Taming the Fiery Tongue

is good morning everyone go ahead and find your seat hope you guys had a great weekend this morning we're going to introduce a new song to you and it's about the truth that god is for his people zephaniah 3 17 the lord your god is in your midst the mighty one who will save he will rejoice over you with gladness he will quiet you by his love he will exalt you with loud singing how awesome is it that we serve a god who rejoices over us with loud singing one who delights in us because we are his a god who is for his people not

because of anything special in us but because of his goodness mercy and love that he lavishes on us let these truths be our foundation for worship this morning would you stand and join us [Music] we don't fear the battle we won't fear the night we will walk the valley with you by our side you'll go before us you will either way we have found a refuge only you can save sing with joy now our god is for us the father's love is a strong and mighty fortress praise your voice now no love is greater who can stand against us if our god is for us

[Music] [Music] you will not forsake you will cheer me on the world with never-ending grace sing with joy now our god is for us the father's love is a strong and mighty fortress raise your voice now no love is greater who can stand against us if our god is for us [Music] neither high nor death is separated and death will not defeat us he who gave his son to free us holds me in his love [Music] he who gave his son to free us holds me in his love neither high nor [Applause] death will not defeat us he who gave his son to freedom holds

me in his love [Music] sing with joy now our god is for us the father's love is a strong and mighty fortress praise your voice now who can stand against us if our god is for us sing with joy now our god is for us the father's love is a strong and mighty fortress let's praise your voice now no love is greater who can stand against this if our god is for us [Music] let the king of my heart be the mountain where i run the fountain i drink from oh he is [Music] you are good [Music] let the [Music] [Music] let the king of

[Music] be the is inside myself [Music] is [Music] you're good you [Music] you're never gonna land never gonna let me down you're never gonna let never gonna let me down you're never gonna land never gonna let me [Music] never gonna let me down [Music] you are oh [Music] never gonna let me down [Music] you are good [Music] [Music] god of creation there at the start before the beginning of time [Music] with no point of reference you spoke to the dark and fleshed out the wonder of light [Music] and as you speak a hundred billion galaxies are born [Music] in the vapor of your breath the

planets form [Music] [Music] if creation sings your praises [Music] god of your promise you don't speak invade no syllable empty your void [Music] for once you have spoken all nature and science follow the sound of your voice [Music] and as you speak [Music] a hundred billion creatures catch your breath evolving in pursuit of what you said if it all reveals your nature so alive i can see your heart and everything you say [Music] still obeys you so [Music] if the stars were made to worship [Music] so alive for if everything exists to lift you high so will i if the wind goes [Music] silence [Music]

times [Music] you chased down my heart through all of my failure and pride [Music] on a hill you created the light of the world abandoned in darkness to die [Music] and as you speak a hundred million failures disappear [Music] i can see your heart in everything you've done every part [Music] i can see your heart a billion different ways every precious one a child you die to save if you gave your life to love them so alive [Music] like you would again 800 billion times for what measure could amount to your desire you're the one who never leaves the one behind god we just adore

you in your creation all that you have made and allowed us to be a part and of we want to be so moved that the example that you've placed before us will stir us into movement as well that we will go before us and preach your gospel proclaim your name to all those around us god we want to follow you we want to give ourselves completely to you that you can use us for your kingdom and for your glory would you help us to do that amen you guys will take a seat for a time of confession the bible along with our own experience makes

it abundantly clear that the effects of sin don't just extend to our own personal life but they are far-reaching sin first and foremost it fractures our relationship with god it also fractures the fellowship with those around us it stretches into every corner of your life and impacts every area of our lives the lives of our family the lives of our friends and brothers our sisters in christ there is no aspect that has not in some way shape or form been tarnished by the consequences of sin in genesis genesis 4 god warns cain that his sin and anger against his brothers sought to rule and control

him this is what the lord warns cain he says if you do well will you not be accepted and if you do not do well sin is crouching at the door its desire is contrary to you but you must rule over it and ultimately cain's anger ruled over him and we see the first murder of mankind being controlled by his sin and while murder may not be the most prevalent sin of our hearts i pray sin is still sin and it is far-reaching the same truth can still be applied about the sin that is in our lives it is crouching at the door at the

