're very small in proportion. It's this huge boat, 1100 feet long. It's just a little bit shorter than the Empire State Building if it was laid on its side. Just 100 feet shorter than the Empire State Building. It's huge.

It's huge, but it's turned. It's steered by these little tiny propellers at the back of the boat. In the same way, James is using this to paint the picture. He says in verse 5, Even so, the tongue is a little member. It's tiny. It's not a big part of our bodies. It's not something that we pay a lot of attention to. It's a little member, but it boasts great things, James says.

It's a little member, but it has a very important part in our bodies. It's a very important part of who we are. We don't maybe consider enough how great our tongues are, how important they are, because they're a little member. You know, you stand before the mirror, ladies, you know, you put some makeup on, you take care of those things that you need to take care of, you make yourself look pretty. What do you do for your tongue? Not too much, right? Just brush your teeth and

That's about it. Use the tongue scraper. Pay a lot of attention to other parts of your body. The tongue, we don't pay much attention to it. The words that we say, how much attention do we pay? The tongue is a little member, James says, but it boasts great things. It speaks blasphemies in some cases. It speaks things of which we know nothing. It has a huge part of who we are. It's a huge piece of the person that we are and who we will become.

The picture James is painting here, as you can see, the tiny bits in the horse, it turns the whole horse. The tiny rudder on a ship, it turns the whole ship. It moves it in a wholly different direction if it needs to be. In the same way, your tongue, my tongue, is able to turn you and I onto a completely different course. It's able to steer our life. It's able to impact who we are and who we will become. And so it's important.

that we take some time to consider the tongue because it has a strong part in the direction that we go. The tongue boasts great things. Number three this morning, the tongue defiles the body.

This is increasingly more dangerous as we go here. Not only does the tongue boast great things, not only does it have a significant place in our life and in who we are, even though it's very small, the tongue defiles the whole body. Look at the end of verse 5 and then verse 6. It says, 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 it is set on fire by hell. Here we find not only is the tongue instrumental in the direction that we go and the course that we take, but the tongue, well, it's instrumental in whether or not we are defiled. It defiles the whole body. It's set on fire by hell, James says.

There's some serious problems here with our tongue. And so he gives us now this example of fire. He says, see how great a forest a little fire kindles. So think about fire for just a moment. Now, right now there is a fire up in the Santa Barbara area.

And there's been great destruction as a result. Thousands of residents have been evacuated, although some of them are now being allowed to return. When I looked this morning, they said they had about 40% containment of the fire. But at this point, it has consumed 8,700 acres there in Santa Barbara. 8,700 acres has been consumed there.

By this fire. And they're expecting or hoping for full containment by Wednesday. Still a few more days. This fire is going to burn. And going to destroy more. As far as the cause. It said that it's still under investigation. But when they find out what that cause is. Well we'll learn that it happened by. Some little spark.

There was some little fire. It was a campfire. It was someone lighting a cigarette or someone did this or that. There was something that happened. It caused a spark. There was a little bit of a flame and that little bit of a flame grew into 8,700 acres being destroyed. You remember last summer we had some

Crazy fires going on right around here. Southern California and Montecito and all these places. I mean, there was just this great fire. And they traced it back and it turns out it all started with a spark, a flame, a little bit of a flame. And it caused these fires to start.

These great fires, this massive destruction. And that's the picture that James is painting here to help us put in perspective. Our tongue is not something that's insignificant. Our words are not unimportant. This is the kind of devastation that our tongues can bring, that our words can bring into our own lives, into the lives of the people around us, into the world that we live. Our tongues can

We may think it's small, but just a little spark lights a whole forest on fire. In the same way, our tongues can destroy much, even though they seem pretty small. James says, in light of this picture, understanding this, he says, look, our tongue is a world of iniquity, and it's set in our body, it's set among our members in such a way that it defiles the whole body.

Our tongue is in a position in our body, it's positioned in our body in such a way that it is able to consume our whole body in destruction. It's able to defile us completely because it's set on fire by hell. There's a great danger with the tongue. It's great destructive power. Now you might be thinking, how could the tongue be destructive?

I know James says that. It's said among our members that it defiles the whole body. But how is that possible? How is that true? Why is that? Well, turn with me for a moment to Matthew chapter 15. And I think Jesus has some insight for us. Matthew chapter 15. We'll come back to James in a moment.

But in Matthew chapter 15, Jesus is speaking and he's being challenged by the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees. They saw the disciples eating and they hadn't washed their hands ceremonially and did the ritual and process that they always do. And so they're giving Jesus a hard time for his disciples doing this.

