The Power of the Tongue and Our Words

I'd like to begin the message today if you would turn with me to Hebrews 4 and verse 12. Hebrews 4 and 12. This is where we're going to begin. We've been going through the book of James here lately in our in-home Bible studies, and we've covered recently the topic of the tongue and the words that we say and how powerful that they are, and how powerful they are, and that they can be used for either good or evil.

And we've come to see that our words are so important, and that, of course, God's words are also so important. So what I would like to do today is focus on the tongue, to talk about the tongue and our words today. And, of course, we'll be looking at the Word of God as we go along.

So let's begin with Hebrews 4 and verse 12, and we'll see some very powerful things here. Hebrews 4 and verse 12. It says, for the Word of God is living and powerful. The words that God speaks, that He breathes, that roll off of His tongue, are living words, and that says they're powerful. Now, maybe we haven't thought about that so much in this particular context before, but how can words be alive?

How can they be powerful? Because it's related to us here that it is. God's words, the Word of God, is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. And then it goes on to say it, it pierces even the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow. And notice that it's the discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Wow! This Word of God is perhaps more powerful than what we had thought.

And the power that it has, the discerning ability that it has to discern is that it says the thoughts and the intents of the heart and is able to divide both soul and spirit. Now, I'm not going to go there, but in Ephesians 6 it talks about various pieces of armor that we need to have and able to be able to resist our enemy and the darkness of this age. And the last piece that's mentioned, and all of these pieces are vital in order for us to stand, the last piece that's mentioned is one of the few that's not a defensive piece, but it's an offensive piece.

In fact, let's just go over that. I wasn't going to turn there, but let's go over to Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6, and we'll pick it up here in verse number 17. But in the few verses prior to that, in this particular section of Scripture, it's talking about these pieces of armor. It talks about a helmet of salvation, a breastplate of righteousness.

It speaks about a shield of faith and feet that are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And then we come down to verse number 17 here in Ephesians 6. It says, and take the helmet of salvation and notice, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now, we're talking about the only offensive weapon here.

It's the sword that's mentioned. We have other things that protect our feet and our chest and our head, but then we have this sword of the Spirit, this offensive weapon, which is the word of God. And so we begin to see that this sword of the Spirit, this word of God, is living and it's powerful. Let's take another look at a Scripture in James chapter 1 and verse number 18. James chapter 1 and verse 18. We'll take a look as we set the stage here about how powerful words are. And God has known for a very long time how powerful words are, whether His word or whether the words that you and I speak.

James chapter 1 and verse number 18. It says of His own will. So God has a desire. He has thoughts. He's got a will. It says of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth. Now, other translations render it, He birthed us by the word of truth. And so this word is living and powerful. It has an opportunity to birth us. It has the opportunity to change us, to change our character of who we are. It's not just words that are on a piece of paper.

It's not ink, black ink on a white piece of paper. This is a living and it's a powerful word. It says in the New King James, He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-roots of His creatures, so that we might be like Him, that we might be like an older brother, that we might be like God, the first-fruits of His creatures. So this word may be a lot more powerful than what we realize. The title of the message today, brethren, is the power of our tongue, the power of the tongue and our words, the power of the tongue and of our words.

A famous person once said, I am convinced that words have enormous power. They are either bombs or they're bombs, soothing. They can either level us or they can lift us up. You know, how big a deal are words? You know, when you think about that for a minute, how big a deal are words? Is it really that big of a deal? Well, according to the National Education Association of America, there are 160,000 children that skip school every day because of the impact of words.

Because of words, they're intimidated by words, intimidated by their peers. 160,000, so impacted by words that they don't go to school. And we see, of course, we're in the midst of a presidential – we've gone through presidential primaries and now we're in a presidential election year, final weeks of this election as we go forward.

And we've seen various candidates go at each other with words in ways that I have never seen before. It's out there, isn't it? Words can start wars. Words are powerful. And Jesus Christ, the Logos, Greek Logos meaning in English, the Word, with a capital W, he's the Word. He was all about words. He was all about communication. When he walked the earth, Jesus Christ was a physical expression of the Kingdom of God. When he was in the flesh, he was a representation of the Kingdom of God, not only in word but also in deed.

And in a sense, I suppose, we are to become words with a small W, words of God, in a sense, of the family of the coming Kingdom of God to represent the Kingdom that's coming to the earth through our words and through our deeds.

So words are powerful and they're very important. And our responsibility really is a very great one. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew 12 and 33. Matthew 12 and 33. Our God and His Son Jesus Christ have some very powerful words to speak to us. They've some powerful things to say about our tongue and about words. Let's take a look at some of these things. I'm going to start in verse 33 of Matthew 12, but I'm going to read from the New Revised Standard Version.

It would be probably similar to what you have on your lap. It may not be exactly the same, but this will be from the New Revised Standard Version. Matthew 12, verse 33. Jesus is speaking and He says, "...either make the tree good in its fruit good, or make the tree bad in its fruit bad. For the tree is known by its fruit." It's almost like a natural law that a tree will be known by its fruit. Now, what is it that Jesus Christ is trying to relay to us here?

What is it He's talking about? What context is this particular statement made in? Well, let's read the very next verse here in verse number 34. He says, "...you brood of vipers," and He's speaking to some of the Jewish leaders of the time, "...how can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." So God begins to reveal to them and to us as we read along here that the things that we think about, the things that are down inside of us, the things that are the part of the core of our being of who we are and what we are, that the type of person we are, those things are eventually going to be reflected in the words that eventually come out of our mouths.

Out of the abundance of our heart, it says the mouth will speak. You know, I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you've been asked to keep something quiet for a while, to keep it kind of under wraps for a while, and that can happen in a good way or a bad way, I suppose, but I'll give a good example here.

You're asked to keep some good news. It's not yet time to share it. It's not time yet. I know there are times when people say, I just can't withstand it. I want to share this good news. And so that can happen. And that can be really difficult to do that.

