{"id":18697,"date":"2021-02-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/james-016-taming-the-tongue-pt-1\/"},"modified":"2021-02-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T06:00:00","slug":"james-016-taming-the-tongue-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/james-016-taming-the-tongue-pt-1\/","title":{"rendered":"James 016 – Taming the Tongue, Pt. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[104],"series_event":[514],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18697","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-james","series_event-james","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"James 016 - Taming the Tongue, Pt. 1","sermon_date":"20210210","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2021","sermon_notes":8835,"sermon_slides":8836,"sermon_mp3":8837,"sermon_id":"210211852212621","series_or_event":514,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":104,"chapter_and_verse":"3:1-8","sermon_transcript":"James 16 \u2014 Taming the Tongue \u2014 James 3:1-6<\/u><\/strong>\n\n\u00a0<\/u><\/strong>James 3<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 James<\/strong> is a book written by James whose name is actually Jacob.\u00a0 He is the half-brother of Christ, writing from Jerusalem to the scattered Hebrew Christians outside of the land of Israel.\u00a0 He is writing to them about how to live for Christ.\u00a0 The key point of this book is not how to gain positional righteousness, the assumption is that they already have that; it is practical righteousness \u2014 now that you are saved, how do you live?\n\nThe first part of the book, James 1:1-3:12<\/u><\/strong>, so you will notice that we are getting near the end of the first half of the book, is basically talking to them about how you keep trusting God as a Christian through life situations \u2014 that is how you achieve a practical righteousness that is pleasing to God.\n\nWhat does that look like?\n\nNumber 1, you adopt God's perspective on trials, and these people were in trials as they had been kicked out of their country, city, homes, Temple, and they are in these far-flung places.\u00a0 James explains to them that what God's perspective is on trials is and how He wants us to rejoice in the midst of trials, and he explains why.\u00a0 And that we are not to in the midst of trials to charge God foolishly, saying \u2018God, You brought this into my life to destroy me<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 So, trials are not there to make us bitter but make us better.\n\nAnd from there, a practical righteousness that pleases God is to become obedient to God's Word.\u00a0 How do we do that?\u00a0 We are slow to speech and to anger, and when we aren\u2019t talking, we are in a position to receive.\u00a0 Most people want to talk all the time, and there really isn\u2019t a lot of sitting, as you remember with the two sisters?\u00a0 Who was the busy sister, Martha?\u00a0 Jesus said that Mary has chosen the better way.\n\nA practical righteousness that pleases God is not talking and not being quick to anger but rather simply taking in God's Word, and then as we do that, we aren\u2019t to just be hearers of it but doers.\u00a0 So that is what James 11:19-27<\/u><\/strong> is about.\n\nThen another way to manifest a practical righteousness that pleases God is to not show favoritism in the assembly; not to treat people differently because of their wealth or something like that.\u00a0 So, James 2:1-13<\/u><\/strong>, we see a command not to show favoritism.\u00a0 Then he described a situation where favoritism was existing in the assembly, and he explained the reasons why showing favoritism is contrary to God's character and purposes.\n\nWhen we reconvened after Christmas break, we spent all of our time, five weeks, on James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong> where we manifest a practical righteousness that pleases God when we allow our faith to manifest itself in good works.\u00a0 When good works accompany my faith, my faith becomes useful<\/u><\/strong>, or a serving faith<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 He isn\u2019t saying here that you must<\/em> have works accompanying faith to prove your faith exists; that is a false interpretation.\u00a0 Works accompany faith to make existing faith useful faith. \u00a0Five weeks on that, and we have worked through the five illustrations that James gives to prove his point that works have to accompany useful <\/u><\/strong>faith.\n\nTonight, we are totally switching gears and moving into James 3:1-12<\/u><\/strong>, which is all about taming the tongue.\u00a0 So, it is kind of interesting as you look at the progression in the book of James, and by the way we all know that the chapter divisions are not put there by the Holy Spirit; man<\/em> put them there.\u00a0 A lot of times, the chapter division unnaturally bifurcates the content of James 3<\/u><\/strong> from James 2<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 But I would like for you to see James 2<\/u><\/strong> and James 3<\/u><\/strong> as flowing together because at the end of James 2,<\/u><\/strong> it is all about works proving that our faith is useful.