again, open your Bibles to James
chapter 1. The name of the message is Distinction.
Now, so far in this study, it's been a wonderful study, we've
received much instruction through this little book, and as I said
to you before, I've never studied this book until now. I've preached
from it, but I've never studied it verse by verse, and I really
enjoying this verse-by-verse studies, and I think we're just
going to continue to do these as we meet for Sunday school,
or have another book next time, because this is a really good
way for us to learn of what the Scripture says. And again, there's
much instruction in here. In the context of this chapter,
we've seen before the fact that God is not the author of sin,
and this is a charge that natural man brings. I've had multiple
people accused God of this, and as we've seen in our study of
this book, sin comes from within. It comes from within us. God is not the author of sin.
He's perfect. He's holy. He's righteous. Actually, He
sent the remedy for sin, didn't He? The Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't have to, did He? But
yet He sends the remedy, the only hope for sinners, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. So natural man often brings this
charge forth and lays it upon God, and we've seen in this study
again that sin comes from within, it proceeds from our hearts,
it bubbles up within us, and then it comes out in actions.
And we all know, we don't have to sit here and list our sins,
we all know we're guilty sinners before God, we know that, we
know we're just sinners saved by grace. So let's read verses
19 to 27 here. And let's look at the word as
James is brought forth is not only hearers but doers. And that's
just submitting ourselves to the word of God. That's just
believing what God says. So may God give us teachable
spirits to believe what he says, to receive this word, not to
just be hearers but to be doers of this word, to receive it and
believe it. Let's look at verses 19 to 27. Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow
to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be ye
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural
face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straightway forgeteth what manner of man
he was, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and
continueth therein, he be not a forgetful hearer, but a doer
of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man
among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue,
but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless, the widows
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
So we're gonna be looking at verses 26 and 27 today, and we
see a distinction made here. We see a distinction made between
a false professor and a true believer. And who's the one who's
made us to differ? Who's the one who's made the
two to differ? It's only God, right? Only God has made the
two people, the two characters brought forth in this passage
to differ. It's nothing that either of them
have done, because they're both in their natural state guilty
before God. but God has regenerated one of
them. Let's read the two verses again.
And this is all the work of God the Holy Spirit. James chapter one, verse 26 and
27. If any man among you seem to
be religious, and bridle not his tongue, but deceiveth his
own heart, this man's religion is vain. religion and undefiled
before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted
from the world." Now these two verses before us are the final
words concerning the fact that God is not the author of sin.
See, we have to remember the context of all this. James at
first is telling us how to endure trials. We're to rejoice, aren't
we? We're to rejoice in the midst of trials. Well, that's not easy
for us to do, is it? But by the power of God, we can
do that, by his grace and mercy. Doesn't mean we're not going
to complain when we're going through a trial, because I don't
know of anyone who doesn't do that. But what I usually find
with myself going through trials is that first I might start mumbling
a little bit, and then I realize this all comes from my King.
Is it so for you? I'm not saying every time it
happens that way, but sometimes it does. And then you just sit
back and realize, okay, Lord, you sent this my way, I'm gonna
just trust in you, and I'm gonna rest in you, and you're gonna
take care of it. And that's the hardest thing for us to do, isn't
it? But as far as calling God the author of sin, verse 16 says,
do not err, my beloved brethren. Don't err in that way. Sin is
ours, we own our sin. We're the ones who need to be
reconciled to God. We're the ones who need to be
reconciled to Him. And whether we understand it
or not, this is a clear teaching before us in scripture that God
is not the cause of man's evil or sin. In verse 17, we see there
in verse 17 that He's the cause of all good, every good gift. And every perfect gift comes
from above, comes from Him. Well, who is the perfect gift
who came from above? That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
isn't it? Maya. But everything good comes to
us from God. In verse 13 and 15, James makes
the case that man is the originator and cause of sin. Jack Shanks
brought forth this. I had to repeat this. We accept
this for our little peanut brains cannot explain such a thing.
We can't. We can't explain these things.
God is perfect, God is holy, God is righteous, and we're sinful. And we just accept these things,
don't we? We just accept these truths. And our last message
and thoughts were upon being doers of the word and not hearers.
And people, again, they tear that out of context, and they
say, well, here, you gotta do something. But that's just believing
what God says. Being a doer of the word is just
believing what God says. Believing what he says about
us. Believing what he says about
his son. Believing what he says about himself. Because now we
have a different view of God than we had before he saved us,
don't we? We have a totally different view. And the two characters
here brought forth before us are representative of two characters
in this world. Actually, they're two characters,
one of a religious man and one of a saved man. They both look into the gospel,
but one's unaffected by it. One's unaffected by it, and the
other one's completely affected by it. The one, an unbeliever, was a
forgetful hearer, and therefore does not, therefore they're not
a doer of the word. They deceive themselves. Look
at verse 26. If any man among you seem to
be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his
own heart. Look at that. Deceiving their own heart. Heart
is desperately wicked, beloved. This man's religion is vain.
