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The chapter of James.
Hallelujah.
It's cold outside, but it's nice in here.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
Lord of God.
I'll tell you what.
Some of you are not ready to hear
this at all.
I want you to turn and smile down
anybody you see with a frown, please.
Right now, smile them down.
Amen.
Shake hands and say, Jesus is alive.
Jesus is alive and well here this morning.
Amen.
My message this morning, tame your tongue.
I wonder if you were looking at
somebody when you said that.
Your tongue.
James 3.8. But the tongue can no
man tame.
But it is an unruly evil full of
deadly poison.
The tongue can no man tame.
You can no more tame your tongue than
a wild horse could tame itself.
It has to have a trainer.
We're going to talk about it.
But the tongue can no man tame.
It is an unruly evil full of deadly
poison.
Holy Spirit, you really burned this into my
heart.
You emblazoned it in my spirit and my
mind.
Lord, you told me that this is a
message that comes right from the throne of
God.
It's so important to the heavenly kingdom and
to everyone in this place this morning.
I pray for the anointing you've promised me,
the anointing of the Holy Ghost.
Lord, pierce our hearts.
Pierce everyone in the balcony in here, around
me, Lord, as you pierced my heart with
this word.
God, don't let anybody go out of here
without determination to tame their tongue by the
power of the Holy Ghost.
Lord, you're going to do something about our
tongue and our lips and our mouth today.
You're going to sanctify it.
In Jesus' name, amen.
James says our tongue is an unruly evil
full of deadly, deadly, deadly poison.
Now, he's talking about the tongues of Christians,
believers.
He's not talking about tongues outside this church.
He's talking about the body of Christ.
And this epistle of James, especially the third
chapter, is a call to God's people to
tame their tongues.
Now, how serious is this matter of taming
your tongue?
Is an unruly tongue that major of a
sin?
Is it that wicked that we should talk
about it this morning?
You know, there's so many of you here
this morning that are engaged in a battle
with some big sin.
I mean, you have come out of drugs
or alcohol.
You have come out of a situation that
was lust involved.
It could have been an adulterous affair, whatever
it may be.
And here you sit this morning, and you
could say, I could almost hear somebody say,
Wait a minute, Brother Dave, I am fighting
the biggest battle of my life.
I am trying to win this battle over
all the temptations of drugs and alcohol in
my past.
And you come along, and you're going to
add another burden on me?
How can that compare with my battle?
This great temptation I'm fighting, how does my
tongue compare?
How does what I say, how do you
measure that in comparison to the kind of
battle that I'm already facing?
But I'm telling you, an untamed tongue is
the world's deadliest weapon.
An unsanctified, careless tongue is more wicked than
drugs or alcohol, promiscuous sex, whatever you can
name.
An unsanctified, gossiping, vicious tongue is worse than
all those sins combined.
The Bible said there's hell and fire in
it.
The Bible says it defiles the whole body
of Jesus Christ.
Deadly, deadly poison.
The Bible said it's a world of iniquity,
it defiles a multitude, and there's a taste
of hell on earth through its power.
I want to take you into the Scripture
this morning and show you how dangerous and
damning an unruly tongue can be.
And I'll tell you, the Lord has shaken
me up by it.
And I want you to hear me well.
I'm going to take you into the Word
of God, and I want you to see
it.
And I want you to go to James
1 and verse 26.
Let me make a statement.
Give me your good ear.
An unruly, careless tongue negates everything spiritual in
your life.
It renders all religion as worthless.
It makes every spiritual activity in vain.
Everything you do for God is in vain
if your tongue is not under control.
I'm going to read it to you.
Verse 26, James 1.
If any man among you seem to be
religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth
his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
The word vain is absolutely worthless.
Now, folks, listen to it again.
James is speaking to a group within the
body.
He's not talking about sinners because he's saying
among you.
He's speaking to the church.
It's among you.
These tongues among you.
And he's zeroing in on someone who appears
apparently to be pious and holy, and in
many ways kind, perhaps, and sweet, and no
other kind of wickedness about them.
They're not drug addicts.
They're not alcoholics now.
They're in the body of Jesus Christ.
And they appear to be pious and religious.
But they have tongues that are out of
control, unbridled.
And the Bible says all their religion, all
their show of spirituality, everything is absolutely, totally
in vain.
They go about the church or on the
job with acid tongues.
They're always hearing and telling morsels of gossip.
They think nothing of murmuring and complaining.
They think nothing of touching God's anointed.
