JAMES 3:1-12 CONSIDER THE GRAVITY OF YOUR WORDS2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: James 3:1-12 Consider The Gravity Of Your Words

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 2017. Well, this morning as we look at James chapter 3, I think it's important for us to consider and reflect on

on the value of the communication that we have been granted and the ability to communicate. And it's amazing how in our age, we are able to communicate more easily than ever before, I think, in many ways. We can reach more people more quickly and more easily than any other time in history. And here in James chapter 3, as James talks about the tongue,

That's what he's talking about. He's talking about our communication with one another. And although he uses the word tongue, don't become just limited and focused on the things that you actually say out loud. But James is really talking about our communication as a whole. The things that are spoken and

The things that are written, the things that you send as a text message, the emojis that you send to one another, the memes that you pass on around on social media, the things that you post, the things that you text, the things that you send. However you're expressing that communication, James would be lumping all of that into this idea of the tongue.

And so we have this amazing opportunity to communicate in our day. But James would say to us this morning, we need to stop and consider the value, but also the dangers of that communication and consider the power of our words. I've titled the message this morning, Consider the Gravity of Your Words.

Consider the gravity of your words. I think that many times for us, it is easy to kind of lose sight of how serious our words are and how much power they wield. And so I use that word gravity, but I think I need to just explain it a little bit. The definition of gravity, it speaks of an extreme or alarming importance of

It tells us it's something that is very serious. And as we think about our words, there are so many words that come out of us in so many different environments and so many different ways. There's so much communication coming from us. It is very easy for us to think little of our words and to not esteem them very highly. And this morning, I really want to ask the Lord to challenge our hearts to help us appreciate the

There's a real gravity. There's an alarming importance. There's an extreme alert level that should be had on our part as far as our words are concerned and the things that we communicate. And James is going to walk us through some of the reasons why that alarm should be there and that gravity is there. But let me give you one from Jesus as we get started. In Matthew 12, verse 36, Jesus 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. He goes on to say, for by your words, you will be justified. And by your words, you will be condemned. Jesus says your words are so important that when you stand before God, he's going to go line by line, phrase by phrase through your communications, and you will give an account for it.

God only does that with the things that are really important. He's not going to, well, week by week and service by service evaluate and make you give an account for which seat you chose to sit in on Sunday morning. It's not that important. Not a big deal. You sit in that seat. You sit in that seat. You sit in that seat. You sit in that seat. No problem. But words are not like that. It's not just, whatever you said, you said. No problem. No, God's going to say, what did you say? Why did you say it? How did you say it? Do you understand the implications and the consequences for what you said? God's going to say,

Jesus said, for every idle word, men will give account on the day of judgment. That our words have great value as far as God is concerned and are esteemed very highly by him, and therefore need to be esteemed very highly by us. As I mentioned earlier, we live in an amazing age of technology where we can broadcast our words easier than ever before. And so we have much opportunity, not only to just, you know, bring forth our communication, but it impacts. And

And that only increases the gravity of our words. That increases because the scope increases. If I say something dumb to you, well, that affects me and that affects you.

If I say something dumb to my family, that affects me, and then now more people are affected, my whole family. If I say something dumb to a crowd, now the crowd is affected as well as myself. If I say something dumb to the world, you get the point, right? The scope is increasing. That makes it more serious what we say, not less serious.

That makes it more important to pay attention to our words, not less important because, you know, it's widespread or that there's so much communication going on. And sure, we have the opportunity and potential to spread the gospel and God's word like never before. But along with that comes with the opportunity and potential to spread our own poisonous words like never before also. And so we need to consider our words.

The value of our words has not been watered down or lessened, even though we may feel that way. No, there's a serious weight. And God would have us this morning take some time and evaluate. What is it that we are accomplishing with our words? And do we appreciate the power that is there and respect that power appropriately?

Well, there's five points I'd like to walk you through as we work our way through James chapter 3. The first point is found in verses 1 and 2, and that is, you stumble in your words. As we talk about the gravity of our words, first of all, James wants us to know, this is an issue for everybody. This is an issue, a big issue, for every person involved.

without exception. In verse 1, he first of all talks to the teachers. He says, First of all, James addresses those who would be teachers.

