Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the critical role of the tongue in reflecting the condition of the heart, as outlined in James 3. He warns against the dangers of an unbridled tongue, which can lead to spiritual destruction and discord within families and the church. The sermon calls for genuine humility and repentance, urging believers to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance to cleanse their hearts and tongues. Beach highlights that true wisdom is demonstrated through a controlled tongue, which is essential for living a life that pleases God. Ultimately, he challenges the congregation to pursue a deeper relationship with God that transforms their speech and actions.

...minister to you. Let him speak to you this morning, all right? One of the dominant characteristics that is present among any group of people who are desiring to maintain a genuine, true relationship with the Lord and desiring for their Christianity to be genuine is that there is a continuous, always, continual dealing of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God and through the Holy Spirit himself convicting us regarding the heart, the condition of the heart. Whenever a Christianity or an expression of Christianity gets away from the heart, gets away from the heart of the matter, gets away from what's inside of us and what's coming out of us, Jesus said, it's not what comes in that defiles a man, but it's what comes out. Whenever our Christianity gets away from that and turns into something external, something that might be filled with activity or excitement, something that might be filled with music and singing, it might even be filled with works, religious works, if our Christianity turns into something external and begins to neglect and begins to turn away from the need for a clean, pure heart before the Lord and before one another, we are being weighed in the balance at that time and being found lacking in the Lord's eyes. And if we don't repent and turn and amend our ways and come before the Lord in genuine humility and genuine brokenness, seeking the Lord to restore us back to understanding the important things of Christianity, which is the heart, then the Lord will give us space to repentance, but he might just give us over to our religion. And beloved, the place that this starts, genuine Christianity, listen closely, it's in the home. This is where genuine Christianity starts. When in the home the heart is no longer the issue of our relationship with one another and the heart becomes filled with all kinds of envy and jealousy and evil works and there are things being said that wound and hurt and there is not an attempt for reconciliation with the heart toward God. Beloved, we are setting ourself up that will lead us down a road to destruction, to spiritual poverty and ruin. Now listen here in James chapter 3. We've read this many, many times. But oh, how wonderful it is when the Holy Spirit takes something from the Lord and quickens it to us. James chapter 3. My brethren, be not many masters. That word means teacher. It's the same word in Ephesians chapter 4. Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body. Beloved, listen carefully to the word of God this morning. It says if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. The word offend means to cause someone to stumble, to cast a stumbling block before them. And the Holy Spirit here is saying that if a man does not offend with his word, that man is a perfect man. So the attention here is upon our words, what we are saying. Think about your words this morning. Think about the words that you're saying to people. Think about the words that you're saying to your spouse, to your children. Think about the words that you're saying to people when you're on the phone talking to them. Think about the words that you're uttering under your breath when you're alone in the car, or when you're walking down the street. Think about your words this morning. Behold, verse 3, we put bits in the horses' mouths, and they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. So here we see bits and a helm. The bit is a very small thing, but yet it controls the horse. The helm is a very small thing, but yet it controls the entire ship. It can set the course of the ship based on the direction that the helm is pulled in. Even so the tongue, verse number 5, is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. It only takes a little spark in order to set a huge fire, and likewise the tongue is just a little member of the body, but just the littlest member of the body can set a whole destructive course of action that can destroy your life, your family's life, and it destroys churches. The tongue is an unruly member of the body, and the Spirit of God is speaking to us this morning, saying to us that we must take heed to the Word of God and pray that God will cleanse our tongues so that our tongues no longer sow into the lives of people the very thoughts of hell. Our tongues are destructive, and it takes a revelation from the Holy Spirit of God to awaken us to how destructive our tongue is when it's not under the control of the Holy Spirit and under the control of the Word of God. We would think it to be a great evil if we heard that next week, God forbid, somebody would walk into the high school with a machine gun and just aimlessly shoot and kill hundreds of students. Oh, we would mourn. It would make the front page probably of every major newspaper in the country. It would be on CNN, ABC, and we'd say, what a dreadful thing. That man should be shot and killed. That man should be tried to the fullest extent of the law. That man is not fit to live to kill innocent lives, and perhaps that would be right, and it probably would be to have that attitude. Such a man should be barred from civilization, someone who would walk into a high school and kill hundreds of children. But, beloved, we don't realize that when we allow our tongues to speak and we allow our tongues to spew forth the poison of hell, that we are, in God's eyes, just as guilty as somebody who takes a gun and shoots people, because the Bible says that the power of life and death is in the tongue, and that just as a gun can destroy the physical life of a person, so likewise an unbridled, out-of-control tongue can destroy the spiritual