They just blink it off.
I know of at least three women in
this church, and I'm going to say it
lovingly as a pastor, at least three women
in this church who have gone about, and
maybe they've been to you, they may be
here this morning.
And I hope, sisters, that you hear what
I'm going to say, how serious this is.
Because these three ladies are among those who
worship with us as loud as anybody, faithful
to this church coming, and they're very kind
usually, and they'll do anything for anybody.
But they have come to one or two
of the pastors with the burden, and because
they felt we didn't give them enough time,
or that we did not give them the
answer, they thought we talked too harshly.
They have gone out of here and said,
our pastors have no time for us.
They're too busy.
And I have picked it up four or
five times, and I know where those sisters
sit.
And you know, it doesn't hurt me as
a pastor.
What I'm concerned about is what James is
saying.
I have to say this as a pastor
lovingly, to these three sisters who are here,
and for that matter, anyone who would choose
to gossip about leadership, or about one another
in the body, or the choir, or anything
else.
The Bible says, everything you do that has
been spiritual, all your spiritual activity, all your
worship, all your praise, everything you've done.
You can come and wrap packages for the
children.
You can be busy on the food truck.
You can do all these things that the
Bible says.
If your tongue is not under control, you
touch God's anointed, everything is in vain.
Absolutely in vain.
You stand before God and say, well Lord,
I worshipped you, I praised you, I did
all these things.
He said, I don't know people who have
a divided tongue, a divided heart, and a
divided mind.
I never knew you because if you were
intimate with me, you would have understood my
word, you would have allowed the Holy Spirit
to deal with you, and this would have
not been an issue.
Now folks, this scares me.
This frightens me, that the possibility that someday
I could stand before the judgment seat of
Christ, I could stand as a minister of
the gospel, and my tongue was not under
control, that I just nonchalantly repeated things about
other people or other ministers, and that I
could stand before the Lord and hear Jesus
say to me, David, you helped establish a
drug ministry around the world, home for women
and men, and all of these centers that
have sprung up around the world, you were
evangelists, you traveled the world, and you preached
to thousands, you were used of God in
so many ways, there were so many sweet
things that came out, edifying words that came
out, but there were also words that came
out of you that were bitter, and the
same fountain cannot put out sweet and bitter
at the same time.
There was something there, there was something wrong,
and the Lord can say, he's going to
say, I never knew you, I never knew
you, and all these things you did, the
Bible said he's deceived his own heart, and
his religion is in vain, his spirituality does
not count.
Now look at it, take a good look,
read it, please, look at it.
Now folks, I want to tell you something,
a true pastor, now you say, Brother Wilkinson,
is there a lot of gossip in this
church?
No, I'm not aware of that, I'm speaking
something from the throne of God, something I
got from heaven, something the Holy Ghost told
me we all need, the choir needs it,
orchestra needs it, pastors, we all need it,
I need it.
Now if you want something sweet and syrupy,
a true pastor is going to tell you
the truth and he's going to hurt you,
but he'll heal you.
Now I may sound serious, but I'm not
mad at anybody, and not a person here
I couldn't hug and tell you I love
you.
But I want you to hear from the
heart of Jesus this morning, how damning this
sin is, how dangerous it is to have
a tongue that is out of control, or
a tongue that gossips or slanders, a tongue
that touches God's anointed.
These three sisters that I speak of, I
tell you with all love and compassion, everything
I see you do, everything I see you
do is in vain, until you make that
right, not only with pastors, but with those
that you speak about, or spread this poison
about.
Sometimes it has to do with just the
activities of the church, or other people, or
you pick up a little morsel here, did
you hear?
I've always said it takes a big ear
to hear a big mouth.
Oh, it's going to get real quiet I'm
afraid here in just a bit.
Think of all the loving, kind things you've
done in your walk with Jesus, all the
tears you've shed for others, and the compassion
you've shown, all the caring things that you've
done, how willing you were to even lay
down your life for others, and the Bible
says all in vain, because you've been spewing
out careless words.
Some may be inclined to say, surely God's
not so unloving as to overlook and discount
all that I've done, because I'm not careful
with my tongue.
Surely God would not discount all of that.
Go to 1 Corinthians with me please.
Turn left and go to 1 Corinthians, the
13th chapter.
1 Corinthians, the 13th chapter.
You say, I speak uncharitable words at times.
Yes, I acknowledge sometimes I've said things that
are uncharitable.