\n\nThat moves right into James 3<\/u><\/strong> where he talks about the ultimate work we can do as Christians.\n\nWhat is the greatest work I can do as Christian?\u00a0 To prove that my faith is useful<\/u><\/strong>. The greatest and hardest work to prove the usefulness of our faith is to control the 2x2 slab of mucous membrane between the gums called the tongue.\u00a0 I think this is why James introduces this here because it is the ultimate good work, so if you are a Christian who knows how to control their speech, you have achieved a level of spirituality in terms of practical righteousness that most people never achieve in Christianity.\u00a0 It is the ultimate<\/em> good work that a person can do, and you see that if you get rid of the chapter division.\u00a0 If you keep the chapter division, you just think he is onto a new subject.\u00a0 He is<\/em> onto a new subject, but it flows beautifully out of what he had just said in the prior paragraph.\n\nSo, if there is ever a chapter in the Bible that is for us in the 21st<\/sup> century in the United States of America, it is James 3<\/u><\/strong> because we are a nation of talkers.\u00a0 We love to talk; we have entire industries of talk shows, talk radio, talk this, talk that; everyone is talking\u2026. Sometimes the person who wins the argument is the one who talks the loudest; the loudest in the room wins, and that is where American culture is.\u00a0 We are also living in this time period with all of these gadgets where we can take our carnal wicked thoughts and either audio or video record them, post or write something, and I can push a button, and my wicked thoughts with the push of a button, just go all over the whole world.\u00a0 And I get my ten seconds of fame.\u00a0 We talk all the time, and the issue is that God is in favor of language as He created it, but the believer who is living under the sanctified control of the Holy Spirit knows how to temper his language.\u00a0 So, that is the significance of James 3:1-12<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Taming the tongue, the ultimate good work that a Christian can ever do.\n\nWith that being said, here is our outline as we start moving into James 3:1-12<\/u><\/strong> (see slide on Taming the Tongue 3:1-12<\/u><\/strong>).\u00a0 \u00a0You have the tongue\u2019s influe<\/u><\/strong>nce 3:1-5<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 The main point there is that the tongue has disproportionate influence relative to your whole being even though the tongue is a very small part of our anatomy.\u00a0 It wields an influence that is disproportionate and because that is true, 3:1-5<\/u><\/strong>, it has the potential for great good or for great evil.\u00a0 The tongue\u2019s evil potential is described in 3:6-12<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nLet's start here with the first part of the outline:\u00a0 The tongue\u2019s Influence and the first thing that he mentions is the tongue relative to teaching<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Take a look at James 3:1<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cLet not many of you become teachers, my brethren, <\/em>[when he says, my brethren there, who is he speaking to?\u00a0 Christians.\u00a0 An unsaved person is never going to be able to control their tongue; only a person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit would have any hope of that, so this is all the middle tense of salvation.\u00a0 He is dealing here with the practical sanctification of the Christian. Continuing on, he says in James 3:1<\/u><\/strong>, \u201c\u2026 knowing that as such we<\/strong>\u2026\u201d <\/em>[James as the pastor of the Jerusalem church, puts himself in the category of a teacher] \u2026 \u201cwill incur a stricter judgment.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>The first thing mentioned here is the tongue in relation to teaching, and I know something about this because the Lord, for whatever reason, has made me a teacher, and the gift of teaching, I wouldn\u2019t change it for anything, it is wonderful, but here is the thing to understand as a teacher:\u00a0 a teacher has the ability to direct the thoughts of men and women.\u00a0 That is what teaching is.\u00a0 You have the ability to influence the thoughts of people.\u00a0 Therefore, you can influence those thoughts in a correct way but with the ability to influence those thoughts of people in a correct way, comes the equal ability to influence the thoughts of people in a wrong way.\u00a0 With the ability to do much good is the ability to do much evil.\u00a0 That is why James starts out this discourse on the tongue by talking about the tongue in relation to teaching.\u00a0 With teaching, you must understand that if God has given you that gift and placed you into that position, it is a wonderful thing, but you must understand that you're in a position of greater accountability because you are directing the thoughts of many, many people.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t like the gift of mercy or the gift of administration, of giving, or of helps; it is an ability to influence the thinking of a lot of people.