Jesus is dealing with the situation and later on he's explaining it to his disciples because they still have a hard time understanding this. In verse 17, Jesus speaking to his disciples says, Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

Here Jesus explains to his disciples. He says, look, they're complaining about, you know, the things that you're eating and the way that you're eating. But Jesus says, what comes into your mouth, that doesn't defile you. Your body processes it. It's eliminated. That's not a defilement. He says, what comes out of the mouth defiles you. And why is that? Well, Jesus explains there in verse 18, those things which come out of the mouth come from the heart.

And they defile a man. The reason why our tongues are able to defile us completely is because the tongue is the overflow of the heart. What comes out of the heart comes through our lips. And Jesus said those things include evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,

These are the sins, this is the wickedness of our hearts, and this wickedness is brought forth, it's manifested and it's revealed by our mouths, by our tongues, by our words. It's revealed, it's brought forth, and it comes out of our mouth. The tongue defiles the whole body. Because the reality is, our heart is the problem. And out of our heart, the wickedness that is in our heart overflows.

And where does it overflow to? Where does it spill out to? Through our lips. It comes out of our heart, through our mouth, and then to those who hear. And Jesus said, out of your heart comes all of this wickedness. That's what defiles a person, Jesus said. That's what brings a person into this condition, is the product of the heart, what is coming out of the heart. And that's very important. We'll get back to that in a few moments, but let's go back to James.

So in James chapter 3, the tongue is in a place, it's so situated within the body that it defiles the whole body because it brings forth, the heart spills out of the mouth.

and reveals what is the real state of the heart. Now, we can try to deny it and we can try to say, well, no, I was just kidding or yes, I said that, but that's not what I meant. But the reality is what comes out of our mouth reveals the state of our heart. It's proof of what our heart is like. It's revelation and it's even a testimony to our own selves of what is the state of our heart.

Because out of the overflow of the heart, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now this poses a particular problem because, point number four, the tongue cannot be tamed. The tongue can, out of the overflow of our, the wickedness of our heart comes forth from our mouth and we're not able to tame it. We're not able to hold it back or to hide it.

It cannot be tamed. Look at verse 7. He says, Is that true? Well, I think we can go to SeaWorld. We can go to different places. And we can find that this is the case. This is some killer whales or orcas. Now,

Every time I see these things, I am blown away to really think and to try to grasp how do they train these humongous creatures.

to flip simultaneously, to be able to stand on top of them and do all the things that they do as part of the shows. It is really phenomenal that they're able to train these animals, to train these orcas, and to be able to do these things with them. How would you like to be this guy in the bottom right here, sticking his hand inside the mouth of this killer whale? I mean, that's...

That's pretty amazing. We can't tame our own tongue, but we can tame these guys enough to stick our hands in their mouth. Look at all those teeth. That's insane. All kinds of beasts have been trained by men. They've been tamed by men. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! They've been tamed. They've been trained. We go to circuses. We go to shows.

And we see. You know how many movies have been made out of animals. Dogs and snakes and birds and all kinds of different animals have been tamed, have been trained.

by mankind. Man is able to tame them. He's able to teach them and to cause them to behave the way that he wants them to behave. Even in some pretty crazy situations. Check out this. This is at a circus in China. It's not really approved, you know, by the Animal Humane Society or anything. But I saw these pictures and I had to put them up. So they've trained this lion to jump on the back of this horse and

And then it runs around the ring a few times and they have a show as a part of that. Now that's not natural. The horse would normally be running, yes, but it's because the lion's trying to eat it. And that's not normal for a lion to jump on the back of a horse and ride it. It was trained, it was taught to do this crazy thing, this ridiculous thing for the show by man. But here's the irony. Although man can train huge whales...

Lions and tigers and bears, horses and dogs and cats. They can train birds and all kinds of beasts. He says in verse 8, but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Isn't that amazing? We can do all those things with those animals, but no one can tame the tongue. You cannot tame the tongue. It's not possible to tame the tongue.

You cannot train it to behave. It will reveal your heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It's going to come out. If your heart is full of wickedness, if your heart is not right with God, your heart will be revealed by your mouth, by your words, by what you say. You can't hide it. You can't fake it. The truth will come out.

See, the reality is, point number five this morning, the tongue shows our double nature. Or you could say it this way, the tongue shows our hypocrisy. It shows our hypocrisy. Look at verse nine. He says, with it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Our tongue is used in these two completely different ways, he says. With our tongue we bless God, we bless our God and Father.