1 Corinthians, 13th chapter, verses 1 through 3.
Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not charity or
love, I'm become as a sounding brass or
a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and
though I have all faith so that I
could remove mountains, and I have not charity,
I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to
feed the poor, and though I give my
body to be burned, and have not charity,
it profiteth me what?
Nothing.
Can you imagine someone dying for Jesus, being
burned at the stake?
He's given every dollar he has to feed
the poor.
He's given everything in his life.
And it's all in vain.
He's not going to get a martyr's reward.
He's going to stand before God.
And the Lord said, You did this with
the wrong motive.
You didn't have love in your heart.
You had bitterness in your heart.
And it came out your mouth.
You were not a charitable one.
Your tongue was not charitable.
It was not loving.
It was bitter.
It was unkind.
It was acid.
It profiteth you nothing.
Now, folks, when I stand before you, and
this hits me that I could stand before
God.
Yes, I'm minister.
I am not immune.
Pastor Don is not immune.
None of us are immune.
It profits you nothing.
All your spirituality is in vain.
All right?
All your spirituality, all your sacrifice is worthless
because of an uncharitable, untamed tongue.
Secondly, what you speak with your tongue reflects
what is in your heart.
I want you to go Matthew 12.
Turn left again.
Matthew 12.
And, brother, sister, I tell you, when this
hit me, I don't think I'll ever be
the same because I've seen it many times,
but now the Holy Spirit made it real.
Matthew 12, verse 34, beginning to read.
Matthew 12, verse 34.
Jesus is speaking.
Oh, generation of vipers, how can you, being
evil, speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart...
What?
The mouth speaks.
Your tongue reflects only what is in your
heart.
What is in your heart will be reflected
by the words you speak.
Now, these are the words from Jesus Christ
himself.
And he's saying, loose, careless, evil talk pours
out of an evil, unclean heart.
Now, my mother, when I was a boy,
used to wash my mouth out with soap
when I said something naughty.
And in those days, the soap was, what,
Lysol?
And I don't know.
It was horrible.
But you see, that wasn't getting the real
issue.
Not the tongue that needs washed, it's the
heart.
It's the heart that needs to be cleaned.
First of all, if my tongue speaks carelessly,
if I speak with evil malice, it discounts
all my spirituality.
And now, secondly, it makes me face an
indisputable fact that my heart must be unclean,
my heart must be defiled, there's some kind
of hellfire in my heart, or I wouldn't
talk like I'm talking.
I wouldn't speak the things that I speak.
I've got to look in and examine my
heart.
Where does this come from?
If I hear sensual, lustful words coming out
of my mouth, if I'm speaking any filthy
gossip, if I tell a dirty joke, if
I hear myself running somebody down, if I
speak unkindly or jealously about another, if I
raise my voice and scream at my family,
if I start calling people names and that
name calling pours out of my lips, if
I am tattling on somebody, if I curse
even a single word, if a stream of
angry words pour out of my mouth, then
I've got to ask myself the question, what
kind of unclean, filthy, junk, still is treasured
up somewhere hidden in my heart?
There's something there never dealt with, or I
wouldn't be saying these things, I wouldn't be
doing these things, it wouldn't come out of
me, it's down there, it's not been dealt
with.
Beloved, careless, unruly talk is not just a
flaw, it's not just a weakness, it's not
just a habit we fall into occasionally.
You can't say of somebody, well, usually he
or she is very lovely, they are just
wonderful people.
Occasionally, yeah, they'll gossip, occasionally they'll say things
that cut.
No.
No, you see, all their spirituality is discounted,
and more than that, that person has an
unclean, evil heart.
There's something there.
If you are sitting at a table or
you're walking through this church and somebody comes
to you in the corner and says, did
you hear?
Did you hear what I heard?
You can mark it down, no matter how
pious they appear, no matter how they may
dance in church or how much they talk
in tongues, there's something evil in the heart.
There's something wrong.
There's something that's not been dealt with by
the Holy Spirit.
What did Jesus say?
Out of the abundance of the heart, the
mouth speaks.
A good man out of a good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things.
An evil man out of the evil treasure
brings forth evil things.
There's a treasure in there, just as a
snake has a little poison bag right under
his mouth.
There's something, any kind of deadly poison, it's
because the bag hasn't been drained.
The bag of poison's never been removed, it's
still there.
It's not a flaw.
The Scripture says, Did the fountain send forth
at the same place sweet water and bitter?
That's verse 11 in James 3.
I tell you what, this warning has been
so serious to me and the Lord has
so implanted the fear of God in my
heart about this that I just have to
pursue it.
