The complete christian controls their tongue

[0:00] Thanks to one and all who contributed this morning. Great to see Armand here and to hear a bit more about the work in Peru. That's terrific. Turn with me please to James chapter 3. Usually I'd be thinking about winding up so I'm just starting. But I'm aware the young folk are going out so although I can't, they'll still be away for a certain duration. I'll try and do this in 20 minutes if I can. My average time is 38 in case you're wondering but we'll try and do this in 20.

[0:26] That'll be a tall order. Before I do that Jonah starts this Wednesday. Read the first chapter in this. We might only get through the first half of the chapter, not the first chapter in Jonah.

[0:38] We're only looking at the first three verses on Wednesday. But you're better to do the whole chapter in this, the first study. Otherwise it's hard to pick up two weeks from now. So I commend that to you. I've bought another six of these because we're really running low. So it's not, don't take one for family. Don't let your wife do it for you. Get it wrong yourself.

[0:59] So it's one each. So take one of these. There's another half a dozen sitting out there. That would be great. Let's read together James chapter 3. Interesting. The kids talk, be brave, be bold.

[1:12] This is not a passage I'm keen to preach on this morning. I'd rather preach on other passages rather than the use of the tongue. There's so many other uplifting passages, but we preach the whole counsel of God. And this is a problem for us as individuals, even as Christians. And it's a problem in our churches as well. So it's worth studying. The Holy Spirit in His infinite wisdom has led James to write this for us. And therefore we can learn from this. But let's read from chapter 3 and we'll read the first 12 verses. Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who's never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course, of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind. But no human can tame the tongue.

[3:03] It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs?

[3:34] Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. We'll end our reading there. Let's ask for the Lord's help now as we come to His Word. Our loving Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank You for Your work of grace in each one of our lives. We thank You for choosing us out of the world. We thank You for that we are Yours. And we thank You, Father, for this new standing that we have in Your presence, a new status, from being enemies of God to being children of God. And we praise and thank You, Lord, for who we are and for all that You have done for us. But Lord, as we consider this morning what You have done in us, we pray, Lord, that our lives would match our confession. So, Father, speak to us, we pray now, as individuals and perhaps as our church as well. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to speak to you right at the very beginning about Christians. I don't know if this wee image will come up. Christian, that kind of word cloud. Christians, what do you think of

[4:37] Christians, to be a Christian? Paul started his sermon last week on worry, and he quoted a song by Bob Marley, Don't Worry About a Thing, Because Every Little Thing's Going to Be All Right, whether it was that. But when I was on holiday up in the Aviemore last week, I was listening to the radio. You can only get radio two up there. So, I was listening to the radio and a song that I like and dislike in equal measure. It's a song by Genesis by Phil Collins, and it's called Jesus, He Knows Me.

[5:12] You know that one, Jesus, He Knows Me, and He Knows I'm Right. Been talking to Jesus all my life. Yes, He knows me, and He knows I'm right. He's been telling me everything's going to be all right.

[5:26] And it's a dig at TV evangelists, and possibly Christians as well, who say, Jesus, He knows me. He knows everything about, and He knows I'm right, especially if you're quoting the scriptures, He's been telling me everything's okay. And that is really, in many ways, what we communicate, whether you're a TV evangelist or not, we come and we say, we're special. God loved us. We are sinners. He died to save us. He's forgiven us all our sin.

[5:55] It's well with our soul. We can talk to God. He knows His Word that He's given me. And one day, I'm going to heaven. I'm going to glory. And we... The other thing is this, though.

[6:07] Our status before God is secure. It never changes. But Christians. Here are things, words here that's associated with being a Christian, what it means to be a Christian.

[6:21] But we also, and I preach this often, it's not just about when we want somebody to become a Christian, to believe certain things, to enjoy this new status before God as a child of God, loved by God. It's well with your soul. You're going to heaven. We want that. But we also present the gospel in such a way where we say that the Holy Spirit comes into your life and you are changed.

[6:44] You become a new person. He takes away your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh. You begin to know God, to love God, and you have this capacity to love one another. But in reality, is that often the case? Sad to say it's not often the case. We don't often live in that way. Yes, we're justified, but we're not fully sanctified. James acknowledges us in verse 2 of the passage we read, we stumble in many ways. We all stumble in many ways, he says. That's not a message we often proclaim, is it? We want to proclaim that song that Phil Collins says, Jesus, he knows me, knows I'm right.