\u00a0 As I mentioned before, we are living in this technological age, where your teaching is now accessible to the whole world, and you start to understand the high accountability for that.\u00a0 You can use it for good, but with that comes the equal ability to use it for evil.\n\nI am reminded of Luke 12:48<\/u><\/strong> where Jesus said, \u201c\u2026From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>So, to whom much is given, much is expected.\u00a0 So, when God makes you a teacher or puts you in a position to be a teacher, you must understand that God will hold you far more accountable for the use of that gift than many other gifts in the Body of Christ because of the capacity that you have to direct the thoughts of large numbers of people.\u00a0 With the ability to influence them positively is the ability to influence those thoughts negatively.\n\nNow, it is very interesting that in the life of Christ, Jesus gets along as best I can tell, with everybody, even the tax gatherers and the prostitutes; in fact, they challenged Him with why He was hanging around with those people.\u00a0 It is like Jesus is open and accepting to everybody; to children, but there is one group of people who He just tees off on \u2014 the Pharisees.\u00a0 All you have to do to get a different glimpse of Jesus is to read Matthew 23<\/u><\/strong>; it is all in red if you have a red-letter edition that colors the words of Christ.\u00a0 I used to think, as a new Christian, that His words were red because He was mad, and He sure looks mad in Matthew 23<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 He says some of the harshest things you can find him ever saying about anyone there.\u00a0 He is like that when it comes to the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were teachers, but they were teaching falsely.\u00a0 He talks, in Matthew 23<\/u><\/strong>, about how they sit in Moses\u2019 seat, in other words, their position gives them ability to in fluence vast numbers of people, but they're influencing everyone in the nation in the wrong direction, and He is excoriating in His criticism of them.\u00a0 That is the kind of thing that James is talking about here \u2014 let few of you presume to be teachers knowing that the teacher will incur the stricter judgment just by the nature of the gift.\n\nI run into a lot of people in ministry who say that they want to get into a position and teach this group, and who want this size of church and audience, and I am always wondering in the back of my head if they really know what they're getting into.\u00a0 Not only do they know what they're getting into, but have they studied the Word of God to show themselves approved, because if they haven\u2019t studied, and they aren\u2019t very deliberate and careful about what they are saying, and they don't rightly divide God's Word the way they should, then they are accountable to God for that.\n\nSo, if I sometimes go a little long-winded, and if I'm a bit more detailed in my explanations, and if we never beat the Baptists to the cafeteria on Sunday mornings, and I see everyone out there squirming, wondering when we will get out of here, you must understand that I'm thinking about my accountability to God.\u00a0 As much as I want to make everyone happy in terms of short attention spans, I have a far greater accountability than answering to people<\/em>; I have to answer to God<\/em>, not only for what I say, but what I leave out.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That is what James is dealing with here: \u201cLet few of you presume to be teachers knowing that the teacher will incur the stricter accountability.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\n\nThe tongue is very influential; it wields a disproportionate influence in this area of teaching.\u00a0 Of all the spiritual gifts, it has the ability to influence more people than any other spiritual gift than God has put in His church.\n\nHe moves on to James 3:2<\/u><\/strong>, where he talks about what the tongue is like in relation to all of life<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Look at 3:2<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cFor we all stumble in many ways, \u2026\u201d<\/em> [and to that, I say, Amen<\/em>!] \u2026\u201dIf anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>What he is saying here is that the hardest thing in your life as a Christian is controlling your tongue.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t anything more difficult than that, and if you can master that, you can master anything.\u00a0 If you can control your speech, the hardest thing to control, controlling anything else in your life is rather easy by way of comparison.\n\nIt is kind of like the way they used to teach, which I don't think they teach it this way anymore, sex education in schools.\u00a0 When I was coming of age, they had sex ed, and I got some of the best advice ever in the school system that I was going through.\u00a0 They essentially explained that the sex drive is the most powerful thing in my life right now as a young person.