God's Word to James chapter 1. James chapter 1, and we'll be reading from verses 19 to the end of the chapter. Why don't I pray first, and then I'll make some introductory comments, and then we will read the text. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You once again, O Father, for bringing us all together to worship You. And now, Father, we pray that, Lord, as we turn to Your Word, that You would grant us more of Your Holy Spirit and enable us to see Your Word, O Father. Be pleased to illumine our minds with the knowledge of Your Word, that we might see the glory of the face of Jesus Christ. And more importantly, Father, that we will not simply hear this, but we will also be doers of this Word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. The book of James is written to a group of people who are suffering. If you look at chapter 1 and verse 2, James says, count it all joy when you face various trials. And if you turn to the last chapter, chapter 5 and verse 10, James tells them to look to the old prophets as an example for being patient in suffering. So the book begins and ends with the theme of suffering, and all that is in between is exhortations for Christians to manifest mature and living faith that perseveres under trials. That's the big message of James. He wants Christians to be mature and wise in their… manifest mature and living faith, not dead faith, that perseveres under trials. And last week we saw for that perseverance, James exhorted us to pray for wisdom, because we need the right perspective on our trials as well as our God. We need to see with wisdom that our trials are not enemies of our faith, but rather are the means by which God causes us to persevere and be mature. So they are not enemies, they are the means by which God causes us to grow. We also need to see that the way we overcome trials is by loving our God. James reminds us that invariably in trials we face temptations. When there is stress in our life, we face a lot of temptations to not be faithful to our Lord. And in those temptations, we need to remain faithful. And James reminded us that the ultimate way we overcome temptations is by loving our God. And he also reminded us that in order for us to love our God, we need to perceive Him as good, as desirable. And for that, he reminded us that the goodness of God is made manifest, most importantly, in the gospel through the gift of the new birth. So the gospel, in light of the gospel, we see our God is good, someone that we long to treasure and love, and thereby we can overcome temptations and remain steadfast. That's what we saw last time, and today we're going to see that the instrument by which God made us born again, namely the Word of God, needs to be not only heard but also obeyed for us to have this practical godliness. And so today James is calling us to have a practicing faith, a faith that not only hears but obeys the Word of God. So with those introductory comments, let's turn now to James 1, verses 19 to the end of the chapter. Listen now to the Word of God. Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not brittle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world." There ends the reading of God's Word and may the Lord be pleased to write it on our hearts. In 1912, when the Titanic made its maiden voyage, it is reported that there was a message from other ships warning them about icebergs in their path. Now the sad reality is the radio operator who got that message just took it and put it under a weight right next to his elbow and just continued working. That message never reached the captain and sadly resulted in at least 1,500 plus people dying. Information without action results in destruction. And we all know this reality that knowledge as such is useless without practice. I can go buy a book that teaches me everything about how to play a piano, but I never touch a piano. What's the point, right? It's just useless knowledge. You don't teach someone how to swim by taking a whiteboard and drawing movements of your arm. You just cannot teach swimming like that. So we all know this. Similarly, James is saying that when it comes to perseverance and when it comes to being mature in your faith, it's not enough to simply listen to the Word of God. It's not enough to be simply knowing a little bit about the Word of God. If you're not doing it, it's useless. You know, verse 22 is crucial. Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. And we face this temptation to be merely a hearer and not a doer, particularly when we are going through suffering. Obeying the Lord when we are going through suffering is costly. You know, we all know the extreme example. You know, if you're in a nation where evangelism and preaching the gospel is banned, obeying the Lord to proclaim the gospel and stand by the Lord is costly. We all get that. That's the extreme example. But even closer home, There are times when you are under stress and you don't feel like obeying. The pressure to compromise is really strong. When you have too many chores in a day, spending a lot of time in prayer and personal devotion seems like a waste of time. Or you're having cancer and you read in the Psalms, a delight in the Lord with all your heart. I mean, how do you do that? When you're going through such painful trials in your life, how can I obey the Lord and rejoice? And again, I say rejoice. I can't. Or simply, you know, when you have to minister to someone, but the timing is really inconvenient. How do I do that? Or people have legitimately sinned against you and hurt