I know now that even as a pastor,
if I allow a morsel of gossip to
come out of my lips, I'm going to
stop and say, Master, what kind of root
is there in me?
What kind of jealousy is there in me?
What kind of envy?
What kind of covetousness?
What is it that's not yet been rooted
out of my heart?
You know, a young convert in this church
was overheard recently speaking to someone about a
friend who was living in adultery.
A young man who was living in adultery.
He said, No big deal because the blood
covers everything.
He's covered.
It was one of our young Timothy House
boys.
And I said, Young man, you got it
all wrong.
The blood of Jesus Christ never excuses or
covers sin that's not totally repented and forsaken.
It's not covered.
It's not covered until it's totally repented and
there's a desire in the heart to be
saved.
Same with the tongue.
You say, Well, Brother Wilkson, I know I'm
saved.
I know I'm filled with the Holy Ghost.
You see, we have a lot of people
who do not come to grips with this
matter of the danger of the tongue and
the taming of the tongue.
And they'll lay down before they go to
bed and they'll think about it.
They say, Well, yeah, I guess I did
say something that was not kind.
It was not, doesn't line up with the
spirit of Jesus.
And yes, I shouldn't have repeated it, but
Lord, cover me with the blood.
And they go to sleep and get up
and do the same thing again.
You see, the blood of Jesus doesn't cover
those hidden things.
The Holy Ghost comes and he digs out
those things.
God doesn't want to cover it.
He wants to remove it.
He wants to remove the cause of it.
He wants us to be healed.
And the trouble is, we've been claiming the
covering of the blood.
We've never truly repented.
We've never gotten to the root.
And the root is still there.
And we think that this blood covering is
going to cover it.
And folks, I know, I know in my
heart, I said something about a pastor to
a dear friend.
And it was true what I said.
In fact, his name came up.
And that's why I repeated it.
And I said, well, I wouldn't trust that
pastor because I had some dealings with him.
And I knew the Holy Ghost said, stop
right there.
Nobody needs to know.
Don't tell your friend anymore because there's no
purpose to it and it's just gossip.
Even though it's true, don't repeat it because
you could hurt his character.
And I just blurted it out.
And it was an ugly, terrible thing that
the man did.
And I had to deal with him.
It had to do with morals and an
incredible kind of immorality.
And I repeated it.
And immediately as soon as I said it,
I was convicted and condemned and everything else.
The Spirit of God said, you shouldn't have
said that.
I prayed about it and I called my
friend up.
I said, look, I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have said that.
And my friend said, look, I don't know
who he is and I don't repeat things
that I hear.
And I went home and I said, that
did it.
Thank you, Jesus.
I stopped it.
No, I didn't stop it because when you
plant something in somebody's mind, you can't pull
it out of their mind.
You know what the Scripture says?
How great a matter a little fire kindles.
I had kindled a little spark because the
spark comes out of the tongue and it
has to do with this very thing I'm
talking about.
Just don't drop something about somebody.
And it affects their character.
It affects their very spirit and nature.
And I knew it and I said, oh
God, what do I do?
And the Lord said, I'm interested in changing
you so that you don't do it anymore.
It's not just dealing with this one thing.
There's something down in your heart.
And I looked at it and I said,
oh God, there's got to be.
I must be jealous of that man.
There's a little something in there that almost
I wanted to say that there was something
that came out of my mouth that should
have been shut.
And I repented and the Lord forgave me.
And that's why anymore I begin to say
something against somebody and the Holy Ghost will
say, stop.
And brother, sister, if he tells you that,
stop in the middle of the sentence and
say, I can't go on.
This is gossip.
Stop it.
Right there and then you'll become very sensitive
to the Holy Ghost and from then on
he'll be there all the time to remind
you and he'll keep you clean and pure.
You can't tame it yourself but the Holy
Ghost can through total repentance.
Look at verse 37.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned
by your words.
It doesn't say smoking cigarettes, drugs, alcohol.
Those are all ugly sins.
Yes, there's judgment but he said you're going
to be judged for your words.
You're going to be judged by what you
said.
The Greek word here I've gotten ahead of
it.
I just want to stick with this right
here.
Here is why I have the fear of
God on me.
Because I read this verse and the Holy
Spirit made it so real to me that
I stand before a judgment seat and I
give an account.
So I've got to lay down at night
and recall my words and I've got to
take inventory and I've got to pray, Oh
God, dig into my heart.
