By The Rev. CHARLES G. FINNEY

Modernized by Cliff Collins

“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.” (James 1:26)

In commenting on these words, I will examine:

I. THE RULE WE MUST USE TO GOVERN OUR TONGUE.

II. THE CONDITIONS ON WHICH WE MAY GOVERN OUR TONGUE.

III. WHERE THE TONGUE IS NOT GOVERNED, THERE IS AND CAN BE NO TRUE RELIGION.

I. What is the rule we must use to govern our tongue?

1. The rule that we must use to govern our tongue is the rule of perfect, unselfish, and universal love. This is God’s unalterable law of right. Any responsible act of any moral agent that is not conformed to this rule of unselfish love is wrong. Anything you and I do that conforms to this universal law of love, is right. Love fulfills the law. This is the one and only rule. Every responsible action of every moral being must, always and universally, be conformed to this rule of unselfish love. This is the rule by which we must govern our tongue. Our heart or our will directly controls our tongue. Our tongue cannot move unless we move it by an act of our will. What we say cannot be either good or bad without our will’s consent. No other power can govern our tongue, nor can any other power prevent us from using our tongue in conformity with the action of our will.

2. Now, we can state the rule of perfect, unselfish love using different words, and say that the rule says that we must be in a state of entire consecration to God and to the good of everything that exists. This is only good willing or loving expressed in different words. Total consecration to God and to the good of everything that exists is an act or state of our will. It is our will in the attitude of devoting, consecrating, offering up our whole being to promote the good of the universe. Entire consecration is the rule that we must use to govern our tongue. We should, in our heart, consecrate our tongue to God’s glory and the good of everything that exists, and we should use our tongue for no other purpose.

3. The Scriptures recognize this truth. “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment.” (Matthew12:36) The idle words that this passage mentions are useless words, words that we don’t speak to edify. They are words that we don’t use to glorify God and benefit man. Some commentators overlook the rule we must use to govern our tongue and they believe that the idle words in this passage are slanderous words, or false, critical, and bitter words. But, the language is clear, and the understanding of these words are clear and natural; because then and only then does this passage agree with the rule by which we must govern our tongue. That we should govern our tongue by the rule of universal love, or entire consecration to God, no one can rationally doubt. Therefore, every word that we speak for any other purpose than to promote the good of God’s creation is an idle word, and is a sin against God. Therefore, to bridle the tongue is to so check and rein it in, and control it, that its use becomes completely conformed to the law of God.

II. That are the conditions that we need, to govern our tongue.

1. The first condition, which is absolutely necessary for us to govern our tongue, is having perfect love in our heart. In other words, our will should be in an attitude of love; the glory of God and the good of everything that exists should be our supreme goal, plan, or choice. I said that our will governs our tongue. Our will is free, but our tongue is not free. Our tongue is connected with the action of our will by a physical law. It operates by the law of cause and effect. Out of the abundance of our heart, our mouth not only speaks but it must speak, if it speaks at all. All our physical powers, as far as they are directly under our control at all, are connected with the action of our will, by a law of cause and effect. At the bidding of our will we physically move, or stop moving. Now, if our heart is filled with love, we must use any power that is under the control of our will in love.

When our heart is filled with supreme, unselfish love, we will use our tongue for the glory of God and the good of everything that exists. In fact, our tongue has to be used for the glory of God and the good of everything that exists. But, if our heart is not in this state, our tongue cannot be used in love. Everything we say is idle and sinful when our heart is not filled with love. No matter how much our tongue might edify men or glorify God, we will use our tongue idly as far as we are concerned if our goal is not unselfish love for God and our neighbor. A man might teach mathematics, philosophy, or theology with a selfish heart, in which case the use of his tongue is sin, because his intention is sin. His intention is sin because he is not conformed to the law of love, but he is under the influence of selfishness. If God overrules the selfish use of his tongue to promote His own glory, no thanks to the one who uses his tongue, for he does not mean to glorify God. His goal is to glorify himself. His goal is to improve his reputation or earn a piece of bread. Please, never forget that any use of your tongue is sinful when your heart is not filled with unselfish love.

2. If we want to govern our tongue, we must have a spirit of total consecration. Now, this is really only another way of stating the law of love, this condition is only another way of saying that we must have a heart full of unselfish love for God. If we completely consecrate our heart to God, we will and must also consecrate our tongue to God; but whenever we do not completely consecrate our heart to God, when we use our tongue, we will use it idly. We will use our tongue with selfish intentions and not for the glory of God.

