Untitled Sermon

James chapter 3. I want to look at the first 12 verses this morning, although you know that we'll never get there. We'll only look at the first two, really, but in context, let's take the first 12. James says, Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways.

If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole world, and the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man.

But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring. My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives?

Or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. Now once again, just for the sake of constancy, just to keep us where we remember we're supposed to be, James is writing specifically to encourage us to examine ourselves, to make sure that we sincerely, honestly know that we're saved. That there should be evidences of that fact in our lives.

That just as a car goes down the street, and as it's moving down the street, you know that it is either running on gasoline, or diesel, or electric. It has fuel in it because it's evidenced by the fact that it's moving down the road. In the same way, if we indeed are believers in Jesus Christ, there will be evidence of that in our lives. There will be the workings, the outworkings of that faith in our lives.

That can be seen. In chapter 1, James has told us that we're to rejoice because it's the trials that reveal that. It the trials that reveal that fact. I've been blessed this weekend. I heard a phrase or an idea put forth that I've heard before but have forgotten about until it was brought forth again this time that asks us, you know, not so what you're like on the outside,

but what you like when you're squeezed. What comes out when you're squeezed? What oozes out of you when the pressure's in the sky? trials are on that's what james is talking about rejoice in the various kinds of trials the squeezings that come because god is revealing to you what's on the inside he's showing you what's there what's stored up what's coming out what oozes out of you when you're squeezed are they the outworkings of faith or are they the results of the flesh that need to be purged that need to be mortified they need to be put to death under christ so rejoice in the trials because the workings of our faith are revealed by these trials then chapter two we've seen that the

workings of our faith are also revealed or reflected in our relationships with one another and god usually uses the relationships with others to squeeze us right so these are related and it's usually in relationships with other people that situations come down where you are squeezed by the trial and how you are involved or handle or deal with relationships with other people evidences the workings of faith in your life we are to minister to other people we are to be others centered we are to minister impartially chapter two tells us there shouldn't be anyone that we cannot minister to that we cannot take the time to minister to now as far as we're not told to change anybody we're just told to love

them to minister to them the changing is up to god so it's not our duty to change so when i'm talking about ministering to others or relationships with others i'm not talking about seeking to change their lives i'm talking about just ministering the love of god just ministering the truth of god and i'm not talking about ministering to others i'm not talking about God to others. It should be something that's impartial. It doesn't make any difference who it is, even those that have hurt us before. And those very often God asks us to minister to again. And

so it means that we make ourselves vulnerable again. It means that we lay our lives on the line again for the Lord's sake. And those outworkings of faith, ministering impartially, reflect themselves in our relationships with others. The second half of chapter two shows us that as that comes out, as we're squeezed and either Jesus comes out or our flesh comes out and it's revealed in our relationships with others, it will evidence one of three areas of faith in our life.

Either we have a dead faith that simply knows the doctrine, that knows the word, but that's it. It's just an intellectual thing. That's a dead faith. Or it may reveal that we have a demonic faith, a demonic faith. James says in chapter two, I think it's about verse 19, that even the demons believe. They have a doctrinal understanding, a theological understanding of God,

and they tremble at that. They fear God. So there's an emotional response to this there. But that's all. There's no obedience to the Lord. It doesn't take itself all. It's not a faith that goes all the way to obeying God. It knows him. It knows the theology of God. It understands that. It trembles at him. He knows that he's a God who is bringing judgment, but it doesn't change the

life of the fallen angel. And so there can be a demonic faith. And thirdly, we saw that there could. And should and hopefully is a dynamic faith, a faith that is surrendered to obey the will of God, that will seek to just do what God wants out of a love for God. Those are the things that are revealed as we're squeezed in our relationships with each other. Now we come to chapter three,

and he starts off seemingly moving in a totally different area. I mean, I mentioned when we first started the book of James that it's not going to be like Paul, because Paul himself was a schooled, theologian. And so God knew that. And as God inspired Paul to write, he used Paul's skills to write. And so Paul seems to flow from one thought to another. James seems to kind of jerk from one

area to another. It seems like a lot of the things that he writes don't hold together with the other part until you look at it more closely. And that's what I want you to do, because as we come into chapter three, he's not changing topics. The emphasis is still on the workings of faith that are being revealed. And it does tie together with chapter two. It's not disjointed with chapter two. And I want to bring this out as we go into it. He's talking