What's wrong inside of me?
Folks, we need a heart examination.
We need to look inside and from now
on God will help you.
He will deliver you if you realize it's
not just I don't gossip.
It's not just something comes off the top
of your head.
It's not just something that's suddenly there and
out.
No, it has roots.
It's from your heart.
So the heart needs to be cleansed.
The heart needs to be cleansed.
We need to go to Jesus and say
Lord, I'm guilty.
I'm guilty.
Help me.
Send the Holy Ghost.
Convict me.
You'll never go for healing unless you believe
you're guilty.
Probably half of this congregation is going to
slough it off and say that's not me.
I've got a nice clean tongue.
Are you one who blesses with your tongue
or one who curses?
Look back to James 3 and keep your
hand on Matthew 12.
Let's start reading James 3.
Let's start reading with verse 8 again.
But the tongue can no man tame.
It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and
therewith curse we men, which are made after
this similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and
cursing my brethren.
Now see, he's talking to brethren again.
These things should not be happening.
These things ought not to be so.
So to be.
The Greek word here for curse is to
tear down, to bring one down, and to
denounce someone as evil.
It's this tearing down of people.
It's tearing down of pastors.
Tearing down of others in the ministry.
Tearing down brothers and sisters.
He said with your mouth you bless God
and then you go out and tear somebody
down.
That's what the cursing here means.
It doesn't mean a voodoo curse.
Doesn't mean somebody sticking pins in a doll.
No, this is just somebody saying things about
people and others and it's tearing them down.
It's tearing down the body of Christ.
Now I ask you, what comes out of
your lips?
Out of your tongue?
Are you a blessed one who blesses people?
One who just delights in encouraging people?
Or are you one of those who tears
down?
Now I want you to stop for just
a minute.
First of all, if our tongue is unruly,
it's not under the command of the Holy
Spirit, it renders all of our spirituality its
vein.
Secondly, and I just went over it right
now, it proves an evil heart.
And now, something worse.
We're going to stand before the judgment and
answer.
We are going to stand before the judgment
seat of Christ and answer for every careless
word.
Go back to Matthew, the twelfth chapter.
I want you to read with me verse
36 and 37 again.
But I say unto you that every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the day of judgment.
How many words?
Every idle word.
That word idle is careless and vain.
It's a careless vanity.
It's a word that cuts.
It's a word that curses.
It's a word that destroys.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
But I only told one friend and she
promised me she'd never tell anybody else.
But every word that you said was recorded,
taken down by angelic hands, recorded in God's
eternal books.
See, our words don't fall to the ground
and die.
Not a word you and I speak falls
to the ground and dies.
It doesn't just go into the air and
vanish into thin air.
No, every word is recorded.
Every single word is recorded.
That is so convicting to me.
I'll just stop and think about it a
minute.
Everything you've said.
You say, well, can't I just make one
blanket prayer and say, Jesus, everything I did,
just forgive me.
Blot it all out.
Not if you're not going to deal with
it.
Not if the roots are still there.
You see, some people don't speak their mind.
They speak one thing and think another.
Don't turn there, but Psalm 62, 4.
They bless with their mouth, but they curse
inwardly.
You know, it goes something like this.
A sister who's got an unruly tongue and
she's got an evil heart.
There's just something.
She doesn't like this other sister and she
goes up.
She can't help shaking hands because she bumps
right into her.
And it goes something like this.
Wow, you're looking so sweet.
You look so good.
I swear you're looking younger every day.
God must be blessing you.
And inside she's saying, you big old hypocrite,
you phony.
Then she walks down the hall, bumps into
other sisters.
Do you see how much weight she's losing?
She looks anorexic.
Do you see her eyes?
I've seen it and heard it in this
church.
Don't you love it when somebody comes up
to you with that big Colgate grin?
And you know they'd like to put a
knife in your back?
That's a shame.
Those things shouldn't even be mentioned in the
house of God.
There should not be a Christian anywhere with
that kind of attitude.
Because that says that that person who says
one thing and thinks another, there's something very,
very wrong in the spirit.
There are roots of bitterness and rebellion.
There's something so wrong in the heart.
A true believer of Jesus, a true saint
of God who walks with the Lord faithfully,
couldn't even conceive of that kind of thing.
Is there anybody anywhere, anyone in this church,
is there anyone anywhere that you can't go
honestly to and tell them what is in
your heart?
Can you honestly look at everybody that you
know that loves Jesus?
How in the world are you going to
spend eternity with them if you can't get
along with them in Times Square Church?
