A Faith that Speaks Well - part 1

Good evening. I'm glad you're all are here. And we are right in the middle of summertime. And it is a joy and a pleasure, as always, to preach the Word. We're in our season, our series titled, "A Faith That Works." We are back from youth camp, and we're back from VBS. So we appreciate all your efforts and all your prayers in those seasons. I kind of feel I was telling somebody when youth camp and VBS are over, I kind of feel like a roller coaster. I feel like it's, you blink and it's going to be August. And I know it will be. But I'm enjoying the chance to get into the Word, to preach on Wednesday nights. I look forward to this time.

When I was little, if you went into sanctuary, that was the big church. So if I can use this language, I enjoy preaching in big church. I enjoy also the time I have with young kids. The way Brother Chris and I have always done ministry is that we do a little bit of everything. I've told people before that I feel like I'm a children's minister and a youth minister and a senior adult minister and a young adult's ministry minister as well. And we always have tried to take every opportunity just to be students of the Word. And I've enjoyed diving into James.

And it's my prayer more than just that we have a good series and a good sermon has been my prayer for several years now. Every time we preach, whether it's VBS or whether it is taking kids to youth camp, it's our desire that the work of the church would move forward. And so we enjoy hearing how God is working in your life. I know that some of you guys are digging into Brother Chris's series in James that he preached in 2014. And that is awesome. That's what we want. I would love to hear how the Lord is speaking to you through the book. Tonight we're going to be in a faith that speaks well.

So we're going to look in James chapter three will be in verses one through 12. But we will see that a faith that works well has to be a faith that speaks well. You open up your copy of God's Word to James chapter three and let's read verses one through twelve verse one. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers. For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being contained the tongue.

It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives? Or a grape mine produce figs? Either can a salt pond yield fresh water? So as we open up God's word and we read this very challenging text, it's our desire that we compare our lives up with God's word, that we would evaluate our speech.

And as I read this, if I just ask you, how do you think we're doing here? How do you think you're doing? I am really preaching tonight with a bias and with, I guess I'm working from a premise that no one here is going to use for letter words. Maybe that's a bias, but I think of the people that we know here. Most of us are not going to be the kind who will come to church and leave immediately and use swear words. Now I could be wrong. However, does that mean that we are not capable of wicked speech? Does this mean that we're not capable of unrighteous speech?

As we're going to hear tonight, the Lord says from his word that everything that we say or do, we need to do unto the glory of God. And I think that we all, including myself, I'd put myself first and foremost as a repenter. And as we compare our speech, scripture is going to ask us if we are possessors of a faith that works. Do we have a faith that works well? If we do, it will be a faith that speaks well. And we all can repent here, I think. John MacArthur says the book of James presents in chapter three, yet another test of genuine saving faith.

We must avoid a few pitfalls if we are going to have a faith that works and if we're going to have a faith that speaks well. So tonight we're going to look at five pitfalls that we must avoid to have Godly speech. So the first pitfall that we will see from scripture in verses one and two of James is dangerous speech. I want us to look at verse one and two again. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers. For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness, for we all stumble in many ways. I want to sort of back up and cover some basics here. The first danger that we need to see, I believe, is the danger of silence.

Scripture doesn't say that of a local church that no one should be leaders. Scripture says not many of you. The assumption here is that a church needs leaders. So I think the first danger that we have to see is the danger of silence. We as believers have to speak. We've got to speak. We look at the example of the prophet Ezekiel. Hopefully you know this verse. Ezekiel 3, excuse me, Ezekiel 33 verses 7 through 8. And I'll read this. "So you son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

If I say to the wicked, 'O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way. That wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.'" The Lord has a call to go out to the world and he intends to use the church to speak. What happens if the church is silent?

Moses told Joshua, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them." And Jesus told the disciples, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command." So I want you to see the first sin of speech is not speaking. We should see this. Scripture says in 1 Timothy that he who desires the office of elder, right, desires a good thing. So praise the Lord when God calls out of a body people who say, "I feel led to teach a small group.

