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Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
Taming the Tongue
We live in an age of endless conversation. Tweets, posts, podcasts, news, and nonstop commentary flood our senses every day. But amid all the noise, how often do we pause to consider the power of the words we ourselves speak?
In this compelling message titled Taming the Tongue, guest speaker Dr. Clem Ferris walks us through James chapter 3 to help us understand the immense spiritual weight carried by our speech. Clem unpacks vivid imagery—bits in horses’ mouths, rudders steering massive ships, and the spark of a fire spreading uncontrollably—to show how the smallest part of our body can determine the course of our lives.
James doesn’t hold back. He says the tongue is “a restless evil, full of deadly poison,” and “set on fire by hell.” That’s intense. But Clem helps us see the real issue: the tongue itself has no ears—our heart does. And it’s what fills the heart that shapes the words that flow from our mouths.
The breakthrough comes not through external behavior tweaks, but through internal transformation. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” When our hearts are shaped by God’s Word, our words begin to reflect His character—words of life, truth, peace, and healing.
Clem ties this truth to Pentecost Sunday, reminding us that God’s first act in empowering the early church was to cleanse and commission their speech. The “tongues of fire” didn’t burn with destruction—they blazed with holy purpose. God wants to do the same with us today. The very mouths once used for gossip, sarcasm, or complaint can now be tools for encouragement and bold proclamation.
We also look to Jesus, who “opened not His mouth” even under accusation, choosing silent obedience to bear our sin. His restraint paved the way for our restoration. Now we’re invited to speak with a new voice—shaped not by the world, but by heaven.
You may not be able to stop the noise of culture, but you can decide what words will come from your lips. Let God’s Word dwell in your heart richly and speak life into your world.
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Good to see all your smiling faces. Happy June, happy Pentecost Sunday. Let's go, let's bring the fire today. Best way to do that get in the Word right. So we have, you have Bibles, you have screens, you have whatever. We have this. So we're going to get into something I think is really important in this day and this hour, and it's our words. We live in a world of words and they're flying everywhere. There's like no restraint anymore. So I want to talk to you this morning out of James 3, on taming the tongue and harnessing how to harness the power of our words.
Clem Ferris:There was a foreigner that came to America and he was learning English and it's not an easy language, as we know, and a friend was helping him and you know, giving him some corrections here and there and everything. And he goes. I know, I know I said some of the problems I have with English. Some of the words, they're so vague-y sometimes and he goes no, no, it's not vague-y, it's vague. Okay, all right, sorry, that's the problem. See, I try new words and then my tongue-y-wee it gets all twisted and he goes no, no, it's not tongue-y-wee, it's tongue, it's not vague-y-wee, it's vague, it's not tongue-y-wee, it's tongue. You got it. He goes I got it. I got it, we don't have to arg about it. So that's English, right? We don't have to arg about it, if you dare.
Clem Ferris:James, chapter 3. James, chapter 3. James starts out by saying not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For the record, I have the biggest risk this morning. I'm trying to teach this and it's like we're all in this together. That's the point James makes in verse 2.
Clem Ferris:We all stumble in many ways. We all stumble in many ways. He's including himself, and if anyone does not stumble into what he says, that's our tongue. He's a perfect man, mature. See, learning how to harness the power of your words is how we progress into Christ-like maturity. It's a mark of maturity and here's the best part Once you get on that road, you're able to bridle your whole body. Do you realize your tongue is connected to your toes and your arms and everything else? You can bridle your whole body if you can bridle the tongue. Thanks a lot, james. What's that mean? Be a learner first Before you try to teach this stuff. Be a learner first, and I love this personal confession. We all stumble. In many ways.
Clem Ferris:I think he's probably reflecting, maybe, on his childhood, looking back. How many know James was the half-brother of Jesus? Yeah, lived with Jesus same house, maybe they shared a bedroom. How many shared a bedroom with a sibling with Jesus? Same house? Maybe they shared a bedroom? How many shared a bedroom with a sibling? We'll have a healing line afterwards 14 years with my brother it was torture. No, it wasn't. I was bigger, stronger and older and more handsome, but anyway, yeah, maybe Jesus shared a bedroom with James.
Clem Ferris:And can you imagine James waking up and looking over and there's Jesus' bed already made. He's out, he's already had devotions, he is a devotion. He made breakfast for the family and he's in the woodshop making furniture and it's only six o'clock in the morning. He looks over and he probably at some point in life, he probably just went up to Jesus one time and says you just think you're perfect, don't you? And probably said I am, anyway.