\u00a0 Yet, if I can control that and discipline myself where sexual expression only takes place within marriage, if I can discipline myself there, then I can discipline myself anywhere.\u00a0 I can become an A+ student; a star athlete; whatever I want to become because I understand discipline, and I am able to bridle the sex drive, and since that is the hardest thing to control, then controlling everything else is easy, see that?\n\nThat\u2019s the point that James is making, not related to the sex drive, but to the tongue.\u00a0 He is saying that the tongue and speech is so difficult to control, that once you gain mastery over that area of your life, showing up to work on time is easy.\u00a0 Persevering through a graduate program is easy.\u00a0 Handling your finances is easy; I don't know if I want to say easy, but easier, because you have mastered the most difficult thing there is to master.\n\nSo, show me a person who is undisciplined in the area of speech and in the area of sexuality, and I will show you a person who is undisciplined in basically every area of life.\u00a0 But the opposite is true, show me someone with disciplined speech and in sexuality, and I will show you someone who is probably an achiever in countless other areas of life because they\u2019ve learned to master what is most difficult.\u00a0 That is another example of how the tongue is small, yet it wields a disproportionate influence.\n\nWell, James, do you have any illustrations of this idea that the tongue is disproportionate; that it is small but that it wields a disproportionate influence?\u00a0 James says, \u2018I am glad you asked; I have three illustrations for you.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 One is in James 3:3<\/u><\/strong>, the second one is in 3:4<\/u><\/strong>, one is in 3:5<\/u><\/strong>, and all of these are comparisons between something small and something big.\u00a0 The tongue is a little tiny part of us relative to our whole beings, yet it wields a disproportionate influence.\u00a0 Just like the bit in a horse\u2019s mouth, illustration #1, just like the rudder of a ship, illustration #2, just like a spark in comparison to a fire, illustration #3.\u00a0 All of these are weighing something tiny versus something big, and James is communicating the point that this is what the tongue is like.\n\nNotice his first illustration there in 3:3<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cNow if we put the bits into the horses\u2019 mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Think how big a horse is, yet what controls that horse is this tiny bit in the horse\u2019s mouth.\n\nHe moves on to a second illustration, the rudder on a ship in 3:4<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cLook 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.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>So, here is a giant ship and what is directing that entire ship is a tiny rudder in the back of the ship, and one man is directing the direction of an entire ship based on what he does with that tiny rudder.\u00a0 So, the rudder is tiny, the ship is huge.\u00a0 The bit is tiny, the horse is huge, yet from the rudder or the bit is from where the influence comes.\u00a0 So, the tongue is tiny relative to your whole being, yet the influence comes from the speech or the tongue.\n\nThen he gives a third illustration, a spark versus the fire (3:5<\/u><\/strong>), \u201cSo, also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.\u00a0 <\/em>Illustration #3.\u00a0 See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>I am from California and when I was growing up, I saw countless forest fires.\u00a0 In fact, we would suddenly get a lot of smoke in our area because of a forest fire.\u00a0 Forest fires on the news, a couple of summers ago or maybe last summer, central California was aflame, and it is interesting to follow the stories of whodunnit?\u00a0 Was it an arsonist or what?\u00a0 When they finally figured out, and I don't know how they figure this out, but they're able to figure out that it is some guy who didn\u2019t listen to Smokey the Bear, and he didn\u2019t put out his little campfire when he left for the weekend.\u00a0 That one little action causes such huge problems where property, lives, the environment, etc, area destroyed.\n\nSo, a little, tiny spark, one guy is irresponsible with his campfire and it sets a whole forest on fire.\u00a0 That is his third illustration, and this illustration is in the same way \u2014 the tongue is a tiny part of it, yet it wields a disproportionate amount of influence.\u00a0 But the saying goes, \u2018Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 I have heard that for my whole life, \u2018Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That whole statement is a total lie.\u00a0 I don't know who came up with that, but the tongue and words that are spoken against someone can completely destroy them.\u00a0 It can completely dismantle them; it can destroy their self-image.\u00a0 In fact, a lot of people, myself included, here I am in my fifties, having to constantly battle angry words spoken at me as a very young person.