But you know, it can also work the same way, not only with positive sentiments, but also negative sentiments. But it says here, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It says, verse 35, it says the good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and an evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure.

I think that's interesting, the way that Jesus Christ words that. It's like whatever is in our heart is a treasure, whether it be good or whether it be bad or whether it be evil. If you're a good person, you'll bring good things out of your treasure. And if you're an evil person, you'll bring evil things out of your evil treasure.

And then in verse 36, Jesus says, I tell you. So this is the Son of God speaking. He says, I tell you that on the day of judgment, you will have to give an account. You'll have to give an account for every careless word you utter. I think the New King James says every idle word, the New Revised Standard says every careless word. That's kind of sobering to think about, that there's coming a time that you and I are going to have to give an account for the words that we've said.

So words are important. And words have power. They're very powerful. And words have an effect on people, either good or for evil. Some of you old-timers may remember, I'll give a couple of examples of how words have affected people in a positive way. Back in 1961, on January 20, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was giving his inaugural address. And he said this, and some of you, probably most of you, have heard this particular comment.

During the course of his inauguration address, he said this, Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. Remember that? Remember that phrase? You know, that had a dynamic change in the country at that time. It affected a lot of people's minds in the way they thought about their country, because rather than being served, it began to turn some people to be servants.

Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country. We're seeing, in a sense today, it would be kind of nice to have that phrase come up again, because there are a lot of people that are looking to be served, rather than to serve.

At the dawn of World War II, there was a leader of Britain by the name of Winston Churchill, his prime minister. These were dark days of human history. The Nazis were making inroads into some of the European nations, and what he was trying to do is he was trying to rally the rest of the free European nations that were still left, including the United States.

He says, Look, we've got to all get together here. We've got a serious enemy here that we all need to work together to thwart what's happening here in Germany.

And he gave several very powerful speeches. And as he was trying to gather some of these free European nations in the United States, he began to give some speeches and he very, very carefully chose the words that he spoke. I'm going to quote from one of the speeches that he gave.

I won't be able to say it just exactly like he said it. If you've ever heard any of the recordings of Winston Churchill, he was really a really great communicator. But he said this as he was speaking these carefully chosen words to his countrymen and to the United States and to the rest of the world. I'll give you part of this speech here. He said, Alexander the Great remarked that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to pronounce the word no. Let that not be the epitaph of the English-speaking peoples or of parliamentary democracy or of France or of the many surviving liberal states of Europe.

There, in one single word, is the resolve which the forces of freedom and progress, of tolerance and goodwill. That is the resolve which they should take. It is not in the power of one nation, however formulably armed.

Still, less is in the power of a small group of men, violent, ruthless men who have only to cast their eyes over their shoulders. It's not within their power to cramp and fetter the forward march of human destiny. The preponderant world forces are upon our side. They have but to be combined to be obeyed. We must arm. Britain must arm. America must arm. We shall no doubt arm.

Britain, casting away the habits of centuries, will decree national service for her citizens. Is this a call to war? Does anyone pretend that the preparation for resistance to aggression is unleashing war? I declare it to be the sole guarantee of peace, the surest and finest prospect of peace. You know, the then President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, heard that speech, and he weighed heavily on that speech.

And although it wasn't until, really, the United States was attacked by Pearl Harbor that they entered the war, that process had started long before because of this speech and many others that Winston Churchill had given. Words have power, and words remain. Words have more power, probably, than what we realize.

Jesus Christ is called, again, the Logos, the Word, and it says that God the Father used him to create, and it says he spoke, and powerful things happened.

I believe that God is trying to get our attention. I believe that God is trying to get our attention, that the words which roll off our tongues are not only more powerful than what we realize, but they can be and are used for either evil or for good. And God knows that. God knows that, and that's why he has a lot to say in this particular book about the topic of words.

And you know what? Our enemy knows that, too. He knows how that works.

And so, brethren, what we're going to do is look at two sides of a coin when it comes to words.

What I hope to accomplish here this morning is a message today that we see what God's Word has to say about words. What God's Word has to say about the tongue and about the words that we say, and how words can have a negative effect, or how they can have a positive effect.

Because there are examples in the Scriptures of both. I hope we'll see that God expects us as His sons and His daughters to use words for a positive effect. Let's begin by going to Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 22. Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 22. There's a whole lot more Scriptures than we can cover on the tongue and words in a sermon. There's not enough time to cover.

The Proverbs has a lot to say about the tongue and about our words. David in the Psalms has a lot. We'll cover James here in a moment as well. But God inspired a lot about this topic in the Scriptures. And He inspired the writer of Proverbs, most likely Solomon, to address much of it when it comes to our words and how important and how powerful they are. So the basic point we'll begin with here is that God expects us as His sons and daughters to avoid with all of our beings when it comes to lying, when it comes to being people of the truth. Let's take a look here. Proverbs 12, verse 22. It says, Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. Now, I don't think God can speak more clearly or succinctly about how He feels about lying lips. The word abomination is just about as powerful as you can get. God feels really strong about that, and God takes the truth very, very seriously.

You know, we're in a time now in our culture when it's not taken as seriously at all as it used to be, and we can be influenced by that. You've probably seen that there's outright lies that are out there in the shading of the truth. It's becoming too increasing a cultural trend right now, not only in our country, but around the world. You know, when someone lies to you, that hurts, doesn't it? You've been in that situation, you know how that feels. And then when we find out later, they either lied to us or they lied about us, it's pretty hard to trust them afterwards as we used to.

So if the truth is really important, and that's why God says that it is, it's an abomination, and God says, don't go there. So it talks about the fact that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His delight. So we begin to understand as we go through the Scriptures that God delights in the truth. It's important. It's extremely important. He speaks the truth, and Jesus Christ and God the Father have never lied.

