James 3:1-12 (Teaching)

[0:00] We'll be back in the book of James this morning, beginning the third chapter. This is kind of like the previous chapter, this is a scathing chapter that James writes.

[0:13] His whole book, Rex Christians over the Coals, said at the beginning of this little study through James, James doesn't do that, there's something seriously wrong with our perception of and our understanding and interpretation of James, and James doesn't do it out of hate, James doesn't do it because he enjoys it.

[0:35] James is, in my opinion, the most practical book in all of scripture. It's very easy to understand, it's easy to see how we are to walk as Christians, and it's easy to see what happens if we don't walk as Christians, and that's pretty much the purpose of this book, yes it's to edify the church, and how does it edify the church?

[1:01] It edifies the church by informing us of how we are to walk, how we're to act, how we're to talk, and it also edifies us in telling us that there's consequences if we don't do that.

[1:19] And all these are for edification purposes. But the third chapter of James is much like the first two chapters we've been through, told you all that the last chapter can really be placed into two different divisions, and this one's no different, there's two divisions in this chapter as well.

[1:41] So we'll begin with the first verse, the third chapter of James says, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

[1:52] For in many things we offend all, if any man offend not and were, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. So James here begins this chapter, this segment of his letter, his general epistle, with my brethren, referring to them as brethren, referring to them as fellow believers in Christ.

[2:17] And he says, be not many masters, and you all probably heard me quote this several times, and I've quoted it a lot since I've been preaching and teaching the Word of God, because there seems to be the same problem now as there was back in James this day, that there's a lot of people out there that want to exhibit that they have wisdom of some kind, and they put themselves into positions of preaching and teaching without a true call of God to do so.

[2:49] And that wisdom, as we'll see at the end of this chapter, maybe today, maybe not, but that wisdom doesn't come from above, that wisdom comes from beneath. And James here is given a stern warning, he says, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

[3:09] What is James saying in this? He's saying, be not many teachers. He's saying, y'all need to settle down, y'all. Not everybody is to teach, and we know that from the gifts of the Spirit, which are listed to the Corinthian church.

[3:23] Not everybody is given the gift of preaching, the gift of teaching, or any of the other gifts. They're dispersed by the Holy Spirit at His own will, and some they're dispersed too severally.

[3:35] Some have the gift of preaching and teaching, some have the gift of evangelizing and maybe singing, or whatever the case is. Some may have two or three gifts of the Spirit, some may only have one.

[3:47] It's a God's good pleasure through the Holy Spirit who gets those gifts, and who is able to utilize those gifts. So he's saying, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

[4:01] This is really no different than Jesus addressing the Pharisees and the scribes, those that taught the Jews the law, those that were supposed to be able to expound the things of the law.

[4:15] If you remember in John chapter 3, when Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus there, and he's explaining things to Nicodemus, and he asks Nicodemus, he says, and you're a teacher of Israel, and you know not these things?

[4:30] And he's saying, you teach all these Jews, you're teaching them the law, you're teaching them the things of the Torah, the things of the Pentecost, the things of the Old Testament, and you don't understand what you're teaching.

[4:44] And so Jesus addressed that with Nicodemus here, but James goes on to say, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation, why is that? Because we're teaching, because we're teaching the Word.

[4:56] It's a humble thing to stand before you all and present the Word of God, whether it be in teaching or preaching. It's a humble thing, it's a fearful thing to do so, because I will stand in account of everything that I tell you.

[5:11] Now, do I ever slip up? Yes, I slip up. I've had David in the belly of the well. It's easy to get names mixed up, especially when you're talking about names that begin with the same letter or sound the same, or some of those lines, well I'll be a little accountable for that, that's a simple human mistake.

[5:35] But if I lead you in a way that strays from the pages of Scripture, if I teach you in a way that does not concur with what the Word of God says, I will stand and give an account for that.

[5:50] I'll give an account to Almighty God. And if I do mess up, then it is my duty, and it's, I mean not only morally, but it's my duty to you and to God to tell you that I've messed up and to correct that.

[6:04] If I teach you all something that is wrong, that is against what the Word of God says, I want somebody to correct me on that. I want somebody to show me that, you know, I've said it wrong and I want them to use Scripture to show me where I'm wrong.

[6:21] And if that happens, then I need to repent of that and I need to go on my way. And I believe God has forgiveness for that, where people get in trouble with is when they're corrected, but they continue teaching in the same manner.

