We're in James chapter 3 this afternoon. My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment. For in many things we all stumble. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also 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 are so great, and are driven by fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, wherever the pilot wills it. 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 by 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 who 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. That the fountain that send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter, can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either rivine figs, so can no fountain yield both salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endureth with knowledge, endued with knowledge among you, let him show out of a good life his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envying and strife are, 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 shown in peace by them that make peace. May God add His blessing to the reading of the Scripture. Okay, as we look at this passage this afternoon, we find that this is a subject, of course, which is of no small matter when it comes to our lives. For we know that if we are to be a good witness for the Lord, we must learn to speak with care. James exhorts the brethren not to covet a teaching position unless God has called you to it, them to it, realizing that it is of great responsibility and that those who take it on will have to face a greater judgment, so to speak, because the Lord has given his word and we must follow it and teach it carefully that we do not err in our teaching of the Word of God. Also, secondly, horses must be controlled by bit and ships by rudder, but we are in danger of an uncontrolled tongue. Well, when it comes to a horse or comes to a ship, we have devices to make them respond to our every care, our every whim. But when it comes to the tongue, it is a very unruly matter, a member. It's an unruly member. As we know very well, that it can get away from us if we're not careful. That is, we can very easily speak what we should not speak. So we find that the tongue is a world of iniquity, as it were. The tongue, untamed, is set on fire of hell. Of course, it's hard to really picture a good graphic, but this is the best one I could come up with. There was others, but they were kind of too extravagant out there, too weird. But this one kind of says it all. This man is opening his mouth and breathing out words and it's a fire that's coming out. And the tongue, uncontrolled, can be like this. And you notice he has a clenched fist, too. Down in the corner, he's got a clenched fist. So he's really on a rampage, kind of. The tongue is an unruly member when it is not under control. And so, here is an area of spiritual life. the believer's speech. We know the unsaved have no problem with venting their great anger and using words to cut people down and tear people up. We see it a lot in the political arena where they purposely put out the kind of language that tears down their opponent. And as part of their strategy to do that, so they can get the public to vote for them. But of course we're talking about those who are of faith in Christ here and that is not to be the character of our lives. So to have spiritual maturity the believer's speech must be devoted to God and under control. and cannot be carelessly spoken. The mouth is connected to the mind. They come together there at some point. Even as I'm speaking right now, I'm thinking and saying the things that I'm thinking. So the mouth is, after all, connected to the mind. And so the kind of speech that we give comes from the mind, and the heart that is not under the control of God, well, where is the heart? The heart and the mind are somehow, the emotion, if we speak about the heart, we know it's kind of like the emotion of man, and we know that if our emotions are not under control, what comes out of our mouth is uncontrolled as well. And so from this standpoint, James goes into chapter 3, says, my brethren. So he's addressing the brethren. He's not addressing the world. He's addressing the brethren. Be not many masters or teachers, as it were, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation or greater judgment. I suppose that it may be referring to the fact that there were those of Judaistic background who were teachers, right? Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel, James of course was very much in Jerusalem and no doubt saw the teachers in the synagogue all the time. The synagogue was kind of the public arena for reading of the scriptures and one could give public discourse in the synagogue. And you may remember the account when Jesus was in Galilee, or was it Bethsaida? It may have been Bethsaida. But he was asked to speak in the synagogue and of course he gave comment after he read the passage that he read, and it was concerning himself. He said, today this word is fulfilled in your ears, and of course he gave a small discourse on himself. If it was true that public speaking could be held at the synagogue, then someone might aspire to saying things and giving a discourse. But we know within the church, within the New Testament church, we know that there were those who were given that privilege as well as speaking. He warns the brethren. He warns the brethren of this. Know that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Of course, he uses the we, including himself. And most pastors are quite careful about what they say in the pulpit, as well we should be. We should be careful. Sometimes we might say something kind of not thinking, but generally speaking, most pastors will give a clear discourse of what they intend to say very