Let's also go to Proverbs 6 and verse 16. Proverbs 6 and verse 16 spend a lot of time in the Proverbs here today. We'll find a Scripture that speaks about six things that God says He just hates.

Six things that He hates, and then He goes on to say that the seventh one is an abomination to Him.

And well, as we go through here, if we see six things that God hates, I would suggest that if we're His sons and daughters and being created in His image that we should hate them as well.

Let's take a look, and we'll see that some of them have to do with the tongue and of the words that we speak. Proverbs 6 and verse 16, it says, these six things the Lord hates, and yes, seven, are an abomination to Him. Verse 17, a proud look and a lying tongue. And so we see here of the six things that God specifically puts out that these are just things that He just hates. Diabolical things is that we see a lying tongue as one of them. Hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, and feet that are swift in running to evil. And notice verse 19, a false witness who speaks lies. So that has to do with the tongue. And the seventh one, the one that's an abomination, He says, and one who sows discord among brethren. Brethren, that's often done through words that are spoken. So at least three of the seven things that have to do with things that are spoken, that have to do with words that come out of our mouth. Let's go over to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20 and verse number 16. Exodus chapter 20, verse number 16, part of the Ten Commandments here, when God began to enter into a covenant relationship with His people, Israel, He narrowed it down to ten commandments that were going to be the core of this covenant, things that were very, very important. And of all the things that God could think about, we've just covered about the things that He could think about, the things that He hated, but of all the things that He really wanted to share that were of primary importance, that He narrowed it down to ten, we're going to look here at the ninth one, the ninth commandment, Exodus chapter 20 and verse number 16. He said, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. God says that you and I, his sons and daughters, as His people, have a responsibility not to bear false witness when we testify. I don't know how many of you have testified as a witness. At times past, I've had a few times as an accountant or as a tax preparer when I had to testify in child support issues, when I had to go up and raise your right hand, and they would have to always tell them, I'm not going to swear, I'll affirm. That's sometimes a little awkward, but to testify to tell the truth.

And God says, when we are in that responsibility of testifying, that we have to speak the truth.

We can't bear false witness against our neighbor. Why? Why is that so important?

Well, we know that the truth is God's delight, but why else is that so important? Well, sometimes it may not be so obvious, but maybe it's just right there in front of our eyes, in a sense, because we don't always see it. But if you love your neighbor, which is one of the commandments, not one of the ten, but it's listed elsewhere, why would we ever want to bear false witness against them, if we really care for them? And so the idea is that, as sons of God, we should be people that can be relied upon to tell the truth, to be honest, and simply state the truth.

Let's go over to Proverbs chapter 18. Proverbs, back to Proverbs here. There's an area that God's word has to tell us here that tells us to be really careful. There's something He tells us, I really want you to be cautious about this. He wants us to be thinking about it, to be very, very careful before we talk, before we state our peace, that God warns us about getting the facts before stating what we speak or what we think about certain things. Because we have to ask the question, do we really know what happened? You know, God knows our tendencies. He knows we have tendencies to put our mouth in gear, thinking that we know what's going on when sometimes we really don't. And God warns us in the Scripture here that we should not answer a matter before we hear it. Let's read that here, Proverbs chapter 18 and verse number 13. It says, He that answers a matter before He hears it, it is a folly and a shame to Him. So the Scriptures tell us, you know what, we have the response, if we have a responsibility to answer a matter, God says to you and I, get the facts, get the background, find out, don't begin the first thing by talking and say, well, I know who's right here and I know who's wrong here. And we don't necessarily have all the facts. Well, we really don't know to be careful that we don't get out ahead of ourselves and we haven't heard both sides of a story. You know, you cannot know a matter until you've heard both sides of a story, until you've spoken to witnesses on both sides of an issue. You know, you can't answer a matter until you've heard both sides. You can't do it. You can't do it. You can't establish the truth without hearing both sides and without hearing the witnesses.

If you've only heard one side, then you really haven't heard the matter. And if you answer the matter before you hear it, or if I answer the matter before I hear it, God says it's a folly.

It's a shame. And perhaps it's not our matter. Perhaps it's not our matter. Perhaps it's not our responsibility. And since you can't hear both sides and can't examine the witnesses, maybe it's best to remain silent and not spreading the one side we've heard and repeating it because we may unknowingly be passing along inaccurate or false information, and we could damage someone.

You know, in a courtroom, at least one courtroom where they're really trying to achieve justice, in a courtroom one of the things you'll notice is the truth is very, very important to the judge.

The truth is very important. And often the judge will begin to hear conflicting words, things that don't necessarily add up. But he or she will say, well, no, wait a minute. Before we come out down with any judgment here, I need to hear both sides. I need to hear both sides of an issue. I need to speak to witnesses. I need to hear the whole story. Can't just listen to one side.

And when there is conflicting words that are spoken, the judge begins to realize that something's not adding up here. Someone's not telling the truth. They will listen to the words. They will listen to the witnesses. And eventually they will begin to discern that somebody's foundation isn't too solid. It's an important lesson for you and for me. The Scriptures, they talk about this.

That when there's a matter that needs to be resolved, when there's a confrontation, when there's an issue, a dispute, when there's something that's going on, we may be too quick to jump in.

We don't know all the facts, all we think we do, and often we don't. And we begin to come down on a sigh. We may prejudge a situation. One of the things that God expects you and I to do, if we have the responsibility to hear a matter or to resolve a dispute, is to be very careful to hear both sides. You know, I was, we heard a story from one of the Men and Men's Club that he came home one day and he was punished by his dad for damaging some property.

And he'd heard from somebody else, a neighbor, that your son had done this.

And the son hadn't done it. The son hadn't done it. He was innocent. He hadn't done it, but he got punished pretty hard by dad. So he didn't hear really necessarily all sides of the story, because obviously what he had heard wasn't true. He thought it was, but it wasn't. And perhaps you've experienced that. Well, let's go over in Proverbs. Let's jump to verse number 17 here.

