Introduction
Take your Bibles now, and turn to James chapter 1—the Book of James. Now, you may know, and you should know, that we're preaching through the Book of James Sunday morning and Sunday evenings. And so, tonight we're going to be talking about welcoming the Word—how to receive the Word of God—how to read the Bible and get something out of it for your life. And, it’ll be very important that you be here tonight.
But, this morning I want us to look in James chapter 1, verses 19 and 20—James 1, verses 19 and 20: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:19–20). I want to speak to you today on this subject: “Tune In, Tone Down, and Sweeten Up.” This is God’s plan for born-again Christians.
Now, I read verses 19 and 20, but verse 18 speaks of the new birth: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). And, verse 18 speaks of the wonderful new birth that I have experienced, and every true Christian has experienced, and I trust that you have experienced. We're hearing a lot today about the new birth. And, a lot of people are talking about being born again, however, who have not been born again. And, one of the ways that you can tell they have not been born again is there’s been no change whatsoever in the way they live.
Now, let me tell you something, friend: if you’ve had a new birth, there’s going to be some new behavior. Just write it down: “If any man be in Christ [Jesus], he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). And, if your religion hasn't changed your life, you’d better change your religion, because you don’t have the Bible kind.
And so, in verse 18, James speaks of the new birth. And then, beginning in verse 19, he speaks of the new behavior.
Some men were standing around talking about different translations of the Bible, and some were talking about the Revised Standard Version, others talking about the King James Version, others talking about the New English Bible, others were talking about the Amplified Version. One man said, “I like my mother’s translation best.” And, they said, “Oh, we didn’t know that your mother was a scholar. How did she translate the Bible?” And, he said, “My mother translated the Bible into daily living.” Amen? That’s the translation I think we all need—to translate what we know into life.
And so, James talks about three very pertinent areas of our behavior. And, I want you to notice these three areas of instruction that James gives to us, because we have been born again. Look again in verse 19: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,”—that is, “tune in”—“slow to speak,”—that is, “tone down,” and— “slow to wrath” (James 1:19)—that is, “sweeten up.”
I. Tune into What God is Saying
Now, let’s notice the first of these: “Be swift to hear”; tune in to what God is saying to you. Some people don't have their ears on. They have ears, but they don’t hear. Jesus spoke of those who had ears, but they hear not (Mark 8:18).
Now, the Bible says we are to “be swift to hear”—that is, be ready to receive the things that God has for us. Now, the Bible doesn’t teach that we're to hear everything there is to hear. There are some things we ought not to hear. Mark chapter 1 and verse 24 says, “Take heed what ye hear” (Mark 4:24). And, you don’t need to be listening to everything that comes along. You don’t have to listen to every scrap of gossip, let people use your ears for garbage cans. You don’t have to listen to every philosophy that comes along in all of these things. No, no, no, no. Jesus said, “Be careful what you hear.”
But, James says, “Be swift to hear” (James 1:19). And, what is James talking about? He is saying be swift to hear the impulses of the Spirit. Be swift to hear the Word of God. Hear what God is speaking to you. Are you ready to listen to God this morning? The problem with so many of us is that we’re not listening. It is not that God is not speaking. God is speaking. But, our problem is that we don’t listen.
A. God Speaks Through the Bible
I want to mention three ways this morning that God wants to speak to you. One way that God speaks is through the Scriptures, through the Bible. Do you know this book? Do you read this book? Do you study this book? Do you pray over this book? Do you love this book? If not, why not? You claim to be a Christian. This is God’s Word to you. You’re saying, “O God, speak to me.” Well, God will speak to you, if you will open this book and pray over it, and read it, and say, “O Lord, incline mine ear to Thy testimonies.” This Bible is the Word of God as much as though Jesus Christ Himself were standing here in the flesh speaking to you. This book is the Word of God. Do you know it? Do you hear it? Do you receive it? So many people read the Bible, and they get nothing from it, because they’re not listening what God is saying.
