Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Now you think about it for a moment. Has someone ever said anything to you in your past, said something to you and you still remember? You see how long that lasts? You know, it only takes 10 seconds to crush someone in spirit or stab them with the sword of your tongue. And 10 years later it's right there.
10 years later the aftermath of it is still there. You see that's the power of the tongue. That's how corruptible it can be and that's how powerful it can be and the things that we end up saying. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. God judges our words. Our words reveal our maturity. Our tongue wants to control us and he's saying also our tongue corrupts us. He says in verse 5, he says, so also the tongue is a small part of the body and yet it boasts great things. That's kind of amazing. I'm always thinking of someone bragging all the time. It's that little tongue is what's doing it. It's just bragging away and bragging away.
Of course it's revealing a heart. Then he says, see how great a forest fire set a flame by a small fire. That see how is edu. Behold.
It's a very strong emphatic word. He said, that's what the tongue's like. Isn't it amazing?
This time of year, California, West Coast, anywhere where it's really dry, somebody with one cigarette butt or one little and all of a sudden they'll tell you 250,000 acres are ablaze. Tongue is just a little tiny thing. That's what your tongue can do. That's what a word can do. That's what you can do to people. You see you can set a whole life ablaze. I mean if you're a parent and you use your tongue in a way to the detriment of your children, they'll tell you they paid for that the rest of their lives because of the way you spoke to them, for what you said they never forgot it. You see it might have seemed like a little thing to you, but it's a big thing to them. It sets everything ablaze.
It's corrupt. He then says this, and the tongue is a fire. The very world of iniquity, cosmos. He said the way we speak is the revelation of the cosmos, the diabolicus, the whole idea of the way the world works. We end up speaking just the way the world is. And then he says this, the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body. And then, and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell.
It not only corrupts us, but the enemy uses our tongue. That idea of hell, that's Gehenna. We translated hell. In the New Testament, James, who's the Lord's brother, and Jesus are the only two that use the word. Gehenna was the valley of Hinnom, outside of Jerusalem. And there was a time when they were worshipping Moloch, Canaanite God. And Moloch required baby sacrifices.
And so Israel, or Judah specifically, even got involved in baby sacrifices. And that's where they made the sacrifices. And so what happened when Josiah, who was a righteous man, became king, he turned that into the dump. He turned that place into the dump where the babies were sacrificed. And that became the city dump. And they always burned their garbage. And so it was always burning, always stinking. That's Gehenna. That's the source and the basis of hell.
James understands the bigger ramifications of hell, because here he's using it in a metaphor in the sense, because he says that in a set on fire by hell, he means the enemy himself. He uses your tongue and my tongue. It's one of the worst things we can fall temptation to.
And it's so easy to, because we've done it for so often. This idea of just a spark, the way we use our tongue. I found this illustration, I thought it was really good and a misuse of our tongue in a particular way. The man who wrote it is named Morgan Blake.
He was a sports writer for the Atlanta Journal. And he wrote this little satire about the way we speak. He said, I am more deadly than the screaming shell from a howitzer. I win without killing. I tear down homes. I break hearts. I wreck lives. I travel on the wings of the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me.
No purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea and often as innocent. I never forget and I seldom forgive. My name is gossip.
Wow. Talking about other folks. An amazing thing. You know, isn't it interesting for us that no matter how often you try to think about this, when it comes to gossip, and I know Christians sanctify gossip and we say we're just sharing prayer requests with each other, which in itself is a lie, by the way, which is another way not to talk. But the whole idea of it is we think of gossip as almost like we think of the white lie.
It's just part of our call. You just talk about people. And in every list in the New Testament, when God wants to make a list of the things he hates, the sins he really, really hates, gossip's in every one of them.
In every single one of them. And some of the things that you are sure are right at the top, they're not there. You see, we have to be so careful.
It's one of those deals. It is a corrupting thing. The tongue can really and truly corrupt us. Turn with me to Proverbs before we go on to Proverbs chapter 12. In verse six, Solomon writes this. He says, the words of the wicked lie in wait for blood.
