Well, I am really thankful for the opportunity to just be here and experience New York City and do our best to help in every way we possibly can, help the Richmond and Grace Baptist Church. Also, thank you, Pastor Tim, for letting me speak. I don't know, maybe you've been onto our website, but you've never heard me speak. You didn't even meet me until today, and so that takes confidence and trust, and I'm thankful for that, and I appreciate the opportunity to just open the Word and share with you all today. If you would, turn in your Bibles to James chapter 3. James chapter 3. We'll be there this afternoon. There's a few different ways to outline the book of James. Different commentators do it different ways. But no matter how you divide it up, there's one clear emphasis throughout the book. And that's that the book of James is on how to practically live out one's faith, day to day. Monday through Saturday, not just on Sundays. But how do you live? One commentator suggested that there's different tests that are given throughout Scripture. I'm sorry, throughout the book of James that measure the genuineness of our faith. And as we pick up in James chapter 3, we see the test of the tongue. Now, I'll stop there for just a minute and we'll try and address maybe some potential difficulties or objections that you might have to me as I'm about to preach on the tongue. You might be sitting there and thinking, okay, here's this guy from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He comes to New York City. He's got one chance to preach God's Word to us and he's going to tell us how we need to watch our tongue and hold our tongue and we need to be careful what we say. Well, let me just tell you, I'm not here to stand up on a soapbox today. I'm preaching to you from what the Lord has been teaching me recently through James 3 and speaking on the tongue. I need to hear this message again today as much as anybody in this room. Potential objection number two. I think I've heard some people say this before. You might be sitting there thinking, oh, the tongue, my speech. I struggle with it, I know, but that's just who I am. That's who I am, you know? I'm Irish. I don't know. I'm a New Yorker. I don't know. That's what we do. And I'm always going to battle this. And I'm never going to get victory over it. And to that I would say, you're right. We're not, we all struggle with the tongue, and it's called, it's not because of who we are, it's because of our sin nature, and it's something that we all have. And as we look into James here in a couple verses, we'll see that he actually concedes the point that we all struggle with the tongue. He concedes the point, he says we all do. but he still goes on to tell us that it's wrong, and he doesn't make an excuse for it. So, let's start reading in verse 1 of James 3. Verse 1 may seem a little bit out of place when it comes to the verses on the tongue. It's there for a reason, and it fits the It fits the context, but we don't have time right now to see how that fits into the context, but let's start reading there. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. And verse 2 says, here's where he concedes the point that we all struggle. He says, for we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man. He's able to bridle the whole body as well. So we all sin in many different ways. We know that. But whether or not someone can control the tongue, here's the main point, if you missed everything else, here's the main point. Whether or not someone is able to control their tongue, it's a mark, it's an outward mark of an inward spiritual maturity. So where do I get that? Well, if anyone doesn't stumble in what he says, he's perfect. Or you could translate that from the Greek, he's complete, or he's mature. He's a mature man. If somebody's able to bridle, if they're able to control their tongue. And the tongue being probably the hardest thing for us to control. If we're able to do that, by the Lord's grace, with the help of the Holy Spirit, then, to a degree, we have control over the rest of our body and the rest of the way we act, because the tongue has so much sway. And we're going to see that as we dig into it just a little bit more. The Bible Reader's Companion, it's just a commentary, puts it this way, comments on the verse saying this, says, Being able to control what we say is a mark of spiritual maturity and a significant accomplishment. It seems the tongue tells more than we suspect. The tongue reveals a lot about us, indeed. In Matthew 12, 34, Jesus says, For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. In the King James, I think it says, For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. So what's on the inside, ultimately it's going to come out, and the way it's going to come out is through our tongue, and our tongue reveals something about us. So you can, I don't have the worship guide in front of me, but there are notes, there is a spot for notes. I failed to mention that. I'm not sure what page number that's on. 16, thank you. So James point about the tongue being a mark of spiritual maturity. It's not actually limited to these verses. If you turn maybe a page back in your Bible to James 1 verse 26. James 1.26. Here's what James says here. He says, if anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. If we, by the outward things we do, or the claims that we make to be religious, If we do all of those things, but we cannot control our tongue, then the things that we do, all of our service to a degree is worthless if we can't control our tongue. So, we'll start out as we look, that's the introduction, the summary. Well, James gives us several different word pictures to describe, and many of them you've heard and they're familiar, but I pray that they'll As Jeremy prayed a few minutes ago, that will not be in this passage for head knowledge, but