WHAT IS TRUE RELIGION?

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: JAMES 1:18-27



INTRODUCTION:


  1. The word religion is seldom used in a positive way. For example, it is true to say that people are killing each other over in Bosnia over religion. The IRA is a religious terrorist organization, as are the various Muslim terrorist groups.
  2. It is a fact that most religious people are lost and on their way to hell.
  3. The Bible uses this word religion in the same way: religious people are usually lost people who are trying to please God with their good works (cf. Acts 26:5; Gal.1:13,14).
  4. Strictly speaking, religion simply means "a system of faith and practice."
  5. It is in this sense of the word that James uses the word religion (cf. James 1:27). The Scofield Bible says: "Excepting James 1:27, ‘religion’ has always a bad sense, and nowhere is it synonymous with salvation or spirituality."
  6. James speaks of "pure religion" (1:27). You could say, "true religion." We often like to point out that, strictly speaking, Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with a person, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive.
  7. Today, I am going to preach "Part 1" of a two-part message entitled, "What is True Religion?"
  1. TRUE RELIGION IS BASED UPON SALVATION (1:18)
    1. There are many religious people – even many who claim to be Christian – who have never been saved. In fact, if you ask them about salvation, they usually admit they are not sure what you are talking about.
    2. But true religion is based upon salvation. And to be a true Christian, one has to be born again.
    3. And if you have been born again, it is according to God’s will ("Of His own will begat He us" – 1:18). But two wills are involved – God’s and man’s (just like at a wedding).
    4. The Word of God, or "the word of truth," is the instrument of the new birth (1:18); I will say more about this in a few minutes.
    5. James says that God regenerated us, He saved us, "that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (1:18b). Firstfruits are the first part of the crop, and are the intimation that a greater harvest will follow.
    6. Perhaps James is calling his readers "a kind of firstfruits" because there would be a greater harvest to come as a result of subsequent missionary endeavors. James is generally considered to be the first epistle.
    7. It is through "the engrafted word" that God saves souls (1:21b). That is why it is so important to get out the Word of God.
  1. TRUE RELIGION IS BASED UPON THE WORD OF GOD (1:22)
    1. Unfortunately, you can walk into any number of churches and sit through the service and hear very little, if any, Scripture. But true religion must be based upon the Word of God.
    2. As I said a few minutes ago, the Bible is the instrument of the new birth (1:18; cf. I Peter 1:23). In every genuine conversion, the Scriptures are involved. If not, it was not a genuine conversion.
    3. Oftentimes, when I talk to people about salvation, and they try and explain their conversion, I notice that there is no Scripture. This indicates a serious problem.
    4. Apart from the Bible, we would not know anything about salvation or repentance or justification, etc.
    5. James likens the Word of God to a seed that takes root in our hearts – it is the "engrafted word" (1:21b); it is the living Word.
    6. It is not enough to just listen to the Word of God, we must also obey it (1:22). I have met people that are knowledgeable concerning the Scriptures, but they do not obey them.
    7. To go on gaining intellectual knowledge of the Bible without obeying it can be very dangerous. Some seminary professors and pastors have an "encyclopedic knowledge" of the Bible, yet are not even saved!
    8. One preacher said: "If we continually learn what we ought to do, but do not do it, we become depressed, frustrated, and callous. Impression without expression leads to depression."
    9. Those who hear the Word of God but do not change their behaviour are like the man who beholds his face in the mirror and then forgets what he saw (1:23,24).
    10. What good would it do me to wake up, look in the mirror, see my hair is messy, see whiskers on my chin, and then walk away? James says many people are like that with the Word of God.
    11. A man derives no benefit from the mirror if he goes his way and forgetteth what manner of man he was (1:24). The message is this: to hear the Word of God and not to obey it leads to folly and delusion.
    12. There are many metaphors and symbols in the Bible that represent the Word of God – the Bible is a light; the Bible is a hammer; the Bible is a sharp, two-edged sword, and so on. And James compares the word of God to a mirror.
    13. Many years ago, some city folk asked this hillbilly if they could camp out on his property for a few days. He gave his permission, they gave him a few dollars, and then set up their tent. After a few days, they left and the hillbilly went up into the hills to clean up. While cleaning up he found a mirror that they had accidentally left behind. He had never seen a mirror before, and so he thought to himself: "I never knew Daddy had his picture took!" He was so excited about finding what he thought was a picture of his father that he ran back to his cabin and put the mirror in his drawer. A while later, his wife was cleaning out the drawers and found the mirror. She looked at the mirror and said, "So that’s the old hag my husband’s been running around with!"
    14. It’s easy to read the Word of God and think it is speaking to someone else. But when we pick it up and read it God is speaking to us. The Bible is an accurate mirror, showing us our imperfections and our shortcomings; not a photograph of someone else’s imperfections and shortcomings.
    15. Before moving on, I would like to try and explain James 1:25, where James calls the Word "the perfect law of liberty."
    16. Some might be puzzled at this phrase because "law" implies restraint, and "liberty" implies freedom from restraint. However, there is no real conflict here. To the true Christian, there is no liberty outside of submission to the perfect law of God (cf. John 8:32).
    17. The "perfect law of liberty" is the "law of Christ" (cf. margin; Gal.6:2). Jesus said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). This is the ultimate in freedom.
    18. Someone once asked the great evangelist, D.L. Moody, "How come you cannot drink and dance?" He replied: "I can drink and dance if I want to. But I do not want to!"
    19. James calls this "the perfect law of liberty" because it enables believers to find their true freedom in serving God. It is "the perfect law of liberty" because those of us who are saved accept it without any compulsion.
  1. TRUE RELIGION WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER (1:26,27)
    1. Any old religion can change your life; but only true Christianity can change it for the better. I am living in a neighborhood where there are many Orthodox Jews, and I can tell you that their religion has not helped them any.
    2. There are many people who join the JWs and Mormons, and their lives have certainly changed – but not for the better. People trapped in these Christ-rejecting cults know nothing of the grace of God, nothing about repentance or salvation or the new birth.
    3. The epistle of James gives much practical instruction on what James calls "pure religion." This epistle sets forth the practical righteousness which should characterize those who are truly born again.
    4. We are to be "swift to hear" (1:19). This means teachable. Unfortunately, many people are simply not teachable.
    5. We are to be "slow to speak" (1:19). James has much to say about our speech in this little epistle (cf. 1:26; 3:8).
    6. As Christians, we are to be guarded in our conversation. I remember back a few years ago when I was working on a construction job. I was having lunch in a diner with a few co-workers and the foreman. The foreman let out a few dirty words during lunch, and later on during the conversation I mentioned that I was a Baptist preacher. His face turned red and he admitted that he was a born-again believer.
    7. James says: "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak" (1:19). There was a first-century Greek philosopher named Epictetus who said these words: "Nature has given to man one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak" (cf. Pro.10:19; 13:3).
    8. I remember when I was a child, the teacher made me write on the blackboard these words (I think they were from Abraham Lincoln): "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
    9. "A wise old owl lived in an oak.