carefully, because they don't want to be misunderstood, and they don't want to falsely state, what the scripture is saying. And of course, then there is the other side of the issue. What about those who purposely purport themselves to be teachers and kind of go off at the mouth, and yet they are not qualified to do so and say things outside of their immediate responsibility of teaching, things you shouldn't say? things that are not appropriate and perhaps misdirecting people or saying things, giving a false interpretation of something. So there's always this danger within the realm of those who are teaching. For in many things we all stumble, he says. Again, he includes himself. He says we all stumble. He doesn't say that we're perfect. I mean, everybody is going to, you know, once in a while you're going to say something you wish you hadn't said, and you may have to back up and correct yourself. or you might have to apologize for something that you've said. But he says, in many things we all stumble. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, in the sense of being mature, not in being perfect without sin, but in the sense of being mature, and able also to bridle the whole body. Now, when it talks about bridling the whole body, some believe that it's talking about the physical body, the passions of the physical body. Well, certainly those ought to be under control, but we know that no man is without sin, no man is without passion. Elijah was subject to the same passions as we are, and yet he prayed and it rained not for the space of Was it three and a half years? So, in other words, he was a man of God, yet he also was a man of passions, like we are. So it may not necessarily be saying that if we can control our language, we also can control every other aspect of our body. It may not be saying that. It may be, rather, it might actually be referring to the body of the church. Perhaps we cannot be fully dogmatic on either one. Maybe the implication can go either way. But certainly if one is an able teacher of the Word of God and is teaching it properly within the church, probably the church will be much more healthy and much more whole. and much more disciplined, and of right thinking, and of right faith, and not fall into some error. Because many churches have fallen into errors based upon teaching, have they not? And whether it be in the first century, when there were Gnostic teachers who were teaching falsely, And of course the word Gnostic meant knowledge and they were seekers of knowledge. And so there was a great diversity of these people who were seeking knowledge even among their own group. And then there were those of course who were teaching the law and mixing it with grace. And so If we understand the era of teaching, then it can go in many different directions. What about the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Well, we know the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead, and the Sadducees did not. So even among the Judaistic teachers, there were those who differed in opinion, and so forth. Well, all that to say this. If we can speak adequately to the truth, then the body of the Church would be much more healthy and much more prone to truth, given to the truth of the matter. And of course, as he says, not that we are perfect in all things, I mean, there's bound to be some little Difference once in a while about I mean you you take a room full of pastors And you put them all together and you shake them up and and you're going to get a room full of different answers that's just the way that it is and Some you'll get some agreement, but you'll get some disagreement and so forth and that's the way that You know the way that it shakes out but he says Concerning illustrations as to truth, he said, Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. And so when it comes to controlling an animal, we have a way of doing that. There's a bit and a bridle which controls the animal. And also concerning great ships of the seas as behold also the ships which though they are so great and are driven by fierce winds yet are they turned about with a very small helm wherever the pilot willeth or wherever he desires. And so we find that in the natural world then, in the natural world we have something to control animal life, we have those things that control mechanical life if you will. And those things can be done. Even so, he says, the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a little matter fire kindleth. So even so, the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth. kindle it. So the tongue is not like an animal that you can put a bit in. I mean, I suppose if we had a bit and somebody was controlling us, that wouldn't be very nice would it? And so it is that the tongue is a powerful member. And so he considers this aspect here, how that We, though we stumble in many things, it is good that the tongue should be under control. should be under control. And so the influence of the tongue, and he gives this illustration here of the horse and the ships. And then in verse 6, as you read on, 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 it is set on fire of hell. In other words, even the forest can be set on fire in the natural world. In the natural world, you can lose control. Right now, supposedly in Canada, there's great wildfires going on, and they're supposed to be the reason why we're having so much smoke in the area. Well, they have a lot of trouble trying to keep these things under control. Well, if the tongue is not under control, it can set on fire, it can defile the whole body. Well, you know, it can defile the whole body of a church, it can defile, especially if one is a teacher, right? If one is a teacher, Somebody starts teaching something that