Come on now.
You're going to try to bypass them in
heaven?
Here at Times Square Church you see one
come down here, you go way over here
around and you watch the scene, you won't
bump into them?
Is there anybody you're afraid to bump into?
Now I don't mean this way, I mean
accidentally.
I'm not trying to be facetious.
I'm telling you, brother and sister, these things
ought not to be.
That's what the Scripture says.
And we're going to give an account, and
we're going to stand before the judgment day,
and we have got to give an account.
The Scripture says, For as a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he.
The Bible says there are some that flatter
with their tongues, but their throat is an
open grave.
The Bible says, Charity thinketh no evil.
You show me a person that's a suspicious
nature, always suspecting things.
I tell you, that comes from a legalistic
spirit.
It comes from a spirit that's never been
yielded to Jesus Christ fully.
It comes from a stubborn nature.
It's always out of stubbornness.
It's always somebody expressing suspicion on somebody else
that reflects their own fears.
If you hear somebody say, You know, we've
got to pray for someone.
I think they're going to commit adultery.
It's because this person has fear of adultery
themselves.
They express their own fears, and they dump
it on other people as suspicion.
How great a matter a little fire kindles.
Now, here's the dangerous part.
Here's somebody in the house of God who
says, Well, look, yeah, but I really didn't
mean anything by it.
I don't want to hurt anybody.
God knows my heart.
I don't want to hurt anybody.
And your motive is not wrong, but you
speak it.
You become careless, folks.
It's because we don't take inventory of what
we say.
We don't think before we speak.
We blurt it out.
And when we blurt these things out, and
I want you to hear it well, you
say, Well, I really didn't mean it.
I'm not that kind of person.
But if you said it, and it has
an effect on somebody, and it's done its
damage, what matters, what motive is?
You already started a fire, and it's out
of control.
I don't care what the motive was.
You may not be that kind of a
person.
You may not be a gossiper.
You may be one of the most spiritual
persons in this church.
But it doesn't matter.
You have to take inventory and think before
you speak.
That spark starts a fire, and it's out
of control, and you didn't mean it, and
it still did all the damage.
Okay, now, you know we never speak in
this pulpit without showing you the good part.
How do you get control of this deadly
weapon?
This thing in my mouth, you know, God
had to put two white picket fences to
fence it in.
God wants us to have control.
Now, you cannot control your own tongue.
God has to do it.
But the tongue can no man tame.
It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison.
You say, well, Brother Wilkinson, if I can't
tame it, why are you telling me how
to tame it?
If no man can tame it.
Well, the Scripture says, with man that is
impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Hallelujah.
The prophet Isaiah tells us how to get
control of our tongues.
Three simple steps, and then I'm going to
close.
How many of you are beginning to see
how serious it is, this matter of controlling,
taming the tongue?
All right.
Praise the Lord.
Nobody mad at me yet?
Nobody sticking their tongue out?
All right.
I want control of my tongue.
I don't want to speak evil of anybody.
Because this book is full of the dangers
of it.
And I'll tell you, whether God judges it
any more than what I've told you now,
the worst judgment I can think about that
all my spirituality would be in vain.
The worst judgment I can think about is
that I go through life with a heart
that's not been dealt with.
Something hidden in my heart that makes it
evil.
Nothing could be more dangerous to me or
more judgment than to know that I have
to stand before the Lord and answer for
every word.
How do we get control?
You don't have to turn there, but Isaiah,
the sixth chapter.
Isaiah cries out eventually, Oh God, I'm a
man of unclean lips.
How did he come to this place?
And how did God clean up his lips
and his tongue?
First of all, he drew near to the
Lord and he prayed for a vision of
the holiness of God.
He drew near to the Lord.
In fact, I'm going to turn to Isaiah,
the sixth chapter, and if you want to
follow me, that's fine.
It's so clear how this dear man of
God, and who could be more pious and
righteous than Isaiah, this dear prophet.
No man spoke of Jesus more powerfully and
lovingly than Isaiah.
He said, verse one, In the year the
king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting
upon a throne high and lifted up, and
his train filled the temple.
Verse three, And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
Look at me, please.
You show me a Christian.
You show me a man or woman who
really wants control, who really wants to live
a life pleasing to the Lord, and I'll
show you someone that says, Lord, I know
that you're dealing with me and I'm not
going to go on like this.
I hear your word this morning and I
want victory.
That person is going to go into the
presence of the Lord.
