A SIGN OF VAIN RELIGION

OR

(A WARNING AGAINST VAIN RELIGION)

James 1: 26: 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.

A man may appear religious, yet, an unbridled tongue comes from the spirit of a self-righteous heart puffed up in the vanity of the carnal mind. All God's saints say things on occasion that we wish we could take back. But this text speaks of a man whose tongue continually reveals the hidden thoughts of his heart. Here are some ways the tongue runs wild.

If a man insists on ascribing any part of salvation to "self" rather than every part of salvation to the triune God then the Holy Spirit says this man's tongue reveals he has deceived his own heart. When he speaks of how he made Christ "lord of his life" instead of confessing Christ is the Lord and the Life who graciously gives spiritual life to dead sinners then his unbridled tongue reveals his true god. As he continually speaks of "his faith" instead of Christ who God says is the only Faithful One then he proves himself a wild ass unaccustomed to the bit. When he brags of his "fleshly moral reform after conversion" instead of speaking of the holy, complete and perfect life that the saints have in spirit in Christ at God's right hand, his run-away tongue brays into the wind like a stiff-necked mule bucks at the bridle. And a favorite of all, the untamed tongue justifies his own unfaithfulness by kicking Christ's redeemed into the mud by exposing their fleshly faults. In short, an unbridled tongue is one which constantly exalts self while belittling the Lord Jesus Christ and those who are complete in him. The Holy Spirit says this man's religion--his attending worship services, his support, his reading scripture, his prayers, his singing, his witnessing unto others, his faith, his hope, his assurance, and every other part of his religion--is vain. He loves self and hates God.