Now, teachers are those who bring forth the truth and speak and teach others about the things of God and the word of God. And I think, you know, you could extend that a little bit to anybody who has influence or maybe even word in our terminology today, popularity, and you have reach, you have influence in people's lives. He says,

Listen, you shouldn't rush into that role of influence or position or stand as one who communicates truth to others quickly because you need to understand that you will receive a stricter judgment.

Going back to Matthew chapter 12, Jesus said, you're going to be judged by your words. James now adds to that and says, not only that, but if you have influence in the lives of other people, you need to understand that your words will be evaluated to a stricter standard. It's going to be a more severe judgment in regards to the use of your words, whether they were for good or not.

And so it's a warning for those who would be teachers, for those who have authority, for those who would influence others. And here's the real problem. He goes on in verse 2 to say, for we all stumble in many things. We all stumble in many things. And James includes himself in this. Although James is the brother of Jesus, he was one of the principal leaders of the church of Jerusalem, even though he is, well,

His writing is included in the word of God itself. James is one who stumbled in many things. We all do. We have that fallen nature. We have weaknesses. We have sin issues. We all stumble in many things, he says. And he says, if anyone does not stumble in word, he's a perfect man. Here's what James is saying. We all stumble.

If you don't stumble in your words, that means you don't stumble in other areas of your life. If you're going to stumble anywhere, it's going to be in the things that you say. And if you're here and you're, you know, listening to James chapter 3 and thinking about words and starting to think, you know, I don't really know if I have a big issue with my words. I mean, I can't think of any real problems or anything that James is saying. No, no, listen. If you have that

perception of yourself, that's exactly what James is trying to fix. Because if you're going to stumble in anything, it's going to be your words. And if you can keep your words in check, if you can keep your tongue in check, your communication in check, well, then you're going to have a whole body that is disciplined because, well, it is set within your body in such a way. This is a big issue for everyone, in other words. If you're perfect, well, then you don't have an issue with your tongue.

But if you're not perfect, you definitely have an issue with your tongue and you stumble in the things that you say. We all do. I say dumb things. So do you. But I do. Just yesterday, Kim and I were preparing for a funeral service. Her grandmother passed away this past week. And so we were getting ready for the funeral service and

As we were getting ready, I was trying to be helpful in saying dumb things that were not helpful and were actually hurtful. And finally, she, in her gracious way, said, you're not being helpful. You should probably just go back to do what you were doing. And so I went back to do what I was doing. What was I doing? I was studying James chapter 3, talking about the gravity of our words. We all stumble in our words.

It's an issue for every one of us. And please understand that James is not just talking about cussing or swearing. You know, that might be what your mind gravitates to. And if you're wondering, no, I wasn't swearing at Kim yesterday. No. But sometimes, you know, that's kind of like, that's the big issue that stands out, right? Oh, yeah, I let a bad word slip out of my mouth this past week. That is an issue, but that's not the limit of what the Lord is concerned with in our words. And that's not the only way to stumble in our words.

Do you ever do something that you say you won't do or vice versa? Do you ever say you will do something and then don't do it? That's stumbling in your words. And that's something we all do, right? We all say, we communicate, I will do this. And then we

fall short, and we don't do that. Now, to kind of counteract that, then the next time, then we add on an additional weight, and we say, I promise, because I don't always do what I say I'm going to do. Now I add on, I promise that I will do this, and it has more weight to you and the person you're trying to reassure that you will do what you say you are going to do. I think it's really interesting, and I...

I kind of got stuck on this verse in James chapter 5 as I was reading the chapters this week going through the Bible in three years. Would you look at James chapter 5 verse 12 for a minute? In James chapter 5 verse 12, James is talking about a variety of things leading up to that, but then it just really hit me. In verse 12 he says, but above all, my brethren, do not swear that

either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment. He says, do not swear. Now, again, as he's talking about swearing, he's not talking about cussing. That's not the kind of swearing. He's talking about making an oath or a promise. And he says, don't do that. Instead, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

When you say yes, then, well, let it be yes. When you say you will do it, then you do it. And when you say you won't do it, then don't do it. And if you then have to add on, I promise I will do it, or I promise, I swear, I take an oath, I will not do it, then he says that's a dangerous place to be. Now, this is really interesting to me because he starts out verse 12 saying, but above all, my brethren, do not swear.