\u00a0 Here I am in my fifties, still having these angry words floating around in my head.\u00a0 So, the idea that the tongue and speech really doesn\u2019t hurt anyone, nothing is more unbiblical than that way of thinking.\u00a0 It does not comport at all with James 3<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Words have tremendous power.\u00a0 You can edify and build up with a word; with that same tongue you can destroy, tear down and injure.\u00a0 That, by the way, in our legal system, we have a tort.\u00a0 A tort is a personal injury that you can sue someone for, and one of those torts is slander.\u00a0 If you do it in written form, it is libel, but it is basically disseminating to another party or an audience, something about someone that isn\u2019t true.\u00a0 If you do it in writing, it is presumed that the party who is injured is automatically injured.\u00a0 Damages are presumed.\u00a0 With slander, damages have to be proved, but the fact of the matter is, think about it, you can say something negative against someone\u2019s business that isn\u2019t true and keep customers away, and destroy someone economically.\u00a0 So, this idea that \u2018Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me,<\/em>\u2019 is unbiblical thinking.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t even fit with our own legal system and the tort of slander.\n\nA verse that you need to have on your wall at home if you are into that, is Proverbs 18:21<\/u><\/strong>, which says, \u201cDeath and life are in the power of the tongue<\/em>,\u201d \u2026. We are made in God's image.\u00a0 When God spoke, things leapt into existence.\u00a0 Obviously, contrary to what you hear from the prosperity preachers who say that you can command wealth into existence, obviously, we don't have that kind of power but at the same time, we are made in God's image.\u00a0 God\u2019s words have power, and if I am made in His image, then my words have power.\u00a0 What I speak to my wife, destructive or edifying, has power.\u00a0 What I speak to my daughter, edification or destruction, has power.\u00a0 What I speak in this Church, edification or destruction has power.\u00a0 That is what Proverbs 18:2<\/u><\/strong>1 means when it says that life and death are in the power of the tongue.\u00a0 So, this idea that \u2018Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me<\/em>,\u2019 is absolute bogus, nonsensical unbiblical thinking at any level that you analyze it.\n\nThat is what James is getting at in these three illustrations.\u00a0 The bit moves an entire horse; the rudder moves a whole ship, a spark causes a whole fire; that is what the tongue has the ability to do.\u00a0 It wields a disproportionate influence, although it is a very small part of the body.\n\nThis moves us away from the influence of the tongue to the tongue\u2019s evil potential<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 So, if the tongue is that influential; if it wields such a disproportionate influence, then I have the ability with this tongue, to do incredible good.\u00a0 But what James is focusing on here is that you correspondingly have the ability to do incredible evil or destruction.\u00a0 As he is dealing with the tongue\u2019s potential for evil, the first thing he talks about is the tongue's potential for satan to use it.\u00a0 This is very important to understand.\u00a0 Satan can use an unbeliever any time he wants to.\u00a0 That is no challenge for satan at all.\u00a0 Satan\u2019s goal is to actually use a Christian and his speech for his agenda.\u00a0 That happens in families, in marriages, in businesses, in churches all of the time.\u00a0 It is just that we are not attuned enough to the things of the spirt to understand when our mouth is being used for destructive purposes.\u00a0 This is what he is getting at in James 3:6<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cAnd the tongue is a fire <\/em>[that fits very well, by the way, with the forest fire analogy that he just finished], the very world <\/em>[think how big the world is, that is what our mouths can destroy] \u2026of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire<\/strong> body\u201d\u2026 <\/em>[even though it is just a little, tiny part of us], \u201c\u2026and sets on fire the course of our life, <\/em>[look at this last part here] \u201c\u2026and is set on fire by hell.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Or, \u2018is set on fire by hell itself<\/em>.\u2019\n\nSatan can take this little tongue and use it for edification or for destruction.\u00a0 Here is the deal:\u00a0 the more God uses you for edification, the more Satan works overtime in your life to use that same tongue that was used for edification for purposes of destruction.\u00a0 You don't have to look very far in church history to see this.\u00a0 There was one of my heroes, still is a hero of mine even though at the end of his life, things didn\u2019t end so well for him, Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation.\u00a0 Anne and I actually, on the 500th<\/sup> year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, had a chance to travel to Wittenberg, Germany, where Luther nailed the 95 Thesis on the cathedral door.