Why Not Many Should Teach

James 3, and I'm going to read the first 12 verses here from the ESV. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they're guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature can be tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.

No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives? Or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Let's pray. Father, I pray that You would help Your people. Lord, we've gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, opening up the very Word of God.

One of the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, even the half-brother, He's spoken, You've recorded it for us for 2,000 years. You've given this to the people of God, and here we are. We're in that holy lineage of the people of God, and we would ask You that we would be able to profit from these verses as much as any of Your people ever have or ever will.

Help us, Lord. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

So, one thing I want you to see. Often, verse 1 is handled separate from verses 2 through 12. And I know in preacher's classes, I probably have.

But, they're connected. And you should see that. You should see that verse 2 has that coordinating conjunction.

And, conjunction. What's your function? What's the function? How many of you saw those cartoons? Did you see them, sister? Jim, you probably did. You're that age.

Did you see those? Anyways, what's the function of a conjunction? I mean, when you get a for, it basically means that you're in for a result. A conclusion. Further information on the matter.

The cause. That's what it's there for. And it connects it.

It means that there's not a new thought here. It means that what James said in verse 1 is carrying over to verse 2. There's a clarification. There's an explanation.

Now, here's the thing. None of us have any problem recognizing that James' words in verse 1, don't they appear to apply first to the teacher? I mean, you have teachers. My brothers.

You know. Now, he goes on to say this. You know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Obviously, verse 1 has everything to do with teaching. There's no difficulty with that. And of course, verse 2 is connected by for, but the word teacher doesn't show up in verse 2. But it's connected, so we know that it has to do with the same thing.

See, the moment he uses that word, all, now we tend to step back and say, well, this has to do with all of us. But you see, he's giving clarification to what he just said. Now, look.

These words are applicable to all of us. We all have tongues. But what you need to recognize is he's dealing primarily with teachers here.

That is his mastery of the tongue in verse 2 is what? It's a sign of overall maturity. That's what he's saying. It's an indication we have universal self-control.

And the thing is, he's applying this to teachers. But we all have tongues. And so whatever is being applied to teachers, obviously, I think what you want to do as you go through these verses, you want to recognize James has a very specific application.

And it is first and foremost to teachers. Obviously, we all have tongues. And so these principles work for all of us.

If it is a general axiom or principle that you can lay down that if a guy can control his tongue, he says that's proof the guy can control his whole self. How do we use our tongues? Brethren, it is a massive indicator of where our spiritual maturity is at. What you want to see here is the general application, the specific application to teachers.

So this is the most sustained discussion of the tongue in all of our Bibles. I can remember as a brand new Christian hearing John MacArthur. He did something called, I think something like, New Man, New Tongue.

He did a series on that. I remember that. How we use our tongues.

That's the idea. And you know what's interesting about this? Outside of verse 1, you can't even hardly see it. There is an imperative in verse 1. It is the should.

Not many should become teachers. That's the only imperative in all of this. When you go to verses 2-12, you know what? You have a string of indicatives that basically are followed by verse 10.

This says, My brothers, these things ought not to be so. They just shouldn't be so. The focus of James' teaching is to bring Christian believers, I mean, it's to give us some insight into teaching and that there shouldn't be many of them, but the general application is that it's meant to bring Christians to maturity.

And brethren, the thing is you can't get away from it. That in these words, the mastery of the tongue is one of the clearest marks of spiritual maturity. And you know what Jesus said? You remember His words in Matthew 12? Jesus doesn't only say that this is a measure of spiritual maturity.

This is a measure of Christianity itself. You remember these words? He says, brethren, I don't know how this strikes the rest of you, but I think this is one of the most fearful verses in all the Scripture concerning how we speak. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

You've heard that before. So this is the tongue, however else it may be connected to you. I mean, we can think about anatomically where it's connected.

I don't know how long the tongue actually is, where it's no longer considered the tongue back there. Some of you medical people might know that. But however it's connected to our bodies.

Folks, the real issue in Scripture is how the tongue is connected to the heart. And that's what you see here. The good person.

So if you've got a good person. There are good people, folks. Christians are good people.

Good people speak a certain way. And where does it come from? Out of His good treasure. In other words, the good treasure of His heart.