And the other is a remembering hearer and therefore a doer of
the word. Look at verse 27, pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their afflictions and to keep themselves unspotted from the
world. And part of that doing is remembering
what manner of people we are, which involves two undeniable
truths. First, the fact that we're sinners.
We've been taught that, haven't we? We've been taught that we're
sinners. And some people think otherwise,
but still don't change the fact that they're sinners. Right? We're all sinners. And that's
our station in life. And secondly, the hearer and
doer of the word, secondly, believes that Christ is the only Savior,
the only hope of sinners. And they look into the perfect
law of liberty, freedom in Christ. And then they continue therein,
just looking to Christ. That's all, just looking to Christ. God will change us. He changes
our thoughts towards sin, doesn't he? He changes our actions because
of our thoughts towards our sin now. Now, I'll tell you what,
does sin bother you? It bothers us, doesn't it? Did
it bother you before the Lord saved you? Not at all. Who made the difference? God. Isn't that amazing? He made the difference. Now it
bothers us. Now we repent of our sins. And we need to be reminded again
and again and again of these two things. Number one, that
we're sinners. And number two, that Christ is the only Savior.
We need to be reminded again and again and again and again. And if we keep these two things
in our minds, the fact that we're sinners and the fact that Christ
is the only Savior, the only hope for sinners, we'll have
the hope of salvation ever before us. No matter what we go through. Because our hope is in Christ
and Him alone, right? We don't have hope in anything
else. We don't have hope in ourselves. We have no ability. And so if
we keep Christ at our forefront, remember that message about being
single-minded? Keeping Christ in front of us and looking to
Him with what comes up? then we will have our hope in
Christ. We'll have that hope ever before
us, so that no matter what comes from the world, we'll be looking
to Him. Easier said than done, though,
right? But let us keep reminding ourselves
that we need to just look to Him. It's not about, oh, I gotta
do this work to gain favor with God, otherwise He's gonna punish
me. I used to think that way in religion. Something was going
wrong in my life, I thought, oh, God's punishing me. I should
have done that, or I should have talked to that person. God doesn't
operate that way, beloved. Not with his people. He loves
us. Now, does he correct us every
once in a while? Oh, yeah. But it's a personal correction,
right, through the word of God, isn't it? Yeah, and he lets us
know we're sinners, don't he? Just through his word, being
preached and proclaimed. And we see our need even more
for him. Since we're sinners, even though we are saved by grace,
we still fight with problems of pride and self-will, don't
we? See, that's why this instruction is here for us. The Holy Spirit
knows what we're like. There's nothing new under the
sun. So the same struggles you and I have today are the same
struggles that these believers had, that James wrote to. Men doesn't change. Men and women
are the same. We're sinners. And we who believe
are simply safe sinners, aren't we? My, so this instruction's
for us. And we're sometimes apt to use
what we know in an improper way, and we can often use the very
gospel of peace as a proverbial blunt instrument to hammer our
enemies into submission. When I was in religion, I was
like that, just. My way or the highway. Just a hammer. I was horrible,
guys. And when I see this verse, actually, when we started this
study, and I was reminded of how I used to be, for the wrath
of man worketh not the righteousness of God, in verse 20. Arguing
and debating doesn't work the righteousness of God. Just give
him the word. We were talking about that, sister.
Just give him the word. Just let it sit there. Don't fight. This word is truth. Just lay it in front of him.
Let the Holy Spirit do the work. Just proclaim what Christ has
done for us. But here in our text today, again,
we have two very distinct characters. And we also have the first mention
of the tongue. James is going to really deal
with the tongue in chapter three. And I'll tell you what, I have
a feeling we're all going to feel that one, because we're
all the same, right? We are. Guilty. Right? We're all the same. As
I said last week, well, I don't get that mad. Just have somebody
cut in front of you on the road, and what happens? Right? OK. We'll just leave it there,
right? Or in the parking lot, oh, that's a beautiful spot.
And somebody else goes right in front of you. OK. Okay. We're just sinners, aren't
we? Saved by the grace of God, eh?
Oh my. So the scripture says this, too.
In Psalm 141, verse 3, David knew of the danger of the tongue.
He writes this, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep
the doors of my lips. So keep, you know, Keep me quiet
sometimes. Keep me quiet. Because I know
I have sometimes when somebody, I'm talking to somebody, it wells
up in you that you want to say something, don't you? Especially
if it's about the gospel. And let them speak and then give
them the truth. Because they want to be heard.