\u00a0 We saw the room he was in when he was translating the Old Testament and New Testament into German, and he was a wonderful man of God.\u00a0 It is hard to imagine what the church would be like without the influence of Martin Luther, yet at the end of his life, he became very upset with the Jewish people because they did not respond to the offer of salvation the way he thought that they should have responded.\u00a0 At the end of his life, and you can track it right on into the end of his life in my little book, Ever Reforming<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>I have some documentation on this, but at the end of his life, he became very, very angry, to the point where he published about an 80- page tract that you can online for free for download to the Kindle.\u00a0 The title of the tract is called The Jews and Their Lies<\/em>.\u00a0 Talk about people going on a rant.\u00a0 He goes on a rant for 80 pages against the Jewish people.\u00a0 In my little book, Ever Reforming<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, I quote several historians who say what Luther said became a blueprint for what Adolph Hitler would later do.\u00a0 In other words, Hitler called Luther his favorite theologian.\u00a0 A lot of the Nazis who were defending themselves at the Nuremberg trials following World War II, would simply say, \u2018Well, we were just doing what Martin Luther said.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>\n\nMy point is that Luther\u2019s speech unleashed incredible good.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t have the Protestant Reformation without Martin Luther.\u00a0 I believe that is why satan began to work on this man because his same speech, from the exact same tongue, later in his life, unleashed horrific evil.\u00a0 So, seeds were planted for good and for evil from the same mouth of Martin Luther.\n\nThis is what James is talking about when he says that the tongue has the ability to be set on fire by the powers of hell itself.\u00a0 Remember the apostle Peter in Caesarea Philippi up north in the land of Israel?\u00a0 Jesus says to the disciples \u2018Who do men say that I am<\/em>?\u201d Matthew 16:13-23.<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 Peter coughs up the right answer.\u00a0 And Jesus said to him, \u201cBlessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 It says here that Simon Peter answered, \u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.<\/em>\u201d Jesus drew attention to that and talked about how this was a revelation from God that Peter just spoke.\u00a0 Then he talked about giving Peter the keys of the kingdom and all these amazing things.\u00a0 Then in the same paragraph, Jesus also says, \u2018Oh by the way, I need to to go to the Cross and die<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Peter, I don't know, I think he was a little bit full of himself at that point, as \u2018Look at me at what I did for the Lord.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 If you can imagine this, the text says and is mind boggling every time I read this when Jesus starts talking about His death in Matthew 16:22,<\/u><\/strong> \u201cPeter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him,\u2026\u201d \u00a0\u2018Wait a minute, you just called Him the son of the living God.\u00a0 \u2018All right, come over here Son of the living God, I need to give you a piece of my mind.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0And you know how that story ends, Jesus turned and said to Peter in Matthew 16:23<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cGet behind Me, Satan!\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>So, with the same tongue that just declared the proper identity of Christ, I think satan hates it when God uses us.\u00a0 So, he works overtime to make sure that satan is the one using Peter the next time, where Peter actually rebukes Christ and tries to talk Him out of His life\u2019s mission, which would be His death, burial and resurrection and ascension.\u00a0 The same tongue that boldly declared the proper identity of Christ.\u00a0 That is the duplicitous nature of the tongue; that is exactly what happened with Martin Luther, in my humble estimation.\u00a0 If it could happen to Luther and to Peter, who else could it happen to?\u00a0 I have the same sin nature as anyone else.\u00a0 It could happen to me, and you have the same sin nature everyone else has, so it can happen to you.\u00a0 That is the power of the tongue.\u00a0 It has the ability to being set on fire by hell itself.\n\nOver in the book of Ephesians 4:26-27<\/u><\/strong>, it says, \u201cBE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger\u2026\u201d [<\/em>That\u2019s why I always thought moving to Alaska might be a good thing, because then I can stay angry longer.\u00a0 No, that is not a right understanding of the Bible] \u2026 \u201cand do not give the devil an opportunity.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Or a foothold.