He's going to bring forth by His tongue. The evil person, out of His evil treasure, brings forth evil. And then you have this.

There's a judgment day aspect to our speaking. I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words, you will be justified.

And by your words, you will be condemned. That... Look, Jesus is not giving us a way out here. That is going to be the rule for judgment day.

Your words are going to give you a way. And, you know, the issue is this. By your words, could you be incriminated as being a Christian? Does it give you a way? Could you be counted guilty of that charge based on your word? The words that come out of your mouth.

Now, look at this. James 3, 1 and 2. Let's read them again. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers.

For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For, to give more clarification, He says we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

And you see the logic. This is an argument from the greater to the lesser. That's the logic.

One who is able to control his tongue, is surely able to control the rest of his body. Why? For this reason. The tongue is the most uncontrollable part of you.

And if you can control that, that shows the significance of self-control that lends itself to the fact that if you can do that greater thing, you can do the lesser thing. Out of all the members of the body, and you know people have real problems with their sexual organs, people have real problems with their eyes, they have problems in numbers of areas when it comes to the members of the body. And yet, the most uncontrollable one of all, as it says right here.

Brethren, you can personalize this. If you are in a position where you strive to grow in the grace, to say the right thing to the right person at the right time, for the glory of God, by the power of God, if you will strive to grow in that, what this is saying is that mastery in that area, mastery of that tongue, that is sufficiently difficult enough, from just a spiritual standpoint, that if you can do that, it reveals your ability to do the rest. You all see that? You see that in verse 2? Brethren, you and I have tongues.

And God is taking an account. That's what Jesus says. How you use this tongue.

And what James is recognizing, if there is any place we are liable to go off track, it is right here. Argument from greater to lesser. Stumbling in what we say, brethren, pay close attention.

Stumbling in what we say seems to be the issue behind why there should not be many teachers. You want to notice that. See, stumbling in my words as a teacher is going to face a stricter judgment than if you stumble and you're not in a position of teaching.

And that ought to make sense why that would be. I mean, brethren, you recognize that words, I'm up here in a pulpit, and what am I doing? I'm using my mouth right now, and my tongue is moving, and air is coming out, and it's going through the vocal cords, and there's words. When we teach, we're using words.

And that's the idea here. Words lie at the heart of the teaching ministry. And for the teacher to stumble, if we stumble in many ways and my stumbling happens when I'm up here, there's going to be a stricter judgment.

Why? Because of the opportunity to do bad, to do wrong, to do good. I mean, I'm up here in a place that my words are going into many ears right now, and they're even going through that machine right there, and they're out to who knows where, and people come across these things. The fact is that an unreliable tongue is destructive.

You know what? If I'm speaking in a little group, I'm speaking just to you, and I'm speaking something, and some kind of stumbling word comes out of my mouth, well, you see, it can infect you and me. But you get a man that stands up and he teaches and he stumbles in his words, obviously, it's way more potential for negative influence. An unreliable tongue, it's destructive also to those who are taught.

The idea here is that the potential for bad is multiplied. And so you have a huge responsibility when you take upon yourself that place of teaching. Huge.

Do you recognize what that is saying? That is saying that God does not count it a small thing just for Him to pass over and sweep under the rug. If you take it upon yourself to put yourself in a place of teaching and you stumble, that means you say things that aren't biblical. You say things that aren't right.

You say things that dishonor God, dishonor Christ. That's not good. You say things that are erroneous, false teachers.

And you know what? It doesn't just take a lost guy who's totally entirely a false teacher to come up here and stumble. The idea is that in any good church, there should be few teachers. Why? Because most people have sufficient ability to stumble when they get here that they ought not to be here.

That is exactly what's being said. Teaching brings huge responsibility. But with that, it brings huge opportunity to do good or bad, therefore, the stricter judgment.

Now, here's the thing. Obviously, there must be some teachers. What's the point there? Verse 2, he says we all stumble.

So what? No one's qualified? That's how it sounds. And you know what? There are guys who say that the perfect man here is theoretical. That what James is saying is we all stumble.

The guy who's perfect and doesn't stumble in his words is theoretical. But I would say if that's what he's saying, then he's basically saying that nobody is fit to teach. I don't believe that's what he's saying.