[6:36] They continue teaching the same things. There's a lot of false teachers and preachers out there right now that have been corrected over and over and over. They've been showed, they've been emailed, they've been texted, they've been called, they've been called up in public, they've been called up in private.

[6:52] And they continue teaching these false and proditious ways that they're known for teaching. And those will be the ones that receive the greater condemnation.

[7:04] Why? Because they're leading thousands and tens of thousands and millions of people astray in doing that. So James says, be not many masters and he gives a warning saying, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

[7:19] For many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. And they will also debrildle the whole body. For many things we offend all. This doesn't mean that what James is getting at here is not saying that in many things I offend you like our current definition of the word offend is.

[7:44] He's saying in many things we cause people to stumble, we cause people to be tripped up. If any man offend not in word, and this word offend means the same thing as the previous, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and they will also debrildle the whole body.

[8:04] Folks that cuts me out and that cuts you out. None of us are capable of that. No one sitting in this church, nobody sitting in the church across the street, no one in this neighborhood, city, state, country, or world is capable of that.

[8:20] No one is. He says if any man is able to do that, he's also able to bridle the whole body. So in other words, if we were capable of taking care of our tongue in other words, if we were able to not offend with our mouths, then we're able to bridle the entire body.

[8:44] Folks, our mouth gets us in trouble. Mine gets me in trouble. Yours gets you in trouble. How many of y'all have ever said something? You give your left arm if you could just take it back. If you could go back and relive that moment in your life, you would have never said that.

[9:03] And when do we do that? It's usually when we're caught up in the heat of a moment, in the heat of an argument, when we're angry. And another thing is, we've been, a lot of times we've been steaming about it for a long time, and we've already got it in our head what we would like to say.

[9:18] Everyone of us have been guilty of that. And then the time comes and we let it loose. And there's been a lot of times in my life, and I could look back and those things are painful. They're painful looking. They haunt me.

[9:31] And as I'm sure some things that you've said or some things that you've done haunt you sometimes. We're just, we're unable to do as James says here. For many things we offend all. Affend all. We're the same as a perfect man.

[9:49] We all offend in word. We all cause others to stumble. We all cause others to trip up. And so therefore none of us are a perfect man or a perfect woman. It says if he's able to do this, he's able to also to bridle the whole body. Could you imagine if you were able to do that though?

[10:08] If we were able to just tame our tongues and bridle our whole body? Well if that was the case, Jesus would have never had to have come and died. If we were able to do something about that ourselves.

[10:20] Most of the tongue is one of the main components that sin is derived from. There's more, and I get so upset that so many preachers and so many teachers will address what we as human beings see as the bigger things, like homosexuality, like abortion, like murder, and all these other things.

[10:46] We'll address what human beings see as those, but they never address the Gospels in the church. They never address the line. They never address the deceivers. And deception more often than not begins with the tongue. You can deceive someone with your actions.

[11:02] I can pick up something and pretend I'm going to throw it at you but not throw it. That's deceiving with an action. But more often than not, 95% of the time deception occurs with the tongue.

[11:13] And usually that deception is wrapped around a lie of some kind. We might tell a half truth, but you think about where the first half truth is in Scripture.

[11:25] It was spoken by Satan himself in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden. He didn't speak complete lies to Eve. He told her half truth. So if we're telling a half truth, we're telling a complete lie.

[11:38] No matter how we sugarcoat it or how we want to candycoat it for that matter. If it's a half truth, it's a complete lie. Verse 3, Behold, we've abit in the horse's mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.

[11:53] Behold also the ships, which though they'd be so great and are driven to fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whether so ever the governor or Listeth. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts with great things. Behold, how great a matter, a little fire kindles.

[12:11] So James here gives a picture with words. A couple of pictures actually. He says, we've abit in the horse's mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.

[12:23] And I've only been horseback riding one time in my entire life, and I was very young when I did that. I don't know a whole lot about steering or braking or accelerating a horse.

[12:35] I don't, but I do know what that bit in their mouth is for, and I know what the bridle is for, and I know what the reins are for. If nothing else, we should know that from movies that we've seen over the years.

[12:47] But you figure these great big horses, I don't know if you, how many of y'all have ever seen the big tall Clyde Steele horses? Beautiful creatures, but they're enormous. But you can, and let go, if they were, let go wild, it's hard to tell what they could do.