about the tongue. He's talking about the tongue. And I want you to see as we look at chapter three, that James is showing us that the workings of faith reverberate. Keep the R's all together, you know, revealed by trials, reflected in relationships, reverberate. They reverberate through our speech. The workings of faith in us reverberate. They're born forth. They show forth

in our tongue, in our mouth, in our speech. That's the title in your bulletin. This is part one of What Kind of Mouth Am I? There's a song a while back called What Kind of Fool Am I? What kind of fool am I who never fell in love? Well, this is What Kind of Mouth Am I? And you can put the same, What kind of mouth am I? Because I really want you to let the Lord examine you

where this is concerned as we go through this study. And I really want you to focus, because James wants us to. God inspired James to write on this because it's a very important issue. Matter of fact, if you take a look at chapter three, you're going to see that James is writing about the tongue through scripture. You'll find out it's a very important issue to God. It's amazing

how much of a mess we can make with the tongue. Why this focus now? Well, the mouth, follow me with this. The mouth is the focal point of our fallenness and our depravity. You say, wait a minute, it's the heart, isn't it? The mouth is the focal point. I'm not saying the heart's not involved. Matter of fact, we'll bring up later that the heart's deeply involved. Matter of fact,

the mouth reflects the heart. But the mouth is the focal point. The mouth is the focal point of our fallenness and depravity. God comes into the garden. Adam, Adam, where are you? Well, we were naked and so we sewed these big leaves together. How did you know you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I forbade you to eat from? It was her fault. The mouth is the focal point of our fallenness and our depravity. Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter six,

at the death of King Uzziah, whom he dearly loved, Isaiah is weeping and mourning before the Lord and thinking himself unable to go on. That surely this must be it. With Uzziah dead, things are all over. Nobody's in control now. It's just worthless. And God reveals himself to Isaiah. And Isaiah sees the Lord sitting upon his throne, it says, high and lifted up. And his train filled the temple. The smoke from the holiness of his glory

just consumed the areas of the temple. The angels ministering around, him declaring over and over the glory of his holiness to such an extent that that sound and that scene shook the pillars of the temple. The foundations of the temple were moved as a result of that. No THX stereo digital sound could compare with the sound in that particular scene. And what

did it do to Isaiah? He hits his knees and he says, woe is me. I am undone. It means literally puddle. You know, I'm just ripped open. I'm laid bare. I cannot stand myself. And then his very next words are, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. And the next thing you see is an angel of God moving to the altar and taking a coal from the altar and

touching his mouth so that he could then speak. The mouth is the focal point of our fallenness. And our depravity, nothing more vividly marks our sinfulness. Follow me with this because I know you think that sinfulness is seen more in actions and activity. Jesus shattered that when he said, it's your thoughts, man. If you think in your heart, if you lust after a woman in your heart,

you've committed adultery with her. If you're angry towards a brother, you've committed murder in your heart. He nailed it to thoughts, not actions. And James goes on to point out the fact that the tongue is the thing, is the instrument that most vividly marks our sinfulness. Where can sin so easily be seen in us? In our mouth. In our mouth is where you will see it first. I love it

when I, and I shared this before, but I love it when I'm able to move in with a group of people that have no idea I'm a pastor. I really enjoy that. And I really want to go as long as I can without letting them know I'm a pastor. It was fun at this, at the men's retreat we just came back from because we were, here we are in Estes Park, beautiful scene. We come into the chapel area for the meetings, for the studies. And I love Calvary Chapel because

it's just so, it's just so, I can't think of the word. It's just so home. You know, it's just so simple. It's just so basic. Nobody's trying to impress anybody. Here comes guys, you know, they come walking in and there's a biker ministry and these guys are in black leathers and chains and knife on the side and beard, you know, and they come in and they just, you know, they just

got the love of God in them. And you're still, you're looking at them like, you know, you know, all the rest of us are not too cool either. And we all come walking in and sit down and Gail is sharing and he kind of looks over and he said, you know, he kind of laughs and he said, boy, try to pick the pastors out of this group, you know, because they don't stand out. They're just part of the group. And I love, I love that. The main reason is, is you can talk to people

when they don't know you're a pastor. And I can't tell you how many times I have talked to people and then they find out that I'm a pastor. You know what the first thing is that they say? I hope I haven't said anything wrong, you know. What have I said? You know, it's like they're going back through thinking, oh boy, did I let a swear word out, you know? We're conscious of that, aren't we? We're really conscious. And even, even when you're