You say, what is he saying? I would say this, I believe that the way he uses perfect is exactly the way he uses it back in chapter 1, verse 4. Look at it. Chapter 1, verse 4. You see perfect there? I didn't look at all the different translations, but I know in the ESV, let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Now you see, that is not some theoretical thing.

He's actually pressing us towards this kind of perfection. This is a completeness. Now here's the thing.

I think when he says we all stumble, and then he goes on to say, if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man able also to bridle his whole body. I think that what he is doing here is he's speaking much the same way, say, Jesus speaks in John. You guys know how John says this.

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. You ever read that? But then the next verse says what? But to as many as do receive Him. But wait a minute, didn't he just say that nobody receives Him? Brethren, the thing is, Scripture speaks this way.

It will tell us no one seeks God. And yet it will come back and tell us that there are people that seek God. Scripture says that His own didn't come to Him, and yet to as many as didn't receive Him, but to as many as did receive Him.

I think that James is speaking exactly the same way. And basically what he's doing is he's laying down a general proposition, a general truth here, and then he goes to the exception of the rule. And the exception is what God is calling for.

Just as the exception to the rule when people generally don't receive Jesus, yet what God wants is for us to receive Jesus. And that is the minority. That is the exception.

And the same thing proves true here. Although we stumble. And yes, we all do stumble in certain ways.

But certainly, he's arguing for the fact that some should teach. Most should not. And so who's the guy that should teach? Well, the guy that actually has come to the place where there is that kind of perfection.

And I would argue this kind of perfection there is the same kind that's set forth in chapter 1 verse 4. And this is not just theoretical. Brethren, that guy that has the ability to control his tongue. And I recognize that even the men that this church puts in this pulpit have had the ability to not always use their tongue perfectly, as you all are well aware.

You know that. You know that in privately talking with all the men who have been given a place of teaching in this church. You know that from things that get said from the pulpit.

I mean, one of the reasons we want to deal with what we want to deal with in the next preacher's meeting is because men don't always use their tongues exactly right. Or we want to figure out what that is. One of the reasons why earlier this year I'm making an apology from this pulpit is because I don't always use my tongue in exactly the right way.

And that is just the reality, brethren. But what marks the man that is put in this position is that as a rule, he is not a man that stumbles in his words. He is not a man that in the teaching capacity stands in this pulpit and misuses his tongue that on a regular basis he is capable of not stumbling in that fashion.

That's the idea. So, tongue mastery. Such a choice fruit of self-mastery.

And if the teacher lacks that, then the damage will incur strict judgment. But obviously, look, James' principle in verse 2 applies to us all. And God wants all of us striving for perfection.

This completeness. God wants that from all of us. God wants all of us not stumbling in our words.

And brethren, you know how this ends. This ought not to be so. That's what He's saying to us.

The things that we do in the misuse of our tongue as Christians, brethren, this just simply should not be so. It should not be so with the teachers. It should not be so with every one of us.

That's the issue. And if you're a spiritually mature person, verse 2 says, it's going to be proved by your own ability to bridle your own tongue. And brethren, I'm talking about your tongue.

We can always think about what other people do with their tongues. But brethren, you've got a tongue. And I want you to think about your ability to control or not control.

If you can do this, what He's saying is you're master of your whole body. And what does the control of the tongue have to do with? Well, for one thing, knowing when to be silent. Knowing when not to speak.

And then, it has to do with kind of the old man, new man thing. There are things to put off and things to put on when it comes to our words. You must... Listen, Paul.

Now you must put them all away with your tongue. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, have put on the new self.

If we're going to bridle this tongue, we've got to know when to be quiet. We need to know when to talk. We need to put off the things that relate to the old man and put on the things that define the new man.

So, let's look at verse 3. James 3, verse 3 through 5. It's the first part of 5. Maybe all of it. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. You see the picture.

It hardly needs any explanation. You've got a picture in your mouth. A little thing in a horse's mouth controls the whole horse.

Huge horse, perhaps Clydesdale, Belgian, these big ones. And whatever they're towing, you recognize. Look at the ships.