It's important that both sides are heard and all the facts come out.

Proverbs 18, verse 17, the first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. Now, you may have been in this situation in the past, too. The person that comes to you first and you listen to that and you say, yo, you are right. I can't believe they did that to you. That was a terrible thing for them to do to you. Your cause is just. You know, I just can't believe that that happened. Well, wait a minute.

There's a second part to this verse. The first part says the first one to plead his cause seems right, but the second part says until his neighbor comes and examines him. So God says this is a principle, a principle of God that we don't prejudge. We don't prejudge that we, if we have that responsibility, that we have to know all the facts. We have to know about both sides. We have to be possession of all the evidence, and it's not wise to answer a matter before we hear it.

We can get ourselves into trouble and we can harm other people in the process. It's a foolishness and it's a shame to us, to you and to me. Let's go over to Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11.

God tells us we have to be careful about the words we say and sometimes hold our tongues and say nothing because we don't know all the facts. Proverbs 11.

God says the tailbearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals the matter.

So God's word speaks pretty clearly here. A tailbearer is somebody who's going to reveal secrets, but it also says if we're going to be faithful, and I think we all want to be, or we have a faithful spirit that will conceal the matter. A lot of times this goes against the grain of our human nature, no doubt. But you know, this is God's clear instruction here to you and to me. Let's jump to chapter 18. Proverbs 18 and verse number 8. Again, we're talking about a tailbearer here. You may have heard the old saying over the years, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Well, you know what? It's not true. In fact, just the opposite is true. Let's take a look here at the Scripture here. It says the words of a tailbearer are like tasty trifles. I'm reading from the New King James here. And they go down into the innermost body.

Now, if you've got the old King James version on your lap there, it says it a little differently in Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 8. It says the words of a tailbearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Now, as we look at the original Hebrew here, should it be translated tasty trifles or should it be translated wounds? Well, surprisingly here, it seems like it could go either way, and it seems to cover all the potential circumstances that could happen when the tailbearer shares their stories. Because, in a sense, they're like tasty trifles. Oh, what did you hear? What did you hear about that? I want to know more about that. That's something that seems to have an inclination to us humanly to want to know. When somebody's got a tail to bear, we want to know. And so it could mean that. You know, there are tasty trifles that go down into the innermost body. But it could also be translated that the tailbearer, the words of the tailbearer, are as wounds that go to the innermost part of the belly.

You know, God says words are more powerful, maybe than what we realize. And the power of words to hurt also is great. And if you've been in that circumstance, you know how that works. You'd rather be hit by sticks and stones, in a sense. Because words do hurt. The old adage, sticks and stones won't break my bones, but words will never hurt me, is not true. Not at all. Words are very, very hurtful.

Think about your past. Has anyone ever called you a name? You know, it hurt. Has anyone ever told you, told somebody else something about you that wasn't true?

You know, that hurts. That hurts to hear those things.

And if you've been in that situation, you know what it's like. Let's go over to Proverbs chapter 25.

Proverbs chapter 25, talking about words being like wounds or hurting. Let's take a look at what it says there. Proverbs chapter 25 and verse number 18. It says, a man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow. Wow! It says like a weapon. A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like hitting them with a club or a sword or with a sharp arrow. The New Living Translation puts it this way, telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an axe, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

For then, God says, I want you to be careful. I want you to be careful. The words that you speak are extremely powerful to help or to hurt. And if you're going to be my son and my daughter, you want to watch your words because they're powerful to help or to hurt people, and more significant maybe than we know. God's trying to help us to wake up and understand that once and for all so we can go forward. Let's go to James chapter 3. James chapter 3 verse 2.

James has some things to share about the tongue and the words that we speak.

James chapter 3 and verse number 2.

James has a lot of good common sense knowledge that he shares with us. Back in the first century, brethren, these were issues that were going on. We know in first century Corinth, and we know James is addressing this, and he's talking to brethren. He's not necessarily talking to the outside world. He's talking to brethren about these particular issues. And James has really inspired him to say, look, these are ways to deal with potential problems. So he shares a lot with us here. James chapter 3 and verse number 2. He says, He is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. What's he talking about there?

That if you don't stumble in word, we become a perfect man, a spiritually complete creation.

Our words are very important. God does not want us to stumble in word, because if we can begin to do that, follow the example of Jesus Christ, we become to a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body. What does that mean? Able to bridle the whole body.

One commentary mentions, able to control every part of ourselves, of a person, able to control, have that self-control. He goes on in verse 3, Indeed, we put bits into horses' mouth that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

So this little bit helps to turn the horse's whole body. And verse 4, look at the ships. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very, very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. You know, the rudder is a small piece compared to this gigantic ship, a multi-ton ship, and this small little rudder turns the whole ship.

In a sense, our tongue is like the rudder. He's trying to help us to understand something here.

So this rudder is a small piece compared to the big, gigantic ship.

So our tongue basically causes us problems, brethren. But is it our tongue? And whose voice is it? Whose lips are they? Whose heart and mind? You know, it's our lips.

It's our voice. It's our heart. It's our mind, in a sense. Because ultimately, what's in your heart or what's in your mind is going to come out in the words that we say.

Verse 5, Even so the tongue is a little member. It's this little member. You know, we talk about members. The hand is a member of the body. The head is the member of the body. The heart is the member of the body. The tongue is a member of the body. He says, Even so the tongue is a little member. But boy, it boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles.

Now, the tongue can kindle a great fire. It can cause a lot of problems, a lot of difficulties. It can get us into a lot of trouble. I'm just going to refer. You can write this down to Proverbs chapter 26 and verse 20. Proverbs chapter 26 and verse 20, we talk about a fire that can be kindled. But it says there where there is no wood, the fire goes out. Where there's no wood, the fire goes out. And where there is no tailbearer, strife ceases.

