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word. And as we go through this, we're going to see a gospel foundation for that command. We'll also see the foolishness of not doing the word. And we'll see several very practical applications of doing the word, how God's word ought to be transforming us, transforming our words, transforming our actions. Let me read the passage again for us and then pray. And then we will be going through that outline that hopefully you received with your worship folder as you came in. James chapter 1. Our text is actually 19 to 27, but I'm going to pick up a verse early, starting in verse 18. So you can follow along as I read. James 1, 18. Of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, 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 bridle 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 God we pray that that we will listen and receive your word this morning with meekness with humility give us teachable hearts as we Look at this passage together And as we leave from this place today, we pray, God, that we will be doers of the word, that we will not just sit here today and listen to your word, but that we will go forth and live out your word, that your spirit will be indwelling us and transforming us day by day, all for your glory. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. The Word of God is immensely powerful and can transform your life in the most remarkable ways, in very practical ways, in the everyday things of life, like how you speak to others and how you treat others. the argument that maybe you had with your spouse this week or maybe even this morning, the harsh words that you spoke to your kids, the angry attitude you had with a coworker, the apathy that you've had toward those in need. The Bible has something to say about these things, and it has the power to transform us day by day so that we're becoming more like Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Now, we need to understand this at the outset. I want to make sure this is clear. The Christian life is not mainly about cleaning up your character, okay? Just making you a nicer person, calmer, more ethical, more generous. These are effects of being a Christian, but these are not the main thing. I hope you understand. You can find any number of self-help books that will give you quick tips on how to make a better you. But the Christian faith is very different than that. I don't want you to think about the Christian life in that sort of way. The Christian life is radically different. Being a Christian is a gift from God. It's made possible through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross for our sin and who rose again on the third day. Our salvation is a miracle that He does, forgiving our sin and making us new creatures. So the exhortations that we see in scripture and the commands we're going to be looking at here in this passage, these are not how you become a Christian. This is not how you become a better you. These are an overflow of the miracle that has been done for us and to us. Because we're reborn, this is what happens as a result. These are specific ways that we live out the new life that God has given to us. So with that introduction, let's go to point number one here about receiving the Word. Receive the Word. And the first thing I want to talk about here is regeneration from verse 18, which is why I wanted to include that in the reading as I started. So this is overlapping a bit with Pastor Gary's sermon from last Sunday. We see here in verse 18 the glorious truth of regeneration. This is one of the good and perfect gifts that come down from the Father of lights. This is also the solution to our sad predicament which was so vividly described back in verses 14 and 15. We have sinful desires and that sin will conceive and grow within us and bring forth death if nothing changes. Regeneration is the only solution to that problem. The solution is not in us. There's not some way we can fix ourselves and redirect ourselves. The solution is in God, who is the giver of all good gifts and who is unchanging. Verse 18 tells us that God caused us to be born again. He is the one who brought us forth. You see that in verse 18. The same verb that's used there, that same verb is used in verse 15 to describe desire, giving birth to sin. In verse 18, it's the Father who brought us forth. He caused us to be born again. And this is what we refer to as regeneration. being born again. In verse 18, a couple things I want to point out here in verse 18, it makes clear that the origin of regeneration is the will of God. This miracle originates in the will of God. Of His own will, He brought us forth. It was not an act of our will that brought about regeneration. It was God's sovereign will, His sovereign choice that brought us forth. It's also important to see in verse 18 the means of regeneration. Of his own will, he brought us forth, how? By the word of truth. By the word of truth. The word of truth is the means by which God causes us to be born again. The word of truth is the gospel message. God chooses to glorify himself and glorify his son by regenerating us through the proclamation of the gospel, his word. It may happen as a person sits alone reading the Bible. It may happen as a person listens to a Christian friend share their testimony. It could happen in the midst of a small group discussion or a Sunday school lesson or a sermon. It could be that a person randomly stumbles across a gospel tract somewhere and reads that or some gospel literature or happens upon a church website or some online sermon that they listen to. We don't know how or when God will choose to use these various methods to