But I hold in my hand and destroy this church. What I hold in my hand can cause hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. Something this small can be that destructive. You have something in your mouth that's more destructive than what I have in my hand. What you have in your mouth can destroy things that money cannot replace. It can destroy things that can never be replaced. Now, what I have in my hand is a match. what you have in your mouth is a tongue. Turn over to James chapter 3 as we continue our study of taming the untameable. We'll begin reading in verse 1 and read all the way through to verse 12. We've been talking about the power of the tongue and we have seen already its power to reveal our spiritual maturity. We may think we are spiritually mature, but our words reveal the true spiritual maturity that we have. Since I've been taking special note of my words since we've been in this series, and I trust you have too, it has humbled me more than once to realize my words have revealed less of a spiritual maturity than what I would want. Also, we saw the power of our words to determine our life's direction. Today, we're going to see the power of the tongue to destroy. Stand in respect for the Word of God. As I read beginning with verse 1 of James chapter 3, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. But we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, mature man, able to bridle a whole body as well. That's the power of the tongue to show spiritual maturity. Now, if we put the bits into the horse's mouth so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. 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. So also the tongue is a small part of the body and yet it boasts of great things, the power of the tongue to determine our life's direction. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire, the power of the tongue to destroy. 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. But every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea 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. With it we bless our Lord, our Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessings and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives? Or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. You may be seated. The truth that we have seen throughout this series is We must guard our tongue, because though it is small, its power is much greater than we realize. To determine spiritual maturity, to determine our life's direction, to destroy. To illustrate the power of the tongue to destroy, James uses the analogy of a fire. I think there are two reasons that James does this. First of all, because of the great destructive force of a fire. He says how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. You and I all know how destructive fires can be. They are never satisfied. They are never fulfilled. They keep burning and burning and burning. We're all familiar with the wildfires. out west that burned tens of thousands of acres of land. Even the fires down in Florida of recent years have burned and burned and burned. The most famous fire is the Chicago Fire of 1871. You will remember that in O'Leary's barn, a cow kicked over a kerosene lantern and started a fire. that ended up destroying over 17,500 buildings. 100,000 people were left homeless. 300 people lost their lives. Over $400 million of damage, and that was in 1871. Imagine in today's dollars how destructive that will be. A fire is destructive. It is awesome in its ability to destroy. Smokey the Bear reminds us of the power of fire to destroy. It's never satisfied. It keeps wanting more and more and more. And then the second reason he uses a fire, not only because of its tremendous destructive power, but it all starts with that small flame. Just the one match and the small flame from this match can destroy hundreds of millions of dollars of property. It starts so small, just a flicker. One flame develops into a raging forest fire. God says, so is it with our tongue. Though it is small, it can have devastating effects and can destroy things that money can never replace. It has such a destructive force. First, it can destroy friendships, and that's something money can't buy. How can you place a price on friendships, yet your tongue can destroy friendships. First, harsh words can destroy friendships. Proverbs 15 says, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. I have seen this in my own life. And when I was in high school, there was a guy, he and I were best of friends, best of buddies. And I remember one day, he was all upset and irritated about something. And I said something to him, and he just flew into a rage, just screaming and yelling. Well, let me tell you, our relationship has never been the same since. You can't take back words once they have been spoken. Harsh words can destroy friendships. Also, slander can destroy friendships. Saying things that are untrue about people. It can cause people to mistrust each other. Proverbs 16, 28 says, a perverse man spreads strife and a slanderer separates intimate friends. You know, somebody comes up to you and says, I just feel like I need to tell you that