You look at the previous verses, he's talking about rich people oppressing others and exploiting them. He's talking about the grumbling that happens on the other side of those who are being exploited and don't grumble and take that patiently. And so have patience, don't grumble, don't exploit people. But more important than all of that, don't make promises. You should just camp out on that for a little bit. I mean, that's a pretty hefty statement. Don't swear.

That's the most important thing of all the stuff I've been talking about, James says. And you know what? Jesus agrees with James. In Matthew 5, verse 37, Jesus says this, Very similar language, but Jesus adds on to make it clear. When you have to add more and add on your promises, there is an influence of the enemy there.

in that. It's from the evil one. Jesus says, this is an issue. Now, it's not that promises are always sin. It's not that taking an oath is necessarily sin. In fact, throughout the scriptures, you can see that God takes oaths, and sometimes he calls his people to enter into a covenant and to take an oath, to make a promise, to make a commitment. And so we see that, and there are those appropriate times where

I think, you know, one for us to consider is marriage vows. That's the appropriate time to take an oath, to make a promise. But as you take that oath and make that promise, understand God holds you to that promise. And if you're considering wavering on your marriage vow, you need to understand that is something that God takes seriously. If he takes you just breaking your word as a whole, not letting your yes be yes or your no, no.

If he takes that seriously, then you add the vow. It does add weight. It does add accountability. And God holds you accountable to those oaths that you make. And so James says, don't do it. This is really important. Your words are very important. And taking an oath and making a promise, first of all, the fact that you need to is an issue. And because you need to, well, you're likely to not keep your oaths and your promises. And that puts you in a worse position than

Because God takes those things very seriously. And so you can stumble in your words by not keeping your word. You can stumble in your words in making promises. You can stumble in your words, well, we could look at many other examples, lying, gossip, slander, speaking evil, lots of ways, lots of deception, lots of issues. And my intention here is to not give a complete list of all the ways that we can stumble in our words, but just to cause us to remember here in the first point that we

We do stumble. That's a guarantee. You do stumble in your words. And so if you can't think of any ways that you stumble in your words, you need to start thinking better, thinking harder, you know. Let God show you there is issues with your words. And if there's not, then you're completely perfect and you don't sin in any area. But that's not true. That's not you. You stumble. We need to treat our words with great respect because there are issues there.

We need to understand and appreciate the danger that is there. And that's what he's going to walk through in these next few verses is the realities of the dangers that are there, the potential for harm or for good. Our words have great power. I remember being young and my dad was teaching me to shoot. And it was just a BB gun at that time. So it wasn't, you know, super powerful.

super, you know, threatening or anything like that. But the lesson taught right from the get-go is you don't point it at people. Even if the BB gun is not loaded, you don't point it at people. Until you're a teenager later and you're playing, you know, shoot each other in the leg with your friends, then you can point it at people. But you don't point the guns at people, right? Even if you think it's not loaded, even if you're convinced, even if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt it's not loaded, you don't point it at people. Why? Because

Well, you can go through article after article, history, news, news, news, news, news, news, news, stories of all the people who thought it wasn't loaded, messing around, goofing off, and did great damage. That's the same concept. That's the same thing. You think it's not important? You think it's not serious? Listen, you stumble in your words. There's issues there. You need to appreciate the power of the things that we're able to communicate.

And the power that is built in to this, it's an amazing thing that God has given to us. But it comes with a great responsibility. And you stumble in your words. So that's an issue. Well, moving on to point number two, we find in verses two through five, point number two is your words change the course of life. Your words have great power and can change your whole life forever.

