Welcome to Affirm Foundation, presented by Princeton ministries with Doctor Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Our God and our Father as we come to your word. We pray now that by your holy spirit that you would speak to us, that you would instruct us, and Lord, as that we would be instructed, that we would take this, your word, and see it applied in our lives, For we ask that in Jesus name, amen. In San Antonio, Texas, it’s a training center for new recruits. And I remember standing in front of what was called the Green Machine, a tremendous building that you entered as a civilian and came out the other side with a uniform, with your hair cut, with a medical exam. And you were then called an officer in training. When I came to the doctor who was going to perform that first exam, he asked me one thing. Stick out your tongue.

That was the first thing he looked at. And it was after that we went through the various other rooms and came out the other end. As a medical doctor, the question will be asked of you, let me see your tongue. And a physician can tell certain basic things about your health just by looking at that one small member of your body. As a spiritual physician, I would also ask you, show me your tongue. Because coming from your tongue are clues about what is happening internally with your life in Jesus Christ. Statisticians tell us that the average person speaks in one day, over 50 typewritten pages. In the course of one year, you and I will speak enough words to fill 143 400-page books.

From the first good morning until the last good night of every day, you and I will speak with approximately 30 people or have that number of conversations. When I was coming out of the Air Force and told someone that I was planning to go to seminary, they said, why in the world do you want to spend the rest of your life just spouting off words? And at first, I thought they had a good argument. But then I began to reflect and think about Jesus Christ, Jesus who communicates to us by his word. It was Jesus by his words, who told us to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven. It was Jesus telling a simple story of a prodigal son who could find forgiveness and return once again to the comfort of his home and the love of his family.

It was the words of Jesus that communicated, peace I give you, but not like the peace of the world. It was the words of Jesus that communicated, I have prepared a place for you. If it were not so, would I tell you that I’ve gone to prepare a place for you? As a matter of fact, the spoken word is of ingestible value. It is of great power. It has, according to scripture, the power to either cause great blessing and great abundance in our life, or, on the other hand, to cause us to be deficient spiritually because of the things that we say. We read that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and that Jesus Christ, that word, became flesh and lived amongst us.

In the end, most of us are judged by our words. In the end, it is our words that communicate who we are. It was words that David Livingston used to go into the dark continent at a time when no white man had ever ventured into parts of that unknown world. And with words he communicated the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was with words that George Whitefield spoke to two continents. And those words had a profound effect and caused a great awakening spiritually among the people. It was with words that John Calvin saw a city that was crude and rude become a city where the love of Christ was communicated from house to house. Our words are so vital, so important, that Jesus tells us in Matthew, chapter twelve, by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Now we are saved by faith alone, by putting our trust in Jesus Christ, and that faith saves us. But if it is a real faith, it will have a consequence in our life, and one of the consequences will be the way we use our tongue. The tongue can have a devastating effect if used in the wrong way. Husbands and wives have been separated because of words that have been spoken. Children have left their homes, never to return again because of words that were spoken in their homes. Lifelong friends no longer talk with one another. And where there was friendship, they now look upon that friend as a foe because of words that were spoken. It’s for that reason that in the third chapter of the Book of James that we are told about that little member, the tongue.

And as we read in verse three and four of that chapter, we see indeed we put bits in horses mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. James is talking about the tongue. He says that the tongue is like a bit in a horse’s mouth. It is like a rudder that steers a gigantic sea liner going across the ocean. And the direction of that ship is dependent upon just a small piece of metal in the water that directs the voyage of that ship. It is a small thing, but of tremendous consequence. The tongue can have an effect spiritually that can cause great harm. I remember a friend of mine in college.

He was a Christian, and as we talked about Christian things, he was one who was instrumental at first in telling me about Jesus Christ. We both continued through college. He began to hang around with some people who were not believers, began to listen to the arguments that were made, and by the end of his college years, was no longer found among the fellowship of the church. I remember talking to him toward the end of college, and he said, you know, I talked to a couple of people, and I guess really their words had a lot of effect on me. I think of Adoniram Judson, who became one of the great missionaries to Burma.