What a metaphor. He says, but the mouth of the upright will deliver them. Verse 18, there is one who speaks rashly like the thrust of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings about healing. Now turn the page with me to chapter 15 of Proverbs in verse four. In verse four, he says, a soothing tongue is a tree of life.
But perversion, he said, but perversion in it crushes the spirit. Think of that. Like a sword. Like someone stabbing you. You know, when I was young and growing up, just the time I grew up and where I grew up, and you know, we were outside guys because there was no reason to be inside.
Nothing electronic in there for you. And so we were just outside always. Now one of the things that happened when you started growing up and playing ball with your friends and that all the time, all the things you do as boys, is from time to time there'd be disagreements and so we'd get into it. You know, you'd just, a lot of fighting.
A lot of rolling around and, you know, head locks and all those kind of things and a lot of fighting. Now the irony of that as I look back on it is, I knew that that occurred a lot. I don't remember any of them.
Particularly in any sense. I just know we did. But when I was in first and second or just first or second grade, I remember a guy who I didn't know very well who lived in another part of the town, but I remember something he said to me as a little first and second grader. And how much it hurt me and how much I didn't like him. And I remember it today.
Now you think about it for a moment. Has someone ever said anything to you in your past, said something to you and you still remember it? You see how long that lasts? You know, it only takes ten seconds to crush someone in spirit or stab them with the sword of your tongue. And ten years later it's right there. Ten years later the aftermath of it is still there. You see that's the power of the tongue.
That's how corruptible it can be and that's how powerful it can be. And the things that we end up saying. Now back to James. God judges our words. Our words reveal our maturity. Our tongue wants to control us and certainly corrupt us.
And then James says look let me tell you how big it is. He said our tongue is virtually untamable. He says for every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed. And has been tamed by the human race. No one can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. Wow. Isn't that amazing? He's already talking about how we can tame animals and you know I've seen elephants play soccer. You know and there's donkey basketball. You have something like that. There are dogs that can bark jingle bells.
You'll hear it at Christmas time. There are chimps that communicate with sign languages and birds that can talk. There are dolphins that can shoot baskets better than I can. I mean it's astounding when you think what we can do with animals.
That's James' point. He said you don't do much with your tongue. The implication is simply we need help with our tongue.
You see our default mechanism. The tongue is connected to our heart. Jeremiah says the heart of a man is desperately wicked. It's deceitful above all things. So when you have a desperately wicked heart that's deceitful above all things, your default is to go from your heart to your tongue is to use your tongue in a corrupt and evil way.
To hurt an awful lot of people. There are an awful lot of people that would never hit somebody physically but have already mugged them so many times verbally. This is the way we use our tongue and James said look it's untamable. We have to be so careful when it comes to our tongue. One more thing he says about it. He says that our words are often hypocritical. We compromise with our tongue. He said with it we bless our Lord and Father.
And with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. Isn't that amazing capacity that you and I have? You could stand up in here and with all your heart mean it and sing oh how you love Jesus. And then somebody cuts you off down on the corner as you're leaving here.
What do you do? See what happens? From your heart to your tongue. It's astounding how fast we can do that.
You see the implication is that's amazing just how fast we can do that. He says then with it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse men. And he says that from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. Here's his appeal. My brethren these things ought not be. Couldn't be clearer. That ought not only place in the New Testament.
Ooh, cre. Only time it's used in the New Testament. Really strong negative.
As strong as he can say it. That should never be for us. You see that should not be who you are. That should not be who I am.
There's no place in the Christian life for duplicitous speech or talk. James illustrates you know he talks about this from nature. He says does a fountain send out from its opening fresh and bitter water? He says can a fig tree my brethren produce olives or a vine produce figs?
Can salt water become fresh? What's the answer? No. It can't. What's his implication? How can you, a born again Christian, a child of God, a new creature in Christ, a follower of Jesus. How can you talk that way? You see his point is we should talk differently shouldn't we?
