and me leaving, I guess that's it. All right. Let's begin with prayer and I want to mention that the Gaults are back from Texas with COVID. I wouldn't mean to be funny, but hopefully it's not a serious case for them. But anyway, we're going to be in prayer for them, as well as our service today, be in prayer for our pastor and wife as they're away. He's preaching down in Salliersville, Kentucky today, the church's anniversary service. Let's remember all of these things. Brother Christian, would you please let me say a few prayers? Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for this day that you've given to us, and Lord, for the ones that come out, and we do pray for the pastor and the chemist that are way down inside you, but we thank you that you might lead them there. Father, we do pray for our services today. We pray for Brother Steve as he brings his Sunday School message, and Brother Phil as he brings the message and after service. Amen. All right. You're not already there. Return to James chapter three. The lesson today, warnings and words to teachers. I've subtitled this, so you want to be in charge. And we'll talk a little bit about that. So, as always, we seek the context. First of all, how many times have you used the old adage, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. And that is true in a physical sense. The words don't generally hurt you physically, although I did have a girl get mad at me in school one time. She threw an Oxford dictionary at me, and that sort of hurt. That was a joke. But seriously, words won't bruise us, won't break our bones, but damage that is done by the tongue can cause pain that will last a long time, sometimes for a lifetime. Proverbs 26.22 says the words of a tail bearer are as wounds and they go down to the innermost parts of the belly. Not physically in the belly, but that's metaphorically the seat of our emotions. You know, sometimes when you're upset, And deep emotion, you'll feel it inside. It's like a punch in the gut, so to speak. But I can still remember hurtful things that were said to me when I was a child. It's true. Barb Campbell has known me since I was born, haven't you? Yeah. She said I was a homely baby. And I hadn't forgotten that. I made that up. But seriously, I can remember things that were said to me when I was young that hurt me greatly. And frankly, they still hurt. And I think we've all experienced that. But worse yet, Worse than that, worse than things that have been said to me are the unguarded, unkind, unnecessary things that I have said to others and about others. You know, as soon as you say something, you want to take it back. And, you know, once that gun is fired, there's no recalling the bullet. In fact, this is one of the most important things that we learn as we grow up and mature, and that is to watch what you say. I got a lot of scriptures here, I'm gonna give it to you. But Proverbs 10, 19, in the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin. There's no sin lacking in a multitude of words. But he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs 13, three. Proverbs has a lot to say about this. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life. But he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. So words are powerful. Whether they're used for good or not so good. Rush Limbaugh was forever reminding us words mean things. He would play a clip of somebody saying something as, hey, words mean things. How true that is. James here has already introduced this subject in chapter one. He mentioned it and he admonished us in verse 19 of chapter one. It says to be swift to hear and slow to speak. Someone said we were given two ears and one mouth to be used in that proportion. And that's, I think, pretty wise. Ecclesiastes 5.3, a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. And so, get yourself in trouble by being quick to speak and saying more than you really intended to say. However, you've got Proverbs 17, 28. Even a fool, I love this verse, even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Hey, I take comfort from that verse right there. As long as I keep my mouth shut, somebody will think I'm a smart person. Well, probably every one of us here today can think of at least one time in our lives when we would have spared ourselves a world of trouble if we would have just kept our lips sealed in Proverbs 21, 23. Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. So we can get in trouble by what we say, but there's another side to that coin as well. In Proverbs 25, 11, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. Saying something the right way, saying the right words the right way at the right time, can really make a big difference in someone's life. Ecclesiastes 10 and 12, the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. And then Psalm 63. verses 3, 4, 5, because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands and I name my soul, shall be satisfied as with morrow and fatness. And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. I heard this recently repeated, that the chief end of man is to glorify God. And so the lesson today, if you haven't guessed, is focused on the wise use of the tongue, applicable to all of us, and there's an emphasis on those who stand before others. And we'll get into that. So now we're searching the text, and the first thing that we notice in verses one and two is the teacher's tongue. First of all, we have a caution in verse one. Let's read verses one and two, and then we'll Comment on these it says my brethren be not many masters Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation for in many things We offend all if any man offend