door and it desires to rule over us what does that sin look like in your life maybe it's envy of another's success maybe it's putting somebody or something as an idol in your heart maybe it's a temptation that you keep falling into maybe it's complacency we have to pay attention and recognize the areas of sin in our hearts that we can give it over to god and compare it to what god's word says and in prayer in a community we can um dive deep into those roots and ask god to pull them out of us this morning let us acknowledge our sin whatever it may

be and let us humbly come before the lord understanding that our sin does run deep and wide in our lives let us confess our sin and lead us to repentance knowing that this rhythm of confession and repentance and acknowledging our sin before a holy god leads to fullness of life in christ as we confess may this truth bring you great hope that even though our sins are many his mercy is more we're going to read aloud i'm going to read this prayer and read with me the underlying portion thank you for grace that you've shown us and given us in order that we would be

sons and daughters of god help us to fight to put to death our sin of fear and arrogance all these sins we mourn lament and for them cry pardon work in us more profound and abiding repentance give us the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears it ever trusts and loves which is ever powerful and ever confident grant that through the tears of repentance i may see more clearly the brightness and glories of the saving cross heavenly father god we just come to you this morning and acknowledge our weakness we acknowledge the sin that is in our hearts and in our lives we

acknowledge that the sin is ugly transformative into our own hearts but god that we also know that this sin that is in our lives affects everything around us whether we see the implications or not god would you just dig deep into our hearts and rip that sin out and though it may be painful we know that on the outside of it afterwards god it is going to be relieving and glorious as we are more reflecting of you god we thank you that you do forgive us that we don't have to carry the weight of our sin god but that you have taken that upon yourself

and you can set us free from it we want to give it to you we want to release ourselves of that burden knowing that you want to carry it for us god maybe not hold on to it just for the sake of having it maybe be able to release it to you your name i pray amen well good morning church we have the three and five-year-olds uh if you want to you can go ahead and be dismissed and head out to your classroom and for the rest of us we are going to continue on in our james series and so if you've got your bibles

go ahead and open them or turn them on uh we're going to be in james chapter 3 today james chapter 3. and we're going to be in verses 1 through 12 is what we're going to be looking at and as you're turning there i'm just going to kind of do a quick recap of what we've covered just mainly over last week because i think that again this is a train of thought that james just kind of following and i think it's just good for us to know this and just have this as kind of a a foundation for us as he's really just unpacking just

wisdom for us wisdom for us is coming from above and wisdom for just how to live oftentimes james is kind of referred to as um just the the poetry or the wisdom kind of the proverbs of the new testament and what that is is just he he gets down to just practical living like how do i live out the gospel in my daily life how do i take the truths that we are proclaiming and that we are declaring in the gospel how do we look at the life of jesus and how does that actually live itself out in our lives and so where where paul

tends to be very heavy theologically james is very heavy practically on how this again applies out to our lives and so one of the primary things that we looked at last week was this idea of faith works and what james was really getting at was in some ways seeming contradictory to what paul when you have paul in ephesians 2 talking about the fact that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone and that it is not due to our works that it's not due to anything that we do or can do or anything that we think or or uh can kind of attain up

to james is kind of throwing a wrench in the that when he comes and says at the end of chapter 2 that our faith is also accompanied by works and that you say you have faith but i'm going to show you faith by my works or that one is not justified by faith alone but by works also and so it kind of seems a different than what maybe the apostle paul was preaching in his letters and what we really looked at is what james was preaching to these jewish christians who were dispersed throughout the region what he's telling them is is there are people saying

that they have faith there are people proclaiming that they are christians yet their lives are not matching up with it that their lives are not displaying the fact that there's actually true genuine faith within them and so what he's essentially saying is you can't say you're a christian and not live a life that also reveals that you're a christian you can't say that you've met jesus and nothing happened or that i met jesus and nothing changed and so what he's ultimately saying is is what jesus is also preaching and proclaiming is that in order for you to say your team jesus the way in which

that's going to be revealed is by the fruit that's lived out you will prove to be my disciples by the way you live your lives that there's actually been a transformation of heart and so one of the things that we did last week is we kind of laid out an equation for you if you will of of how god goes about saving us and and it all starts with what god does for you in the work of justifying you in the work of sending his son jesus to save you forgive you declare you pardon that is all the work that god does in saving you