[7:33] He's been telling me everything's going to be all right. That's the message we proclaim. But we often live in denial when we think, but it's really hard to live as a Christian, to live as he wants us. And that's why next weekend, Grant will preach on these verses, talks about if you harbor bitter envy, selfish ambition. Verse 16, envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every evil practice. And then in chapter 4, brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. It's such a sad thing that Christians, that we can behave in such a way as this. And that is one of the saddest things. If you're not just a book of James, but Paul writing to Christians, and where it talks about division and hurt and so forth, and not slandering and anger and so forth. The fact is, the truth is this, Christians do all stumble in many ways. It's not something we should be proud of. We love the gospel, we proclaim the gospel, and we say we're new creatures. And in many ways, that's true. But sometimes our behavior takes a long time to change. It's the hardest thing. I remember as a young Christian, becoming a Christian, as a church I attended for many years, I saw them all differently. We just had a big hug fest, and it was just great. They were my brothers and sisters in Christ, and the church was right across the road from a pub. And I remember going to the first church meeting, and I felt I'd wandered into the pub's AGM. I thought, what happened to all these folk that were, one minute, we all love each other, but in this church meeting, it was frosty, it was cold. People were speaking to ways. They'd never spoken to each other on a Sunday or a Wednesday night. And I'm thinking, how does this happen?

[9:33] Are we really Christians? It should really sadden us. And that's what the book of James is all about. Paul, many times when he's talking about justification by faith, is explaining justification, how we're right before God. James is very much about sanctification, about how we should behave as a Christian. And it's not just a list of do's and don'ts. You remember the main verse, the backdrop in the book of James to all of this is chapter 1, verse 18. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all that he created.

[10:14] Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 2. We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And that is why at the end of chapter 1, James mentions true religion. If we profess to be religious, what will that look like? You'll control your tongue, you'll care for the needy, you'll keep yourself unspotted from the world. And he's saying this because of that verse. We are God's handiwork. God has done something in us, so we should be different. And last time we looked at our faith, James shone a torch on our faith, that the true Christian has a faith that works. It works for others, we care for others, it works for ourself, it's saving faith, and it works for God. We serve him. That's what we looked at last time. Now he's going back to the tongue that he mentioned at the end of chapter 1, true and pure religion. He's basically saying, if you want to think you're religious, you're a true Christian, look at your tongue. Do you control your tongue? So that's what I want to look at in the moments that remain. We'll go through these three points fairly quickly. This is powerful teaching by the half-brother of Jesus, the leader of the church at Jerusalem. He was very shrewd and very smart and spirit-filled, as you look at any of the other things he says in the New Testament. He speaks very much as a man of

[11:44] God, but someone led by the Spirit. So let's look at his teaching on this, this powerful teaching about this tiny, small member in our mouth and how powerful this is. So first of all then, the powerful tongue. He gives us good pictures here of the tongue and describing its power.

[12:06] He likens it, first of all, to big horses and small bits that you fit into their mouth. And verse 3, we put bits into the mouth of horses to make them obey us. We can turn the whole animal.

[12:20] It was rather convenient for my sermon that two horses marauded through the streets of London without a bit in their mouth, without anybody to control them. And off they went, smashing into taxis and buses. Powerful, powerful beasts. And only there was somebody to just put a bit in their mouth just to control them. And then later on, you see a member of the public, a couple of folk just standing there with this big, powerful beast, just standing, holding the reins. It is powerful.

[12:49] And that's why he uses the picture of a horse. The tongue is powerful. Secondly, he talks about big ships and small rudders. He's talking about the illustration here, if horses are powerful, it is large. We can control large things. Strong winds, though they're so large and driven by strong winds. They are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Thirdly, another picture, in case we've not quite got it, he talks about big forests and a small spark. Consider a great forest. It's set on fire by a small spark. I mentioned this to Lucille just last week. We were walking through one of the forests in Aviemore. I love the forests in Scotland. Proper forests. You don't get proper forests in the south of England. You get them in the Lake District. They can be quite nice there.