Same thing. They're so large. And I think of some of the ships we have today that James didn't have in his day, but these massive shipping vessels.

They're driven by strong winds. Obviously, that's a sailboat. But they're guided by a very small rudder whenever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the tongue is small. That's the point of all of this. Yet it boasts of great things.

You see, the point is this. Small, but powerful. Small.

You know what he's saying? The tongue exercises power out of proportion to its size. It's like we tend to size up the power of something. You know, you look at a person.

If the guy's bulging with muscles, you have an idea about it. You know how they always make Samson out to be this hulking? I suspect he did not look like that. That's what made this thing so supernatural.

You see, there are certain things we look at. Like if you chopped a tongue out of somebody and you threw it down there on the ground, what is it? It's a little pita. Judy, you eat tongue.

I remember the first time I moved down here and I've never had it before. Judy served tongue. Well, you know what? That's a cow tongue.

Ours are pretty small. If you just had a human tongue, I know that picture is probably nasty to you. But you look at it and it's small.

You can cover it with your shoe. The idea here is that this thing like a bit and like a rudder has massively out of proportion ability to do damage or good. That's the issue of all this.

Brethren, you want to remember the connection to verse 1. You remember the 4 back up there. I mean, the power of the tongue. It's true universally, but especially when wielded by a teacher.

Do you recognize that when somebody stands up to teach God's people, that there is something in this room right now that is out of proportion to the size of everything else, has an ability right now to do damage or to do good? That is my tongue. And that's the idea here. That's what he's saying.

The thing for teachers to recognize is the potential influence. That's the thing. That rudder may not be doing anything right now, but sitting straight and the ship is just sailing on.

That bit, you may not be pulling on it at all. It's potential. I may be using my tongue right now and I can just say something.

I may have a word or two or here. They don't do really anything. It's just like that rudder.

It's just like that bit. But it's the potential. There is so much potential.

And that's the idea here. Just a small bit. Have you ever seen those Clydesdales? Anybody that's seen Budweiser commercials? Belgians are supposed to be even bigger.

These are massive horses. I can remember in my lost days going down to Ship Shawana, Indiana and seeing the Amish out there. Massive horses pulling.

This woman in this great great flowing dress and she's mowing the lawn. She's standing on the deck of this big thing with all these mower blades and grasses flying and these huge horses. And you know what? I guarantee it.

She was guiding that. She could turn that whole thing wherever she wanted just by a tug on that bit. The same thing with ships.

That's the idea. Small piece of flesh in your mouth. Small! It's so small.

But oh, it's capacity. Doesn't the Proverbs say death and life are in the power of the tongue? Brethren, I didn't do all the research here and start thinking about all the different things throughout history where people's tongues have just been... But you can imagine. You've seen.

But I thought about this. I think about what does the devil try to control? Like in the world, he seeks to control education. What happens if the devil controls education? What happens if you have a bunch of God-hating people, Christ-rejecting people in the place of teachers, of our children? They have tongues.

Do you know the damage they do to a whole generation? I think of what else the devil likes to control. He likes to control what? You tell me. Think about it.

The news. The media. Again, you have all these mouths.

You have these tongues that go. He likes to control music, Disney, Hollywood. Why? Because there's advertising.

Now, oftentimes with advertising, the tongue is moving and there's images that accompany. But you think about the power of advertising, the power of media, the power of education, the power of Disney to send messages to our children. When my children were growing up, we didn't go there.

Why? Brethren, one man can teach and you just think about whole churches and church movements can be set in motion. The mouth of Wesley begins to go or Whitefield. I think of I'll Be Honest.

Do you know I'll Be Honest is a ministry that has men moving their tongues? And think of it. John was just bringing this up recently. He travels around the world and he sees, think about Paul Washer, one hour long sermon called The Shocking Youth Message.

And think about what that has done. One man moving his mouth like this. You think about one or two men or a handful of men that came from Jerusalem and they came up to the Galatian churches and they started speaking nonsense and what happens? You've got the whole thing.

Paul's rebuking these people. Brethren, proportion. It's powerful out of proportion to its size.

That is the issue here. Brethren, you just think about Spurgeon. I mean, his mouth, his tongue being dead, how he still speaks.