Clem Ferris:So, yeah, he probably said some snide things. Maybe you know a little dig with a sibling every now and then. Maybe he just said some snide comments, you know. But yet he watched his own brother grow, he watched his maturity, he watched how he handled words and I think it's fascinating that Paul brings us out in 1 Corinthians 15. You don't have to go there, but it says that you know when Jesus. He was raised from the dead. But before he ascended it says he appeared to Cephas, to the 12. He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time verse 7, and then he appeared to James. Isn't that cool. He made a personal appearance to his brother James, and then the rest of the apostles, and probably wanted to give him a little assurance of the pardon for those nasty things he said. He said hey brother, remember all those things. I just took them all to the cross. Come on somebody. We're good, we're good, yeah.
Clem Ferris:So James gets into this rigorous analysis. I call him Dr James. When I get into James 3, it's like he becomes Dr James. It's like stick out your tongue, say ah, we're going to have a little analysis. And he begins to use imagery because he says whoever can control the tongue can control himself. And it's not just by getting the right words and all these things, it's not just by our speech, but sometimes by our lack of speech. Come on somebody.
Clem Ferris:My great-grandfather came from Northern Ireland and passed on a witty little saying to my grandfather, my father who passed it on to us and we heard it many times, but it was this witty saying that it's better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Sometimes it's better just to be silent. So controlling our words is not just getting the right words at the right time, but it's sometimes just saying I don't have to say anything right now. When do we remain silent? Proverbs 21, 23,. Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble. Come on, young people, write that down. How do I keep myself out of trouble? It starts here. So James gives the overture in chapter one.
Clem Ferris:One verse out of James 1, 26, kind of paints the overture of the symphony of this teaching on the tongue and everything else in there he goes if anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Oh my gosh. How do you measure your religious activity? What's the dashboard of your religious life? Church attendance, tithing, giving small groups, you know what? How do you measure your religious life? Whatever you do to say I'm a four out of five, or whatever scale you use to measure your religion? He says if you think you're religious in any way, shape or form, but you can't bridle your tongue, that religious practice is empty, worthless. Wow thanks, james. Tell us another way. He gets more ruthless. So just buckle up, okay, but it will get better at the end, I promise. Here's what we're doing.
Clem Ferris:James brings us into this stark realization of just how powerful our words are and literally how evil the tongue is. And so we cry out for help. This is a cry for help for all of us. We all stumble. James is crying out on his own behalf too. We all stumble. So he says. We all are asking God to help us. Right, say help. That's the best prayer you'll ever pray. Help, help me, lord. So God, help us. What by grace? To say the right thing at the right time to the right person, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Right, not in our own cognition, but this is a magnificent grace. When you can learn to harness your words, when you can begin to tame your tongue, that's a magnificent grace, and people will know it. They'll know you by your fruits. Know it. They'll know you by your fruits. So here we go. Buckle up, james 3. Here we go, Verse 3.
Clem Ferris:If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us. We can guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also. Though they're so large and are driven by strong winds, they're guided by a very small rudder. Wherever the will of the pilot directs, so also the tongue. It's a small member, but it boasts of great things. James is using imagery now to help us A bridle for the horse, a rudder for the ship.
Clem Ferris:Talk about this, because it describes first of all how our words affect us personally, but then it describes how our words affect our circumstances. Something very small controls something much larger Horses, ships. And the main difference between a horse and a ship. Ah, the horse has a will of its own, doesn't it? Like you, the horse is a living being, ship, isn't so? The ship would kind of describe our circumstances. It's affected by the pilot.
Clem Ferris:I have a question for you this morning which can you turn more quickly, a horse or a ship? A horse, of course, any, mr Ed fans, you're old, okay, if you remember, mr Ed, you're old like me, okay, yeah, the horse, of course. Yeah, you can turn it on a dime, which means what Us with a human will, like the horse, we can control it quickly, which means what we can repent like that. You can be quick to repent. I'm sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me. You can humbly turn your life with words, a ship not. So Takes a lot longer to turn a ship around, which means what Takes a lot longer to turn your circumstances around. But here's the good news If you keep speaking in the right direction, you can slowly turn your circumstances like a great ship. You have to keep speaking into your world, because James goes on to say it's not just about horses and ships.