not in word The same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body So first thing we have in these verses is a caution. That's the first part of verse 1 He says my brethren be not many masters That Greek word is didaskalos, which may not mean a whole lot, but we use the word didasko a lot, which means to teach. So this word masters is also translated teachers. So he says, be not many masters or be not many teachers. Now, is James saying that no one, should have the aspiration to be a teacher or a pastor. I don't think so. In 1 Timothy 3.1, it's a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. Don't get hung up on bishop. It's the same usage as we use pastor. We're not talking about the Roman Catholic hierarchy, where you've got bishops and cardinals and popes and all that. This simply means, Pastor, he says, if a man desires the office of a bishop, by the way, it does say man, just to throw that in, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. So there's nothing wrong with desiring to be a pastor because God gives certain men the desire to be in that office of pastor. And what I think James is saying here, he is warning his readers against a simple desire to be in charge or to be up front. Sometimes people look at the pastor or teacher, someone that stands before the congregation and a song leader maybe, and they say, wow, that's cool. I want to do that. I want to be up front. I want to be in charge. There was an old preacher once, there's a story entering the ministry he said this he said if you can do anything else do it. Jeremiah 20 verse 9 sort of speaks to that. Then I said, this is Jeremiah now. The call has come upon him to prophesy to Israel and basically to tell them, you know, doom is coming. There's going to be problems because of your disobedience, your idolatry. And he said, so he said this, he tried it for a while and it just He had all kinds of problems. He was opposed at every turn. Then I said, this is Jeremiah speaking now, then I said, I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name, talking about the God of Israel. I won't I'm not going to talk anymore about him. I'm not going to speak anymore in his name, but it says his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearance and he said I got tired weary of of keeping this to myself of keeping myself down I had to preach. That's the call to the ministry right there. When you can't do anything else. I mean, there's always those that only have the desire to have the preeminence. Remember, Theocraphies. I forget which church it was, but he was there and he loved to be the one in front. He loved to have the preeminence. He loved to be the one in charge and to have the final say so. And there's always people like that, but they have no real desire to teach and to serve others in a godly way. Well, James continues with a warning now. In the last part of the verse, he says, Brother, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. So not only is there the caution, but there's the culpability attached to being a teacher. He says, knowing. This is not just conventional wisdom, not just an old wives' tale. This is something that we know. It says, we know that we shall receive the greater condemnation or the greater judgment. God holds his ministers to a high standard. It says in 1 Timothy 3, 2, a bishop then must be blameless, must be. There's no getting around this. This is the standard that pastors are held to. And then in Luke 12, 48, for unto whom, or unto whomsoever, I'll get it out here in a minute, for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. So when you're given... the responsibility of preaching and teaching the word of God, there is a requirement that comes with that. I read in the, I believe it was the quarterly, that somebody said, I wish I could take credit for this, but I can't, but it says, the call to the ministry is not so much about publicity as it is responsibility. and how true that is. When we think of the pastors that stand before us, and I remember as a child looking up and saying, oh man, they've got the coolest position. I watched my dad preach every Sunday. Wow, that's neat. And I want to do that when I grow up. Well, that's not... God wasn't calling me then. I wasn't seeing the responsibility. I was seeing the outward manifestations of, wow, that's neat. Well, we're accountable. Pastors and teachers are accountable in ways that others are not. And this accountability ties into this teaching about the tongue, about the words that we use. Because words can be used to help. Words can also be used to hurt. And furthermore, words can also be used to lead others astray. In Titus 1, verses 10 and 11, he says, well, there are many unruly and vain talkers. In other words, the emphasis here is on what they say. Many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not. Now, why do they do that? For filthy lucre's sake. You know what that means? That means ill-gotten gains. They're profiting off of what they teach. And I mean, let's face it, there's a whole lot of false teachers and false prophets in the world today. And they're more and more prominent with, we've got TV, we've got YouTube, and all of these things. And these people are preaching and teaching damnable doctrine to unsuspecting followers. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes come Judgment Day. In Matthew 12, 36, and I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak They shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. If idle words are going to be judged, think about deliberate words. Those that have deliberately gone to teaching things to deceive others and to increase their wealth because of it. And you know, you've seen the stories and the huge mansions and the jets and all that that some of these men and women have. Don't have to go into detail about that, but we see that it has to do with words, with what we say, what we teach. As we move ahead, we will see that one of the most prominent areas in which teachers, preachers, pastors are accountable is the tongue. So we move on. Notice the consequences. caution and culpability, but now the consequences. He says in verse two of our text, he says, for in many things we offend all. Now that word offend, you gotta understand, usually when you see it in the Bible, it doesn't mean to get your feelings hurt or to hurt somebody's feelings. And we've come to use it in that way, but in the Bible when it says to offend someone, it means to cause them to cause them to deviate from their faith, and we're talking about a saved person, or to make them turn aside from the hearing of the gospel, being a stumbling block. Those who stand and proclaim God's word, especially pastors, What they say can lead an entire congregation astray. Now, that's one reason that Paul talked about the Bereans. He said they were more noble than those of Thessalonica, because the Bereans, they would hear the word and they would go home and study these things for themselves. Not because they're skeptical of the pastor. And that's not how we're supposed to be, but because we need to know these things for ourselves. And should there arise... an occasion when a teacher is leading us astray, we'll be able to take the word of God and let it speak to us personally and say, wait a minute, that's not right. Now let me hasten to say this, I am in no way casting aspersions on our pastor. He's a great man, he's intellectually honest, He preaches the word just as it is. He doesn't add his own slant to it, unlike the mainstream media, I might add, but I'm digressing. What I am saying is that our pastor and others like him carry an enormous weight of responsibility and accountability. Because he says, if you offend in the pulpit ministry, you're offending everybody that hears you. It's not just a one-on-one thing. There's an entire congregation. He says, if any man offend not, I'm going on now, if any man offend not in word, in other words, if you can, Go through life and not say anything hurtful, harmful. that would cause someone to stumble, well, the same is a perfect man. Now, it doesn't mean perfection in the sense of no flaws at all, it means mature. And he says, that same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body. It gives the indication that if you can control your tongue, you can probably control other actions that you might perform. those of us who are involved in social media, you know, Facebook and so on, we have even more opportunity to mess things up. I mean, if saying something wrong is bad, putting it in writing is even worse, and that happens. It's easy to dash off a message, respond harshly to something that we hear or something that we read, it's not so easy to take it back. In fact, if it's on the internet, it's forever, according to Kim Commando. If you don't know Kim Commando, she's a tech wizard that I follow her website. But anyway, what you put out there, You can't always, in fact, hardly ever can you retract anything successfully. So as we think about the teacher's tongue, there's a caution, there's culpability, and there are consequences. But now we move on to verses three through five, talk about the tiny tongue. Let's look at verse three. Behold, we put this in the horse's mouth that they may obey us and we turn about their whole body. So the first thing we see is the bits. It's a small piece of metal compared to the size of a horse. And, you know, horses get awfully big. Frankly, I've been on horses. I'm not real sanguine about doing that anymore because they have a tendency to want to throw me off. I don't know why. But anyway, I guess Shelby's doing okay with hers. She seems to like working with the horses. And you can control them. You can make them turn left, make them turn right. You can, you know, pull and stop them. At least I think that's the way it works. I told her this morning, I'm not a country boy, so I don't know much about horses. But it tells us here that the bit is a small thing, and yet it controls the whole horse. Then we notice the boats. Look at verse four. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. The governor being the, in the old days, it was a handle that they turned, and it would turn the helm. I've got a picture here. This is a picture of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Anybody remember the Edmund Fitzgerald? Yeah, some of you do. Remember the old song? The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down. I'm not going to sing the old song. I love the song, I really do. I've watched all the videos that I can find on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. But anyway, I remember seeing this picture when it was launched. This is when it was launched in 1958. But you notice the red circle I've got there? That boat is 729 feet long. When it was launched, it was the largest, longest ship on the Great Lakes. And that's where it operated, 729 feet. And yet it was steered with that one little flapper there at the bottom of the keel. So he's making the point. You've got the bits that control the whole horse, you've got will control this huge ship and then notice the boasting he talks about in verse 5 even so the tongue is a little member compared to the bit in the horse's mouth compared to the rudder on the on the large ship even so the tongue is a little member It's not real big. I'm not going