Let me give you five little things to put down in the flyleaf of your Bible, or somewhere, to help you when you study a passage of Scripture—five little questions to ask yourself—very simple. Number one is—you read any passage of Scripture—ask yourself this question: Is there a lesson to learn? As you read it—you read a chapter or a few verses—you say, “Is there a lesson to learn?” Number two, ask yourself this question: Is there a blessing to enjoy? Oh, dear friend, this book is full of blessings. And, you can just sit back and roll them around on your tongue, and meditate in your heart, and enjoy those blessings. Number three: Is there a command to obey? Number four: Is there a sin to avoid? Number five: Is there a new truth to carry with me? And, just as you read—as you read a passage of Scripture, keep asking yourself those questions over and over again, so that the Word of God will get off of the page and into your heart.
B. God Speaks Through the Sermon
One way that God will speak to you is through the Scripture. Another way that God will speak to you is through the sermon—through the sermon. You see, God calls his preachers to preach. The Bible says, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). And, I’m not being vain or egotistical when I tell you that I know that God has empowered me to preach. If not, I would have no business being here. And, I can say with the prophet Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, [for] the LORD hath anointed me to preach” (Isaiah 61:1).
And, God holds me responsible for what I preach. And, the Bible tells us to be very careful the way we preach: “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). And, it is incumbent upon me that I be prayerfully prepared to come and stand in this sacred place. But, it is also just as incumbent upon you, when you come to church on Sunday morning, that you be prepared to listen. And, I have as much right to expect you to be prepared, as you have to expect me to be prepared. Amen?
You know, sometimes people can sit in church and look straight at the preacher, with eyes wide open, and figure up a business deal, or what they’re going to have for Sunday dinner, or what they’re going to wear this evening, or who’s going to win the tennis match; and, they can be figuring those things, and looking straight at you as though they’re paying attention. And, sometimes, they don’t even look at you. They close their eyes. You know, they call it meditation—meditation.
One man said to his pastor—trying to impress the pastor—he said, “Pastor, could you give me a little prayer that I might pray upon entering the sanctuary?” The pastor said, “May I suggest, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.’”
Let me tell you something, friend. You will learn something this morning, if you'll take a notebook, and take some notes, and take an open Bible, and use your Bible in this service. You will learn some things. You ought to carry some things away with you, when you come to church.
I’m not the best preacher in the world, and I’m well aware of that. I want to tell you something, though. While there are others who may be able to preach the gospel better than I, no one can preach a better gospel than I, because there is but one. And, as I’ve said before, God will hold you responsible for what you hear this morning. As a matter of fact, God will even hold you responsible for what you would have heard, had you listened.
C. God Speaks Through the Spirit
Now, God speaks through the Scriptures. And, God speaks through the sermon. And, God speaks through the Spirit—through the Spirit. Again, the Bible says, concerning the Holy Spirit, “He that hath [ears] to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the [church]” (Revelation 3:6). That’s another way that God speaks. And, may I tell you that it is easier to hear God speaking in the Bible, and it is easier to hear God speaking from the pulpit, than it is to hear God speaking with his Spirit to our spirit.
Many of us have not learned to get quiet and let God speak to us in those quiet times, those times of meditation. The devil aims his heaviest artillery at that quiet place where you get alone with the Lord. How many of you have a quiet time—a time where you get alone and not say, “Listen, Lord; thy servant speaketh,” but, “Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth” (1 Samuel 3:9)—to be quiet before the Lord.
The Bible says, “In quietness and in confidence…” (Isaiah 30:15), “possess ye your souls” (Luke 21:19); “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). And, the reason that God doesn’t speak to some of us is that, when we come to that time when we’re to have fellowship with God, we do all of the talking.
Do you like to hold a conversation with someone who does all of the talking? Somebody said, “An egotist is somebody that talks himself so much that you can’t talk about yourself.” Many of us are egotists when we come to prayer, rather than listening to God and being quiet.
You know, that’s the reason many of us always want some noise going on. Have you ever noticed a teenager going down a road with a transistor radio held up to his ear? Now, they even make them like earmuffs—you’ve got one over each ear. So, go down the road always with this din, this racket, coming on. Some people, immediately, they come in the house, flick on the television. Someone’s got to have some noise, something going on. They cannot bear to be quiet and alone with God. No wonder God has such a problem breaking through and speaking to the spirit.
We just got back from Israel, and our guide was saying, “You see those shepherds out there on the field? Just like they used to be 2,000 years ago, but with one exception”; he said, “They used to carry a flute with them; now, they have a transistor radio”—I'm afraid, if David had a transistor radio, we might not have had the 23rd psalm.