You think about Paul the Apostle just turning the world upside down. How many people have been affected so positively by Spurgeon's sermons? When he originally came forth, he was preaching from a pulpit just like this. You see, James sees this tiny instrument of extraordinary power.

You've got to think about that, brethren. Your kids are watching you. What do they hear you say out of that mouth? I'll tell you.

How many children do you think have gone to hell and on judgment day, they're going to point at mom and dad because of the way they use their mouth? And you say, well, if they're elect... You do not want to go there. James is chiefly concerned here that we sense the power of teaching. And to be taking that power upon yourself is to face strict judgment.

Incredible power of the tongue means that for you to teach, an incredible power has been entrusted to you and a huge responsibility that is going to bring a strict judgment. Now here's the next thing. Look at v. 5 again.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire. A world of unrighteousness.

The tongue is set among our members staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell. A fire. A little spark.

I mean, many of the forest fires, many of the California fires, you hear of these great fires, fires that destroy buildings and apartment complexes. And so often you can look at this little thing. There was a little short in the electricity.

Or a guy's smoking a cigarette and he tosses it out his window. A little spark somewhere. Sometimes, you know what? I've seen this before where you get a truck going down the road and it's probably got a bad wheel bearing and sparks are flying and set afire beside the road.

This is the idea. A small spark can set a whole forest. Tens of thousands of acres are often taken out.

One campfire. One gust of wind took an ember out somewhere. One bolt of lightning.

It's just relatively small at first. That's the idea here. The issue here, as much as anything, is the potential to do damage.

Specifically, he's targeting the damage here. So it is with the tongue. You know, the Proverbs says this, the beginning of strife is like the letting out of water.

You say, what's that? It's kind of like the dam. You ever seen a dam? You start to get a little leak and before you know it, the whole thing comes crumbling down in a huge gush of water and it wipes out a whole city downstream. It's just the tongue.

It's so small, but it's got such potential. The power of the tongue to do harm is massive. You think every sin under the sun, the tongue is capable of.

The tongue can give vent to every sin you can conceive of doing. Because those sins immediately are in the heart. They come from what's inside the man.

And the tongue can give vent to all of that. Thomas Manton said in his commentary on this, he believes most of man's sins are in his words. You think of lying, misrepresentation, backbiting, gossip, slander, flattery, boasting, cursing, profanity, harshness, bragging, complaining, quarreling, manipulating, spreading rumors, criticism, speaking with the intent to harm, passion, unbelief, anger, hate.

You know, it wasn't too long ago that I dealt with the giants here. Think of those ten spies. They use their tongues to come back and give a bad report.

They discouraged a whole nation from going into the land. A whole nation that was not victorious, that could have been, that now had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Brethren, tongues do things like that.

You just think of the ability that the tongue has to discourage people from trusting the Lord. Think of it, brethren. Think of the marriages broken by tongues.

The families that are wrecked and destroyed. The churches that are divided. The unbelief that gets provoked.

A sharp word. One sentence. Some careless thing you say.

Some thoughtless. You didn't really prepare. You're standing in a pulpit.

I bring this back to teachers. It's like you're going along and you just say something. Something comes out of your mouth and it's just wrong.

It's bad. You haven't thought through it. You haven't prayed through it.

And brethren, I'll tell you this. Look at v. 6. The tongue is a world of unrighteousness. Do you recognize how fast a word out of your mouth can destroy a testimony that you have taken decades to build? You can wreck it with a word.

I mean, mouths. Words can destroy a life. And it says the entire course of life.

That's the idea. Your tongue is capable of doing terrible injury throughout the whole course of your life. Whether you're young, whether you're old, whether you're in middle age.

The tongue that sets the world on fire. And you see what it says. It's set on fire by hell itself.

A stain. It stains the whole body. Now brethren, here's the thing.

Of course, this is true of lost people. We don't even argue that. That's not the issue.

The tragedy of it all and obviously the tragedy that James is specifically wanting us to deal with and is concerned about is when this same destructive power is released within the church. Especially among teachers. But among all of us.

That's his obvious concern. How easily the failure to master my tongue can destroy so much that God has done in my life. Taking years to build up.