life of a person, can destroy the reputation of a person, can sow discord and malice and envy and jealousy. The tongue can destroy the work of God in your life and in the church. It's not guns that's destroying the work of God. It's not maniacs in the world that's destroying the work of God. It's unbridled tongues right within the house of God that the devil is using to destroy the work of God. Unbridled tongues. Tongues that have not been sanctified by the power of God. Tongues that have not been cleansed and delivered from the pernicious evil sin of speaking things that are not true, things that we ought not to speak. Verse number six, And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. What incredible language the Holy Spirit is giving us here. The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is a fire. You know, the fire that the Scripture is speaking of here is the destructive fire. It's the kind of fire that destroys, the kind of fire that brings ruin. It's a world of iniquity. Within the unsanctified tongue of a human being, there is a world of iniquity. There is an abyss of sin. Think about the tongue this morning, beloved. The work of God will never, ever, ever be what God wants it to be until we as believers, as local assemblies, catch the revelation of the need for the tongue to be sanctified. The tongue must be sanctified. Verse number six, The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defiles the whole body. That word defile means to soil, to spot. The tongue defiles the whole body. Beloved, can you see what the Scriptures are saying right now? That your tongue, when it is not under the control of the Holy Spirit of God, when it is not speaking the words of God, when it is not communicating that which is pure and honest and true, is set on fire by the very fires of hell itself? Do you know that many Christians are courting the devil right now? Many Christians have given Satan a place in their life. Christians, yes, people who are born again. The devil has a place in the church today because many Christians come to church with the devil on them because their tongues are unsanctified, and they've given the devil a place in their tongue where at any moment they're willing and able to just sell out something that's not true and bring discord or jealousy or create some kind of a horrendous lie about somebody. It happens all the time. Oh, beloved, as we come before the Lord and we pray that God gives us an honest heart, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God must come and deal with us along these lines. Must come and deal with us. Let's continue to read. So is the tongue among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. So the very depths of the sinful nature of mankind is stirred up and communicated and spewed out through a tongue that is not sanctified, that is not under the control and discipline of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Children, I want you to listen to me, all the young children, because this is not just a message for the adults this morning. This is a message for little children, too. The things that we say are very important, and when we tell lies, we are letting the devil control our tongue, aren't we? Every time you tell a lie, or every time you are fresh to somebody and you say something unkind to somebody, you are making the Lord very unhappy. And we all need to pray, the youngest to the oldest, that God will take control of our tongue and that we will not speak things that we shouldn't speak. I'm telling you, the Lord will not let a people go on with an external religion if this issue of the heart and the tongue is not settled. The Lord won't do it. Because when we become external, but internally our hearts are filled, as it says, when we read down here, full of envy and strife and contention, and our hearts are full of all kinds of things that we're speaking with our tongue, then what happens is that we have denied the Lord in our hearts, we have denied the Lord the truth that He is looking on the inward, and we have created an external religion, and God's against it. Verse number 7. For every kind of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. Verse number 7 is a very interesting observation. The Holy Spirit observes here that it's true. And particularly in the age that we live in, even huge elephants have been trained, haven't they? I mean, you can go to a circus and elephants will listen to their trainers. Lions and tigers have been trained to where men who have worked with them from when they were little cubs, they could open up their mouth and stick their head inside the lion's mouth, and actually close the mouth and take their hands out, and there their head is inside the lion's mouth, and the lion doesn't bite the head off. Now, how can that be? The reason why it can be, children, is because that lion has been tamed, that lion has been trained, that lion has been taught that when his or her trainer sticks his head in the lion's mouth, the lion knows not to bite it off. Birds have been trained. I can remember when we lived in Mississippi, we used to go to marine life, and at marine life we saw incredible displays of how man has trained animals. We saw dolphins that were trained, that would jump up, that would actually obey what their trainers told them to do. We saw sea lions that were trained, that could balance a basketball on their nose, that could stand on their hands. We also saw birds that were trained, didn't we? Excuse me? The birds actually could roller skate. That's true, the birds could actually roller skate. So you see, verse number 7, every kind of beast and of bird and of serpents and of the things in the sea is tamed and have been tamed of mankind. Incredible, isn't it? That we've tamed just about every kind of beast and every kind of serpent and every kind of animal and fish in the sea. But verse number 8 is significant, and this is what we need to see. And may God give us a revelation, and if any man in here thinks that they have tamed their own tongue, they are self-deceived. You can't tame your own tongue. You have to come to the place where you acknowledge, my tongue, Lord, is unruly, it gets me in trouble, it gets other people in trouble. My tongue is a world of iniquity. I stand guilty before you, God. I stand guilty before you, and I am asking you to cleanse my tongue and to deliver it from the world of iniquity. Until you come to the place where in earnest, sincere prayer, you are asking God to bridle your tongue by the power of his word and the inworking of the Holy Spirit, your tongue will constantly, constantly be an instrument in your body that is creating trouble for your life, your family's life, and any church that you're in. Your tongue will be set on fire from hell. But the tongue can no man tame. Verse number 8. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. I want everybody, if you would please, to look at verse number 8. If you don't have your Bible, just listen carefully. I want you to take the words but the tongue and change them to my tongue can no man tame. Everyone together. My tongue can no man tame. One more time. My tongue can no man tame. Now, I want to ask a question, please. And I want you to honestly, honestly answer it. Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that your tongue cannot be tamed by your power, by your effort, by your struggle? Okay. If you believe that, then I'm going to ask you another question. What are you doing about it? What are you doing about it? It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Everyone together. My tongue is full of deadly poison. Again, my tongue is full of deadly poison. Do you believe that? Do you believe that your tongue is full of deadly poison? It doesn't just say toxic poison. It doesn't just say, oh, it's full of, you know, poison that can make you sick, but you'll get over it. It says deadly poison. That means that this poison is so powerful, it can kill, it can destroy. And we see this happening every day, the tongue and the poison in the tongue. Verse number nine. Therewith, bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse. That word curse, listen closely, it simply means to wish evil, to wish harm, to wish something other than God's best on a person. That's what it means to curse someone. Don't think that this means that you've got to go to a ritual being conducted by a satanic church and go through a bunch of incantations and then read a spell out of some kind of a warlock spellbook, and that's the only way that you can pronounce a curse on somebody. That's erroneous, that's not true. Every time you wish evil upon someone, you wish the harm of somebody, or you do anything that would suggest that you want something less than God's best on a person's life, you are cursing them. You're cursing them. You're pronouncing a curse upon them. Therewith, bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the likeness of God, similitude, which is likeness. Verse number ten. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be. Brothers and sisters, listen carefully. Everyone together, these things ought not to be. What ought not to be? We ought not to be blessing and cursing people. It's either one or the other, but you can't have both. Now let's read here and follow the thought. Does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either a vine, figs? So can the fountain both yield salt, water, and fresh. The Holy Spirit here is trying to show us that as a Christian we are not to be engaging in that kind of speech, in that kind of talk that would bring a curse upon anybody. Now let's bring it right down to where we live, beloved. Let's bring it right down to where we live. Whenever we lose our temper and speak, what are we doing? We're cursing. When we lose our temper and speak words that are coming out of rage and anger, that's murder. Cain slew Abel because he despised the fact that he was accepted of God. The mark of Cain is in the church today. The mark of Cain, the spirit that moves in envy and jealousy and hatred and contention against anyone or anything that is blessed of God is the mark of Cain. It's the mark of Cain. We cannot let these things happen. We can't let these things happen. But we have to come to where we see how utterly dreadful this is in the eyes of God. And it has to start with a revelation where we draw a circle and we step inside the circle and we say, Lord, I want you to do this great mighty work of cleansing the tongue in the church but start with the person inside the circle. That's what we have to do. Pray that God will deliver us from speaking curses to people because that's what we're doing. Verse number 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Verse number 13 is calling for that perfect man. Listen, that perfect man that James opened up with in verse number 2. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body. Now he's calling for that man. And listen, he's going to describe that man right now. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Now listen, I want you to listen carefully to the definition of wise. It's a very interesting definition. It says, who is a wise man? Listen to what wise means. One who knows how to regulate his course of action in view of the movements of the heavenlies. I'll read that again. Who is a wise man? One, this is what wise means. One who knows how to regulate his course of action in view of the movements of the heavenlies. So what the scripture is calling for now is for that perfect man of James chapter 3 verse 2, that mature man, that complete man, that full grown man to arise out of obscurity, to arise out of being hidden and to demonstrate before all the assembly what it is to live a life under the government and under the leadership and control of the Lord Jesus Christ. The call of the Spirit of God now to our hearts is where is the wise man in our midst? Who will arise out of obscurity and show everyone the way to live a life above reproach through depending upon the working of the Holy Spirit and living upon the word of God whose tongue is bridled and who will not offend in word or deed? God is searching and seeking and looking for these people who will set the standard and arise in the church and say this is the way we must walk and by their very life they will expose and reprove the deeds of darkness. If you get around somebody, and I'm telling you God is challenging us right now, who's going to be that somebody in our midst? If you get around somebody who has come to the stature in Christ where they can demonstrate this perfect man, this mature man, this full grown man, this person will