We have looked at three positive expressions of a tongue that has been offered to God as an instrument of righteousness.

But if we are going to manage to make some adjustments in our lives, then we must resist the temptation to do it in our own strength – ‘Not by might, not by power, but by the Holy Spirit says the LORD’.

On the day of Pentecost, the fire of the Holy Spirit came from heaven – and it was seen as tongues of fire. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit operated first in the disciples tongues.

Paul says: ‘Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is’ and the next verse he tells us what the Lord’s will is, ‘Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:17-18).

The positive commandment is just as valid as a negative commandment. Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Paul goes on to say, ‘Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 5:19-20).

Notice that the word ‘speak’ (v.19), comes straight after Paul’s instruction to ‘be filled with the Holy Spirit’ (v.18). There are fifteen places in the New Testament where people are filled with the Holy Spirit and every time it is immediately followed with a response from the person’s mouth – whether it be speaking in tongues, speaking a word of prophecy or singing exuberant praise. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit – the first sign of this infilling will come out through your mouth. Instead of murmuring, complaining, criticizing, and expressing your doubts and fears – you will, like Paul, want to speak, sing and give thanks to God. The whole use of your tongue will move from the negative to the positive.

Some of you might be thinking that you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, but you are still full of negativity, unbelief or criticism- but this is why the Bible says ‘go on being filled with the Holy Spirit’. We have to keep setting the Lord in front of us. We have to keep on drinking in the Holy Spirit and yielding our tongues to praising God, expressing our thankfulness to Him, and to glorifying His holy name.

It is not enough to give up sinning – we must also seek God’s original intention for our tongues. The New Testament pattern is this: ‘Be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak’ – this is the remedy if we find that our tongues need healing!

God intended you to use your tongue for telling people about Jesus. ‘How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it written, “How are beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15).

‘Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

We are called to use our mouths to share about Jesus to those who do not yet know him. Who likes to hear good news? We all do! Everything about Jesus is good news – yet why are so many Christians reluctant to talk about the good news within the Bible?

There is nothing wrong with the message we are called to proclaim. The problem is often in the heart of the one who is called to carry the message. The Bible explains that God is the answer to everything we need! Until you believe this in your own heart – it is not going to overflow through your speech.

Do you believe that God is the answer to all your needs?

Do you believe that God is the answer to the needs of your family and friends?

Once you believe this is your heart the good news will start to overflow through your mouth. Once the good news is overflowing from this conviction in your heart, and out through your speech, then you will see lives changed – you will see other people being built up and coming to faith in Jesus.

Why are you not seeing people coming to faith in Jesus? May be you are not speaking about the good news? Why are you not speaking out about the good news? May be you are not convinced in your heart that God is the answer to your needs, and the needs of your friends? How do you get this conviction in your heart? By yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing him to fill you.

You will only see the good news changing lives when it is overflowing from your heart and out through your mouth.

‘But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith we are proclaiming: That is you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is LORD,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved’ (Romans 10:8-10).

Being a Christian is not only about believing something in your heart, it is also about confessing that belief in your heart with your mouth.

You can measure the amount of belief in a person’s heart by the amount of confession that flows out of their mouth.

One of the things I noticed when I was working at a local Japanese University was that few of my students had dreams. The girls expected to get married and the boys expected to spend the rest of their lives working for a company. So far as they were concerned, the best times were coming to an end…

…and the future wasn’t very bright.

What made all this worse was that those students who did have dreams, dreamt of getting out of Japan and living abroad. As graduation day approached I remember most of them had little idea about what they wanted to do with their life – they had no hopes or dreams. In fact many of them talked more about the past than they did about the future.

‘In the past it was good to work for a Japanese company, but not any more’, they would say. ‘In the past the Japanese economy was booming, but not any more’, they would explain. ‘In the past you could send your children to college and expect a pension, but not any more’, they would complain.

There was a time in the journey of the Israelite nation when they sounded similar to my students. But one person made a difference. Moses made a difference.

‘The Israelites said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians that to die in the desert!’ (Exodus 14:11-12).

The Israelites had been slaves to the Egyptians, but a man called Moses wanted to change this. God eventually equipped Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery and into a good land that He had promised to them. But as soon as they were out of slavery they wanted to go back, they couldn’t look to the future – they could only talk about the past.

But Moses counteracts this negative speech and continual talk about the past by referring to the future.

