In his sermon titled "Death and Life in the Power of the Tongue," Mike Davenport explores James 3:1-12, emphasizing the profound impact of the tongue. The sermon is structured around four key themes: the priority, power, potential, and purity of the tongue. Davenport warns that the tongue holds the power of life and death, capable of blessing and cursing, and thus requires careful control. He uses analogies of a horse's bit and a ship's rudder to illustrate how small things can control larger outcomes. The sermon stresses the importance of spiritual maturity, as controlling one's tongue is a sign of true maturity in the Christian life. Davenport also highlights the destructive potential of the tongue, likening it to a fire that can cause widespread damage. He concludes by urging believers to prioritize the tongue in self-assessment and to rely on God's grace to guard their words, offering practical applications for daily life.

Passage this morning is James 3, 1 through 12. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

Look also at ships, although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles? And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.

My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt, water, and fresh. Let's pray.

Father, we are thankful that you brought us to this passage this morning and there's something here for all of us as we've just read. No one has this mastered. We all need help in this area of life in our walk with you from young to old. We need the spirit to control our words. Lord we know that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and we pray that you would be changing our hearts so that fresh water, living waters, pouring forth from our mouths Lord that we would be bringing glory to you.

We ask that you would be with Mike this morning as he preaches. Give him strength, give him wisdom. Lord, may the preparations and the time he has spent studying be a benefit to all of us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. The year is 2025.

There is an epidemic that has had a devastating effect upon the populace of our nation. Scientists and doctors have spent two and a half years seeking for anything that would stop the destructive path of the seemingly incurable disease. Finally, July 9th, 2025, a breakthrough. Discovery has been made of one mixture of several basic elements to which the pathogens of this awful disease seem to break apart and eventually die off. This mixture is scheduled to be produced here on the East Coast and then to be transported to the West Coast, to the laboratories there, and it is to be transported by tanker truck.

And you, yes, you are to be the driver of the tanker that is to deliver this mixture. You are the deliverer of this saving pharmaceutical. There's just one problem. This mixture, if exposed to oxygen, would create an incredible atomic-like reaction. If this mixture were to be accidentally exposed to the open air, the oxidization that would occur would result in a devastation that would be greater than the epidemic itself.

Itself. The devastation that lies in just one tanker load of this mixture is of such magnitude that if it escaped into the open air it would wipe out all living things within a 800 mile radius in every direction. Both death and life in this very mixture and you are the transporter. What care would you have in the handling of this medicinal mixture? How careful would you be in the checking of the seals on all the ports into that tanker, making sure that even along the way, checking, making sure that the bumps and the vibrations of the travel have not loosened any of those ports.

How careful would you be in driving that tanker? How observant of the slightest variation in the movements of the drivers around you? How alert to the posted height of every bridge under which you pass. Dear ones, as you sit here this morning, do you realize that you actually have in your possession and carry with you everywhere you go something that has such life-giving and yet destruction bringing potential. How could that be?

Am I exaggerating? Well, listen to a man whose wisdom excels both mine and yours, the wisdom of Solomon. In Proverbs 28, or 18 rather, 21, he says, death and life are in the power of the tongue. Yes, death and life are in the power of our tongues. I ask you, the transporter of such power and potential, the same questions.

How careful are you? How observant? How alert? Well, I hope to look at this passage here of James 3, 1 through 12 under the following headings this morning. First, the priority of the tongue.

Second, the power of the tongue. Thirdly, the potential of the tongue. And then fourthly and finally, the purity of the tongue. So first, the priority of the tongue, verses one and two. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many things.

If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, also able to bridle the whole body. So we see here the priority given to the tongue, and we see it here at the pen of James in two specific instances in these verses. First note the priority of the tongue in regards to God's standard in his act of judging mankind. The priority of the tongue in regards to God's standard in his act of judging mankind. He says, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.

From this admonition of James, it seems that we can rightly deduce that here among these scattered Jews, Not a few had a desire, not a few had a desire to be teachers of others or who saw themselves fit to be teachers of others. And this was not simply an admonition to those wanting to be pastors, even though it certainly applies to that calling. It was an admonition in regards to any in the church of Jesus Christ who desired to be one who administered instruction to others. Everyone, says James, who assumes to teach whether he is in office or not, places himself or herself under the expectation of stricter, heavier judgment before God. Now don't misunderstand what James is saying.