Okay, here's the next thing. Look at verse 7. Now we're going to deal with the difficulty of taming the tongue. Every kind of beast and bird, reptile and sea creature can be tamed, has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.

It is a restless evil full of deadly... Restless evil. It's like this. You just imagine.

He's talking about beasts. Beasts of prey. Folks, people have tamed leopards and lions and tigers.

You've seen it. They've tamed killer whales and dolphins. Every type of beast.

You've seen elephants. They can train them. And what this is saying is your tongue is restless.

It's like that pacing beast. It's just looking for an opportunity to defend itself, to attack. It's a deadly poison.

You know what? The tongue is like... When you think of the poison of asps. You've heard that. Paul uses that in Romans 10.

It's like our tongues are like restless rattlesnakes. That's what he's describing here. But the difficulty of taming the tongue.

It's like we can tame all these things. And brethren, I'll tell you, certainly what's implied right here is you and me need a power greater than you and me to tame this thing. That's the issue.

Not that it's impossible. It's just naturally something you and I can't do. Now listen, Christian, you are not natural.

You are supernatural. So don't you dare take those words and just consign yourself to well, our fate is... No, you don't even go there. Difficult.

Impossible even for people. But we just need to pray, Lord, give us what we need. I mean, you want a certain tongue.

You've got to give us what we can't do. You've got to make it happen. Then look at 9. With it, we bless our Lord and Father.

With it, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. Same mouth, blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Now he's talking about everything. He's let all this build up. He's talking about it being a fire.

He's talking about its potential for destruction and being like this set on fire of hell. All these things ought not to be so. He probably just gets to the point where he lets go with that.

Then he comes back to this. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh and salt water? You know what he's dealing with here? The inconsistency of the tongue. It's like we sing hallelujah to the Lord.

And then we can get done with this service, go into your little places and gossip and say something evil about somebody. You're just praising the Lord. And then you go do that.

And you know what he likens it to? Out in nature. The thing is, the tongue's more contradictory than nature. When you go out in nature, you don't see the pear tree coughing up apples one day and pears the next day.

The way God has designed nature, it's not hypocritical. It doesn't come across like it's a pear tree. And then all of a sudden, bang! It surprises us in an apple tree.

You don't go to a spring and it's like this hypocritical spring. I remember growing up, my grandma had a spring out back and water came right up out of the ground and there was an old cup there and everybody would drink from it and it was really good water. But it was never salty.

And you never had that idea that it might be. That's the way nature is and that's what he's dealing with here. The tongue's more contradictory than the stuff we find out.

Brethren, we have an inconsistency with our tongues. And it is a treacherous one. It is a shameful one.

Our tongue is one, but it does different things. It does the good and it does the bad. Brethren, this ought not to be so.

And I just say this. Now he's done. He's done talking about the tongue right here.

Now you come back and say a few more things. But why does it feel like James doesn't really give us any instruction or any counsel? Are you guys good with that? Brethren, it ought not to be so. Aaron, you're not satisfied with that.

You always say, I need more. Well, I would say this, that James has obviously... You know, you sit down. The intention would have been that James would have been in red in one sitting.

And the thing is, James has already said some things that are very helpful. And he is going to say some more things. And so, I would just say this, that one of the things that James says here that he's going to say, is draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

You say, what's that got to do with? Brethren, I'll tell you, if you have any kind of interest in using your tongue in a more righteous fashion, draw near to God. Because God is light. And when you draw near, it exposes.

And the classic picture of that is Isaiah. Woe is me. He says, I'm lost.

I'm undone. He says, he is a man of unclean lips and he dwells in the midst of a people with unclean lips. Has that ever struck you? Here he is drawing close to the Lord and what is it? Notice what jumps out.

The first thing isn't, Lord, I'm sorry. I know I was looking at that woman over there in an inappropriate way. The first thing that comes, he draws close the Lord high and lifted up.

And I'll tell you this, brethren, James says draw near to the Lord. Now there's ways, one of the ways last week that I was talking to the guys up in Austin is just you've got to get alone with Him. Speak with Him.

Talk with Him. But I'll tell you the closer you get, and you know what comes with this closeness is conviction. It's a sight of your own words.