Clem Ferris:He says the fruit of that is massive destruction. It's a weapon of mass destruction. Right in your mouth. The pictures are rolling. He goes on to say verse five. So also the tongue. It's a small member, but it boasts of great things. Watch this now how great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. There was a reveal party out in California not too long ago. Did a little reveal party, you know? A little spark Set the lawn on fire, set the neighbors on fire. It set over 40,000 acres on fire. It took two months to put the fire out.
Clem Ferris:You'll sing that little song differently. It only takes a spark. No, we won't sing that anymore. It's powerful. That's what song? Differently, it only takes a spark. No, we won't sing that anymore. It's powerful, that's what James said. It only takes a spark of destruction to destroy an entire forest. And he says this in verse six. Buckle up, this is tough. Here we go and the tongue is a fire. He said he didn't say it's kind of like a fire. He said no, it is a fire. Your tongue is a fire. You got a fire in your mouth. You're a fire-breathing Christian. The tongue is a fire.
Clem Ferris:Watch this next phrase. I'm going to unpack this. It's a world of unrighteousness. What do you mean? It's a world of unrighteousness. The word world is the Greek word cosmos. It doesn't mean earth or a globe or dirt. The cosmos is an ordered system that you and I live in. God so loved the cosmos. God so loved the system that humans were trapped in that he sent his son into it to take all the punishment of the way we act. It's a world of unrighteousness, an ordered system ruled by Satan. Don't forget he's the God of this cosmos. Y'all aren't shouting very much, but you will by the time we get to the end of this. It's kind of like the gospel. You got to know how bad it is before you know how good it is right. You got to know how bad you are when you realize how good the gospel is.
Clem Ferris:The world's system it's the world stage is where life is played out in the world. We're in the world but we're not of it. But the only way Satan can be the God of this world and have any influence in this world, he needs words. He needs words to control humans and influence humans. And guess what? He wants? Your words. He wants to influence your words. He wants you to get to align your words with his words, because he doesn't have a human tongue but you do.
Clem Ferris:The tongue, our tongue, is part of an invisible, ordered system and Satan wants to use it. So he goes on to say the tongue is a fire, it's a world, it's part of a world system. Of what Unrighteousness it's set among our members. Watch now he's looking at the body. It's set amongst our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the course of life and in the Greek, this idea of the course of life. In the Greek it would be the wheel of becoming. Get the picture of a wheel, troxos in the Greek, of a wheel moving on a circular track, Kind of the moral axis that our lives are turning on all the time and your tongue sets the wheel in motion. Come on, get that picture. Your words drive the wheel.
Clem Ferris:Your words determine your wheel of becoming. What you are becoming is determined by what you say. The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. It's set among our members like a wheel staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire wheel of becoming cycle of existence. Watch this it's set on fire by hell, not matches or a lighter.
Clem Ferris:The source of this world of unrighteousness, the source of this destructive power of our own tongue, the fire in your mouth. The source is hell itself. These are strong words, but we got to come to a reality. It's like why does it hurt so bad when someone says this? Because the source is the demonic. The source is the devil himself. He has to find a human to hurt another human with in the course of a whole life, your cycle of existence.
Clem Ferris:Your words move the wheel of what you're becoming. That's how you got saved. You got saved because you used different words, words you've never used before. Lord, forgive me, I believe you rose from the dead. Those words change the wheel of what you are now becoming Proverbs 18.21,.
Clem Ferris:You know it well, life and death are in the power of the tongue. You go from death to life by your words. So with our tongues, you see, we affect the invisible world that you can't see. So with our tongues, you see, we affect the invisible world that you can't see, which then affects the natural world that we all can see and live in. The bit in the horse's mouth can't see it, but it affects the direction of the horse. The rudder on the ship? You can't see it. It's below the surface of the water, but it affects the direction of the ship. According to the pilot.
Clem Ferris:Whatever's in the invisible world come on controls the visible world. That's why words are so powerful. That's why our life is so complicated now, because we have this thing called the World Wide Web. We have an invisible web of words flying 24-7. There's words everywhere. They're on your screens, they're in your ears. There are words everywhere. And the devil's screens? They're in your ears. There are words everywhere and the devil's trying to control. He's called the prince of the power of the air. The spirit world always controls the visible world. That's why prayer is so important, folks, come on. That's why your prayers are important. Your vocal prayers are really important.