communicate the good news. But what we do know for sure is that regeneration, someone becoming born again, that's always going to be connected somehow to the proclamation of his word, the truth about salvation through Jesus Christ, which is the message of the Bible. Now, in these verses that we're going to be looking at now from verses 19 on, James gives some very clear commands. And one of those commands in verse 21 is that we must receive with meekness the implanted word. Now isn't that interesting in light of what I was just talking about? God is the one who caused us to be born again, right? He's the one who implanted the word within us, but then there's also this command that comes to us that we must receive the implanted word. So the Word of Truth, the Gospel, which is revealed to us in this book, the Bible, it's not only the means by which God regenerates us, He gives us new life, makes us new creatures. It doesn't only do that, but then it's also the means by which He sanctifies us and sustains us to the end. God implanted this Word within us, and we are to continually receive it. and obey it, live it out in our daily lives in these very practical and specific ways that we're going to be looking at. Well, another important sub-point here about meekness and humility in verse 21. It's important to recognize that truly receiving the Word involves receiving it with meekness, with humility. You know, there's a way to interact with the Word that is not really receiving the Word. If we interact with the Word merely on an intellectual level, And if we do so proudly, never allowing the word to really get down into our hearts and our lives, then we're not really receiving the word. And it's a scary thing to know that people can have a wealth of biblical knowledge without ever being changed by the biblical gospel. That can happen. Don't let that be true of you. Don't proudly act as though you stand over the word. And the word is just something that you kind of dissect and analyze, and then you can use the word to win arguments and put other people down. No, you don't stand over the Word. None of us do. It's the other way around. The Word is over us, and it dissects and analyzes our lives. It reveals sin in our lives and exhorts us to cling to Christ. So we need to come to the Word with teachable hearts. We need to listen to sermons with teachable hearts. We need to come to small group in Sunday school with teachable hearts. Receive with meekness the implanted Word. The book that we're going to be drawing from for our discussions at the men's retreat next month, the book that the elders have chosen, it's entitled Humble Calvinism. and uh... it's by uh... pastor named jeff matters and the uh... forwarded that book is written by great workland uh... who i have a lot of respect for i've i've benefited from workman's books and his sermons and uh... portland in the forward he laments the fact that often uh... those of us who embrace and celebrate the doctrines of grace about god's sovereignty in all things reform theology There, unfortunately, can often be an arrogance that goes along with that, a feeling superior to other Christians who are not as enlightened as we are. That can be the attitude, right? But how ironic and how sad that is. The doctrines of grace should not puff us up, but should rather be profoundly humbling. And Ortlund writes this, listen to how he summarizes the doctrines of grace. If you're familiar with those, listen to how he kind of rewords some of these things and summarizes it. He says, if God is big and we are small, if God's power jumpstarts us without our help, if the only contribution we make to our salvation is the evil that makes salvation relevant to begin with, If it is God's eternal purpose alone that will sustain us all the way, if our Christianity is all according to Scripture and not our brainstorms, all of grace and not our merits, all by faith and not by demands, all thanks to Christ and no thanks to us, all for the glory of God alone, if all that's true, then where does our self-exaltation fit into that picture? It's a great question. Where does our self-exaltation fit into that? What a great point. As those who rejoice in God's sovereignty and God's goodness, acknowledging that we were completely dead in our trespasses and sins, there ought to be a humility and a meekness about the way we receive the word and in the way we communicate the word to others. Ortland, he quotes from John Newton. the 18th century composer of Amazing Grace, who wisely wrote to a younger pastor, John Newton said, of all people who engage in controversy, we who are called Calvinists are most expressly bound by our own principles to the exercise of gentleness and moderation. Gentleness and moderation. So, that's a great exhortation to us. I mean, if you find yourself searching through the Word, okay, maybe searching through Romans or Ephesians or one of those New Testament letters like that so that you can just take it and go and bludgeon someone on Twitter or go to that online chat forum on theology so you can just destroy someone's free will argument. If that's your attitude and your intent, you probably need to check your heart. Yes, there's a place, of course, for defending the truth and for theological debate. But you first need to be receiving the word for your own soul and receiving the word in humility and meekness so that it's changing who you are, so that it's changing the kind of person you are, so that you can then communicate the truth in the right kind of way with charity and with graciousness. Well, the last phrase in verse 21, going to this point about salvation, letter C here, the last phrase in verse 21 shows us the eternal