Taming the Tongue, Part 1

New life, transformation, salvation will show up in the way people talk.

Their tongue, their speech, will tell on their heart. And so James is demanding here that we recognize that living faith shows itself in the control of the tongue. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. In just a few moments, John's going to show you what Scripture says about the speech you use, the texts and emails you send, really all the ways you use words, and you'll walk away with more biblical strategies for taming the tongue.

That's the title of John's current series. But before we look at what God's word says about keeping our speech in check, certainly one kind of speech that we don't want to hold back is grateful words, thankfulness. John, when it comes to the faithful friends who help make grace to you a reality, we can't say thank you enough. You know, Phil, I honestly think that what grieves me most among Christian people when I see it is a lack of thankfulness. How can you be a Christian and be forgiven, granted eternal life, have everything that pertains to life and godliness, be on your way to eternal heaven, be the temple of the Spirit of God, have the promises of God all fulfilled in your life, now and eternally, and not be thankful.

And yet I meet so many people who are grumpy, antagonistic, even bitter. They just don't live with thankfulness. And the Bible says, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. You have to be thankful even for the difficult things. Well, one of the things that's not difficult is the thankfulness that we feel for all of you grace to you supporters.

And that means radio stations, folks who pray for us, folks who listen, folks who support us financially. A huge thank you beyond that to the Lord himself who lays it on your hearts to support us. I have to say that if there's anything that I would seek and pursue with all my might as a believer, it would be to be thankful.

Constantly to be thankful. Because there's a never-ending outpouring of grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace in my life and in the life of our ministry. So thank you to the Lord for this. Thank you to all of you folks who are a part of our grace to you family.

Thank you for your support and your prayers. Yes, friend, we can take God's Word to so many dark places, places with no strong churches, because of your generosity. If you'd like to help us strengthen believers around the world with biblical truth, go to our website gty.org. I'll pass along the rest of our contact information after the lesson, but for now, stay here as John MacArthur gives you principles for taming the tongue. Now in this third chapter, James presents the matter of the tongue as another test of living faith.

Because true faith will be demonstrated by speech and so will false faith. Nothing is more telling on the heart than the tongue and it's of great concern to James. He mentions the tongue in every chapter. He mentions it twice in chapter 1 verses 19 and 26. He mentions it in chapter 2 verse 12. He mentions it in chapter 4 verse 11. He mentions it in chapter 5 verse 12.

And he spends a large portion of chapter 3 dealing specifically with the matter of the tongue. Now James, as you remember, is being used by the Holy Spirit to show us that true believers who have been begotten by the word of God, as he put it in chapter 1 verse 18, will manifest that new life in the way they live. It will show up by their endurance in trials, as we saw in chapter 1. It will show up by their humility and temptation, which we also saw in chapter 1. It will show up by their obedience to the scripture, which we also saw in chapter 1. By their loving concern for the needy without partiality, which we saw in chapter 2.

It will show up by their life being a pattern of good works, which we saw in chapter 2 verses 14 to 26. And now he says, new life, transformation, salvation will show up in the way people talk. Their tongue, their speech, will tell on their heart. And so James is demanding here that we recognize that living faith shows itself in the control of the tongue. Now throughout the verses that begin the third chapter down through verse 12, the words mouth and tongue are used frequently with reference to speech.

And perhaps we ought to say at the very outset that James speaks of the mouth, and he speaks of the tongue, and in a sense he personifies them. Somebody has asked the question, why doesn't James use the heart? Why doesn't he say the heart is the problem? Why does he say the tongue? The tongue only reacts to the heart.

The mouth only responds to the heart. But in Hebrew thought, the distinction between the man and the guilty member is not so clearly distinguished. The Hebrew, frankly, focuses very often on the guilty member rather than on the heart issue. For example, we read about feet swift to shed blood, as if the feet were the culprits in a murder. We read about eyes of adultery, as if the eyes were guilty, when we know of course it's the inner person. But in the Hebrew desire for concrete expression and practical expression, they very often spoke of the very member of the body itself as if it were the guilty party. And so when James talks about the mouth and the tongue, it isn't that he in fact blames the mouth and the tongue as if they operated independently of any other impulse.

