On this episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs brings a compelling message from the Book of James, urging listeners to move beyond mere religious duties and embrace a life fully committed to living out the truth of God’s word. Are we genuinely worshiping God, or simply going through the motions of religion? Through his teachings, Pastor Jack calls us to reflect on our personal faith, reminding us that being followers of Christ involves both being and doing, hearing and acting. Join us as we uncover the essence of true worship and become equipped to shine as lights
No, you see, even evolutionists want to play God and step into their inn and say, well, we have to nurse it back together. We have to generate some laws. You begin to play God. You begin to worship self. You begin to worship the creation that’s around you. So don’t tell me you’re not worshiping anything. Worship’s in man’s heart. You’re either going to worship that or you’re going to worship God. And James is going to draw our attention this morning to, are we truly worshiping God?
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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. What if today was the day that Jesus returned? Pretty good question that changes everything about how we live. In a world filled with distractions and uncertainty, One Day Nearer is the book by Steve Miller. It’s this month’s featured resource from Pastor Jack Hibbs. It invites you to refocus on what truly matters, living with the hope of Christ’s return. Now, this powerful book offers biblical insight and practical encouragement Helping you approach every moment with faith and purpose and joy, because each day, no matter how ordinary it seems, brings us closer to the extraordinary reality of eternity with Him.
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It’s a 365-day devotion, and all of it is themed around being prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Don’t just get through your days, live them with the anticipation of what’s to come. One Day Nearer. It’s our book of the month. It’s available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called The Book of James, with a message titled Sharing the Word of Truth. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter that was sent to those Jews who chose to follow Jesus Christ. And as new believers, James was warning them that performing religious duties are only ways to appease our conscience. You see, false religions demand our time, our money, and are a works-centered form of worship. But Jesus demands nothing. He only invites us to love Him. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that the key to understanding the word religion is to think of ourselves to be worshipers of God, but not getting up and doing what the God we worship represents. Now, in his message called Sharing the Word of Truth, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
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James chapter 1 this morning, verses 26 and 27. And the title of the message this morning is Sharing the Word of Truth. Sharing the Word of Truth. And we’ve been looking at sharing the Word. We’ve been looking at practicing the Word last week. And the week before that, we looked at receiving the Word. We’ve got to first be receptive to the Word of God. We’ve got to have our ears open and our hearts prepared. That’s why we worship, by the way, that we might not only give God what is due unto him, but in his response to us in true worship is that he breaks up the fallow ground of our hearts, so to speak. He brings in the blade and turns over and puts away all of the things that kind of cling to our heart during the week or during the day. And he floods us with his presence in this wonderful act of worship. And so now we come this morning to sharing the word of truth. And it’s a form of evangelism, no doubt about it. But I want to encourage you this morning, don’t think for a moment because you’re kind of quiet or you’re shy or you have somehow reasoned in your heart that you’re not an evangelist. Let me encourage you right now to say that you are an evangelist and so am I, even if we never open up our mouths. just by the way we live our lives. We are sending a message. We are preaching the good news of Jesus Christ by the very way that we live. And so in fact, Jesus put it this way, that you are the salt of the earth, the salt of the world. And he also told us that we are the light of the world. And that light gives direction. that light gives enlightenment that we might understand, and the salt is used to bring a better taste to the world around us, but also to be a preserving factor. And so this is what God has called us to be, the silent Christian and the vocal Christian. And so this morning we approach what James would be speaking to us about, and that is sharing our faith and sharing the truth, the word of God. And we’re going to see two points this morning. And the first one is that we are to be sharing the word, sharing the truth of God, by virtue of the fact that our minds are in tune with God, but not only our minds, but our hearts as well. We’ll see this in verse 26. The second point we’ll see this morning is that in sharing this word of truth, that we are to be worshipers of God, listen, publicly, publicly. Well, Jack, you mean that we should go out on the street out here on the grass and see if a car’s coming by, we lift up hands and sing real loud and put on a show? No, by no means. There