And the lives of the people around you. In verse 2 again he says, James says this,

Look, if you don't stumble in your words, then you're absolutely perfect and you're able to bridle the whole body. You have such discipline and such self-control that you walk uprightly without fail. You're able to keep your whole body in check, but that's not true. Your tongue is not kept in check. You stumble in your tongue.

And he goes on to give us a couple of illustrations to help us understand how important it is that that tongue is an issue and how much it affects the rest of our body, the rest of our life. Again, we tend to water down the value of words. We think little of them. James says, you may esteem them little, but they have huge impact. And he gives the illustration of a horse.

He says, think about a horse. We put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Horse is a powerful creature, stronger than me or you, and yet you put that bit in the horse's mouth, and suddenly you are able to direct that horse wherever you want it to go. It's a little piece. It's not huge.

You don't have to put a huge mechanical type of contraption upon the horse to be able to direct it the way that you want. No, it's just this little piece positioned in just the right spot so that you have the ability to turn it wherever you want it to go. He says, your tongue is like that. It's little, but it makes a huge impact. And it changes the direction. It changes the course. He goes on to give another illustration, this time a rudder on a ship. He says, 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. And you look at the ship. Now, this may not be exactly what they look like today, but it's a model ship. You get the point, right? There's forces that propel this ship. The winds and the waves and the currents. I mean, they're huge. They're powerful. But the thing that steers this ship...

It's this little tiny rudder. Now, in proportion to the rest of the ship, this is just like a little thing. I mean, it might be kind of substantially large in real life, right? Maybe the size of you or me. But in comparison to the rest of the ship, this is so tiny. It's such a small piece, such a small element, and yet it is able to direct the whole ship forward.

and all of the crew, and all of the passengers, and all of the cargo, and there is so much that's affected and moved, and the whole course is changed by that little piece. James says, verse 5, even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Your tongue, your ability to communicate, it's esteemed as a little member. It's a small piece of

It has a great impact. He says it boasts great things. Now, don't think of that as like just speaking pridefully, but he's looking at the tongue and saying the tongue is able to boast and say, hey, look at me. I'm a little piece, but I can do so much. I affect so much. I make so much happen. I'm an impact in a huge way. The tongue is able to boast saying, look at me.

how effective I am and how powerful I am. Just like a little bit in a horse's mouth or a rudder on a ship, your tongue drives and directs and it changes things. It changes the course of life. And again, this can be for good or it can be for evil. It can be for good and change the course of life in a good way and accomplish good things for you, for God, for people around you.

But it can also change the course of life in bringing difficulty and harm and hardship and hurt to you and people around you for your whole life. I mean, think about that. Your life could have gone completely different. You could have gone a completely different direction had you not said those things, had you not spoken that way, had it not been your habit to let that speech out of your mouth.

You could be in a completely different place. Now, again, that could be for good or for bad. Maybe you're better off because of the ways that you've communicated and your course has been directed in a good way. But it also could be that, well, there could have been something different, better, greater, more beneficial for you and for the people around you if you had spoken differently. Your words change the course of life for you.

but also for people around you. This is an important thing for us to consider. Again, the gravity of your words, they're not trivial, but the things that you say have a huge impact on the course of your life and the course of life for the people around you. Moving on to verse five and six, here we have point number three, and that is your words take a life of their own. As you speak them out or tweet them out or text them out or communicate them in some way, now it's out of your control.

And that communication can go much farther. There's an independence there than you ever intended. Much farther, much more impacting. It's out of your control as you bring forth those words. Verse five, again, says, 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... James is speaking some very serious things here. Again, the gravity of your words, it's huge. And so now he switches to the illustration of fire, a forest fire. And he's contrasting this huge forest burned...

with the little spark that started it. How great a forest a little fire kindles. We're familiar with that. We just recently experienced the canyon fires nearby. There was two of them just in the past couple months. The first one they announced about a week ago or so that they think they've figured out the cause was a road flare on the freeway. So picture it for just a moment.

maybe a truck driver or someone broke down, set up some flares for safety, right? For protection, because you don't want people running into the back of your truck or whatever, right? For safety, for good reason, for good cause, sets this up. Later on, some car driving down the freeway, maybe recklessly, maybe not, we don't know, hits that flare, kicks it into the bushes on the side of the hill, and then, whom, the fire is started.