he justifies you and then also the work of regeneration is the work of him giving you a new heart and so for those of us who say we have faith if it's genuine faith that means god has taken out the heart of stone the sinful heart and he's spiritually given you a new heart a new identity a heart that wants to love god wants to serve god wants to pray to god wants to love and serve others wants to have jesus increase in their lives and them decrease as john the baptist says and so so it's this new identity this new heart that then leads

to i want to do good works which is what god does through us so justification is what god does for us regeneration is what god does in us and good works is what god does through us and when our works are matching up with what we're preaching what we're saying that's proving that god has actually saved you he's actually saved you and so someone who says he saved me but yet does not live a life that shows that they've been saved is just revealing the fact that maybe he's not saved you maybe you've not trusted in jesus maybe you don't have faith in jesus you

don't have a genuine faith in him and so we we need to marry those two things together and and now as james is kind of moving into this idea of of taming the tongue and and our speech and what comes out of our mouth is still in this same train of thought that that what comes out of your mouth is revealing who you truly are it's revealing your heart and so that's what we're going to be looking at this big idea of taming the tongue reveals the fruit of the heart and so no new heart no self-control no ability to tame the tongue so let's

look at this james chapter 3 starting in verse 1. and it says this now many of you should 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 are 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 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 grape vine produce figs neither can a salt pond yield fresh water this is the word of the lord father we ask that this word this morning that you've inspired that james wrote to these jewish christians who were dispersed throughout the region and first century

may this word may the truth of it penetrate our hearts and our minds this morning and may your spirit guide us in understanding this truth so that as you are continuing to mold us and transform us that this would disciple us with our speech and how to tame our words and our tongue so that we may be edifying and encouraging to others and that it also may be revealing of our true heart our true nature father we love you and we ask all these things in your son's name in jesus we pray amen from this passage i've got three observations that i want to look

at this morning first the tongue can steer the course of your life the tongue can steer the course of your life secondly we're going to look at how the tongue can also set on fire the course of your life and then finally the tongue can either be a member for evil or for good and so looking at the first one and this is really the first five verses of this passage is this great truth for you this morning is that the tongue can steer your life the tongue can steer your life and so one thing to look at and this is good news for you

is that your intelligence or your physical fitness or your likability or your trade or career or skill set those things do not direct the success or your experience in life they just don't like they do not direct the success or experience in your life it and is that not what we think like that's how we typically operate when it comes to our lives now i know those things do play a part for sure but they are not the primary like for example education although a great thing and is something worth pursuing is not the thing that determines the success of your life it does not

determine the course of your life i think you should be educated i think you should pursue education i mean we're big on knowledge here both biblically but also we're like we want you to know things and increase your mind i mean that's why we have the institute we want to increase that but knowledge does not dictate the success of your life education does not do that take physical fitness simply being in shape does not mean that you're going to live a long and successful life now it helps right i mean you're able to do more things maybe in an easier way than you would if

you weren't physically fit uh my wife and i were celebrating our 10th anniversary this week um and yes that's great that's something good to applause and uh we we're we're going big we're going to uh phoenix arizona we're going to take a day trip to the grand canyon and people have like you know shared with us different hiking trails and i'm looking at those hiking trails i'm thinking my physical fitness right now is probably not suited for a two or three hour hiking trip i'm looking more for like the 30 minute maybe get out of the car and just kind of like where's the lookout

points like like give me those because my physical fitness right now is just uh i just don't have that endurance maybe for a long hike for some it might be easier but here's another one like your likability your popularity among others your your followers if you will do not determine the course or success of your life i think one of the most life-sucking and soul-robbing desires we have is is the need for others to validate us the need for others to validate us and then think how some somehow that is what is successful in life i mean i think that is one of the biggest

reasons right now that like influencers are a thing and that they've made a living out of it is by just trying to cast themselves in such a way that they've got everything together and people are all about that right like we're all about looking like we have everything together so much so that we've created this category of influencers where we want to be like them even though behind the scenes and behind the instagram edits their life is is a mess just a mess all of our lives are just a mess if we really pull back the layers right we're just fumbling and stumbling through this