is a way to worship God, singing corporately together, yes, arms lifted up, voices praising God, certainly. And maybe for us, that’s our view of what worship is. But also, worship is the study of the Bible. Did you know that? You study the Bible, that’s worship of God. Also, worship is depicted as publicly proclaiming the good news of Christ. We’ll do that today. Hundreds of us, maybe a thousand plus of us will gather down at the beach and we’ll be there today. And we’re not going to pass up the opportunity to get all of you real tight. At five o’clock in the evening tonight, we’ll get all tight together and then I’ll shoot my big mouth off all there on the bluffs and tell all the people who are listening in why we’re even there. We’ll preach Christ today publicly. And the good news about that is God is worshiped in that. But here’s an area that James is going to draw our attention to this morning that we don’t so often think about as worship, and that is serving publicly those that are around us and those that are removed from us. And we’ll see this in verse 27, that our worship of God is to be public. It is to be something that is done with liveliness or vitality and with action. that we cannot be Christians and say to the world and to those around us, be warm and be filled my brother and do nothing to benefit them. And so he’s gonna teach us as believers this morning, this tremendous thing about sharing the word of truth. And so if you look with me, he says in verse 26, if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world or actually this world. You know what’s interesting to me? It kind of, in my thinking, all comes down to two types of positions that you hold concerning religion. You know, he mentions religion in here a couple times. James does. And I don’t know what you see in your mind when you mention the word religion. Do you see steeples with stained glass and robes? Maybe I should have brought a robe today. And you got the big sleeves out there and you know, and there’s a choir on this side of the sanctuary and there’s stained glass. We have a dove made out of stained glass and the light’s shining through. And is this what you think about when you hear the word religion? You know, people have different concepts and different views. When I think of religion, you know, I personally think of a lot of, what, liturgical type things. Very stiff, very rigid. I’m not saying this is bad. Don’t get offended with this. But, you know, you got a suit on or you have a dress on and you sing out of the hymnal. You sit down and everything. It’s just kind of like a robotic deal. See, I’ve never looked at my religion experience with God as religious. I’ve always looked at it as a relationship. And, you know, at Calvary Chapel, we kind of always say, like, God doesn’t want religion with you. He wants a relationship with you. And so we kind of get this concept, well, maybe religion’s kind of poo-poo, you know? We shouldn’t think about that. But the word religion is an interesting word. It means… Your act of worship. Your act of worship. And in the world that’s around us, everyone is involved in worship. Now, hear me out on this. It comes down to two basic things. You believe in God or you don’t. If you don’t believe in God, then what is your worship process? What is your worship agenda? You might say, well, I don’t get ya. I don’t believe in God. I don’t worship. Oh yeah, you do. You see, every human being in every culture of the world throughout all time, from the high rises of New York City to the jungles of the deepest, darkest of South America, people worship. They worship. Inside the heart of every human being is this desire to search out, to find, to seek one greater than themselves. That’s why there’s idols in the world, people. That’s why those who claim to not know God or believe in a God, they still have their idols. Example, if you’re an evolutionist, who’s your idol? Darwin. Darwin. Well, it’s not really worship, it’s not that kind of thing. Well, listen, religion, worship, the words so intertwine one another, you can’t separate them. What drives your passion? Who is it that you bow to? What are you yielding your intellect to, your will toward? What are you really, really spending your efforts on? What are you hoping in? A Darwinian says, well, you know, just that there’s nothing. There’s nothing. We live, you know, it’s the survival of the fittest, which always cracks me up because, you know, Darwinianism and evolutionists are so hypocritical. It’s the survival of the fittest. So you know what? If it’s the survival of the fittest, why are we trying to protect all the endangered species for? Why do we have to hire biologists to go deal with the little burrowing owl that’s on the property? It’s the survival of the fittest, baby. Give me a bulldozer. I’ll fix that owl. I’m at the top of the food chain, friend. I’m the one. We’re humans. Let’s eat dolphin for lunch. Rainforest? We’re evolutionists, mow those babies down. Well, you see, that’s what Darwinianism’s all about, it’s the survival of the fittest. Things are going upward and onward. Let’s just go for it. No, we gotta protect. If we don’t intervene, you know what? If we don’t intervene in the California condor, it’s gonna perish. Maybe Darwin wants it to perish. Maybe it’s time’s up. No, you see, even evolutionists want to play God and step into their end and say, well, we have to nurse it back together. We have to generate some laws. You begin to play God. You begin to worship self. You