Body Parts Mix

Very warm welcome to you. Welcome to the mix. It's the first Sunday of the month. It's the first of June. First Sunday in June, rather.

And, that means we are, we're in the mix, and, we're going to be looking at another body part so if you are, new or you're visiting with us this morning, this is the series that we've been doing. Normally on Sunday mornings, we work through passages of the Bible. But, today, and on the first Sunday of the month, we always do something a little bit different, and we've been thinking about different parts of the body, what the Bible says about different parts of our bodies and how we ought to use them and what they are for. So, we tend to break up the teaching a little bit We have short doses of teaching, and we have songs and prayers and so on. So that's how the, that's how the service runs.

So very, very warm welcome to you. If it's your first time with us. So as I say, this morning, it is the mix, and, we are having a look at the next body parts of the Bible, and we're going to be thinking about tongue. So we spent some time looking at the ear and the eye. And then last month, we looked at our hands, and today is the, is the tongue.

Now, when it comes to preaching, I've noticed that there are some messages, which which really are a joy to prepare. So you've got your passage in front of you, and, there's wonderful gospel truths there. There's hope for people. There's comfort for those who are suffering all all the kind of things that are just nice to see and work on and to explain. But then there are some topics which are painful to even think about.

You don't even wanna go there because you're so aware of your own failures. And I think a topic on the tongue, a sermon on the tongue is 1 of those. That's not because there isn't any a comfort or hope or grace in a sermon like this. There there is, I hope. But because when you're preparing it, I was just stunned by what a failure I am in this particular this particular area.

Now that is true of every sermon as well, but there's something painful about having to talk to other people about how we should use how we should use our tongue. And I was thinking about it. I mean, how many times? I've been I've been came to this church first in 2009, it's 2019 now. So I've been in nearly 10 years, and I was wondering, despite all the overwhelmingly positive memories, How many people have I offended with my careless tongue?

How many people have have left a conversation with me feeling either discouraged or put down. How many people have left a conversation thinking gosh, that was an insensitive joke. Why why did he put it like that? That was that was really painful. You know, how many times have people left a conversation with me thinking, you know, that that was that was just mean.

And the truth is it would be far more than I can remember and far far too many. And I'd love to be able to tell you now that, that was in the past. You know, and I've mastered the tongue now. You know, I've tamed it, as James would say, but that that would also be a lie of the tongue. And so this is this is to pay it's painful to to talk about this in many ways.

But if you're like me and you kind of think, yeah, you know, I'm pretty aware of how much I fail with my tongue. Then let let's just try to stick with it this morning because there will be some painful moments. But in the end, I hope we'll see that's good because in order for us to keep loving Christ and appreciating the gospel of Christ and appreciating who we've been made new in Christ it's good for us to keep feeling the weight of our sin so that we can love him and come back to him and and appreciate his his kindness to us all the more. So that that's kind of some of the ways we're gonna be heading. But before we get into the meat of of this subject, I want us to begin by thinking about the tongue in general.

This has been the first section of every mix. We've thought about the tongue as a, as a creation. And, I've, lifted some fact from the internet about the tongue, some of these you will know, others you might not, the tongue is a muscle, but it's not just 1 muscle. Apparently, the tongue is composed of 8 different muscles, which all work together a little bit like an elephant's trunk, apparently. An elephant's trunk is 1 thing, but it's composed of many muscles which all work together to help it do what it needs to do.

So if you ever want to understand your tongue better, that bit of research into an elephant's trunk is gonna help you to know what it does. There are between 2 to 4000 taste buds on your average tongue. And there's a common misconception that those little bumps you can see on your tongue in the mirror, your taste buds, they're not, apparently, and not your taste buds. There's something else. I've forgotten what they are.

2 to 4000, and some people, 25 percent of the population have even more taste buds than that, and are considered to be super tasters and our very own pastor. Pete is a super taster, which I think is more of a curse than a blessing in his case you know, the things that he can smell and taste as a result of that. So 25 percent of supertasters, it's a myth as well that your tongue has separate areas for tasting. I don't know if you've ever heard that that at the back, it's salty, and at the front, it's sour and sweet and bitter. That's that's nonsense, apparently, your whole tongue, the whole thing, all 8 muscles are involved in the, the identification of different types of flavor.