Clem Ferris:I'm all for silent prayers and there's time silent prayers. But I'm going to tell you something there's time for vocal declaring prayers, governmental prayers, because what you pray in the spirit realm becomes manifest in the natural realm. That's why prophecy is so powerful, because God uses words to direct our lives, to speak into us, to change us, to set that wheel in motion. Where you didn't have any plan at all, god will change course on you sometimes because he knows the destiny of your life. Prayer is powerful, spoken prayer is powerful. I got a prophecy for you. Okay, go ahead. No, it's just, I'm going to keep it to myself. I'll just think it. You ever been to a prayer meeting? You go. Anybody have any other requests? Yes, what Silent request. Really, do you know?
Clem Ferris:We forget this one little word in the Lord's teaching in Luke 11. They said Lord, teach us to pray, like John taught his disciples. Okay, when you pray, say. When you pray he didn't say think when you pray. Say, it means break silence, it means use words. When you pray, say our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. And suddenly the devil goes there. They go again. Dang, I mean. The devil hears, I mean, but he can't use the words that he wants to use unless he can find a cooperative vessel. So when you pray, say because your tongues speak invisible words but they can change the cycle of existence in things. James goes on.
Clem Ferris:Now we're getting into taming the tongue. He's like I just want you to know how bad it really is. It's bad, say it's bad, don't look at anybody, look down and go. It's really bad. But every kind of beast and bird verse 7, reptile sea creature can be tamed. That's the good news we're getting. See, it's getting better already.
Clem Ferris:You can tame all these animals and they have been tamed by mankind. Anybody ever been to SeaWorld? Seaworld, you got the orca right. Shamu, it would barely fit in this room. They're massive, right. But man can go out in the ocean, capture an orca, bring it to SeaWorld and charge money for people to look at it. That is so big and that's it. We can do that. We can tame every kind of beast and wild animal.
Clem Ferris:But he says no human being can tame the tongue. We're all in this together. I don't know what that scripture is. I'll just quote it from my own memory Misery loves company. What's that verse, neil Misery loves what. We're all in this together. Why? Because no human can tame the tongue. It's a restless evil. Watch this, full of deadly poison. Think, james, could you lighten up? You're killing us. He goes. That's my point, try to kill this thing. It's full of deadly poison.
Clem Ferris:And I think James uses seven and eight. He takes us all the way back to Genesis for a minute. 7 and 8, he takes us all the way back to Genesis for a minute. In Genesis 1, we're told to take dominion right Over the fish of the sea and all the animals right, take dominion over every creature. And James says this has been done, this taming has been done, subdued by man. We've learned how to do that. And then man falls in Genesis 3, and James is reminding us of something more wild than the wildest of beasts that cannot be tamed by man the tongue. Because when we fell, we became cursed. When we fell, our tongue got infected with deadly poison. He says with deadly poison. He says Wow. And so therefore it takes more than natural ability to tame this wild beast in our mouth. Right, oh, your flesh can do a good job.
Clem Ferris:For a while I've had good days, well, partial days, well, I've had an hour or two, usually when I'm sleeping, my tongue's okay. I mean, we all can white knuckle it. We can all sit there and look at somebody and go. I just want to say something so bad right now, but I'm just you just flesh it out, like when you walk away and we, we have all these little self-help tips. They can work, even for Christians. They can born again people. But every now and then, spirit filled tongue talking to people, something comes out and you go where did that come from? Wow, I can't believe that just came out. What do we do? Here's the good news. You ready for good news. Y'all look so sad. Happy June, happy. Listen here's. And you know this. But now we're going to walk you through this.
Clem Ferris:The only thing that can subdue the tongue is the knowledge of God's word. You have to. This is a battle of words, everybody. It's our words aligning with the right source. This is the wisdom we're told to ask for in James 1. If any of you lack wisdom, like, how do we do this? How do you tame the human tongue? He goes. You better ask for wisdom because it doesn't come from down here, it comes from up here. This kind of wisdom comes from above. James says and it's the knowledge of the word of God. First get knowledge of it Did God really say that, yeah? And then the application of that knowledge in our lives. And it can take a lifetime.
