Qualities Needed in Trials

Genuine Religion Is Shown by Word, Mercy, and Holiness

We'd like to continue our message through James. I'm going to do my best to finish up chapter 1 today. The last two verses. So please turn with me in the book of James to the last two verses. We'll be looking at verse 26 and 27 of James.

And I'd like to minister to you this morning, and it's already stepped on my toes, is three vital signs of your religious... if your religion is genuine and real. Three vital signs that your religion, or should I say Christianity, is genuine and real.

And very, very few times that you hear the word religion in Scripture, this is found right here in James. And he's meaning something that's very important in the sense of that our Christianity is shown by our actions and not by our words only.

So that's what he's going to be talking about to us today. So these are just two verses of Scripture, but we see that within these two verses of Holy Scripture, that James packs a very powerful punch, doesn't he?

And why? Well, I would believe that the only answer that I could see is because the power of the blessed Holy Spirit that's behind James' words is Spirit-filled. It is the inspired, all-sufficient Word of God.

So hear the word of the living God, James 1, verses 26 and 27. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not brattle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Verse 27, pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit the orphans and widows in their troubles and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

May God bless the reading of his word to our hearts as well as to our hearing this morning. Let's pray. Our God and Father, as we come to you this morning, we do, first of all, recognize that all religion is not pleasing to you, as it is said here.

And just as all worship is not pleasing to you, I believe it goes hand in glove. Father, we even see back in Genesis, two brothers. Two brothers, Cain and Abel. Both were very religious. Both were very devout.

Yet only one, only one truly pleased you. And Lord, we know that answer. And he's found in Hebrews 11 as well, under those men and women of faith. That one was able, because his sacrifice was one of blood by faith.

Help us to remember that, Father. That it's not of good works and it's not of our righteousness that has saved us. It's not through self-righteousness as such as Cain. Father, I pray that you would deliver us from any Cain's self-righteous worship today.

May we see that it is only through the faith, that only through faith alone in the blood of Jesus, that most pleases you. So Lord, I would pray to give us ears to hear what your word and your spirit says to your church, to your people.

And give us eyes to see that the great sacrifice on Calvary's tree, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood sacrifice, that was once and for all sufficient, has wiped away our sins. Our sins has been atoned for.

So Lord, help us to see only Jesus. Only Christ, who has given himself that we may have eternal life, and please you through faith. Only faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is what pleases you.

And that is in worship as well. How can we even worship you unless we come through blood? You've always required this, Father. And now it's through the blood of your Son. And that is the only way to you.

And it's the only way to worship you in spirit and truth. So we would ask this in the name that is above all names. And for your glory, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, as I've already pointed out, that all religion is not pleasing and acceptable to God.

Commentator Daniel Duran gives us some very personal insight to a story that illustrates this truth. And I quote him here. He says, I was once part of a large team mission project that most of us stayed in the same house.

So we were together many hours a day. And one man rose first daily every morning. We spotted him on the porch reading his Bible at sunrise. One evening he told me this. Quote, I'm excited to go to bed each night because I am that much closer to my time alone with God in the morning.

I can't tell you how close I feel to God. End quote. Daniel Duran continues and says, I felt like a spiritual dung beetle. I can relate to that. A spiritual dung beetle next to this lion of the faith.

Months later, our spiritual lion was in legal trouble for getting drunk and doing things that were both sins and crimes. And I believe that was more involved here. He just doesn't go in detail, which scriptures do tell us not to go into those kind of details.

So worse yet, he goes on to say he was doing such things for years, come to find out. So our spiritual giant was a giant hypocrite. This turn of events would not surprise the apostle Paul and all the apostles.

Paul knew religious talk can be cheap. He said in 1 Corinthians 7 .19, keeping God's commands is what counts. And in Galatians 6 .15, what counts is a new creation. James agrees, and this is Daniel Duran, he goes on.

James agrees what impresses him is the devotion to God and that manifests itself in concrete acts of love. That's the key right there. Concrete acts of love and righteousness. He goes on to say he mentions three tokens of true spirituality in James.

In chapter 1, verse 26 and 27, our text today. And he says this, one is in negative terms and two is in positive terms. He goes on to say true religion is to look after, and this is what scripture says of course, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I like that word there, polluted, end quote. Another quote is by John MacArthur. I quote him quite often because he's one of my favorite pastors. He says this in his commentary. He makes a very good comment concerning these two verses in James.

He acknowledges, quote, Just as there are three elements to hearing and receiving the word, with submission and purity and humility, so there are also three elements to obeying the word. Thus, the true believer, the hearer and the doer of the word, proves his faith in three ways.