begin to worship the creation that’s around you. So don’t tell me you’re not worshiping anything. Worship’s in man’s heart. You’re either going to worship that or you’re going to worship God. And James is going to draw our attention this morning to, are we truly worshiping God? Or are we just going through the motions? Last week, we heard about not being just hearers of the word, but doers also, lest we deceive ourselves. So look with me, if you will. He says in verse 26, if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless or in vain. So the first thing we want to see is this word, about James giving us here about thinking or thinks. He thinks. So the first thing we wanna notice is that we need to have the right mind. We need to be ready if we’re gonna share the word of truth to have the right mind. And what kind of mind does this religious person have and what kind of mind should we have instead? This person thinks that he himself is religious. The word religious in James chapter 1 verse 26 is the one who considers himself, he’s thinking, he thinks and he sees himself religious, that is in his mind, he determines, he takes an account, which is what the word thinks, means he takes an account and he comes to a conclusion and he determines that he’s above the other person that’s near him or above those that are around him. He generates a very, very generous reputation of himself. This man thinks of himself higher than the rest, more spiritual than the others. That’s where he makes his first fatal flaw. He doesn’t come before God humbly. This man who is religious, He goes through his acts of worship to better himself. He goes to church to better his living. He doesn’t come to church with a deep passion to find out, God, what is it that you want to say to my heart today? I want you, Lord, to instruct me in the way that I should go. That’s not the heart and mind of this man. This man’s mind is skewed. It is perverse internally. He’s thinking more highly of himself than he ought to think. There’s pride.
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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He’s thinking more highly of himself than he ought to think. There’s pride. And he might think, and I’m going to exaggerate this, I’m certain no one has the audacity to think like this, but he might be thinking in his mind, nobody would know it on the outside, but inside he’s thinking, Lord, I thank you that you came and died for the world. Of course, Lord, you had to die for them, but, you know, I am quite something. In fact, God is… Good for you that you’ll have me in heaven. I am, well, just better than the rest. You know me, Lord. I’m holier than thou. And they’ve got this self-righteous attitude that they don’t sin. In fact, they would disagree with 1 John, who says if any man says that he’s not a sinner, he makes God a liar and the truth’s not in him. They would say, I don’t sin. All of us make mistakes now and then. There’s this arrogance, this, you know, nose in the air kind of thing. That’s the man that James is talking about here on the inside of him. You see, his heart’s deceived. He thinks of himself religious. And this word religious simply means that he clamors or he is boasting about the fact that he’s a worshiper. Isn’t that an oxymoron? You know what an oxymoron is? It’s two things that cannot connect together. It’s impossible. Yet inside he’s boasting, I’m this, I’m that, I’m the other. But outwardly, he’s a worshiper. He’s got religion. He comes to church, he writes a tithe check. He lifts his hands, he’s got a Bible. He might even be involved in ministry. But he’s got a high estimation of himself. James says, this guy’s deceived. Just like the one who looks into the mirror and beholds his face and identifies who he is and takes a full account, but sets down that mirror and goes out into the world and forgets who he is. So this man is the one who says, I’m religious. And he serves and he looks good to you and I. He looks good. In fact, you and I might say, I wanna be just like him. I wanna be just like her. On the outward, there’s this wonderful appearance of godliness, but inside they deny the true power of God because there’s so much self living. They love themselves. They don’t see themselves as a sinner that’s lost and God has saved them. There’s pride, and yet externally, there’s this wonderful display. Their mind is deceived. Interesting thing that we need to keep in mind is that we have this temptation in all of our lives to view ourselves a little bit better than someone else. That’s why James and Paul and John warn us to be humble in the evaluation of ourselves. In fact, the Bible tells us that if we judge ourselves, then we will not be judged by God. It’s a good thing to judge ourselves, to see ourselves in light of the word of God. When you see this man reads the Bible and he sees himself doing everything better than Paul did it, everything better than James did it, everything better than Joseph did it. And he deceives himself. But watch what happens when you’re in this mode, in this place. It says here that he does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart. I’m curious, you can respond when I ask you this question. What do you think of, what do you see when you mention the word bridle? The single girl’s last service went, marriage. Please. No, bridle, horse. Bridle and bit in the mouth. Near my house, there’s a place over there where they train these horses. And sometimes they’ve got them out there