Clem Ferris:I'm not sugarcoating this. I'm not saying you know Abracadabra, we're going to have a prayer line up here and you'll all have your tongues tamed as you walk out the door. Pick up your tongue tamer on the way out. It's like it's not that easy. I wish it was. But the longer you walk with the Lord, the longer you take in his word, it just becomes a little easier. And a little easier why? Because you strengthen the voice of the spirit in you. Because he's only going to talk Jesus, he's only going to talk Bible to you and he will correct you and he will say things. And we have to be quick to hear and slow to speak. And I get this little voice every now and then it's just louder and clearer and I know this. The Holy Spirit speaks in short, pithy little statements. He's not long-winded, he just like corrects quickly.
Clem Ferris:One time I'm walking down to my office it's in our basement. I was walking down, I'd just done something stupid. Am I alone in the room. I'd just done something. Come on, men, help At least the men. I know the women don't do that, but men we do stupid things sometimes and I'm kind of scolding myself as I'm going down. I said you're such an idiot and just like that. I heard I don't call you that. It was that quick and that not harsh, but very like I don't call you that. I looked around and it couldn't be my wife. I'm like what was that voice? And it was right inside, so quick and so sure, like I don't call you that. It's like wow, we need that quick course correction of the rudder. You know the bit in my own mouth. I don't call you that. Don't say that about yourself because I don't call you that.
Clem Ferris:Again, I talked about my Irish characters on my mother's side. I'm only second generation Irish from the Northern Ireland and my mother was one of nine kids and they immigrated over in the late 1800s, early 1900s and my grandfather was a dairy farmer and you know busy and nine kids and everything, and how many of the nine kids? Somebody's bound to act up at least once. Right, so there was discipline in the house. There were staunch Presbyterians from the north of Ireland and my mother would say you know, when one of us got in trouble and we had to get disciplined, we all wanted our dad to spank us because our mother wouldn't spank us, but she gave us a tongue lashing. She called it a tongue lashing. She goes, and it would last for days.
Clem Ferris:We're like, can we just go get spanked real quick and get this over with? And on, and on, and on and on. It's like how about? Be quick to speak? Okay, be quick to hear, slow to speak? But the Holy Spirit is quick to speak and he's shortened to the point and you get more familiar with that voice the more you walk with him, the more you soak in his word. And then when you get that thought like I'm such an idiot, and he just counters it with the word of God, I don't call you that. Read your Bible, ferris. That's not in there. So this leads up to the great revelation of the day. You ready for the great revelation of the day this is it, june 1st is to change your life. Great revelation of the day. You ready.
Clem Ferris:Your tongue has no ears. Wasn't that profound? Wasn't that deep? I know some of you right now you're looking it up on Google Like is that true, honey? I don't know. Our tongue doesn't have ears. How do you train a tongue, how do you train anything that won't listen to you? But I got good news your heart does. The tongue has no ears, but your heart does, and what I want to put together this morning is that amazing connection between your heart and your tongue. It's a divine connection.
Clem Ferris:Luke said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. See, there's the connection of the heart and the mouth, because as the heart hears over and over good sermons from your guys here and teachings and your favorite podcasts, whatever, as you continue to hear with your spiritual heart and the word of God then begins to do a transformation of your heart first, and it's a transformed heart that produces a transformed tongue. It's a process. Everybody and all the mothers and fathers you know from a little age, you're constantly. You're correcting words, aren't you? Don't say that. I mean it's this constant reorganizing of our words.
Clem Ferris:I love the psalmist prayer, psalm 19. I quote it often At the very end of that verse 14, it says Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart see how they're connected be acceptable in your sight, o Lord, my strength and my redeemer Divine connection of the heart and the tongue, because the tongue's only as good as the heart that directs it, the horse's rider, the ship's captain. And yet, as we're on this journey, we have to be quite aware of our inconsistencies. But don't let that get you down. We're all in training but we are inconsistent. Just face it. James goes, you think you're doing okay, here's your tip. But let me just remind you, with it we bless our Lord and our Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. Just like that. Come in. Like we did, sing worship songs Hallelujah, that was a great song, wasn't it? Worshiping God, his name. Oh, we just love you, lord Jesus.
Clem Ferris:And we get out in the parking lot What'd you think of that guy's sermon? I don't know, it was kind of long. I think, I don't know, before you get out of the parking lot yapping away about what they didn't like, I think that went a little too long. We're so quick to be inconsistent, right? James is kind of bringing this contradiction. He talks about it really throughout his whole epistle. This ought not to be. So is what he says. He gets a little stern because he's talking to the family. Now he's saying my brothers, adelphois, brothers and sisters. This shouldn't be so.