but we've just bought into the lie that a life together that is likable is somehow going to lead to success or steer the course of our life another one and this one is important what you do your career does not determine the course of your life but it's 40 years of my life it still does not determine the course of your life it does not determine the success of your life one of the major problems i have with western thinking is you are what you do you are what you do i mean this is not how we enter is this not how we introduce ourselves

to other people hi my name is duane and i'm a pastor what do you do well i'm an accountant or i'm a teacher or i'm a doctor or nurse or and we then kind of identify or define people by what we do and we've even seen some studies in this that the second largest suicide group are those within five years of retirement because their entire life has been defined by what they do how productive they are what they provide for society and when you remove that who am i who am i what do i have to give what do i have to produce what what

is going to be successful or how am i going to be defined as being successful so what then steers the course of my life if it's not my intellect or my likability or my skill set well james gives us some illustrations for what actually steers the course of our lives and it's going to take some work for us to understand this starting verse 2 here for we all stumble and i'm skipping verse 1 because that can be a sermon in and of itself and we'll get to that at one point when it comes to those being held more accountable when it comes to teaching uh

and and we'll tackle that but i'm skipping it for right now just throwing that out there so don't email me you can email ransford about it verse 2 for we all stumble in many ways and if anyone does not stumble and what he says he's a perfect man able also to bridle and that's that's the bridle like on a horse with a bridle over its head where you're then able to steer the horse 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'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 your your tongue your speech your words and i think this is why james is so big on being quick to hear and slow to speak because of the wisdom and importance and the impact of our words our speech your words are or serve as a guide literally to your whole life your words serve as a guide like a rudder to your whole life and that can be both a

good thing and a not so good thing right which leads to the second point the tongue can set on fire the course of your life and i think james lands here a little bit more and not trying to unpack how words can lead to the success of your life but more so on the other flip side of how the words revealing the sinfulness of our heart can actually set the course of our lives ablaze ablaze he focuses more on that aspect of this so it might be a little bit heavier for us and a little bit more convicting for us when looking at this but

this is what he says the tongue can set on fire the course of your life 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 psalm 5 verse 9 also puts it this way for there is no truth in their mouth their innermost self is destruction their throat is an open grave they flatter with their tongue so not only does the tongue serve as a guide to the course of

your life but steering you here and there but the tongue also can destroy it and james just gets after it here straight to the point he's not beating around the bush what you say has the power to destroy your life but also what you say has the power to destroy other people's lives as well power to destroy your life power destroy others and is that not true right now i mean how many when you think about our our society how many people whether they're politicians whether they're teachers whether they're pastors whether they're tv hosts whatever it looks like right now especially in this kind of

new wave of cancer culture can say one thing and then they're done say one thing and they're done words matter and they have the power to destroy which is probably that the thing that makes most sense when it comes to our entire existence because if you think about it in terms of god creating by a word in his goodness and righteousness god creates everything and then in our breaking of that and sinning by a word that's all it's got to take just by a word we can deceive we can destroy we can break everything that god created everything that he set into motion god in

his righteousness speaks goodness we in our sinfulness speak evil and it has the effect of setting ablaze our entire lives just just wrecking our entire lives and that can be both like just the total aspect of it where you might have been pursuing one career and by a word it's gone now you got to pursue something else and you could destroy that by a word or it could be from a relationship you could be on the path of a relationship and by a word it destroys it and sets it ablaze and then and then apart from the gospel doing a miraculous work it might be

destroyed forever i mean words matter sticks and stones may break my bones but words won't ever hurt me what a dumb quote right i mean just a dumb quote like how many of you have broken a bone it healed and you rarely ever think about it i mean it's true like i've had two knee surgeries and i rarely think about it because it doesn't alter my life now it does not alter my life now maybe when i get older and storms roll in i'm going to be like my joints man you know there's a storm rolling in like that might happen eventually that's going to

be the only time i think about it like breaking of bones and stuff words have lasting impressions how many of you write again you've had issues physical issues like that that you rarely think about but you've had someone say something to you at one point in your life and it is lasted and right now you're thinking of it it might have been something that your father said to you your mother said to you or one of your best friends said to you and it just cut deep and it maybe have set some things ablaze things like you'll never amount to anything nobody could ever love