James is not declaring a sentence of condemnation on those who teach, But he is emphasizing a greater scrutiny of their teaching and the manner of that teaching. In fact, James acknowledges his own position as a teacher. He declares, knowing we shall receive. And although James is not abdicating his own position in the church because of this understanding, the knowledge of the stricter judgment should be a deterrent to the majority. Let not many of you become teachers.

The priority given to the tongue in regards to how God will judge men and women should cause us to give pause and to consider seriously before we pursue some occasion to instruct others in the way of God. Matthew Henry provides the following very helpful and penetrating insight. He says this, we must not affect to speak and act as those who are continually assuming the chair. We must not prescribe to one another so as to make our own sentiments a standard by which to try all others." James states the reason why he recommends such action, such caution. He says, for we all stumble in many things.

Now, the word James uses here for stumble was used earlier in James 2 10 in regards to stumbling or offending in one point of the law. So the idea is not a falling away, but simply a person who stumbles but continues on his way. And this stumbling of ours occurs in many things, in many things. James knows his own heart, and he knows the heart of his readers. He knows there is no distinction between himself and his sheep.

We all stumble and we do so in many things. I quote Matthew Henry again, were we to think more of our own mistakes and offenses we should be less apt to judge other people. Self-justifiers are commonly self-deceivers. Their magisterial deportment and censorious tongues may prove worse than any faults they condemn in others. But we see the priority of the tongue not only in regards to God's standards in his act of judging mankind, But secondly, we see this priority in regards to what is considered true maturity in the Christian life.

This is why it has a priority, because it's considered true maturity in the Christian life. James says, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. By the word perfect, he is a perfect man. James is not describing one who has become a sinless saint. Such a thing is not attainable on this side of eternity.

The idea of the word, as we have already seen in the book of James, is completeness or maturity. There is a maturity in that man who keeps from stumbling in his words. You see in the mastery of that little muscle in the mouth, the man has gained mastery over his entire body. If he can bridle the tongue, he can bridle each and every other part. James has already spoken of the priority of the tongue in regards to the genuineness of faith and the life of one who professes Christ as Lord.

Back in chapter 1 verse 26 he says, if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless." Does it seem that James is being a bit over dramatic in his drawing so much attention to the use of the tongue? I mean, deceiving your heart? Useless religion? Stricter judgment? Why is James drawing so much attention to the priority of the tongue?

Well, I believe the remainder of our passage this morning demonstrates the desperate need for such attention. And so secondly we come to the power of the tongue, the power of the tongue. Verses 3 through the beginning of verse 5. Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships.

Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. The natural knee-jerk reaction to such admonition regarding stricter judgment and the measure of true maturity, it's simply to say I'm never going to talk again. I'm just not going to talk. Dear ones, that is not what James is advocating.

He does not want us to withdraw into silence. You see there is a bridling and a turning that James is envisioning and he gives two very powerful examples, the horse and the ship. So first the power of the tongue is shown in the example of a horse. Indeed we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole body. The control of the tongue is likened to a bridled horse.

The bit in the mouth is controlled by the hands on the reins so that the rider of the horse can turn the whole body of that horse whichever direction the rider desires. Don't stop there, James says. Look also at ships. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. The control of the tongue is likened to a large ocean vessel in the hands of the pilot.

The rudder is controlled by the hands on the wheel or the helm so that the rudder directs the entire ship in whatever direction the pilot wants to take it. We need to understand the different aspects of what James is describing. There are lots of parts and pieces. The first thing we have to consider is the horse and the ship. The horse and the ship.

What do these represent? Well, they represent our whole body. That's what James just referred to in verse 2. The appetites, the desires, the yearnings, and the actions that follow. Next we have to consider the bit and the rudder.

The bit and the rudder. How are we to understand these two things? Well they represent the tongue, the entirety of the expression of our thoughts, our ideas, and our attitudes. Then we have the horse rider and the pilot. What are these?