you, and the Lord says, forgive them and leave all vengeance to Him. You see, when we are going through trials, when we are going through sufferings, when we are facing stress, we face this temptation to know the Word but not obey it all the more. How do we do this? How do we obey the Lord even when we are going through trials and facing a lot of stress like this? Well, first of all, James says, don't be deceived. Be a doer of the word at all seasons of your life. There's no room for you to fall for any of these excuses that your temptations are lying to you. Well, I'm right now sick. I can't go to church. I'm right now sick. I can't rejoice. I'm right now really hurt. I can't forgive. Well, there's no room for that in the Christian life. And as you can see from this passage of Scripture, The key to living such a life of sustained or steadfast obedience to the Lord, the key is your relationship with the Word of God. Notice how many times James deals with the Word of God here. He talks about hearing it in verse 19. He talks about receiving it in verse 21. He talks about doing it in verse 23. He talks about looking into it in verse 25. So clearly, the theme of this passage is the relationship of the believer with the Word of God. How are you dealing with the Word of God? So the way I can outline this passage is in verses 19 to 21, he's mostly dealing with how not to deal with the Word of God. And then verses 22 to 25, he deals with how to deal with the Word of God. How do you positively respond to the Word of God? And then in verses 26 to 27, He lists three areas where you will invariably or inevitably manifest the effects of your right relationship with the Word of God, or else the fruit of your relationship with the Word of God. So let's look at them one by one. James is calling us to practice our faith, first of all, in verses 19 to 21, by putting away the flesh, by putting away your flesh. Notice that central imperative, the command of God in verse 21, therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. If you want to have a right relationship with the Word of God, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. You know, what is filthiness? Quite literally in the Greek, dirt. It's not talking about physical dirt, it's talking about moral dirt, moral filth. All that baggage we bring into our Christian life when we get saved. You know, we don't come clean. We bring a lot of baggage from our past, the way we have lived as an unbeliever, and all of that filthiness is there. It's interesting, you know, the Greek word that's translated as filthy there has an association with wax in your ear. It needs to be removed from your ears so that you can hear clearly the word of God. Now, why should we do all this? Why should we remove all filthiness and then, my translation says, rampant wickedness or overflow of wickedness, abundance of wickedness which is in the heart of men. Why should we do this? Well, let's look at the beginning of this passage, verse 19. Know this, my beloved brothers. That could also be translated as knowing this, my beloved brothers. Because you know something, therefore do this." What does it mean, know? Well, that's where our last week's passage comes into the picture. James has just told us that by God's own sovereign will, using the Word of God, He has made us born again. Knowing that, brothers and sisters, we need to rightly deal with the Word of God. You see how the relationship between the previous passage and this passage, that word in verse 18, the Word of Truth. God showed His goodness towards us in sovereignly regenerating our hearts, and the instrument He used for that is the Word of God. And if God showed you mercy by using the word, shouldn't you treat the word with great care? Knowing this, my beloved brothers, and this is what he wants us to do, let every person be quick to hear. Now, I've heard verse 19, be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath, often used as a good verse for interpersonal relationships, and which is good. I think James has that also in mind. But in the context, in the context, I think it's referring more towards our relationship with the Lord. Because if you remember in verse 13, you know, here is a man going through trials, and he's facing a lot of stress and temptation, and what comes out of his mouth? slanderous things about God. God is tempting me. And that's what James is dealing with. Don't say such deceitful things. Don't be deceived by such temptations. Don't say such wrong things about God. God is your good father. Don't say, I'm being tempted by God. God is up to be a killjoy in my life. No, don't say such things. Be slow to speak. Know that, knowing the gospel, that your God is a good father. who by His own sovereign pleasure and mercy regenerated you by the Word of God, be slow to speak." When you're especially going through trials and when you're stressed out, be slow to speak. What does that mean? What does it mean to be slow to speak? It means that we are not hasty to vent out all our opinions about things, all our anger and all our frustration. No. In other words, we are teachable. That's what it means. I see the situation. I think my analysis is right, but there must be more. And I'm going to listen to the Word of God. God might still have something to teach me, which I'm not seeing yet. Be slow to speak and swift to hear. We are humble and we are teachable. Lord, I have a lot of things to say about this situation, but I'm going to stop that and let you speak to me. I want to listen to your word and be quick to hear. No