significance of receiving the Word. The implanted Word is able to save our souls. And this reference to salvation, this we understand as a reference to our end time salvation, the ultimate deliverance from sin and evil that we will experience when Christ returns. We've already seen that the word of God is God's means of regenerating us. That's at the front end of the Christian life. In verse 18, he brought us forth by the word of truth. And now we see that the word is also the means of preserving us all the way to the end. And that on that last day, we will be saved, we will be delivered. from sin completely when we go to be in His presence. So the Word encourages us, it convicts us, it gives us hope, and it's God's means of sustaining our faith. In this way, humbly receiving the Word is an essential part of the Christian life. And then one more thing I want to highlight about receiving the Word about liberty. We see in verse 25, the perfect law, the law of liberty, but trace through here how James is referring to the word. In verse 18, it's called the word of truth. In verse 21, it is the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. In verse 22, James exhorts us to be doers of the word. And then in verse 25, he refers to the word in a new way, in a different way. He calls it the perfect law, the law of liberty. Now, the word law, when we come across that in different places, that may have mainly negative connotations in our minds. When we think of law, we may think of bondage to legalistic rules and regulations. But the perfect law of God, as James is referring to it here, this is the law that brings freedom. You see how he describes it, the law of liberty. This is simply another way James is describing the word of truth, the implanted word, which is the gospel. This is the good news that comes through in scripture. Here's what we need to realize. The commands that come to us in God's Word, as we're going to be looking at some of them here in just a moment, the commands that come to us are for our good. I hope you understand that and believe that, brothers and sisters. God's not trying to diminish our joy by giving us guidelines of how we're supposed to live our lives. His instructions, His correction, His exhortations, These are to maximize our joy in Him. And as we look into this book, as we look into this perfect law, it is liberating because it's here and here only that we're going to discover what can truly satisfy us. For the person who is born again and who is humbly receiving the Word, the biblical commands are not just what we should do, But they become what we want to do. This is our deepest desire, is to obey our Lord and to follow Him wholeheartedly. It's with this kind of eagerness and joy that we look into the perfect law, the law of liberty. These are not shackles, but the very opposite of that. These are God's gracious instructions of how to live in liberty. How to enjoy the freedom that He's given us in Christ. Well, let's move to point number two now, the folly of hearing without doing. The folly of hearing without doing. And the first thing to think about here is deception. That's mentioned twice in our passage. In verse 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. and also in verse twenty six if anyone thinks he is religious and is not bridal his tongue but deceives his heart this person's religion is worthless the person who hears the word but does not put it into practice is severely diluted there's the assumption there can be that assumption among us that you know hearing the word is is really all there is to christianity You know, as long as I go to church, listen to some sermons, read the Bible sometimes, well, then I'm doing pretty well in the Christian life. If that's your mentality this morning, I want to warn you from this passage that you're deceived. You're wrong. That kind of detached listening to the Word, that's not what Christianity is about, just kind of taking in some information about the Bible from time to time. If you stop there, you're deceiving your heart, and your religion is worthless, which is how he says it in verse 26. And to say it yet another way, as James does in the next chapter, in James 2, your faith is dead. So don't be deceived. Another thing we see about the hearer is that the hearer forgets the word. Foolish forgetfulness in verse 24 and 25. Foolish forgetfulness. This is why he is a hearer only, because he forgets the word. And James uses this simple and very helpful illustration to show us the absurdity of being a hearer only. See in verses 23 and 24, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's 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. The point of the illustration is to say if you're a hearer of the word, but then you walk away and at once forget what it says, or at least you behave and think and your attitude is in such a way that it seems like you've completely forgotten what it says, then there's something very wrong with you. This is not the way it's supposed to be. The illustration here has to do with a mirror, something we're all familiar with. At the time James was writing, they didn't have mirrors like the ones we have today. They had pieces of polished metal in which they could see their reflection. But both then and today, people look into mirrors to see what they look like. I was looking into the mirror the other day as our daughter, Malena, our oldest daughter, she was showing me how to create a Memoji on my phone. Okay? So I can send text messages now with little emoticons that look kind of like me. And have you guys done this? I mean, this was kind of fun. Milena was showing me how to do this as we were sitting in the van waiting to pick