In relation to himself, he's willing to apply the word without deception, in verses 22 through 26. Second is in relation to others, first is to himself and second to others, he's willing to apply the word without selfishness in verse 27.

And third, in relation to the world, he is willing to apply the word without compromise in verse 27b. And that is pretty much Pastor John MacArthur's quote. So there we may see very good observations from these men that from their experience, as we study and observe from verse 26 and 27 today, so beginning at this point, let me ask this question.

And I think it's always good to start with a question because it helps us probe and examine ourselves and what's in the text before us. And I was asking myself this question as I was writing this down and I was just doing my best and gleaning from what these men said and what the text says.

How do we know if our religion, our Christianity, even our very own conservative evangelical Bible-based religion is acceptable to God?

How do we know this?

That's a good question, really. And we're going to dig in a little bit this morning and see what the text says to each and one of us here as we glean from these two verses. So James 1 .26 .27 really gives us three signs that prove our religion is genuine and real.

And James says the religion God approves impacts three things here. And this is not original. I saw this with a message and I could not find the name, Brother Keith, so I was going to give that person credit, but I couldn't find the name.

But I'm sure it's not original to him because this is an awful good outline. It's three points, and it does fit perfectly with verse 26 and 27. And he says these three signs is number one. Notice this.

It's our conversation. Our conversation in verse 26. Secondly, it's our compassion in verse 27a. And then third, it is our character in verse 27b. Our conversation, our compassion, and our character. If anything, don't leave this apartment without knowing those three vital signs.

I believe they will change your life. And as I was studying, they really did some change in me because I'm thinking this is really concrete. This is the anchor right here, those three points. Conversation, compassion, and character.

And we're going to see what the verse is. This is a word of God.

Yes, it is.

You could take this all through the word of God. As a matter of fact, we could just extend this, and I can just take one of these and just build upon it and just take. I mean, we could spend hours and hours, but I'm going to try to pack it in all today so we can move on in chapter 2.

So this morning, we're going to look at these three points, which James gives us, and believe me, there will be enough punch to it, enough for us to chew on throughout the whole week and even further than that, which James gives to us in verse 26 and 27.

At the end of this chapter, we could say that James has given us application. I believe this is just pure-out application. Of everything that he has said previously in chapter 1, this is the application here.

And you could see that. It's in action. It's in conversation. And then he moves on more than just conversation with our tongue, and that our tongue needs to be bridled. And this is actually where he begins, and we see this.

He picks this up more even in chapter 3. But some things we're going to observe. This is the practical, as Brother Keith and I always talked about, the shoe-leather faith right here, brother. It is faith and obedience together to the commandments of God, and that's what really matters.

And this is what really matters. What Solomon says, and this is one of my favorite verses, and I posted this on Facebook before, and I have got people howling mad about this verse. Why would a Christian, a professing Christian, get howling mad about this verse?

But this one particular person did. And I put it, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13 and 14. Maybe you can observe from it, but if you really love the Lord as hard as this is, this is what Solomon says in chapter 12 and 13 and 14, Ecclesiastes.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

That is some powerful truth, but it is so true, isn't it? This is the conclusion of the whole matter. This is man's all. It's to fear God and to keep His commandments. So that's what is James. Does that tie in with James?

Absolutely. This is what James is talking about. So in essence, this is what he's talking about. That's what he's telling us. What really matters before God is what really counts. So there are three signs here.

In verse 26 and 27, James gives them the proof that our religion will be acceptable and pleasing before God. And as I mentioned, number one, your conversation. Number two, your compassion. Number three, your character.

Those three things. Let's take a look at it. Let's first start with the first sign of this important, important sign. James speaks of real and genuine religion is known by our conversation. Notice what the text says.

If anyone among you thinks, thinks he is religious and does not bridle or should I say controls, that's what he's talking about, controls his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless and vain.

Or there's another translation that says worthless. That's a strong language. James is concerned about deceit at first. Notice what he says.

He thinks.

He thinks he's religious. He thinks he's a Christian. We can put it in our words today. That entails, this deception entails blindness and hypocrisy. You know the word hypocrisy. It's really the old word of meaning play actor.

Someone putting on a theatrical play on a stage. Acting. Acting. Remember James says we dare not merely listen to the word. In verse 22, be you doers of the word and not hearers only. And then what does he say?