“Be still, and know that I am the Lord.” Be ready to listen. Can God get your attention? Do you know what the word amuse means? It means, “not to think”—a meaning, “no”; muse meaning, “to think”— amuse. Most of us are amusing ourselves out of fellowship with God, because we do not allow God to speak to us, because we don’t want to stop and think. You see, we’re hearing so much that we can’t hear. We have ears, but we hear not.
All right, so James, number one, says that a part of our new behavior that issues out of our new birth is that we are to tune in—tune in—to God. “Be swift to hear.”
II. Tone Ourselves Down
But, number two, not only should we be swift to hear; we need to be slow to speak. Again, this is what James says in verse 19: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak” (James 1:19). Not only do we need to tune in; we need to tone down. The plain, unvarnished truth is that most of us talk too much. Many things are opened by mistake, but none so frequently as the mouth. And, James says, “Don’t talk as much as you are accustomed to talking.”
Now, by this verse, verse 19, jot these verses in the margin, would you please. Proverbs chapter 10, verse 19: “In the multitude of words there [lacketh] not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19)—“In the multitude of words there [lacketh] not sin.” The more you talk, the more mathematical probability there is that you’re going to sin with your lips. “In the multitude of words there [lacketh] not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.”
Then, jot this verse down—Proverbs chapter 21, verse 23: “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23). Do you want to stay out of trouble? Keep your mouth shut. That’s what the Word of God says. Many of us talk ourselves into trouble. He that “keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” Listen to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and verse 3—and jot this reference down: “For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words” (Ecclesiastes 5:3). The more a person talks, the more he sometimes proclaims the foolishness of his heart. Somebody has well said that it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. A fool’s voice is known by the multitude of his words. James says, “Be slow to speak.” Speech may be silver, but often, silence is golden.
Now, the rabbis used to say that man has two ears and one mouth. The ears are made always to be open; the mouth is made where it can be closed; and, the tongue is enclosed in a den behind ivory bars, the teeth. And, what they meant by that is this: that we’re supposed to be listening twice as much as we’re to be speaking. But, most of us have gone just the other route.
Jesus warned against speaking idle words. I want you to listen to what Jesus Christ said in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 16—Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees, said: “But
I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). Did you hear that? “Every idle word that men shall speak, [they'll] give account thereof in the day of judgment.” This has frightened some people, because they’ve thought that they could not be talking, unless they’re talking in a serious thing. And, they’re afraid to have any kind of a conversation. They’re afraid of any humor. They’re afraid of any lightheartedness. They’re afraid of any jesting. That’s not what this is talking about. That’s not what this is talking about. Jesus here is not talking against pleasant conversation, even humor. This word idle means non-productive—an idle word.
In this same Book of James, James says, in chapter 2 and verse 20: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). And, that word dead is the same word in the Greek as the word idle. “Faith without works is idle.” What does that mean? It is non-productive. It doesn’t contribute anything. It is hurtful, rather than helpful. And, what Jesus is saying is that any word that you speak that doesn’t build up, that doesn’t edify, that doesn’t help—but words that are non-productive words, words that are destructive words— you’re going to have to give an account in the day of judgment. Certainly humor can be productive. It can refresh. It can relax. Sometimes it can instruct. And, Jesus, on occasions, used humor.
I’m sure, when Jesus spoke of those who “gagged at a gnat and swallowed a camel” (Matthew 23:24), that broke them up in the aisles. He was talking about how ridiculous some people are in their pretenses.
Someone asked Charles Haddon Spurgeon one time—one of the greatest preachers who ever lived—“Mr. Spurgeon, why do you use humor in your messages, sometimes?” Spurgeon, with his wit, said, “I tickle my oyster until he opens the shell, and then I stick the knife in.”
Humor can be used to disarm and refresh, and it can be, sometimes, profitable. But, there’s “jesting, which is not convenient” (Ephesians 5:4). And, God didn’t call us to be a bunch of back-slapping, joke-cracking, sanctified morons, sometimes talking about holy things, with callous and profane hands. No, no. “Every idle word that a man speaks shall he give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.” And, what Jesus was talking about when he said that—if you will read the Scripture here in this particular chapter of Matthew, the Pharisees had just accused Jesus Christ of casting out devils by the prince of devils, and it was then that Jesus gave this warning. Jesus was not warning against a wise word spoken playfully, but He was warning against a foolish word spoken seriously, when they made this accusation. And, He said, “This is an idle word, a non-productive word,” and He warned them very seriously.