up Noah from cross-country. And she showed me her Memoji, a little face there that looked like her, and then she showed me, walked me through how to do this. And I found myself looking into the rear view mirror, looking at my face to figure out what, you know, what options do I choose here? What exactly is the shape of my head? I've never thought about that before. And what is the exact shade of my hair color and, you know, my eyebrows and ears and all these, so many different options here. Well, of course, it made me think of this passage. As you look intently at your face in a mirror, it would be very strange, wouldn't it, if you then walked away and immediately forgot everything about what you looked like. I mean, I had to look in the mirror to figure out some little details, but I know my eye color. And I know things like that. I mean, if someone asks you, what color are your eyes? I totally forgot. I don't know. Is your skin light or dark? Again, I'm not sure. Your hair, is it curly or straight? I don't know. You tell me. That would be very strange, wouldn't it? And in the same way, it should be shocking and shameful when we realize that we've looked into the mirror of God's Word and then we've gone away and we've lived completely like we forgot what it says. You can be going through a day and think, you know, why am I grumbling? When I know that God is sovereign and good, God's word tells me that, but I'm living, my attitude is like, I don't remember that. Why am I angry? Why did I lose my temper? Why am I anxious? Why did I lash out with my words? Why am I living and talking and thinking like I don't know what the Bible says? The Word reveals our sin and it reveals the only remedy for sin, Jesus Christ. And if we miss that, if we forget that, then we're not looking into God's Word appropriately. We are merely hearers. So let's be reminded this morning that what we learn this morning from God's Word, we need to put into practice this afternoon and tonight and throughout this coming week. And we need to be looking into this mirror intently and regularly, daily, we need to be looking into this mirror. and then living each day applying what we've learned. Okay, point number three now. Obey the Word. Obey the Word. Now that we've seen the gospel foundation for these practical real-life instructions, that we've been regenerated, we've been born again, And we've also seen the foolishness of interacting with God's Word in a superficial way of just being hearers only. Now let's look at these very practical commands and let's listen with humility and with a desire to put these into practice. The first one is listen carefully. in verse 19. Listen carefully. Let every person be quick to hear. In other words, listen carefully. Be a careful listener. This is a common theme in Proverbs, and I'm going to be quoting several verses from Proverbs in relation to these three commands in verse 19. Listen carefully, speak thoughtfully, live peacefully. These are all commands that we see over and over again in Proverbs. Proverbs 12, 15 says, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. There's obviously a humility that's required here. We need to realize that we don't know it all. I don't know everything I need to know. And therefore, we need to shut our mouths and listen to what others have to say. Interestingly, in the Proverbs, to be a humble listener is so identified with wisdom. that it's even possible for a fool to appear wise if he'll just keep his mouth shut. Okay? This is what it says in Proverbs 17, 28. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise. When he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. So, even if you're not wise, you may appear wise if you'll just listen more than you talk. And of course, the point here is not just to appear wise. The point is to be wise, and it's listening carefully that will help us to grow in wisdom. Proverbs 1.5. says, let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance. We can't learn if we're always talking. We learn when we're listening. We must also be willing to receive a rebuke. We must listen to correction, Proverbs 19.20. says, listen to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the future. In Proverbs 13, 1, a wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to a rebuke. So if you're going to gain wisdom, you must be willing to listen to a rebuke. And that's not an easy thing. It's not enjoyable at the moment. But when a brother or sister in Christ comes to us and speaks the truth in love to us about its sin in our lives, we need to listen to that and we need to take that to heart. Through that loving rebuke, we will grow in wisdom. We will grow in holiness and that correction will be a means of God's grace to us, to sanctify us. Another thing about listening carefully, it's also a powerful way to show love to others. When we truly listen to people, whether they are sharing with us a great joy in their life or a great sorrow that they're going through, they will know that we care about them and love them because we're taking the time to listen. What an awesome way to minister to one another. within the church and also to minister to the hurting world around us, to take the time to listen, take a genuine interest in the people around you and love them by listening to them. The next admonition in verse 19 is that we must be slow to speak. Speak thoughtfully. this command in the first one are are like two sides of the same coin we are to be quick to hear and slow to speak after all god gave us two years and one now right so he must want us to listen at least twice as much as work we should be eager to listen quick to listen we should not be quick to speak brother