Deceiving yourselves. It is a mirror to the soul. The word of God is. Revealing our moral and our spiritual flaws so we can amend them. Actually that's the purpose in verse 23 and 24. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

Then he says in verse 24, if he observes himself and goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. He forgets. So, when we obey the word, it gives freedom and blessing to all who live by it.

Verse 25, but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, that's the word of God, and continues in it. There's the key word right there. He continues in it and notice what he says. And is not a forgetful hearer.

That's the deal there. We must not be forgetful. And oh my goodness, how forgetful we are most of the time. Not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. That's interesting. He says the work. This one will be blessed in what he does.

And I personally believe he's drawing from Jesus' conclusion on the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus gives the parable of the two houses that's built, one on the rock and one on the sand. The storm comes, the one that's founded on the rock stands because he speaks about that particular person, hears the word, and is a doer of the word.

He obeys.

The other one did not obey. They heard it, but did not obey. So therefore, that house went down. And great was the fall of it, Jesus said. I believe James is drawing from that. So we can gaze at the word without listening.

We can forget it, and we can forget its objective claims and its commands and go away deceived. And Lord help us that we will not be deceived. Because if we're not practicing it and obeying it, we are deceiving ourselves.

That's what he's saying. We can listen to it, but if we're not practicing it and putting it into work in our lives, that's what is displeasing to God. So what is he saying? But James says we should control our tongues.

Oh my goodness. And be slow to speak. He's introduced this in verse 19. Be slow to speak. Our religious speech should be cautious as well. So if we profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and have no deeds, our profession is vain.

Our profession is vain. What's an example of this? And I was thinking of this, and go with me to the book of Acts very quickly, to Acts chapter 5. You know the story. It's a very strong story. It's a very sobering story.

And it's one case of church discipline that Peter executes by the authority that it's given to him. And Ananias and Sapphira. So a lot of people said, well, where are you going with this, Pastor? Well, if you notice, what did they do?

What was the sin that they did? They lied to the Holy Spirit. That was the sin. But they did not have to say what they said. It was in their own power.

Amen.

They really should have thought through this before they made a vow before God and did not live up to that vow. They lied, not to men, but to the Holy Spirit. And Peter brings that to their attention.

But I want you to notice very quickly, and I'm just going to read these verses and just point out some things, but notice this. And you're very familiar with the story, but the problem is what they said with their tongue.

That's what I'm thinking of. But a certain man, a man named Ananias, with Sapphira, that's his wife, sold a possession. Now, where did this come from? If you notice the verses prior to that, it says in verse 36, and Hoses, whose name was Barnabas, by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, and Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it.

See, they were doing this. And brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. So Ananias and Sapphira was picking up on this. So they want to do it too. They want to be known as givers to the church and be well-liked, I suppose.

Sold a possession. So this is what they did. They sold a possession. And look what happened. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.

So they kept back a part of it.

A part of it.

But Peter said to Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? There it is right there. He did this sin with his tongue. But where did the tongue link into? The heart. The heart.

And he says, and kept back part of the price land to yourself? While it remained, it was not your own? Was it not your own? And after it was sold? These are questions Peter's saying. And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?

Notice that. Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? That's where the sin was. You have not lied to men but to God.

Wow.

Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. God brought judgment on him right then and there. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young man arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

Verse 7. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in. I like what John MacArthur put here. She must have been having a pretty bad hair day. There's a space of three hours. And here she comes, not knowing what happened.

She didn't know about her husband, that he was already dead. Lying to the Holy Spirit. Then now Peter, being the apostle, that is given the authority, he asked her a question. Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

She said yes for so much. Then Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, to the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door. They will carry you out.

That is strong, isn't it? Then immediately, immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead and carried her out and buried her by her husband.

That is powerful. And then in verse 11, so great fear, once again it says, great fear came upon all the church, upon all who heard these things. And rightly so. God was demonstrating, you do not get away with lying to him.

And what I'm bringing out here is that even though the sin was in their heart,.

And Jesus says,.

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. That's what he said. The heart's deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? But great fear came upon all those who heard these things. Great fear came upon all the church.

Why? Because they lied. But it was through the tongue, the sin of the tongue. And notice what Peter says, and I pointed this out. He says, after it was sold, was it not in your own control?

You didn't have to make these promises.

That's what he's saying.

They didn't have to say,.

Oh, we're going to sell this big part of the land and the possessions. We're going to lay it at the apostles' feet,.

Just like Barnabas.

They didn't have to say that.

But it was in their own control. And that's what I'm saying. Getting back to James. If you think of it, see, it's how to bridle our tongue. That's what we need to be careful. Like I said, Ananias and Sapphira made a vow to God and did not follow through with their vow that they made.