He came from a Christian home, but while he was at the university in New Hampshire, his roommate was an unbeliever and continually told him why he should not be a Christian. The end result was that Judson, in those early years fell away from the faith because of the influence, according to his diary, of one man’s words upon him. It was not until he was in an inn next to a man who was dying. And through that evening, heard the groans of that man crying out to God, why have you left me? Where are you? And in the morning, the innkeeper apologized to Judson because of the noise, and he just simply said, that man died. And in the course of the conversation, Judson learned that the man who died next to him was the same stupid student who is his roommate back in college.

It was that event that caused him to reconsider the gospel claims of Jesus Christ on his life. But the effect of the words of one man can be devastating, and we are told that it is a small member of our body, but the tongue can steer a mighty horse and it can direct the voyage of a great ship. But also in verse five, we read that the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. The tongue is also likened to a fire, like a spark that hits the tinder. And where there was fruitful feel suddenly there is nothing but blackened ashes. The scripture tells us that the tongue has the power to devastate that which was once fruitful.

A friend of mine in the Air Force often had me over as a single man for dinner. And one of the things that continually happened within their home between he and his wife were little barbs, little messages that on the face were humorous. But if you thought for even a moment what he was really saying, they were really quite cutting and that little bit of humorous criticism was used relentlessly. And back and forth the humour would go throughout the night. As the months passed, it never ended. The years passed, it continued. And this day, they are no longer married. I believe that one of the causes was the wrong use of the tongue in their home.

The tongue in verse seven, we are told, is like a beast, but that every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. The tongue is an untamed beast. According to scripture. It is like animal that is caged, going back and forth, prancing, waiting for that moment to leap. At times, it is a beast that is in hiding, simply hidden behind a bush, but waiting. Waiting for that moment of critique. Waiting for that moment of criticism. And it has been silent. And then suddenly, unexpectedly, it leaps from behind the bush and strikes. The scriptures tell us the tongue is untameable. It would be easier for you to train a giant condor to perch on your hand.

It would be easier for you to train a boa constrictor to gently wrap itself around your neck and not suffocate you, according to scripture, than it is to tame the tongue. Job tells us that the tongue is a scourge, a whip. Daniel describes the tongue as a sharp sword. Jeremiah says the tongue is an arrow shot out. Paul says the poison of Asps is under their lips. There are many sins of the tongue. One of them is the sin of blaspheming and cursing. When I was a young boy, I do not recall the normal conversation of people being so sprinkled with cursing and blaspheming as it is today. You can hardly go through a shopping mall or a supermarket without hearing a mother speak a word that is so sharp that you wonder if she weren’t a sailor.

Where you hear children use the Lord’s name in a way that would bring dishonor to his name. We have slipped so far, and blasphemy and cursing is the norm. It seems too often today, and yet we are told in scripture that we should not take the name of the Lord God in vain. There is the sin of the tongue that is used as lying and deceit. 60% of Americans believe that it is all right to lie, given certain circumstances. Some studies show that the average person lies on the average of a minimum of 50 times a day, either by way of innuendo or direct falsehood. And yet we are told in the scripture, thou shalt not lie. There is the sin of the tongue, which is whispering or gossip. In Greek, it is called psithurismos, the sin of gossip psithurismos, the sin of whispering.

And there are people who would never speak in a loud voice, but they will whisper. And the scripture warns us not to whisper falsehoods, not to whisper about our neighbor, not to whisper about our employer, not to whisper about our husband, our wife. The sin of whispering, of gossip. Romans chapter one lists the sin of gossip and whispering, along with a list of very grievous sins. It finds itself in the company of envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, slanderers, haters of God. Insolent, haughty, boastful, heartless, ruthless. And that we should all be cautious of the sin of whispering, of gossip. For the whisperer usually speaks about other people’s incompetence. The whisperer usually speaks about another person’s weaknesses. The whisperer usually speaks about another person’s private and personal life. We ought not to be whisperers or gossips. Then there is also the sin of slander.

Slander is the speaking of evil about one person to a third party. But also in the Greek, there is an interesting use of the word slander, and that means speaking a word critically about another person. That is true, and that is also considered to be slander. And why is that so? Because if we have a word of criticism about someone else, then we are to go to that person and speak with them ourselves. But we are not to go to a third party or second party and introduce them to what our suspicions are about that original party. James tells us, do not speak against one another. Brethren, there is also in scripture the sin of backbiting. Backbiting is one of those sins of the tongue that is very hard to prepare for because the whole sense of backbiting is to stay in secret.