[13:44] I remember going to Hampstead. I used to wander around Hampstead Heath quite a lot. They're fairly threadbare. You could never call them a forest by any stretch of the imagination. And you just get lost in them purely because there's so many paths. And they're just, but when you've got these big Scotch pines and the forest is so dark, and I was saying to Lucille, I'm not surprised fire starts. The ground of the floor looks so dry, dry as a bone. Careless cigarette, boom, whole forest goes up. Doesn't take much. And here, James is wanting to communicate the damage that the tongue can do. It's powerful. It can cause hurt and so forth. And then fourthly, he talks about big boasts and a small tongue. Verse 5, likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it can make great boasts. This is probably James's main reason for writing this passage from verse 1 to 12. He's primarily aiming this at the church. He's primarily aiming this at the church. He's primarily aiming this at the church. He's in the ministry. He's in the ministry. He's in the ministry. He's in the ministry. He's in the ministry.

[14:55] They were often cruel and so forth. They would be proud. They would be boastful. They were fond of dispute. They were just using it for the wrong way. That's why he begins by saying, not many of you should become teachers. I'm aware of this. And pastors, it's one of the greatest blessings to me. I've done various jobs in electronics engineer. But for me, the greatest thing I can do is to preach God's word and for God's people to be helped. That's for me. But at the same time, the more words you speak, the more you will have to give an account, especially publicly. And we are told we will have to give an account for every careless word. Therefore, a word should be few. And so, always pray for your pastor, especially those who preach, those who teach. Their giftedness and their sin lie very close at hand.

[15:52] And it's so easy to use this ministry in a selfish way. And that is what's happening there. That's why Grant will look at this next time, talking about bitter envy and selfish ambition. He's speaking you primarily to them. But it's not just teachers. It's not just teachers that fall under the pressure to speak in a way that is hurtful. So, fifthly, he talks about a whole life is controlled by a small tongue. Not just a teacher's life, but our whole life. Verse two, we all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault, and what they say is perfect, able to keep his whole body in check. And he talks about the tongue, verse six, it corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire.

[16:42] Now, remember, this is James' whole point in writing this letter, that we might be complete and perfect or mature, lacking nothing. It's always his desire. It's God's desire.

[16:53] Be perfect because I am perfect. Your heavenly Father, Jesus says, is perfect. That is the standard when we become a Christian. Not only are we forgiven, but we are to be perfect. We are to live as he lived. And James' whole point, so he's almost bringing you right back to his main thing about perfection, being mature, the whole point, the complete Christian, lacking nothing. He's saying, your tongue is the secret to this. That is the silver bullet. How is your tongue? That will determine how you develop. Our tongue is our character. It's who we are. And answering the question, what is man? It's a good kind of technical question. What is man? The answer is being given, man is a speaking animal. It's what separates us from all the other animals. But we say we're like monkeys. Because a monkey can put a square peg in a square hole, we must have descended from monkeys, really. But we speak, we can speak, we can communicate through verbal things. Here's a commentary.

[18:05] Among the species, man stands alone in commanding the power to use words, to communicate ideas, to express personality, and to enter into dialogue. The power of the tongue is a distinctive feature of our race and carries with it all manners of effects, good and ill alike. The tongue is what makes us different from every other creature. It's powerful. It can create. It can destroy. It can encourage.

[18:35] It can discourage. It can soothe. Or it can scold. What we say says everything about us more than who we are commenting on or the situation that we're speaking into. It tells people about our love, our fears, our beliefs, who we are, what we are like. It reveals our heart. I mentioned this the last time when I looked at the end of James chapter 1. Jesus said this about our tongues. A good man brings good things out of the good stored in his heart. An evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in his heart for what the mouth speaks, sorry, for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

[19:24] Jesus says, you want to know a good man? He has a good heart. How will you know if he has a good heart? Listen to how he speaks. Because we will speak what our heart is full of. If we are a critical, negative person, judgmental, cruel, vindictive, that will come out in the things we say. If that's in our heart, it will come out. We cannot deceive others in this. It is who we are. If you want to know what somebody is like. I think I said, I think I quoted my father-in-law last time I was here, he was unconverted and he's saying was, better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. And that's to say, if you didn't know anybody and they wandered in here and they hadn't spoken, you don't know if they're loving, kind, gracious, critical, judgmental, whatever, just the nicest person or somebody that you best avoided. And until they speak, if they start to just slag folk off, do this, critical, then you just think, whoa, you just put them in a pigeonhole.