That fire burns 2,600 acres. But where did it start? Just a flare. Just one little spark. Not a big deal. Not a huge threat. Look at the damage. Look at how far it went. Well, that wasn't the end. Because later, they got control of that fire. But then later on, the wind picked up. There were some embers still hot, still burning. Got caught in the wind. Blown down a little bit further where...

The fire hadn't reached yet, and now the Canyon Fire 2 begins. October 9th. That burns, they say, a total of 9,200 acres. So 10,000 acres, 11,000 acres. What was the cause? What was the start? Somebody putting a road flare on the freeway. Just, it's a little tiny spark, but look at how far it spread. Look at how much was impacted. So much damage.

Now, sometimes fires are set on purpose. Evil people set things on fire to watch them burn and watch the havoc and mayhem that comes from that. Some fires are set on accident. This one would seem to be that, right? The person who set the road flare didn't have malintent, you know, like, all right, it's a scheme. I'm going to set this here and then someone's going to come. And the person driving down the road probably didn't have malintent. They might've been reckless.

But it wasn't like, you know, some, you know, fancy move that you might see in the movies, you know, like he drifted and swung his rear end around, hit the thing and kicked it into the hill, you know, it was like just timed perfectly to, no, it wasn't, it was just an accident. It was not intentional. But here's the thing. Once that fire started, there's no taking it back. The guy who set the road flare doesn't say, oh man, I'm really sorry, I take it back and then the fire goes...

and just goes away. You're right. I thought you meant to start a fire. Okay, okay. You didn't mean to start. Okay, I'll just die out then. That's not what the fire does. The fire then is on its own. It has its own life, and it begins to spread and expand as it desires. The person driving recklessly down the road can't just say, oh, you're right. I should have been driving better. I should have been paying more attention. I didn't mean to hit that. I'm sorry. I take it back. Oh, okay. Well,

We'll just let the fire, you know, the fire will just die out. That's just not how it works. All it takes is a little bit of spark, but once that spark is sparked, it's on its own, and it's a whole lot of work to bring that under submission, right? Rick can attest to that. Michael will show it, right? It's a whole lot of work and very dangerous to bring that into submission. James says, this is like our words. Your words are just like that. You let out those words. It's just a spark.

But then it's out of your control and you can apologize all you want, but that doesn't undo the damage that was done. Sure, after the fire has burned and later on it's able to grow back and heal, you know what I mean? And things are able to be rebuilt, but it doesn't take back the damage that was originally caused. There can be healing, there can be restoration, there can be rebuilding, but your words have such power. They're just a spark.

And once they're brought out, once you share them, once you communicate them, again, whatever form or fashion you do so, it's out of your control. And they can be taken much farther than you ever wanted or intended. Again, for good or for bad. You can say one little thing and it burns intensely for a long time. And you don't have to mean harm for it to bring harm. It can be an accidental thing. One thing that I always have to try to be mindful of for myself is my jokes because I

I love to just joke around and goof off and be silly. And the more intense and difficult a situation, the more I want to joke around and goof off and be silly. It's not a good thing usually though in intense, difficult situations to joke around and goof off and be silly. And sometimes I'm just joking. I'm just saying dumb things to make myself chuckle. But it sends out a spark, lights up a flame, and it can cause great damage sometimes.

These things take a life of their own. There's an independence in these words, and it goes far beyond what we might think. He says in verse 6, Again, heavy things that James is communicating here. But here's the issue with our words and why he's comparing it to fire. He's saying, look,

Your words expose your sins. It's set on fire by hell. Your tongue is, your communication is. Because what Jesus tells us, it's the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. And you know the condition of your heart, right? It's deceitful and desperately wicked. So much so that you can't even know it yourself. But one way to know your heart is to pay attention to the words that are coming out of your mouth. Your words are influenced by your heart.

