SHUN VAIN BABBLINGS

“Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?  Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?…God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense” (James 2:14-17 MSG)?  “…It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts…” (James 3:13-16 MSG).

“When the Prodigal Son recognized his sin, he did not sit there and think about it, write poetry about it, or send telegrams home to dad” Albert N. Martin (ref#221, p16).

“Don’t shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think.  Don’t be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear….” (Eccl 5:2 MSG).  “…when…words grow many, there is vanity…” (Eccl 5:7 ESV).

“…shun vain babblings, for they offer nothing but fine rhetoric and exquisite words to give credit to him that speaks and to show that he is well learned.  None of this should be received into the church; it must be banished….the desire for anything new is always powerful….we are tempted to find something novel to say, and, in the pursuit of that goal, to veer into vain babbling” John Calvin (ref#164, Nov 9^th).

“…the real trouble with the person who is seated there in his study reading beautiful poems or books about love and who feels that he is controlled by it and that he is a fine Christian is this: What is really happening to that person is that he is simply in love with himself, because he appreciates these elevating thoughts” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#211, p116).

“…Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what he commands.  Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God” (Rom 2:13 MSG).

“Christianity is not primarily teaching; it is a recorded history.  Christianity is not urging men to think and to try to delve into the mystery and to discover the truth about God….our salvation depends not upon our understanding but upon what God has done in Christ” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, July 3^rd).