in your work environment or school or wherever, and, and your, your peers around you are into foolishness, into, into jokes and joking and all of that stuff. And you don't participate and they see that, they know that. And they let something slip and you go, oh, or they go, oh, I'm sorry. They apologize to you. You haven't said anything, but they apologize to you because they realize

something's come out of here, you know? They realize it's the mouth. It's the mouth that most vividly displays our sinfulness. The power of speech is one of the greatest gifts that God has given to us. The power of speech is one of the greatest gifts God has given to us. Down in, in verse nine, James says, with the tongue, we can praise our Lord and father, the God of the universe.

We can declare praise to, we can pray to him. We can exalt his name. We can speak about his glory and about the riches of his glory. We can praise him. We can praise him. We can praise him. We can say the riches of his awesomeness and of his majesty and of his mercy and his love. But then as James says, at the same time, we could curse. We could curse him. We could complain. We can,

you know, just condemn others. We can break hearts with the words that we speak. Example, right now, probably every one of you can remember a time, probably in your childhood, probably your first few years at school, when you went to school and somebody made a comment about your person, your glasses. Four eyes, you know, Bucky, your teeth. Maybe they made a comment about your name. It sounded

funny and they made up things about your name. Or maybe you're, you were one of those that were taller before your rest of you came in and your feet were big and they made fun of your feet or whatever. But that stuck with you because words can kill. Words can crush. So God has given us a powerful gift with the gift of speech. And he wants us to understand that because we so often

take it for granted. It's estimated that the average person, speaks about 30,000 words a day. That's the average person. I know some of you speak a little fewer and some of us tend to speak more than 30,000 words a day. But you know, and scientists have told us that, that our speech is just simply made up of sound waves and sound waves. When they come out, they travel in every different direction as, as the waves move out

until they hit something, until they come in contact with something. If there's open spaces, they'll still even go on through that. They'll just really go on forever until they, get to God's ear. Now it's interesting because God doesn't have to hear us say anything. According to Psalm 139 that Tim brought out last Sunday, he knows the words that we speak before they're

ever formed on our tongue, before they're even spoken. He knows our thoughts. So we're nailed either way, you know, but I don't know, I don't know about you, but there are times that I'll be by myself and get frustrated and something will happen. I'll just, you know, out it comes and you kind of look around like, you know, somebody there. And at times when people are,

you go, I'm sorry, you know, it just, it just came out. But if nobody's there, it's like, you know, you don't have to be there. You don't have to be there. You don't have to be there. You don't have to apologize. You feel, you know, cause it just said, nobody's going to hear it. But do you ever realize that, that stuff holds soundly? I can see when, when Jesus was coming

into Jerusalem and the people are crying out, Hosanna to the son of David and the Pharisees came out to him and, and they said, stop these people. Don't you hear what they're saying? Stop them. And they knew, the Pharisees knew that, that the people were crying out the Messianic Hosannas. They were declaring, this is Messiah. This is the one who's coming in the name of the

Lord. To redeem Israel. They were declaring that. And Jesus said, Hey, if these were to keep silent, the very stones would cry out. Now, did you ever stop to think that Jesus is making a statement of physics as well as a spiritual statement, that the stones had received the Hosannas of the people and that if the people stopped, the very stones would literally just reflect the Hosannas

that had been coming forth. Okay. Now go back to that scene in your garage where you're frustrated and you make that and see yourself standing up there, before the throne, before the Bema seat. And God brings your garage in, you know, the wall and stands there. Okay. And the wall says, and you're going, Oh, I don't know if you've thought about that or not. I want you to think about it because I think that's, God wants us to be concerned about

our speech because the mouth is the easiest evidence of our sinfulness. It's the easiest evidence that reflects our sinfulness. Now he starts off in verse one here. Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you, know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. I want to read this in Amplified in just a second, but it's real easy when you look at a section like this to think, I'm not a teacher of the word.

I'm not a pastor. This doesn't pertain to me. Turn off, you know, click. I'll wait until they get to something that does. No, this pertains to each one of us. And verse two brings that in, but we'll just say that. So you hang with me here. This pertains to you, whether you are a pastor, it pertains primarily to those who teach the word to others. That's who primarily it is. Pastors or elders or Sunday school teachers.