And then what happens? Confession. Brethren, you want to deal with the Lord. In our drawing close to God, confession is always... God sees it already.

Be honest. One of the great things you can do is just examine the way you speak and confess it. That is just such a tremendous place to start.

Confess. And then the thing is, later, He is going to say this, you don't have because you don't ask. I wanted to sing Psalm 141.

Did you catch it? I mean, often we want to sing Psalm 141 before a prayer meeting or something because it's got to do with Lord, I cry unto You. But did you hear what David said in the midst of that? What did he say about the mouth? Keep the door of my lips, O Lord. Ask.

Sometimes we don't have because we don't ask. Lord, convict me. Lord, show me.

Lord, clean. I want a tongue that's operating to Your glory. Lord, grant me that.

Ask for help to not do the things with the tongue that ought not to be done. And if you go back to James 1.5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him. I'll tell you, I don't know about all of you, but there are a lot of times I'm headed towards a meeting, I'm headed towards counseling, I'm headed towards some situation, I need to say something to somebody, I need to correct somebody, I maybe need to confess something to somebody.

Whatever it is, brethren, you ever find yourself in the place, Lord, give me wisdom to know what to say. Lord, I need the right words. Brethren, that's what He's saying here.

You can do that. Ask, ask, ask, ask. Constantly ask.

Brethren, there's no excuse here. Be asking the Lord. You're going to a meeting.

You're going to some place. Brethren, you should be asking all the time. Lord, I need wisdom.

Some of you, you may be more socially adept and you may be better at having the right words and the right occasion. That's not me. I need help.

And oftentimes, my wife will coach me. This is what you need to say. Because I don't know oftentimes.

And it's not first and foremost, Ruby's help I need. It's God's help. I need wisdom.

But isn't it great, brethren? We are a people that need wisdom. And God has promised to give it to us. Brethren, I'll just reiterate this.

Don't take this as an impossibility. Just because He says no human being can tame the tongue, you've got to remember, brethren, my brothers, these things ought not to be so. He doesn't simply capitulate to what man can do in his own strength and leave it at that.

He says, brethren, these things ought not to be so. And if you go back to chapter 1, didn't He say if anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, the person's religion is worthless? You know what? James recognizes man can't do this in his own power. But he recognizes if you've got true religion, you will bridle the tongue.

And if you don't, it means you don't have the true religion. So brethren, lay that down. And then there's this.

He says, if anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his own heart. Well, brethren, if it ought not to be so, and He's saying they're true religion, you can bridle the heart, then bridle your tongue. Let it not be so.

And He says, know this. This is back in chapter 1. Beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak. So bridle it.

Be slow to speak. Listen, you've got to think. You've got to think about what you say.

Don't just talk without thinking first. Some people talk too much. And listen, if you've been told you talk too much, it's very likely you do.

And so, brethren, this is a huge thing. Brethren, God is watching all of this. And I would say this, if it ought not to be so, learn from Him with whom it was never so.

You remember how Paul talks? He talks about that's not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off the old man, which belongs to the former manner of life, corrupt, through deceit. Be renewed in the Spirit of your mind. Put on the new man.

Brethren, I say this, have you learned Christ? A good study, go through the four Gospels, just simply studying how Jesus spoke to people. There's a glory, and what Scripture says, as you behold the glory of the Lord, nobody ever spoke like Him. As you behold that glory, the Spirit of God is going to do something to you.

Learn how He spoke. Men, learn how Jesus spoke to women. Learn how He spoke to the lost.

Learn how He spoke to tax collectors and prostitutes and adulteresses. No one ever spoke like Him. If anybody ought to speak like Him, it's us, brethren, in all the world.

We need to learn Christ. And I would say this, be renewed in the Spirit of your mind. That's what Paul said.

Brethren, we need to be renewed in our heart. If our tongue is connected to the heart, the heart and the mind, it's connected there. When you renew the heart, you renew the mind.

How do you do that? Brethren, the Spirit of God is very much in the business of doing that through the Word of God. And you think about the Word of God. The Word of God is what God speaks.

We're dealing with what we speak. If you want your speaking to sound like His speaking, then what you want to do is live in the Word. You know, they talk about Bunyan.