It is simply that they are the organ by which the heart expresses itself. And so James, in a sense, personifies the tongue as the living symbol of what is in the heart. And when the Apostle Paul characterizes the fallenness of man, when he wants to design all the ugly features of man's depravity, and when he wants to describe the wretchedness of man in his sinful condition, he hones right in on the tongue.

And in Romans chapter 3, very familiar words, in verse 13 he says, This is how you describe a sinner. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have used deceit.

The poison of snakes is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. The focal point of our fallenness and depravity is the mouth. When Isaiah, wanting to confess to God his utter sinfulness in the midst of a vision of God's holiness, expressed himself, he said, I am a man with a dirty mouth, nothing more marked a man's sinfulness than his mouth. A dirty mouth is most representative of depravity. So the mouth is the monitor on the human condition. Right words then would be the manifestation of a righteous life.

That's what James is saying. And so in chapter 3 he calls us to measure our speech to see if it is consistent with what we claim to be the reality of our faith. Controlling the tongue then is essential and James gives us five compelling reasons. Number one, James calls us to control the tongue because its potential to condemn is so great. Its potential to condemn. Verses 1 and 2, My brothers, stop being so many teachers knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment. For in many things we all stumble.

We'll stop at that point. James speaks about condemnation or judgment. And the whole context of what he says at the beginning, though he doesn't mention the tongue there, is this matter of speech. And the implication of what he is saying is you must take good care not to thrust yourself into a teaching position because a teacher basically trades on his tongue and you have such a high liability to abuse that and to bring upon yourself potential judgment.

That's the point he's making. And he begins with teachers starting at the top, if speech is the mark of true faith, and if you go back to chapter 1, verse 26, he says that, if any man among you seems to be religious but bridles not his tongue, he deceives his own heart. The man's religion is useless. A faith which does not transform the tongue is no saving faith at all. So since speech is the mark of true faith, it should be a proper measure then of those who articulate the faith, those who teach the faith. This also, by the way, points out the fact that dead faith, false faith, hypocrisy, and deceit is a danger for all men, even those who are teachers in the church. And even those who teach need to take a personal inventory on their speech to see if their faith is real.

And having introduced the subject at the level of teachers in the beginning, he will then move to a discussion more generally of everyone and everyone's speech. Now let's go back and look more closely at verse 1. My brothers, let not many become teachers. And actually, the my brothers comes after that in the Greek text so that he starts out with this very strong statement, let not many become teachers. Now that is not to deny the fact that God wants us to teach his word because God does want us to do that. The Lord wants us to articulate his truth back in Numbers chapter 11 verse 26 through 29. We have an account, Moses talking, and Moses says in verse 29, would God that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them? In the situation there with El dad and me dad, Moses says, I'm not disparaging about the the role of a prophet.

I wish to God that everybody did that. And there's a sense in which we wish that everyone were a preacher and everyone were a teacher. And certainly in Matthew 28, all of us are called to go into the world and make disciples, teaching people to observe whatever Christ has commanded.

This is not disclaiming that. And there are some who are compelled to preach. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, woe is unto me if I preach not. And in 1 Timothy 3, if a man desires the office of an overseer which involves primarily teaching, he desires a good thing. This is not to set that aside or contradict that, but it is to say we do not embark upon a teaching ministry without a sense of the seriousness involved. And no doubt in the assembly to which James is writing, there was some failure to consider this great seriousness and people were aspiring and ascending to the teaching role with little or no thought as to the implications of it. And so he says, my brothers and thereby speaks of those who name the name of Christ within the church, I want to prevent you from rushing in a foolish way into the role of teaching.

Why? Because of the great potential to sin with your tongue. And when you sin with your tongue in private, that's one thing. When you sin with your tongue in public, that is quite another thing.

And the potential for condemnation is far greater to the one at the wide level of verbal proclamation. Now what does he mean to become a teacher? What kind of teacher is he talking about? I began to think about that and wonder just exactly what he had in mind.