you you're not good enough i mean those are death blows to the soul that have lasting effects or maybe on the flip side someone told you at a pivotal moment in your life i will always love you no matter what or i think you're wonderful i'm proud of you i mean words carry weight right they carry weight so why do they carry such weight to them because simply put your tongue reveals the state of your heart your tongue reveals the state of your heart it reveals your identity your words at the end of the day reveal who you are they reveal who you are just

like last week we talked about faith and works and james was getting to the point that your works the good deeds you do the good speech you speak the good news you share all of that reveals the nature of your heart and whether or not you have a heart that has been transformed by the goodness and grace and mercy of jesus it's revealing that that's why your words carry so much weight and meaning because flowing from your heart they reveal they reveal your eternity they reveal your eternity proverbs 15 2 the tongue of the wise commands knowledge but the mouths of fools pour out folly

they pour out folly so how do we become people with tongues of wisdom and not the mouths of fools and this leads to the final point here the tongue can either be a member for evil or for good looking at verses 7 through 12 here for every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind basically you're just saying they're like we have the power anything that's not human we can tame it we can cultivate gardens we can train animals we can tame them we can we can literally in in both positive and negative oppress

and suppress creation verse 8 but no human being can tame the tongue uh oh no human being can tame the tongue it is a restless evil full of deadly poison with it here's his warning for us similar to his vein last week 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 these things ought not to be so rather they're revealing where you land they're revealing your heart you can't be both it's one or the other it's

all or nothing is what he's saying here and he gives these illustrations does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water can a christian pour forth from their heart both righteousness and unrighteousness this new spirit that god has given us according to ezekiel and according to jeremiah that we looked at last week can a fig tree my brothers bear olives or a grape vine produce figs neither can a salt pond yield for a fresh water again here's the bad news according to james you can't control your tongue you can't control what you say or how you say it and what

kind of impact it has on another person you can't control those things in and of yourself in and of yourself i think what james is trying to do for us here in telling these jewish christians that it's impossible for them to do or on one hand to bless the lord with their lips and also on the other hand to curse people who are made in the likeness of god what james is saying is it's all or nothing there's no heart spring or fig tree or grape vine or pond those are metaphors for the heart there's there's no new heart that desires desires to curse others

who are made in the image of god which is everyone every human being that has been born in the case you were wondering well whether they're righteous and and faith-believing jesus following christians or they're sinners it doesn't matter they're still made in the image of god they still have value and dignity we are to pursue them in love and still to pursue them with the good news of the gospel of jesus christ because we too were once dead in our trespasses we too were once in need of grace and mercy we're no different if you have a sinful heart a heart of stone you cannot

control or tame the words that flow from that heart they may at times imitate good but at the end of the day they will curse for the tongue is a restless evil full of deadly poison at the end of the day that's what's going to spring forth from it because it's stained in its influence by a dead heart so as a sinner with a bad heart you cannot tame the tongue that's the bad news but james also is providing for us some good news because the bible tells us there's someone who can control it there's someone who can control it the spirit of god alone

holds the keys to the identity of the heart and the fruit that pours from it that's why when god is looking at us and we shared those passages in jeremiah and ezekiel 32 that's why he's saying to us i'm going to come i'm going to pursue you in your deadness as sinners you're spiritually dead remember he's using that same language with nicodemus when jesus is telling him though there are people who are physically alive but spiritually dead you need to be reborn the way in which you are reborn is by god coming to you and your spiritual deadness and giving you a new heart taking

your heart of stone out and giving you a heart of flesh he gives you a new heart this new heart that we receive is god giving us a heart that then causes us to walk in step with his spirit it causes us to then be able to live out the fruit of the spirits or the fruit of the spirit no spirits spirit spirit of god and if you discuss that in your community groups this week fantastic i'm hoping that you're so walking that out as you're holding each other accountable as you're encouraging one another with words of wisdom that are coming from the scriptures themselves