But it goes down into parents. It goes into you discipling somebody else. It's all of us who teach the word. It says here, not many of you should presume to be teachers. That's what it says in NIV. Let me read to you what it says in Amplified. It says, not many of you should become teachers, self-constituted censors and reprovers of others, my brethren. For you know that we teachers will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity than other people.

Thus we assume the greater accountability. And the more condemnation. It's a warning. It's a heavy warning. And he starts with teachers. He starts with pastors. That's primarily who he's looking at. He says, don't move to that. Now God says that those are a gift. And in Ephesians 4 verse 11, it's a gift that's been given to the body to be a pastor, a teacher, to be a teacher of the word.

Paul tells Timothy that if you aspire to the office of a bishop, you desire a good work, a good thing. But he wants us to understand the warning of it. And not just to presume to do it. it, not just to step in there lightly without considering the costs. And I believe this is how he's tying it to chapter two, because you see, it's the teachers of the word who with their tongues

have the power to bring about judgment upon himself as well as others. You see, James is pointing out that it's the teacher who can teach a dead faith. It's a teacher who can just strictly emphasize doctrinal facts and just feed you doctrines so that you know the doctrine, so that you can walk the Roman road with somebody and show them through the book of Romans all about the plan of salvation. You can know the doctrine, but it hasn't moved your heart to the point of redemption, of being saved, of moving into the presence of God. Or it's the teacher who can

teach you a demonic faith, not only teach you the doctrines, but say that you've got to have this feeling, you know, and emphasize the experience. And lead people to think, if I have this experience, I'm okay. If I have this feeling, I'm okay. If I can manifest this gift, I'm okay. And never have entered into a relationship personally, face-to-face, one-on-one with Jesus Christ. And those two lead to hell.

Hell is going to be filled with people that can quote you verses, that know the doctrine, that tingled in a service, that could speak with tongues, that could speak with tongues, that could speak with tongues, that could speak with tongues, that seemingly manifest different gifts. Look at Matthew 24, 25, when Jesus sets up his throne of judgment on the earth after the battle of Armageddon and draws the nations to himself, he's going to cast some into hell, and he's going to bring some into the kingdom. And the ones that are on their way to hell are going to say, wait a minute, didn't we do all these things in your name, cast out demons, do all these wonderful works, and Jesus is going to say to them, depart

out of here, you workers of iniquity, for what? I never knew you. We never had a relationship. You know all kinds of things about me. You were going for the buzz in your life, but we never had a relationship. That's a dead end. See, teachers can teach that. It's a heavy thing to not move into the dynamic faith that says there's a responsibility. We can't be here as only. We have to be obediently following, lest we deceive ourselves. And so he

says, those are going to be judged by a higher standard. Judged more strictly, it says in the end of verse one, a greater severity, because there's so much more. That they can do to falsely influence others. Now, let me take this on down into the area of husbands and fathers and wives and mothers. You influence people within that relationship. Remember, we've talked about leadership. You lead somebody. I don't care if you're single,

you lead somebody. There's somebody following you, maybe a younger brother or sister, maybe somebody you go to school with who looks up to you and they want to do what you do. They're following you. Maybe it's somebody at work and you're a lead man or a foreman, or some kind of a boss. Your employees are following your lead, both professionally and personally, whether you like it or not. You are leading somebody. Be careful. Be careful how you

lead, especially when you're talking to them about the Lord. Now, don't shy away from that. Don't shy away from that. Just be aware of it. See, this is a call to make sure that we're doing it right. That's what this is. It's not saying don't do it. Just realize the responsibility. The God will empower you. God will give you what you need, but just realize the awesomeness,

the accountability of it. You see, it's so easily to speak error or to speak inappropriately in a situation. I've been a pastor for 18 years and I have just about all the tapes of all the studies that I've ever done. And it's interesting now and then to take one from 18 years ago and stick it in a recorder and listen to what I taught. I had a lot of zeal back then. A lot of things that I taught

that I could see from listening to that, how, man, that was, you're off there, you know, emphasizing maybe the wrong area or the wrong thing. I love the Lord. Maybe the emphasis would have led somebody astray. With people, if you're in a people capacity, any of you, whether you're in a helping kind of an occupation. You know, we're not dealing with inanimate objects that

if we have a defective one, we cast it off into a box and make another one. If we've done something wrong to somebody else, that's a person and we've affected them. And it's hard to fix that. And so we have to realize the accountability. It's easy to speak error. It's easy to speak inappropriately to people. It's easy to misrepresent Christ. You remember Moses?