3. It is an important and often an indispensable condition of governing our tongue that we abstain from very strong excitement. If our feelings become very strongly excited, they are very likely to get control of our will. At this point all virtue must cease. Our will acts virtuously only when we obey the law that lies in our reason, or in other words, our will acts virtuously only when our will obeys the commandments of God as He reveals them to our mind. We cannot be virtuous if our feelings influence our will, instead of God. People have a tendency to imagine that the stronger their feelings are, the more virtuous they are. However, the exact opposite of this is true.

Therefore, when our feelings become very strong, these strong feelings will very likely control our will. Our will, then, will simply obey the impulses of our feeling. Our will, will then follow our most strongly excited emotions. Now if our will governs our tongue in obedience to our feelings, then the law of love does not govern our tongue. Oh yes, there are always feelings and sometimes strong feelings when there is true love, and these feelings are the result of true benevolence. But, the law of love and not the law of feeling, should control our will and, as a result, control our tongue.

Not only that, when our emotions get us all strongly excited, we probably will speak extravagantly and we probably will speak falsely, without even realizing it at the time. Our emotion is a medium that greatly magnifies those things that we focus our attention on. We will usually represent things as they appear to us, which, if we are driven by our emotions, is usually distorted. Personally, I can say that I rarely get strongly excited on any subject without, afterwards, having to repent of something that I said during my time of excitement.

4. A deeply considerate or reflective state of mind is indispensable to properly governing your tongue. Anyone who speaks, without consideration and without thinking, speaks idly and randomly. Surely, if you want to speak to edify your fellow men and glorify God, you need to have your thoughts organized and to carefully consider what you are going to say before you speak.

5. Another condition of governing our tongue is having a sense of God’s divine presence. Let a person always place God before him. Let him realize that he always speaks in the presence of God, and he will control his tongue. His words will be few and well chosen. He cannot mess around. If he realizes that he is in the presence of the great, heart-searching God, he will not speak falsely or unnecessarily. He won’t be bitter or critical either. Only let his heart be full of love, and let him consciously realize God’s divine presence, and the law of love will always dwell on his tongue.

6. Another condition of governing our tongue is having the right amount of the grace and strength of Christ. Indeed Christ must be in us, working in us to will, to say, and to do, or we will never govern our tongue. We must put off the old man that is corrupt according to our deceitful lusts, and put on the new man. We must abide in Christ and Christ must abide in is. We must live a life of faith in Christ Jesus. We must walk in the Spirit and completely mortify the deeds of our flesh. We must know what it means to dedicate our body as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”. (Romans 12:1)

7. We must have faith to grab a hold of and appropriate the grace, strength, and promises of Christ for completely subjecting our tongue to the law of love. We must believe in Christ and receive Christ as the keeper of our tongue as well as the keeper of all our other powers. We will never govern our own tongue: we will never keep ourselves in without Christ. We must have faith to grab a hold of those promises that pledge sufficient grace to secure the entire consecration of all our powers to God.

8. We must have the moral courage to dare to keep silent when we should be quiet. It is generally considered very odd and uncouth, unsociable and distasteful for a man to remain silent even when he has nothing important to say. Society today, seems to demand that, if you want to be good company, you must constantly talk about something. You must serve volley after volley of sense or nonsense, or people will ask, “What’s wrong with you? You seem to be very quiet, very unsociable; you seem to be brooding over some distressing subject; you need to associate with cheerful people and get involved in some recreational activity, amusement, or light reading. You need to get involved in something you can talk about. Now in these days of incessant babble when the world is full of talk about sex and scandals, novels and politics and everything else, who does not know that it requires a good deal of moral courage to keep quiet when you are not called on to speak for the glory of God and the good of man?

(a.) You must have the moral courage to dare to speak when you should, and say what you should say. Men are often placed in circumstances where it is very difficult for them to say what the circumstances require them to say, to reprove sin, and hold up the truth in love. Now properly governing our tongue not only demands that we should abstain from saying what we should not say, but also that we should always speak when we should and say what we should. But, to dare to do this, often requires a lot of courage.

(b.) Again, you need moral courage to be as upright in all places, and at all times, as conforming to the law of love wants you to be. These days, anyone who would not use his tongue for any other purpose than what the glory of God and the good of man demands would be considered very unusual.

III. Where the tongue is not governed, there is and can be no true religion.

1. To prove this statement, let’s look at today’s passage once again, “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.”

2. This passage definitely doesn’t mean that an occasional fall in the use of the tongue proves that one has never been converted and is not truly religious. However, this passage does say that when a person does not govern his tongue, he is not conforming to the law of God at that time, and consequently, he does not have true religion. His heart is not a heart filled with unselfish love. If he had a loving heart, he could not misuse his tongue. But, if he does not love, he is not truly religious at the time.