That's where the problem is. That's the real issue at hand. And the things that you say exposes your sin. Your pride revealed, exposed, brought out in the things that you say. Your selfishness and self-centeredness exposed. It impacts. It taints the words that you say. Your greed, your bitterness, your whatever sin and issues are happening within your heart. It impacts. It impacts.

Your words, and that's why he says your words are then set on fire by hell, influenced by the sin, the vileness, the wickedness within. Whether your words are intentional or unintentional, just joking around or saying things on purpose and desiring to accomplish something, your words are affected by the things that are happening within your heart.

They take on a life of their own. Again, this is for good or for evil. Consider this word from Dave Guzik. He says, what others say to us and what we say to others can last a long time for good or for evil. The casual sarcastic or critical remark can inflict a lasting injury on another person. And the well-timed encouragement or compliment can inspire someone for the rest of their life.

I like to linger on that last part, that compliment. I don't know if you've had that kind of encouragement or that good word that somebody has given, and boy, it just sticks with you, and it encourages you and builds you up and helps you to press on. And for the rest of your life, this word that someone's, it's just a spark. It's a spark.

But boy, it turned into a big fire and it kept you going and kept you walking with the Lord. And there are those things that the Lord allows to impact our lives. And that's so beautiful. And we want to be useful in that way to the Lord in the lives of others as well. But along with that great power and great opportunity comes the reality. We can also do the negative side of that and cause hurt and harm that is long lasting and

And so we need to consider the gravity of our words to appreciate and recognize the power, the seriousness, the importance of this privilege that God has given to us to speak forth, to communicate. Moving on to point number four, verses seven and eight, we see this. You do not have full control of your words. Here's another reason why we need to consider the gravity of our words because when it comes down to it, you're out of control, right?

Verse 7 says, 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. James goes on. He's really providing some good illustrations to help us get this in our minds and understand the concepts. Horses with bits, rudders and ships, fire with a spark. Now he says, think about

Taming animals. And every kind of animal has been tamed. Every kind of animal and sea creature and all the different varieties, they've been trained. But he says, but nobody can tame the tongue. I think we know this to be true, right? We've tried to do better in watching what we say.

I like what Ironside said about this. He said, We are familiar with how little control we have because we've tried hard enough.

To not say those things. To say those other things. To control. And we found no man can tame the tongue. Even though every kind of creature has been tamed and trained. You've gone to SeaWorld. And you've seen magnificent creatures do crazy things that you would never imagine them doing. Perhaps you've been to the circus. Perhaps you've been to the zoo. You've seen the shows. You've seen the things that, wow. Wow.

They taught this creature how to do that. I dug up a couple you may not have seen. Here's one to think about. Mice trained to surf. This is not a joke. This is for real. There is a guy in Australia and he and his friends were sitting on the beach one day watching these little waves come in. And he was like, man, if only I was really tiny and I could just enjoy those perfect waves. Then he had an idea. I could train mice to surf. I don't know who would have that idea, but he did.

And so for the past 25 years, he's been training mice to surf. He starts out in the bathtub and he crafts their board. He shapes that surfboard. You know, it's custom for each one. And so he puts it in the bathtub. He puts the mice. Actually, if you read the article, they look more like rats to me. They're quite large. But so he puts the rodents on top of the surfboard inside the bathtub just to kind of get it comfortable and get it used to balancing. And he does that for a while. And when they're comfortable, then he takes them out to a pool.

And in the pool, he hooks it up to a radio-controlled boat, and he drives the surfboard around and gets the rodent, you know, used to that and kind of, you know, able to kind of move with it. And then, finally, he takes him to the beach, and he puts him in there in the waves. And there's videos of them surfing, and they actually, like, shift their weight and turn. And, like, it's crazy. I just, it's like, it's a really valuable thing to commit your life to. That's what I can say. Now, trained surfers,

mice to serve. How about this one? Have you seen this one? This girl, 15 years old, trained a cow to act like a horse. She really wanted a horse. Mom, dad, can we have a horse? We're not buying you a horse. So she took one of their family cows and said, I'm going to use the cow like a horse. She taught it to enjoy the saddle and to let her ride it and even to jump hurdles. Pretty crazy, right? We can tame all kinds of creatures, insects. I mean, you get the point.