Like fingernails, the tongue can reveal a lot about your general health. And so if your tongue is a bright red, apparently that's a sign that you might have, scarlet fever, for instance, or you have a vitamin deficiency of some kind. If your tongue is covered in lots of white spots, It's a fairly obvious indicator that something's wrong, and you may have some kind of yeast infection. I think it is with that 1. Apparently, it's possible to have a black and hairy tongue.

And that is a sign of bacterial overgrowth. You know, I think if your tongue is black and hairy, you don't need to be told. They're as a problem, but, apparently, that can that can happen. The tongue can put on weight. Apparently, that's an interesting thought.

It can put on weight. You know, I don't think independently of you. I think it would all go together, but, the tongue can put on weight. The tongue is a natural cleaner, So as soon as you've finished eating, it starts to work to clean up the mess that you've left, in your teeth. It's a little bit like 1 of those suck a fish that swims around under a whale or a shark, you know, it starts to clean up, as soon as the meal is done.

The tongue never gets tired. Never gets tired. Don't know if you've thought about it. The tongue never feels fatigue on its own, which is amazing considering all that it does during the day. You know, it helps us to eat and talk and do all kinds of things.

The tongue is the gateway to relationship, isn't it? That's a really important thing. It's how we get to know each other. It's how we work out each other's sense of humor and, what what we're like. We can talk and relate and laugh and comfort people with our with our tongue.

So it is an awesome creation, isn't it, really? When you think about it, just like all of the body parts we've seen, in their own ways, they they are absolutely amazing that god put together something so wonderful. But not just biologically. The tongue is not just biologically wonderful. It's also spiritually spiritually wonderful.

And, the first point I want us to see is that the tongue can be a gift for praising. And, that is what we've done this morning, isn't it? We've sung, even in our last song, we've said, let every tongue rejoice Rejoice, we want to use our tongues to sing god's praises, and that is 1 of the things that they are for. And, normally in the mix, we look at lots of different to help us to understand these themes. But today, we're just going to be spending our time mainly in James chapter 3.

So we're gonna be setting up camp here. And, James, if you've ever looked at it before, he's an amazing, it's an amazing book. It's not it's not like a theological presentation of the gospel, like some of Paul's letters are, although it's rich with theology, but it's really James spelling out to believers what our lives ought to look like. So he takes loads of teaching from Jesus, actually, and he just applies it to lots and lots of different areas. And in chapter 3, he turns to our our words.

So I've printed the whole chapter up on the screen If you've got a Bible and you want to turn there, you can. But, sorry, not the whole chapter. Just the first 12 verses, and, we're just going to read this through now. James says not many of you should become teachers my fellow believers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect and able to keep their whole body in check When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal or take ships as an example.

Although they are so large and driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being contained the tongue. It is a restless evil. Full of deadly poison. With the tongue, we praise our lord and father, and with it, we curse human beings. Who have been made in god's likeness.

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both freshwater and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bare figs, neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. You might be thinking, okay, why why have we chosen that for this first point?

Because there's a whole load of stuff in there, which is about how not to use the tongue. And warnings about how deadly the tongue can be. And we are going to see some of that, but it's okay to start here because by contrast, we can see how James does expect us to use the tongue. So take for example, verse 4, where he talks about a ship with a rudder. Now, the context there is actually teaching.

And although teaching has some big responsibilities. And again, there are some warnings about bad teaching here, teaching the truth is actually a very good thing, isn't it? And he talks about that and helps us to see it with the ship and the rudder. Now every ship needs a rudder. You imagine imagine the opposite.

You've got a a massive ship. It's got a whole load of power, but there's no rudder. There's nothing to direct it. So it just plows on randomly or spins around in circles. There's no direction.

There's no guidelines. It's a disaster of a boat. It needs a rudder, although it's small in order to steer it the right way. And that is true in the church. James is saying, we need truth to guide us and to protect us from, false teaching and to lead us into safe water, and we need truth in order to help us live for Christ.

God through teaching does amazing things, doesn't he? You think of all the missionaries across history who have been inspired to go overseas because they heard 1 sermon at a conference or 1 sermon in their local church. And god used it to radically reorientate their lives and they went overseas or they went somewhere to share the gospel. Think of marriages that have been saved by a clear message. Perhaps people have come and the marriage has been right on the brink of collapse, but together they've heard god speaking.