Now that is the highest and best thing that our tongue could ever do. There's no greater purpose and task of our tongue than to bless God, to praise God, to worship God, to speak well of God, to express our love towards God. There's no better use of our tongue. That's the highest we have. That's the greatest opportunity that we have with our tongue. But...

The paradox here is that with that same tongue with which we use to bless God, he says we curse men. We curse men who've been made in the likeness or similitude of God. To curse it means to think evil of or to wish evil upon or to speak evil of. You don't have to raise your hand, but do you ever do that? Do you ever think evil or wish evil upon someone? Do you ever speak evil of anyone? That's what it means to curse men.

And James is showing this paradox. How can on the one hand you bless God and on the other hand you wish evil upon those who have been made in the likeness of God. Verse 10. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. He says, out of your mouth comes forth blessing, but also out of your mouth comes forth cursing. And then he says, guys...

This should not be so. This should not be the case. Now that's very important there at verse 10. Because again, the point that James is making is not this is impossible. You're never going to get control of your tongue. You're never going to have victory in this area. You're always going to... That's not what James is saying. James is saying, look guys, this is showing that there's a problem and it should not be this way.

He's showing that, look, you need to grow in this area because it's revealing your heart and your mouth is showing that there's a problem in your heart, showing the hypocrisy of your heart and showing that you need to change. That's the problem. That's what the mouth is revealing, that the problem is really in your heart. The blessing and cursing coming out of the same mouth, it's inconsistent and it should not be so.

It must not be so. It's not okay if it's so. We need to grow. We need to change. We need to let God do a work. He goes on to give another example of this in verses 11 and 12. He says, does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? So you go up to a spring, you're thirsty, you use your hand, you take some water, you drink some water. That is good water.

You need some more, so you reach back in, you pull your hand back to your mouth and you drink. Oh man, that was bitter. Then you put your hand back and you get some more. Mmm, that was sweet, that was good water. And then you put your hand back and now it's bitter. It doesn't work like that. Either a spring is fresh, it's good water, or it's bitter, or it's bad. It doesn't alternate back and forth between handfuls. It's one or the other. And that's what James is saying. Your mouth, it should be one way or the other. Blessing,

or cursing, but not both. That's not natural, that's not normal, that's not right. He goes on with another example, he says, "Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives?" Now, I'm no tree expert, I don't know, maybe some of you guys know. Can a fig tree bear olives? No. Jamie says no, she's a teacher, I trust her. Okay, so no! Fig trees cannot bear olives, and grape vines, he says, cannot bear figs. It doesn't work.

It produces what it's made to produce. It produces what it is. And he says, thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. It's one or the other. One or the other. It's not both. And that's what James is saying. Our tongue shows our double nature. It shows our hypocrisy. It shows the state of our heart, but it shows that we try to cover it up, that we try to mask it, that we try to pretend that it's not that way.

And so then out of our mouth comes forth blessing and also comes forth cursing. So James says, this is the state of our tongue. This is the problem with the tongue. Now, we all stumble in word. We saw that at the beginning. It's something that we all struggle with. And we're not talking about sinlessness. We will still sin. But we must not take lightly the issues with our words, the issues with our mouths. Because the tongue...

Although it is a small piece of our body, it's a huge part of who we are. It boasts great things. It takes part in the direction in which we go. The tongue is in such a way in our body that it defiles us completely. And we can't tame it. We can't hide it. It will reveal the nature of our heart. If it's a double nature, if it's a hypocritical heart that we have, that will be revealed.

If it's a heart after God, that will be revealed. If it's a heart against God, that will be revealed by our tongue. Our mouth, our words will bring forth and reveal our heart. And so the solution then, the point, going back to the very beginning, is that we need to grow. We need to grow. We need to mature. We need to grow up that we would be able to use this powerful tool appropriately, constructively.

And how do we do that? Well, it's not by being more determined or counting to 15 before you say anything or those types of methods that we might try to employ. The reality is what we need is a heart transplant. Jesus said again in Matthew 15, 18, those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. What we need is not self-control or determination when it comes to our tongue. What we need is a new heart.

Because what comes out of our heart will come through our mouth. You can't tame it. You can't trade it to do otherwise. It will come out. It will be brought forth. And it will reveal the state of your heart. And so what you and I need is a right heart. We need a heart that's transformed by God. A heart that is renewed by the Holy Spirit. A heart that is completely submitted to God. In Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul is saying,

speaking about this new nature that we have in Christ. We have in Jesus Christ a new nature, the nature of Christ. And he tells us you have to put it on.