But as much as we can do all of that, no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. You don't have full control of your words. Now, I don't know about you, but this should kind of strike a little bit of fear in us, right? I mean, this is kind of a scary thought.

Your words are extremely important and God evaluates them seriously and you will stand before him and give account and you stumble in your words and your words can change people's lives, including your own, and can take a life of their own and go way farther than you ever thought or imagined or wanted or intended. And you don't even have control. You're not in charge. The things that come out of your mouth, the things that you communicate, you don't have full control of that.

Because again, as Jesus said, it's the overflow of the heart. And the real issue here is the source. That's what James addresses next in point number five, finishing up in verses nine through 12. Your heart is the source of your words. And this is where we get down to our response. Understanding the gravity of our words. We don't need to learn, you know, okay, let me count to 10 and then decide if I really want to say that.

That's not necessarily a bad tool. You know, that's a good thing. We need to learn to exercise self-control and discipline. But that's addressing the symptom, not the issue, right?

The issue is the heart. There's a source that we need to address. That's what James says in verse 9. 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. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing, my brethren. These things ought not to be so. Verse 11, does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grapevine bear figs?

No spring brings forth salt water and fresh water at the same time. It's either one or the other. If downstream there's salt water, you got to go back to the source. It's a salt water spring. It doesn't produce both.

And yet there is this issue of this double-mindedness, this double nature within us. He says, with our tongue, we bless God, right? We just a few moments ago, we're spending time in worship and singing our praises to God together. But at the same time, that same tongue that you use to praise God, you use to curse men, to speak evil of one another, to slander others, to hurt others. And he says, look,

They've been made in the likeness of God, in the image of God. There's an inconsistency here, and that's a real problem. Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. He says, my brethren, this ought not to be so. This is an issue. The fact that you would bless God, but then also in other communications, not reflect the heart of God accurately is an issue. And so you come on Sunday, you come on Wednesday, you...

Bless God. You praise God. You cry out to God. You love God. You thank God. And then you leave church and someone cuts you off as you're driving, you know, just out of the exit. And then now you're cursing. That's an issue. The issue that it's revealing, though, is not in your words, but in your heart. Usually we blame the guy who cut me off. I don't usually talk that way, but that guy, man. And we say, you put those words in my mouth. Listen, nobody puts words in your mouth. Your heart says,

puts words in your mouth. If it's in your mouth, if it comes out, that's in your heart. Commentator H.A. Ironside says, out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. He says it evidences a lack of communion with God and shows that the heart is, for the moment at least, unsubdued by divine grace. Those words that come out reveal a heart that is out of alignment with God, out of communion with God.

When those things come out of our mouth, it shows that the source is bad. We still have issues with our heart, and we're going to have issues with our heart because God's transforming us. He's sanctifying us, but we're not done yet. And so this is going to be an ongoing process and issue that these things that come out of my mouth reveal what's happening within my heart. A saltwater spring does not bring forth fresh water and vice versa.

No, it brings forth that salt water. It brings forth that fresh water because, well, that's what's at the source. A fig tree does not bear olives, he says. Why not? Because it's a fig tree. Olive branches don't bear figs because, well, they're olive branches. That's what's at the source. And what comes out of our mouth shows what's at the source, shows what's in our hearts. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus talking to the religious leaders says,

He says, you're a brood of vipers. How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Whatever boils over, that's what comes out of your mouth. The way that Jesus is describing it here, the horrible things that come out of your mouth is just a fraction of what's actually happening within. This is the abundance of the heart from which the mouth speaks. It's the extra thing.

There's a lot happening in your heart that is, well, God wants to address it. And one of the ways that you can recognize what's happening in your heart is by paying attention to the words that you speak. He says in verse 35 of Matthew 12, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. When you bring forth evil things...