How much harm is done by foolish talking? How many homes are broken? How many innocent people are sent to prison? How many hearts are crushed? How many families are divided? How many churches are split? How many souls are lost because people have not learned to set a guard at their mouth? Watch the words of your mouth. One of the marks that a man has been born again is that his tongue is now controlled. You see, when we’re talking, we can’t be listening. And so, the same Bible that says, “Be ready to hear,” says, “Be slow to speak.”
You see, the two are mutually incompatible:
A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird? (Author Unknown)
A wise owl indeed, because he learned to listen.
Most of us would be amazed, if we just knew how much we rattle on. Most of us would be amazed, if somebody were to follow us around with a tape recorder, and tape everything we say in entire day, and then reduce it to print, and make us read it back at the end of the day. And,
If all that we say
In a single day,
With never a word left out, Were printed each night
In clear black and white
T’would make [strange] reading no doubt. And then just suppose
Ere one's eyes he could close
He must read the day’s record through; Then wouldn’t one sigh,
And wouldn't he try
A great deal less talking to do? And I more than half think
That many a kink
Would be smoothed in life’s tangled thread
If one-half that we say
In a single day
Were just left forever unsaid. (Author Unknown)
And, we need to pray the prayer in Psalm 141 and verse 3: “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Psalms 141:3). And, if you want to put it a little more succinctly—“Look before you lip.” “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.”
III. Sweeten Ourselves Up
And so, what is James saying? That the marks of a new Christian are—a new man, a man who has been born again—well, there are many of them. But, among them is, he’s going to be swift to hear. Number two: he's going to be slow to speak. And, number three: he is going to be slow to wrath. Not only is he going to tune in, and tone down; he’s going to sweeten up. And, sweetening up will be the sum total of these other two things.
When a man starts listening more and talking less, it affects his temper, and he learns to control his heart, because, when his thought life is controlled, and his tongue is controlled, then his temper is controlled. Thoughts, tongue, temper—here it comes, right on down the pipe.
And so, James says, “Be…slow to wrath” (James 1:19). Now, the Amplified Version says, “Be slow to take offense and get angry.” Some of the boys and girls may not know what the word wrath means. But, it means, be slow to “lose your temper,” or, be slow to “get angry.” Now, you should never lose your temper. As a matter of fact, you don’t lose it; what you probably do is find it.
But, you see, the Bible doesn’t say, “Never be angry.” I want to make that crystal clear. The Bible does not say, “Never have wrath; never be angry.” The Bible doesn’t say that. To the contrary, the Bible says, in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 26: “Be ye angry, and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). It is wrong when your anger becomes sin—and, it easily can.
Jesus got angry, and Jesus was without sin. Some people never think of Jesus Christ as ever getting angry. They think of Jesus Christ as some sort of a man who wasn’t truly a man at all. They think of him as though He’s some sort of a heavenly IBM machine with milk for blood. But, Jesus did get angry. Mark chapter 3 and verse 5— read this verse: “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other” (Mark 3:5). Jesus did get angry, and what made Jesus Christ angry was hard hearts in the face of human hurts; and, it made Jesus Christ angry.
And, there's something wrong with you, if some things don't make you angry. But, oh, how you need to be careful, for the Bible says, “Be angry, and sin not.” And, James says, “Be…slow to wrath.” Because, it is so easy for you—so easy—to let the line disappear between righteous indignation and personal irritation.
A. Be Angry for the Right Reason
And, oh, we’re such creatures to rationalize. We call our vile tempers righteous indignation. Let me tell you how you can be good and mad—mad and good at the same time. All right, good and mad—good and mad. Make certain these three things are present. Number one: make certain that you’re angry for the right reason—the right reason. You see, most of us get angry, when our toes are stepped on, when our rights are taken away, when somebody offends us, and somebody gets our parking place, to be more specific. Then, we get angry, you see.