[13:04] But you put that bit in their mouth, and you put somebody on the back of that horse with the reins that knows what they're doing. They can control that horse to go wherever they want it to go, to stop wherever they want it to stop, and anything else.

[13:18] Something that big, and a little bit that they chew on in their mouth connected to some reins can control that huge horse. In the same picture, he paints here with the ships.

[13:29] Now the ships of James's day weren't anything like the ships that we have nowadays. They were big, yeah, and they could take up some space on the water. My goodness, he didn't have these big old tankers like we have nowadays.

[13:43] He didn't have the huge naval vessels that we have, that countries around the world have now. He didn't have the big cruise ships that we have now, but they are controlled in the exact same way that James was talking about with these smaller ships of his day.

[14:02] With a small rudder or a small helm that's there at the back. Now granted, there's a wheel at the top, and that wheel is connected by linkage to the rudder or to the helm, and that is what steers that little ship.

[14:14] But not only does it steer a ship, it also keeps the ship going straight. Regardless of the winds that are coming against it. You can force a ship straight into a storm if you want to, with the winds blowing this way and the ship wanting to go this way.

[14:31] You can steer a ship straight into that storm using that small little rudder that's on the back of it. And that's what James was talking about here. And he's comparing this with the tongue.

[14:42] He's saying, you know, our tongue, it's a small member in our mouths, it's a small member of our bodies. My goodness, how it controls the things that we do, how it controls so much of our lives, and so much of your lives.

[14:58] And that's the comparison that James is making. I said, James didn't know anything about the ships that we have now. You look at these huge tankers, like I said earlier, I read somewhere at some point that a large-sized tanker fully loaded weighs about 325,000 tons, fully loaded.

[15:21] I'd like to shake the man's hand and I got it to float, weighing that much. But you get that much weight on the ocean, and you would think it's just going to go where it wants to.

[15:33] They don't care what gets in its way, but no, it's steered in the exact same way. It's 650,000 pounds that somebody can control with a little wheel up top and a little rudder on the bottom.

[15:46] And our tongue is no different. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. Behold, how great a matter, a little fire can live. If James here is making another comparison, how great a matter a little fire can live.

[16:03] I mean, if you all ever built a fire outdoors, you've been camping, or had a witty roast, or a marshmallow roast in your backyard, where in the case of this, you don't kindle a fire from the top, you always kindle it from the bottom, and it always starts small.

[16:17] You start with a small thing, you take a match and try and light a log on fire, chances are you didn't go ahead much of a fire. But you get a few little pine needles, you get some dried grass, you get shavings off of wood, if you've ever sat there and whittled down shavings off of a twig or a branch, and do a small pile, then you can struck a match to those, and those will catch.

[16:39] Then you can lay the bigger pieces on top of that before you know it. You've got a big enough fire to warm a dozen people that are sitting around it. But it starts small, behold, behold how great a matter a little fire can live.

[16:54] And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that defile it the whole body, and set it on fire of the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell.

[17:06] This is some coarse words that James speaks here, very coarse words. The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, a world of iniquity.

[17:17] Just this little member inside of our mouth, James says it's a fire and it's a world of iniquity. Now, all this being said, fire, most times in Scripture, is used to picture destruction, picture turmoil, picture desolation.

[17:39] Now we think of when God rang fire and brimstone down on Solomon and Gomorrah. What did it do? It destroyed those cities, not only those cities, but there were a few other cities of the plain that were destroyed, and that accounted as well, because of fire, and because of brimstone, because of God's wrath.

[17:56] But fire is normally pictured that way. However, when you consider Acts chapter 2, I understand that everybody that was gathered there in that upper room, the Bible does not say that they spoke with flaming tongues, or with tongues of flames.

[18:13] That's not what it says. It talks about tongues of fire, tongues of flames that were present there. So that tells me that there's a flame that can be in your life that is meant for good, and there is a flame that can be in your life that is meant for bad, or meant for evil.

[18:36] But here he says, the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. James is saying here that the tongue is more often than not used for evil, used for bad, used for wickedness.

[18:49] It's a world of iniquity, according to James, not just a little bit, it's a world full of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that defiles the whole body.

[19:03] That defiles the whole body, one little member in your mouth defiles your entire body. How can that be? Well, folks, I mean, if I'm out here, and I hear it every day, I hear it every day at my job, I'm just talking about professing Christians that use bad language, and I'm just talking about profanity.