Moses led the children of Israel out from Egypt into the wilderness. They were hungry and complained. He cried out to God. God gave them manna. They got sick of manna. He cried out to God. They wanted meat. He gave them quail. Then they were thirsty. I mean, they got to wash this stuff down. They cried out to God. God told Moses, go out and take your staff, both your wooden staff

and your staff of elders, and go out to the rock and smite the rock with your staff. Now, often I think we get that confused. We smite everything with our staff, you know. Get out there and go get them. Moses smote the rock with his staff and watered it. Moses smote the rock with his staff and water came forth. Now, the people later on complained again. They were thirsty again. And

God spoke to Moses. Moses cried out to God. God told Moses, take your staff and go out to the rock and speak to the rock this time. And it'll bring forth water. And Moses is upset with the people. I mean, they brought him out of bondage in Egypt. And they're complaining. And he called out to God. And God provided food. And they complained about the angel food cake. And so

he asked for meat. And so they gave him meat. And they complained because they didn't have water. And so he's given them water. Now they complain again because they don't have water. And Moses is frustrated. Have you ever been frustrated with people? How do you tend to respond to people when you're frustrated? You can say things, right, that hurt. That's what Moses did. You stupid people. You complaining idiots. Paraphrase.

How can God put up with you? Must I smite this rock again? He takes his staff and he smites that rock and water comes out. Now, that cost Moses the promised land. Why? Because he misrepresented God. God wasn't mad at the people. God knew the frame of the people. God knew their weaknesses. He wasn't mad at people, at the people for that. But what did Moses convey to the people? God's pretty ticked. And if this were your head, I'd crush it in a minute.

And that's what God really wants to do. But the rock, Hebrews tells us, the rock represented Christ who was smitten for us once for all. He died once for all. He didn't have to die again for our sin. He brought forth the healing waters the first time when God hung him on the cross. But now when we need forgiveness, when we need the cleansing water of refreshing, we just speak

to the rock, Jesus, I need you, Lord. And the rock brings forth that cleansing water. Not to smite again. We've called on him once. He's not mad at the people. He's not mad at the people. He's not mad at us. He just wants to refresh us. He loves us and wants that fellowship that he'll refresh, that if we just look to him, if we just talk to him, if we just want to enter into that

relationship with him. But Moses conveyed the idea. God's mad at you. He misrepresented God. And God said, you can't go in the promised land for that. Something that God had prepared Moses for his entire life. God said, sorry, doesn't mean Moses wasn't saved. See, it means Moses missed out on a great blessing that God had for him because he misrepresented God. And we need

to be aware of that. People all around us who know that we are Christians, look at us every day. And especially when we speak, they are thinking this is a Christian. This is a small example of Christ. And how, what kind of mouth are we? Are they really seeing Jesus? Are they seeing the Jesus that we know about and love that loves them? Or are they seeing a frustrated Moses? And are we leaving them with simply a dead faith or a demonic faith and never

communicating to them the dynamic faith that's available? Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers. He says, In Judaism, the highest order, the highest rank of leader was the rabbi. And the word rabbi itself means my great one. He was the most respected person of the community. And he liked that place of honor. He was given places of honor at banquets and all. He was looked to for wisdom,

for counsel in situations of the community, as well as in each individual family. He was the honcho. And I mean, you know, you walk into a room and somebody says, hello, great one. You know, hey, that's kind of cool. And his position was envied by people. People envied the rabbi. You ever see Fiddler on the Roof? Have you envied the rabbi? He wanted to do what when he's singing, if I were a rich man,

seven hours every day, I'd be down there in the holy books. You know, he admired that position. He wanted that position. Several years ago, there was a movie that came out called The Mission. Maybe you saw it. It's a kind of movie. But at the beginning of it is a missionary who's coming to this Indian tribe in the mountains. This mountainous tribe seeking to reach them with the gospel. And the movie's just started.

I mean, the credits are still coming up in this guy. The missionary sitting there on this rock in the middle of this clearing. And you can the camera pans and you can see the Indian people in the bushes, in the trees there. And the missionary is thinking, how do I communicate with them? And so he pulls a little flute out of his out of his bag and he starts to play the flute real

melodious. And the camera spans onto the people's faces, the Indians faces. And it's like you kind of feel like, well, he's reaching out and he's what a what an exciting time to be moving into a people group with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then the next thing it shows him tied to a wooden cross in the river there and then sending him off. And he goes down a river a little ways.