Clem Ferris:In some sense, we're monitoring our words together in community, your TCC, your community of believers, of brothers and sisters, and you know what? You have the divine privilege of listening to how other people are talking to each other. Come on, moms and dads, you don't talk to your sister that way. We correct right in the face we don't treat our family members that way. Don't talk to you. Go apologize to your sister for what you just said. Right, and we have to gently be able to help people with their words in the body in our community. And it's so easy.
Clem Ferris:There's scandals ab and they're everywhere and they're all over the internet. And our pastor said to our staff just recently. He said stop watching the scandalous YouTube videos about other churches and other leaders. Stop it, stop looking at that stuff. All it does is feed the wrong information.
Clem Ferris:Sometimes you've got to say don't listen to that, don't talk that way, don't talk that way about your brother. Don't listen to that, don't talk that way, don't talk that way about your brother, don't talk your way about your sister in the family or in Christ. This ought not to be. James said. He's addressing the carnality right, he's addressing the what. I want you to become spiritually mature, and this will stop you every time. Your religion will be empty if you don't get this going in your life. So it's only possible through the power of the word and the Holy Spirit. And aren't you glad the fire in your mouth is set on fire by hell itself. But I got good news you can either have a tongue that's set on fire of hell or you can have a tongue that's set on fire by heaven. How many know? We got a heavenly fire too.
Clem Ferris:Come on, it's Pentecost Sunday, somebody. It's Pentecost Sunday. On the day of Pentecost Acts, chapter 2,. What's the first thing that God went after? The tongue of the human that no one could tame. But on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and tongues of fire rested upon those 120, and he says I'm going to start reversing the curse in your mouth. I'm going to do something about the fire in your mouth. I'm going to turn it from a hellish fire to a holy fire.
Clem Ferris:And you got to say God, empower my words by the Holy Spirit, speaking by the Spirit. All the gifts of the Spirit operate by one thing the Holy Spirit. And when Paul introduces 1 Corinthians 12, he talks about those that speak by the Spirit. That's how he marks somebody. That's spiritual. What your speech? Speaking by the Spirit, all those gifts are activated by words.
Clem Ferris:Prophecy starts it off. Then you can move into word of knowledge, word of wisdom. Do they need healing? All because of the word flow, spiritual words. Even Proverbs 15, verse 4, I love this. It says a gentle or wholesome, literally a healing tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. Your tongue can actually bring healing to somebody. It starts with words. Yeah, you pray, yeah, you lay hands on people, but you know what? You have a fountain of life in your mouth and it comes from here, where the Spirit, as Jesus talked about, out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. This he said of the Spirit. The tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12 says and these are the good uses of the tongue that we have to remind ourselves what it's for. We want to get to the point that you use your tongue to glorify Jesus and let the word of God dwell in you so richly that you cannot speak with any other accent.
Clem Ferris:Y'all have an accent. I live in North Carolina, as you can tell from my accent. Y'all have an accent. I live in North Carolina, as you can tell from my accent. I love accents. I do. It's such a great conversation starter. Somebody's speaking, he's going. Hey, love your accent. Where are you from, man? You got instant conversation. I want to know.
Clem Ferris:Jesus spoke with an accent. Where do you get your accent from your home? Come on, somebody. It's where you grew up. It's the culture you were shaped in. Jesus spoke with the accent of heaven, because that's where he's from. There was a Christian doctor coming out of an intense surgery and he's walking down the hall just kind of giving a little praise to God, and he's just actually speaking in tongues. And a colleague came up behind him kind of like taps him and goes. Excuse me, he goes. What language is that? He goes the language of my homeland. That's what we speak at home. Come on somebody. God wants to change your accent to speak like Jesus. When people come into Trinity they'll go. Those people speak with an accent and ain't Tennessee either. Come on, like Derek, we'll give you Tennessee elocution lectures by Derek. It's not the Tennessee accent. They're going to notice the accent of heaven in your mouth. It's like they're kind fruit of the spirit gentle. They're going to notice the difference. You don't react. We need that.
Clem Ferris:I'm going to finish something out of the Old Testament, in Isaiah, chapter 50. And here's the thing too, I learned you can't outthink the devil, but you can outspeak him. Come on, somebody, write that down. If you're going to get anything today, that's absolutely worth it all. Yeah, you can't outthink the devil, but you can outspeak him every time it is written. That's all Jesus did. He didn't try to outthink him, he just outspoke him. Come on, isaiah learned.
