If it wasn't for the grace of God, we wouldn't be here tonight, folk. Amen. If you have the Bible, would you turn the book of James with me tonight, please? Chapter 3 and verse 1. James, chapter number 3 and verse 1. We have every indication to believe that this is the half-brother of the Lord that wrote the book of James. And as I've told you before, certain books of the Bible have certain words that dominate. Like the Gospel of John, the word believe dominates. And the book of Hebrews, you have a better or new, the word dominates throughout that book. The book of Philippians, the word mind dominates. The book of James, a lot of folks think that all it talks about is works, and it certainly does that, but the tongue, it has a lot to say about the tongue, about the mouth. In James chapter number three in verse one, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. That should be a warning to anyone who wants to teach and preach. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth, And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either of vine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. The strife and the envy and the confusion and every evil work is a product of the tongue. And that's what the Apostle James is talking about here. He tells us plainly that the tongue is a wicked thing if it's not kept in check, because it can be used for the glory of God, but it must be controlled. That's what you call Christian character, and that's what you call the ability of an individual to bring himself into subjection, because the tongue is part of your flesh. And it is an instrument that reveals something about yourself. The tongue will, it'll do the job. In chapter number four, verse 11, James says this again. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. Then in chapter number five, James says, is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if you have committed sins, they should be forgiven him. Confess, notice the word with the mouth, confess your faults one to another and pray, notice the mouth, pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth but the space of three years and six months. He prayed again and the heaven gave rain. The earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death. and shall hide a multitude of sins." He starts out by rebuking the misuse of the tongue and then finishes up his epistle by telling you what to use it for, by confession and prayer. I think that's a good instruction, don't you think? James doesn't leave you in a negative note. He leaves you with a positive affirmation of what you could and can do and should do, and that is pray. Satan will fight your prayer life more than he fights anything. Because if your ministry is not built upon prayer, it's presumption. If your faith is not founded upon your prayer life, your faith is a launch into the deep, into the dark. And it's not bounded upon the truth. So James picks up in the New Testament where the book of Proverbs leaves off. The book of Proverbs is a powerful, powerful statement about what makes men what they are. In Proverbs chapter number 18, in verse number two, it says this. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. You see that? Proverbs 18, verse two. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. He doesn't want to really know what's in his heart. You say, well, what's that got to do with the tongue? Well, the Bible says, well, the mouth, or from the tongue, issues forth the heart. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. In plainer words, you have it in your mind what you are, but your tongue reveals what you are. And that's the bottom line. It's hard for me and it's hard for you, it's hard for all of us. We all have a problem with the tongue. Hold your tongue, hold your peace, they used to say to me when I was a kid. Some of the idioms that they used back then, we don't hear much of today. Like I told you before, my grandfather would say if I did something, own up to it. Own up to it. How many's ever heard that? We know what that means. I did it. He didn't do it, I did it. It reveals who you really are. In Proverbs chapter number 23 and verse number seven, it says this about it. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. See that? You have to be careful. You say, well now, why is this so important? Because the word that goes forth can either hurt you or help you. In Proverbs chapter number 12 and verse number 18. I don't know how something could be any more descriptive than this. Proverbs 12, 18. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. The scripture says that we ought to know how to answer every man and that we should be very wise when we do speak. And when we're talking to people, that are completely foreign and unconnected with what we are and what we know, we should use the wisdom that the Apostle Paul used when he was in Athens, Greece. If you'll remember, he saw an image or an idol to an altar to an unknown God. Well, he didn't rebuke them and say, you bunch of fools, you ignorant pagans. Let me tell you who the true God is. That's not what he did. No, no. He took it upon himself to explain to them who the true God was, but appreciated the fact that they had set something aside for him. See how he did it? Yeah. He gave them a compliment that they realized that there's more than what they knew. In the book of Proverbs chapter number 17 and verse number 10, the scripture says, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool." Isn't that powerful? When the rich man lifted up his eyes in Luke chapter number 16 in hell, he said, I want to go back and warn my five brethren lest they come to this terrible place of torment. What did Abraham tell him? They have who? They have Moses the Prophets. If they won't listen to Moses they are not going to be convinced though one came to them from the dead. Right? They have the Word of God which is the character of God going forth in verbal form. It carries all of the creative power and God used when He said, let there be bara in Genesis 1, bara that is the Hebrew verb