[20:31] That's who you are. That's what you're like. Because we speak what our heart is full of. It's as plain as that. So James, first of all then, wants to emphasize the power of the tongue. The power of the tongue shapes our whole life. It forms who we are. It forms people's opinion of who we are, not because of our giftedness in certain areas, but simply because of how we speak. It describes others what we're like. Secondly, it's powerful. Secondly, he goes on to describe its nature.

[21:02] So I've called this the described tongue. Really, I should have called the tongue's power and the tongue's nature. He's like a mechanic. My daughter's car broke down yesterday.

[21:13] He's like a mechanic who just lifts the bonnet of the car and goes, there's your problem. It's this tongue. It's this wee bit of flesh in your mouth that's flapping about. That is the main problem with humanity. It's not your back, your knees, your joints, or whatever. If there's one thing that mankind has problem with, it's this wee bit of flesh. I can't remember how many ounces it is.

[21:37] It just flaps about in your mouth. And how you use that will shape your life. It's who you are. And he uses five very strong pictures here. It's untameable, he says. It's not only powerful, but it can actually be tamed, he says. We can do. We can tame, and we have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile, sea creature. Verse 8, no human being can tame the tongue. And many of us are like this, isn't we? Sometimes you meet people, I've met folk, and maybe I've done this myself, but I remember well-known pastors. I remember one particularly, and I remember being in one church.

[22:19] Whatever came into their mind immediately came out their mouth. There was no restrictor, there's no filter to say, boom, this is what it is. Maybe I should think, take a wee well before I respond, instead of, I've just heard this, boom, this is coming straight out. Just a complete channel, free channel from here to here. And untameable, no control whatsoever. And it's the saddest thing.

[22:46] And it's not just a tongue, isn't it? We're not just talking about, you can do as much damage on WhatsApp and an email and a text. It's what we say. It's to do with communication. How do we communicate? It doesn't mean, well, I never said it, but I said it in an email, so that's okay. I just got it off my chest, and so forth. And it shouldn't be. It's so, it's untameable. And sad to say, and this is what James is basically saying, if you muzzle American bulldogs, is that right? Those things that you just had to, they always had to have a muzzle. He's basically saying, Christians really need a muzzle. It's untameable. You just left to yourself. We need this thing just to stop us biting and devouring each other. Now look at the other words he uses. These are his words, they're not my words.

[23:37] There are restless evil, verse 8. Verse 6, he's already mentioned it. The tongue is a fire, a world of evil. It's restless. It's always ready to break out in ways that are evil, a world of evil.

[23:52] And he expands on this. In the next description, it's like a fire. He's speaking about the damage now that a tongue can do. A wee spark damages a whole fire. So, a careless word can bring great damage to people. It can damage our own life. As I said, it corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of our life on fire, and how we use it affects how others view us, what doors might be open to us. I remember reading years ago, the most employable people in the country were people who lived in the southeast of England, because it said they never spoke with an accent. They were accentless.

[24:36] You go to Manchester or Newcastle or Geordie's or Glaswegians, folk from Scotland, we have an accent. You just hear us for two minutes, you go, whoa, I know where you're from. But you know where these folk came from, because they didn't have an accent. That's what they said. And that's the way of it, isn't it? We might, whatever we say reveals our heart and who we are and what we're like as people.

[25:02] We damage our own lives. We set our own life on a particular course. Folk avoid us. We get a reputation. Oh, they're a wee bit like that. It is their personality. You can say, yes, it's just them.

[25:20] Yes, because it's come from here. And they speak what's in their heart. It reveals who they're like. And this fire also causes damage to others, to people, to situations. Damage left, burned by the words of others. Can I just say, I feel I have to say this, often without love, without grace, or desire for understanding. Maybe there's a reason why you said that, and I would like to know. But sad to say, I must confess, I love, when I was in England, I missed, I missed the Scots. You become more patriotic when you leave. You listen to Jimmy Shand records that you hated when you live here, and stuff like that. But when you go back there, suddenly you like Thistles and anything to do with Scotland. It's a bit like that. And I remember saying in London, when the revolution starts, it's not going to start down here. Because they really didn't care. And I thought, give me the Scots. We're fiery. Here we go. We're up for the cause. It's our strength. But it's also our weakness. And because we're so zealous and so keen, woe betide, end day, that gets in the way of what we feel should be done or said, and boom, you get both barrels. I've been reminded of that since I've come back, I must confess, six times I've been dragged over the coals or something in less than a year, 12 years in England. Not once. Once. One year. We need to hear this though, brothers and sisters.