You have to put on the new nature and you have to put off the old nature. You have to take off malice and all of the sins. You have to take off the old nature, your old lifestyle, the natural person. You have to take those things off. It's a decision you have to make. You have to put those things aside and you have to put on the new man, the nature and character of God and all the things that come with that. And one of those things, a very important part,

is the things that we say. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29, as he's talking about putting on the new nature, he says, This is the new nature that we have in Christ that we are to put on. The new heart that he's given to us. He says, Nothing corrupt, nothing unwholesome, the New International Version says.

But what comes out of your mouth should be good, he says, for necessary edification, that it would build up and that it may impart grace to those who hear. That they may be blessed and refreshed and encouraged. What we need is the new nature. What we need is a transformed heart. And what we must not do is try to cover the state of our heart with hypocrisy. Again in Proverbs 11 verse 9 it says, "...the hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor."

The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor. The state of your heart will be brought forth. It will be revealed through your mouth. And that revelation, what comes forth, will bring destruction if you're being hypocritical. It will impact. You know, you could think, well, it's just affecting me. It's just, you know, it's my personal hidden life. No, it will bring destruction to you and to those around you. It will be brought forth.

Your neighbor will be impacted because your mouth will reveal your heart. But the end of the verse says, but through knowledge, the righteous will be delivered. Through knowledge, through knowing God, through walking with God, being transformed by God, having the heart of God, we will be delivered. And then it's no big deal.

We can't tame the tongue. It's going to reveal the state of our heart. But if our heart is a heart that's after God, well, that's okay. Let my tongue reveal the state of my heart because it will reflect God's heart. My words will sound like God's word because my heart is, well, it's after His. When I have the heart of God, then I want my tongue to reveal my heart that others around me would be edified, that they would receive grace, that they would learn of God.

And so James shares with us the danger, the destruction that the tongue can bring. The important role it plays within our bodies so that we can learn the state of our heart is very important. He'll go on, we'll deal with it next week, talking about wisdom. It's all related. It's talking about how we live our lives. It demonstrates who we are. It demonstrates our actual state of mind.

The person that we are is revealed by the words that we say. And we can't speak profanities and then, you know, explain it away. Well, I just said that because I hit my thumb. No, that's what's in your heart. We can't speak blasphemies and try to excuse it. We can't speak evil of others and try to make our explanations. You know, I'm not really that way. I don't really think this way. I don't feel that way about the person, but it was just how I responded in the moment. No, those things that you said revealed your heart. That's the state of your heart.

And if you're hypocritical, your heart is wicked, and you're trying to hide it, it's going to come forth, it's going to bring destruction. You can't tame the tongue, you can't hide it, you can't push it back, you can't train it. What you can do is ask God to renew your heart, to give you a new heart. You can put on the new nature that we have in Christ, so that your heart reflects His, and that your words, then, that come forth, are the overflow of God's heart.

and are actually beneficial. It's an incredible, powerful tool for destruction or for good. The choice is ours by the condition of our heart. And so I challenge you this morning to make sure that you're not living hypocritical, that you're not trying to excuse away your words, looking over them or thinking lightly of them. No, your mouth, your tongue reveals the state of your heart. And if it's not right, it should not be so.

So you need to get your heart right with God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray for our hearts. Lord, your word explains to us that it's very difficult to know our own hearts. And yet, you've given to us this member of our body that is a clear indicator for us to help us see and understand the state of our hearts. And we don't like to believe it, God. We deny it. We excuse it. We justify it. But Lord, help us to accept it for the reality that it is.

that out of the overflow of our hearts, our mouth speaks. And God, in recognizing that, Lord, we pray that you would transform our hearts, that you would make us more like you. God, we surrender to you and we ask that you would help us to grow. Lord, that we would go on to maturity, that our words would not be destructive, but that they would be beneficial and edifying to those who hear, to all those around us. God, I pray if there's anyone who is hypocritical in their heart, who's trying to hide it,

Lord, that you would help them, help them to see the foolishness of trying to live a hypocritical life, of trying to hide the state of their heart. And I pray, Lord, that you would cause them to turn towards you, whether they could have a new heart, that they could have your heart. The heart of stone could be replaced with the heart of flesh, as you promised in Ezekiel. Lord, that we would become a new creation, as you promised in 2 Corinthians. Thank you, God, that you give us an opportunity to turn to you,

Because you're the only one who can change our hearts. And so, Lord, we ask that you would change us, mold us, and shape us. Make us more like you and shape us into your image. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.