of what your identity in the spirit of god is not what your identity was in your flesh or in yourself because in that place you can't tame it you can't do anything other than sin but in the spirit of god the spirit that he's given us the new heart that he's given us the word that he's given us we're able to apply that to our lives and live it out in such a way that we are not setting ablaze our life in destroying it or destroying the lives of others with the words that we say to them but we are fanning into flame the goodness

and the righteousness of jesus and encouraging that in one another as well as we are growing in that as we are also preaching that same word to ourselves to our minds to our hearts listen to what it says this is the apostle paul in galatians 5 16-26 and this is going to be the passage that i close this out with he says but i say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh the heart the old heart the heart of stone the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of

the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do but if you are led by the spirit of god you are not under the law if you are led by the spirit of god which means he's given you a new heart if you're led by that you will not do the things that your flesh used to desire and what were those things we see it here in verse 19 the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions envy drunkenness

orgies and things like these in case i forgot anything and left it out i warn you as i warned you before those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of god those who do such things are revealing a heart that's not been transformed by god they're revealing a tongue that is still in step with the flesh and not the spirit of god they're revealing an identity that does not have genuine faith in jesus but maybe just a spoken faith but the fruit of the spirit is this love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there's no law there's no

condemnation over you living out these things and those who belong to christ jesus paul's kind of getting at the same thing here with james i've just given you two categories those who do not belong to jesus are going to reveal that by their lifestyle those who belong to jesus have crucified that old lifestyle put it to death repent of it stop doing it because they have a new desire now to live out and live in step with the spirit of god they crucify the flesh with its passions and desires and he finishes it with this in verse 25 if we then live by the spirit

list also keep in step with the spirit let us not become conceited provoking one another or envying one another what's the flip side of that instead of provoking one another we're encouraging one another instead of envying one another we're hoping that they succeed in life how do those things get fleshed out usually it comes and is revealed by our words by our words i'll tell you one of the this is this is revealing some of our cards out on the table i think one of the hardest things to experience in life is when you're trying to have a kid and i know this has not

fit everyone's situation but it might land on you in some way or another is when you find yourself in a life trying to have a kid and you can't or just it's not happened yet and then your friends announce they're pregnant that does some work in your soul where in that moment even though there's a part of you that's excited for you for them there's also a part of you that's not that's just not i'd say card's on the table i've been there i've been there that's the war that's happening with us on a daily basis in probably all of the facets of our lives

whatever career you're you're pursuing right now there's probably other people more successful than you in it and there's also probably people who are not going to be in it very long right and you're probably finding yourself in between and you're just kind of looking at the situations and probably you're going to talk to somebody about it what james is warning us here is that the revealing of your heart is probably going to lead to the success one way or the other how you roll with that is going to lead to steering the direction of this walking in step with the spirit of god and encouraging

and edifying the success of others in that place is a good thing is a good thing using words to maybe tear others down because of it setting ablaze setting an ablaze i think this goes in all aspects relationships that we have careers that we have our family the bible is so so it puts so much weight on our tongue and our words that i think we should audit them i really do i think we should audit them like just if you could put yourself as a fly on the wall to your own conversations that you have on a weekly basis what notes is that fly

gonna take when it comes to the what's coming out of your mouth revealing your heart revealing your heart sometimes you'll probably walk in step with the spirit and it's good and it's edifying and it's encouraging there's going to be other moments where you're like man i just destroyed something i just set something ablaze and it carries weight you might be thinking right now of a conversation that you had maybe this week or this month or this year where you know you know what i need to get some buckets of water and i need to go and i need to try to reconcile this this conversation

that i had and i think that's in step with the spirit to do that to pursue reconciliation i think also on the flip side there's there's opportunities for us in those moments to repent and to say you know what where why am i doing that and let that reveal again where we're out of step where as paul said here like not being able to do what you really want to do like for those as christians and again this is why james is so harping on this because at times we can like theologically or mentally intellectually we can put ourselves in a category that were spoken

faith and james is saying like you got to get down to living it out because again you're warring with this on a daily basis well you you realize even though you're justified and you're in good standing with god and your eternity is set at the same time you're still dealing with a flesh that has not been glorified yet right like how many of you still sin and it bothers you it should bother you if it doesn't bother you we need to have a conversation afterwards because the lord needs to do some work in you probably needs to save you if it doesn't bother you and