‘Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still”’ (Exodus 14:13-14).

The Israelites only talked about the past – but Moses talked about what God would do in the future.

When things don’t meet peoples expectations or when they don’t receive answers to things straight away, people will often complain, criticize or refer to a point in their lives when things were different. But Moses knew that there was a need to speak about what God will do in the future.

There is a need in Japan, and other nations around the world, for people to speak positively about God, about their church, and about what God will do in the future.

When people are going through difficult times, resist the temptation to join in with the crowd as they complain and criticize – be like Moses, be a leader and set yourself apart – and speak about what God can do!

Japan is currently like a bucket with a whole in it. I have met so many Japanese people who speak badly about their own nation. These same people speak more positively about English speaking nations, such as England, America and Australia, than they do about their own nation. This negative speech is having an impact – you remember we said that God heard the negative talk of the Israelites and as a result things happen just as they said.

You have young, intelligent people moving out of Japan. They are under the false impression that life is easier and more exciting abroad. There are even Christians who wrongly believe that it is easier for Japanese people to be Christians abroad than in their own nation. This is the result of Japanese people complaining and putting down their own! The truth is that there are just as many obstacles abroad and the Christian life is no easier. I praise God for Japan, because I know that same God who is working in England, America and Australia is also working in Japan.

God has great plans for the Japanese nation. We need to be like Moses – we need to stop looking back to the past, stop looking to other nations and believe in the future that God has prepared for each nation.

Do you think God loves Europe more than Japan? Do you think God loves American people more than the Europeans? Do you believe that Bible believing Christians can only get into government in other nations, but not in your nation?

The tide is already changing in Japan. God is already moving powerfully through a new generation of Christians who believe in the future of their nation. Many churches across Japan are proving that Japanese people are not closed to Christianity. However, like the Israelites, there are some Japanese Christians who keep looking back to the past, or looking to other nations instead of speaking life into the future of their own nation.

Be like Moses and use your mouth to speak positively into your future! Use your mouth to speak positively into other peoples futures! Use your mouth to speak positively into your nation’s future!

It strikes me that most people acknowledge that there is life and death in their words. Most people understand words of ‘life’ as meaning words which are nice, friendly and encouraging. Most people understand words of ‘death’ as meaning words which are negative and unwholesome. However, the Bible gives us clear examples concerning what a tongue that has been offered to God as an instrument of righteousness should look like.

‘Do not let unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen’ (Ephesians 4:29).

God made your tongue for a purpose. When God made your tongue, He intended for only one kind of thing to flow out of it – ‘only that which is helpful for building others up…’

This means that your tongue was not created for self-expression, for venting your anger or your frustration. Your tongue was not created in order that you can tell the world your negative feelings – it was never designed so that you could criticize your work colleagues or your husband’s family.

The essence of sin is falling short of God’s original intention – it is not always about committing come terrible crime. I don’t believe there is one person who can honestly say they have always used their tongue as God originally intended. Anytime we speak something that doesn’t build another person up or glorify the name of Jesus, we are sinning – we are falling short of God’s original intention for our tongue.

So many people use their mouths to be negative. Few people use their mouths to empower others and to speak positively.

Positive speakers stand out – you’re out for a meal after work with your work-colleagues and the conversation is following its normal pattern (people criticizing the boss or the company – people moaning about the wife, the government or the current economic condition). But you make a deliberate decision to talk about what God can do – you will stand out – you will be the light that is not hidden under the bucket – you will help to remove the grey clouds that hang over so many peoples lives.

There are married couples who waste so much time talking about bad things – things that don’t really matter. I remember an ocassion, during cell group, when God reminded me to ‘bite my lip’ – if we respond to a negative word with another negative word – the cycle never ends – the end result is more negative words on top of more negative words. At this point you are out of the will of God – you are no longer using your tongue to help build up others according to their need.

Jesus bit his lip! He had a lot of negative things said to him – things that at times must have hurt him – but during those times this is what Jesus did: ‘When Jesus was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. The Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge – to the great amazement of the governor’ (Matthew 27:12-14).

Jesus made no reply. Jesus trusted God to carry out any judgment that might be needed. Jesus did not try to justify himself – he did not try to punish those who spoke negatively against him. Jesus didn’t spend hours shouting back his side of the argument. Jesus simply bit his lip and continued to love his enemies, right up until his death.