make you feel uncomfortable if you're a gossip. This person will make you feel uncomfortable if you like to slander people because you will sense from this person's character, from this person's countenance that they want nothing to do with evil reports. They want nothing to do with darkness. They want nothing to do with secrets and whispering. They only want to fellowship in the light and have fellowship with those who walk in the light. There is a need right now in the church today for God to raise up men and women and families who set the standard in Zion and who say this is the way of holiness, though they'll be tempered with love and compassion, they'll be tempered with gentleness, yet they won't compromise their heart. When you invite this couple over to your house at night, beloved, you're not going to be able to sit down after dinner and start having the preacher for dessert. You're not going to be able to sit down after dinner and start talking about all the things going on in the church because this couple will stand up and say, in the name of the Lord and in the love of Jesus Christ, I rebuke you, dear sister. You better shut your mouth or God will shut it because a tale bearer is despised by the Lord. You can't be a tale bearer in a gossip and be blessed or bless anybody else. Where is the perfect man? Where is the mature man? Where is the families who have committed themselves to strive toward the mark of perfection in Christ? You say, brother, I'm not sure that people can get to that place. Then you are not sure of the word of God itself because the word of God says, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body. There is an abiding in Jesus Christ. There is a union with Jesus Christ. There is a mark that we need to strive after by the grace of God whereby God takes our tongue, which really reflects what's in the heart. Because you see, the Bible says that the tongue speaks what's in the heart. It's out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. So really, this whole issue of the tongue, beloved, is a heart issue. It's not this physical tongue that gets us in trouble, although it's this physical tongue that's the physical means whereby the intangible thoughts of the heart are communicated in this world. So really, it's not the physical tongue, it's what's in the heart that gets us in trouble. So we need to declare war against everything in our heart, everything in our being that is contrary to the loveliness and purity and righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We need to pray, oh God, I want you to so deal with my heart and so deal with my inner being so as to cleanse it, Lord, and to purify it from all that is unclean, from all that is not like you. Lord, I don't want my tongue to be an instrument through which the sinfulness of that world of iniquity within me is able to express itself anymore. We have to declare war on this world of iniquity within us. I believe the devil's a liar this morning. Do you believe that, beloved? I believe the devil's a liar, and I believe as the church of Jesus Christ we need to stand arm and arm in the love of God against the works of the devil. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 3, For this purpose was the Son of God made manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil. And, beloved, if there is one objective that God's Spirit has in the church today, it is to destroy, to undo the works of the devil. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not to be a place where the works of the devil are abounding, where the works of the devil have any place at all. But the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be a called-out people in whom God himself lives and dwells, and in whom and through whom the lovely character of Jesus Christ is ever, ever, ever being expressed by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. I want us to reaffirm this morning by the Holy Ghost the reason why we are here, the reason why we're gathering together. It is because God has called us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son, and that we are to be a sanctuary, we are to be a gathering where God is in our midst, and God is given place, and where the works and ways of God are being expressed and demonstrated. Beloved, don't be timid, don't be afraid to declare war in the name of Jesus Christ against all the works of the devil in your life, and in your marriage, and in your home, and in your business. Don't be afraid to do it. Don't be timid. Stand against the work of the devil. God has redeemed you, not with the silver and gold, or with the vain traditions of religion, but with the precious, holy, sinless blood of his Son, Jesus Christ. You are redeemed that you might be a holy people unto God. So again, James chapter 3, verse number 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Where is the man who is before the Lord, who opens up the word of God, and who says, Lord, I offer myself to you. I want to be a wise man. In other words, I want to be a man in whom you do major heart surgery. We hear a lot today about triple bypass heart surgery, quadruple heart bypass surgery, double bypass heart surgery. We hear a lot about men having to need even a new heart. They get the old heart taken out, and they get a new one put in. There was an officer in Gulfport, Mississippi, and he's a minister, actually. He actually had a heart transplant a few years ago, and he's doing quite well. But you know, beloved, I believe that the emphasis on heart surgery today in the natural is a sign from God that there is a real need in the church today for spiritual heart surgery. There is a need for God to move in our lives to such a way that we recognize that we are in need of major heart surgery, spiritually speaking. I challenge you, by the Lord, in the spirit of love, I challenge you to ask God to give you a desire for Him to make you this man of James 3.13. But do you know what this means if you accept this challenge? This means that you must come to the place where you stop arguing from God. You can't argue with God when you ask God to make you that man of wisdom. Number two, you not only have to stop arguing with God, but you have to stop justifying your sin. You have to stop saying, I'm right when you're wrong. Now again, bring it right down to real