Now, you read the record through, and while the Bible speaks of Jesus being moved with anger, you will never find one angry word spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ at any time when He was personally mistreated; not an angry word when they nailed Him to the cross. But, rather, He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Most of our anger is when somebody has wronged us. Jesus got angry when somebody else was being hurt. You make certain that, if you have anger, it’s righteous anger, and that it is for the right reason.
B. Be Angry at the Right Thing
Number two: that you’re angry at the right thing—at the right thing. Now, Jesus did not get angry with individuals. He got angry with institutions, and forms, and sins, but not with individuals. He loved the individual. You see, dear friend, you can be angry with the wrong done, but not with the wrongdoer. Most of us get angry at the wrongdoer. We get angry at people. Jesus did not. Jesus loved people. And, while Jesus was moved with anger and hard hearts, and while Jesus burned, sometimes, with the zeal of his Father’s house (John 2:17), yet the Lord Jesus was kind, and compassionate, and tender. And, though they were sinners, Jesus was the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19).
And, I want to say something to you preacher boys here. I hope that all of your ministry you’ll preach against liquor, with every ounce, and every inch, and every nerve, and every fiber. But, if you can’t do it and love the bartender, you’d better keep your mouth shut. You preach against pornography, but you learn to love the pornographer. You can preach against homosexuality, but you’d better love the homosexual. “Be angry, and sin not.” Not against persons.
Jesus Christ became angry, but His anger was for the right reasons—at the right things. And then, His anger, dear friend, was in the right way. He let His anger make Him a part of the solution, not a greater part of the problem. And, dear friend, when you lose your temper, you’re not a part of the solution; you’re part of the problem. And, “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). When it’s God’s anger, when it’s a righteous anger, then the righteousness of God is going to be worked. And, you’d better learn that, when you raise your voice, you’d also better lift your hands to do something about the situation. It doesn’t take a lot of size to criticize—anybody can do that.
1. Anger Shows a Foolish Mind
And so there, the Bible doesn’t say, “Be never angry,” but it says “Be…slow to wrath,” be very careful; because, you see, there are few forms of dissipation that will hurt your testimony, and kill your influence, and reveal your character, more than your anger, and your quick temper. Do you want me to tell you what the Bible says your temper proves about you? If you’re one that has a short fuse, if you’re one of these persons always flying off the handle, number one, it shows that you’ve got a foolish mind. Listen to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 9—Ecclesiastes 7, verse 9: “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9)—“anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” Now, don’t come around here with your vaunted intellectual superiority, for the Bible says that, if you’re given to anger, you, sir, are foolish.
2. Anger Shows a Poor Character
But, not only does it show something about your mind, it also shows something about your character. Listen to Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 32: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Some people think that anger, a temper—a violent temper—is a sign of strength. Some of you men are bullies in your house. And, you go throwing things around, slapping the kids around, driving like a maniac down the highway when somebody does something, and you think that’s a sign of your strength. It’s a sign of your babyhood. You’re like a little baby, throwing a temper tantrum.
Listen to what the Bible says: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” And, I’ll tell you something else about anger: When you get angry, you lose control, and you open the door to all kinds of other sins that you would not normally commit. You say things that you ought not to say. You do things that you ought not to do.
Listen to Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 22: “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression” (Proverbs 29:22). You just get furious, brother, and your sins are going to multiply, just like that. Things will happen, things will be said that you would give a thousand worlds if you could take back. But, you lose your mind; you lose your control. Listen to that verse again, “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” Not only does he transgress; he just abounds in it. Somebody said that anger is a stone thrown into a wasp’s nest. That’s what it is, and you just stir up all kinds of transgressions.
Now, how are you going to deal with this anger? Let me tell you one thing, mister, and dear lady. You had better start treating it as it is—a sin. You know, you’d be surprised—some people are actually proud of their temper. They really are. They say, “Well, we’ve got red hair in our family. And, I’m just a redhead. Redheads get angry.” I’m looking at a few of them. Is that true? Others say, “You know, well, I just get it from my dad. I’ve got my dad’s temper.” Yeah, you’re of your father—the devil. “Oh,” you say, “well, it just lasts a little while.” Well, when a man with a hair-trigger blazes away with a shotgun, that just lasts a little while, too. But, somebody else has to go in there and pick up the pieces, you see.