I feel led to pray about the Lord's call on my life of ministry, to go to your pastors and say, 'How can I use my words to glorify the Lord?'" So the first danger is silence. The second danger is silliness. It's a shame when we see leaders who are resorting to silly methods and silly words as a means to drum up support. Scripture says that leaders will be judged more severely. So let's read verse 1 and 2 again. "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers. You know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness, for we all stumble in many ways." What did Jesus tell the Pharisees in Matthew 12, 34? "You brood of vipers.

How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." All believers are called to speak. We see a danger of silence, but we also see a call to sobriety. A call to leaders, and here in James, I think it would be a great danger if you discounted this verse and said, "I'm not called to be a pastor. I'm not called to be a public speaker. I don't speak. If I can here admonish you, you are leading someone. You are leading your children. You're leading at work. You're leading in your community.

Whether you're leading them in the right direction or the wrong direction, you're leading someone, and you are using your words." So the reason why James is saying, "Not many of you should be teachers," it's not because he doesn't want people to be leaders. This is as much of a call to the pew as it is a call to teachers. I believe these verses are calling us to be sober. The Lord is going to judge leaders more severely because we're speaking with our words. And the Lord will admonish you as a leader, as a parent, as a small group teacher, and we're calling for more leaders.

But first and foremost, we must all heed the call to be sober in our speech. So we see a danger of silence and silliness, but there's a danger of spiritual recklessness. You know, James joins with the book of Jude, and there is an illustration or imagery in speaking of leaders to sailing. In Jude verses 8, 10, and 16, believers are warned to be on the lookout for false teachers who are hidden reefs. Hidden reefs are danger to who? Sailing vessels. People in the church were warned in the book of Jude to be on the lookout for false teachers. And what does James tell us as well? That not many of you should be teachers.

There's a danger of spiritual recklessness. If the false teachers of Jude are hidden reefs, in James we see this imagery of a leader using his words to carry precious cargo. Grace Live Church of Brookhaven, you are leading. You're leading your families. You're leading out at work. And we as leaders are carrying precious cargo. What precious cargo are we carrying? The Gospel? We're carrying doctrine. We're carrying our children. We're carrying the body of Christ. We must all be vigilant with our words because people are following us. And I do think that this message is for leaders. There's a danger of stumbling. Let's look at James 3-2.

For we all stumble in many ways and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body. Husbands, how are you leading? How are you leading with your tone? Not just what you say, but how you say it. Others, how are you leading with your children? Maybe it's your posture. Maybe it's how quickly we are to use a biting, frustrated, aggravated tone. We don't have to resort to four-letter words to need repentance in this area. And I would say, I'm the chief of sinners. What about a faith that works? It avoids the pitfalls and the dangers of dangerous speech.

Secondly, tonight, if we're going to have a faith that works, we must avoid disastrous speech. Let's read verses 5 and 6. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. When we look at the disastrous speech, it's a pitfall that we must avoid if we're going to have a faith that works. I see the disaster of prideful speech in verse 5. Look at this, so also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

It's the famous Dizzy Dean who said, "It ain't bragging if you can do it." Raise your hand if you've heard that. Raise your hand if you've said that. I think most of us who played sports have probably said something like that. It ain't bragging if you can do it. You know, in all actuality, if it's bragging, it's bragging. Let's not get our theology from Dizzy Dean, although it is a great quote. Do you know pride is cancerous in the local church?

I love that Brother Chris mentioned this, and he said that if we're going to struggle in the area of forbearance, if we're going to struggle in the area of patience, we first struggle in the area of pride. You think of pride as being the cancer at the root of all the symptoms of our speech. Was it not pride that caused Adam to look at the Lord and say, "The woman that you gave me gave me the fruit and I ate it"? We have the disaster of prideful speech that would boast in verse 5, but we have the disaster of unrighteous speech in verse 6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.

If we look at this unrighteous speech, it is quite literally a fire. What would you do if there was a fire in your house? You'd go to the most precious, most valuable thing, your children. First and foremost. And after you secure your valuables, you would get it all out of the house. You would call the fire department and you would keep a safe distance. People who go through a house fire describe this feeling of care and helplessness. I knew a man who had his entire house burned down when he was at a young age. He escaped and his whole family escaped, but he described this feeling.