life. When you have conflicts with people, when you have conflicts in the workplace, or in the home with husband, wife, or children, or within the church, if you want to be this man, and that's generic, beloved, which means it's open for women, if you want to be this man, you have got to stop justifying your sin. When you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, and you must admit you're wrong, you must acknowledge it before God, and at times you're going to have to go to people and say, I'm wrong, I was wrong, forgive me. You see, there's a cost if you want to be this man, and what the cost is is you have to lose your life, you have to lose your pride, you have to lose your desire to want to look good in the eyes of men and women. You have to be willing to come down to the cross and be exactly what you are, a sinner apart from Jesus Christ, and unless he changes you, there's no good thing in you. May God give us a desire to be this man of James 3, verse number 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show. You see, beloved, the call of the Holy Spirit this morning is, where is there a man or a woman or a family who will show? You know, there is a great need in this hour that we live in for the life of Jesus Christ to be demonstrated, to be shown. You know the old, I won't even mention it. Listen, beloved, there is a great need for the way to be shown. We need holy boldness. Do you know that a lot of Christians are afraid to show the life of holiness and the life of righteousness, because they're afraid that people might misunderstand them, they're afraid that people might judge them, they're afraid that people might be critical toward them. Beloved, we have to get to the place where we are no longer concerned about what people think so much as we are with what God thinks. I would much rather be more concerned about what God thinks of me and about whether or not I am pleasing God than whether or not I am pleasing men. Because if I please men, I no longer please God. But if I please God, then I'll please anybody and everybody who wants God. That's how you get free from that vicious cycle of being a man pleaser. Don't try and please people, try and please God. And then as you learn to please God, you will be able to please those who are willing to go God's way. You can't try and please people. You've got to please God. Let him show out of a good. That word good is a beautiful, harmonious, living, perfect balance. Beautiful, harmonious, living, perfect balance. Let him show out of a good conversation. That word conversation means the behavior of the entire life. The behavior of the entire life. So the call of the Holy Spirit this morning to you and I is that a wise man may arise and show, demonstrate, out of a good conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom. I'll tell you one of the most outstanding characteristics that will be prevalent in this man if he ever arises in our midst. His tongue will be bridled. He will not be, she will not be a gossip. Will not be a tale bearer. Will not bring curses upon people. Will not say things he or she ought not to say. Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 21. If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak truth, every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. This is the life that this man of wisdom is going to live before us, if this man of wisdom is birthed into our midst. And this invitation is open to any single Christian who is willing to come to God and say, Lord, I want to be that man of wisdom. But Lord, I know what that means. That means that I have got to come to grips with the wickedness of my tongue, with the wickedness of my words, and I must be willing for you to do major heart surgery in my life. I must become transparent. I must become honest. I must become willing for people to instruct me and correct me and rebuke me when I am guilty. Lord, you have to take this defense away from me. I have to stop being defensive. I have to stop justifying my sin in my own eyes, and trying to find reasons to excuse my terrible condition. Lord, I have to find true humility. True humility. Verse 28, Let him that stalls still no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Notice verse number 29, beloved. Very, very important. Verse number 29, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. That corrupt communication means anything that is putrid, anything that is rotten, anything that brings something into a worse state than what it already is in. Putrid. Rotten. Bringing something into a worse state than it's already in. That kind of communication has to stop in the church of Jesus Christ. I want to stand together with the Holy Spirit right now, and anybody else who wants to stand with me can. I stand against the work of the devil in the church today that is seen through the unruly tongues of many Christians that are setting the very fires of hell into and upon the church and bringing great destruction and disruption. I stand against it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want the Word of God and the Spirit of God to reveal in our lives every single working of the devil that has to do with our tongues, and don't let it be a sower of that which is evil. Fill my tongue with the words of God. Fill my tongue, Lord, with those things that are pleasant and pure and honest and just and worthy of praise. Listen here. Sometimes there's folks right in here who get together, and all you do is spend about one hour, and all you do is talk about depressing things and discouraging things and how this and how that and how this one is so this and how that one is so this, and you just dig yourself into a hole because you yield your tongue to all the negative and all the things that you don't need to be talking about. Instead, you ought to be on your knees together praying. There's too much talk about things that shouldn't be talked about, and there's no prayer going on, very little prayer. If we would get into the practice of coming together at home, husband and wife, children, or as we get together at people's house and eat dinner, instead of afterwards talking about all the things that we think is spiritual, but really it's nothing but forms of gossip, of slander, and it's ways that we appease our lusts to want to know what's happening. Instead