Necessary to Our Salvation by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Nov 20, 1913

Necessary to Our Salvation

By C. M. S.

SATAN does not care how he accomplishes our ruin, just so he does it. He is perfectly willing we should make a profession of religion if he can insure that our profession shall exceed our possession.

Our Saviour warns us that there is great danger of our thinking we are doing his work and are accepted of him, when in reality we are out of harmony with his character and his purpose and have no place awaiting us in the mansions of the blest. Such a warning is found in this scripture:—

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7: 22, 23.

Practically the same warning is contained in the following:—

“If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man’s religion is vain.” James 1: 26.

There is no question that every soul that passes from mortality to immortality at the second coming of Jesus Christ will have religion. It will be a possession and a characteristic of every redeemed soul. But a religion that is vain will never serve as a passport into the eternal kingdom.

It is man’s duty to be religious; and a man has a right to think himself religious if he is. But the Bible gives us a test by which we may know whether or not we are truly religious, and whether or not we have a religion that is vain. It lies in the control of our tongues. The man with a vain religion is doomed. If he has an unbridled tongue, his religion is vain; and it matters not how great a profession he has made, how great undertakings he has performed, how much time he has given to missionary endeavor. An uncontrolled tongue will shut souls out of heaven as surely as will the persistent breaking of the fourth commandment or any other.

The reason for this is very obvious. God has determined that one experience with sin is all this universe shall ever have. “Affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Nahum 1:9. Affliction came into the universe because of the conduct of one who would not control his tongue. He went through the universe speaking “evil of dignities,” criticizing the Most High and the Son of the Most High. Others followed his example till a third of the angels were in open revolt against God and his government. For God to permit persons who have not learned to control the tongue, who criticize this one and that one, to be numbered among the redeemed, would be to invite another rebellion instead of to prevent it.

In the second chapter of Second Peter there is a list given of those things that are out of harmony with God’s character and plan. In verses 9-11 we find some of the characteristics of those who will be punished in the day of judgment. Among other things they are declared to be “daring, self-willed,” and “tremble not to rail at dignities: whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord.”

What a difference between the conduct of God’s angels and the conduct of such individuals! God’s angels do not condemn even those who are doing wrong, and who are of a lower order than themselves;

but these persons “rail at dignities.” Many have a wrong conception of the meaning of the word dignities, or dignitaries, which means the same. A dignitary is quite generally looked upon as one who has an inflated idea of his own importance; who refuses to mingle with common people; who holds his head high and looks down upon those around him. Such a person is not a dignitary; he is a counterfeit. A dignitary is one who holds an important official position. Then the ones whom that scripture condemns are the ones who rail at, or condemn, those holding important positions.

We are warned again by Jude in reference to the same matter. He writes of fallen angels and of fallen men who “set at naught dominion, and rail at dignities” (Jude 8), and compares their course with that of “Michael the archangel,” who, “when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Verse 9.

We see from these texts that the characteristic of God’s angels and of Michael the archangel (who is Christ) is that they do not make railing accusations, do not condemn, do not judge. On the other hand, the characteristic of Satan, of his angels, of individuals who will be ruled out of the ranks of the redeemed, is that they “rail at dignities,” condemn, judge. In fact, Satan is called “the accuser of our brethren.”

It should not be difficult, therefore, for us to decide among which class God will place us. If we “rail at dignitaries,” accuse, judge, and condemn those holding responsible positions in God’s cause, and have an unbridled tongue, he will class us among those who have been doing Satan’s work, and the reward of Satan’s followers will be our reward. It can readily be seen, therefore, that there is no phase of our conduct more important for us to consider than our attitude toward others in this particular. The man or the woman who will rail at dignitaries, who will bring accusations and condemnations against persons holding official positions, would, if taken into the kingdom of God, do a similar work there at sometime during the ages to come, and the universe would be torn and racked again with the fearful fruits of such a course.

In Rev. 14:5 are given the characteristics of those who shall be numbered among the one hundred and forty-four thousand: “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” It will be a wonderful and blessed thing to be among that number. But they are to be a faultless company, and their mouth, or speech, has much to do with that faultlessness.

One of the faults that is frequently pointed out in the Bible is the fault of unbridled speech, hasty accusation, hasty criticism, hasty condemnation, or any condemnation at all by one person against another. The apostle James says: “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” James 1:19. Again: “If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.” James 3:2. The perfect man is the faultless man. Therefore the faultless man is the man who does not stumble in word. The one hundred and forty-four thousand, then, are men who do not stumble in word. If we expect to be among that number, we must give diligent heed to the fruit of our lips. But the fruit of the lips depends upon what is in the heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

This brings us right back to the question of true heart conversion. The heart that is truly converted will inspire the lips to speak only the good, and will be so filled with charity and a sense of its own need that it will feel more like weeping over its own failures than like parading the faults and failures of others before the public.

What, then, is essential to our salvation? — Such a genuine heart conversion that we shall be enabled by the help of our Saviour to bridle our tongues.

C. M. S.