And they've agreed to try to solve solve their problems with god's help. Think of all the relationships saved by teaching. Think of the young people that have changed at Sunday schools and at camps. It's amazing they get taught the bible week in, week out here, and they go away for a week in the summer and it can it you listen to their testimonies and so often they say through teaching as as somebody got alongside me or read the bible with me 1 to 1, or I heard this at this particular conference. God God bless god changed my life.

Just amazing what god can do through teaching. When it's used properly, it is a spring of life, which gives truth and, and brings life. Or how about verse 9? Where he says with the tongue, we praise our lord and father. Now he's making a negative point there but that's the good side of it.

With the tongue, we can praise our lord and father. How good is that? What? You might not be very musical. You might not be able to sing very well, but god has given you an incredible instrument for praise, an amazing instrument that you can use to sing his praise.

With our mouths, we can confess that Jesus Christ is lord. Isn't that what the believer wants to do? They just wanna say it. Jesus Christ is lord. They wanna hear it spoken out.

With our tongues, we can shower the almighty in blessing. We can shower him and bless his name for all the good things that he's done. We can praise him together. And so god has given us a tongue for that purpose. Rejoice, rejoice, let every tongue rejoice that has sing the praises of God.

And of course, there are many other passages in the Bible which just which just open that up for us even more. So have a look at Psalm 119, verse 71 7 1. May my lips overflow with praise for you teach me your decrees, may my tongue sing of your word For all your commands are righteous or ephesians 4, what about this for? A good way to use the tongue. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.

That it may benefit those who listen. Building others up with the tongue is a what is a wonderful thing, isn't it? And isn't it true as you think about your own Christian life that the people that have been most helpful and significant have been those who have been your chief encourages. Those who have encouraged you, not in a sycophantic kind of way, but have genuinely seen who god has made you to be in the gifts that god has given you and have been forthcoming in building you up and encouraging you to do what god has called you to do. I think most of us would look back and think, those are the people really that I that I couldn't have done without.

There's a a great book called Practicing Affirmation by a chap called Sam Crabtree, and he he says, this, when our mouths are empty of praise for others, it is probably because our hearts are full of self love. And I think that's true, isn't it? When we can't bring ourselves, to build others up, when we can't bring ourselves to encourage others with the tongue, what it usually is because we're worried it might take away from us in some way. And it we we might go down a peg or 2 in building other people up because we might be full of self love. That's that's a real shame.

Because he's saying here that if we can let go of pride, just think who we could build up and who who we could encourage. Other ways we can use the tongue, proverbs. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit So tempting. I find it personally.

I find this very tempting is that it's a real battle when when I'm stressed and irritated to not say or type a harsh word, to not react too quickly, say something harsh or write something in a harsh way because I feel stressed. That's the tendency, isn't it? I wanna respond quickly, but actually all it does is stir up anger. Or worse crush the spirit. And yet when it's under control, the tongue can do so much good think that's what he's saying.

The tongue can be like a bomb diffusal unit. You know, you can you can have a bomb that's about to blow off, but if you use your tongue well and skillfully, you can diffuse the whole thing and take any danger away. Just think again how many marriages would be saved If harsh words were exchanged for gentle words. If harsh words were exchanged for gentle words, If instead of blowing up and rising to defend ourselves instantly and using the tongue to cause destruction, We said, can we, you know, I'm sorry. Can we work this out?

You know, you're right. I don't wanna crush your spirit anymore. I don't wanna stir up anger here anymore. I want to I want to do gentle things and to restore this, this relationship. P but things would be saved.

Wouldn't they? If we could just use our tongues in that way, things would be things would be saved. So the tongue can do that. It can, turn away wrath, and it can build people up and encourage people. Or what about this?

His pawn in Romans 10, talking about salvation? How then can they call on the 1 they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the 1 whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them. Do you see what rides on the proper usage of the tongue?

How are the nations gonna be reached? How are the people gonna hear when somebody goes and tells them and speaks to them about Jesus and explains the way of salvation to them in a language that they can understand. And again, I'm sure as you think back on your own Christian life, you can identify 1, 2, a few people who have taken the time to use their words well in your life and have explained the gospel to you and that god has used that in order to bring you to faith. Praise god for those people in our lives who used their tongues so patiently and so wisely to tell us about Jesus. This is amazing, isn't it?