that will be in it for the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts and change our lives. First of all, as we look at verses 3 and 4, we see the tongue's power to guide our whole body. The tongue's power to guide our whole body. He begins the first object lesson here, the tongue's power to guide our whole body is comparable to the bit of a horse. the bit of a horse. Verse 3 says, now if we put bits into the horse's mouth so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well by the small, maybe plastic, maybe metal, sometimes rubber, bit that goes in the mouth. The consequences of what happens in the mouth affects the whole direction of that horse. Yes, a small thing to a big thing, but the bigger point is that the small thing controls the big thing. So it is with our tongue. What our tongue does or says can have extremely large ramifications. on what happens in our lives, how we can either help or hurt people. It affects whether or not we help the spread of the gospel or hinder it by the things that we say when we claim to be saved, but yet we say things that would be contradictory to God's Word. We hinder the gospel. As people look at our lives, they think that we're Christians, and oftentimes I've heard the phrase, somebody will look at us and that will be the only Bible that somebody might read. In other words, the only thing that they may know of Jesus Christ might be through the way that you live your life and the things that you say. It's no wonder that David says in Psalm 141, 3, he says, Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Another good word picture. Praying that the Lord would protect us from saying something that we shouldn't say. The tongue's power to guide our whole body is comparable to the rudder of a ship. That's the next point. Verse 4 gives us that illustration. He says, Look at the ships also, though they are so great, and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. Again, the significance is that a singular part of a ship with so many working parts, so many moving parts, so many different motors, of course, unlike the big cruise ships, I suppose the small small boats of James' time would not have as many moving parts. But still, the fact that the rudder, that little piece, will change the direction of a ship. Even when there's fierce winds and the waves trying to blow it in one direction. And odds would say, you know what, with the wind and the waves going that way, that's the way the boat's going to go. But the tongue is even able to steer it. in a direction contrary to the rest of the way that the winds and the waves are blowing. Again, just demonstrating the fact that the tongue has a huge sway over the direction of our lives. So the tongue's power, it is indeed powerful and it does control our entire body and the outcome of much of who we are and what we do on a daily basis. The second main point there is the tongue's unruliness and consequences. We're going to look at both of them. The tongue's unruliness and consequences. And we have several more illustrations. The tongue's unruliness is comparable to a forest fire. Verse 5 says, So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts great things. Keep reading into verse 6, and the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. Now, I decided to do a little bit of looking at forest fires. You hear about them on the news. There was some recently in Arizona. It seems like there's a lot of them that happens, but I mean, who keeps track of how much damage forest fires really do? Well, National Geographic does. And they said that on average more than 100,000 wildfires, this is per year, 100,000 wildfires clear 4 to 5 million acres of land in the U.S. every year. And in recent years, wildfires have burned about 9 million acres of land. They move at speeds of about 14 miles an hour, consuming everything, trees, brush, homes, even humans in its path. So let's put that in perspective a little bit. That means that in the next four to nine years, if history holds true, in the next four to nine years, the amount of land in the entire state of New York is going to be burned by a forest fire. in the next four to nine years, that's quite a bit of land. That's a large area. I mean, an entire state out of all 50 states. And forest fires have devastating results. And just like a forest fire has devastating results, so does the tongue and the things that we say. They're very widespread. Now, forest fires can start in many different ways. Sometimes, again, according to National Geographic, lightning strikes, sometimes spontaneous combustion, sometimes volcanic eruption. But have you ever heard the phrase from, who is it, Smokey the Bear? Only you can prevent forest fires. Why do they say that? It means be careful with your campfires that you light. Put them out. You know, don't leave them going. Make sure they're completely doused with water. How does that little campfire start? Just a strike of a match. Maybe a lighter that somebody holds up or something. It all starts very small, but it's left to go uncontrolled. Then there are devastating effects. Again, National Geographic, there's three different things that a wildfire needs to burn. It needs fuel, it needs oxygen, and it needs a heat source. And the Bible, in keeping with the reference to fire, the Bible addresses the fuel source and how often times it's our tongue that fuels the fire even still. In other words, once we say something we shouldn't, or once somebody else says something they shouldn't to us, that fire started by the tongue. Could stop, but often times we're foolish enough to fuel it. And we say something that we shouldn't. Proverbs 26, 20-21 says, for lack of wood, the fire goes out. When the fuel source is gone, the wood's gone, the fire's out. It's not going to burn anymore. And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious or an argumentative man to kindle strife. So oftentimes we use our tongue to just fuel that fire when we're argumentative, when we're contentious. And we're told in Proverbs 14, 9 to be slow to anger. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. So the tongue's unruliness, it's comparable to a forest fire. It's consequences, point B there, the tongue's consequences are widespread throughout our body. We already read verse 6, and the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. What we can be sure from this verse is that the devastation from the tongue, what we say, it affects our entire life. Maybe, again, we look back to Proverbs, where Solomon, one of the wisest men ever, spoke frequently about the tongue. He says in 17, 27, and 28, He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. This is a very interesting sentence that comes next. It says, Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise. When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent. When we choose not to respond to something that somebody says, when we don't fuel the fire, no matter how foolish we may be, usually, or even a foolish man, when they hold their tongue, they're considered wise, Solomon says. And I'll continue briefly with the illustration of the fire, because that's That's what James did here, so I think we need to get a grasp of the fire and what it can do. Again, because I'm not knowledgeable on this naturally, I looked up some of the effects of fires, and specifically in homes. and service master who they come in and they can clean your home when you have a fire and get rid of all the smoke damage they talk about how how even after 72 hours after a fire you can have all kinds of mold and everything just in your ventilation system and it just if you don't get it cleaned out it's the effects of that fire that was in your house you're going to notice them for a long time so even once the fire is out that you still see the results of the devastation. And I think about how true that is in the things that we say as well. You know, a word, a few small words spoken to, you know, the right person at the right time can, I say the right time, maybe the wrong time and the wrong person, but it could desecrate somebody's character for years and years and years, maybe the rest of their life. Now I think of last night when I was preparing for this sermon, I was thinking about the Casey Anthony trial. Now whether or not you think she's guilty, we're not going to go there. But my point is, everything that's been said about her, things that have come up in the case in the courtroom, She is never going to live any of that down. You might say, well, good, she's guilty. What if she's innocent? She's going to have that reputation. People will pass her on the street, she'll introduce herself to somebody, and that reputation is going to stick with her. because of things that have been said about her. Now, again, it was through the judicial system, and I'm not saying that that shouldn't have happened, but it's a picture of how someone's reputation can just continue on for quite some time. And James also gives us an illustration here, the tongue's unruliness, okay, it's comparable to a forest fire, but the tongue's unruliness is contrasted, then, with animals, with nature. Verses 7 and 8 say, for every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, basically anything we can think of, it is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. So there's a lot of wild animals out there, but James is saying we've been able to tame practically every type of animal, every species in some way. But the tongue, nobody has been able to figure out a way to tame the tongue. It's only by the grace of God, as I mentioned earlier, and the help of the Holy Spirit working in our lives that any of us at any point are able to get any kind of victory over the tongue and hold our tongue, as we say sometimes. And again, the tongue's consequences then are deadly. Verse 8 actually says the tongue is full of deadly poison. The Bible Knowledge Commentary says, like the poison of a serpent, the tongue is loaded with the venom of hate and death-dealing gossip. We've talked about that before. Point number three, we'll move on there. The tongue's power to guide our whole body, the tongue's unruliness, its consequences. Point three, the tongue's inconsistencies. The tongue's inconsistencies. Verses 9 and 10 say, With it being the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father. And with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Isn't it easy to have inconsistencies in our speech? We've been here today, this morning, this afternoon, singing praises to God, the creator of the universe. Now when we are on our way home, whether you're driving or on the subway, or you're driving and you get cut off, you say, that hurts, I can't believe that guy! I should have had the right-of-way! He cut me off! Okay, what are we doing? We're blessing God, walk out the door, we're cursing men. Men who, no less, have been made in the image of God. They're like God in that way. It's inconsistent. And James gives us several examples from nature. Point A there, the tongue's inconsistency, it's contrasted with a spring, a spring of water. Verse 11 asks a question here, and James expects a negative response after he asks it. He says, does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Of course the answer is no. If you go to a fountain, a natural spring, I don't know if there's any in New York City, but go out to Colorado or out west, and either it's a fresh water spring or it's salt water, but it doesn't vary from day to day. Okay? It's not a little bit of both. It's one or the other. That's natural. That's the way God made creation to be. Then he also contrasts the tongue with a tree. Verse 12 asks several more similar questions. He