They represent the real us. The real us. What the scriptures would refer to as the soul of a man. And there is one last thing that James includes in both of these illustrations. That's the will of the horse and the fierce winds.

Now the will of the horse is unnamed. He doesn't draw our attention to it except by referring to it in these words, The horses obey us. They obey us. And so he wants us to consider the will of the horse as well as the fierce winds. What are we to gather from these?

Well, they represent the resistance that is always experienced in the guiding of the horse and the ship. So what are we to learn from these images that James provides? Well first, both the horse and the ship are controlled by seemingly small insignificant instruments. A small bit in the horse of the mouth that's set right against that tender part of his mouth, that small bit controls the horse and a small rudder, big compared to us but very small in comparison to the vessel of which it steers, it's small, but yet it controls the ship. James is saying that our whole body follows the course of the tongue.

Secondly, the control and the direction are not determined simply by the presence of the bit and the rudder. Just because you have a bit, just because you have a rudder, doesn't mean the horse and the ship are under control. Both are under the wise and skillful hands of the rider of the horse and of the pilot of the ship. A bit is not healthy or helpful if one is not applying the reins. A rudder is useless if there is not one at the helm.

Third, the horse and the ship have purpose. They have purpose. This is why James is not advocating silence. The horse and the ship have purpose. The horse is not expected to stay in the barn.

The ship is not expected to stay in the harbor. James is not envisioning silence but control. The power that lies in these two things, in the horse and in the ship, that power is to be harnessed and used to good ends. Fourth, James wants us to understand that there will be resistance. There will be resistance.

And this resistance comes from within and it comes from without. Resistance within, the horse has a will of his own. Resistance without, the ship is driven by fierce winds. The rider of the horse must overcome the will of the horse, that is, the will of his own body. The pilot of the ship must overcome the fierce winds, that is, the circumstances that occur but are outside of his own control.

So when our flesh and our wills are bent on a certain direction, or when the circumstances around us are pressing us from every side, we must tighten the grip on the reins. We must tighten the grip on the helm, our tongues, in order to keep from being thrown off the back of the horse or being kept from shipwreck. Well having given us these two examples, James explains what they have to do with the tongue. He says, even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. The word little in the Greek is the root word where we get our word micro.

Micro. The tongue is but a micro member of the whole body. And the boasting here, the boasting that he's talking about, This word's not given in order to draw our attention directly to the sinfulness of the tongue. It's given here to show that the tongue has quite a resume, much of which to boast and to hold its head up high. Just as the bit can boast that it can control 1200 pounds of pure muscle, and just like that little rudder can boast that it can steer a 30, 000 ton battleship, so the tongue can boast of a control of the whole body.

This is the power of the tongue. You better harness that power. Why? Well, James goes on to share the reason why. Having shown us the priority of the tongue and the power of the tongue, Thirdly, James goes on to talk about the potential of the tongue, the potential of the tongue.

Picking up in the middle of verse 5 and reading through 8, see how great a forest a little fire kindles and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. And it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.

This past Wednesday night, lightning from the strong storms that passed by our house struck a house just a couple of blocks away. As a result of the lightning, the house caught fire and was destroyed. But not all fires are due to natural causes like lightning. In fact, most are caused by things people use on a daily basis. Things that are just part of normal life.

The National Fire Protection Association published a report in 2015 of the leading causes of home structure fires from 2010 to 2014, a four-year period. The report found that 46 percent of home structure fires were caused by cooking equipment. 16% of those fires were caused by heating equipment. 9% by lighting equipment or electrical distribution. 8% of home structures were caused intentionally and 5% were caused by smoking materials.

Now why did I take the time to give you all of those statistics. What does all of that have to do with James 3? Just this. I want you to see the devastating potential of something that stops performing its intended purposes. Those potentials, every one of us, we have them in our homes.

Cooking equipment, heating equipment, lighting equipment, almost everything that's in that list we have in our homes and we use them on almost a daily basis. You see cooking equipment is a wonderful blessing when it operates as it should. It prepares that which is inedible or unedible before it's cooked. It's inedible. We can't eat this.

So we cook it. It warms that which was frozen or refrigerated. It brings forth delicious food. But this blessing, when it fails to operate as it should, is the cause of almost one out of every two house fires. Heating equipment, space heaters, kerosene heaters, wood stoves are wonderful means of bringing warmth on the coldest of days.