And then he comes off this raging waterfall. You know, he just goes off headfirst down and they killed him. I've often thought that's the training movie we ought to show to people who want to enter ministry. People who think that this is a glorious position. I'd love to be a pastor. I'd love to go to the mission field and and save lives for Jesus. OK, sit down and watch

the first three minutes of this movie. This is what you need to realize. This is what you need to face. I am giving up my life for Christ. And there's a responsibility to that guy. Never said a word to them. Ends up dying. Too many people seek position in this life. When Jesus himself said the true path to greatness is by being a servant, a servant. By the same token, too many people blindly follow leaders without checking

out what a pastor or a teacher said. Now, there are some things theologically about the tour that's coming that I, you know. I don't agree with. I don't think it's going to affect what God's doing or going to do with it. I don't agree with some of the things, but the Lord's going to move. But I don't just sit there and blindly go, well, OK, you know, take time. That doesn't sound right. And go back and spend

some time with the Lord in his word, checking those things out. Someone has said that 85% of the people do not think. 85% of people do not think. 10% of people think they think. But only 5% of the people think. Don't even think. They just kind of flow with the day. You know, the day's going and they're just going with the day. Whatever the day is doing, they're just going with it. 10% of the people

think they think. And those are the people that maybe you watch the news. You know, you watch the news, you watch the news programs, so you're keeping up with what's going on. But you're still just kind of going along with the flow. You know, you think, you think, you think you're gaining knowledge and understanding. But only 5% of the people actually think. That's the ones that take

time to spend time with the absolute and weigh out everything that's happening according to the truth, to the word of God. If you want evidence that that's true, look at the past election. Not to demean the character of the president, but just to realize that only 49% of eligible voters voted. So less than half of the people who could vote in this country voted. And he was

elected president by barely half of that half. So he was elected president by about 25% of the voters of this country. Of course, everybody else just kind of going along with the flow, you know, thinking it's just the country. It's just going to be okay. You know, it's all right. Everything's just kind of going along. What do you do during your day? Just kind of go to work the way you always go to work and

just kind of flow with our things going at work. And you know, you just, it shapes your attitudes. If they say junk, we jump high, you know, and never take time to stop and think about what you're doing. Especially needs to be with the word of God, the handling of the word, as well as hearing the word of God taught. Take time to hear and look at what's being said.

Because the tongue is so susceptible to deceive, because it is the expression of our fallenness and depravity, what is spoken even from a pulpit can be deceiving, can be misleading. Over this weekend, a part of the seminar brought out a lot of the things of the history of revivals and how the, the, do you realize the church used to be the authority? I mean, I know you do from the crusades, but in this country, in the establishing of this country, I know, you know, that the founding fathers were, were Christians, loved the Lord, loved the church, loved the Lord. But do you realize that every move that was made was consulted through Christianity, through the church, through prayer, that the establishment of the different systems and the

different areas and cities were all born out of prayer, that the people would come to the church fellowship and pray. And the, and the pastors were the ones who were consulted as far as changes that were to be made in the city. Do you realize that the reason the country is as fallen as it is, is because of the pulpit? Because there's no truth being, proclaimed anymore. The church just kind of gets together, but it does not affect the society

around it. What kind of effect have we had on our city? Or do we just leave here and go look like Cali County or Oklahoma or whatever? We just kind of blend in with them to where we don't look any different. We're not making a difference. Take heed how you hear brothers and sisters, be Bereans, Acts chapter 17, that come and they take whatever I say or whoever says

and looks to the word of God to get the answers because it's so easy. For teachers to speak error. And that's why James is warning. I don't know if you stop to think about the sins of the tongue, unless those times that you swear in, you know, gosh, I'm sorry. You know, maybe that's the only time you stop thinking. Most Christians, most people who would consider

themselves born again, washed in the blood, saved the good seed, whatever you want to call it, who would say, yes, I am a Christian. I'm in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Most of them would never ever consider committing the gross sins listed in the scripture, murder, adultery, drunkenness, and so on. And they would never ever consider committing the gross sins listed in the scripture, murder, adultery, drunkenness, lying. I'm getting a little close there maybe, huh?

