Taming the Tongue

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

A little later in the program we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's brand new book, Reignite. But first, here's his message, Taming the Tongue. Don't we? Talk, talk, talk. It's political talk, it's sports talk, it's news talk, it's family talk. It's a lot of talk in our generation. Not only are we talking in what we say, but what we send online, social media. A lot of words being spent. In fact, one fifth of your life on earth is spent talking. It is difficult to learn how to control our words, to control our tongues.

Some never do. James is talking about the tongue. Your goal is spiritual maturity. That's what the book of James is about. Growing in your faith and becoming more mature in Christ.

That's your goal. And a true mark of Christian maturity, life maturity, is how you use your mouth, how you manage your mouth, how you use your tongue. So let's begin reading in chapter three, verse one. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. Always gives me pause when I read that because I know I'm highly accountable to God for what I say and what I do.

Verse two says, for we all stumble in many ways and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man, meaning a mature man. Also able 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 are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also is the tongue. 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, watch these words, course of life, wheel of existence, literally.

And set on fire by hell. It has been tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but 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. Now James is a master illustrator. And in this passage on the tongue, he gives us some metaphors regarding our mouths.

There are six of them. He talks about the bit in the mouths of a horse. He talks about the rudder on a ship. He talks about a fire, a spark that can set ablaze. He talks about a beast, that the tongue is like a beast or like a monster in the mouth. It's like poison.

It can produce poison. He said it's like a fountain and it is like a fig tree. And with all of these illustrative comments, very practical, James, ever practical, tells us about the tongue and what it can do and how it sets the course. And even the character and the destiny of our lives. Couple of things. One, our words give us direction.

That's the first thing. Our words, what we say, give us direction in life. That's why he uses the illustration about the horse and the bridle.

It's amazing. You could take a 1,200 pound animal and put a 90 pound child on it. But with reins and a bit, a small child can control that great horse. Same is true of the rudder on a ship.

No matter how big the ship is, it is moved by the pilot at the direction of the rudder. So he's saying here that our tongue controls the direction of our lives. Change the way you speak. Change what you say and how you talk and you can change the direction of your life.

It's true. Proverbs tells us in Proverbs 8 21 that life and death are in the power of the tongue. A very powerful thing is the tongue. And if you speak negatively, if you're constantly reflecting negativity in what you say, then ultimately you will live a negative life.

It's a simple principle really. How you talk to God, how you talk to yourself, how you talk to others dramatically influences the course of your life. And if you are filled with words that are worthless or careless or empty or even profane, then ultimately that's the way your life's going to turn out.

Let me just share a couple of ideas. If someone stands before a judge and says you're not guilty, that changes everything. If you're before a doctor and you hear your doctor say you're cancer free, those words are life changing. If you say no to a temptation when you're just under attack and you just can feel the breath of Satan on your neck, you know, and you say no in the power of God's Spirit to temptation, that can change the course and the direction of your life, right? Words are powerful. If you speak words of faith, then your life is filled with faith. If you speak God's Word, God's Word is filled with faith. If you speak God's promises, God's will upon your life, it changes everything for the good.

And the reverse is true. Training your tongue and tempering your tongue is difficult. In fact, James tells us here no one can control it. There's a beast.

It's a beast in your mouth. That's another illustration. He says you can't contain or control this beast. Some have tried. Even by taking vows of silence.

No, it's impossible. To control our tongues apart from the work of God's Spirit in our lives. And yet it's important. This is not a small deal.

It's a big deal. And everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with gratitude in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. When we put Christ first in our lives, we put Him first in what we do and what we say. And we are able, according to this, we shouldn't speak or say anything or write anything or post anything. Or send anything which we could not sign the name of the Lord Jesus. If you cannot glorify God and magnify God with your words, then don't say them. You need to ask in every situation if you post it, if you send it, if you say it.

Social media is a whole new world of being able to express ourselves. But as Christians and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, I should always ask myself, does this represent Jesus Christ and reflect His love in my life? Growing Christians learn how to control their tongues under the guidance of the Holy Spirit because it sets the course of our lives. I want to thank you for your passion and joy to your faith with Dr. Graham's newest book, Reignite, an intimate account of how God led Dr. Graham through one of the darkest seasons of his life.

Whether you're facing disappointment, doubt, depression or heartache, Reignite offers biblical insights to encourage you in your pain and help fan the flames of faith in your life. It's our way to thank you for your gift to PowerPoint. So call today to get your copy of Reignite as thanks for your support. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627.