You're going to keep going there in the
presence of the Lord until we get a
vision of his holiness, the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, because sin only becomes sinful in the
presence of Jesus.
It only becomes, you only hate your sin.
You can only hate what you've been saying
with your tongue by getting so close to
Jesus and seeing his holiness and getting this
picture of him high and lifted up on
his throne and having absolute intimacy with Jesus
and allowing him to speak into your heart.
And when you begin to see his holiness
and his righteousness as did the prophet Isaiah,
then you can cry out as he did.
Then said I, woe is me, for I
am undone, because I'm a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of
people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Where did he get the vision of the
ugliness of his mouth and his tongue?
Why did he cry out, woe is me,
because I'm a man of unclean lips?
He said, because mine eyes have seen the
King.
Mine eyes have seen the King.
He's talking about Jesus.
I've seen Jesus.
I've seen the Lord of hosts.
I've seen him in my mind.
I've seen the glory of his holiness.
And I know he is not put up
with this.
And in the closeness to Jesus, folks, we've
said it over and over again, the secret
to victorious life, whether it's drugs, alcohol, or
an uncontrollable tongue, it's closeness to Jesus.
It's intimacy.
It's knowing him and letting him talk to
you.
And he will not come and condemn you.
He will not come and threaten judgment to
you.
The Holy Ghost will be there.
Look at what happens when he acknowledges, I'm
a man of unclean lips.
He's got a vision of Jesus now.
The Scripture says, Then flew one of the
seraphims unto me, having a live coal in
his hand, which he'd taken from the tongues
from off the altar.
And he laid it upon my mouth, and
he said, Lo, this has touched thy lips.
Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
is purged.
It was a live coal from the fire
of God's altar.
Now listen, the word of God is this
coal.
Now that coal can be dead.
The letter can kill.
It's just a dead piece of coal, but
the Holy Ghost comes and puts fire.
The Holy Ghost is a burning fire.
And this very word that I give you
now, this message that you're hearing right now
is a live coal.
It's been touched by the Holy Ghost.
And God wants to put this on your
lips right now, and he wants to sanctify
your lips.
He can do it right now if you
take the Holy Ghost word right now that's
being preached.
Let it convict you.
Let it show you that you are guilty
and then cry out, Oh God, woe is
me.
I've spoken with unclean lips.
My tongue needs to be sanctified.
Let the word, the Holy Ghost word that's
anointed, the Holy Ghost is anointing his word
right now.
It is burning with Holy Ghost fire.
Let it purge you.
Let it go into your heart.
Say, It's me, Lord.
I'll not pass it by to anybody else.
Let this living word come and touch your
tongue, your mouth.
And I promise you, you reach out, the
Holy Ghost will come.
He'll burn that out.
He will cleanse it.
He will tame it.
You can't do it yourself.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
Our part is to confess it.
Our part is to say, like Isaiah, woe
is me.
I am unclean.
Please don't sit here this morning and say,
I am not guilty.
There's not a person in this place who's
not guilty.
Not one.
You say, Lord, I'm guilty.
He'll show you things that you may not
even consider to be careless.
And he'll remind you that having reminded you,
you go to him in faith and say,
Jesus, I believe you can cleanse me.
Cleanse my heart.
Go down deep in me.
Pluck this up by its roots.
And now the live coal, the word of
the Lord, anointed by the Holy Ghost, burning
with the flame of God, transforms you.
Now folks, here's what I've asked God to
do for me.
I've mentioned it in the course of my
message in closing.
Now I want to mention it to you.
Listen to it, please.
I've asked the Holy Ghost to be my
helper on this matter.
I've asked him to send such conviction on
me that as soon as I open my
mouth and I begin to say one word
that is careless and unthinking and unkind, I
want the Holy Ghost to raise a flag
and wave it at me.
And I want him to whisper loud and
clear in my heart, Hush.
Stop.
And he'll do it.
Oh, he's an inner cop.
He's an inner policeman.
Yes, he is.
He's a policeman right here.
And I told Jesus, Come on my beat.
Walk through my streets in my heart.
And when you see something coming up and
go down, turn the searchlight on and get
down in there and dig all the garbage
out of my heart.
Lord, do a house cleaning.
I want a clean heart.
Pure hands.
Clean heart.
And I want a pure tongue.
Sanctified.
I want that live coal burning out everything
unlike Jesus.
Will you stand, please.
Hallelujah.
Glory to Jesus.
Lord, I didn't expect people to be shouting
down the aisle today.