matter how knowledgeable you are in the Bible, irrespective of the pain of your sufferings, notwithstanding the legitimacy of the complaints that you want to lodge against God, Whatever be the reasons, in light of the great and sovereign mercy of God in regenerating us, in giving us eternal life through new birth, we ought to be a people who are swift to hear. We are in eternal debt to God's mercy. And therefore, Lord, you speak. People who have experienced the grace of God should be – there's no room for anything else – should be marked by humility. So, in similar vein, as we heard in the morning, we are called to embrace silence before God, suffer patiently, listen and learn from the Word of God. But if you'd rather vent out all your anger, as it goes on to say, For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." If on the contrary you're going to vent out all your anger and frustration because God is calling you to endure trials, you're not slow to wrath. But you're only putting what verse 21 says you should put away. You're just putting on the filthiness and the rampant wickedness of your heart. I am so and so, I should not be treated like this. All the self and your flesh is coming out." And James reminds us in verse 20 that that's not the righteous behavior that God expects from us. So be slow to speak and quick to hear and slow to wrath. Put away all your anger, your old ways of resisting any kind of trial, any kind of difficulty, and all your old ways of responding to difficulties and difficult people. Rather, be quiet before God. It's time to learn something from His Word. Be quiet. Be humble, be teachable before His Word. And in verse 21, James reminds us that we should receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save our souls, that word which is translated as receive or in some translations accept. That Greek word in many places in the New Testament means welcome. For example, in Hebrews 11, verse 31, it says, Rahab welcomed the spies. That's the same word that James is using here. Welcome with meekness, the implanted word. One lexicon puts it like this. In the Greek, it means to welcome someone or something with a deliberate and ready reception of what is offered, to receive kindly and so to take to oneself what is presented or brought by another. It means to welcome a teacher, a friend, or a guest into one's house. In other words, it's talking about hospitality. You receive the word with meekness, with gladness, to accept the word with open arms, minds, and heart. Or as one commentator put it, it is to put out the welcome mat for God's word of truth, as one would do to a good friend or a guest, inviting them to come into your house. That's what we should be doing. I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I feel a lot of frustration, but I keep my mouth shut, Lord. And I'm going to open my heart wide to welcome your word. I want to hear before I vent out. So when you're going through trials, when you're feeling that stress, when your obedience is costly, are you teachable? That's a mark of wisdom, and if we feel, well, I'm not, we need to do that. Cry out to God for wisdom. Are you a person who likes to vent out all your opinions and judgments? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, when two people speak, you can almost always discern whether that person is listening to know me or listening so that when I stop, he can give me all his opinions, which has been just And it's just, okay, by your third sentence, I knew what I'm going to tell. But, okay, finish whatever you want to say, because, yeah, I had already figured out what you're going to say, and now listen to what I want to say, you know? There are people like that who are, who don't have a listening ear. They just want to tell everybody their opinion. Are you slow to speak and quick to hear before the Lord? Brothers and sisters, as James says, seeing the goodness of the Lord, that He used His Word and sovereignly regenerated you. When you go through your trials, put away all your flesh and your fleshly ways of reacting to your life, and rather clothe yourselves with humility. and receive the Word of God. Let your heart be like what Jesus says, a good ground that receives the Word and brings forth much fruit." So to practice our faith under trial, first of all, James is saying you need to avoid letting out all your words and let in all of God's Word to work in you. But, James goes on to say that we need to be doing more than merely listening to the Word of God. And so, hence, James exhorts us to practice our faith, secondly, by persevering in obedience to the Word. Persevering in obedience to the Word, that is 22 to 25. But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. So to receive the word, as it says in verse 21, to receive the word with meekness involves more than hearing, more than simply listening. We ought to hear it more than our own speech and our own opinions, but we are more than listeners only. We're more than just hearers only. In verse 22, James begins by saying, but be doers of the word, and that word be there In Greek, it implies more than simply in a bead or just like a suggestion or anything like that. It's talking more about prove yourself. See to it that you are not merely a doer. Show yourself that you are not a mere hearer, but a doer also. That's what that little word, be there, that imperative suggests. In other words, this is not a mere good suggestion for you. It is a command to be taken with utmost seriousness and diligence. Prove yourself, show yourself. See