[26:57] I had this conversation with a big church pastor in Glasgow, and he just said, look, it's just a Glasgow thing. I said, but the gospel changes you. You don't get away with it because, well, I'm just a Glaswegian. I can say whatever I want, any way that I want to say. Really? What Bible are you reading? And we need to realize this especially. It's great. One of the things I've enjoyed coming back to Scotland for is I see people from other parts of the world here. Uganda, Nigeria, more than I had before. If you're not born here, we have a way of speaking that can easily offend Scottish banter. I've had to dispel all of that in England. If somebody does something, you say, what are you like? You're a balloon. You're a dumpling. Now, if you say that to somebody in England, they don't get the whole, yeah, what am I like? I'm a wee cheeky monkey. They just go, really? Who are you saying that to? Different ways of communicating. We need to be aware of that in Scotland, that people don't get our sense of humor, our wacky banter and just slagging each other off. We need to be aware of that, especially in the churches, the way we speak to each other. Fire. Where does this fire come from?

[28:12] James says something very powerful. How is it fueled? He says, it sets the whole course of one's life on fire, verse 6, and is itself set on fire by hell. Kent Hughes in his commentary says this, the uncontrolled tongue has a direct pipeline from hell. And you can't get any more serious than that. In other words, we speak probably the way demons would speak, the way the devil would speak, cutting, hurting folk, and doing so. And it's so wrong. Sinful speeches of the devil fueled from hell. You remember, according to Genesis 3, after the fall in the Garden of Eden, the next sin was the sin of speech.

[28:58] It's amazing how it's so close. The man said to God, the woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit and I ate it. In other words, it wasn't my fault. It was your fault, God. You gave me the woman. If you hadn't given me this woman, I wouldn't have eaten the fruit.

[29:18] It's amazing right at the very beginning, but after they eat the fruit, it's the sin of speech. He was as well just to say nothing. It would have been better if he said nothing. And it's amazing how our tongue gets us into all sorts of bother. It is humanity's basic sin.

[29:36] Isaiah knew this. Woe to me, I cried. I am ruined. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. That is your definition, and it's mine.

[29:50] I'm a man of unclean lips, and so are you. And at times, we don't always speak in ways that we should. It's a deadly poison. It kills, he says. It can kill relationships, situations, people.

[30:06] But he says it's inconsistent. The tongue we praise our Father in heaven, we curse human beings who are made in God's likeness. And that is what he really wants to emphasize here. So lastly, the transformed tongue, he says, this should not be. That is what he said. He couldn't have made it.

[30:29] James speaks very plainly. Out of the same mouth, verse 10, come praising and cursing, my brothers and sisters, this should not be. So he's not just talking about the church leaders here.

[30:40] He's talking about everyone. It shouldn't be. It seems a strange thing to say. Why would he say this shouldn't be? Because he's just after saying, it can't be tamed. This is a wild beast. It just goes bonkers. How can you tame? It can't be tamed, so it shouldn't be. He's basically saying, you remember his whole point is this. Look at verse 8, no human being can tame the tongue. We often just read over that. But God can tame the tongue. The Holy Spirit can tame the tongue. James says this, remember verse 18, he chose to give us birth that we might be a kind of first fruits. We are new creatures with a new heart, a new mind, and a new will, a new source of life. Our old life in some ways is passed away.

[31:29] 1 Corinthians 6, that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God. In other words, the Holy Spirit has come to us. We now have new life, not just to believe the right things, but to behave in a particular way. To be justified, but also to be sanctified, and being sanctified. And that's why he says this should not be. That's why in verse 10, 11, and 12, he has this rhetorical question.

[32:07] The answer to this is obviously no. It shouldn't be. It is unnatural for this to happen. You remember when God created the world, there was a principle in creation that he put in right at the very beginning, in the plant kingdom, and just in any creation that he made. He said this in Genesis 1 verse 11, God said, let the land produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. The land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit according to their kinds.