And though it is so helpful, it is also the cause of one out of every six house fires. And so with the lighting or electrical equipment, so helpful, so beneficial, and yet the cause of one out of every ten house fires. Oh, the damage that can be done by something intended to do so much good. So it is with our tongues. After having described the power of the tongue, James informs his readers of the potential of that tongue and the potential he draws their attention to is the devastation and destruction that lies with the tongue.

See how great a fartist a little fire kindles. And the tongue is the fire, a world of iniquity. Fire itself is a great gift of God when it is managed and controlled by men. On the website of the National Park Service you will discover that 90% of all forest fires are caused by humans. Most of these forest fires are a result of campfires left unattended or the purposeful burning of debris that gets out of control.

What starts out as a small controlled fire for good purposes suddenly becomes a massive problem that threatens the well-being of life and involves the effort of many from the outside to stop the devastating effects. Most of you in this room have images etched deeply into the memory of events like the eruption of Mount St. Helens, or of the explosion and burning at the World Trade Centers, or of the recent inferno of the Grinfell apartments in downtown London. The devastation and destruction were great. Even so, James tells us that the tongue is a fire.

It is a world. It's a cosmos of iniquity. That world of iniquity, the word for iniquity in the original language is unrighteousness and injustice. It's a world of unrighteousness, a world of injustice, and the effects of the tongue are widespread. The Great Fire of London of 1666 is thought to have started overnight in a baker's shop owned by Thomas Ferenor.

Heat from the fire that wasn't quite extinguished, the heat from the fire in one of the bread ovens downstairs caused sparks to ignite setting the Farinore shop and residents ablaze. Much of London burned as a result of the carelessness and the only means to bring the fire to an end was the purposeful demolition of many good solid buildings in the path of the fire in an effort to create fire breaks in order to starve the fire of the materials it needed to continue burning. James says the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. So having told us already that the bridling of the tongue is the bridling of the whole body we see here the results of an unbridled tongue. The defilement of the tongue defiles the whole body.

What the tongue says and what the tongue does does not stay with the tongue. In fact, the destructive potential of the tongue does not even stop with your whole body. James tells us that it sets on fire the course of nature. The very affairs of mankind and societies are set into action and direction and often unfold as a result of the tongue. It sets a course for entire nature, entire mankind, entire societies around us.

An unattended fire can set a whole forest of trees ablaze. In saying this, James again draws our attention to the vast difference in size between the tongue and what it affects. Just as in the examples of the bit and the horse and of the rudder and the ship, even so James here explains the enormous potential of a tongue that is out of control. Think of the present course, think of the present course of this world. The direction that it took there in the Garden of Eden simply because of those seeds of doubt planted by the crafty words, has God said?

Has God said? James next gives us, shows us what it is that makes the potential of destruction and devastation so great. How? How could this devastation be? He says the tongue is set on fire by hell.

We see here the combustibility of the tongue. The tongue is not made of fire resistant or fire retardant material. In fact, the tongue is a very powder keg of power and potential and has a very short fuse. Think of the fires of hell. The fires of hell were created as a result of those boastful words, I will be like the most high.

That's what said the fires of hell ablaze. The flames of that pit easily find the potential of a roaring blaze right there between our teeth. Right there between our teeth. The devil as it were has but to blow lightly upon the glowing embers that reside on our tongues. The tongue is set on fire by hell.

Well, having discussed the potential of the tongue through images of the destruction caused by fire, James next expresses his concern regarding the likelihood of the experience of that destruction and devastation. It's most likely going to bring this awful potential of devastation and destruction. He says, for every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue." God gave mankind dominion over all the creatures that he had created there in the Garden of Eden. In spite of the fall recorded in chapter 3 of Genesis, in spite of it, man has been able to continue dominion over the creatures even to the extent of taming wild beasts. Children, have you ever seen some of the videos of men interacting with wild animals?

Things you dare not do out in the wild. God has given man dominion and all sorts of beasts have been tamed by man. But that fall of our first parents has left us completely unable to thoroughly tame the tongue. No man says James has the ability in and of himself to tame his tongue. Why can the natural man not tame the tongue?