You think of all the good that this muscle can do So small, isn't it? Only a few inches and yet what life can spring forth from the tongue? The people who can be built up the arguments and the harshness that can be avoided, the praise that can be given to Jesus, the gospel that can be explained to people. So so much good can come from this tongue. It can be a well of life.

And that is what James and the rest of the Bible, wants us to use it for. So we're gonna use our tongues very wisely now, and we're gonna stand and sing to god. We're gonna sing of his greatness. And then after that Sarah is going to come up and lead us in prayers at stand and sing together. Okay.

We, so we've seen, the a bit about the tongue. We've learned about it, some fun facts we've seen, what a good creation it is just physically. We've also seen that god has given us this tongue for praising, for praising our god and father, for building others up for sharing the gospel, all kinds of good things. But sadly, it also can be a weapon for wounding, as well as a gift for praising. Have a look at this striking picture from James chapter 7.

Not that picture, the the the the the verbal picture. All they are linked, essentially. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. Isn't that striking?

All kinds I mean, that's true, isn't it? All kinds of animals have been tamed by the power of the human tongue. Dolphins, killer whales, cheetahs, elephants. You can ride on the back of an elephant if you tame it well. I mean, it's amazing.

Is it? All kinds of animals can be tamed and have been tamed, but the human tongue, a muscle the size of a goldfish cannot be tamed. The greatest predators on earth Think about a killer whale. I mean, the clue's in the name. It's a killer whale, and yet it can be tamed to take a mackerel out of the hand of a child.

But the tongue, a greater predator than even the killer whale cannot be tamed. But have a think about verse 4. It gets even worse or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. Now, again, as he introduces here, he's talking about teaching, teaching particularly. And as we've seen, a ship which has no rudder is not a very useful ship. It's pointless, in fact. But there is 1 thing that is worse than a ship with no rudder, and that's a ship that does have a rudder, but controlling the rudder is a false teacher.

It is sobering, isn't it to think that all over the world, people die and go to hell, because false teachers have lied about Jesus, and they have never explained how their sins can be forgiven. Compared compared to the boat, the rudder is tiny, but when controlled by somebody harmful, it can take a cruise liner to the bottom of the ocean. The tongue compared to the size of the body is very small, But when used wickedly, it can cause eternal ruin, great, great ruin. So please pray for all who teach the word. In this church, in whatever context, from Sunday school to these meetings, pray for the FIA, And for commission, the networks that we're a part of, that all who teach would be faithful to the word of god.

And would use our tongues well. But none of this harm is limited just to teachers And, in Genesis 3, if you know the story of Genesis 3, the human race falls because of a forked tongue. Somebody comes with lies about god and lies about the world and lies about people, and the whole world is brought down. Because of the lies of the tongue. And ever since then, ever since the fall, our own tongues by nature have been poisoned by by evil.

We are all born with this weapon of mass destruction in our mouths. It's interesting when we moved into our house in Tollworth, we discovered under the stairs a gun safe, because the bloke who lived before was into guns, and, he kept guns and shot guns, I presume. And, in order to do that in this country, you need, not only a license, but you need to prove that you can keep your weapons safe at home so that no, little hands can get to it. Basically, and so we've we've still got it. I mean, how do you move a gun safe?

It's enormous. And so if you do own guns, you know, and you want somewhere safe to store them, you know, toleworth is where to come. But it's amazing, isn't it? We take all these precautions rightly when it comes to the weapons of this world, but we are all born with an even more ferocious weapon in our mouths, 1 that you don't need a license for. 1 that you don't need a particular safe for, and yet it can do great, great harm.

James tells us that it's like a small, spark in a forest, or in London, you might think of it as 1 tower block, 1 flat, 1 room, 1 fridge, 1 spark, and Grenfell Tower is what comes from it. That's all you need. 1 spark, and the whole thing can go up. That is the point that he's making. That is what the tongue can do.

1 careless bit of gossip, 1 cruel remark and a whole life, a whole family can burn to the ground. 1 small spark is all it takes. Great, great destruction can come. He says the tongue also is a fire. A world of evil among the body parts.