I think we would be in much better shape as a church if we really got James' imagery. I think we would pray more earnestly and repent more sincerely if we really saw this feeling of that our speech was like a fire and it was dangerous just as a fire. You would not allow a fire to begin to blaze in your house and just walk out easily. So why would we tolerate the kind of sinful speech that is so dangerous in our families? And it's not just the four-letter words. The fire of unrighteous speech can consume your life's purpose. You realize that speech that is not regulated under the power of the Lord, it is a fire and it can destroy.

John MacArthur says, "The tongue is you in a unique way. It is a tattletale that tells on the heart and it discloses the real person." I heard a pastor once who said, "What's in the well comes up in the bucket." That's why the little white lies are actually a big deal. And our sin of impulsive speaking. There's also this sin of just talking too much. Scripture says that where words are plenty, sin is not far. Simply talking too much can be rooted in pride. People need to hear what I have to say. There's a disaster of prideful speech and unrighteous speech. But there's also a disaster of impure speech in verse 6.

"And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. It is set among our members." And listen, it's staining the whole body. This is an image of a word or words staining. This is an impurity that spreads. So a white lie is not simply something that we say. It is coming forth from our heart and it stains us. Disaster of impure speech and also destructive speech. Again, back to the imagery of a fire. "How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire." So with this phrasing, James tells us that the destructive nature of the tongue, which is a fire, is actually something that spreads in its destructive nature.

So if a match is lit in a public area, let's say it's in a national forest, and you light it in a small area, that is a campground. And there are real stories out west of this happening where it becomes a raging wildfire that takes over even towns. Do we really see this imagery apply to our own life? I work a lot with teenagers in the youth group and I have seen this for the better part of 20 years in terms of the music that they listen to. I've heard so many kids say this, "There's no cuss words in this." Is it edifying you? We set the bar so low. Is it edifying? And it's almost like we can have this in the church as well.

I didn't use any four-letter words with my in-laws, but I sure custom. Perhaps we can curse people with our face and our frustration and our tone and our irritation. And do we see how destructive that this speech can be if the Lord does not get a hold of us? Is a disaster of destructive speech, but also of condemned speech. Our tongues are condemned to hellfire, along with the rest of our bodies. James 3.6, "The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." What a terrifying verse.

In using this illustration, this imagery of the tongue, setting ablaze, it's a wildfire that spreads over your whole body, and the fire is that of unrighteousness. But then James takes the metaphor and flips it around and says that the tongue, he moves from metaphor to reality. That the tongue, in actuality, will be set on fire. God will judge you today, sir and man. And if you are unconverted, you will be held accountable for every idle word. And if the Lord of Host does not change your heart, do you realize that you will be held accountable for every word?

You will be held accountable for every word and how the unrighteousness of those words spread like a wildfire throughout your life and your family. If we're going to have a faith that works, we need to avoid the pitfalls of dangerous speech and disastrous speech and dominated speech. Move to verse 7 and 8, "For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed, and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue." You know James, throughout church history, has gotten a bad rap for not being very theological. It's very practical, but some people have argued it's not as theological.

But I want you to see that it is extremely theological. We have the doctrine of total depravity or the doctrine of radical depravity right here in James 3 verse 7. So just real quickly to speak to his background, he's talking to a Jewish audience who's not living in Jerusalem. They're dispersed throughout the known world. He's borrowing a lot of Jewish imagery, a lot of Jewish history. And he goes to Adam and Eve in the sense that every human has been given by God dominion over God's creation. Adam was given dominion. He says here that every kind of beast and bird, reptile and sea creature can be tamed. Why?

Because God gave Adam and Eve dominion. They had communion with God's presence. Then they had rebellion against God's authority. And then came the deadly ramifications. And so now every facet of our life is dominated by sin. We cannot escape our fallen nature and our tongue is proof positive of this. Scripture says that you cannot tame your tongue without the saving power of Jesus because of our fallen nature and our fallen condition. Now you may be able to curb the four letter words. You may be able to curb some of the offensive language, but you can't do anything about your sinful nature until the Lord regenerates you.

You can't do anything about your heart because the tongue is the clearest window into your heart. Scripture says that from out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Isaiah 6, Isaiah saw the Lord in the year King Uzziah died and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Isaiah 6, I'll read, Isaiah said, "Woe is me for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." So God gives to James the example of the bridle in verse 3. You put a bit in a horse's mouth, you can control that horse.