Don't blame it on others. Don't blame it on the circumstances. Don't blame it on the situation. Don't blame it on the hardship. Recognize this is an issue of the heart. That's the source of my words. And when I'm able to speak good and to communicate God's words and purposes and love and express those things, that's a reflection of what God is doing within my heart. But at the same time, when I communicate good,

Things that are not of God, that are not consistent with the nature of God. It shows, it indicates there's an issue there in my heart. And that's what we need to address. As we consider the gravity of our words, it's again, not to learn techniques to just, you know, try to like, all right, let's all take a vow of silence. You guys are doing very well. I already failed. That was a joke. You can laugh. It's okay. You can't fix it with a vow of silence. Maybe it's useful for you to do from time to time.

But you can't fix it. You can't fix it with counting to 10. You can't fix it with, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. You can't, you know, those might be helpful techniques. And there is discipline that God wants to teach you to not just say everything that comes into your mind. That's a valuable lesson. And that needs to be learned. When you find yourself communicating inconsistently with the character and nature of God, you need to recognize it's not an issue of

with your self-control or your discipline. It's an issue with your heart. Consider the gravity of your words. You stumble in many ways. Those words that you speak, they change the course of life. They have a huge impact. They take on a life of their own and they can go far doing great good or great damage. You don't have full control. The only way for you to really deal with these things is to go back to the source and ask God to work in your heart.

James has a lot to say about this. We saw a little bit in James chapter 5. Also in James chapter 1, he talks about being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. He also says in James chapter 1 verse 26, if any one of you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. As difficult and as uncontrollable as the tongue is, James says, if you don't control your tongue, if your religion is

doesn't change the way that you speak, it's useless. You're a Christian, great. But if that doesn't change the way you speak, your Christianity is useless. Because if your Christianity is not changing your heart, there's an issue. It's the source. We need to come to God with our hearts open.

confessing the realities of where our hearts are at and the issues that are within. And as we come to the Lord, we find grace, we find mercy. It's not that he says your heart is wicked and, you know, so be gone with you. No, we come to God with our wicked hearts by faith in Jesus Christ. And he says, you're forgiven. Let me transform you. I'm going to cleanse you. I'm going to work in your heart.

But we have to come to him with that heart. We have to confess our sin. We have to allow him to do the work in us that he desires to do. I want to close with this word from Warren Wiersbe. He says, just as a horse needs a rider holding the reins and a ship needs a pilot at the rudder, so your tongue needs a master and God is the only one who can do the job. Your tongue needs a master. You're not the master. You don't have full control.

You have to surrender your heart and your life to God. It's an ongoing, it's a continual thing. And anytime your words are inconsistent with God, you need to recognize he's not in control. He's not the master. I got to come back and submit to God. Give him my heart and let him rule and reign in my life. Let's pray. Lord, this morning, you've given us some hefty things, some heavy things to consider.

Your word speaks about our words pretty powerfully. And God, we can easily be so reckless and careless with our words and esteem them little. But I pray, Lord, that you would allow your word to sink into our hearts. Lord, that we would appreciate the power of what you've given to us in this ability to communicate, to share, to speak in so many different ways and capacities.

Lord, it's a great blessing to be a part of your work and other people's lives and being able to communicate your truth and share your love and help people to press on and encourage them and build them up and help them to go forward. And we're so blessed with those opportunities. But Lord, with that powerful tool comes the need for a warning. Misusing this tool, Lord, it can cause great damage. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to not forget this.

Lord, that we would recognize the importance of even those idle words, those words that we don't pay much attention to. Help us, Lord, to view our communications the way that you do, to recognize their value. And Lord, I pray that you would let that not put us in a place of permanent condemnation because we all stumble, but Lord, that you would help us to recognize each time we stumble, that it's your reminder to us of how much we need you.

how much you're willing to forgive. And grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy, we come to you and find grace to help in time of need. Lord, I pray that you would help us to bring you, bring you our hearts, the issues within, the hurts, the pains, the wickedness, the vileness. Lord, we bring it to you. We ask that you would cleanse it, that you would wash us. Forgive us of our sins. Forgive us of that condition within us.

Why would you change it and transform it that the overflow, the abundance of our hearts would be things that honor you and glorify you and accomplish your work in this life? We pray this in Jesus' name. 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.