\u00a0 So, if I am a bitter person because I'm unforgiving as a Christian, and I don't forgive others the way God has forgiven me, then what happens in my heart is that I get very angry; bitter, and as I get angry and bitter, Satan says, \u2018Ok, I can't possess you but I'll take whatever part you will give me and I'll go ahead and put a stronghold in your life in the area of bitterness and anger<\/em>.\u2019\n\nSo, the next time you open your mouth at your husband, wife or kids or parents, employees, social contacts on social media, and put something out in an angry tone, or say something in an angry way, Satan just took your tongue which may have been used a month ago to lead someone to Christ.\u00a0 He just took your<\/em> tongue and used it for his own purposes.\n\nThat is what happened in a certain sense with Peter, I am convinced that is what happened in a certain sense with Martin Luther, and that is why Ephesians 4:26,27<\/u><\/strong>, \u2018do not let the sun go down on your anger lest you give the devil a foothold\u2019 <\/em>is followed by a few verses later Ephesians 4:29<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cLet no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Why would that follow Ephesians 4:26-27<\/u><\/strong>?\u00a0 Because it is an example of what James is speaking of here.\u00a0 That the tongue can be set on fire by hell itself.\u00a0 You become angry because you have been treated wrong, and let\u2019s just be real \u2014 all of us get treated wrong in this life by somebody because we are living in a fallen world.\u00a0 So, what happens is that you may be treated wrong in your church or by another Christian, etc, and rather than forgiving as you have been forgiven, you want justice, and that makes you an angry person.\u00a0 The moment that happens, bitterness wells up and Satan takes ground in your or my life.\n\nSo, the next time I open my mouth at my kids, wife, parents, co-workers, staff members here at the church, I am speaking in angry manner, so Satan is using my mouth.\u00a0 That is what James 3:6<\/u><\/strong> is getting at.\n\nEphesians 4:29<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cLet no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 I used to think that meant that as long as I didn\u2019t use profanity, I was okay.\u00a0 No four-letter words, or we have substitute four-letter words, as long as I wasn\u2019t using profanity, I was okay. The more I am studying this, the more I am convinced that this has nothing to do with profanity.\u00a0 Obviously, we are all against profanity as Christians, but I don't think this is talking about profanity.\u00a0 It is talking about earthy type speech that comes out of our mouths that doesn\u2019t build anyone up.\u00a0 It is destructive.\u00a0 It is tearing someone else down.\u00a0 So, that is what James is getting at here.\u00a0 When we talk, we ought to only utter things that are based on the need of the moment which will build up.\n\nWhen you look at the emails I get, I can go from an emotional high to an emotional low just by changing emails.\u00a0 I got a wonderful email today from someone, and I was so encouraged, and it was so different than what I had read earlier in the day of something that someone said, not from anyone in here, of course, that was destructive.\u00a0 So, my whole mood of the day alters based on words that are spoken to me in written form.\u00a0 That is the potentiality of the tongue; that\u2019s what it has the ability to do.\u00a0 That is why the Bible says that there is life and death in the power of the tongue.\n\nOne of my favorite Bible teachers who is with the Lord now, Chuck Misler, and I didn\u2019t agree with every little thing he said, but I appreciated his Bible teaching, a lot of it, and he had a name for the Antichrist.\u00a0 He used to, when teaching on the Antichrist, would call the Antichrist Mr. Big Mouth.\u00a0 I started listening to that and wondered why he called the Antichrist Mr. Big Mouth.\u00a0 Have you read the passages dealing with the Antichrist?\u00a0 Whenever you get a passage in the Bible almost anywhere, dealing with the Antichrist, it speaks about his words.\u00a0 In this case, his satanically motivated words.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit brings up the words of the Antichrist repeatedly.\u00a0 Let me give you a few examples:\n\nDaniel 7:8<\/u><\/strong> of the Antichrist, \u201c\u2026a mouth uttering great boasts<\/em>.\u201d\n\nDaniel 7:11<\/u><\/strong> speaks of his boastful words.\n\nDaniel 7:20<\/u><\/strong> speaks of his mouth \u201cuttering great boasts<\/em>.\u201d\n\nDaniel 7:25<\/u><\/strong> the fourth time in this same chapter says, \u2018He will speak out against the Most High<\/em>\u2026\u201d\n\nRevelation 13:5<\/u><\/strong> of Antichrist, \u201c\u2026. speaking arrogant words and blasphemies\u2026\u201d<\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>This is what James is getting at when he talks about the ability of the tongue to be set on fire by hell itself.\u00a0 You think of the destruction that Adolph Hitler did; of his ability to sway the masses with his oratory.\u00a0 I'm convinced that it was the devil doing all of that.