so we need to do this work and this work is being done on a daily basis where we are bringing those sins those desires that now should no longer be our deepest desires again new heart so if i'm walking out of step with that james is warning me here it's either revealing that you're not saved or it's just revealing that hey you're suffering from a temporary identity crisis this is not who you are you need to repent of it you need to stop and you need to trust in the spirit that god has given you and you need to walk in step with the spirit

of god you need to be loving you need to be joyful you need to be patient you need to be experienced you need to show peace you need to show self-control you've got it now human beings before can't control or tame the tongue but you've got self-control now so use it walk in step with the spirit of god trust in the strength and his ability that he's given you to be able to say no to sin and yes to jesus that's what he's encouraging us to do and that's what james is just letting the rubber meet the road here and he's just saying walk in

it you can do it now you can do it now because of the spirit of god who is in you i think sometimes unfortunately we as believers just kind of still walking which what was me gazing like i'm looking down i'm just i can't figure this out i can't i'm just a sinner and yes you are but you're also a sinner saved by grace if it's genuine faith and this sinner saved by grace is now saint and even though you're going to stumble through this there's a deep desire to be obedient to god's word and to walk in step with his spirit that is our

greatest want for those who have genuine faith and because it's your greatest want then give yourself over to that greatest wants and live in step with the spirit of god that is actually not setting your life ablaze but is leading and directing and steering you to be successful and what it looks like to be successful might be different for a lot of us but it's good news for us it's life-giving it's no longer you destroying your life but it's actually leading to flourishing in life and it's all flowing from the heart that he's given us stop using the excuses that the devil made me do

it or i just can't i just can't do it perfectly all the time trust in jesus who did it perfect who now lives in you and is living through you so walk in step with those good deeds walk in step with his life and i'm telling you you're you're going to experience grace and goodness in that in righteousness yes it's going to be stumbling through it but it's going to be glorious because it's leading towards glory it's good that's why again we we offer confession every week in here because we want you to confess daily we want you to confess daily because it's leading us

back to jesus and it's it's it's it's getting that rudder set on the right direction it's it's it's setting the trajectory of our heart back to the heart that he's given us so when i come and repent daily and i confess daily lord here's here's where i'm walking out of step with your spirit here's why i'm struggling here's where i'm still uh obviously i've got blind spots and someone just revealed one of those blind spots to me and i still need to like com confess that and repent of that and turn from that i mean that's just good work and and the beauty of romans

8 1 is that when we come and confess there's no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus it's the most freeing thing that you can do is to come to jesus and to his father and say to him i have sinned against you and i've messed up and i i'm here because there's a deeper desire in me to not do that anymore and to love you and to worship you and to love others and to serve them as well and so whatever work needs to be done in my heart to adjust and to get in there and to put to death the things that

are of the flesh and to bring to pour forth out of my heart the things that are of you man do that work in me right now lord just continue to work it out and he's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to work those things out and to complete the good work that he started in you that's the work of confession we're able to freely come to the lord you don't have to run and hide like adam and eve did the death has already been paid there's no condemnation towards you in christ jesus anymore so we can now come to him

and have access to him at any moment to bring these things to him especially our speech especially our speech so just bring it to him i love i'm gonna give it to tim keller because i think he's the one that said it uh the only person who dares wake a king at three o'clock in the morning is a child we have that kind of access to our father because there is an unconditional love there and because of what he's done in justifying us and saving us through the work of his son jesus he now loves you as a son and a daughter adopted into his

family you've got that access to come to him and he's not going to get upset that you woke him up he doesn't sleep go to the lord and bring these things to him and repent of them whatever they might look like whatever it is in your life right now that you're just in your old way of doing things you're setting things ablaze bring it to him repent of it trust in the heart that he's given you his spirit let him do the work in you and let's walk in step with it let's walk in step with it let's pray father we love you we thank

you so much for your good news for us today we thank you for your word we thank you for the words of james the brother of jesus we thank you that james is is here just instructing us inspired by you instructing us to just get real real with our actions real with our words because those actions and those words they reveal our heart they reveal our identities they reveal who we are whether we're in you or we're not in you whether we're walking in step with you or whether we're not walking in step with you and so i love the practic practicality of james here