[19:27] I hear that too. I'm talking about just saying things that Christians shouldn't say. Once again, I'm just talking about profanity. That's a huge part of what I hear, but downing others, and cutting others down.

[19:45] And listen, I've told you all before, I'm gifted at being a smart alchemy. I really am, and God has worked on me with that since I've been saved.

[19:57] Have I perfected it yet? Have I perfected the braddling of my tongue as far as I go? Absolutely not. But I can be, and I do that sometimes.

[20:08] But as people that do it on a consistent basis, not just smart alchemy, but people who y'all know them just as well as I do, they complain constantly.

[20:19] Or they down others constantly. Or they better themselves above other people constantly. They say, well, I could do this better. He's stupid, she's stupid.

[20:30] You know, I could do this 10 times better. This is my idea, blah, blah, blah. We've all heard people like that. And that is not a way for a Christian to act.

[20:41] It's not a way for anybody that's professing the name of Jesus Christ and professing that they have salvation in them. There's no way for them to act. There's no way for them to talk.

[20:53] And that's why James says, the tongue is a fire and a world of iniquity. So the tongue among our members, so is the tongue among our members that defile the whole body and set it on fire the course of nature.

[21:07] It sets on fire the very course of nature. In other words, it goes against how we should naturally be. Now, that being said, what exactly is the natural man according to scripture?

[21:20] The natural man, somebody that's generally unregenerate, somebody that's not been saved. So what would James have to be talking about here?

[21:33] Outside of that, to be talking about the natural way that a regenerated person, that a saved person should be. Remember, he started this section with my brethren.

[21:45] He's talking to believers in Christ when he wrote this. So he says, it sets on fire the course of nature, the natural way that a saved individual should talk, that a saved individual should act, that a saved individual should speak and should help others with their voice, with their tongue.

[22:08] We shouldn't be cutting down other church members. We shouldn't be cutting down other churches or anything along those lines. According to the scripture, we should be edifying one another.

[22:20] We should be helping one another. And one of the ways we do that, according to the book of Colossians, it says to admonish one another, were songs and hymns.

[22:32] How do we do that? With our tongues, with our voices. We admonish one another with our voices. Can we add somebody on? Can we root for somebody or cheer somebody on to the finish line in other ways?

[22:46] Of course we can, but 99% of the time, it's going to be with our tongue that we do that. And if we're a born-again Christian, we should be cheering on other born-again Christians as far as that goes.

[22:59] But to do the opposite of that, it's setting on fire the course of nature. The course of nature, according to what James says, and it is set on fire of hell.

[23:10] We know from James chapter 1, every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lives. So it's not good and perfect if it's not edifying the church. It's not good and perfect if it involves cutting down other Christians, or backbiting for that matter, or gossiping about them.

[23:30] And everyone of us have been guilty of that. I've been guilty of gossiping. And we try and sugarcoat it, don't we? We say, well, now I heard. I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard. And we'll try and sugarcoat it with that.

[23:42] I don't know if it's true or not. When we know good and well, we all just keep our mouths shut about it if we don't know if it's true or not. And I've been as guilty of that as you all have. Every one of us have been guilty of that in our lives.

[23:54] We were saved or we were lost. We've been guilty of doing that. But it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast and the birds and the serpents and things in the sea is tamed and has been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame.

[24:15] It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Well, James just ain't letting up. He done slapped us around, need us in the gut and let us slide down on the floor.

[24:26] And he's kicking us now. He just, James will not let up on this. But it's because of the importance of the matter. But you remember how this all started up.

[24:38] How this whole section began. Rather than being not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation that then he immediately starts talking about the tongue.

[24:49] He immediately starts talking about that. Remember, all this ties together throughout this section of chapter three of James.

[25:00] But he's talking about all these beasts, all these birds, and the snakes, and the asps, and the adders, and fish, and just about every creature you can think of.

[25:12] Who'd ever thought, you know, that a man could climb in a cage with a lion and pet it? I wouldn't do it, but man has learned to tame them.

[25:24] Now, granted, once in a while those things take on their nature. They take on the enmity that was set between man and beast when Noah and his family stepped off of the yard.

[25:36] Once in a while that steps back in. But, you know, we've all seen circus acts or things along those lines where people will play with tigers, and they'll pet on tigers and lions, and all these other things.