so-and-so said this about you. Now, that works a couple of ways. First, maybe So-and-so is a friend of yours. At least you thought he was a friend of yours. And once this person says what so-and-so, at least he says so-and-so said about you, what does it immediately do? Brings a wedge, doesn't it? Now, you ought to go to the so-and-so and say, look, you know, I hear you said this about me. Is this true? And get it straight. But we don't do that, do we? Instead, we just let the wedge get in there. We let the wall build up. And next time we see so-and-so, we're guarded. And the friendship begins to fall away, begins to be destroyed. That's one way it works. Now, this is another way it works. You know, I just thought I ought to tell you so-and-so said so-and-so about you. When I'm thinking, what are you and so-and-so doing talking about me in the first place? All right? If you're a good friend of mine, why are you all even talking about me like that? And secondly, why didn't you stand up for me and tell so-and-so where he could get off? So don't come up to me and tell me so-and-so said something about me, OK? I don't need to know. I don't need to know, trust me. They can come say it to my face if they want to say it, if I need to know it. So slanderer separates intimate friends. Slanderous words do that. Also, gossiping words do that. We see again in Proverbs 17, 9. He who conceals a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends. You know, they found out they find out something and they just have to tell it to everybody. And they just begin to separate people and people start getting upset with one another. You remember in the Old Testament. When David was king of Israel, David had prior to that time made a covenant with Jonathan, the son of Saul. that they would be lifelong friends and they would look after each other and each other's family. You remember that? And now David's king and he asks the question, is anybody left from Jonathan's family that I can show them honor, that I can honor that covenant I made with Jonathan? And somebody says, yes, Mephibosheth. He's crippled, but he's left. And so David brings Mephibosheth in and He gives him lands and he lets him eat at his table and he appoints this man called Ziba to be Mephibosheth's servant and to look after him and to cultivate his land for him. But then one day you remember Absalom comes and causes a coup and so David has to leave Jerusalem because his son Absalom has caused a rebellion against him. And as he is on his way out of Jerusalem, Ziba, Mephibosheth's servant, comes up to meet him with some supplies. And David says, well, where is Mephibosheth? And Ziba says, oh, he stayed back because he says, now David is gone, I can once again reclaim the throne of my grandfather Saul. And David says to Ziba, well then you go back and you can have all of the lands. Take them away from him. Now this was a lie. Mephibosheth never said that. But what did it do? This one who had eaten at his table that had been close friends with him, he accepted those words of that gossip and it caused their relationship to deteriorate. It caused their friendship to be destroyed. And even when David came back and Mephibosheth said, I never said that, that wedge was still there. And so David said, well, then you just split the land with Ziba. Each of you have half of it. Gossip, repeating matter, keep on bringing it up and spreading it around can destroy friendship. Now, is your tongue destroying friendships by what you're saying? Not only can it destroy friendships, it can also destroy people's reputation. In Proverbs 18, 8 we read, the words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels. They go down into the innermost parts of the body. Now, whisperer, he means a tale-bearer, someone who is out telling stories, telling gossip about someone. And he says they are like choice morsels. Now, what do we do with choice morsels? We warn them. We take them. They are delightful to us. We receive them. And he says that those whisperers, those words are like dainty morsels. They go down into the innermost part of our being and we hold them there. We remember them. Now, if I told you some choice piece of gossip about Billy Graham today, you might not remember anything else I said today, but you'd remember that. And as soon as you got in your car, you turn over to your wife and you'd say, can you believe Billy Graham did that? Can you believe that about Billy Graham? You wouldn't talk about anything else, but you talk about that because it'd be like a Danny Morsel, right? Whether it's true or not, it has a way of going down. A whisper can destroy a person's reputation. That's why the Scripture says that we are not to accept an accusation against an elder without at least two or three witnesses. Over in 1 Timothy 5.19, Paul says, do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. You see, it takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but only a moment for it to be destroyed by someone's lies. I know a situation that happened in this area. The woman was known to have some issues, emotional issues. She was in the church office operating the copy machine. The pastor was moving to