The backbiter likes to spread the news about someone without letting that person know that the news is being spread. You know, even in the world of nature, a diamond backed rattlesnake, before it is ready to strike, will at least warn you. By the sound of the rattle, a cobra, before it is ready to actually strike, will broaden its hood. And then, you know, he means business. But the back biter gives no warning, just quietly leaps on the back, and you don’t know that it has occurred until you have been struck. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade talks about three different types of people related to the use of the tongue. He says people come to me often. And they say, well, I heard such and, you know, you can’t help it, but people just keep coming to you and they keep telling me these things.

Well, Bill Bright said, you know, have you ever noticed that in the street where you live there are people who have beautiful green lawns? And there are the green lawn people. They keep that yard very neat, keep the grass bright well mowed. But there are also people who are dump truck people. What they do is they fill up every morning, their dump truck usually half filled with some type of garbage that they have heard from somewhere. And then they begin to drive around looking for a place where they can dump their truck. And so here comes dump truck Susie. She pulls up to the front of a green lawn person and you know something about that green lawn person. They say to her, don’t dump here. So she continues to drive and then she comes to a vacant lot.

There’s some stones, some sand spurs, some splinters, some old bushes, some crumbled-up cans. She looks perfect place to dump. What kind of person are you? A green lawn person, dump truck Susie or a vacant lot? Interested in receiving half the load of garbage? How can you detect if you are in the midst of listening to conversation that is not Christian in its nature? Well, you might ask yourself some of these questions. What is your reason for telling me this? Where did you get your information? Have you gone to those directly involved? Have you personally checked out the facts and the one that usually will cause a dump truck Susie to quickly get into her truck and drive away? Ask her this question, or him this question. Can I quote you on that? Well, how are we to use our tongues as Christians?

Well, James tells us first that we are to bridle our tongue. It is appropriate for Christians to be concerned about the use of their tongue and controlling it. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. The scriptures tell us so. First, use your tongue in a controlled way. Secondly, speak words that build people up rather than tear them down. The purpose of the church, according to Ephesians, is to equip the saints for ministry, for the building up of the body. And our words do in fact, either build people up and encourage them or on the other hand, they cause us to strike at the very heart of someone and cause them to fall. God desires that our conversation and our tongue be used in an encouraging, enlightening way that we should use our tongue to praise God.

Paul continually talked about praising God, but he also talked about praising men and encouraging them. He opened many of his letters simply by saying, I thank God for you who labour with me and encouraging them, building them up, praising them. When was the last time that you praised your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter? Our tongue should be used to communicate joy. Our tongues should be used to promote peace. Do you remember that verse? A soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger. If you find yourself in a situation where you say, I’m about ready to tell him off, you can be sure of one thing. It is only going to stir the pot up. It is not going to solve the problem. Rather, have a soft word approach the situation in an encouraging way.

Also, we are to use our tongue in courtesy towards others. We are told in Philippians, let each of you look not to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Our tongues should be used to communicate. I am concerned about you. Do you remember in the wilderness, a pool at Marah where the water was foul and Moses was instructed to cut down a tree and to place that tree into the waters of that foul source of water? And what happened? The sweetness from that tree changed the bitter waters into sweet water. James wants us to know that our hearts apart from Jesus Christ are hearts that are full of bitterness. And it is not until the cross of Christ is dipped into the foul water of our hearts that suddenly those waters which were bitter can become sweet.

And Jesus tells us that the words that come out of our mouth are a reflection of what in reality is in our heart. And the only source of changing a heart is to submerge the cross of Christ into the depths of that foul pool, and he will bring sweetness, and he will be able to take our conversation, which so often has been used for cursing, and make it sweet. He will be able to take your tongue and mine and use it as an encouragement to other people. As a spiritual physician, let me ask you, can I see your tongue? Let us pray. Our God and our father, we thank you for the new life that you give us through Jesus Christ.

We thank you, Lord, that you are interested in the things that we say, that our tongue, which is just a small member, does have an important part to play in our lives as followers of Christ. Help us, Lord, to use our tongue, not for cursing and blaspheming, but, Lord, that we would use it to bless you and that it would be a blessing to others. Watch over our tongues in our conversation. We pray in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to Affirm Foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s Princeton Ministries Post Office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you and Doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from you.