because it's a litmus test for a lot of us today and god it's good work it's good news for you to do this work in our minds and in our hearts and if right now we're feeling man i have wrecked it and i have set things ablaze and i have messed up things father just remind us that there's no condemnation for those of us who are in you who are in your son jesus you've already paid the price and you have already poured out your wrath towards our sin on your son jesus just remind us of that calm our spirits calm our anxieties and lord

let us trust in your strength in your energy and your ability to work out our salvation with fear and trembling to be able to say no to sin and yes to jesus and to be able to worship you with our lives and to be able to worship you with our speech the words that come out of our mouths may we be encouraging to others edifying to you and may we bless you and may we bless others for it's in your son's name we pray amen as we come to this time of communion jesus simply laid down his life to do this work for us knowing

that we are wrecking it and destroying it and that the identities of our hearts before jesus are are just dead and it just springs forth death and destruction jesus comes and he goes to the cross and and literally lets our sin destroy him and put him to death enough for the scriptures to say we murdered him we murdered him but at the same time jesus is also saying that he laid his life down and also at the same time the father is saying i crushed him at the cross all this is happening so that there could be this great exchange of him taking our sin

and giving us his righteousness and that's a not only just a once and for all moment that happens for us but it's also a daily exchange that is happening where we give him our sin and we take his righteousness we give him our sin and we and and we take his righteousness and that's what i want us to focus on as we partake of this communion and as we remember the death of jesus is that right now those things that we've been thinking about those conversations that we've had those words that we've maybe have spoken that have set things ablaze let's take those and give

them to jesus at the cross and let him crush them and destroy them and put them to death and let's receive his righteousness that he gives us to then be able to take that back to maybe some of those conversations to those people to those situations and let it spring forth life and not destruction so i'm gonna have you go ahead and stand if you don't have the elements please go back and get them at the table and come back and when you come back to your seats we will remember his death together the apostle paul says for i received from the lord what i

also delivered to you that the lord jesus on the night when he was betrayed this is what he did he took the bread as an illustration just he took the bread and when he had given thanks he broke it as a sign of him breaking his body which is for us and he wants them to eat it he wants them to do this in remembrance of him him breaking his body and in the same way he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me the new

covenant the new heart is only ushered in because of the blood spilt of jesus the sacrifice of jesus that's the only thing that forgives sin is that it is literally an illustration it is the death of jesus that covers our death do our sin for as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes you're proclaiming the only thing that is able to fix you his death so that you don't have to die his death so that you get to live you get to live this is by trusting jesus at every moment of everything in

our lives we're always choosing life over death and that's what we're remembering right now what jesus has done for us in his death let's partake together and worship him [Music] [Music] her creations suddenly articulate with a thousand tons to lift one cry then from north to south and east to west greedy christ be magnified [Music] we're the whole earth they're [Music] [Music] be magnified [Music] oh christ be magnified [Music] let his praise rise christ be magnified in me oh christ be magnified from the altar of my life christ we magnify in me when every creature finds and every human heart is [Music] jesus oh christ

be magnified let his praise rise christ we magnify in me oh christ be magnified when the altar of my life christ be magnified in me i won't bow to idols i send strong and worship you if it puts me in the fire i'll rejoice cause you're there too i won't be for my feelings i'll hold fast to what is true the cross brings transformation and i'll be crucified with you his death is just the doorway into resurrection life if i join you in your suffering then i'll join you when you rise and when you return in glory with all the angels and the saints christ

be magnified let his praise arise christ be magnified in me oh christ be magnified the altar of my [Music] let us praise your christ be magnified in me oh christ be manify the altar of my life christ be magnified in me [Music] god that's our prayer this morning that you would lead us that we would be your hands and your feet and even more importantly god that would be your tongue to this world that we would get to share the good news of jesus christ that through everything we say in our relationships and our jobs wherever we are god maybe magnify the goodness the grace

and the love that you've shown us god what a picture that is of this world if if all of your children would just get to be the voice of our savior what a different world we get to live in god we pray that you just continue to leave lead us and and guide us as we as we step out into the world maybe you lead our tongues yeah we love you and we trust in you it's in jesus name amen let's get