It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell. There is something particularly evil about the wrong wicked use of the tongue. And again, the rest of the Bible shows us just what what that can look like in so the proverbs, again, are full of things about the tone. A perverse person stirs up conflict, a gossip separates close friends. Maybe you've seen this film wonder, than if you've seen it, it's about this boy called, Oggy Paulman, is an American boy, and he's born with severe facial deformities.

And, the story is about, him with, with these deformities, beginning life in secondary school. And, up until that point, he's been so sort of embarrassed, really, about the way that he's looked. He's taken to wearing a a space helmet. Because he always dreams of being an astronaut as well. And so he wears this helmet so that people can't see, what he looks like underneath.

But when he starts school, he has to take it off. And, for this boy, you learn that making friends has never been easy for him, and, that other kids tend to bully him and judge him or they're just very scared of the way that he looks. And so they keep away from him. And when he gets to school, the whole fear is will he make friends, will he have a nice time? And although he does get bullied, there is this 1 boy called Jack, who really takes to him, and doesn't care what he looks like and enjoys him and has him over to his house and there's a wonderful scenes as their friendship develops.

But in the film, there's then this tragic moment, where Oggy Paulman comes into the class, and he hears Jack, his new best mate gossiping about him to the popular kids, and, talking about how ugly he is. And if he'd look like him, he'd probably kill himself. And Oggy Paulman hears that and is just absolutely devastated by it. And that is because we know, as we watch those kind of scenes, there is something So awful. There are very few things more painful than finding out that someone you trust and love has been gossiping about you.

And yet even though we know that is true, and when I watched that scene, I hated it, I know that I have done it myself. I have been I have been guilty of causing that kind of pain with my with my tongue. Proverbs 15 verse 4 says, we've had this 1. The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. How many people can remember being crushed by an insensitive word?

The tongue can be like a filleting knife can't it, which just runs all the way down you, cuts you open, pulls your guts out, and just just drains you of life. And yet how easy is it for us given the right circumstances to make such a remark. Psalm 34 verse 13, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Now why why should we do that? Well, because as we've seen in Genesis, lies are the language of Satan.

Lys are actually his nature. God is love. God is truth. Satan is lies. He's a deceiver and a liar.

When we lie, we speak his language. But there are times, aren't there when it feels so natural just to distort the truth a little bit in order to protect ourselves, to rewrite history so that we come out on top and somebody else takes the blame. It's so easy, isn't it? For Christians, for salt water to come rushing out of a spring, which is meant to bring fresh water. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.

And of course none of this is limited just to face to face speech, it applies online as well. And cyberbullying is increasingly an enormous, enormous problem in schools. Teachers and parents are saying when you when you read about it that before the tech revolution and before everybody had access to a smartphone constantly, at least kids got a bit of a break from the bullying. You know, you would have to put up with it for a few hours a day at playtime, but at least when you got home, There was a kind of safe space where you could watch Tully and forget about it and regroup until the next day, but now you can be bullied constantly by nasty words. You can be sent messages that are designed to crush your spirit.

You can be sent images which are designed to degrade you or other people. People can comment all night on your feeds in order to make nasty remarks about the way you look and the things that you are doing. Just because it's not face to face, it doesn't mean the words are any less damaging. In fact, in some ways, it's worse. Because at least if you had to make that comment face to face, you might see some of the hurt that you're causing and stop it, or you might see their facial expressions and their body language and think, actually, no, I'm not gonna put it like that.

But when you're behind the computer, you can do it instantly, and you're cut off from a relationship with them. So it's worth saying if you're part if you're part of soul or rooted here, you know, and you you use technology regularly, as, you know, lots of us do really. But before you send off a quick text or write a quick comment or post a quick thing, it's worth considering, is this going to crush a spirit? Is this harmful speech, or is this useful for building up is this useful for encouraging and praising so easy to type things off quickly? Now there's loads more we can say on the, like, that thing, and there's loads more things we can add.

But the ma the main idea is is this. I hope you can see that the tongue is a gift of god for praising, but can so easily become a weapon for wounding. And James is saying in chapter 3 that if that's true of us as Christians, which certainly is of me, then there's something wrong with me. How can it actually be that instead of blessing god, I curse other people who are made in his image. How can it be that I should be praising him and yet I blaspheme him.