they shouldn't be teaching or saying things inappropriate to certain doctrines and so forth and all of a sudden you have a great uproar in the congregation wondering why these things are being taught. And then, of course, if a person is uncontrolled in their tongue, in their natural world of the body, they can be set on fire in life as well. They can be out of control. and the things that they say will affect their lives. So it could be that he is actually referring to the church more here because he does address this whole subject of teachers and the responsibility of teachers here. Verse 7, for every kind of beast and of bird and of serpent And of things of the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Well, again, he refers to this natural world as a means of illustration, and so he talks about various kinds of beasts, of birds, of serpents, of things in the sea, and that many of them have been tamed, But the tongue can no man tame. He says it is an unruly evil. And then he says it is full of deadly poison. So maybe he's drawing on the analogy of the serpent here. for the idea of deadly poison because we know the serpent has a deadly poison in their mouths, right? So what about the person who is uncontrolled? If one is a teacher and they're uncontrolled and undisciplined in their teaching, then the things that they say could be deadly poison to those who hear it. And, of course, like application could be made to our own lives if we are not careful in the things that we say publicly. So he uses these natural illustrations to kind of underline, if you will, this whole idea that the tongue can be an unruly member and it can set on fire the course of nature, of all life itself. Verse 10, more of these illustrations he's going to bring out. Of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing, my brethren. These things ought not so to be. And so the idea of blessing and cursing is kind of a contradiction. We're supposed to have a mouth full of blessing for God, instead of cursing. But we find that an unruly tongue, which in truth is supposed to be to bless God, can be used to curse God. How many people have we heard who curse God with their mouth? Well, it's not supposed to be concerning the believer. The believer is not supposed to be like this, doing this contradiction of terms, and this contradiction of terms. They're not supposed to be doing that, of blessing one minute and cursing the next minute. But we find that the tongue is capable of this, showing just how unruly it can be and how much of poison is involved with the tongue. Well, when you think about the serpent in the Garden of Eden, we know the serpent was speaking things that were untrue to Eve. And it resulted, of course, in a great deception for Eve and for Adam. And, of course, it resulted in their disobedience against God. And even after the fact, of course, Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed his wife. Well, of course, men never blame their wives today, do they? No, no, no, we wouldn't do such a thing. Well, we know that we do. But anyway, we get the sense here of this blessing and cursing. It's not supposed to come from the mouth of those who are spiritually led of God and spiritually taught of God. Well, therewith we bless God, even the Father, verse 9, and therewith curse we men who are made after the similitude of God. And we know that man was made in the image and likeness of God, the similitude of God. In fact, we are the only created beings that communicate with God and are responsible to God the way that Adam and Eve were. Of course, God created angels, but they were created beings not with the same capacity that Adam and Eve were. We were made a little more than the angels in a sense. It even says that about Jesus. He was made a little more than the angels for the suffering of death. He took upon a human body, etc. Well, we find that there's a difference then between God's creation in the animal kingdom, man and how man was created and who he's responsible to, and even angels and who created them, God created them. but they were responsible to God. So, all of God's creation had its various role, and He said, My brethren, these things ought not so to be. See, verse 10, Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be, that the fountains send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter. Well, you don't really find that, do you? I mean, either water is sweet and able to drink it, or else it is in some way contaminated and you can't drink it. But you don't find both at the same fountain. Can a fig tree, my brother, and bear olive berries? either a vine, figs. You see, a fig tree doesn't bear olive berries, it bears figs. An olive berry vine doesn't bear figs. Everything after its own kind. But you see, the tongue is much more fickle in its usage because of the fallen nature of man. And so can no fountain yield both salt water and fresh. You go to the ocean and it's salt water and you can't drink it unless you purify it in some way. You go to a spring and yes you can drink the water from a spring as long as it isn't contaminated, it's fresh water. In verse 13, who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good life his works with meekness and wisdom. And so, you know, James says he now employs his brethren to use wisdom, to use wisdom in your life. Because the tongue, out of control, will not be used in a wise and a good way to honor God or to bless God. In verse 14, but if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. So again, he now begins to compare the wise man who has wisdom and the man who does not have wisdom, but rather bitter envying and strife. And he says, and why not against the truth? Verse 15, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonical, or