of doing that, we ought to get down on our knees together, hold hands, and say, Oh, dear God, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray, Lord, that you will increase our love for you, that you will bring revival to the saints in Hackettstown, that you'll save people in the Hackettstown High School. Why, why do we give our tongues over to so things that are unprofitable when we could be letting our tongues speak to God the very prayers uttered by the Holy Spirit in our life? You see how the devil has got a stronghold in the church? You see how the devil has got the tongue so bound to so things that are unprofitable that there's virtually no prayer going up in many parts of the church today? But I tell you what, God is on the move, beloved, and the Holy Spirit is going to come against this, and God is going to have a people in whom there is prayer ascending before God. Jesus said, My house is what? A house of prayer for all nations. Let me tell you, beloved, there is no prayer in the homes and houses of those in whom the tongue is still under the control of the devil. Do you know why there's so much prayerlessness in the church? Because the tongue is still under the control of the devil. And when that's true, even when you do pray, I think the Lord looks down and says, What are you trying to do? Isn't that the same tongue last night that cursed? The Lord's loving and merciful, but he's no fool, beloved. The Lord is no fool. He's loving and merciful, but he's no fool. You don't have power in prayer when your tongue works half the day for God and then the other half for the devil. You don't have power in prayer. You're not a prince with prayer. Your prayers are not going to move principalities and powers. Your prayers are not going to move the powers of darkness to bow. You're in danger of having said to you what the seven sons of Sceva said to the man who tried to cast the devil out of them. When he went and said, In the name of Jesus, come out. And that old devil spoke out against the seven sons of Sceva and said, Paul I know, and Jesus I know, but who are you? And jumped on them. And stripped them naked and they ran away. You see, when we come into prayer and we come into intercession and we come into a life governed by the Holy Spirit, there can't be duplicity. God has got to deal with us. These things ought not to be. Does the same fountain spring forth bitter and sweet water? No. No. This is why there is so much powerlessness in the church. This is why the families in America are being destroyed and being ruined. And this is why Christians are living a lie. They're living in silent misery. Their lives are a turmoil. Their lives are full of jealousy and bitterness and envy and hatred and contention and hurt. And it's going on and on and on. But they just go to church and pretend everything's okay. And they sing songs and they go through a ritual. But then they go back to the same thing. There's got to be a deeper work of God where the Spirit of God begins to deal with us as individuals, in our families, as husbands, as wives, as children. The prayer altar needs to be erected again in the home. Then the church needs to start praying. We need to pray as a church more. We need to pray. God teach us to pray. But all of these things, the absence of all of these things, is indicative of one thing, one important thing. And that is the tongue is still unbridled. The tongue is still unbridled. Verse 29. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Verse number 14, James chapter 3. We're going to close in a few moments. James chapter 3, verse number 14. Verse 13 is the wise man. And we just described to you the features of this wise man. We just described to you the characteristics of this wise man. Do you want to be this wise man? Do you want to be this wise man in your home? Do you want to be this wise man in your assembly? Do you want to be this wise man in your workplace? I remember when I first started the Gulfport Police Department, I went into the office with my supervisor, and I said, sir, I need to say something to you. And he said, what? And I said, I want you to know from the very beginning that I do not engage in gossip and slander, nor will I allow someone to fill my ears with gossip and slander about anybody that I work with. I want you to know that I don't want to come across as being self-righteous. I don't want you to think that I'm putting on a holier-than-thou. But I just know that if you don't have anything good to say about anyone, I care not to say anything. My supervisor looked at me and said, God bless you. I hope you can do it, and I hope everybody you know will follow your example. So this doesn't only work in the church setting. It works wherever you are. Verse 14. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. Do you know what verse 14 is saying? I'm going to paraphrase it. I'm going to put it in my own words. If the inside of your heart is all wrong, stop deceiving yourself and pretending it's not. Get right with God. That's what it's saying. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, there you go. Bitter envying and strife is certainly not the things that God wants to see when he looks down into our heart. But if that is your condition, then what is the Holy Spirit saying? Glory not and lie not against the truth. Do you know how we lie against the truth? We lie against the truth when we refuse to acknowledge the true condition of our heart. Because the truth is we are not right. But we lie against the truth and deceive our own hearts. Verse 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above. Listen, beloved. Listen carefully. Listen carefully to the words of God that we are reading. When a person on the inside is full of bitterness and envying and strife and jealousy and contention and gossip, they are not controlled by the wisdom of God. Their life is not ordered by God. And listen carefully. The things they say most of the time is not ordered by the things of God. Their entire life, according to the Bible, in verse number 15, this wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly. They are under a kind of wisdom, but it's not the wisdom of God. It is an earthly wisdom. So I feel the need to emphasize this. Again, if our hearts are not right with God, and, beloved, don't think that