And it was in their heart, but it came out of their mouth. And usually what comes out of our mouth comes from our heart. It's a very sobering, very sobering story, isn't it? Well, one joint translation back to James here.

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself. And his religion is worthless. So first and foremost, true Christianity, true religion controls the tongue.

Controls the tongue. That in of itself steps all over me, doesn't it? The word translated control, this is interesting, control comes from a word that means to put a bridle in a horse's mouth. That's where the word control comes from.

That's why some of the translations mentions the unbridled tongue and others talk about keeping a tight rein, the bridle, the tight rein on your tongue. So true religion bridles the tongue. Angry talk, gossip, filthy talk, as Paul talks about should not be mentioned, and deception or leading failures of speech.

James develops quite a literary of verbal sins here. And we're going to look at a few of them. His concern for the proper and improper use of the tongue pervades his letter, doesn't it? We will see this once we get to chapter 3 and it's going to really walk on all of us.

You know as well as I do. We've all sinned somewhere along the line with our tongue, haven't we? Think of this. Here's just a few, okay? And there's much, much more, but I want to just name just a few.

In verses 13 and 14 of chapter 1, he warns against self-justifying speech. When tempted, no one should blame God. Saying, notice that, saying God is tempting me, he says it with a tongue. Verses 3 and 4 of chapter 2, James criticizes those who flatter the rich and humiliate the poor.

In James chapter 2 verse 16, he condemns the careless speech that wishes well but never lifts a hand to help. In chapter 2 verse 18, he questions the superficial claim. I have faith, he speaks, they say, if no deeds can confirm it.

In chapter 3 verse 9, he deploys the tongues that praise God one moment and then curses people the next. In chapter 4 verse 11, he chides those who slander and judge their brothers. And in chapter 4 verse 13, he condemns boastful plans as if one can do whatever he decrees.

So you see how the tongue, that's just a small example of just a few. You see it all the way, it pervades all the way through the book of James. James also says, boasts and curses and sparks conflicts that prove that it is set on fire from hell itself.

Yet heirs of true religion will reign in these sins. We will do something about it, right? There will be sanctification. We're going to look at that later on. So why is this so important? Well, as you well know, Proverbs 18, 21 gives us a powerful answer to that.

The tongue, Solomon said, has the very power of life and death. Life and death, think about that for a second.

Think about it.

Every time we open our mouth, life is coming out or death comes out, one of the two. Life or death. The word of God speaks also of the throat, the very throat, as an open sepulcher or grave, Romans 3 .13.

When there's death on the inside, it will eventually show up in our words, doesn't it? So did you know, now I got this from studying a little bit and I had no idea, and Ben, you're going to love this.

I know how you like facts, but this is really incredible. But it gives us some facts about how many words we all speak within a day and it takes it a little bit further. Did you know the average person speaks 16 ,000 words a day?

16 ,000 words a day. That's equivalent of a 64-page book. That's the average. There's some people probably do more than maybe some does a little less. It just depends how many words comes out. Now think of this.

In a month, to those statistics, in a month you speak 480 ,000 words in a month. That's equivalent of a book of 1920 pages. That's incredible. Think of this. This is what this person did. I don't know who did this, but somebody took some time to put these numbers together and crunch some pretty good numbers.

In one year, to those statistics, you speak 5 ,760 ,000 words, which is roughly equivalent to four volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

That's a lot.

Now think of this. If we stretch that over 70 years,.

Oh, this is mind-boggling,.

70 years of time, the average person will end up speaking 403 million words, roughly equal to the entire 44-volume set of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Wow.

Multiplied nine times. Think of that. That's sobering, isn't it? How many words we speak. Now, there's a reason I wrote this down, because it helps us think, oh my, look at the words I'm speaking, that we will be more conscious of how and what we speak.

Think of it this way. Today, you and I will speak the equivalent of a 64-page book. Tomorrow, another book. We know people that get into writing books. Look, we are a walking book. We are a book that people read every day.

And think of it. By the words we speak, there's a book that's printed, and God keeps that book. Now think of this. The day after another, imagine when someone reads the contents of the book you're writing with the tongue, the words you're speaking.

Suppose it was recorded somewhere, written down somewhere, somehow, caught on a video, and then played back on the Internet. And could you imagine for the whole world to hear and see what you have learned about your vocabulary and what you have said?

That's convicting, isn't it? Well, I've got something more convicting.

Listen to this.