Let them speak. And then give them the truth.
Give them the answer from the scriptures. And give it in love. Don't get angry. Just say, well,
this is what the scripture says. We don't have to argue and debate,
nothing. And again, this is the first mention of the tongue,
verse 26 in this epistle. And again, James will deal more
with the smallest member in our body. Oh, it's wild. And we're going to see that.
It's hard to tame. But look what he says here. If
any man among you seem to be religious and bridal, it's not
his tongue. but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion
is vain." It's worthless. It's worthless. So we have here
in verse 26 someone who appears to be religious, but they don't
bridle their tongue. Do you know why they, how they do
this when it says they don't bridle their tongue? Well, they
boast in their own self-righteousness. They say things like, no one can do anything like we
can. They seek the preeminence. They
seek the chief spot. And they cannot bridle their
tongues. They gossip. And they're always employed in
wondering what others do and what they don't do. And then
they claim that they're the only ones who are doing things right. I've met these folks in my journey
in this life as a believer. And I was one of them as an unbelieving
religious man. But by the grace of God, he saved
me. James here is talking about the
duty of restraint in our tongue. And think of this, earlier in
the chapter, what did he tell us as believers to do? Be slow to speak. Be silent before God. When the
gospel's being preached, Listen to what's being preached. But this person in verse 26 likes
to show themselves to be superior. And he brings forth that we must
not use our tongue in evil speaking. Now sometimes those who have
put off grosser sins are especially subject to this disease. They
may not be an adulterer, nor a thief, or a drunkard, but they
have an outward show of goodness. And they will often show their
goodness, supposedly, by deframing others. Speaking evil of others, that's
not true. All under the pretense of zeal. But really, it's the lust of
slandering. That's really what it is. Do
you know why they do this? Because they're so swollen with
pharisaic pride that they seek praise from the defects of others. They're always quick to point
out your faults. They're always quick to point
out things that you might not have done properly in their eyes. They're full of self-righteousness. Love is not rude, beloved. Love is not rude. Love is not
self-righteous. Do you know what begets self-righteousness? Pride. Pride begets self-righteousness.
And self-righteousness is rude, prickly. You ever been around someone
you feel like you gotta walk real slowly, real carefully? Because something you might say
might just trigger them like that. Oh my. And notice here. They
seem to be religious. If any man among you seem to
be religious, they seem to be religious. This seeming religious
person lives in a vain show. They're a sham. If they truly know Christ, God's
people are courteous and humble. We have a low opinion of our
own self, and we have a high opinion of others, right? The
scripture says, let us therefore, we're to esteem others better
than ourselves. Esteem you all better than me.
I know what I am. I'm a sinner saved by grace,
and I struggle with sin all the time, and I understand why Paul
said, I'm the chief of sinners, and I know you as born-again,
blood-washed people understand that too. Because we all feel
that way, don't we? But what we have is real, isn't
it? It's not a sham. Now, are we beset by some of
these sins? Absolutely. Absolutely. But we see here that this man,
spoken of in verse 26, has deceived themselves. They flatter themselves,
and they're not forgive others. I knew a man who attended here,
has since left, and he would bring things up from the past.
I wouldn't even hear, and he'd bring things up from the past,
that somebody, who was supposed to be their brother, had done
15 years ago. Totally an unforgiving spirit.
Like, I mean, totally unforgiving. Now, a person in our text thinks
that they Never need forgiveness, never need to give forgiveness. Because they feel like they do
no wrong. And they are suspicious of everyone
and are happy when someone else falls. And the gossip, which
the scripture deals with, is a divider. And always believes
the worst of others. See, that's the opposite of how
we're to be. Right? In our text, this man is deceived
about himself and never bridles his tongue. When you talk to
them, they talk a lot about themselves. We've all met people like that,
right? And they come across as a perfect
person almost. I'll be the first to tell you
I'm imperfect. My goodness. So if a man or woman thinks they're
a true worshiper and does not bridle their tongue, then they
deceive their own heart and their worship is in vain. That's what
the scripture is saying. Empty. Groundless. Sham. I'll tell you this. If the gospel
does not affect you in the matter of tongue, no matter what you
might think of yourself, your thoughts are entirely in error
then. Because this little member here, it's hard to control, isn't
it? And think of this too, we can
say cut in words, can't we? We can say words of love with
this little member, and then we can say words that cut people
right to the bone. So let us seek to bridle our
tongues as believers. Let us seek to be slow to speak. And one might ask, well, why
is there such an emphasis put on bridling the tongue here in
our text? Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Do you know that the tongue reveals
the heart, which is the seed of affection? And don't forget, what someone
says can be written down, too, right? So even when you're writing a
note to someone, they're receiving it with your voice in their minds,
aren't they? Oh, my. Do you know, again, though, that
the tongue reveals the heart, which is the seat of affection?