But I did expect, and I believe you're
doing it now just as you promised, that
you would change this.
That we'll never be the same.
That we'll never talk again.
We'll never speak again until this is out.
Lord, there are some people that need to
go to their pastors and make confession.
There are some people that need to go
to somebody on the staff and make confession.
There are people that need to go to
someone else and make confession.
And say, I am sorry.
I am sorry.
I repent.
Some wives need to go to their husbands
and husbands to their wives because of that
yelling and that screaming and that anger.
Lord, that's so unlike you.
That's not the spirit of Christ.
That means there's something in the heart that's
not been right.
God, make our hearts pure.
Cleanse us and sanctify us.
Hallelujah.
Lord Jesus, for those that have been hearing
or telling dirty jokes.
Those, oh Lord, have just been speaking foolishly.
Foolishly.
They're just idle chatter and they don't even
think about what they're saying.
Oh God, help us to realize we will
be judged.
Now Lord, you will cleanse us.
You will wipe away the past.
You will make it new.
If we would just humble ourselves before you.
You can remove all the things that have
been unlike you and make us right.
Make us clean.
Hallelujah.
Bless you, Jesus.
Now I'm going to do something different this
morning.
Listen, I'm not going to ask anybody to
come down who the Holy Ghost is dealing
with about your tongue alone.
I want to find out how many there
are.
There may only be five or ten.
I don't know.
But if you're here this morning and your
back's slidding in your heart, you're not right
with Jesus.
It's not just your tongue.
It's your whole lifestyle.
You're out of control.
The enemy has come and taken a hold
of you and he's been driving you and
you're facing your sins this morning and the
Lord wants to set you free.
I want you to come back.
Come back to the Lord.
If you've never been right with Jesus or
if you're backslidden, I want you, out of
the balcony, go to either stairs and come
down the aisles and you here on the
main floor just step out and I want
to pray with you.
I believe there are a number here that
need to walk down this aisle and say,
Brother Dave, I came this morning and I
have to tell you I'm compromising my life.
I'm not living victorious for Jesus and I
want to.
I want him to set me free.
I want to be delivered this morning.
Get out of your seat and come and
meet me here and I'll pray with you
this morning.
Then I'm going to pray with the whole
congregation about this matter of the tongue in
just a moment.
Let's sing a chorus here and you come.
Balcony, the main floor.
I know there's some need to come here
and stand.
Right now, we're not trying to bloat these
altars or count heads.
We're going to find everybody that's hungry, everybody
that's needed this morning and say, I've got
to get some things right with the Lord.
Standing in the front, let me pray with
you right now.
Let me assure you.
Listen to me close now.
Let me assure you, Jesus loves you with
everything in his being.
He loves you this morning and he's reaching
out to you by his Holy Spirit.
The reason you came, something stirred inside.
That's the Holy Ghost moving inside your heart,
stirring you.
That's good.
That's a good sign that you're open to
him.
He didn't have to knock you down.
He didn't have to allow you to go
to a hospital and get your attention.
He got your attention through his word.
That's good.
You're responding.
I want you to pray this prayer with
me right now.
Jesus, in my heart, I want to serve
you with all my heart.
Come, Jesus, and cleanse my heart.
Go deep in me.
Pluck out all my sins by the roots
and set me free.
I love you, Jesus, and I came forward
today to surrender my heart.
I'm coming back.
I'm coming home to you, Jesus, and I
love you, and I need you.
I trust you, and I give you my
heart and my body and my very life.
Now, let me pray for you.
Jesus, this is so important.
It really doesn't take long when our hearts
are open and when we're ready because you
said you're ready to forgive.
You've always been ready to forgive and to
heal.
Now, come, Lord Jesus, and give a blessed
assurance.
Give a blessed assurance that our confession for
sin is heard and that we are forgiven,
and now, Lord, help us to recognize our
sins, acknowledge them, and turn to you, Jesus,
and say, take them, Lord.
Pluck them out.
Give me power to live for you.
Amen.
Look at me, please.
Look this way.
How many of you that came forward or
up here for the first time?
You've never come forward in this church before.
Raise your hand, please.
Yes.
Would you follow us, please, right this way?
You don't enjoy anything.
We want to talk to you for five
minutes.
Come this way.
We'll pray with you also right backstage and
down in the prayer room.
All those who've come forward for the first
time, will you follow our people right this
way?
God bless you.
It's going to be a good moment for
you.
Hallelujah.
This is the conclusion of the tape.