to it that you are not merely listening but also a doer. The easiest thing in the Christian life is to listen to sermons and listen to talks and lectures and figure out a system of doctrine. That's one of the easiest things you can do. In fact, the word that is translated as hearers in English, the root Greek word, is a word that is regularly used for people who attend lectures. They are not disciples, but they are merely who love to hear people talk. Whereas a disciple is a learner and a follower. A disciple also listens to someone speaking, but it's with the purpose of being a learner and a follower. Whereas these hearers merely love to hear good speeches and lectures, to amuse their mind with new information, to be impressed with the rhetorical powers of a speaker, and to appreciate the oratorial skill of the speaker in the way he uses language. That's not what a Christian is. We don't come Sunday morning and evening and whatever else we do during the weeks not to simply appreciate someone's grasp of truth or the way he articulates and then leave it there. That's what that root word, hearer, in the Greek means, and that's what James is saying, don't be that. James says, if you're only that and not a doer of the Word, you're deceiving yourselves. Look at verse 22, you're deceiving yourselves. We think we are learning a lot, all the while we're just filling our mind with a lot of information, that's all. We just know a lot. That kind of knowledge does not yield any kind of transformation that the Word of God brings into the life of a believer. So what does James do? Rather than merely being a hearer, James says we should be doers also. James says, We need to be doers of the word and not hearers only. And here he is clearly reminding of the very many times that Jesus says the same things. Here are a couple of verses that Jesus says the same thing. In Matthew 12 and verse 50, Jesus says, Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother. Blessed are those who hear and observe the Word of God, Luke 11, 28. And in both those places, the tense of that verse suggests that blessed are those who hear continually and blessed are those who hear and observe the Word of God continually, Luke 11, 28. In John 13 and verse 17, Jesus says, if you know these things, you are blessed if you do it. John 13, verse 17. So the blessing that God wants to give us doesn't come merely by knowing certain things about the Word of God. It comes only when we do them. And James is here echoing all those statements of Jesus by saying, brothers, don't deceive yourselves just because you know a lot of doctrine or a lot of theology or you can quote a lot of verses by heart or anything like that. Are you a doer? It should be an ongoing practice of your life to be a listener and a learner, that you're listening and obeying, you're listening and following Jesus. And to explain that, James here uses the illustration of someone who looks at the mirror and then forgets how he looks and goes about. Now that word that is translated here as someone looking at the mirror is interesting. It's important that we take stock of that word. Because the word does not simply mean that he's making a passing glance, you know. That's what we think when we read the illustration in Lorne, like a man just glanced into a mirror and then forgot and left. That's not what James is saying. In fact, in the ESV, it says, if a man who looks intently in a mirror, they're trying to bring that sense in the Greek. Because in the Greek, the word means he observed or considered his image in the mirror carefully and attentively. The word has a meaning of fixing one's eyes or mind upon something and to perceive clearly. It speaks about the action of apprehending some facts about a thing so as to give a proper and decisive thought about the thing considered. That's what that man is doing. He's looking intently. It's not a passing glance he just made and, oh, I forgot what I saw. No, he's looking intently. He's seeing it, he's perceiving the realities, he could probably pass a Bible exam on it, and yet that man forgets and doesn't do anything about it. He saw something that requires his action, something that needs his attention, and yet forgot, ignored, neglects. James says, that's how you are if you pay all the attention to simply listen to the Word but never puts it to practice. Yeah, you're taking all the pain, like, yeah, bring me the Greek and all of that, and I'm trying to analyze, and I can outline a passage, and I can do all of that, but where is the obedience? That is deceiving yourselves. Whereas, on the contrary, in verse 25, he talks about another man who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres. You see that word? He perseveres. And there, in that verse, James is using a different Greek word for the word look. In English, you know, both are look, and so we don't really see that difference. But in verse 25, the Greek word that James is using means to look at something with your head bent forward. It means to stoop. It's to look into something carefully, or to put it, it's to peer into something. And this is the same word that is used, say, for example, in Luke 24, verse 12, and John 20, verse 5, where the disciples are peering into the grave of Jesus and they cannot find the Lord. They're like, where is he? That's the kind of looking, and it's the same word that Peter uses in 1 Peter 1 and verse 12, where he says, the glories of the gospel are so wonderful that the angels long to look into it. So this is a penetrating look into something that is marked