Brethren, our tongue is a powerful thing for good or for evil. So we have to think about our tongue and how we use it. Does our tongue cause division or does it promote peace? Does it cause discord?

Does it hurt? Does it cause confusion? Or does it help? Does it spread joy?

Does it encourage? Does it bring about goodness and kindness and peace?

I'll bet there's people that you know in your life's walk and your experiences that you've never once heard them talk negatively about another person.

That's kind of a rare thing. They've never once criticized a brother. You know, these people are pleasing to God. They're a joy to be around. And you may know people who have talked negatively about another person, about a brother, or been critical of them. And you know, frankly, that's a human tendency for you and I to do that. You know, sometimes it's for various reasons. It's a way to elevate ourselves by putting somebody else down. We're a little bit inferior, so we cast a few things, plant a few seeds to try to level the playing field. But you know, human history has shown that if we have that proclivity to criticize, there's a high probability that if we're critical of others, even if someone else, even if you know that someone's talking to you and they're being critical and they're not critical of you and you think that they're in your their confidence, there's a high chance that if they're critical of others, they will eventually be critical of you.

But rather than be critical of a brother, God would have us to go to our brother. He'd have us to go to them, to sit down with them, and to state our peace. Sometimes these confrontations come to a place where somebody says, I was wrong, I shouldn't have said what I said, and I was wrong, and I apologized to you, I was careless, and I said some of those things, and I'm going to be a lot more careful in the future. When that happens, rather than that's a wonderful thing, there's a wonderful positive outcome that will come from that. Sometimes it doesn't go as well as it ought to.

Brethren, then all we can do is just state our peace and put it in God's hands, and go forward and let it be. James chapter 3 verse 6, and the tongue is a fire. It's a world of iniquity. Wow! What were some of the things that were going on that James had to address? Well, they were real life problems, some of the same ones that we can have. The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. Wow! How do you say it in a more bigger way?

It's just not an iniquity. It's a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and it's set on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell. Wow! How can you say it in any other more profound way? Of how the proclivity of the tongue, the way that it can go, and God would have us to rein it in with His help. No doubt. We certainly can't do this on our own. So the tongue is like a consuming fire. It continues to burn. You know, you can get some things going with the tongue. You can start a feud, and it can continue to go and go and go a long time. It can lengthen problems and keep it going. As we read already, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So whatever it is that's in our heart, whatever it is that we're thinking about, it's eventually going to come out in the words that we say. Whatever is in our emotions, whatever is in our thoughts will eventually come out.

Verse number seven, for every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. You know, think about it. Almost everything out there that you know of some animal has been tamed, whether it be the whale or the porpoise, you know, lions, tigers, they've all been tamed. Dolphins. All of these animals have been tamed. But it says, but no one can tame the tongue. Now, I don't know why I would think I would be an exception to that, because I'm not. And I'm guessing that you don't think that you are either.

No one can tame the tongue. It's something that we're all battling.

But God is trying to get our attention here through His Apostle James and to understand, yes, it's difficult. It's not impossible, because He wouldn't ask us to do something that's impossible and hold us responsible for not doing it. But He says it is not easy, and we need to be thinking about it. And we need to be applying the Spirit of God that He's given to us to help us as we address things with the words that we say. No man can tame the tongue. It's an unruly evil. Wow, He's saying so many different things about it being a fire. It's an unruly evil. It's full of deadly poison. Not just poison, but the kind of poison that can kill. Sounds like a venomous snake. It's kind of sobering to think about. If we are beginning to understand the reality of what God's Word tells us about this member, this tongue that we have, it's sobering to think about because we all have tongues and we all speak.

Sobering description of the tongue and the power that it has.

It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. But you know, it doesn't have to be full of deadly poison.

Our minds and our hearts don't have to be filled with deadly poison. Then He goes on to highlight a serious contradiction. He's spending a lot of time with this topic. Here we go on to verse number nine, trying to help us to see it from a lot of different angles here so we understand a bigger picture of how big this is. He wants us to know. He says in verse nine, because with it, and we're still talking about the tongue and the words we speak, with it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who've been made in the similitude of God. We're nice to God, but we shred man. We bless God, but we curse human beings who've been made in God's image.

Rather than too often, we criticize. We cut down. We undermine. We curse others, and it's a human tendency. But God has called us out of that. It's called us out of that. Being critical, as I mentioned, isn't a new problem. It goes back to the first century in Corinth. Apparently, James is having to deal with it here. It seems to be a problem from generation to generation, but I can guess that God is getting quite grievous with it, and he would like to see the situation begin to turn around. We tend to be too critical of one another. We tend to take it upon ourselves to criticize, which is contrary to God's Word. I can't see where it's in God's Word to criticize a brother. All too often, people that don't know how to agree, they don't know how to disagree without being disagreeable. We don't know how to disagree without being disagreeable. We don't know how to sit down with another person when we reach different conclusions about a matter. I'm not talking about a matter of faith necessarily. That's a different matter, but I'm just talking about a matter that you honestly just don't necessarily agree on. We don't know how to sit down with that person when we've reached different conclusions about a particular matter. But if we disagree with someone on a particular matter, we have a human tendency, if we're not careful, to begin to cut them down, to begin to criticize them.

A small comment to discredit or to plant a seed about somebody's character.

We make it a moral issue when it's not one.

We need to be careful about it. God makes it clear through His Word. Verse number 10, Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.

How does God view this among His people? What does He clearly say in His Word? He says, My brethren, these things ought not to be so. He's talking to brethren. He's not talking to the outside world. He's saying these things out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. This ought not to be so. This is plain and this is simple. How can this be, James says? How can we do a thing like that? It's not what God's people do. Brethren, if your attitude is positive, you'll see and you'll say good things. If that's what's in your mind, if that's what's in your heart, if your attitude is generally positive, you'll say and you'll see good things. I'm not talking about Pollyanna looking through rose-colored glasses. I'm not talking about that.

