1. As we begin, this morning, we are reminded that James is a book about what faith does,
rather than what it is.
a. Faith endures trials and grows through them (1:2-4).
b. Faith looks to God for wisdom and knows it will receive (vv. 5-8).
c. Faith sees that it better to have a little with the Lord, than a lot without Him (vv. 9-

e. Faith will also make us slow to get angry (vv. 19-21), will cause us to receive God\u2019s
Word and follow it (vv. 22-25), to control our tongues (v. 26; as we\u2019ll see this
morning), to visit those in need and meet those needs (v. 27), not to show partiality,
but to love all as we love ourselves (2:1-9), to keep all of God\u2019s Word, not just part
of it (vv. 10-11), and to show mercy (vv. 12-13).

b. \u201cBy this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word,
for the authority of God Himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that
which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the
commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for
this life and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are
accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification,
and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace\u201d (WCF 14.2).

1. James tells us this morning, it will especially make a difference in how we use our
tongues.
a. We\u2019ve seen before just how powerful speech is.

(i) It can be a tool of great blessing to God (worship), our brothers and sisters in
Christ (comfort, encouragement, reproof), and to those without Christ (witness,
evangelism).

(ii) But it can also be very destructive: it can \u2013 God forbid \u2013 be used to blaspheme,
to tear down our brothers and sisters and lead them astray, and to turn people
away from Christ.

b. Speech is also a powerful indicator of what\u2019s in our hearts.
(i) Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.
(ii) We\u2019ll consider this subject more this evening.

a. James would not contradict what we are told in other portions of Scripture. There
are certain kinds of teaching that each of us are commanded to do.
(i) Parents are to teach their children.

(b) \u201cMy son, observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the
teaching of your mother; bind them continually on your heart; tie them around
your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you; when you sleep, they
will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk to you\u201d (Prov. 6:20-
22).

(a) \u201cHusbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in
all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would
be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as
their own bodies\u201d (Eph. 5:25-28).

(b) \u201cThe women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to
speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to
learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for
a woman to speak in church\u201d (1 Cor. 14:34-35).

(b) \u201cOlder women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,to

(a) \u201cAnd concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another\u201d (Rom. 15:14).

(c) We are to encourage one another to press on towards Christ-likeness and to
give God glory: \u201cLet us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate
one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling
together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more
as you see the day drawing near\u201d (Heb. 10:23-25).

a. He is warning us about seeking to fill the office oft eacher without being called to
that office.
(i) James literally says, \u201cStop becoming many teachers,\u201d that is, so many of you

(a) The author to the Hebrews reproves his readers, \u201cFor though by this time you
ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the
elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk
and not solid food\u201d (Heb. 5:12).

(b) They had enough instruction, enough to be able to instruct others, but they
weren\u2019t listening to or practicing what they knew: They were returning to the
Old Covenant shadows and in doing so abandoning Christ.

(a) A teacher is Christ\u2019s gift to the church: \u201cAnd He gave someas apostles, and
someas prophets, and someas evangelists, and someas pastors and teachers,
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the
body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature
which belongs to the fullness of Christ\u201d (Eph. 4:11-13).
(1) His purpose in giving them was to ground the saints in the truth so that

they would not be led astray: \u201cAs a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in allaspect s into Him who is the head,

what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each
individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in
love\u201d (vv. 14-16).