The word is didaskoloi. It's the word that can be translated master in the gospels. So we could conclude that he's talking here about a recognized teacher, that he is saying don't rush into the teaching office, don't rush into the preaching office, don't hurry into some official ministry where you become a proclaimer and a teacher of God's Word. And among the Jews, and you remember James is writing to those with Jewish heritage and Jewish background, among the Jews there were official teachers, there were official rabbis, men like Nicodemus who was recognized as a teacher in Israel. There were men who in that position loved their title, they loved their honor, they loved their recognition, they loved their power, they loved their prestige. It was desperately easy then for a rabbi to become a kind of person whom Jesus depicted as a spiritual tyrant, an ostentatious ornament of piety, a lover of the highest place at any function, a person who gloried in the almost subservient respect which others allowed him in public.

And it was that kind of attitude which Jesus so vociferously and pointedly condemned in Matthew 23 verses 4 through 7. Such self-seeking honor coming from ill-intended motives was to be foreign to any true follower of Jesus Christ. And yet surely there were people in the congregation to which James writes who pursued that place of teacher because they were enamored with the whole aura of being in that position. And I might conclude that in the early church there were also officially called teachers. There were apostles and prophets and pastors and evangelists and also teachers. The expression is very clearly mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1228 and you can decide whether it's pastor teacher in Ephesians 4-11 or pastors and teachers, but there were those who were pastors and evangelists and teachers and apostles and prophets and they were the officially recognized teachers in the church.

But beyond that there were some unofficial opportunities to teach as well. For example, it was possible in a Jewish synagogue for unofficial teachers to stand up and speak. Anyone, for example, who was respected, who was revered, who had some kind of credentials and some reason to be heard could rise to teach in a synagogue even though he had not properly been educated or properly been schooled by that synagogue or by any recognized instrument of that synagogue. A classic illustration of that would be our Lord Jesus Christ who rose in the synagogue of Nazareth to read the scriptures and then sat down to speak.

He was a guest speaker as it were. In Acts 13 as Paul and and Barnabas are sent out from the church in Antioch verses 5 and 15 have them arriving in a situation where they where they are given the opportunity to rise up in a synagogue and teach. And so there were official teachers and then there were unofficial opportunities to teach as well. I think that is true in the early church. If you look at 1 Corinthians 14 you will find a starting I think around verse 26 Paul discusses the fact that in that church at Corinth many people were speaking. He says when you come together every one of you has a song, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation, let all things be done unto edifying. And then he regulates that by saying how it's to be done and how it's not to be done. But in the early church apparently there was some format where people could rise up and give a teaching, a doctrine, or whatever.

So I don't think we want to limit James. Let's go back to the verse and see what he says. He says basically a simple principle, let not many become teachers.

And I don't think we can read into that any more than is there. Be very cautious when you embark upon the role of teacher at any level whether it's official or unofficial because of the tremendous potential to condemnation your tongue will bring about. To go back to chapter 1 verse 19, this you know my beloved brother and let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak. And this in the context of discussing the word of God. Swift to hear the word of God and slow to speak it.

But in spite of this there were and there are many who want to grab the prominence who are impressed with the authority and the honor and who have absolutely little or no thought about the responsibility and the accountability of such action. Paul in instructing Timothy refers to such in chapter 1 of 1 Timothy. He says there are some who have turned aside from the truth to vain jangling verse 7 desiring to be teachers of the law understanding neither what they say or anything they're affirming. It was in the church at Ephesus it was no doubt among the assembled saints to whom James writes that there were some aspiring to the role of teaching who had absolutely no idea of the possible implications of teaching error.

It's a frightening truth. It ought to be delivered to anyone who aspires to that position. James is not restraining the genuinely gifted. He is not restraining the genuinely qualified. He is not restraining the genuinely called. He is not restraining the sincere and knowledgeable. But he is saying take very great pains to ascertain the seriousness of the role of teaching before you to put it in the vernacular shoot off your mouth.

He has in mind not only false teachers but ignorant unqualified unprepared and wrongly instructed teachers. Moses said to Aaron this is what the Lord spoke Leviticus 10 3 and I'll tell you that sticks in my mind and has for a while. This is what the Lord spoke. There's one thing that I have made a continual burden in my own heart before the Lord in prayer every time I speak and that is Lord please let me say what you intended to say. And no teacher should ever say less.