And yet how often daily do we same born again, blood-bought Christians assassinate the character of other people, complain and condemn others and destroy the character of fellow believers? One pastor wrote, I'm not so much concerned about the woodpeckers outside the church as I am about the termites inside the church. Greatest destruction of the church comes from within when we use our tongues to complain about everybody else, slice each other to ribbons. Paul says it shouldn't be so. James says it shouldn't be so. Paul says we're to speak

to encouragement, words of encouragement, set aside the filthy clamor, the foolish language, the bitterness, and speak those things that are encouraging under the edifying of the church. Someone else has said, great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. The Bible has a lot to say about the evil that the tongue can cause.

It either directly or indirectly refers to the tongue as being wicked, deceitful, A bitter tongue, an angry tongue, a crafty tongue, a flattering tongue, a blaspheming tongue, a foolish tongue, a boasting tongue, a murmuring tongue, a complaining tongue, a cursing tongue, a contentious tongue, a sensual tongue, a vile tongue, a tail-bearing tongue, a whispering tongue, an exaggerating tongue. What kind of mouth are we? What kind of mouth are you? Any of those fit?

Another person said, we should remember that the tongue is a wet place and can slip easily. You see, there's no easier way to sin because you can say anything at any time. Anything you want, you can say at any particular time. I read a story of a fisherman who was fishing off the end of a pier and he'd fished there for several hours and hadn't caught anything. And about the time two

women were walking by him, he pulled in a catch and it was a smaller fish. And one of the women looked at him and said, aren't you ashamed of yourself for reeling in such a small fish? And the man who had been discouraged from his hours of not catching anything, without even looking up, said, if he'd have kept his mouth shut, he wouldn't have been caught. How often is that true? See, we can say anything at any time. Quickly turn with me to Matthew

chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Jesus is responding in Matthew chapter 12 to an accusation by the Pharisees. Matthew chapter 12, beginning at verse 22, they bring a demon-possessed individual to Jesus who was blind and mute and Jesus healed him so they could both talk and see. The people were astonished and made a messianic statement. Could this be the son of David? Could this be

Messiah, the Redeemer? Well, the Pharisees didn't like that. And so they accused him verbally. They said, it's only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons. Jesus knew their thoughts, it says. And so he tells them about the divided kingdom and how Satan cannot stand against himself. If he drives out, if Jesus drives out demons, verse 28, by the spirit of God,

God has come upon him. He tells them about coming into the strong man's house and binding the strong man. And that's the only way that anything like that can be accomplished. And then down in verse 32, he talks about the speaking of, 31 and 32, he talks about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Any man who speaks against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the

Son of Man will be forgiven. He's talking about speech. Then he says, verse 33, make a tree good and its fruits good. Make a tree bad, its fruits bad. For a tree is recognized by its fruit. That's what James is saying, too. You brood of vipers, verse 34, can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the goods stored up in him. And the evil man brings evil

things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. Bring in the garage. For by your words, you will be acquitted. And by your words, you will be condemned. Verse 34, again, you brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? And the evil man brings

good things out of the overflow of the heart. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. We've heard that verse so many times before. And yet when you and I even consider our speech, do we consider that it's reflecting the abundance of the heart, that that's what James is saying? Consider it joy when you're squeezed because out of the heart, God's bringing

out of the heart, the character, so that there can be transformation so that you can realize it. If there is an area or there are areas that are weak that haven't been rendered, Lord, take them. I realize that sin comes from me. It's I take a lustful thought and dwell on it and it leads me right into the completion of the act. God, forgive me. Restore that wonderful joy of fellowship. Cleanse me from that. But we have to take time to realize

the mouth speaks the heart. So what are you storing in your heart? What are you storing in your heart? Do you take time at all to just really spend with the Lord? How much time do you spend watching ridiculous stuff? But you got to be home because your stuff is on. I got to be home by eight o'clock because my stuff is on. I got to be home by eight o'clock because my stuff is on.

We had TV in our van on the way home so we could watch our stuff. We got to watch the KU game. We got to watch the Super Bowl. How much do we really seek to spend time with the Lord so that we can be storing his word in our heart so that when we're squeezed, Jesus comes out? If God speaks in a still, small voice, could that be why Satan likes to make a lot of noise? Noise everywhere.