He uses the example of a rudder which is very small, but it controls the ship. And then he gives the example of the prophet Isaiah and he's saying this, "If your tongue isn't saved by the Lord of hosts, you cannot control your tongue." And it could be here today that someone in the hearing of my voice has never had a time when the Lord saved your tongue. If you've never had a change of heart and God's saving your heart and giving you a new disposition, then you've never had a transformation in your tongue. Is your tongue saved?

Do you remember where you were when the Lord changed your heart and convicted you of your sin and gave you a new heart? When he gave you a new heart, he gave you new speech. And that is our only hope that our speech would be dominated just like a rudder directs a ship and just as a bit controls the horse, the Lord controls our heart and therefore the Lord can bridle our tongue. Isn't that a good prayer? That we would pray the Lord would bridle our tongue and that the Lord would truly enable us every day to pray, "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you." Notice the psalmist puts those together.

As the meditations of your heart go, so do the words of your mouth. Dangerous speech, disastrous speech, dominated speech, and deadly speech. The fourth pitfall we must avoid. James chapter three verse eight. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. What kind of deadly poison might we wrestle with here as believers? If you're a believer and you have left the four letter words, what kind of deadly poison might come forth from our lips? And I'm asking the Lord to show us as a group of repentors, how might we repent? How might we be more honoring when we leave out the door this evening?

So I just asked the Lord to give me some deadly poison that we as Christians could struggle with. Gossip, slander, coarse joking, white lies, angry speech, bitter speech, complaining speech. Rude speech. Secondhand cussing. Cussing substitute words. And I would say that these with the proliferation of the internet, I would add another. I would say not just secondhand cussing, these are sort of like the watered down cuss words, but cussing substitutes. People now online, so that they don't get believed or so that they don't get in Facebook jail, they will find creative ways of speaking curse words. You know what I'm talking about.

And it will surprise me the number of professing believers who now are using the substitute cuss words. And it's the same rationale that we deal with with our young kids. Well it's not actually a cuss word. Is it actually honoring to the Lord? Moving on from deadly speech, the last pitfall that I think we need to avoid. This will be verses nine to 12 and this comes just directly from the text. Let's read this. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God from the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be.

Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and saltwater? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives? Or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. The Lord set before the nation of Israel a blessing and a curse and I think many times we like to return the favor. This is what I would refer to as brackish speaking. Brackish water is water that is both salt and fresh. It's part of a lake that is fed by an ocean and part of it is fed by a clear stream and if you catch it in the right spot you'll see this is clearly brackish water and it's not fit to drink.

And this kind of lukewarm speech, lukewarm living is what the Lord said he would spew out of his mouth. May the Lord prevent us from being divided. Can we speak ungodliness out of our new nature? Could it be that your language has never changed because your heart has never been regenerated? I pray that the Lord would reveal the lost among us through our tongue into our heart. In conclusion tonight I want to give you a list. Again this is not a systematic theology of speaking this is simply scripture verses that I found through a concordance and there's a long list here. I have scripture references. I would encourage you to listen.

If you try to take notes of this you might miss all of it. If you write down anything you might want to just write down the scriptural references. You will have this message up on the website so you can go back and listen to it. I'll be glad to give you the notes. But if we are going to be repentors, if we are going to have a faith that works well we need speech that honors the Lord. So will our speech be angry or acceptable? Second Corinthians 517. Will our speech be bitter or will it be bold? Second Corinthians 7.4. Will we have complaining speech or correct speech? Cursing speech or calming speech? Mark 7.6.

Deceitful speech or directly truthful speech? Romans 3.12, 1 Peter 3.10. Rude speech or respectable speech? Grevious speech or gracious speech? Colossians 4.6. All told the Colossians let your conversation be always full of grace. Will our language be malicious or mature? 1 John 3.18. Will our words be slanderous or sober? Ephesians 4.29. At grace life will we be marked for filthy speech or fruitful speech? Matthew 12.34-37. Will we be a people of deadly speech or living speech? Romans 3.12, Psalm 3.10. Give a critical speech or wholesome speech. Mark 7.6. I'll conclude with this verse.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Let me pray.