[25:51] And man has managed to tame some of the biggest and wildest beasts that there are. James was talking a little bit earlier about the horse and how we're able to take these huge beasts and put a bit in their mouth and attach some reins to that beast, and we're able to steer that beast anywhere that we want to go.

[26:13] James has talked about that, but he says, but the tongue can no-maintain. We can tame all these fierce creatures. I've seen people jump in the water with killer whales.

[26:26] I've seen people swim with sharks. I've seen all these things. And it says, the tongue can no-maintain. And what's so bad about that?

[26:38] I mean, what is so convicting about that? The tongue's attached to my body. The tongue's attached to my mind. Granted, there's nerves, and there's blood vessels, and there's all kinds of things that go in between the two of them, but it's attached to my body and my mind.

[26:56] I should be able to tame my tongue. So James says, the tongue can no-maintain. Although we can tame all these other things, there's a conviction that's there.

[27:07] We can go out, we can take a feral cat off of the streets. One that looks like it just tear your hand off so you have nothing more than a nub. Over a few weeks or a few months' time, we'll have that thing tamed down to where it'll let us pet it.

[27:21] It'll let us not even let us scratch its belly, but the tongue can no-maintain. Shame on us. Shame on us. Everyone knows for that.

[27:33] It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. It's unruly evil and full of deadly poison. What is the tongue? And it is full of deadly poison.

[27:46] Once again, we can go back to what I said a little bit earlier. How many things have you said that you wish you could have done back? I mean, it ain't got to be the people that you love, people in your family.

[27:58] It could be strangers on the street or in a store or whatever, and you knew that you came back with a remark that you shouldn't have come back with. Things like that haunt me.

[28:09] They do, and they'll haunt me to my dying day. Praise God, it doesn't affect my salvation. But, you know, there's consequences to our actions. There's consequences to our speech as well.

[28:21] And one of those consequences is that we have the memory of those things. We have the memory of things that we should or shouldn't have done in certain situations.

[28:33] James says it's unruly evil. He doesn't say it's full of unruly evil. He says the tongue is unruly evil. It is an unruly evil and full of deadly poison.

[28:47] They're with blessedly God, even the Father, and they're with cursefully men which are made up of the similitude of God. Shame on us for being that way.

[28:58] Shame on us for doing that. I'll tell you a good example of this. When Jesus asked the disciples, he says, whom do men say that I am?

[29:12] The disciples say, well, some say it's your this one, some say it's your that one. He says, but whom say ye that I am? Who do you say that I am? Peter pronounces one of the biggest blessings toward Christ in all of scripture.

[29:27] He's the son of the Lord, the Son of the living God. And he blessed God in saying that. And I think if I have a horrible mistake, and it's just three verses later after Jesus says that he's got to be, he's got to go to Jerusalem, he's got to be handed over into the hands of sinful men, he's got to be crucified.

[29:49] All these horrible things are going to happen. And what do we see Peter doing? Not so. I'm from thee. And just on the side note, this ain't got nothing to do with what we're teaching this morning, but I praise God that scripture's in there.

[30:05] Because that shows me that even though I don't have it all together, and I don't, even though I don't understand it all, and I don't, even though that's the case, I'm still a born-again child of God.

[30:18] I'm still saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. I don't have to understand it all. Peter didn't understand it all, obviously, in that statement. But he blessed God, and then, like I said, when we read this turn cursing, it doesn't mean using profanity toward necessarily.

[30:38] It means that you're coming against someone. And that's exactly what the scripture there, in that account says, it says that Peter rebuked Jesus. My goodness.

[30:49] How brazen could somebody be? Peter rebuked Jesus in that. So they blessed God, and then he cursed, or he come against a man, and he come against Jesus, all within just a few verses of each other.

[31:06] And once again, we all guilty of the same thing. Well, anytime we come against a fellow believer in Christ, whatever it is, I'm talking about fellow believers.

[31:17] I'll call heretics what they are. And make no bones about it, and I'll call them out by name. And that's not to drive them down, but I've said before that if I know who the wolf is, and I neglect to tell you, then your blood's on my hands if you fall into their ways.

[31:37] If I know who the wolf is, or where he's hiding, or what he's dressed like, or anything else, and I do not tell you that, then your blood's on my hands if you fall into their teachings.

[31:51] But we're talking about believers in Christ. We're talking about the church congregation. We're talking about those of a locked faith out here. We don't need to be coming against each other for that.