demonic, in that anything that is not of the true wisdom of God is not does not come from God, rather it comes from man's own deceitful and evil heart. Now how much does all this relate to the things that come out of our mouth? Well, I guess it relates to a lot of it, because either we're going to be speaking the words of wisdom, which God gives to us, or else we're going to be speaking something else, which is not of God. In fact, when we look at the world around us and the things that people are saying, we judge what they say by the Word of God. And if they are not saying things that are truthful to the Word of God, we immediately judge that they are not speaking truth, that they are only speaking worldly knowledge, which is not after God. And you know, when you go to colleges or universities or seminaries or various places of higher education, you look for truth. People go there to find knowledge. But yet, if there is not true knowledge in the heart of those who are speaking, then we find that what they are speaking cannot be trusted. It may in fact be demonical. But as we look at this passage here, we know he's talking to the brethren, to those who are Christian, and he's employing them to seek the wisdom of God rather than the wisdom of man. Verse 15, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but he says actually that kind of wisdom which is of the negative nature, he says is earthly and sensual and demonical or demonic. So we find a lot of this around. We find a lot of earthly wisdom, we find a lot of sensual wisdom, we find a lot of demonic. wisdom. For envying and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work. Well, if the tongue is employed in various kinds of deceitful speech or language, whether it be in teaching or elsewise, we're going to find that these kinds of things will be the fruit of it. That is, envying and strife and confusion and dissensual and the demonic, and this envy and strife of course creates confusion and it does not produce good works but evil works. Verse 17, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. Of course, James addressed the whole partiality issue earlier, that we should not have respect of persons as it relates to our faith in Christ. Of course, we know what he's talking about when he talks about that wisdom that is from above. God's wisdom, every good and perfect thing cometh down from above. with whom there is no shadow of turning. God, who is unchangeable, hasn't changed in the wisdom which he gives to us. It is a wisdom that is of God, it is peaceable, it is gentle, it is full of mercy, it is full of good fruits, it is without partiality, and it is without hypocrisy. in the sense of speaking one thing and doing another. It is truth. And then verse 18, he concludes by saying, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace. And so he begins by giving this warning concerning the tongue and how evil it can be and that we should not seek to be teachers unless God has called us to it. And we should be careful what we speak because we will be under greater condemnation for the things that we do speak. And certainly the contrast between blessing and cursing speaks volumes to us. And the natural illustrations he gives only underscores the fact that though natural creation is under a certain order, man in his fallen state, his tongue must come under order from God. God is the only one who can bring the spiritual control of the tongue. because our natural nature is fallen. So if we are truly spiritual, then we're going to come under the control of the Holy Spirit as we speak, and want to speak those things that are of truth, of wisdom, true wisdom. And so he ends this section by talking about wisdom, the kind of wisdom that we should desire and want to use which will produce fruits of righteousness sown in peace by them that make peace. And perhaps we're reminded that of the Beatitudes that we are to blessed are the peacemakers and that Jesus spoke about. And certainly among the brethren in the church we ought to be peacemakers and use the wisdom of God as we speak. Shall we pray? Loving Father, we do thank you for your word to us. Ask the Lord that you will take it and apply it to our hearts in the way that is most pleasing to you, in the way that is most glorifying to you, in a way, Lord, that we may be faithful in all we do. So we thank you, Father, and give praise to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, for our closing hymn, we're going to be singing Marie, Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary. Well, whether it's Marie or whether it's me or you, our burdens are lifted at Calvary, right? So it's at 439, 439 in your hymnal. Yeah, we'll sing it along with you, and if you can't keep going, we will anyway. So I'll do the first line first. Okay. Okay. Days are filled with sorrow and pain Hearts are lonely and drear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Jesus is very near. Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calvary Calv Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Jesus is bearing him. Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Jesus is bearing him. Ewww. Loving Father, we thank you that we can come to you at any time and find you there upon Calvary's Mountain by faith. And we can leave our burdens at Calvary, realizing that Christ has died for our sins, that he shed his precious blood for our sins, that he was buried and rose again the third day, being victorious over sin and death. Calvary stands as a true monument to us. of the sufferings of Christ on our behalf and how that he willingly came to redeem us from our sins. Thank you, Father, for your great work of grace and mercies to us, the blessings you give. We give praise and thanks to you in Jesus' name. Amen.