3. When a person does not habitually govern his tongue according to this rule, there is no habitual love. Therefore, there is no habitual true religion, which, if the Bible is true, is the same thing as saying that there is no true religion at all. For the least that we can say about a true Christian, is that he does not habitually sin; that holiness is the rule and sin only the exception. “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And, you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:3-10)

4. I have already said that a heart that loves God and his neighbor will secure and, because of the law of cause and effect, it must secure using the tongue in love. In other words, the tongue will be and must be used for the glory of God and the good of everything that exists if the heart is full of the love of God. Where the tongue is not used for the glory of God, it is an unmistakable matter of fact that the heart is not right with God. Nothing is more certain than that a spirit of idle talking is inconsistent with an unselfish heart.

REMARKS

1. The Bible represents governing our tongue as not only indispensable to true religion, but it is our most difficult duty. Thus James, in chapter three, says, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, a very small rudder turns them wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” (James 3:2-10)

2. The Bible says a lot about the need for us to bridle our tongue. I will only quote two more passages in addition to those I already quoted. “Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven and you on earth, therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words.” (Eccl. 5:2-3)

“In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.” (Prov. 10:19)

3. If every idle word is sin, tremendous multitudes of professing Christians are living in sin! Great multitudes of professing Christians are just as unrestrained in the use of their tongue, as the great majority of sinners who claim to have no religion at all. I can promise you that such people will never go babbling on to heaven. Idle talkers and gossipers are not among the ransomed of the Lord.

4. An entire world of evil would be eliminated if the law of love governed the tongue. The tongue is indeed a world of iniquity; as James puts it, “it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell”. The tongue is the great instrument that we use to stir up excitement. We excite ourselves and we excite others simply by talking. All our passions, and all its monstrous developments are aroused, quickened, and thrown into overwhelming commotion by the idle use of the tongue.

Let the law of love govern the tongue, and what a tremendous change would occur in families, in neighborhoods, in cities and towns, in fact, throughout human society! What a tremendous change would take place in our halls of legislation!

5. Governing the tongue is indispensable to entire sanctification; that is, no man is entirely sanctified unless the law of love completely governs his tongue. Let those who profess to have attained, or those who are aiming to attain a state of entire sanctification, always understand this and keep this in mind.

6. It seems as if few people generally understand and believe that every idle word is sin. Many, who profess to keep a conscience void of offense, and who, from day to day, are not aware of sin, seem to use their tongues, quite often, in a way that is not conformed to the law of love. Who can believe that all the needless and idle talking that we hear among professing Christians is for the glory of God and the good of man, or that it is even intended to be?

7. Idle words are really just as sinful as false, critical, or profane words are. I say they are just as sinful. Now, they may be a lot more sinful, or they may be a lot less sinful according to the light that person has received from God. One person may be guiltier in the sight of God for levity in conversation than another person is for swearing. The degree of guilt depends on the degree of light that is before that person’s mind. There is a tremendous lack of consideration on this subject. If the most ignorant man tells a lie, or swears, we cry out against him; and if he is a member of the church, we excommunicate him. Now this is all fine and dandy; for even the most ignorant man knows better than to lie or to swear. But others, with greater light than he has, may be just as guilty and just as deserving of excommunication, for their idle use of their tongues.

8. From this subject, we see the need to judge our character in the light of the following test. Every day and every hour, we should examine ourselves to see how we are using our tongues. We are almost always using our tongues, and unless we keep the rule to govern our tongues before us, a world of iniquity will accumulate on our souls before we are aware of it.

9. This subject is very important to families. The need to govern the tongue should be constantly indoctrinated into every member of every family. Observing this rule is indispensable to the life and power of family religion.

10. We should urge the indispensable need to govern the tongue in every school, and everywhere children and youth are together. If we allow our children to use their tongues without restraint concerning levity and unrestrained talking, we leave out a most important part of their education. Even though we may teach our children not to lie, or to swear, or be vulgar or licentious in their conversations, all this is of little use, unless we teach them that they must completely govern their tongues by the law of universal love.