says, can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives? No. Or a vine produce figs? Again, no. Nor can salt water produce fresh. The commentators Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown put it this way. They said, James' argument is in this passage, he says, no tree can bring forth fruit inconsistent with its nature. As for example, the fig tree, olive berries. So, if a man speaks bitterly and afterwards speaks good words, the latter must be so only seemingly and in hypocrisy. They cannot be real. What James, I think, is saying here, and he does use the word, he says, can a fig tree, my brethren, do you remember when you were little, you asked your parents, oh, can I go get a drink? And they say, I don't know, can you? Oh, I mean, may I? You know, because of course we can go get a drink. And so James is saying, can a fig tree actually do this? The answer is no. That's not the way God made it. It's not the way he intended for nature to work. But unfortunately, with our tongues, that's not the case. Because we haven't been able to tame them, they're unruly, and our tongue does something that the rest of nature cannot even do! And that's bless God, and then curse human beings. And in verse 10, James appeals to his readers in what seems like a relatively soft-spoken sort of way. I think the readers of this letter, they knew they shouldn't be doing this. They knew they needed to control their tongues. I mean, those of us in here this morning who are Christians, I'm not telling you anything new today. We all know we need to hold our tongue and control them. So James appeals to them gently, and I do the same way today in verse 10. when he says, my brethren, these things ought not to be this way. And that goes for the blessing God and cursing men. Now obviously, we need to keep praising and blessing God. So the part that needs to stop is the cursing and the talking negatively about other people, about other individuals. So as I thought through the potential applications for this, message, there's many applications for this message. We could start a list, if we had a chalkboard back here, and we could fill it for specific things that we shouldn't say to people. You know, don't tell them this, don't tell them that, don't say this. But I don't think that's the point of this passage. And I think, I'm very thankful that James does not give us that kind of a list Because that would be very cumbersome and burdensome and there would be no way that we could remember it all But instead scripture really gives us a filter It gives us a filter through which we should run our words through before we say them and just like you you have a filter that when I help my wife make spaghetti and I put the meat in it and then all the grease comes out you know the good stuff stays and then we eat that we don't eat all the grease so with our words as it moves through we say okay yeah this is good okay this is good this is good okay now speak now it's easier said than done but if you want to turn over to Ephesians chapter 4 here's where we find the filter Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4 29 through 32. Here's what it says. Here's the filter. Let no Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth None not at all any none on the list that we could make nothing unwholesome But only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear and So there's the filter. If it's unwholesome, don't say it. Speak when it edifies someone. At the right moment, at the right time, saying the right word, when it will encourage a brother or sister in Christ, that's when you speak. He goes on to give us more. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you. He does give us somewhat of a list. along with all malice. And here's kind of a summary statement then. Be kind to one another. Be kind. Tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. And that's the filter. If it doesn't fit those verses, we don't need to say it. So we see the tongue's power, very powerful, to guide the whole body. Like a bit, like a ship's rudder, the tongue's unruliness. We can't control it. And its consequences are devastating. Can't be tamed. Point three, the tongue's inconsistencies. Blessing God, cursing men should not happen from the same mouth. It's not like any, it's inconsistent with the laws of nature. So let's go back, and you can turn there, James 1. 26. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. If we, again, by the outward things we do, seem to be or claim to be religious, but cannot control what we say, then our religious acts, all those good things we do, James says that they're worthless. Spiritual maturity it requires a tamed tongue I pray that the Lord will help us you and I both In the days to come in the weeks to come that by the grace of God with the help of the Holy Spirit That we will tame our tongues. Let's pray Dear Father in heaven we thank you for this passage from the book of James and Lord, I'm sure this passage is not new to any of us here today. But Lord, what a great reminder it is to each one of us. Lord, we're so often tempted to say things that we shouldn't. And as James says, the tongue is untamable. But Lord, as we know from other areas of Scripture, Lord, we can get victory over sin. But it's untamable when it's through our own power, when we try to do it on our own, apart from relying upon the Holy Spirit. And so Lord, with that we ask for your grace in the coming days. Lord, we ask for your help, that you would help us to, as David says, put a guard on the lips of our mouth, so that we would not say something that we would soon regret. Lord, I pray that you would help us to tame our tongues. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to be here today, to worship you, to be in your word. Lord, we thank you for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.