You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Now let's get back to today's message, Taming the Tongue. Secondly, our words can bring destruction. Not only do they bring direction but our words can bring destruction. So James illustrates with a spark and a fire. James says the tongue, I noted and stopped when I read it, sets on fire the course of nature, the very wheel of existence.

In other words, all of life is affected by our words and all the people in our lives. James tells us an evil tongue defiles and destroys the entire body. A tongue set on fire of hell.

And the tongue can start a hell fire that can never be put out in a person's life. When you think about the words we use on the negative side, let's start there. Here are the kinds of words that can start a fire that you can't control. Let's start with careless words, meaningless words, vain words. You know, some people, they don't use vile words, they just use vain words. And Jesus said, we'll give an account at the judgment seat of Christ for every vain, idle word that we speak.

Scary. Careless words can destroy lives in a matter of minutes. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

Not true. Words can hurt and they can hurt a lot. I wonder how many careless, thoughtless words have ruined relationships and fractured families and torn churches apart and destroyed reputations. Careless words. Words without thinking. We should always ask the Holy Spirit to help us think before we speak.

That we would think before we sinned. Then there are contemptuous words. Angry, hostile words.

Someone said, make your words sweet because someday you may have to eat them. I wonder how many wives have been beaten down by the words, the verbal abuse of an angry husband. How many children have been wounded for life by the hostile words, the angry words of parents who don't pay attention. They're like weapons that can break down spirits, criticism and destructive language. Words that wound.

You have to live with the consequences of what you say and often people around you live with the consequences of what we say. The contemptuous words. Hateful, angry, sensuous.

That's the next kind of word, sensuous words. Negative, critical, caustic, slanderous, backstabbing, backbiting. And James, who is our brother here, says brothers and sisters, this should not be true about us. If we open our mouths and say ah, and the great physician looks down, what does he see? And what's coming out of our hearts? Well I don't gossip, but you know people just tell me stuff.

Don't let somebody use your ears for garbage cans. Don't participate in gossip or slander, in sensuous words. And then carnal words, fleshly words, filthy words, profane words. He speaks of both blessing and cursing in this passage. Blaspheming God and blaspheming others.

Filthy words, potty mouth, porno words, immoral words that come out of the heart. Did you know that all of the Ten Commandments can be broken by our words, not just our deeds? That's why we can pretty much know that we've broken all the commandments, at least by our words, if not our deeds. We can dishonor God by our words. We can exhibit false worship and idol worship with our words. We can offer murderous accusations and assassinations with our words. We can tell lies and bear false witness with our words. We can covet with our words. We can express vile and lustful thoughts, adulterous thoughts with our words. We can steal a person's reputation with our words.

Words matter. So it's true when James says this can set off a course of events, a fire in your life that can destroy everything. He talks then about this monster, a beast. He said we can tame the animals.

So James takes us on a trip to the zoo. He said you can tame animals but this beast uncontrolled in your mouth, this monster in your mouth is restless and is powerful and is poisonous and a few drops can kill. But that brings me to the final word here which says our words then display our character. That's what he's talking about when he says out of one side of our mouth comes blessing and the other side of our mouth comes blasting or cursing. Someone said that the profanity of the church is greater than the profanity of the streets and what that means is, you know, we come to church, we, you know, hey brother, how you doing? Let's praise God together and then in the parking lot the same guy cuts you off.

You jerk! What's wrong with you? Or we go home and before we even get home we're in a rancorous argument with someone in the family. It happens all the time because our tongues cause us a great deal of trouble. One minute we're praising God, the next minute we're profaning people that God made.

That's what he's saying here. Great people in the Bible had trouble with their tongues. Job who overcame such disaster in his life said, I am vile, I lay a hand over my mouth.

Like that. Isaiah the great prophet when he saw the Lord high and lifted up he said, I am a man of unclean lips amidst a generation of people of unclean lips. That's descriptive of our generation. There's just so much filth in the air. Both men and women are spewing out this filth, words, sending out poisonous words. Moses was angry one day and he ended up out of the promised land because of it and it says in Psalm 106 verse 33 that because he was angry he said, I spoke rashly with my lips. How many times have we spoken rashly? We wish we could get it back but of course it's like slitting open a feather pillow and the wind blowing the feathers everywhere.