But what is your attitude focused on and what's mine focused on? We can get into a mood and we can focus on what's negative and what's bad. Brethren, if we get into that part where we begin to focus on what's bad, those are the types of things that are going to come out of our mouths. Again, not being a Pollyanna, but just focusing only on the negative will eventually start to speak negative things. We'll begin to become negative. There's a scripture that says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. We begin to become what we are thinking about.

So be careful. Be careful that you don't let that negativity influence you. Yes, we have to discern between good and evil, no doubt. But if we only focus on the negative and are only looking to the negative all the time, eventually that's going to come out of our mouths. Verse 11, does the spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? He keeps coming at it from different directions here, saying, look, a spring doesn't send forth both fresh water and bitter water. So he uses this analogy. You know, if you find a water fountain and the water is pure and it's delicious, you like to drink from that. But if you've had other water, probably from other fountains where it's rusty and it's bitter and you don't want to drink that water.

But what he's saying is you don't have, of the same spring, you don't have both sweet water and bitter water coming forth from it. He's talking about our tongues. It should not be that we bless God and cursed men. Verse number 12, he goes on, can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives? No, it can't.

Fig tree's not going to have olives. It's going to have figs.

Will a grapevine bear figs? No, grapevine's going to have grapes. It's not going to have figs.

Thus, no spring yields both salt water and fresh. You don't get two different things from the same spring. You can't say good things to God and horrible things about your neighbor. You can't do that.

That's why Jesus Christ, I think, says, you know what? Make the tree good. Make the tree is known by its fruit. Either make the tree good or make it evil. This in-between stuff doesn't work. So God's trying to take us to making it good. It's not an easy thing to do. It's not an easy thing to do.

Brethren, if we have a heart problem, excuse me, if we have a tongue problem, we probably have a heart problem.

If we have a tongue problem, we probably have a heart problem and a mind problem.

I think there's not a person here that probably hasn't said, you know what? I shouldn't have said that.

I wish I could take those words back. I caused a lot of damage. I shouldn't have said that.

One of the members just last Wednesday night after we had the Bible study, we were going through James chapter 3, she said, you know, I don't know if that's exactly the correct question to say.

Question to say, I shouldn't have said that. Maybe more accurately, I should have said, I shouldn't have thought that.

That takes it to another level, doesn't it? That takes it to another level because God is trying to create in us a clean heart. And if out of the abundance of our heart we speak, really, we have a maybe a heart problem rather than a word problem that we need to work on, that we need to repent of and ask God for forgiveness, as David said, and create in me a clean heart. Remember that prayer that he had? God created me a clean heart.

I think she made a good point. And we shouldn't say, oh, I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have thought that because it's what we're thinking that actually comes out with what we speak. These are powerful scriptures here that God is sharing with us because he's taking us in a direction here of being able to use this member for good.

As a man thinketh so is he, I won't turn there. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. That's Proverbs 23, verse 7. I quoted it, but I'll give the reference here. Proverbs 23, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It's a powerful thing to think about. It's a powerful scripture. What should we be thinking? Let's go to Philippians 4 and verse 8. Philippians 4 and 8.

Paul is kind of coming to a concluding thought here. Philippians 4 and verse 8.

He says, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate, or I think the old King James says, meditate or think on these things.

You know, if we thought about it, if we really did think on these things, if I really did, if you really did, you know, what kind of words would come out of our mouths? If we're thinking on what's true, what's noble, what's just, what's pure, what's lovely, what's of good report, what's virtuous, what's praiseworthy. Notice what Paul writes in the next verse here, verse number nine. He says, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do.

You know, I don't think Paul's tooting his own horn. I think he really was humble. He came to this point in his life where he'd been through a lot, and I think he thought on these things.

He shared them with them. Think on these things. Let these be the thoughts that occupy your mind, and if they don't, then you and I need to go to God and get down on our knees and say, God, I'm not thinking the right things because it's obvious by the words that are coming out of my mouth. I'm not thinking the right things. He says, the things which you have learned, verse nine and received. These are things that God is teaching us, and we're receiving and heard. Hopefully we're all hearing today, including myself, and saw in me these do. So we have to act on what we're learning and hearing and receiving, and the God of peace is going to be with you and me.

God of peace will be with you. Let's go back to James, chapter four. James, chapter four. We're surrounded by examples of what God tells us not to do. We're going to cover some of the things of what he wants us to do with our tongues. We're getting to touch on it here.

James, chapter four and verse number eleven.

James tells the people that he's writing to the brethren of God, don't speak evil of one another, brethren. So again, he's not talking about the outside world, necessarily. He's talking about brethren that are speaking evil of one another.

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother.

It's not our responsibility to do either. Speak evil of a brother. Then we are therefore judging a brother. We're speaking evil of God's law and we're judges. We've made a determination.

We're sure that we know all the facts and the circumstances and we're making a determination.

But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. That's not for us to judge.

We're to be doers rather than a judge. We've got our own issues to work on.

Brethren, one thing that God tells us, not speaking evil of one another, is to don't let it come out sideways. What do I mean by that? Don't let something come out sideways.

You know, don't speak to a third party. Don't speak to somebody else about your brother.

Talk directly to your brother. If you have an issue, rather than going to a third party, Bob, I won't pick on you, but maybe I will just for a second.

Mark, did you hear what Bob did? I can't believe what he did. You know, Bob's not there to defend himself. You're not... you're not... you're only hearing one side of the story. You haven't heard Bob's side of the story yet. You've heard mine. And if you respond and say, Dave, man, I can't believe Bob did that either. That was wrong. He shouldn't be doing that. God says, don't go sideways. Don't speak to somebody else about your brother. Go to your brother. Talk directly to them.

