BOOK OF JAMES

STUDY PART 14 - The Tongue No Man Can Tame

JAMES 3: 6-12 “(6) The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (7) All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, (8) but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (9) With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. (10) Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. (11) Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? (12) My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. 

INTRO: James brings us again back to the test of our Christian Faith, that which deals with our tongues.  The challenge was thrown out to all of God’s children in the first chapter of James verse 26 and is dealt with in detail here in Chapter 3. The wrong use of the tongue affects: 1) Our family life- the atmosphere in the home is determined by the use of the tongue by each member of the family 2) Our church life-many hard feelings and even church splits have resulted from the wrong use of the tongue. Love should govern and characterize the local church and love should govern the tongue (John 13:34, 35). 3) Our community life-how many unhappy hours have been spent by some of us if not all of us in gossip, slander, or backbiting of a neighbor (Prov. 10:18). If sound speech should be seen in any person in the community, it should be seen in the Christian (Tit. 2:8). 

I.                    “The tongue is a fire that does much damage” (vs. 6) “(6) The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. –“An ungodly man diggeth up evil and in his lips there is a burning fire.”-Prov 16:27. A tongue of fire can cause much damage. What kind of damage can it cause? (Examples). It can ruin the character and bring a person down to despair. The destructive power of the tongue is Satanic (Rom 3:13,14). The tongue is a “World of Iniquity”. God’s Word emphasizes the overflow of evil possible in our tongues. Satan lied to Eve and then Adam sinned which brought the fall of man (Gen. 3:4,5). Delilah used her tongue in fair speech to get Samson secret of his strength (Judges 16). Samson lost his strength, liberty, and his life due to the wrong use of the tongue. The tongue “defileth the whole body” according to the scriptures. Our whole body is drawn into sin by the tongue (Mat 15:11). The tongue not only commits sin, but it suggests sin of self towards others. A sinful mouth will lead to sinful flesh, “Suffer not thy mouth, to cause thy flesh to sin” –Eccl. 5:6. The tongue is “Set on fire of Hell”. First, the tongue of man was created to bring glory to God (Ps 9:1, 2). But through the fall the tongue of man has been perpetually set on fire from hell. This word “hell”-Gehenna, is only used by two people in the Bible, our Lord Jesus and here in James. It speaks of the place where refuse was burned outside of Jerusalem.

II.                   “Things tamed by man which God put him over (vs. 7) (7) All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man—Look at Ps. 8:6-8. The animal kingdom here is called on to illustrate the difficulty of taming the human tongue. Four fold classification of the Animals. 1) All kinds of animals/every kind of beast- Man has been able to tame wild beast better than anything else and has put many of them to much use. The wild animals speak of a fierceness of the human tongue and is to be feared as much. 2) birds- birds have been tamed and put to good use in a domestic way and some even trained to hunt. 3) reptiles/serpents-creepy things better translated . Man has shown a special ability in taming these most difficult animals. Like many serpents, the tongue can be very deadly. 4) Creatures of the sea-many sea creatures like the seal, whale, and dolphin have been tamed and trained. But like the tongue, just when you become complacent and you think you have it under control, it breaks out on a rampage.

III.                 “Tongue Can No Man Tame” (Vs. 8) (8) but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.—Nothing shows man sin more clearly than the tongue (Prov. 10:19). We must first realize that man cannot tame his own tongue (Gal 5:17)(Rom 7:18). Its easier for a drunkard to leave his drink or a gambler to leave his card or a slave to leave his tobacco.. However, the Lord can tame the tongue. Only He can change a blaspheming tongue into a praising tongue (Mark 5:1-20). He can change an evil speaking tongue into one which speaks lovely words (Eph. 5:18-20). This is all possible to those who have trusted Christ as their Savior.

IV.                “Blessing and Cursing” (Vs. 9-12) (9) With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. (10) Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. (11) Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? (12) My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. -- Two uses of the tongue are contrasted in vs. 9. On the one hand, we find a tongue praising God, but on the other hand cursing man. Is this not sin to bless God and then curse man who is created in His likeness (I John 4:20). Things which God says are not suppose to be –vs. 10. “Out of the same mouth”-this is right were we live. Out of the mouths of those who profess to be a believer in Christ. “proceedeth/come praise (blessing) and cursing”- how guilty we ALL must stand for those times when we have praised God and then displeased our God by the use of our tongues. “These things should not be”-this is a simple and direct command from God (I Tim 5:13)(Tit. 1:10,11). Our mouths should NOT display the characteristics of a split tongue. A fountain of water-vs. 11. No one draws sweet and bitter water from the same spicket or well at the same time. A fountain can’t yield salt water and fresh water at the same time. Yet, how many times are we guilty of sitting in a public meeting/church service giving out sweet water of praise to God then go home and speak forth bitter words of speech…how strange… The trees are true to there kind-vs. 12. It is unnatural and even impossible for a fig tree to grow olives or a grapevine to grow figs. When the Israelites were being lead by Moses and were in Marah, the water was bitter. Moses prayed and God showed him a tree which he cast into the water (Ex. 15:23-25). When he cast it into water, it became sweet. Could it be that this same type of tree was the type of cross upon which Jesus suffered and died for all of us? Remember that only the Cross will sweeten the flow of our speech.

CONCLUSION: Repent and turn to Christ. Let him turn the bitter into sweet speech. Evil speech comes from an evil heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”. Allow Christ’s work on Calvary to make you sweet in your speech for Him.