[32:02] Yes, we should come against heresy. Yes, we should come against false teachers. And I say come against them. Burn their house down. No. Call them out to repentance. Call them out to repentance that they might accept the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and we must embrace that gospel.

[32:18] The same gospel that saved you is able to save them. Amen. But anyway, there with the blessed with God, even the Father, and there with curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

[32:31] He tells us what we do, and then he tells us why we shouldn't, because they're made after the similitude of God. They're made in the likeness of God.

[32:42] I'm not just like God, neither are you. We're all created in the image of a holy God. All of us were created in the image of God just as Adam was created in the image of God.

[32:54] And so when we're cursing the image of God, then what are we indirectly doing? We're cursing or coming against God himself.

[33:07] That's what James is getting at here. Out of the same mouth proceeded with blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. That the fountain sinned forth at the same place, sweet water and bitter.

[33:19] Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear all it bear, is either a vine fig, so it can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Out of the same mouth proceeded with blessing and cursing.

[33:30] My brethren, these things ought not so to be. He doesn't, James here just keeps it breaking. He just keeps it breaking. He says, your mouth is doing two different things.

[33:45] Go back to James chapter one, where he talks about double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. This is kind of what he's getting at here. Out of the same mouth proceeded with blessing and cursing.

[33:58] And he tells us, my brethren, these things ought not so to be. They shouldn't be that way. And why shouldn't it be that way? Because us in a regenerate state, in a safe state, our very nature should change.

[34:15] Now, our sin nature is still there, yes, but we should want to bless others. We should want to talk well of others. We should not want to drag others through the dirt or through the mire.

[34:26] And we certainly shouldn't want to push others back to where God saved them from to begin with. We shouldn't want any of these things. But we bless God and we curse men.

[34:37] This would be the same people that I was talking about a little while ago. I know people, I work with people, that they talk about going to church on Sunday. My goodness, that's the only dose of God that they get throughout the whole week, obviously, from some of the conversations I've heard them have.

[34:55] Some of the things I've heard them say, some of the things that I know that they do, because they make no bones about it. People that spend Saturday night out at the bar, getting drunk and then doing a church on Sunday morning.

[35:08] My goodness, folks, that's what we're getting at here. I understand we're talking about the tongue, we're talking about blessing and cursing coming out of the same mouth. But folks, that's living a double life.

[35:19] And you can't do that and expect anything from God. Do the fountain sin for it at the same place, sweet water and bitter. Can the fig tree, my brother and bear, all the berries, either are fine figs.

[35:31] I've heard some really smart retorts to these very verses here. Because you can, you can take a vine or an olive branch, and you can graft it into a vine.

[35:52] That olive branch will grow and it will produce olives, off of the vine, off of the grapevine. And you can take an apple tree branch and graft it into an orange tree.

[36:06] And it will grow and it will produce olives. You can graft it in the folks, that's, that's messing, that's taking something out of the natural course and putting it into something else.

[36:18] You can do those things, yes. But James is saying here, if you've been reborn, if you've been reborn, that shouldn't have to happen. The ingrafted word which we talked about back in chapter one, it's inside of you.

[36:34] The Holy Ghost is inside of you. And the Holy Ghost should give you a new nature, should give you new desires, should give you new will for your life. Yes, you're still going to have the sin nature about you.

[36:47] We're going to die with that sin nature. I'll go to the grave with that sin nature from the original parents out of the need. Yes, it'll always be there. But the Holy Spirit will put new desires in you.

[36:59] And it will put new things in you. And we'll give you a new attitude. Okay, me a new attitude, that's a mess. You'd marry to me when I got saved. My attitude changed from not in day.

[37:12] Attitude about the world, attitude about self, attitude about others. And God's still working on that, yes. But my attitude changed a lot. Can the fig tree, my brother and bear all the berries, either vine, figs, of course not, not in the natural course of things.

[37:29] That doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. James says no fountain is capable of yielding salt water and fresh.

[37:41] And that goes back to what I just said. If these things are happening, it very well could be because the person was never regenerated to begin with.

[37:53] No fountain, no fountain can yield both of those things. It's an impossibility. Yes, James is talking about how Christians should act and how those that are saved and professors of Jesus Christ should act.

[38:07] The hymn saying that no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh. The hymn saying that's an impossibility. Kind of tells me that if these things are happening, it very well could be a sign that the person is not regenerated to begin with.

[38:22] So I wrap this up with that section of James chapter 3.