Let it come out with the person that the problem is with. Now, that's not easy to do.

That's the godly thing to do, but that's not the easy thing to do. It's a lot easier to go to somebody else. They're going to receive this information a lot more easily, aren't they? Okay. You know, Mark, you wouldn't want somebody going to somebody else to talk about you.

You know, if they've got an issue, you want them to, hey, come to me. Come to me. You wouldn't want someone else to go to a third party and start talking about Mark. You wouldn't want them to do that. And it's not loving our brother. Now, again, it's humanly easier to do that, but it's not according to the Scriptures. What do you do if someone comes to you sideways?

What do you do? Somebody comes to you sideways and they start talking about a brother in Christ to a third party. You being the third party, they've come to you. What do you do?

I can tell you what one woman did. She found gossip and criticism so utterly distasteful and offensive that what she did whenever a person brought up something to her, she said, well, come on, let's go over to that person. Let's find out. Let's go find out if what you're telling me is true. You know that person right away, oh, no, I don't want to do that.

I don't want to do that. She said, no, no, she insisted, took their arm and said, let's go talk to them to see if we can establish a truth and also hear their side of the story.

You know what happened? People quit talking to her about other people because they knew she was going to take their arm and they were going to go talk to the person that that person was talking about. Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 20. Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse number 20. The things that we think about will eventually come out of our mouths.

This is an interesting thing. Solomon wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, so this is the wisdom that's coming from God through Solomon. Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 20. It says, don't do not curse the king, even in your thought. Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your voice, then a bird in flight may tell the matter.

You know, that's probably where the expression came. The little birdie told me, you know, how'd you hear that? Little birdie told me. Probably comes from this particular verse. Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 20. Don't curse the king, even in your thought. Wow!

I think God doesn't want us to curse the king.

Because if we're thinking about it, we'll eventually say it, won't we? We'll eventually say it.

Don't curse the rich, even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your voice. A little birdie plucks your words out of the air, flies off, comes around in a circle, and suddenly some king, some rich person, or some person says, I heard that you said this about me. It's a pretty uncomfortable situation to be in.

Now, I suppose that's happened to all of us at what time or another, and hopefully we've learned from that. We understand we need to be careful about those things. What about some of the good uses of the tongue? I'll have you think about that for a moment, and I asked that at the Bible Studies too. What about a good use of a powerful member? What about the good use of the tongue?

Instead of using it for criticism, or telling untruths, or answering a matter before we've heard it, or some of the other negative things that God warns us about in the Scriptures, what instead does God's Word say we should fill our speech with?

We'll talk about some of those things here.

Let's go over to Ephesians 4, verse 29.

You know, you almost feel after maybe a message like this that you should just probably put some duct tape over your mouth, you know, so you don't say anything bad.

You know, I saw a plaque the other day that said, Dear Lord, please keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.

If you can imagine God doing that to you, putting his arm over your shoulder, and then kind of wrapping his hand around your mouth.

But, brethren, before we put duct tape over our mouths, yeah, I suppose that would help us from saying anything bad, but you know it would also prevent us from saying anything good, wouldn't it? Brethren, don't discount the powerful good force of the words that we speak. Let's notice Ephesians 4, verse 29, because the tongue is powerful for good, to help, to edify, to encourage. Let's read that here. It is a powerful thing to help and encourage people.

And that's what God would have us to do. It says in Ephesians 4, 29, let no corrupt word, or some translation say, communication, proceed out of your mouth.

That word corrupt, if we were to look at the original Greek, we're talking about some really nasty stuff, putrefying stuff that's not pleasant to talk about.

Don't let any corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good?

And what is necessary for edification? Brethren, we need to be edified. This is not an easy spiritual journey that we're on. There are times when it's tough, and our spiritual direction is in the balance. We need to encourage each other.

You know, we may look around and say, it thinks everything's okay. And as a minister, sometimes I think that, and all of a sudden I have a counseling session with someone that they are struggling.

We need to encourage. We need to edify.

What is for necessary edification? That it may impart grace to the hearers.

The Good News Bible says this, don't use harmful words.

It's the same verse here of the Good News Bible. Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words. It's just God's word speaking to you and I. The kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.

You know, I think most of us have been the recipient of some encouragement.

You think about, in the past, people that have encouraged you, that have helped you, an instructor, a teacher, a pastor, a friend, a father, a mother, someone that's helped you and encouraged you.

You know, in my own life, one of my mentors was Lloyd Nelson. He's not here today. He's heard this story before and I probably mentioned it here on the pulpit.

But I was an 18-year-old kid that thought I was in love with a girl in the church. Met her two years prior, 16, and I knew this was the girl I was going to marry.

We got along just like that.

Now, Jelena, I'm glad it didn't work out. She's not here? Okay.

I wouldn't change a thing. I'm glad I'm married to who I'm married. But I thought, at that time in my life, this was the girl of my dreams. And then, her family left the church and she left as well.

And I had that tough decision to make. What was I going to do?

Am I going to follow love, or am I going to follow God?

You know, sad as it seems, that wasn't an easy decision for me at that point in my life.

We were pretty close.

What am I going to choose?

And I was really having a hard time.

Lloyd must have seen my body language. And he said, it's tough, isn't it?

That's all he said.

It's tough, isn't it?

He knew. He knew the situation.

And I said, yeah, it is.

That encouraged me just enough to hang in there. Just that phrase.

He used good words.

He used helpful words, encouraged words. Made a difference.

Made a difference. And I'm sure God was pleased with what he said that day.

To a struggling 18-year-old who mentally was torn, which direction to go.

I know you have your stories as well.

Brother and God would have us to use our tongue to encourage. These are some of the things that come out in the Bible studies.

To edify, as we see here in Ephesians 4, verse 29.

To teach.

To comfort.

To show courtesy.

To show our gratitude and our thankfulness.