Why? Well, he says it. The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. The words unruly evil convey the idea that the tongue is a wickedness that cannot be restrained. In referring to the natural spiritual state of mankind, Paul in Romans 3 quotes from the Psalms, Psalm 140, and he says of us by nature, the poison of asps is under our lips.

No fangs required. Under the lips, within the tongue of men is a sack of deadly poisonous venom, a venom that is released so often through the words that we speak. The admonition of Puritan Thomas Brooks should give us pause to consider. He says, oh sirs, how many men and women are there that select with care what they eat, that are not so selective of what they speak, that are careful about the food which goes into their mouth lest it should hurt or poison them, who are no wise careful about the words that go out of their mouths lest they should hurt or poison others. Oh the potential, the destructive damning potential of that little member between our teeth.

Well having dealt with the priority of the tongue, the power of the tongue, and the potential of the tongue, James comes forthling and finally to the purity of the tongue, the purity of the tongue. Verses 9 through 12. With it, that is with the tongue, we bless our God and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursing. My brethren these things ought not to be so.

Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus, no spring yields both salt water and fresh. When it comes to the use of our tongues, we have to come to grips with the state of our hearts. When we consider the power of the tongue and the potential of the tongue, we have to rightly ascertain where our heart is spiritually.

You see, it's an issue of purity. It's about purity. The purity or impurity that comes forth from the tongue tells us volumes about the state of our hearts. Christ emphasized this reality in his teaching of his disciples. Having instructed the multitudes publicly in Matthew 14 verses 10 through 20, hear and understand not what goes into the mouth defiles a man but what comes out of the mouth this defiles a man." Christ goes on to say the following to his disciples who struggled to understand what Jesus was declaring to the multitude.

He says, do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man." So the teaching of Christ echoed here by James declares two fundamental truths. First, what proceeds from the mouth comes directly from the heart.

Secondly, what proceeds from the mouth defiles the whole body. From the heart to the mouth, from the mouth to the rest of the body. I quote from the works of Thomas Brooks once again, Oh, sirs, the tongue is a nimbler or a nimble interpreter of the heart. If there be piety or iniquity at the bottom of your hearts, your tongues will discover it. The stream rises not above the fountain.

What is in the well will be in the bucket. What is in the warehouse will be in the shop. So what is in the heart will be in the mouth. If there be anything of God, of Christ, of grace, of heaven, of hell, of sin, of the world, of self in the bottom of your souls. Your tongues will discover it.

No man can so change himself, but his heart may sometimes be seen at his tongue's end." Even David, writing in the times of the Old Covenant, he understood the connection between the heart and the mouth. Therefore he prayed in Psalm 1914, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer. So James here declares a sad reality If it were not reality, he would have no need to say my brother and these things ought not to be so. The reality is that with our tongues we bless our God and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.

The duplicity of the words of our mouth reveal a duplicity of the meditations of our heart. If the meditations of our heart are acceptable in the sight of the omniscient Redeemer who sees all things, then the words of our mouth will be acceptable as well. But too often we draw near to God with our mouths while our hearts are far from him. Even on the Lord's Day Sabbath, how often do we bless our God and Father in our praying, in our singing, yea, even in our preaching, and curse our brother and our sister, the image bearers of our Lord both by means of creation and redemption, cursing them by means of criticism, slander, gossip, lying within hours if not minutes of blessing our God. These things ought not to be so.

And so James holds up a mirror, the same mirror he set before us earlier in this epistle. And he says, look, look, don't go your way and forget what manner of person you are. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Of course not.

Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. What is the source of that spring that flows from your heart? When you come under the influence of the Word of God, the Scriptures, are you a forgetful hearer? Or are you one who looks intently into that perfect law of liberty and continues in it throughout your day? What type of water flows from that spring within?

Salt water or fresh water? Just as a fig tree does not, yea, cannot bear olives. Just as a grapevine does not, cannot bear figs. So a spring cannot yield both salt water and fresh water. The water, the fruit is dependent upon the source.

What about your tongue? What about your tongue, dear friend? What does the fruit of your tongue declare to you about the state of your heart. What flows forth from your tongue? Purity or impurity?