get something in the coffee machine and he accidentally brushed up against her. She accused him of sexually assaulting her. She's the only one ever said anything like that about him. And I can tell you one thing for sure about men who assault women. They have a trail of victims in their path. It will never be just one person. You remember Bill Clinton? Several. Right. But you remember Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, she's the only one. Couldn't find anybody else. Let me tell you, a man who does those things doesn't just do one person. It's a pattern. Well, the deacons did not follow Scripture. They did not have two or three witnesses. They just decided they couldn't stand the reputation. The church was hurt, his reputation, so they told him he had to quit. A man's ministry destroyed because of a lying words of accusation. You can destroy a person's reputation. Proverbs 26, 28 says, A lying tongue hates those it crushes. They tried to slander Jesus. You remember what they said about Him? They said He was illegitimate. Accusing them of being demonized. They were saying, you can do this stuff because you have demons inside of you. Can you imagine? The Judaizers tried to destroy Paul's reputation, accusing him of just being in it for the money. Just being what he could get from them. And he had to spend time defending himself. Are you destroying someone's reputation by your gossip? By your slander? By your lying words? And then it can also destroy a family. Cutting words spoken can destroy a family. Proverbs 12, 18. There is one who speaks rashly like the thrust of a sword. You ever been receiving one of those cutting words? Cut you deep. Cut you so deep that wound takes a long time to heal. Now men, we are more guilty of this than our wives. You don't realize how cutting your words to your wife and children can be. They can cut deep and leave wounds that fester. and take months, maybe years, maybe never heal. I have known marriages, and I knew both people, so I understood the situation where the man just gave so many cutting words over the years that he had cut his wife in so many pieces, she finally said, I can't take it anymore. It's going to kill me. I cannot take it anymore. And the man couldn't figure it out. He was so used to cutting with his words that he didn't even realize he was doing it. Cutting words can destroy a marriage. Also, contentious words can destroy a family. Okay, ladies, it's your turn. A foolish son is a destruction to his father, and the contentions of a wife are like constant dripping. You know Chinese torture that just keeps the dripping, the dripping, the dripping. Proverbs says it's better to live on the corner of a roof than inside with a contentious wife. It's just that steady dripping, just nagging, just complaining, just fussing about everything, griping about everything. This causes a wedge. in the family. This destroys a family. So be careful and make sure you're not giving contentious words, words that divide, words that stir up strife. Look at what Proverbs 16 says. There are six things which the Lord hates. Yes, seven which are an abomination to him. What is it? A false witness who others lies and one who spreads strife among brothers. God said he hates the one who stirs up strife in a family. You've got several siblings, and what do they do? They start stirring up strife. One calls another and says, you know what so-and-so said? You know what so-and-so did? And it's just stirring up strife in the family. keeping the family in turmoil all the time. You and I know of family members who have not spoken in years because of words that have caused strife and division and destroyed the harmony of the family. Also, offensive words. Proverbs 18, 19 says, A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city. You know, it's counterintuitive in a sense. But the reality is, the stronger the friendship, the stronger the division and enmity that words can cause. You know that? The stronger the relationship, the stronger the tie, the more destructive words can be. It's because we let them get close to us. We let them get into our heart. And then when the offensive, destructive words come, it cuts very deeply. And what's replaced is a deep anger, a deep bitterness. A brother offended is harder to be won back than a strong city. Watch what you say. You cannot take back those words. We find ourselves in family situations sometimes when our children or our siblings, maybe even our parents, are doing some things that we really do not agree with. We really do not think are wise decisions. I'm talking about grown children. And you're tempted to jump in there and let them have it. And tell them how stupid and irresponsible and how foolish what they're doing is. But if you do, you can't take back those words. Ever. Watch what you say. Guard your words. Because a family member offended is harder to be one strong city. Are your words destroying your family? And then our words can destroy a church. More than a few churches have been destroyed by wagging tongues. Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 1.11, I have been informed concerning you by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you. Now, I'm concerned because he talks about Chloe's people. I don't want you talking about Filiberto's people. I don't want to hear you talking about Paul's people. I don't want to hear you talking about Pastor A.T.' 's people. I mean, that's part of the problem right there when they got people, right? They got groups. They got cliques. But Paul says there's quarreling going on in the church. Church of Colossae had problems, because if they didn't, He wouldn't have told them in Colossians 3. But now you also put them all aside, anger and wrath and malice and slander and abusive speech from your mouth. You see, the church is a family. And in order for the church to function as Jesus Christ would have us to function, we must be unified. We must be free from divisions and strife. Wagging tongues destroy that harmony. Proverbs 26 puts it very well. For lack of wood, the fire goes out. And where there is no whisperer, contentions quiet down. Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. Now, I have seen two types of people in my 40 years of ministry. There are those who get upset and leave the church. There are those who get upset but they just stay and stir the pot. They go here and here and here, spreading their contentions. being upset, complaining about this, complaining about that, stirring the pot. Just keep the fires going with their whispers. And I want you to know that's nothing but the ways of Satan seeking to destroy the church. If you're that upset about what's going on in your church, let me tell you, there are plenty of churches that you can go to. Just go. Save yourself a lot of heartache, save the church a lot of heartache and just go. Find a church that you like what they're doing. Don't stay and stir. That's not God's way. Are you destroying this church? By your rebellious words? By your contentious words? By your complaining words? By your quarreling words? And then, lastly, words can destroy a Christian's testimony. Now, we want to be a testimony for Christ, don't we? I mean, we want people to come to Jesus through our lives. I mean, He saved us. That's the greatest thing that's ever happened to us, bar none. And we would want everyone else to experience that same salvation, won't we? And we want people at work who don't know Him to come to know Him, don't we? We want our neighbors who don't know Him to come to know Him, don't we? And we want to be used of God to do that. But yet, how easily we can destroy our witness through our words. Your neighbor's dog just keeps barking. Every night when you're trying to go to sleep, the dog starts. You get upset, you get mad. After a couple of nights, you finally call up your neighbor and you let him have it. Don't try to witness it out. You've blown it. You have blown it, right? That co-worker. You know, they just bug you. They just bug you the way they are irresponsible. And by their irresponsibility, you get blamed for it sometimes. And you just take all you can take. I mean, you are right. They are wrong. And you let them have it. And you destroy your Christian witness. James says it so clearly, doesn't he? He says, With our tongue we bless our Lord, Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessings and cursings. This ought not to be. More than once when I've been waiting in a line, I'm not a patient man. More than once when I've waited in a checkout line, have I had to bite my tongue Because I wanted to maintain some kind of witness, good witness, let me put it that way. Because I never knew when they might know who I am. Because I have known a situation, a true story of a pastor who went to a restaurant in town here in Cobb County and he was told there would be a certain amount of weight to the hostess. And he just kind of started throwing a little fit. But what he didn't realize is that that hostess knew he was a minister of a church. It destroyed his testimony completely. You think that hostess would ever go to that church? No. You think it made her think more of preachers? No. No. We can't afford to let down that guard over our mouth for one minute. It can destroy a Christian's reputation. It can destroy a Christian's testimony. It can destroy the church. It can destroy friendships. It can destroy your family. Why is a tongue so destructive? James says, because unlike a fire that can be contained, The fires of your tongue cannot be contained. They can never be brought back once those fires have started. I remember when I was about 12 years of age, one afternoon, Sunday afternoon, I believe it was, my dad got a phone call that a forest fire was raging down close to his property in Hancock County. And so he definitely got in the car and was going to go see about it. So I jumped in it with him. And when we got down there, sure enough, the fire was coming and somebody said, well, the forestry department is coming to put it out. And so I was expecting this big old fire truck to show up. Lo and behold, this truck comes, but not a fire truck. It's a truck with a bulldozer on the back of it. I'm thinking, what in the world? Well, you know, they got that bulldozer and they cut about a 30 foot path, a fire ditch to contain that forest fire. It couldn't