translated let there be. And that verb means to bring into existence from nothing. Same word that goes forth from God can bring into existence from nothing. In plain words it can produce faith, but it is all built upon His character. It is impossible for Him to lie. There's a good illustration of that in the Old Testament. In the case of Ahab and Jehoshaphat, if you'll remember that Jehoshaphat had made a league with Ahab which he shouldn't have done. Jehoshaphat was the king of the two southern tribes of Judah and Ahab was an apostate king in Samaria, the northern ten tribes. And we had a council held before God like we find in the book of Job. You remember that one? You remember when the book of Job is written it said that the angels of God presented themselves before the Lord and Satan also. And the Lord is communicating with them and He said, where you been? Satan said, I've been walking to and fro on the earth. Well over there when this council showed up and the Lord said, who will go? Speaking to these spirit beings in front of Him, who will go and persuade Ahab? This one steps forth and says, I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of His prophets. That's what he said. God said, go. Now, the principle is this. Do you want the truth? Do you want the truth about yourself? If you want the truth, God will get the truth to you. And he said, you shall know the truth and the truth will help you out. That's not what it says, is it? truth will make you a better man." That won't work will it brother? What does it say? You shall know the truth and the truth will do what? Make you free. And a free man is a free man. The law was bondage, grace brought freedom. Grace and truth by Jesus Christ. The law came by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. The Word folks is important. Your flesh, Your flesh is a marvelous thing, so subtle. Your flesh will pray. It'll get very positive. It will even draw nigh to God, appear to, if it fears that it may be in jeopardy. Your flesh will amaze you at what it's capable of doing. But the moment that it feels or the danger retreat, the flesh goes right back to what it was before. You have to have the discernment to know that it's not really you that hungered and thirsted after God so much as it was some circumstance that came up in your life and your flesh was wanting freedom. It wanted release. Your flesh wanted the misery taken away from it. Your flesh wants comfort. Your flesh wants to be fed. And so the moment that the circumstances changed, your faith just evaporated and you're just right back where you started from. Are you following me? That happens to all of us. And at that point, you press on past that initial move of the flesh and press on toward God. And by faith, begin to grasp what he says and receive it into your spirit and into your soul. And then your flesh is going to fight that. Your flesh is going to get tired. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The flesh is going to fall back, but you keep pressing on. You keep pressing on to receive the truth of God and his word and his word will build faith. And that's where you grow. One of the areas that you grow the most in is when you can discern the flesh working in your life. And it won't tell you it's the flesh. The flesh will quote scripture to you. If Satan can quote scripture, the flesh can quote scripture. How many follow me so far? You're gonna find that your biggest battles are with yourself, not with somebody else. Your biggest battles are gonna be with yourself. Can you receive instruction? You have to ask yourself this question. Do I know it all yet or is there something left for me to learn? See what I mean? One of the biggest things wrong with the churches today, that there are so many people that are filled full intellectually with scriptural knowledge and theological knowledge, but they have no spiritual truth and spiritual wisdom. They haven't grown. And you'll never grow past the point where you understand yourself. The more you grow, the more you're going to understand yourself. And the more you're going to find out that the grace of God ministers to you like you never thought he ever would. For not only will he point it out, he'll pull you out. He'll pull you out and raise you up. Amen. He's not to condemn you. He's to help you. And so the Bible says over here in Proverbs, that you can receive. A reproof entereth more into a wise man, just the word, just the word, than a hundred stripes into a fool. That's powerful. The book of Proverbs says that the Proverbs chapter number 10 verse 11 It says that the tongue, the mouth, has the ability, the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. See that? A well of life. Words bring life, folks. People may not want to acknowledge this, but you live by a principle, an ideology, by a faith, by something that's ingrained in your soul. You live by that. You may not even consciously be aware of the fact that you make decisions based on that, but you do. If you don't believe there's a God in heaven, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow, you die. You may never tell anybody you're an atheist, but your life shows you are. because all you think about is this life. And the flesh is never satisfied. But if you have in you a principle, faith, a doctrine, the word of God that has taken root in you, it is going to affect the way you live. If it's real, it will affect your life. And if it doesn't affect your life, it's intellectual assent and not faith. To agree to facts intellectually is not faith. Faith must be when you take hold of the fact and embrace it, and cast yourself upon it, and pull it into your soul, and it becomes an agreement between God and you. It's something that you stand on and you believe. That's faith, and that can grow. It can grow, it'll always, and it will grow incrementally. Nobody ever starts out with great faith, but it will grow. Once it's tested, it's stronger, it's purified, and that comes in time. So, the Bible says this about the tongue, Proverbs 11, verse number nine. It says, and hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. The hypocrite's mouth destroys its neighbor. My goodness, do you see that? Do you see how a mouth can destroy somebody? It's quiet in here. I guess the first reason is that we've all got tongues. Amen. Yes, somebody said it this way. They said, well, they put the tongue behind a row of teeth and then lips. They try to secure it. He's got two walls there, you know. Yes, Sir, is this so easy to say something? Yeah, bars of ivory walls of place. That's a good way to put it. Yeah, that's good. Bars of ivory and walls of flesh. To secure the tongue. That's quite a thing, though, because not only will a wise man receive instruction, not only will he receive it, but once he has received it, what comes forth from his mouth shows what it's done for him. Yes, it does. A hypocrite will destroy his neighbor. Somebody said, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me. You don't believe that, do you? That's a nice little jingle, but that has nothing to do with the truth. As a matter of fact, you ought to listen to Carrie Fisher, and I'll get it on the web, Lord willing, tomorrow. You ought to listen to her testimony when she talks about what they said to her when she went to school, what the teachers said to her, what this young woman endured. It's horrible. It's one thing for the kids, it's something else altogether for the teachers. You'd think somebody with a college education would talk some character. and say that to a young girl that comes to their school. That's just unbelievable. But anyway, you need to hear her testimony. It's quite a thing. Words will hurt you. In the book of Proverbs, the negative statements, the words of evil men, they're the words of adulteresses, the words of the liar, the words of the fool, the words of false witnesses, the words of a gossip, words that are spoken too quickly, words of flattery. If somebody flatters you, you've got the problem, not the flatterer. If you like flattery, you are the one with the problem, not the flatterer. What is flattery, by the way? What is it really? It is an exaggeration. It's not reality. It's what you want to hear, but it's not the truth. It's that make-believe world that people live in. If you have to be bolstered, especially from unbelievers, if you get security from somebody who's not even born again, then your security is very weak in the Lord. Flattery. Too many words. The Bible says the fool is known by a multitude of words, perverted words. But now on the other side, Words of the righteous, discerning words, words of knowledge, words of healing, where you have a gentle answer, pleasant answer, words of the law. These are good things because they can build you up. They can help you. Each Christian can build each other up. I don't like fabricated churches. I don't like man-made churches. What do you call it? Environments, when it comes to the people. You are what you are by the grace of God. If everybody looks alike, like penguins, you know, well they call them emperor penguins. They're beautiful little creatures that God made, but they all look alike from 100 yards away, you know. Christians should not be that way. 1 Corinthians 12 makes it plain. You're not all the same. You don't all have the same ministry. 1 Corinthians 12 is very plain about that. The Bible said, therefore, to make your election and calling sure. Make sure what your calling is, what God's called you to do. So, the Lord says in Matthew chapter number 15, building upon what you've just read from the book of Proverbs, Matthew 15 verse 18, He said, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the 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 unwashing hands defileth not a man. And of course, the most legalistic bunch that ever walked the face of the earth was a Jewish Pharisee. He's used constantly as an illustration of that. They washed their hands, they wouldn't travel but so far on the Sabbath day, they'd stand on the street corners and make long prayers, wore their robes, and they condemned an innocent man to death. Pontius Pilate said this about him, or he said it to himself, when they delivered him up to be crucified. Here's what Pilate said, he knew that for envy they had delivered him up. Pilate knew that, Pilate was no fool that's why he washed his hands. He knew that for envy, what is envy? They crucified an innocent man over envy. What is envy? What's the difference between envy and jealousy? There's a difference. These English words have meanings. Biggest problem in 2013, the kids today have a vocabulary of about 200 words and then there's just so forth. You know, they're just facial expressions and that's the way they express themselves. But a big difference between envy and jealousy, all right? You know what envy means? Envy means I want what you got. They didn't like the fact that he had multitudes following him. He never spake like them. Never a man spake like this man. This man spoke with power and authority. He did not subject himself to their authority, did not recognize their righteousness. He said, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. He rejected them outright, and yet he wasn't cast out. But the people followed him. They followed him. And he had disciples where he trained them. That's what it means to disciple. It means to take somebody and teach them. He had disciples, and so they envied him. They envied him. They wanted what he had, but they never tell him they wanted what he had. And so Pontius Pilate said that he knew that for envy they delivered him up. That's what it is. Jealousy is when someone loses a boyfriend or a girlfriend and that boyfriend or girlfriend goes to somebody else and they can't stand it because their former love is with somebody else. That's jealousy. That's jealousy. All right. They weren't jealous of Christ. They were envious of him. That's what envy is. And he said that from the abundance of the heart, The mouth speaketh. I'm not interested at all really on what you say in here. What do you say at home? What do you say at work? Now listen to this in Matthew chapter number 12 in verse 33. Matthew 12, 33. Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by his fruit. Oh, generation of vipers, how can you being evil speak good things? See that? You may for a while come out with some nice platitudes, but you are eventually going to reveal the depth of the wickedness of your heart. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say to you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. So that ought to compel us to get on our face and start confessing some of this stuff, so we don't have to face it, right? If you confess your sins, He's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness, right? Verse number 37. Now watch this. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in thine heart God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Do you believe that? Do you believe He's the only begotten Son of God? Do you believe He's God Almighty manifest in the flesh? Do you believe when He went to the cross at Calvary He finished the work? Tetelestai said on that cross, it's finished, it's done, it's accomplished. You can't add to it. It's done. Hebrews 9 said it's finished. once and for all. Do you believe that? Do you believe He was buried in the cross? When He died on the cross, do you believe He was buried in the tomb? He didn't swoon. He died. He actually died. He was a dead. His body was dead. And He descended then while His body was in the tomb. He descended in the heart of the earth in the bosom of Abraham. Three days later, God raised Him from the dead. Do you believe that? Forty days later, He ascended to the right hand of the Father. And He's coming again. Hallelujah. And most people I've met that go to church believe that, unless you're in a Jehovah's Witness or something like that. But most people believe that. So why aren't they saved? Because you're not trusting that. It's this simple, folks. Intellectual belief is something that you just carry around with you, okay? New Testament saving faith changes your life. If you really believe it from the heart, it'll change your life. That's how you know you're saved. Oh, by the way, I'm glad I thought of that. You remember that young lady that wrote me from that I read you the letter from, that, well, she sent me a response. And she sent me a response. I got it, let's see, let me get down here to it. I wish I'd thought to have this printed out, but she sent me a response, and it's good. Let's see. Maybe I got that. She didn't send me an email or did she? She must have sent it to the prayer page. I can't read it to you. It's on the prayer page on the website, but anyway. Here it is. Here it is. I'm sorry. Pastor Lawson, I hope this email finds you well. I just wanted to send you a praise report and say thank you for your prayers for me. They worked. I'm reading He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado. In it he talks about Paul's struggles with the flesh discussed in Romans 7. My own struggles with the flesh are what make me doubt my own salvation. So I stopped and read the entire chapter. I'm here to tell you that God spoke to me through that chapter. I finally understand what it means to be a saved sinner by grace. Finally, I'm free. I know I'm heaven-bound I'm also reading John like you said and I do believe what I read I do believe she says in capital letters and Because of that I can know I'm saved Glory to God and thank you for your prayers Please continue to pray for me that I become closer to God and allow his will to work in my life That's a vast difference from what she said the other day. I'm thankful to God she got help. I Amen. Isn't that good? And she was desperate folks. This young lady was desperate when she wrote. And I get a lot of them like that. People that are desperate. And maybe you're like that tonight. You don't have to confess anything publicly to anybody. I'm just a man. I'm a sinner saved by grace. I have to get before God and I have to confess my sins and I have to pray. And When God begins to open me up, he shows me things about myself that I guess my pride covers up. Your pride's a powerful thing now. Say, well, I don't have any pride. Well, I'm proud I'm humble, aren't you? I'm really proud of how humble I am. No, your pride's a problem. Your pride, my pride, everybody's got a problem with pride. We all do. But the thing is, he has to break that pride, has to break that wall, and get our attention, begin to talk to us, and show what a father he can be, because he ministers grace. Thanks be unto God. Just remember, mercy is the motive, grace is the way it's done. Grace is the channel. He does it by grace. But it springs forth from mercy, and the mercy is based upon his character. Amen. That's the kind of God we serve. Amen. Merciful. Merciful. That's what He said to Moses. Remember when He said, I want to see His glory. I want to see Your glory. Remember what He said on top of that mountain when He moved out there before Him? showing mercy, showing mercy, showing mercy. Moses got a good dose of that. He needed to, he needed to understand that. Though they were under the law, the day had come that that mercy would manifest itself at the cross, because there is where mercy was manifested. Father, in thy name we pray. Thank you, Lord, that we can come in your sight. We can come in here together, together as brothers and sisters, as fellow believers. Our Heavenly Father, And so thankful, Lord, that it takes the same grace for every last one of us to become to thee, to be born again. And that same grace that you gave to me, Lord, when I didn't deserve it, no way, that same grace is available tonight for whoever that will call upon your name. Whoever, if they'll do it, that grace is there for them. Blessed Jesus, we bless your name. I love you. I glorify you. I exalt you and lift you up. You've been everything I ever thought you'd be and far more. Lord, help us tonight and help this preacher. I pray this in Jesus name. For Jesus sake, I ask it. And a man. Amen. Alright, I'm done. We just had a little treatise on the tongue. Amen.