11. This subject is very important to ministers of the gospel. I have heard it said about some ministers, “When I see him in the pulpit I think he should never come out; and when I see him out of the pulpit, I think he should never go in”. There are some ministers, I hope not many, who preach well and seriously; but when they are out of the pulpit, their raunchy, loose, and worthless conversations, are so bad that their idle gossip out of the pulpit completely nullifies the spiritual power of everything they say in the pulpit. My brother, unless you use your tongue for God’s glory out of the pulpit, you have no right to expect God to bless the use of your tongue in the pulpit. Always be careful what you say, no matter where you are, and be sure you do not have the spirit of levity, or a gossiping state of mind; for if you have, out of the abundance of your heart your mouth will speak, and the people will see it. Your Christian and ministerial influence will be destroyed, and you will become a stumbling block to souls. Oh! A minister who loves to engage in worthless conversations and gossip, what a curse he is to human society and what a dishonor he is to God!

12. The tongue is a very common reason for backsliding. Simply let someone open his mouth and let his tongue have free rein in any company and at any time, and he will soon find out that after he has finished talking, he cannot pray. Let him try to pray. I have no doubt that many professing Christians have grieved the Spirit of God a hundred and perhaps a thousand times by idle words, until they have found themselves away from God, without the spirit of prayer, with horrible darkness covering them, and yet they don’t even know why. Ask them what they have done to drift away from God, and they can’t tell you. They don’t know why. However, if they would stop and reflect on the way they have used their tongues, they would find plenty of good reasons. Let them take a pen and some paper, sit down, and try to recall and record every idle word they can remember, and they will soon be convinced that innumerable sins have accumulated on their souls, and blotted out the light of heaven from them.

13. An unbridled tongue is not only a great snare to the one who uses it, but it is also a great temptation, a snare, and a curse to those who listen to him. One man or woman, who loves to engage in worthless conversations, may divert the attention of hundreds of minds away from God. They may get many other people to reply to their incessant babble; and indeed a world or words, idle as the wind, if not hateful and blasphemous, may flow like a mighty river from the trickle from one person’s mouth. A gossiper is a curse to any family, to any neighborhood, to any church, to any community, and to the world. He must restrain his unruly tongue, or he will scatter around him, firebrands, arrows, and death.

14. From this subject we can see the great evil and the great sin of what we often call social parties. Who does not know that it is almost impolite not to talk idly at social parties? To introduce and confine yourself to religion or any other topic of serious importance designed for the glory of God and the general good of man, would be considered very ill-timed and out of place. The fact is that social parties are designed for the unrestrained indulgence of the tongue. No one would go to them if no other conversation were allowed than what is for the glory of God and the good of man. How often, do you think, would the thoughtless multitudes assemble in social parties, if no other conversations were allowed except for conversations that were according to the law of God?

It is amazing to hear professing Christians defend and plead for what they call the need to establish and maintain a social life. It is clear that all they really mean by this is that they want opportunities to cultivate their idle gossip and their chitchat, and pursue their idle, frivolous course of conversation, at what they call social parties. How any person that even pretends to be consecrated to God can give up his tongue, his time, and his powers to be used that way, has always been mysterious to me since I have come to know something about religion.

15. Many people never keep their tongues still long enough to be converted. They talk so incessantly, that, if at anytime, the Spirit of the Lord comes near and strives with them, they grieve Him right away by their idle talk. They should understand that the Spirit comes to convict and persuade; that is, to make men think, and see things in their true light. They should know that without serious thought and deep, intense reflection; they will never turn to the Lord. Thus the Psalmist says, “I thought about my ways, and turned my feet to Your testimonies”. (Psalm 119:59) “Thus says the Lord, ‘consider your ways’.” (Haggai 1:5) God complains about His professed people, “they will not consider”. (See Isaiah 1:3) How can they consider, when they cultivate the habit of giving free reign to their tongues? Many impenitent sinners appear as if they have never even thought about restraining their tongues, and speak only when duty calls them to speak.

16. It is a great evil to be thrown into the company of gossipers. They will neither think of themselves nor allow you to think; but they will babble on incessantly, like a babbling brook. If, for one moment, you try to think, they thrust some irrelevant question or some petty thing into your face that you don’t know about or care about, and then they demand a reply. Oh, if such men knew the luxury of deep and silent thought, and would sometimes shut up and let others think, they would do the world a great favor.

17. Great multitudes of professing Christians seem unable to grow in grace and become established in religion because of the idle use of their tongues. Christians must overcome this sin; they must put it away. Professing Christian, you can’t overcome your tongue in your own strength. No man can tame the tongue. Only Christ can tame your tongue. Christ governed His own tongue, and He can govern yours if you will give your tongue up to Him right now and let Him become its keeper. Will you do it? When will you do it? Will you do it now? Will you consecrate your tongue to Him with the full understanding that you will never use it any more but for the glory of God, any more than you would use it to blaspheme His holy name? Do it, my brother. Do it, my sister. Do it now!