The words of Jesus in Matthew 12, 33 -37. So go with me to Matthew 12. You know where I'm going. Brother Keith, you sent this to me I think a few weeks back. And I mentioned this is one of the strongest passages of Scripture found in the Word of God.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

Matthew 12, verse 33. Matthew 12. Yes, 33 -37. Yes, Jesus speaks, A tree is known by its fruit. Either make the tree good, or its fruit good. Or else make the tree bad, and its fruit bad. For a tree is known by its fruit.

Then who's he talking to? Eventually he's talking to the religious people of his day.

He said,.

Brutivibers!

How can you be an evil? Speak! Notice what he says. Speak good things! For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasures of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

But I say to you, that for every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. That is one of the most powerful verses, I think, in the Word of God.

That every idle word that we speak, we're going to give an account on the day of judgment. R .C. Sproul said that when I was hearing him on a lecture about the power of the tongue. That, no doubt, is one of the...

I think that needs no more commentary or anything, because it speaks as it stands. Very strong words, isn't it? Well, that's talking about the tongue. Very strong admonition from our Lord. And I believe it's one that can wake us up.

Perhaps we need to pray for the gift of silence. Lord, help us to tame our tongue more often. Help me to tame my tongue, to bridle it. So James draws a shocking conclusion when he says the unbridled tongue, it's not controlled, makes our religion useless and worthless.

He speaks about our conversation. So we need to keep this warning in mind at all times, but especially when we are tired. I don't know about you, when I get very tired, I say things I shouldn't say. That's one time I need to say, Lord, help me to have self-control, to keep my tongue, to bridle it.

Because when you get tired, you get irritable, and you say things that may really hurt. Under pressure. What about when you're under pressure? That's another time when we can say things when we should not say things.

And when people are trying to provoke me, I don't know about you, when people are trying to provoke you, you have a temptation and a tendency to fire back.

Oh no!

And then you want to say some very strong words. May the Lord Jesus just grant us a special grace to bridle, help bridle our tongue, that we might keep a tight rein on our tongues. Well, I can go on and on about that.

But that's the first sign of true religion, is to control our tongue. Control our tongue. Bridle our tongue. It's in our conversation. The next sign is a very good one, I think, and it's a very strong one, and a very important one, and that is your compassion.

Your compassion. Verse 27. Notice what he says. Pure and undefiled religion before God. I love the way he says that. Before God. It's before the face of God.

Just not men.

It is, but it's before God and the Father. Notice what he says to the Father. He speaks of God as the Father. To visit orphans and widows in their trouble. That means in their distress. So true religion before God is real and genuine and always moves us to action, and action is motivated by compassion.

There are several verses I'd like for you to follow along, but first of all, I'd like for us to look at one, and Brother Keith brought this to my attention, and he said Brother Michael brought it to his attention, is the Good Samaritan.

That is a perfect, perfect illustration and example that the Lord gives to us about true compassion. Let's just read those verses real quick. Go to Luke chapter 10. I believe it's in Luke's Gospel, chapter 10.

Chapter 10, look at verses 25 -37. I'm not going to comment a lot on it. I'm just going to let the Word of God speak to our hearts. Notice what the Lord says. This is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

And behold, in verse 25, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What is written in the law? Notice how Jesus comes back with questions.

What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? Boy, Jesus knew how to open up a person's heart. Listen to what he says. And then he says this in verse 27, And he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Now notice in verse 28, And he said to him, You have answered rightly. Then Jesus says this. Same thing what James says. Do this and you will live. Do this.

Amen.

You just can't know it. You've got to do it. There has to be obedience. And what he's referring to is the first and great commandment that he just quoted from the Old Testament and actually Deuteronomy chapter 6.

This is really incredible because the lawyer responds to Jesus' question by quoting Deuteronomy 6 .5 in the text that was recited twice a day by every faithful Jew in that day. This text summarizes the central ethical standard of the law.

So the lawyer was alluding to Leviticus 19 .18 but he was quoting from Deuteronomy. And the basis of man's response is an expression of allegiance or devotion that also can be seen as the natural expression of faith since the total person.

Notice the heart, the soul, the mind, the all, the whole person. And that's really the theme of the love of God is picked up here and the emphasis on the devotion to Jesus Christ is to love Him with everything, right?

So he answers right. And then he says this. You have answered rightly and do this and you will live. Verse 29. And he wanted to justify himself. Notice that. And he said to Jesus, Who is my neighbor? Interesting.

And then Jesus tells him. And then Jesus answered and said,. A certain man went down from Jerusalem in Jericho, fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, departed, leaving him half dead.