jump over. the 30-foot path that the bulldozer had made and it stopped. Oh, if we could contain so easily the fires started by our words. Telephone, Internet, all the means of modern communication, there is no way to contain the fire that started by your words. Look at what James says in 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. Now you see that word course is literally the word will, like a wheel that goes on a car. So I think there are two pictures that James has given us here. One is that like a wheel and the hub is where the fire starts and it spreads out through all the spokes. That's the way the fire is. It starts with our tongue. We tell one line, it just flies through. Secondly, I think he's talking about a wheel being on fire as we move through life, as we roll through life, that fiery wheel of our tongue just continues to set fires all along. I wonder if we could look back in our wake, how many fires we would see that our tongue has set. It has destroyed friendships, people's reputations, churches, families. It cannot be contained, he says. And then secondly, perhaps most poignantly, he says, and its fire is set by hell. Man, James says the tongue is set on fire by Gehenna. Now Gehenna was that city dump southwest of Jerusalem where in the Old Testament days they had even sacrificed their children to Molech. And it became a place of rank defilement. In Jesus' day, it was a trash heap. It's where they would take their trash. It's where they would take their dead animals. It's where criminals' bodies would be thrown. And there was a continual fire, continual burning there. And this is the word Jesus used to speak about filth and defilement. And I think the first thing we can see is that James is saying to us that the tongue's fire is generated from our vile and depraved sin nature. What did Jesus Himself say about the heart? He says, out of the heart comes evil thoughts and murders and adulterers and fornications and thefts and false witness and slanders. And we saw Jesus also said that the mouth that speaks was in the heart. And so when James says it's fire set by hell, he's saying that part of the flames that come out of our mouth will originate in that depraved sin nature. But I think there's more. Jesus also used Gehenna to speak of the eternal place of the damned, of the eternal fires and agony of those who have rejected Him. The only time outside of the Gospels that the word Gehenna is used is in this verse. I think what James is saying is that you can trace the flames that come out of our mouth back to the fires of hell. Back to the eternal home of Satan. I think what he is saying is when you and I slander, when we lie, when we gossip, that the flames that come out of our mouth are originating in hell. Now that is a strong picture, isn't it? You picture flames come out of your mouth that originate in hell, setting on fire and doing mass destruction. That is what he is saying. He's saying that it is in the very place of hell that the fires originate. Satan wants to use our tongue to destroy. He is here to rob, kill, and destroy. He's all about destroying. And he wants to use my tongue, and he wants to use your tongue to do that. I'm afraid he's doing it more than we'd like, isn't he? is affirmed. Guard your tongue. Though it is very small, its power is much greater than you realize. There are three things I want to encourage you to do. Number one, dedicate your heart and your tongue to God daily. Every day get up and say, God, I want to give my heart and tongue to You today. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. God, I give my tongue to you today. Keep it clean. Surrender it. Secondly, put your heart in tune with God's heart by daily reading his word. The more you can get his thoughts into your mind, the more control you'll see over your tongue. over your words. And then thirdly, trust the Holy Spirit to enable you. Pray the prayer of our verse of the month. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips. Pray that prayer throughout the day. What about your tongue? Is Satan using it to destroy? Let's pray. We do welcome you, and I'm glad that you have taken the opportunity to listen to a sermon on our internet. And I want you just to know that everybody in the church is not like me. I have these fellows up here, our leadership team. This is Filiberto Medina, who is our Hispanic pastor. And our Hispanic congregation meets every Sunday evening at 6.30. This is Paul Kumar. He is our Minister of Community Connections. And to my left is Mark Baker, who heads up our Reformers Unanimous Ministry, which is a Christian addiction recovery program that meets every Friday night at 7 o'clock. So if you live in the Mableton area, and it doesn't matter what race you're from, it doesn't matter your cultural background, I want you to know you are welcome at Westside Church. This is where everybody is somebody and Jesus is Lord. Hope you'll join us soon. Thank you for being with us for this message. Each week, Dr. Stewart gives practical applications and ways to live out the Word of God. If you would like more information, please take a moment to view our website at wvcfamily.org. That's wvcfamily.org.