You see the importance of the purity of the tongue re-emphasizes the first point, the priority of the tongue. The tongue should have priority in self-assessment. Do not think of your words as merely something spoken in the heat of the moment. Oh that's long forgotten. It's no of no importance now.

You will meet your words again. You'll meet them again. Jesus gave this sobering word of admonition to the Pharisees in Matthew 12, 34 to 37. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good man, a good man, one who brings fresh water, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things.

And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth that salt water, evil things. But I say to you that for every, every idle word, men may speak. They will give account of it in the day of judgment for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. My friends if your words were brought in today all the words of your lifetime And they were set before the eyes of the entire congregation. They were shown right up here on this screen that sits behind me.

Every word from the day you were able to speak until the words you spoke before you came in to this building today, if they all were exposed, all the words spoken in your home, in your car, in your bedroom. All the words spoken to your wife or your husband, to your children, to your workmates, to the brothers and sisters in this church. All the words that came across your lips in conversation and across your fingertips in your responses to emails, to blog posts, and to Facebook posts. If all of those words were broadcast on this screen this morning, would you be justified or would you be condemned? The day is coming when all the words will be broadcast.

Not just hateful and destructive words but also idle words that have no purpose that are spoken without the intent to edify. Are you ready? Are you ready for that day? Are you living each day, guarding each thought, guarding each word in light of that great day. Remember again the sobering words of James back in chapter 1.

If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart this one's religion is useless it's useless If that is the verdict of James here and now, how much more condemning will that verdict be on that last day when the Lord of glory, the righteous judge of the earth who sees the things done in secret, sees the things done in the dark, judges our every word. This is a test of the genuineness of our faith, the topic of the book of James. Having just declared that our faith is evidenced by righteous works, oh, and we're busy about that, aren't we? James also wants us to know that our faith must be evidenced by righteous and wholesome words. Yes, it must be evidenced by works, but it must be evidenced by wholesome and righteous words.

Will it be carried out perfectly? No, we stumble in many things. We lack that maturity of that complete man who's able to bridle his tongue. Listen to the wonderful balance and hope that John Newton gives to these realities. It is not the restraint of the heart James requires.

He knew that though it be our duty to watch against the first rising motion of evil within and to be humble for them, it is not in our power wholly to prevent them. But he supposes that the grace of God in a true believer will check the evils of his heart and prevent them from breaking out by the tongue. Nor is the restraint of the tongue to be taken so strictly as if a believer was never liable to speak unadvisedly. I allow it possible that the best of men in an unguarded hour and through the pressure of some sudden and violent temptation or provocation may occasionally act or speak unsuitably to their habitual character. But I think the apostle must mean thus much at least that when grace is in the heart, it will so regulate and control the tongue that it shall not customarily offend and that without some evidence of such a regulation we are not bound to acknowledge any man to be a Christian however splendid his profession may be in other respects.

Brothers and sisters, we need grace from God. We need grace from God. We need the working of the Almighty within our hearts. Therefore, may we cry out like the psalmist David when he says, set a guard, O Lord, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.

May this be our prayer and may God answer us. So in closing, I would like to give you just a few applications. Number one, if God considers the tongue to be such a high priority in deserving of great attention, then so should we. If our God considers the tongue to be such high priority and deserving of our greatest attention, then so should we. Seriously fix your heart upon these two passages, Matthew 12, 36, and 37, but I say to you that for every idle word men may speak they will give account of it in the day of judgment for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned and Proverbs 18 21 death and life are in the power of the tongue Every thing you say get into the habit of storing it in one of those two categories.

You just brought forth life-giving words or you just brought forth destructive words. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Secondly, resign up your tongue to God afresh every day. Resign up your tongue to God afresh every day. Remember the afresh every day.

Remember the teaching of Paul, 1st Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. You are not your own. Your tongue is not your own. You, the entirety of your humanity has been bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's.

Christ died to have your tongue. The price, consider the price that was paid for your tongue and glorify God in your body and in your spirit which belonged to him. Romans 6 13 14 and 19 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves, present your tongue to God as being alive from the dead and your members, yea your very tongue as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over