First Peter 3:9-12 says, “Not rendering evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing one another, because you were called to this, that you might inherit blessing. For ‘he who desires to love life and see good days, let him cause his tongue to cease from evil and his lips to speak no guile. And let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it; for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears incline to their petition; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’”
Another kind of words which should never come out of a Christian’s mouth is evil words. What are evil words? Evil words are words of reviling, words of cursing. A child of God cannot render evil for evil or reviling for reviling.
Many people think that they have the right to speak a certain way because others have spoken the same way. Today the world argues about who said what first, but the Lord is concerned about whether or not one has spoken at all. We may ask, “Since others have already said this, can I not say it as well?”, but please bear in mind that we cannot render evil for evil or reviling for reviling. It is not a matter of who spoke first, but a matter of whether or not you spoke at all.
A new believer must learn to speak words of blessing from the very beginning. Do not allow reviling or cursing to come out of your mouth.
Furthermore, a person must control his temper. He must control his temper before he can control his words before God. A person’s words are not controlled if his temper is not controlled. Many evil words come out of a person’s mouth because his temper is not controlled. If God’s children are not exercised, reviling and filthy words will come out of their mouths. Many people do not know how to control their temper, and their mouths are full of reviling words. On the one hand, these words do not glorify God. On the other hand, they deprive a person of any blessing from God.
Now we come to the fifth point. We need to know what we should pay attention to in our speaking. James 3 specifically deals with our words. Let us read verses 1 through 12. We need to find out how God’s children should speak.
Verse 1 says, “Do not become many teachers, my brothers.” Why? “Knowing that we will receive greater judgment.” The most outstanding characteristic of those who are undisciplined in their words is their desire to be teachers. Wherever they go, they like to teach. Wherever they are, they have something to say. They want to be teachers of others under any circumstance. They can give their lectures free of charge. Many people like to be teachers and counselors. When they are among others, they always have a great deal to say. Do you see the problem here? A Christian must not only stop lying, gossiping, and speaking evil words. He should not even be wordy at all. No matter what kind of words he speaks, he is wrong as long as he speaks too much. As soon as a man speaks too much, he loses all of his blessing before the Lord.
Verse 2 says, “For in many things we all stumble. If anyone does not stumble in word, this one is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.” Whether or not a person can bridle himself depends on whether he can bridle his words. Whether or not a person has self-control—a fruit of the Spirit—depends on whether he can bridle his words. Many brothers and sisters misunderstand the Bible. They think that self-control is moderation. Please keep in mind that self-control is self-control. The teaching of moderation has nothing to do with us. Christians should exercise self-control, which means that they should control themselves.
Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5 shows us what the fruit of the Spirit is, while James tells us what the mark of the fruit of the Spirit is. James says a person who is able to bridle his whole body is surely able to bridle his words. Those who are loose in their words are loose in their living. Those who speak foolishly conduct themselves foolishly. A person who is indiscreet with words is surely indiscreet in everything he does. A person who has many words is bound to be a careless person before God. Whether or not a person can bridle his whole body depends on whether he can bridle his mouth. I hope that from now on all the new believers will learn to bridle their words before God.
Many brothers and sisters pray for God to deal with them and to grant them mercy. I will say a word to them: If God can deal with your speaking, He can deal with you. There are many people whose speaking constitutes the very life of their being. Their speaking represents their strength, the very hollow of their thigh. If God can deal with their speaking, He can deal with their whole being. Many people have not been defeated by God in their speaking. As a result, their very being has not been defeated by God. If a man has no self-control over himself, he may act in certain ways. But once others talk to him for half an hour, they realize the kind of person he is. As soon as a man opens his mouth, his very being is exposed. Nothing exposes a person more than his words. As soon as a man speaks, his very being is fully exposed. If you want to see whether a man can control himself, simply ask if he can control his speaking.