and they’re trying to get a saddle out of them. It’s hilarious. And they’re out there training these. And you can drive through the hills and there’ll be horses running around or there’s a lot of ranches and stuff throughout the Chino area and you’ll see these horses. We see them all the time, don’t we? And you see this beast and this wonderful animal. They’re so beautiful and noble. Have you ever ridden one? You get on those babies, they got a mind on their own. You notice that? I get a little nervous when anything’s got an eye bigger than I do. And they look fine, they’re looking at you, their nostrils, you know, you can put your fist almost in their noses, you know, it’s like this big nostril there. But they’re wonderful and you talk to them and they, you know, and they’re fun. And then you get on the thing. And there’s something about having 1,500 pounds under you. You start to feel, wow, now I see why John Wayne wrote one of these things. Feels kind of good. And you go, and the thing just looks at you. You could have swore, he said, what a jerk, but you’re not sure. So you say, you know, let’s go. Giddy up, hey, scoot buddy, move. And it starts to move, you know. And this thing knows instantly. Now I don’t know about you, but with me, it knows that I don’t know anything about it. And it like takes advantage of the moment. And it’s going, and I’m saying, okay, all right. And I’m trying not to act scared. And then, you know, it comes time to stop. And you go, stop. Halt. You know, whoa. It won’t even do nothing. You got to what? Pull back on the reins. Why? The reins are connected to the bridle and the bits. And it pulls that head back. And you can tell that great beast doesn’t like what’s going on. His ears go back. He’ll look at you. But he submitted because you had control of him. You pulled that massive animal under control. You brought him in. You pulled those reins back. And this man who was self-deceived in his mind, oh boy, you know, God needs me. The church needs me. I, me, my ministry, which always bugs me when I hear that. My church, my ministry. Wait a minute. It’s his church. It’s our ministry. The tongue goes out of control. It runs loose. It opens the mouth and out it goes and it does its damage. His tongue is not bridled, it’s loose. He’s deceived. He thinks that he can condescend on people and criticize them and judge them. Well, listen, this is the voice of authority speaking. I was at a conference in Orlando, Florida, and I couldn’t believe what had happened. There was this great, great, big deal. It was a big deal. All the big deal guys were there. It was a big deal. And… Oh, Charles Stanley or somebody introduced this next speaker and they said, and now coming to the pulpit is the voice of authority. Well, it must have been God coming to the pulpit then. The voice of authority. And I’m not going to mention this guy’s name, but he got up there and he stood there and he began to speak. It wasn’t Billy Graham. That kind of sounded like Billy Graham. It wasn’t like Billy Graham. It wasn’t Billy Graham. He’s speaking and he’s this and he’s this. And it’s like, what choreographer taught him this stuff? He was like, perfect. And his voice, and he really knew how to make it quiver at the right moment. And we’re like, whoa. And you could see people, this is the voice of authority. By the end of the message, they could barely get the guy’s head out of the door of the complex that we’re at. People were like going, oh, sign my Bible. Will you sign my Bible? What is this? So strange. Tell us, where do you think the church is going in the next millennium? Well, that’s a good question to ask Jesus or ask ourselves. The tongue can come out and say all kinds of things. I’m the voice of authority. That’s how this religious man would speak. His heart’s deceived, yet he’s still talking. In fact, the more he talks, the more he believes the propaganda is the man James is talking about. He believes his propaganda, he deceives his own heart, and his religion, his faith, his worship becomes vain, useless. And the frightening thing, verse 26 says, if anyone among you, where do you find these people? They look great in church. You don’t know what’s going on in the inside. James says, you’ll find them among you. And that’s an alarming thing. Our minds need to be right. Look it, our hearts need to be right if we are going to share the truth of God. Our hearts and our minds need to be in unity with one another and of course with the Lord. Look, he says here that he deceives his own heart and this one’s religion is useless.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Sharing the Word of Truth. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Book of James. It’s a series on being doers of the Word and not just hearers only. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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Today, more and more Christ followers are living out their faith no matter what. And one way we can help is through our website. At jackhibbs.com slash Real Radio, you’ll find access to Pastor Jack’s devotions, YouTube channel, podcasts, Facebook, live streamed events, and so much more. Again, our website is jackhibbs.com slash Real Radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash Real Radio. And don’t forget to download the Real Life mobile app for on-the-go access to all that Pastor Jack has to offer.
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This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