      10. The more he knew, the less he spoke;

      The less he spoke, the more he knew;

      And this same thing applies to you."

    10. Not only are we to be swift to hear and slow to speak, James also says, "slow to wrath" (1:19b,20; cf. Pro.16:32). Anger and bitterness will not produce the patient endurance God is seeking to work out in our lives.
    11. A fine Christian gentleman wanted to marry Jonathan Edwards’ daughter. He asked Jonathan Edwards for permission (that was the custom in those days). Edwards said: "No, you cannot have her." The man said: "But I love her." Jonathan Edwards again said no. Again the young man said that he loved her and that she loved him. And again Edwards said, "No, you cannot have her." The young man protested and asked the famous preacher why. Jonathan Edwards said: " Because she is not worthy of you. Yes, she is a Christian, but the grace of God can live with some people with whom no one else could ever live."
    12. Those of us who are saved are to "lay apart all filthiness" (1:21). The idea here is to lay it aside like you would lay aside some filthy, soiled garments. I like the way Elisha A. Hoffman put it in his great hymn,

                 "Are You Washed in the Blood?"

      13. Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,

      And be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

      There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,

      O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

      Are you washed in the blood,

      In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?

      Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?

      Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

    13. There is a wonderful passage in the book of Zechariah, where Joshua the high priest is seen standing before the angel of the Lord wearing filthy garments. And the Lord commanded that these filthy garments be removed and clean ones be put on (Zech.3:1-5).
    14. We are not only to lay apart "all filthiness," i.e., impurity and vile lusts and evil passions, we are also to put away "superfluity of naughtiness" (1:21). The word naughtiness has changed somewhat since the KJV was translated in 1611. It originally conveyed the idea of wickedness.
    15. The word superfluity means literally "overflow" or "surplus," perhaps referring to the abundance of wickedness that is still around from the days before we were saved. Old worldly habits die hard.
    16. The Christian life is both negative and positive – there are some things that we must not do – wrathful speech, filthiness, naughtiness, etc., and some things that we must do – "receive with meekness the engrafted word" (1:21b).
    17. Most people are to proud to receive the Word of God "with meekness." One man said to a pastor: "I’ve been through the Bible and it hasn’t done anything for me." The preacher wisely replied: "Next time, instead of going through the Bible, let the Bible go through you."
    18. To learn anything from the Bible we must be humble and submissive to God’s will (cf. Isa.66:2).
    19. Otherwise, we are in danger of deceiving ourselves (1:22).
    20. Before concluding this two-part message on "What is True Religion?" let us look once more at the reference to religion that we started off with (1:27).
    21. Pure religion will result in a godly lifestyle – concern for the fatherless and widows in their affliction (1:27). It also involves keeping oneself "unspotted from the world" (1:27; cf. 4:4).
    22. Some professed Christians are so worldly that they do not see how badly "spotted" they have become – spotted from worldly associations, worldly amusements, worldly music, worldly dress, and so on.

CONCLUSION:

  1. I read a humorous story that I will pass on to you. An elderly man, very nearsighted, fancied himself a great art critic. He loved to go to the different art galleries and museums and give his opinions of the different paintings.
  2. One day he and some friends went to an art museum and as usual he immediately began to give his criticisms of the various paintings.
  3. Stopping before what he thought was a full-length portrait, he began to critique it. He was very nearsighted and had left his glasses at home. Therefore, he could not see the picture clearly. With an air of superiority he said: "The frame is very nice but is altogether out of keeping with the picture. The man in this portrait is too homely and is shabbily dressed. In fact, he is quite ugly – it was a mistake for the artist to select such a shoddy subject for this portrait."
  4. At this point, his wife grabbed his arm and pulled him aside and said: "My dear, you are looking in a mirror!"

That’s the way most of us are when it comes to the Word of God – God is condemning some one else’s sin – not mine!

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