He cut him anywhere and he bled Bible. Spurgeon said, bibleen. But brethren, the same thing should be true of us when it comes to our tongue.

When people hear us talk, it should resonate with Scripture, with truth, with how Jesus speaks. Transform the heart, you transform the tongue. If you allow the Word of God to dwell in you richly, then brethren, when that tongue moves, what comes out of you will be flavored with that Word that dwells in you richly.

It will richly impact the words that you speak. And then you've got, brethren, Paul says put it off. Put the garbage off.

And replace it, put on the new man's stuff. Brethren, that's something that you've got to do. It's not something that somebody else does for you.

You put away. You put off. That's the language of Scripture.

Put away falsehood. Put away bitterness. Put away wrath.

Put away anger. Brethren, you need some violence with this. Don't be passive.

You've got to fight. You've got to go after this. Brethren, there is a lot of procrastination.

And there is a lot of this fake piety. Well, I struggle with this all the time. What do you mean you struggle with it? Are you quitting? Some people do stuff.

You know, they view pornography all the time. Well, I struggle with that. Yeah, but they're doing it just as much as they've always done.

What kind of struggle is that? If by the Spirit, what? You put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Brethren, there's actually got to be a putting to death. This can't be some fake thing.

This can't be some false piety. I'm struggling. I'm praying.

But brethren, you can't talk that way and then not stop. Paul says stop acting like the old man. It's like this is a maturity thing.

Stop acting like a baby. Why? Because you're not a baby any longer. And the reality is this, God has made you into His man.

His seed. I mean, you're His guy. God's telling you get on with it.

Do it. Put it off. Put on.

Are you too weak? Are you too pathetic? I mean, brethren, without Christ we can't do anything, but which one of you Christians in this place is without Christ? I mean, if you've got the Holy Spirit, then you have no excuse in this matter. None whatsoever. Oh, I feel I can do nothing.

I know how we feel, but the reality is we've got to live by faith. And Christian, the thing is, what do you read in Scripture? Sin will no longer have dominion over you. You know what dominion is? It's like this guy jumps on top of you and he totally outpowers you.

He totally has dominion. But your sins aren't like that anymore. You're not this little dupe that sin jumps on top of you and now has you pinned.

It will not have dominion over you. You are now in the place to put it to death by the Spirit. Yes.

But brethren, how do you unleash the Spirit? I'll tell you how you unleash the Spirit. Scripture's very plain on this. With your eyes on Jesus Christ.

And we could get into that. But brethren, I'll just say this at the end. Resolve to fight.

Be resolved. If these things are not to be, then resolve to fight. I would say make a covenant.

And I just end with this. Job. I'm reading Job right now.

Job made a covenant. I made a covenant with my eyes. Well, if he can make a covenant with his eyes, can't you make one with your tongue? And there's this.

David made a covenant. The Lord is my portion. I promise to keep your words.

You want to promise to keep His words when it comes to your tongue? If David can do that, you can do that. David goes on to say, I've sworn an oath and confirmed it to keep your righteous rules. Do the same.

Resolve. You heard about somebody that resolved? The resolutions? Jonathan Edwards. Resolution 16.

He resolved never to speak evil of anyone so that it shall tend to his dishonor more or less upon no account except for some real good. Resolution 31. Resolved never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility and a sense of my own faults and failings and agreeable to the golden rule.

Often when I have said anything against anyone to bring it to and to try it strictly by the test of this resolution. Resolution 70. Let there be something of benevolence in all that I speak.

Robert Murray McShane. He resolved when a fellow Christian's name was mentioned in company, if he could not say anything good about him, he would refrain from all speech about him. Brethren, you know this.

The battle for vocal holiness. You've got to fight it all the time. Why? Because we're capable of speaking all the time.

Got to wage that war. But resolve, brethren. Resolve.

Look at what you say. And be resolved. Brethren, you know what it is.

We want a church that's known. They sound like Jesus. They talk like Jesus.

The fragrance of Jesus is there. Brethren, we know what Scripture says. These things ought not to be so.

So, if they ought not, may God help you to be resolved that they not be so. Father, we ask You to help us. Keep a watch over our mouths.

And be a help to us. In Christ's name we ask, Amen.