Here are three simple, practical and scriptural steps that we can take in order to deal with our tongue.

①   Call your problem by its right name: Sin

It is important that we be honest with ourselves. As long as we cover or make excuses for our problems, nothing will happen. We need to come to a moment of honesty.

I have seen this many times in both my life and the lives of others; when we come to a moment of honest assessment in our lives, God moves in and help us. As long as we try to make excuses, cover up or pretend, God can do nothing for us. Sometimes we say, ‘God, why don’t you help me?’ and God replies, ‘I’m waiting for you to be honest – honest with yourself and then honest with me.’

That is the first and most important step. Once you take this step, you are well on the way. Call your problem by it’s rightful name; Sin. Religious people have many different ways of excusing the misuse of their tongue. They think it doesn’t matter what they say, but God says it makes a real difference.

②   Confess your sin and receive forgiveness and cleansing

‘But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ (John 1:7-9).

From this passage we see the need for us to be honest with ourselves. The blood of Jesus does not cleanse us in the dark. Only when we come into the light can we receive cleansing. If we are walking in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses us and keeps us pure from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves - The truth is not in us and we are not in the light. But if we confess our sins, come into the light, and acknowledge the real nature and seriousness of our problems, then God ’is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’.

We believe in a faithful God who will always keep His promises – but we must be honest with ourselves and bring our issues into the light. If we confess our sins, the guarantee is that God is faithful and will forgive us our sins. Please notice that God not only forgives but, even more importantly, He also cleanses. Once our heart has been cleansed, we will not continue committing the same sin – our words will be overflowing from a changed heart. A changed heart means changed words.

There is no such thing as a Christian who has been forgiven of a certain sin, but not cleansed. God never stops halfway. This is something that, as Christians, we really need to grasp: If we meet the conditions, we get the whole package. If we do not meet the conditions, we don’t even get half of the package.

If we confess our sins, God is faithful and will forgive us our sins and also cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Once our hearts are cleansed, then the problem will no longer be there – remember, it is the condition of the heart that determine what comes out of our mouths! A cleansed heart cannot produce unclean utterances – because unclean utterances indicate an unclean heart. God solves the problem of the tongue and of the lips by dealing with the condition of the heart.

③   Refuse sin and yield to God

We must say ‘no’ to sin and ‘yes’ to God. We must do both. We cannot say ‘no’ to sin without saying ‘yes’ to God, because we will be in a vacuum which will eventually be filled with the same problem. The only way to escape sin is to yield to God.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the arts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace’ (Romans 6:12-14).

When sin challenges you, say, ‘No, I will not yield to you; I will not yield the parts of my body. Above all, I will not yield the part which causes most of the trouble – my tongue. Sin, you cannot control my tongue any longer.’ Then turn to God and say, ‘God, I yield my tongue to You, and I ask You to control this part which I cannot control.’

James says, ‘All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison’ (James 3:8). You must accept the fact that you cannot tame or control your own tongue. Only one power can control your tongue for good: the power of God through the Holy Spirit.

When you have been forgiven and cleansed and then are challenged again to use your tongue sinfully, you must say to sin, ‘You cannot have my tongue; I refuse to give it to you.’ Then you must say to the Holy Spirit, ‘Holy Spirit, I yield my tongue to you. I cannot control my tongue. I ask you to control my tongue for me.’ ‘LORD, I deliberately offer this part of my body as an instrument of righteousness to You.’ Until we make a conscious decision to yield to the Holy Spirit, so far as our tongues are concerned, we will not receive complete deliverance or healing. Yield to the Holy Spirit that which you cannot control yourself.

The first step towards receiving healing for our tongue is to identify the root of the problem: The root of every problem affecting the tongue is the heart.

In Matthew 12:33-35, Jesus explains that the heart is the tree and the words are the fruit. If the heart is good, the words will be good.

If the heart is evil, the words will be evil. Whatever flows out of your mouth indicates the content and condition of your heart.

‘With the tongue we praise our LORD and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise or blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water’ (James 3:9-12).

This is the second time I have referred to this passage from James, but it is worth looking at again in greater detail.

James is using a similar picture to Jesus. The corrupt tree that Jesus talks about in Matthew’s Gospel is the old man or the old nature. The good tree is the new man or the new nature we receive in Jesus Christ. The old man cannot bring forth good fruit. Jesus said that clearly many times. Out of that old, carnal nature will always come fruit that corresponds to that nature. The fountain, or the spring, represents something spiritual. A pure spring is the Holy Spirit. A corrupt and salty impure spring is another spirit.