I actually drag his name through the dirt with the things that I say sometimes. And strangest and worst of all, how can it be that both would be simultaneously true of me? That in 1 minute I could use the tongue for praising, and the next over coffee, I could use it to put someone down. Same morning, only half an hour apart. How how naturally is it possible for salt water and freshwater to spring forth so quickly from the same source?

James says brothers and sisters, Christians. It should it should not be. And what makes this even more serious is this verse from Jesus. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. In many ways, he's saying that the heart muscle and the tongue muscle are actually 1 muscle.

They're just an extension of each other. There is a link here, bitter heart, means bitter tongue. Self righteous heart means judgmental tongue. Ungrateful heart means grumbling tongue. Claky heart means gossiping tongue.

Inpatient heart means sharp tone. Tongue and the heart are related, and that's why the image of the spring and the source is so useful. The water which comes out of the spring is only that which has been pushed up from the source. The tongue and the heart are just 1 big muscle. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

And that means what we need most of all before any kind of speech speech therapy is to get down into the spring and to clear it out. And thanks be to god, because of his grace, and his son, and his spirit, and his word, that is possible. That is the work that god undertakes. Not just speech therapy, spring cleansing. He goes down into the source to cleanse the source.

So that all that comes out might be life giving and good. And we are gonna move on to that gracious source changing after our next song. So let's stand, and we're gonna sing, behold the power of his words. Let's stand and sing together. Well, a gift for praising and for building others up can also be a weapon for wounding, and that is why we need to now move on to our last point is the redeemed tongue, the redeemed tongue.

I saw a a great tweet from a friend of mine this week, and it's a photo from an episode of the Simpsons where Bart and Lisa discover, that Homer has been reading the Bible. And, what will Homer's summary of the Bible be? You know, to his kids, how will he explain it to them? And he says this. I think this is probably 1 of Homer's greatest moments ever, actually.

He says this. Everyone in this book is a mess except this 1 guy. It's just brilliant, isn't it? I just think it's fantastic. The most profound thing.

I think Homer Simpson has ever said, and he's absolutely spot on with what he says. When we read through this book, we cover that everyone is a mess. We discover that you and I are a mess. Perhaps you've seen that this morning. That we are a mess, the way we use our words, the way we speak to others, we we can't even control the tongue for a day.

1 day, we are a mess. But James who wrote this letter and who wrote James chapter 3 had an older brother. And he was the 1 guy who stands out. He was he was the exception. When you read through the gospels, you see that Jesus was never at fault in what he said.

Never. Just imagine that. Never at fault in what he said. He was able to keep his whole body under control. He never ever stumbled Knight and day, you read his words and you see that he used them to praise his father, to bring honor and glory to his father to direct people to his father.

You see, he used his words sometimes very strongly, but always appropriately to build up his followers and to try to bring his enemies to repentance. Jesus even approached people who couldn't speak, whose tongues didn't work. And he fixed the problem so that they could say hallowed be your name, so that they could praise god with their tongues. Jesus did that. And even on the cross, you go to the end of his life.

What is he doing on the cross with his tongue? He's praying for his enemies. There are people there who are cursing him, who are creating the most nasty, blasphemous insults that they can, and they are nailing Christ to the cross further with their sharp nail like words. And yet even then he prays he prays for them. 1 of the songs that we sing, at this church regularly is called, this, the power of the cross.

And, in the second verse, it says, it says this. Oh, to see the pain written on your face, bearing the awesome weight of sin. Every bitter thought, every evil deed. And we could add to that every morsel of gossip every thoughtless word, every selfish lie, every harsh joke, crowning your blood stained brow. Jesus died for us.

He died for all those words that we have spoken. And when it was all done, and when he had absorbed the wrath of god, in our place? What did he say? What were his last words? It is finished.

His final words were victory words, and if we have repented of our sin and believed in him, we share in that victory over sin and over death. It's an amazing thought, isn't it? You think if if it were possible, to think of all of the sinful words that I have spoken, all of the sinful words that you have spoken that there are not enough libraries in the world to contain the books that would be needed. There is not enough storage space in the cloud. To contain all of those words, and yet the blood of Jesus has washed them all to nothing.