Clem Ferris:Okay, he had to learn how to use his tongue as a prophet. And he says this chapter 50, verse four, he says the Lord has given me the tongue of one who is taught. How many know your tongue can be taught, but remember, it has no ears. So you have to teach your heart so it can teach your tongue that I might learn how to sustain those who are weary. That means weary from battle. Listen, there's people all over this Knoxville area. They're so weary from battle because they're in a battle of words they don't know how to fight, they're just victims. And you can come with a tongue of one who's been taught and speak into their life in their weariness. That's a word of edification, that's a word of exhortation and comfort that we all should be doing to sustain those who are weary. How does he do it? He awakens my ear to hear, as those who have been taught. He says now he's teaching my tongue. He says how does he do it? He awakens my ear to hear my inner ear. He awakens it to hear, as those who are taught. So he goes on to say this Isaiah 53, we're going to close with this. Isaiah 53, we're going to close with this.
Clem Ferris:Jesus was oppressed, he was afflicted. He was oppressed and afflicted. What do you do when you're oppressed and afflicted, falsely accused? What rises up in you? Words? Oh, you can't wait. I'm giving you a piece of my mind. Yet he was oppressed and afflicted and he opened, not his mouth. Wow, could have, should have. We think. Well, that would have been me. I would have called down angels, like the disciples, take his ear off. No, here's my question. To leave this morning.
Clem Ferris:Why was Jesus silent? Why did he hold his tongue? Friends, he was silent because of every word, by nature, that has proceeded out of your mouth and my mouth, which would have been adequate reason for him to damn us for all eternity. That's why he was silent. For you, for me, because of my words, because of your words, because we've cursed him and his image. He came into the world to bear the judgment of the sins of our tongues. That's why he stood silent that day.
Clem Ferris:And we're all here going, mm-hmm, this hurts so good. We all wish we could just do better. You can't do better without the Holy Spirit, and that's what we're here for. It's Pentecost Sunday. God sent the Holy Spirit to help us tame our tongues right, and so we follow the example of Jesus. But here's the thing he's your Savior first, then he's your example.
Clem Ferris:Come on, somebody needs to grasp that this morning. Jesus Christ is your Savior first. He saves you by the words of your mouth. I believe he died and rose. God raised him from the dead and I believe he saved me. It's that simple, it's words. But he's your savior first, and then he's our example for how we can do it in the image of Christ. So we come conscious this morning. That's all.
Clem Ferris:This message is to awaken our conscious, because the world is going crazy and I know you were all in a battle of words. The words are flying everywhere. We have to harness the power of our words. You can't harness other people's words. You wish you could. You've tried to. You've put those posts on social media and nobody says, oh, thank you so much for your opinion. I've changed my life now. Know what they do, delete, unfriend, go away. No, it doesn't work that way. It starts here.
Clem Ferris:So we are like the publican and the sinner and we just come humbly and say God, be merciful to me, a sinner, would you stand with me? I want to pray with us. We're all in this together, right, we all stumble in many ways. But now you're aware, and now you come into your small group and house church meetings a little different. You're a little more awake and conscious of and like with me. That little voice will go.
Clem Ferris:I don't say that. I don't know how many times I've just heard these words don't say anything. I mean Holy Spirit probably should just say shut up. But he's a little more polite. He just says don't speak. And I hear it a lot, but it's loud and clear now like it never was before. I've just become so much more aware when I shouldn't say anything. So we pray that same prayer.
Clem Ferris:God, be merciful to me a sinner with our lips, but I thank you that Jesus came and was silent in order that he might bear the penalty of all the misuse of my tongue. Isn't that refreshing. The penalty for the misuses of our words and our tongue has been paid by Jesus. He's taking care of it, okay. And knowing that, then we can worship with all of our heart these songs we can worship. And I think of Charles Wesley who, back in the 1700s, penned the opening stanza of this great hymn, and I think he was thinking about his own tongue. I think he was thinking about oh, jesus paid the penalty for the misuse of human tongues. And then I think he got a glimpse of heaven and said oh, the day will come when, oh when, a thousand tongues will sing right, my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace. Thousands and thousands of tongues will sing in unison, redeemed for the glory of the King. Can you say amen to that? Amen.