We try to explain it away. We try to minimize it. We try to make jokes about it, like it’s funny. But, I want to tell you—it is not weakness; it is wickedness. And, until you start treating that temper as what it is—a vile temper—you want me to tell you why those things spew out of you? Because they’re in you. If you want to see what you’re made out of, if you want to see what you’re full of, you see what spills out of you when you’re jostled. And, if you’re full of anger, when you’re jostled, anger will spill out. If you’re full of Jesus, Jesus will spill out. You cannot judge a person by his actions, because he can plan his actions. You watch his reactions—the things he has not planned—and you’ll know what that man is full of. And, the only way, ladies and gentlemen, to control your temper is to have a heart full of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But, along with that, James gives—James is so intensely practical—James gives some advice now. And, I want you to notice the chain here. First of all, tune it. Secondly, tone down. Thirdly, sweeten up. You see, when I begin to listen, and when I stop talking so much, then I learn to control my temper, because my thoughts and my words have a way of stirring up my spirit. Did you know that you can stir yourself up by your own words? Did you know that, if you verbalize things—the right things—you’ll feel right.
And, if you verbalize the wrong things, you’ll feel wrong. And, many of you, when you tend to get in an argument with your husband and your wife, if you’ll just watch your words, you’ll be surprised how your words will control your spirit. You say, “I thought my spirit made my words.” Well, many times we talk even before we think, but after we’ve said certain things, then we tend to live by those things. You see, the Bible says, “Grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:1: “Grievous words stir up anger.” So, when you listen more, and when you talk less, you’re going to find out that your spirit is more controlled.
A careless word may kindle strife;
A cruel word may wreck a life.
A bitter word may hate instill;
A brutal word may smite and kill.
A gracious word may smooth the way;
A joyous word may light the day.
A timely word may lessen stress.
A loving word may heal and bless. (Author Unknown)
And, all of this is possible because we have been born again. It’s all possible through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Now, listen, folks. Tune in right now and listen to me. Jesus Christ did not come to make us nice people. He came to make us new creatures. And, I’m not just giving you a lecture on manners this morning. These things that James is talking about, these are the fruits of being born again.
Have you been born again? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior? You might as well try to control gunpowder in Hell as to try to control your temper without Jesus Christ, or to control your tongue without Jesus Christ, or to control your thoughts without Jesus Christ.
First of all, you need a new nature; you need to be born again. I want to tell you that God loves you today, and God has a wonderful plan for your life. And, Jesus Christ is knocking at your heart’s door. Jesus Christ wants to come into you and change your life.
Years ago, on the Passaic River, in New Jersey, there was a railroad trestle bridge, and that bridge had to be opened to let the ships pass through. There was a man there who had a very important job. He would sit at the control—the giant levers—and he would pull these, and push them, and make the huge gears turn. And, this bridge would swing on its hinges to let the ships go through. And then, he would have to move the bridge back very quickly for the passenger train to come through.
On a particular occasion, he had his eight-year-old son there with him. And, the son had come to watch his daddy work, and the son was standing out there near the river, and near the giant works there in the great gears. And, this father had opened the bridge to let a ship through, and then he had to close it quickly because a passenger train was coming. But, as he was in the business of closing the bridge, his son fell into the swift moving waters of that river. And, he cried, “Daddy! Daddy! Help me, Daddy!” And, the daddy, knowing that he could not possibly leave those controls—if he did, the train would plunge into the abyss, and plunge into the river, the father had to make a decision. And there, doing as he felt God would have him do, he stayed at the controls, and closed the bridge, while his son disappeared in the murky waters.
Later, of course, he was unable to find the boy—the boy was gone and drowned. And, when I heard that story, I thought about it, and I thought, “How many of those people who went by in that train saw the bridge-tender, and waved at him, and never realized the price that he paid for them?”
I hope today you’ll not just give God a smile and a wave. I want you to know that He put His darling Son on the cross that you might go to Heaven. I want you to know that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). And, I want you to know that God loves you. Listen to me now—listen. God loves you. God wants to save you. God brought you here this morning to hear it, and God brought me here today to tell it. And, if you will receive Jesus Christ, He will forgive your sins; He will come into your heart, and give you a new nature. And, one day, He’ll take you to Heaven to be with Him.