Got to have noise. Got to have noise. Why do I have to have noise? I just have this urge for noise. Why? Because Satan doesn't want me to listen to the still, small voice. Doesn't want me to take time to just listen to God's voice. What's coming out when you're squeezed? Verse 37 here in Matthew 12, he says, for by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned.

Does that mean if I don't say the right thing, I'm going to hell? No. Jesus is saying the same thing James is. It's going to be evidenced by your words. It's going to be evidenced. It's just the result of a dynamic faith, of a true faith, of a true commitment, of a true relationship with Jesus. It will evidence itself by your speech. Teachers, therefore, are warned back in James

that they will be judged more strictly. There's an accounting for the things that we say. Now, at least in verse two of James, we'll close with this. Verse two of chapter three, James goes on to say, we all stumble in many ways. Praise God, because that just brought us all in. We all stumble. We all sin in many ways. But if anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man. He's mature, able to keep his whole body in

check. Now, notice that maturity is recognized through our speech, through the control of the tongue. It's evidenced. The workings of faith show themselves as we have control, as there is a control. The implication here is that if you can control your tongue, the rest of the body falls into place. And that's true. How do you control your tongue? Out of the abundance of the heart,

the mouth speaks. What you're putting in, what you're putting in. In the next few verses for next week, look through the rest of these verses to verse 12. James gives us six pictures of the tongue, six pictures of the tongue. It is such an important thing to understand. See, it's the thing that can most readily be evident to us of where we're at with the Lord. It's because we who

are alone, we're not alone. We're not alone. We're not alone. We're not alone. We're not alone. We're ourselves when we are alone. And we can know what our mouth is saying. We can know the speech that comes out of our mouth. And so in the next few verses, James gives us a picture that he gives us a picture of the tongue with a bit, verse 3. As a rudder, verse 4. As a fire, verse 5. As a

poisonous animal, in verses 7 and 8. As a fountain, in verse 11. And as a fig tree, in verse 12. And there's a purpose behind that. Read through that between now and next week. And just kind of let God speak to your heart as far as the purposes of each one of those. He didn't just list a bunch of stuff for no reason. Whenever he says it's like, he wants us to consider why it's like that. Whatever it is he's

comparing. Because it has a purpose as far as how it affects us. As we close this morning and go to the tables, let that verse as far as out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks really settle with you. And realize that coming to the table is a fresh opportunity to just renew or rekindle or reinforce your relationship with the Lord, which is the key. God is doing some mighty

things right now. And I want us all to be a part of it. We're so close to the rapture, I don't know if we'll get to the crusade or if we'll get to build the bliss house. Those are goals. That's what we're moving towards. But I want the fire kindled in hearts. I want to be able to speak the truth from here that doesn't leave you with a dead faith or with a demonic faith of feelings, but with a dynamic faith that draws you into that relationship

with Jesus so that it's something that you desire daily, moment by moment. That you're not just setting off to the side or seeking to maybe add to your life, but that it becomes your life. See, when the rapture happens, I don't want anybody here the Sunday after. That's a burden on my heart. That's a desire of my heart. And so as you come to the table, just you can take the elements and

you can go back and sit down and you can move off to the side. There's a table here and a table at each end in the back. And just spend some time with the Lord. And as we've been doing at the crusade, just pray, God, whatever you have for me, I want it. Whatever you want me to be, I want it. I want to do that. I want everything you have. I don't want to resist it. I don't want to be the

cause of you not doing something in me, through me. I don't want you to come with me. I don't want you this crusade and the flow of your spirit and me miss it. I just want you, Lord, whatever you have. And spend some time in prayer. The baskets are at the back. You can drop the cups in as you leave. We're going to bring the kids in in just a minute and they'll be able to find you and sit with you

and you can lead them in the Lord's Supper. Father, we thank you for today. God, how easy it is for us to neglect. That's a wonderful relationship with you. How easy it is to become occupied with other things. How easy it is to praise you one minute and to condemn somebody else. Lord, we want that out of us. We want to be a fountain that brings forth good water. We want

to be the tree that brings forth good fruit. We want to be able to follow you without having the bit in our mouth. We want to be a blessing to you, Lord, as well as bless you. So move in our hearts as we meet with you at the tables, Lord. Just rekindle that fire. We want everything you have. God, fall upon us, Holy Spirit. Fall upon your people here. Refresh. Restore. Revive us, Lord.

In Jesus' name, amen.