You can never get some of that stuff back in the pillow. Peter sinned against Christ and denying Christ and with the same mouth he confessed him and said, I will never deny you and yet when he was warming his hands by the fires of the Romans he ended up running away denying Christ. It's disturbing isn't it? When I look at my own life and I see in my words both blessing and cursing it's disturbing. James uses these illustrations of a fountain whether it's sweet water or salt water or whether it's a fig tree these illustrations of nature by saying what is at the root will bear the same fruit. And so the problem is with the heart. The person with a harsh tongue has an angry heart. The person with a negative tongue has an anxious heart. The person with an overactive tongue has an unsettled heart. The person with a filthy tongue has an impure heart. A person with a critical sensuous tongue has a bitter heart and so on.

But let's flip that on the other side. A person with compassionate words has a loving heart. A person with an encouraging tongue has a happy heart. A person with a truthful tongue has an honest heart. Our words come from our hearts and the only way to tame the tongue is first of all to get a new heart. The Bible talks about getting a brand new heart because the old heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. And the only way to transform our tongues is not reformation or even education.

You can improve your vocabulary with education. You can improve maybe your attitude with reformation. But you can only change your tongue and your actions and your words and your deeds with transformation.

And we need a new life. And this is how Jesus Christ changes our hearts and changes our lives. I can tell you I've seen it over the years many, many times how a man or a woman whose tongue was off the charts but then transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. Then ask the Holy Spirit to control your tongue. Give God control of your tongue. James says we can't do this on our own.

We need the supernatural power of God. The psalmist said it this way in Psalm 141 verse 3, set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep a watch over the doors of my lip. Set a guard on my mouth.

Lord, watch my mouth. God watches our words and looks into our heart. And then use your tongue to the glory of God. Use your tongue for God's glory. The best way I know how to transform the tongue by the power of Christ is to use my tongue and my words to magnify Christ in praise and in worship.

The psalmist said, thy loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise you. O magnify the Lord with me. I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise will continually be in my mouth. The scripture says that we're to bring to God the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips. I don't know why we seem to be so reluctant to use our words to worship. What we say or what we see, praise God with your words, with your worship to Him. Remember, worship flows out of the heart and it's possible that you don't worship with your lips because you don't have it in your heart to do it.

I'm not saying tip the cup, but if it spills over, shout to the Lord. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise.

I wish God would give me a thousand tongues and a thousand lifetimes to speak of the wonders of His love and the power of His grace in our lives. That's how we're to use our tongues. Our words is our witness. Our tongue is a testimony.

How you do it? How's the testimony of your words, the testimony of your worship? How's your life going? Is it negative and downhill, going in the wrong direction and your words are just destructive, self-destructive? Or are your words powerful and persuasive? Joshua 1.8 says that we are to keep God's word in our mouths at all times. Speak the word of God over your life. Speak God's promises over your situation. Express God's praise no matter what and your words, your tongue will be transformed to the glory of Jesus Christ.

You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, Taming the Tongue. Chances are you've faced your share of crisis. Maybe you're even in the fight of your life right now, or maybe you're simply feeling exhausted by the busyness of life and sapped of spiritual strength. Whatever you're facing, we want to help fan the flame of faith in your life by sending you Dr. Graham's newest book, Reignite.

This personal account of how God led Dr. Graham through his own crisis will help you focus on God during difficult seasons so you can experience fresh passion and joy in Jesus. And we'll send you a copy as thanks for your gift today. So call now to request your copy of Reignite. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit JackGraham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online, or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.

Our website again is JackGraham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? Your words, our words, the way we speak reflects what's in our hearts. The person with a filthy tongue, a dirty mouth, has an impure heart.

But the opposite is also true. A person who uses compassionate, encouraging, uplifting words has a loving heart. The Bible talks about getting a brand new heart because the old heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. That's where Jesus comes into our lives. When Christ enters our lives, he changes our hearts.

He doesn't just patch up the old one. He gives us a brand new heart. Sometimes we try to tame our tongues through education or reformation. That might improve your vocabulary.

It might even improve your ability to get along with people. But the words that come out of your mouth will always reflect your heart. So you can't tame the tongue without having your heart changed, transformed by Jesus.

It's impossible to control our tongues apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But when Jesus does come into your life, when the Holy Spirit begins to transform your tongue, then you will use your words as a testimony of the Gospel of Christ. Let me just ask you today, are you using your words to testify of the grace of God, the goodness of God, the good news of Jesus in your life? You need to ask in every situation whether you post it or text it or tweet it or just say it.

Does what I say, does what I write, what I post, what I text, does it represent Jesus and reflect his love in my life? And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint today, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand new book, Reignite, as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. Text PowerPoint to 313131. Join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how to embrace the full life God wants for you. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.