You see shouldn't that be the case? Shouldn't the fruit that we produce out of our lips be of a basis reveal who we are? I just wonder so often how we don't really come to grips with this. Somehow in this area of our lives we're very loose not very dedicated. There are so many things that we do.
You're going to see in weeks ahead. We're not to be complainers. We're not to complain. We're not to be grumblers. We're not to be arrogant and proudful. We're not to use hyperbole. We're not to be sarcastic. We're not to be critical. We're not to judge people. We're not to do any of this. You see but we do.
Somehow we've given ourself a pass on this kind of thing. A justification on the way we talk and James says you can't do that. He says your tongue is revealing your heart.
The way you speak reveals the way you really are. One last passage I want to look at is Proverbs again chapter 18. Proverbs 18 verse 21 death and life are in the power of the tongue.
That's amazing. Eunice the great philosopher said give me a piece of paper and an instrument to write. I can change the world with words. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit. Dr. Charles Rari in his footnote on this says a man's tongue can yield satisfaction, life or death. Those who are prone to use the tongue must take the consequences of their words. The power we have of the tongue, what we can do. The power of life, the power of death.
James says there are six reasons. Six reasons why we have to control our speech, our tongue, our words. He said look God's going to judge what we say. Our words reveal our maturity. Our tongue wants to control us. It will corrupt us. Our tongue is untamable on our own. And with it we're hypocritical and compromising.
We need to get control of our tongue. I want to end this morning just exactly the way I started with that article from Susan Hawkins. And I love what she writes here. She says I remember a few months ago on the 2020 show that there was a story about a little girl from Afghanistan that was in a bombing. She was dreadfully burned. Literally it looked like her neck and skin had just melted on her head. The plastic surgeon from California, a very wealthy man and his wife, decided to adopt her, not legally, but to be her guardians rather and bring her to California for treatment. She was to have extensive surgeries that could help her have some semblance of a normal life and restore to some degree of normalcy.
It was a beautiful story of this couple and how they fell so in love with this little girl. She was so burned and marred and scarred, but she always had this little twinkle in her eye. And I remember that they showed her after one of her most extensive surgeries, her whole face and neck was bandaged. Obviously, her face was swollen, her tongue was swollen. And as they were taking off the bandages, they were waiting for her to say something. So they asked her, the nurses asked her, could you please say anything to us? And she looked at them with that little sparkle in her little black eyes and she said, who let the dogs out? You see, she was watching TV the whole time she was watching TV. And she looked up and she said, who let the dogs out?
She writes, they all collapsed in laughter. And distressed, but her little spirit was strong. The point was this, those words said that her spirit was alive and well.
See, that's what made that so special. Her words revealed her spirit was alive. Isn't that what your words and my words are supposed to do? Isn't our words supposed to reveal the spirit of God is alive and well in us?
That's what people see. Never underestimate the power of your words. Let's pray. Father, I believe this is the type of message from your word that every single one of us can feel some sense of conviction. Father, we are so careless with the way in which we speak. There are so many different things that you have said are not good for your children to speak.
And yet our lives are laced with those things. Father, I pray that we get some sense of conviction about the words that come out of our mouth. I pray, Father, that we understand that through the control of your spirit, we have to get control of our speech.
Because, see, you use our speech. Our speech has a tremendous capacity for life. We can encourage people and we can help heal relationships. We can teach people your truth. We can demonstrate our love for people through our words. But, Father, we also have such a destructive possibility when it comes to the way in which we talk. I pray, Father, that we understand that, that we are convicted of the very language in which we speak. That we speak often a language that's not of you, but it's a language of our heart, a language of our flesh, the language of the culture. And it doesn't come out for your glory.
It doesn't come out for others' gain and it certainly doesn't come out for our good. It is what it is that you call sin. Father, I pray that we have the courage to confess it in our own lives. That we acknowledge and thank you for the forgiveness that we have in Christ. And that we dedicate ourselves to be people who speak the reality that they feel that they have in their heart.
That the words of their lips reveal the Spirit of God within each and every one of us. This is so important to you, it has to become important to us. We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen. And you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.
That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online. Or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.
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