with a desire from your heart to see something, but at the same time, which is difficult to grasp. It speaks about a man who is looking intently into the Word of God to see what he has not yet seen, but it's difficult for him to grasp and it's difficult for him to apply, but he still perseveres. He doesn't give up when it becomes difficult. And he perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts. As the Word reveals to him realities that he needs to attend, sins he needs to repent, you know, commandments that he needs to obey, he doesn't give up and forget. It's like the man we sang about in Psalm 1. He's meditating constantly. It's not just the one hour or half an hour in the morning that he's looking intently into the Word. His mind is always churning and churning, you know, the wheels are turning all the time. The Word of God is in his mind. That's the man. He is not just involved in a mere intellectual exercise. It all culminates in practice. He perseveres in obeying the Word of God. And such a man, James says, is blessed. He receives the benefit of the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, Which illustration fits you? What's your relationship with the Word of God? Are you a good student of Scripture, but not much in obedience? Or are you a person who loves to study the Scripture because you want to obey the Lord, who has been so kind and merciful to you in the gospel? Let me remind you the words of Jesus Christ from Luke, chapter six. The Lord says this. Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. So we need to put away our flesh and listen to the Word, but not just listen, but we need to be obeying. So if we do put away our flesh and receive the Word by hearing and obeying it, what will happen? We just saw that blessing will come, but what is this blessing? Well, we would bring forth real, practical godliness. In other words, our life would be marked with godly behavior. So James calls us to practice our faith finally in verses 26 to 27, producing the fruits of pure religion, producing the fruits of pure religion. James ends this section by speaking about three areas where our life would manifest godly behavior if we take the word of God seriously and obey it in the right sense of that word. This is not an exhaustive list of all that entails godliness, but this is sort of the bare minimum. Like, inevitably, in these three areas, you will be godly. So these are three areas which are the most important and inevitable when it comes to practical godliness. Like, if you are a doer and not a mere hearer of the word, these three things will be in your life. What are those? First of all, if you have a faith that not only hears but obeys the Word of God, It'll be manifest in your submission to God, your submission to God that is chiefly evidenced by the way you control your tongue. I mentioned it last week. James picks on the topic of tongue throughout the epistle, but his reason for picking that is because the tongue reveals our submission before God. It is a symptom of our humility before God. Look at verse 26. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. In other words, James is saying, if you don't know how to control your tongue, your religion is worth zero. Now what does the word religion here mean? It's interesting, if you check the dictionary, the Greek dictionary, the word religion here means religion in its external aspects. In other words, worship, one mode of worship contrasted with another. In other words, we are dealing here with a man who thinks he is very scrupulous in his attention to the details of formal worship. How do we worship in church? What do we sing? How should we do this? How should we do that? You know, regulative principle of worship. He's a man who is pretty gung-ho about it. That's the man we're talking about. He's a man, he's religious. That's what that root word in Greek means. A man who gives scrupulous attention to formal worship and yet does not know how to control his tongue. And James says, zero. It's like what the Lord says in Isaiah, which is later picked up by Jesus, these people come to me with their lips, but their heart is so far away. Yeah, right words are coming out of their lips, but no, I know their heart is not there. One commentator put it like this, careful attention to public worship is no substitute for self-restraint. Worship is important. Formal worship, corporate worship is important. We need to be careful that we do everything that is pleasing to God in worship. But we should not limit our submission to God and His Word only in formal worship. That's the problem of this man. He's very careful about formal worship, not careful about all other times of his life. James is saying you need to be a man who manifests your submission to God practically in the way you restrain your tongue. Whether it's things that you're telling about God, in your complaints or in your murmuring or grumbling, or it's the way you're treating people who are created in the image of God. That's the first practical fruit of true godliness, humility of heart or submission to God. Secondly, in verse 27, James goes on to say, religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this. First of all, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. religion or godliness or godly behavior that is pure, that is clean, that is undefiled, that is not stained by world, involves, first of all, according to James, our compassion to others, especially those who are most vulnerable. He says we are to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. It's