Never. It is a weighty responsibility not to be embarked upon readily or easily. The responsibility of the teacher is given twice in the book of Ezekiel chapter 3 verses 17 and 18 chapter 33 verses 7 and 8 and 9 where the teacher has really warned that he is a sort of a watchman on the wall to warn the people and he better be careful that he does it right or their blood is liable to be on his hands. In other words there is a sense in which there is great responsibility. Paul almost with a sigh of relief in Acts 20 says I am clear from the blood of any man I have not failed to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.

I've discharged my duty. Hebrews 13 17 says that we have to give an account to God for how we give leadership and direction and teaching to God's people. It is indeed a serious issue.

Why? Because the tongue has such potential for condemnation. Verse 1 knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment and the we is the we of identification. James pulls himself right in as one who is a teacher. He does not want to warn others without including himself. It is a stern warning relative to the accountability of anyone who teaches. We have a tremendous accountability to God when we teach at any level. That's why it says in 2 Timothy 2 be diligent to be approved of God a workman that needs not to be what?

Ashamed because he is rightly dividing the word of truth. There is shame connected with teaching error and there is also judgment connected with teaching error. That's why in 1 Timothy chapter 4 the Apostle Paul tells Timothy look be nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine. Stay away from profane and old women's fables. And further down in the same text give yourself to reading and exhortation and teaching and further down meditate on these things and again take heed to yourself and unto your teaching.

Very, very, very important matter. The word judgment is krimah. It's a neutral term, but generally is used in the New Testament to express a negative judgment. The future tense here probably looks at the judgment in the future when we will stand before the Lord. For an unsaved false teacher, it would be the time of the second coming in fearful judgment, that time spoken of by Jude when Jude says the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on all and convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

That in a context of false teaching. So the future judgment for an unbeliever will be at the second coming of Christ. The future judgment for a believer would certainly be at the judgment seat of Christ when we stand face to face with him to receive whatever reward he would deem fitting to give to us. 1 Corinthians 4 says, at that time the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, make manifest the counsels of the heart, and then shall every man have praise of God. And Paul says, look, I'm going to wait till that time when the Lord will bring to that time to have my ministry evaluated. It's a small thing what you think, it's a small thing what I think, it's a big thing what God thinks, and I minister in view of what is coming ahead. And I can tell you, I've been asked on several occasions for whom do I prepare my sermons. One reporter said to me, newspapers are written for the eighth grade, for whom do you prepare your sermons? And I said, you might not understand this, but I prepare them for God. My only concern is that God be pleased, and his name be honored, and his word be treated fairly and honestly.

And if I feel that I have done less than my best in that way, life becomes miserable at the deepest level for me. So being a teacher of God's word is a very dangerous occupation for anyone because of the power of the tongue to speak error, or to speak misjudgment, or to speak inappropriately, or to misrepresent Christ or the Holy Spirit. And that's why even the Apostle Paul was reluctant. He was reluctant until he was pressed to do that. And you remember he was converted in a marvelous conversion on the Damascus road, but it was a long time really before he began to articulate the things of God. God took him out into it into the Nabataean area of Arabia and trained him for two years and brought him back ready to proclaim.

This is a great liability. That's John MacArthur continuing his look at the power your words have to build up or break down, to bless or to curse, controlling what you say. John's helping you do that in his current study on Grace To You.

John calls this series taming the tongue. Now, as John mentioned before the lesson, we are grateful for your generosity. Your support helps us reach the world with the truth of God's word taught one verse at a time. If you'd like to partner with us in this global ministry, get in touch today. You can write to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Or call us toll-free anytime, 855-GRACE.

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If a specific radio study has encouraged you, perhaps something John said has changed the way you think about a particular scripture, we'd love to hear your story. Our email address is letters at GTY.org. And our regular address again, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. And to keep up to date on the resources available from Grace To You, make sure to follow us on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And check out our YouTube channel as well. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for joining us today. And make sure you're here tomorrow when John looks at not only why you need to control your tongue, but also how you can control it. Don't miss another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.