reveals what or who someone loves. Let us therefore listen to the
words of the master here when he's speaking to the religious
hypocrites. Look at Matthew 12, verse 34. O generation of vipers, how can
ye be an evil? Now look at that. Look what he
just called them. He said, you're evil. You're
wicked. Speak good things, for out of
the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Look at that. To use what you see in the gospels
as a means of exalting yourself at the expense of others is the
foundation of hypocrisy. To use what you see in the gospel,
again, as a means of exalting yourself is actually the foundation
also of self-love. To look into the mirror of the
word of God and turn away, forgetting what manner of person you are
is evidenced by an evil tongue. And this is an accurate description
of the person found in verses 23 and 24. Let's go back to James
chapter one. And look, here we have a description
of the person mentioned in verse 26. or if any be a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural
face in the glass, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and
straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. And then, my oh my, he forgets what manner
of man he was. Now let's look at verse 27. The second character is brought
forth here before us. Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
So here we have another description of the person found in verse
25. Now look at verse 25. But whoso
looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue it therein,
he be not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this
man shall be blessed in his deed. Now the character described in
verse 27 is the person who looks into the perfect law of liberty
and continues therein. They're a hearer of the word
and a doer of the word. They believe what the word says.
So the question for you and I is, do we believe what the word of
God says? Are we hearers and doers of the word? Do we submit
ourselves to this precious word? We don't always understand what
it says, but we submit ourselves to it, don't we? We seek to obey
the Word of God. Now we love the Word of God.
But remember, being a doer of the Word is looking to Christ. It's looking to Him. That's something
we never used to do, right? So we've been given what, a new
what? A new heart. Oh, the place where the affections
come from? Ah. You see what's been done? There's been an operation by
the Holy Spirit of God. Now he's given us a new heart.
And out of that heart, that new heart, oh, words come out that
didn't come out before. Praise ye the Lord. Salvations
of the Lord. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, it's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. We've
looked into the perfect law of liberty, and we rejoice now. We can sing amazing grace, how
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like, what, me. I once was lost,
but now I'm found by God's grace and mercy. I was blind, but now
I see. And we can sing that song. did the funeral or memorial for
Denise yesterday, and I didn't know her mom. So I couldn't say
a whole lot about her mom, because I didn't know her. I didn't know
her at all. And one of the sisters spoke
up and said something about her mom, and I said, well, I didn't
know your mom. I only knew Denise, and I knew
that she loved the Lord, because she was a different person when
the Lord took her home from even when she came here the first
time. and she had asked to be baptized, and we were gonna wait
for Charlie, and the Lord took her home, right? But then I was
thinking this morning, and I said to Vicki, I said, now I understand
even more what Henry said when he said, we can't speak of a
place we've never been. I couldn't speak of Ina because
I didn't know her. But I knew Denise. She's my sister
in Christ, I knew her. But I couldn't speak about her
mom. Only preachers who know Christ
can speak of Christ. Because out of the abundance
of the heart, what, the new heart, right? Mouth speaketh. Think about yourself, beloved.
What comes out of your mouth now? Now that you have a desire
for the word, now that you want to hear about Christ, Now that
you've looked into the perfect law of liberty, what comes out
of your mouth now? Praises. Praises to our great
God. And beloved, it's only him who's
made the difference. So we see here in our two verses
here a contrast between a saved man, one who's religious but
lost, and then a saved man or woman. And again, there's the bridle
and the tongue, isn't there? You see here it says, why, it
says here, pure religion and then to follow before God the
Father is this, to visit the fatherless. Do you notice that
there's no mention of bridling the tongue? Do you notice that?
For the saved person? Do you notice there's no mention
of bridling the tongue? Do you know why? The answer's
in verse 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.
Our tongues have already been bridled by the Holy Spirit of
God. We don't talk like we used to,
do we? We don't think like we used to. And the reason that
there's no mentioning of the tongue is that the underlying
principle of pure religion is love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law, Romans chapter 13, verse 10. We love Him, why? Because He
first loved us. We were talking about that yesterday.
We love Him because He first loved us. We love His gospel
because He first loved us. We love the Father now because
He first loved us. We love the Holy Spirit because
He first loved us. God loved us before we ever loved
Him. And you know what? I've realized something. People
who know us before the Lord saves us, they look at us and they
think, well, that's just the same person. But it's not. Same body, little older now,
but it's not the same person. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. Given a new heart. worship the
Lord Jesus Christ and to seek that he gets all the preeminence,
all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. And all we
can say is, to God be the glory.