your heart is right with God just simply because you believe it is. The whole context of this is that your heart is not right with God if your tongue is not under control of the Holy Spirit. See, a lot of times people think they're right with God because they have religion. They go to church. They pay their tithes. They're engaged in evangelism. They sing songs. They read the Bible. They pray for missionaries. None of those things in and of themselves are a sign that we're right with God. But in James chapter 3, the emphasis here is that if your tongue is not under the control of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, then you are not right with God, and if you're not right with God, then you are being controlled by a earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom. This indicates that your whole life is under the control of evil spirits. Therefore, it is not true concern that you have for other Christians when you inquire about how they're doing, but really what you want to do is satisfy that awful, hellish lust you have to want to know what's going on in the church, so you can have fuel to spread the gossip, the slanderer, the tale bearer. You really don't have a genuine love and concern for people, but you have this desire to always be fueled with information so you can sow it, and you can misconstrue things and twist things, and you can allow your tongue to do what it does best, and that is sow into the body the fires of hell. Now, God help me. Sometimes I don't want to come across as if I'm being harsh. Forgive me if I am, but this is a very, very important subject, one that I believe the Lord's heart is very, very full over. So settle it right now, beloved. I'm telling you, this can change your life. If we will be given by God this morning an honesty pill, a gospel, an honesty pill, and God can show us whether or not our tongues are basically under the control of God or under the control of the devil, we can determine whether or not we are being governed by this kind of wisdom. The wise man shows us a good conversation with his works of meekness, of wisdom, but a fool or one whose heart is not under the control of God is full of bitter envying and strife, and this person is governed by a wisdom that doesn't come from God, but is earthly. That is, it originates out of the flesh. It's sensual, which means it's solical. Sensual is solical. It's not originating from God. So it's fleshly, solical, and devilish. Verse number 16, for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Now listen, beloved. Don't say, well, there's envying and strife over there or there's envying and strife over there. It's talking about inside. If there is envying and strife on the inside of your heart, then there is confusion and every evil work. Every evil work. Some people are characterized by nothing but confusion. Do you ever meet these kind of people? Their life is nothing but confusion. Their life is nothing but darkness. It's hidden. It's just one big mess. Well, you know, all that's just the outward fruit. The root of it is this. Their heart is not right with God and they're not admitting it. They're lying against the truth. See how dangerous it is for us to lose touch with our heart and lose touch with God's dealing in our heart? All of this springs out of the snare of forgetting that true Christianity is a right heart relationship with God and with one another and getting involved in externals, external religion. The singing, the jumping, the shouting, the religion, all the externals when in the heart. You shouldn't be able to smile if you just slandered someone. You shouldn't be able to function if you just hurt your husband or your wife or your children with a bad word. You shouldn't be able to. And if you can just lightly go and say something mean to someone and then turn around and walk away and forget about it and just pretend nothing happened. Beloved, I want to tell you in the meekness of God, you have got a real heart problem. Your conscience is seared. You know Nabal in the Bible? What does the word Nabal mean? A heart of stone. Hard heart. Nabal had a hard heart. Beloved, the Christians today have no shame. They have no sense of, Oh, God, I've sinned against you. Or, God, I've sinned against my brother. I've got to make it right. Lord, restore back to us a tender conscience. Restore back to us a tender heart. We shouldn't be able to go our merry way after we sin. But we do. Which is simply another sign of how far we have fallen from God's standard and how deeply we are in need of heavenly repentance and heart searching from a holy God. Okay, beloved, we're about to wrap it up. Verse 16, For where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. Now, verse 17, how lovely. But the wisdom that is from above. Now, remember, let's just stop here and keep it in context. This wisdom will not operate in a person's life if their tongue is still unbridled. See, connect these two things with the heart condition. Earthly, devilish, sensual wisdom operates in those whose tongues are being used by the devil. But heavenly wisdom operates in those whose hearts and tongues are filled with the word of God and who through the discipline of the Holy Spirit and through much prayer and much dealing of God, their tongues have come under the control of the Holy Spirit. What operates in these kind of people? I'll tell you right now. I would not sit down and take counsel from a person that I knew had a problem with their tongue. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. Because the chances of them leading me astray are great. Because if a person's tongue is not under the control of the Holy Spirit, there's a lot of things going on that could get mixed up inside of their counsel that I don't want to be a part of. The Bible teaches that we should know them that labor among us and that we should seek counsel and advice only from those who have proven themselves by living before us and conducting themselves in a just, honest, righteous way. Just don't allow some fly-by-night to come to you and say, hey, I'm a prophet of God, or hey, I hear from God. Don't allow anybody to come do that. The Bible teaches to know men and women who come into your midst. And the best way to get to know them is not what they do when they're in church gathering together. Follow them around during the week. Go ask if you could stay with them for a few days and see how they talk to their wife, see how they talk to their husband, see how they talk to their children. See, I tell you what, another good way to find out what a person is is ask them if you could see a record of all the checks that they wrote in the past year. Look at their checkbook. Say, now, Brother Beach, you're getting a little personal. Exactly right. That's the problem with Christianity today. We don't want it to get personal. Find out where they write their checks. Find out where they spend their money. Find out how they treat one another. I'll never forget the story I heard about a pastor whose wife divorced him. And to make a long story short, he'd come to church and he'd hug everybody and he'd pray for everybody and all the ladies would say, Oh, he's such a lovely man. I wish my husband was like him. And then he'd go home and he'd turn into a bear. A bear. And he hated his wife and his children. And he was mean. And he was a hypocrite. He lived two lives. Finally, his wife couldn't take it anymore and left him. And then when the congregation found out about it, they couldn't believe it because he put on such a good act. He was an actor. He was a phony. And he wouldn't ever admit it. Now, it would be different if he was in with some brothers saying, Now, brothers, I want to confess my faults. I'm accountable. I've got this terrible sin when I go home. I'm just so mean, but I confess it. I want you to know it's happening. No, no. That would be different now if he was doing that. You see, God knows the heart. And if there's some problems that God has showed us through the preaching of the word this morning and we're willing to be accountable and confess those problems, God is working with you. But it's the one who denies the truth, the one who refuses to say, I'm wrong, and the one who lives a hypocritical life, the one that won't go and confess, I am a gossiper. I am a wife beater, a husband beater, or an abuser of my children, or my tongue is a slander. If you confess that and acknowledge it and get brothers and sisters to pray for you, that's one thing. But if you don't, and you live a double life, and you deny the truth and just pretend it's not there, you are on dangerous ground then. Because you're giving the devil more and more power in your life. He might destroy your family. He might destroy your marriage. He might destroy your life. So the important thing here is don't deny the truth. And if God has spoken to you, get help. Seek out counsel. Seek out prayer. And the Lord will deliver you. So the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Ah, isn't that lovely? That's what we want. But all of these things that we just read grows out of something. It grows out of a heart that is so challenged and changed by the Word of God that the tongue gets under control by the power of God. When your tongue gets under the control of the Holy Spirit, these characteristics will start working in your life. Don't deceive yourself. If your tongue is not under discipline and if you don't sense God dealing with you about your words, I'm not saying you have to be perfect and without sin. But if you don't feel a sense of shame and a sense of, God, you're dealing with me about my tongue, then don't ever think that you're going to be governed by heavenly wisdom. Or don't ever think that your life is going to be characterized by these things in verse 17. But you come under the verse 15 category. You are full of earthly, sensual, and devilish wisdom. Earthly, sensual, and devilish wisdom. So, where's our hope? What is the Lord saying? This all started this morning because God wants to do a deep work in all of our lives. A deep work in all of our lives. And it starts with honesty. It starts with, Lord, show me what you think. Show me my words. Show me my tongue. I believe God will be able to do that if we ask Him. Let's just be still before the Lord for a few moments. And let's pray as we have indicated before we started preaching. Let's pray. Let's pray for one another. Let's pray to God. And let's let the Holy Spirit confirm His Word this morning. I believe that God exposes these kinds of works in our midst because His intention is not to condemn us. It's to deliver us. The Lord wants to deliver us. The Lord wants to fill our hearts with faith that will enable us to believe Him to do a great work in our life and in our heart. So I'm going to pray a prayer of faith now and then I just want to invite you as we sing a few songs. I want to invite you to just do what the Holy Spirit shows you to do. And may the Lord, through the power of Jesus Christ, bring healing and deliverance to each and every one of us. Father, I ask that You, by the power of Your Word, will heal us, will deliver our tongues from being used by the devil, by the wicked one, and that You would fill our hearts with the Word of God, with the Spirit of God, that our tongues might be used to speak those things that are lovely, those things that are honest and pure and just. Lord, we renounce lying. We renounce gossip. We renounce uncleanness. We renounce lust. Lord, we renounce everything in our lives that is not like You. In the name of Jesus Christ, Satan, I rebuke you. You are a liar. The truth has exposed you. And I pray every child of God here this morning will rise up and confess with your mouth, I am a son of light, and I only want the light of God's Word working in my life. I renounce every form of darkness in my life. Can you do that? Are you able to do that? Do you want to do that? I pray that you will. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Lord. I am in the grave Reanimate me This is what I pray Reanimate me Change my heart, O God Reanimate me Thank you, Lord. Change our hearts, O God. We pray, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Lord, as we sing this song, change our hearts, God. Take control of our tongues, Lord. We acknowledge that apart from your power in your Word, our tongues destroy. O God, have mercy upon us, Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. O God, have mercy upon us, Lord. O God Why don't you share them? I'm all wet. The Lord has put some scriptures on Brother Eddie's heart, and he's certainly... Feel free to come on up and share them, Brother.