\u00a0 Erwin Lutzer, in his book, Hitler\u2019s Cross<\/u><\/strong>, talks about one of Hitler\u2019s childhood friends, Ernest Pretzsche, introduced him, Hitler, to a psychedelic drug that produced clairvoyant visions and heightened spiritual perceptions. \u201cIn this way, he was empowered to perform the deeds that he believed fate had decreed.\u00a0 Even those who knew Hitler from his early days were well aware of his occult powers.\u00a0 August Kubizek,<\/em> [a friend, someone\u2019s testimony who knew Hitler, and that is who Erwin Lutzer is quoting in this book, Hitler\u2019s Cross<\/u><\/strong> said, \u2018It was as if another being spoke out of his body\u2026<\/u><\/em><\/strong> It was not a case of a speaker carried away by his own words\u2026. I felt as though he himself (Hitler) listened with astonishment and emotion to what broke forth from him.<\/em>\u201d\n\nIn other words, when Hitler spoke, and you see all of the black and white reels and movies and the amazed crowds, chanting \u2018Heil Hitler<\/em>,\u2019 and giving the Nazi salute, and it is obvious that these people are under a lot of hypnosis from the speaker.\u00a0 Here is Hitler up there orating, speaking all these things, and Hitler himself was probably astonished by what he was saying.\u00a0 So, that is the desire of satan to influence the tongue.\u00a0 Obviously, Satan has an open door with Hitler because he is an unbeliever.\u00a0 He can possess anyone he wants to; he can't do that to you or to me, but he will sure take an inroad if you let him, and he will use bitterness.\u00a0 How does that saying go?\u00a0 \u2018Hurt people hurt people.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 Is that not completely biblical and true?\u00a0 If you are hurt and you allow that injury to well up into bitterness, satan says, \u2018This is great.\u00a0 I'll use that<\/em>.\u2019\n\nHe moves away from the tongue\u2019s evil potential to the last thing we will look at here before we close, James 3:7,8,<\/u><\/strong> the tongue\u2019s inability to be tamed.\u00a0 You cannot tame the tongue; mankind has never been able to tame the tongue, although mankind has been able to tame almost everything.\u00a0 If you look at 3:7<\/u><\/strong>, he talks about what man can<\/em> tame (verse 7<\/u><\/strong>), and then he talks about what man cannot<\/em> tame (verse 8<\/u><\/strong>).\u00a0 \u201c7<\/sup>For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Notice these categories here: every creature on the earth or the sky or the sea has and can be tamed by mankind in mankind\u2019s existence.\u00a0 The abilities that God has given us as image bearers of God to tame creation is amazing.\u00a0 Man can tame in Sea World, and they're swimming with these giant dolphins who have the ability to kill the people swimming with them several times over.\u00a0 Tragically, that sometimes happens.\u00a0 Generally, the norm is that this giant sea animal is under the control of a human being.\u00a0 We can put people on the moon; it is just unbelievable the abilities that God has given us in terms of being able to tame creation.\u00a0 That is what he is getting at in 3:7<\/u><\/strong>, but there is something that mankind has never been able to tame.\u00a0 What would that be?\u00a0 His tongue.\u00a0 He can tame everything else, but he can't tame his tongue; he can't control it.\n\nJames 3:8<\/u><\/strong>, \u201c8<\/sup>But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 \u2018Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Then, why is it called poison?\u00a0 What do you do with poison?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you kill?\u00a0 I can kill someone\u2019s emotions, someone\u2019s finances if I speak disparagingly of their business, someone\u2019s health if I create anxiety in them through uncontrolled speech.\u00a0 This idea that the tongue doesn\u2019t hurt anyone is absolutely unbiblical.\u00a0 It has the potential for poison, and James' point is to look at all of these things man can do in his 6,000 years of human existence in terms of taming and controlling the animal kingdom; technology, but here is something that mankind has never been able to do.\u00a0 They\u2019ve never been able to keep their mouths shut, and maybe that isn\u2019t the best example, because I don't know if God wants us to keep our mouths shut, but He wants our speech to be edifying, and mankind has never been able to do that.\u00a0 They can control everything else, but they cannot tame the tongue.\n\nSo, when we reconvene next time, we will see the tongue's inconsistency in James 3:9-12,<\/u><\/strong> and we will see James describing that inconsistency through three illustrations from nature.\n\nNotice that James is a nature guy; he talks about fires, fish, he likes, I don't know what it is, he was an outdoors type.\u00a0 He liked the outdoors; nature, he keeps using nature examples, \u2018Your life is like mist, it appears for a little while and then disappears.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>The book of James is filled with these kind of nature examples.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t