The blood of Jesus has washed them all away, and in him, we are we can be found to be righteous. But even there, the story doesn't stop, it gets better because when Jesus went back to heaven, he poured out his spirit upon believers. He poured out the Holy Spirit upon his people, and that spirit of God has 1 main objective in the lives of believers. And that is to make us sound like Jesus. To make us like Jesus, to conform us into his likeness.

And that is just so important to get because I don't know about you, but when I'm dealing with things like this, I I tend to think that works are the answer. You know, so I've understood that my tongue is bad, and I should really do something about it. And the way that I'm gonna do something about it is just by being quieter. I'm just gonna say less. You know, I just won't speak so much, and then there'll be less opportunity for sin.

Or I'll start saying really nice things to people, which I don't actually mean, and I'll just say it so that people will think I'm using my words really well. And I'm flattering people. That will be the answer, or most extremely, are just cut it out. You know, and then I'll be done with it, you know. But you can see our hearts, I think, are so so repelled by grace that we we think the answer to something like this is actually in our works.

We think that the solution is to go away and I'll just just do stuff different by my own strength, but that is just gonna that's just gonna kill us. Like, it might work, or we might be deceived into thinking it's work for a little bit, but it will kill us in the end. The the answer to this problem is the grace of the lord Jesus Christ. The only way that a saltwater spring can be made fresh is the gospel. The only way that a source can be changed is if the Holy Spirit of God will go there in His kindness and apply the blood of Christ to us, remind us that we are righteous in Christ, not just theoretically, but really forgiven and righteous in Christ for every word that we've spoken.

And when the spirit can get into the source of our hearts, he can change things. And so if you're a believer, remember that he lives within you, that the gospel is true for you this morning. And that as Paul says, our job is to keep in step with the spirit, to keep in step with him, to live out who we already are. And so the more we can come back to the gospel, the more we will find that our tongues are encouraging and building people up and praising and we'll be slow to gossip and slow to speak, and we'll want to you, we want to let water gush from our mouths. That is bringing life.

I mean, you've all seen, I'm sure those, nature programs where they film a salt pan, you know, that's just covered in salt water. Nothing grows dead. Nothing grows there. But when the rain comes and the water swell and the rivers burst their banks, fresh water brings life. And the spirit of god can give us those kind of tongues.

So we need to keep in keeping step for with him. There is hope for us for those who have failed with their tongues in Christ. And if you're not a believer, I just want to leave you with with this this last verse from Romans 10 verse 9. So I'm sure in a gathering this size, there will be some who who don't yet know the lord Jesus, and, it's not working for me anymore, RJ. So if you could flick it on to Romans 10.

It says, if you declare with your mouth, that Jesus is lord. And believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It's not a mantra, or a magic magic formula. He's talking about faith in the Christ who died and rose for you grasping that in your heart and saying, I confess it lord. I confess it to be true.

Jesus is lord. I believe it in my heart. That he died and rose for me, confess with your mouths, believe in your hearts, and you will be saved. So if you're not a Christian, Don't don't let your words condemn you on the last day. Jesus says by our words, we will be acquitted.

By our words, we will be condemned. The only way is to come to Christ to let him forgive us and justify us so that we won't be condemned on that last day. Come to come to him this morning. Our father, we pray that you would forgive us, that we are so often this impossible contradiction that James warns about, that in the 1 moment, we can use our tongues to praise you. Our lord and father, we can say things to each other, which so encouraging and helpful.

And in the next moment, we can use our tongues to devastate others and to theme you. Sometimes only minutes apart, we can do those things. We pray that you would forgive us, and we thank you that in Christ, you have forgiven us, that his blood has been shed for every, every reckless word. We thank you to him. We are wrapped up in righteousness.

We thank you for the Holy Spirit who lives within each and every believing heart. This spirit who can cleanse Our hearts cleanse the source and enable fresh water to come out again. Lord help us to use our tongues well. For your glory and for the good of others. And we thank you lord that there is a day coming when we will finally be free.

That the stammering lisping tongue, which has plagued us, for all of our days, we'll be left in the grave. And we will be raised with a new and fully redeemed tongue that is only capable of praising you, forevermore, how we look forward to that day and ask it to come soon, lord Jesus. And we ask all of these things in him to his name. Oh, man. Oh, man.