to ask you to stick yours out today. But compared to our hands and feet and all that, the tongue is not a large member of our body, our makeup. But yet, it says, the tongue is a little member and boasted great things. You can take that tiny little tongue and make a big deal about something. It boasteth great things, and it's capable of doing just that. Now in the Greek, I've told you before, I'm not a Greek scholar, I can look it up in the lexicon though, the term, the three words there, boasteth great things, It's one word, and this is why translation from Greek and Hebrew into English is very, very tedious because sometimes you've got one word that doesn't translate into one English word, so it's three words. But the term boasts great things, in one word, in the Greek, and it means to, this is literally what the lexicon says, it means to talk big, to be arrogant or egotistical. Every morning I either watch or take Leave it to Beaver, love that show. Anybody watch Leave it to Beaver? I remember Leave it to Beaver. Some of you do, hopefully. But Beaver was always getting in trouble by shooting off his mouth. He wanted to be a big shot in front of the older boys, and so he would tell some big tall tale. Well, end of the verse here, verse five. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth. The Great Chicago Fire, I forget when that happened, back around the turn of the 20th century. But the Great Chicago Fire happened when Mrs. O'Meary's cow kicked over the lantern. There's doubts in some places that that's actually what happened, but that could have happened. One carelessly discarded cigarette butt can start a raging forest fire, and one small remark can be the beginning of a huge problem. Not only from the remark itself, but what it grows into. I remember when I was younger, I don't know if people do this anymore or not, we used to play a game called telegraph. Everybody remember that? We'd get in a circle, and the first person would start off, and he would whisper something to the next person standing by him. And then that person, in turn, would whisper it to the next person, to the next person, to the next person. It was really interesting if you had, you know, 30 or 40 people to go around, because by the time, it never failed. By the time it got to the last person, It had transformed into something completely different than what it started out as. And that's so true of what we say. It gets embellished and it gets added to and changed and altered. By the time that the 40th person hears it, it's growing into something that it was never intended to be. Well, this thought continues in the next point. The tiny tongue and then the terrible tongue. Let's look at verse six. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. Wow, this little thing we've got in our mouths is a fire. It's a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defiles the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. So the first thing you see is that the tongue is a defiled member. Fall of man, we became depraved. And when depravity hit mankind, it seems like the tongue got more of it than anything else. And that's just my own personal observation. I don't have scripture to prove that. But often, our first impulses of what to say in any given situation are not really of a godly sort. Now hopefully, we're overcoming that gradually as we grow in grace, as we're maturing in the Lord. But that's not an overnight change. And the tongue just has a, it seems like we have a tendency to sort of spit out the first thing that comes into our minds. And you know what, it also seems that our tongue is tied to our temper. When we lose our temper, we lose control of our tongue. It's a defiled memory, it's a deadly memory. Look at verse seven. For every kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tame, and hath been tamed of mankind. You know, you got lion tamers. Lions are wild animals, but people can tame those. But, verse eight, but the tongue can no man. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. The tongue can no man tame. So is James counseling despair on this? Is he saying we shouldn't ever have the hope of being able to control what we say? No, I don't think so. Man cannot tame the tongue, but God and man together can. And I'll have more on that in a minute, if I've got time. Not only is it a deviled member and a deadly member, but it is a dichotomous member. That word dichotomy means a split. Let's look at verse 9. Therefore, or therewith, this is with the tongue now, therewith, blessed be God, even the Father, and therewith, curse we men. which 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. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either a vine and figs? So can no fountain. both yield salt water and fresh. So he says you've got blessing and cursing from the same source. I have unfortunately heard men, it's always usually been men, that claim to be Christians, and really I'm not doubting that they are, but they could talk the Bible with you, and yet I've seen them get upset, get mad at something, and cut loose with a four-letter word that would curl your hair. That's, he says, that ought not to be. It shouldn't be blessing and cursing from the same source. This is not the fruit of a spirit-filled Christian. But that does serve to indicate the inner battle that every believer faces. In Galatians 5, 17, it says, the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. There's an inner battle, inner warfare going on. The word spirit there is capitalized. I'm not sure it's referring to the Holy Spirit. I think it's talking about our spirit, which is influenced by the Holy Spirit. But you've got our