interesting, James puts that first before he talks about being pure. Your compassion to people who are most vulnerable, that reveals you have practical godliness. Orphans and widows, if you know your Bible well, you know that throughout Scripture we find God takes this group of people very seriously. Let me read you a couple of verses. Psalm 68 verse 5, God identifies himself as the father of the fatherless and the defender of widows. In Deuteronomy 27 and verse 19, God places a curse on anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. In Luke chapter 20 verse 47, Jesus says the Pharisees who devour widows' houses would be punished severely. And Exodus 22 verse 22 simply summarizes the heart of God, do not take advantage of the widows and orphans. Just because they are vulnerable, don't manipulate them, don't take advantage of them. Rather, the most vulnerable and the helpless ought to be shown our care and our compassion. James says, we ought to visit them when they are in affliction. And this same word, visit, is the word that Jesus uses in Matthew 25 when He talks about, you know, separating the sheep and the goats and says, the righteous, you visited me when I was in prison. That's the same word James is using here. How are you dealing with the most needy people in your congregation? What's your heart's reaction? What's your action? What do you do to them? What do you say to them? Brothers and sisters, according to James, that reveals whether we have true, practical godliness or not. How are you treating those who are most vulnerable, those who are the most helpless? There's nobody to defend them. What do you do to them? That's the second fruit, if you're a doer of the Word of God, charity in action or compassion to others. And then finally, James says, religion that is pure and undefiled before God is not just visiting orphans and widows, but also to keep oneself unstained from the world. So the final and the third fruit that James lists is personal purity. Along with our public service to those who are helpless, showing mercy to them, there should be a private pursuit of holiness, personal holiness. He's calling us to be vigilant in our walk, to see to it that we are not stained by the world, that worldliness is not cracking into our lives, calls for A walk with the Lord which is marked with separation from the world. That the way I think, and the way I process, and the way I look at people, and the way I evaluate things in life, and the things that are precious to me, and the way I prioritize, and the way I work, and the way I deal, nothing has anything to do with the world. World's standards and world's values have no place in the heart and mind of a man or a woman who is a doer of the Word of God. So if you're a doer of the word, these are the three fruits of godliness that James says would be evident. Humility of heart, charity in action, and purity of walk. To put it differently, you will be having submission to God, compassion to others, and separation from the world. So if you are a doer of the Word, are you producing these fruits of pure religion, a behavior that is pleasing to our Father? Well, as I wrap up, brothers and sisters, Let me remind you once again the crucial importance of your relationship with the Word of God, especially when you're going through trials. If you want to have a faith that is mature and wise, which perseveres under trials with great joy, that looks to God for how to evaluate life and to have right perspective, if you want all of that, you need to take your relationship with the Word seriously. You know, earlier in chapter 1, we read if you lack wisdom, just pray to God and God will give you wisdom. But how does God give wisdom? It's not that we pray and then, you know, something, you know, from the cloud it downloads to my brain. No. It comes through the Word. God takes you to the Word. The Word teaches you wise behavior. So what is your relationship with the Word of God? Are you a person who is studying it regularly? Are you immersing yourself, soaking yourself with Scripture? Is that what fills your mind more than anything else? And more than that, are you obeying what the Lord is teaching you? It's good to take notes, but are you practicing these things that you're writing down? Well, if not, Let's repent, because the God in His great mercy and kindness has regenerated us. Think about that again and again. None of this is for a guilt trip. The Lord wants us to repent and pursue this path in light of the gospel, in light of that great goodness He has shown to us through the gospel that of His own will He made us born again. that He used the Word to come to our hearts and reveal that irresistible beauty of Jesus Christ that made us run after Him. To such a Lord and to such a Word, show forth your wholehearted commitment. Brothers and sisters, let us not hurt our Father by neglecting His Word. Let us rather love Him by obeying His Word. Amen. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we pray that, O Father, that You would give each and every one of us discernment to see where we are in our spiritual walk so that we are not deceived by mere external religiosity. Help us to discern our own heart's condition, O Father, and then to do whatever prescription You are giving us to pursue health, whether it is repentance, whether it is forgiving someone, whatever be it, O Father, as Your Spirit leads us, but help us to be not merely hearers of the Word, but doers also, not deceiving ourselves. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.