There can be two similar problems with our tongues: the first is the old nature which has not been changed and which goes on producing corrupt fruit – and the second is another kind of spirit, other than the Holy Spirit, which produces impure water.

The essence of the teaching is the same in both – that which is inside us, the condition of our heart, determines what comes out of our mouths.

Each time the problem of the tongue takes us back to a problem in our heart; ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life’ (Proverbs 4:23).

The word ‘wellspring’ corresponds with the picture that James uses of a fountain or spring of water. Whatever flows out in your life or through your mouth originates in your heart. If the source is pure, that which comes out will be pure. If the source is corrupt, that which comes out will be corrupt.

If you accidentally spill some water onto the kitchen floor and that water is dirty – you do not need to examine the water that is left in the bucket. You know it is dirty. The same applies to our hearts. If evil, impure, unbelieving, corrupt words come out of our mouths, then that indicates the same condition in our hearts.

‘See that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance right as the oldest son’ (Hebrews 12:15-16). Esau was entitled to the birthright, but he sold it and lost it. We can have a birthright or a promise from God, but if we do not conduct ourselves rightly, we will lose our birthright and our inheritance just like the ten spies who came with their negative report.

The reason why Esau acted like this is traced back to a root of bitterness in his heart. He was bitter against his brother Jacob. This root of bitterness in his heart led to bitter fruit in his life which corrupted his life and caused him to lose his birthright (Genesis 25:19-34).

Scripture warns us that if there is a root of bitterness in the heart of anyone of us, others may be defiled by it. The corrupt, negative use of the tongue is infectious. The ten spies came back with a negative report. They corrupted the whole nation. The whole nation was infected with that negative disease. That is one reason why God treats it so seriously. It is an infectious disease.

There are other examples of evil roots in our hearts that express themselves through our tongues and cause problems which rob us of the blessings that God desires us to have. We can have roots of resentment, unbelief, impurity, or pride.

Whatever the nature of the root in our hearts, it will manifest itself in the way we speak. We may want to be gracious and kind, but a root of resentment will poison our words with a kind of resentful spirit. We will try to say nice things, but they will not come out right. We may claim to be believers, but a root of unbelief will cause us to do as the ten spies and add our ‘but’ to God’s promises. The same is true of impurity and pride.

There are six main diseases mentioned in the Bible that can attack our tongue:

1.) Excessive talking

Proverbs 10:19 says, When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.’

In other words, if we say too much we are bound to say something wrong. When you hear a person continually talking, you need no other evidence; according to the Bible they are a fool. A fool’s voice is known by a multitude of words.

James 3:8 says, ‘No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.’ People who are always talking are restless people. Have you ever been with someone who made your head spin in circles because of all the words that came out of their mouth? What is their root problem? Their problem is restlessness. Excessive talking is a sign that a person’s heart is not at rest.

2.) Careless words

In Matthew 12:36, Jesus says; ‘But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word that they have spoken.’ One day we are going to have to give an answer for every word we have spoken – we are going to have to explain those careless, insincere words that we didn’t really mean – those words that we spoke but failed to back-up in reality.

In Matthew 5:37, Jesus says; ‘Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.’ If we say things we don’t mean, or we exaggerate things through our speech – this comes from the evil one. Here is one simple rule to remember – if you don’t mean it, don’t say it.

3.) Gossip

Proverbs 18:8 says, ‘The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.’ When we hear something about someone else that puts them in a bad light – there is something in the human heart that rejoices, that finds it as tasty as a choice morsel. But we must be careful when someone puts a choice morsel in front of us, not to swallow it! As we receive this choice morsel into our hearts, our lives will become poisoned by the gossip.

Proverbs 20:19 says, ‘A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.’ It is not enough that we do not gossip; we must not receive the gossip either. We must not eat those choice morsels – we must avoid such people and such situation.

4.) Lying

5.) Flattery

Proverbs 29:5 says, ‘Whoever flatters his neighbour is spreading a net for his feet.’ There are people who will speak flattering words, but they are not sincere. There is another motive behind their words. If we listen to the flattering words of those who have wrong motives they will become a net around our feet and eventually trip us up.

6.) Hastiness of speech