flesh warring, lusting against spirit, and that's an inner struggle that goes on. And like I said, hopefully as we grow in Christ, as we mature in the Word, We see the inner spirit winning more and more often and giving it over to the flesh less and less often. But there is that inner battle that every believer experiences. We gotta move on. Lastly, the tamed tongue. Look at verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. So the first thing we see is correct behavior. The word conversation, let him show out of a good conversation. You've probably heard this, that is not only what we say, where conversation in the Bible actually means our behavior, our manner of life. It says, if you want to be counted as a wise man and endued with knowledge, then you need to show out of a good behavior, works with meekness of wisdom. I like that term, meekness of wisdom. True wisdom does not produce an attitude of superiority. On the contrary, wisdom exhibits its which means mildness or humility. I think Moses was probably a very wise man and yet he was known as being the meekest man perhaps who ever lived. And yet in his meekness he was able to lead all those Jews through the wilderness. He led them out of Egypt through the wilderness for 40 years. He was a meek man, but that did not mean that he was not wise. And his wisdom was shown forth in his meekness. That's correct behavior, but that was corrupt behavior now, verses 14 through 16. But if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, Glory not, and lie not against the truth. I've seen people that are actually sort of proud of the fact, I sure don't like that. They'll name somebody. He just makes me sick. And it's sort of like they're proud of their bitterness, proud of their hatred in these matters, and that's not right. He says, If you have bitter envy and strife in your heart, don't worry about it. Lie not against the truth. Don't say, oh, I love everybody, if you know in your heart that that's not true. Verse 15, this wisdom descended not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. You can rationalize almost anything with worldly wisdom that doesn't make it right you hear people all the time trying to rationalize like homosexuality with Christianity and those two just don't mix but you can rationalize it away if you really want to and there are people that do that verse 16 for where envy there is confusion and every evil work. Confusion, strife, the devil loves that stuff. People in conflict with one another, and that usually involves what we say, involves our words, our tongue, but those who are in conflict with one another are not productive in the work of the Lord. They give their energy and their time to getting back at someone or getting revenge or just seething and sitting and pouting and plotting against another person. The devil loves when we do that because we're not working for the Lord when we do. Then we've got Christ-like behavior in verses 17 and 18. But the wisdom that is from above Is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. This is wisdom that is from above. Here is the answer to the taming of the tongue. It takes heavenly wisdom to accomplish it. Verse 18, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. of them that make peace. Now, the unchecked use of the tongue keeps people in conflict. It starts raging fires. It produces evil works. And we need to be on guard. We need to pray and seek guidance and wisdom from above that we might keep ourselves from ungodly speech. And with God's help, we can gradually overcome a short temper and the quick tongue that goes with it. That's Christ-like behavior. As we set the application, the Bible has a lot to say. I gave you a lot of scriptures there at the beginning, especially in the book of Proverbs. The Bible has a lot to say about the use of the tongue. Tail-bearing, which is gossip, murmuring, backbiting, boasting, criticizing, falsely accusing, all of those are talked about in the word of God. The list goes on and on, but, The tongue, this is what I really want to emphasize, the tongue can also be powerful in a positive way, a constructive way. So may we always be on guard against sinful utterances. And always quick, now sinful utterance, I don't mean just coming out with curse words. I'm just saying the wrong thing to a person. People don't need to be torn down. That's our fellow Christians don't need our criticism. They need to be built up. You hear a lot about constructive criticism. Very little criticism is constructive. Now it can be, if the person's open to it and asks you, what do you think about this particular situation? Then maybe you can be critical and be constructive at the same time. But mainly, God's people, you know it as well as I do, because you've been there and you may be there, we need encouragement. We need to be lifted up. We need to be built up, edified. Let all things be done unto edifying. And if you'll edify one another, be quick to seize any opportunity to use your words to be a blessing. and God will use you. Many years ago, I prayed about my attitude, and I determined, with God's help, I was going to be an encourager. I wanted to encourage other people, especially God's people. Somebody said, everybody's going through something. So everybody needs encouragement. Let's use our tongues wisely with that wisdom that is from above. Father, bless the word that we've studied today, and I pray that you'll help us to keep our lips from uttering the wrong things. Help us to say the right things that we might be a blessing, a help, and an encouragement to our fellow Christians. Bless in the following service now. Be with our brother as he brings the message.