[32:48] And God saw that it was good. In other words, God has planted a seed in us. What is that seed? That seed is his very divine nature. It is the Holy Spirit. So we are to be a kind of first fruits.

[33:03] The fruits that we are to show are to be holy fruits, according to his kind. So we are to resemble him. It is as big as that. And that's why he says it shouldn't be. You are different. God's life, the Holy Spirit, has come into each one of us. And the very implications of this, you remember in the end of chapter 1, he talks about keeping a tight rein in our tongue. The implication there is we can keep a tight rein in our tongue. No human being can do it, but the Holy Spirit within us can help us to do this as we grow in sanctification, holiness, and so forth. It's to do with the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can keep a tight rein on our tongue. You remember the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruits, singular, plural, I mean, singular. It is one. You don't get one without the other. You get the whole lot together. And the acts of the flesh, Paul says in Galatians, are hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions. And he says, those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, it's probably a sign that you are not, the seed of God has not been planted in you. But the fruit of the Spirit is this, and it's love. It is joy. It is peace. It is forbearance. It is kindness. It is goodness. It is faithfulness, gentleness, and what's the last one? Self-control. It is self-control. It's somebody who doesn't just hear it and go, boom,

[34:49] I'm just saying it. I just need to say it. No control. They might as well say, I am kindly minded. This is just how I speak. No self-control, no love, grace, mercy, none of these things.

[35:02] I wonder if you think of your own speech, if I think of my speech, would the fruits of the Spirit be used to describe you? They're loving. They're peace-seeking. They are kind. They are gracious.

[35:17] It should be. That's what James is saying. Your life should resemble the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5, those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

[35:34] Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Therein lies the problem. Even as Christians, we can quench the Spirit. We can grieve the Spirit. We cannot walk in step with the Spirit. We can choose not to live by the Spirit. And that is why we speak and act as we do.

[35:55] It should not be. We are to live by the Spirit, walk in step with the Spirit. When we do this, the fruit of the Spirit, gentleness, self-control, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, all these things will be our life. That is what will be in our heart. That is what we will speak.

[36:17] I want to just finish by doing something practical. I'd never came across this wee thing until I went to Derbyshire. Think before you speak. You probably know this. Think before you speak. T, ask yourself, is it true? Is what you're saying true about the situation? Is it half true? Is it your version of the truth? Well, I'm just saying this because I think that. Is it true? Is it 100% true that allows you to speak in that particular way? H, is it helpful? Is it actually helping the situation?

[36:52] Or is it just making it worse? Making you feel better, but you really don't care if the other person has sleepless nights are there in bits. Is it helpful what you're doing? Aye. Is it inspirational? Will it produce something good in this other person or just make them feel like dirt and make them feel useless and worthless and you've just left them? Hand grenade, boom, I'm away.

[37:18] Just to, are you just correcting people? That's a Scottish trait. We just think it's good if we correct people. It's not what it's about. It's about winning people. It's about receiving their love and you're giving your love to them. Is it inspirational? Is it going to make this person better? Is it necessary? Do you really have to do it? Do you really have to say the thing that you're going to say or is it just for you? It's necessary for you, but it's not necessary for the other person.

[37:52] And lastly, what do you think the last one is? Kind. Is it kind? Is it kind? Are you, and how many of us, when we've confronted somebody, could tick all those boxes and say, yep, that was why I spoke, because I was thinking before I spoke. This is such a big, big topic. It's, if our life would be perfect, it's this wee tiny member. And it's not our legs coming to the meetings, it's not our voice singing. It's consistency with us. Being, having a life that's filled by the Spirit that shows itself in our tongues. May the Lord really help us to do this in this church, in the churches in Scotland, amongst God's people. Yes, Jesus, He knows me and He knows I'm right. And we're talking to Jesus all over life, but are we living the life? Is everything that we profess really true? Come to Jesus. Be forgiven. Come for a transformed life when our lives are not transformed enough, because we've quenched the Spirit. May the Lord help us to walk in step with the Spirit. We're going to sing, I keep thinking a lady die every time I think of this song, because I think it was sung at her funeral, make me a channel of your peace. Is that right? I think we did the song at her funeral, make me a channel of your peace. Let's use this as our prayer as we stand and close this.