To sing.

To sing praises to God. To pray. To talk to Him.

To uplift.

To support.

To inspire.

To inspire.

All of these things.

Good uses of the tongue. And very, very powerful ones. When there's a reason that David said, God, guard the door of my mouth. Not me! I mean, I know I should be guarding it too. But you guard the door of my mouth. He knew how important it was.

That's a good prayer, I think.

And I've got a long ways to go.

I bet you do too.

What about an enemy?

Somebody that hates you.

Somebody that persecutes you. Somebody that despitefully uses you.

Let's go to Matthew 5, verse 43. Is there a tongue involved in something like this?

Matthew 5, verse 43.

Jesus is speaking the Sermon on the Mountain.

He addressed something here very important.

He said, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor. We know about that part of it.

Then he had something else, apparently, that they heard, and hate your enemy.

But the Son of God says, but I say to you, and he spoke as one with authority, you shall love your enemies. The Greek word agapeo.

Agapeo.

You shall love your enemies.

We still have to love our neighbor, don't we?

Even if they're our enemy.

This is Jesus Christ speaking. This is a fascinating Scripture, brother, because I don't think we would know how to love our enemy unless this Scripture was here. I don't think we'd know. I wouldn't know.

I don't see any other Scriptures necessarily. Maybe we could figure it out. But this goes straight to the heart of the matter.

There's three things here in this context.

Jesus, in this context, tells us how to love our enemy. In this context, it involves three things.

Verse number 44.

He says, I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you.

Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute. Three things.

Bless them, do good to them, and pray for them.

You know, bless them can also mean to say good things about them. Not that you're going to make something up, but when you have an opportunity to find something good about them, you say good things to somebody else about them.

Secondly, you do good to them.

Many ways to do good to somebody, either with our words or otherwise.

And the third one involves our words. Pray for them.

You take it to God.

You know that they're having a hard time. If they're hating you, if they're despitefully using you, if they're persecuting you, they've got other major problems.

Who knows what background has brought them into that condition?

But you pray for them.

Use your tongue to speak to God on their behalf.

We need God's help to do that.

This just isn't human nature stuff here at all. This is God nature.

We need God's help. Let's go to Psalm 19, verse 4.

Psalm 19, verse 4.

Let's get to the heart of the matter here in more ways than one. Psalm 19, verse 4.

This is David, who's writing, I believe. I think this is Psalm of David.

Take a look for sure.

Psalm 19.

We'll pick it up here in verse number 4.

Psalm of David.

It says, Wow.

He's basically saying, God, I want this to be acceptable. The words that I say, my heart, the core of who I am, to be acceptable to you. But I need your strength. I need your help. To do that.

Brother, this is really what it's all about.

God is our strength.

He's our Redeemer. We need a clean and right heart, and from that heart, proceeds the words that we speak. In order to have proper communication, we need to have a proper heart. We can't do that on our own, can we? I don't think so. I can't.

I can't do that on my own.

What about Jesus Christ?

Let's go to John 3, verse 17. Just a couple more scriptures. John 3, verse 17.

Jesus Christ, the Word, the Word of God.

He didn't come to condemn people.

He didn't come to slash, to chop down, to obliterate others' character.

Let's notice John 3, verse 17. He was firm at times, but he had their best interests in mind.

John 3, verse 17.

Because God didn't send a son in the world to condemn the world. He did not come to verbally condemn people. I suppose he could have. He's the only one who didn't sin. He's the only one that was righteous.

He did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He came to enhance, to edify, to save, to embellish, ultimately for eternity.

So when it comes right down to it, what's our motivation for the words that we speak?

What's our motivation?

What motives do we have in our communication when we open our mouths?

I think really that's really the heart of the message, brethren.

We can ask ourselves every day in every situation, what's the motive for what I'm about to say? Or what was my motive for what I just said?

Starting to fine-tune a little bit, isn't it?

I don't know how many of you saw the movie in the 70s, or later on the rerun, I suppose, if you weren't around back then, Smokey and the Bandit. Anybody see Smokey and the Bandit over the years? Okay, quite a few.

Starring Burt Reynolds, and Sally Field, and Jerry Reed, and the plot was to try to bootleg some beer from Texas to Georgia, and like 28 hours. Something they said couldn't be done.

Just had a very long ways to go and a short time to get there. In fact, that was the theme song. Remember the theme song? We've got a long way to go, but a short time to get there, we're going to do what they say can't be done.

I think that sums up, and it's been my thoughts, my life. I often think about myself. I've got a long way to go to conform to the standards that God has.

A short time to get there. Maybe you've thought about the same way. And with the power, though, of God's Holy Spirit working in us, God says He's going to be able to do what they say can't be done.

You've been called.

You've been chosen. You've been selected by God.

You've got an awesome potential.

Awesome potential, being His Son, Son of the Most High.

God is changing us.

He's changing us from the inside out.

He's changing us to the depths of our being to become a completely perfect and complete Spirit being.

I want to close with Jesus' words to you and me, as we read earlier. Let's go back to Matthew 12, for our final scripture here, Matthew 12, verse 35.

Matthew 12, and verse 35.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things.

Brother, let's try to apply that to my life and to your life.

A good man, a good woman, brings forth good treasure, good things, embellishing, edifying, peaceful, wonderful things from a good heart. Verse 37.

For by your words, you will be justified.

Brother, with God's help, we're going to be justified.

I have no doubt about that.

And the way that you and I will be justified is it's going to be because of our words.

By our words, we're going to be justified.

God wouldn't have called us if we couldn't have gotten to that place.

This topic isn't finished because we're not finished.

We're still a work in the making, and we've got more circumstances in life that are ahead of us where we can practice the things that God has taught us here.

The power of our tongue is much greater than we realize. Let's use it for good.

Let's use it for good. Let's have words in communication and a heart that are befitting a son or a daughter of God.