we should be slow to speak we should we should listen and pray, and then speak. Proverbs 17, 27 says, whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. And Proverbs 10, 19, when words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. If you don't give careful consideration to your speech, you're going to fall into all kinds of sin. you may fall into gossip or slander or crude joking. When we fail to think before we speak, Sin is inevitable. Surely we will come to the end of the day and there will be various things that we wish we could take back, things we said that we regret that we said. Let us be wise and think before we speak. Not only do we want to avoid sin in our speech, we also want to bless others with helpful words. Proverbs 12, 18, there is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. So couple that with careful listening, and our speech can be a tremendous means of grace to others. When we listen carefully and then speak thoughtfully, this will encourage and comfort and bring healing to the people that God brings into our lives. In a couple weeks, we're going to be having a table talk, a book discussion of Paul Tripp's book called War of Words. getting to the heart of your communication struggles. And Jamin Walker, one of our elders here at Three Rivers Grace, he's going to be leading this. He read this book some time ago and recommended it for our edification, and I've started reading it. Near the beginning of the book, Paul Tripp has some questions for self-examination, questions that are very relevant to the verse we're looking at here, and I want to read you a few of these questions. But remember, these are for self-examination, okay, not for evaluating your spouse or your parent or your child or your coworker or friend. This is for looking at your own words, your own communication, so that you can humbly receive God's Word and grow. So think about some of these questions, thinking of your own speech, your talk. Does your talk with others lead to biblical problem-solving? Does your talk have a stand-together or a me-against-them posture? Do your words encourage others to be open and honest about their thoughts and feelings? Are you approachable and teachable or defensive and self-protective when talking with others? Does your talk encourage faith and personal spiritual growth in those around you? Do your words reflect a willingness to serve others or a demand that they serve you? And then finally, as you face the struggles of talk, do you do so with a recognition of the gospel, God's forgiveness, his enabling grace, and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit? Those are some helpful ways to begin thinking about how you can grow in listening carefully and speaking thoughtfully. And then the third thing that James mentions in verse 19 is anger. He tells us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. He instructs us to listen carefully, speak thoughtfully, and live peacefully. And this issue of anger, it's closely related to our speech because it's so common for the anger in our hearts to spew out in our speech. Anger can well up within our hearts, and then our words become like shotgun blasts of that anger. We lash out with harsh words toward a spouse, or parent, or child, or friend, or coworker, or complete stranger. I mean, oftentimes, it doesn't have to do with the other person. There can be sinful anger in our hearts, and then we just unload that on whoever happens to be in the vicinity. Proverbs 29, 11, a fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. And Proverbs 16, 32, whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he who rules his spirit better than he who takes a city. That's speaking to the great power there is in being able to restrain your anger. There's so much wisdom and so much power in being the kind of person who is slow to anger. Don't let yourself be controlled by sinful anger. Live peacefully with those around you. And James then gives us a reason for this in verse 20. He says we should be slow to anger. Why? For because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. In other words, man's anger does not please God. This is not according to God's will. It's not how He desires for us to behave. Someone might ask the question here, as we're talking about anger, someone might ask, well, what about righteous anger? Wasn't Jesus angry with people who were buying and selling in the temple? Wasn't he also angry with the Pharisees because of their hard hearts? We also read Paul's instruction in Ephesians 4, 26, which suggests that there is such a thing as righteous anger. It says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and from these verses I think it's clear that there there is such a thing as righteous anger and Jesus models that for us He was angry and yet he remained sinless in everything that he did And Ephesians 4 26 suggests that that it is possible to be angry without sinning, although we should probably acknowledge that this is rare in our lives and James says we should be slow to anger. It will be appropriate at times for us to feel angry. I mean, there are horrible injustices in the world like human trafficking and abortion and various kinds of abuse and corruption and prejudice. It's right that we're angered by these injustices in the world. Here's a helpful way of distinguishing righteous anger and sinful anger. One person said it like this, if we would be angry and not sin, we must be angry at nothing but sin. If we would be angry and not sin, we must be angry at nothing but sin. In this way, we follow Jesus' example. He was angry with the sin committed by those who were buying and selling in the temple, angry with the hard-hearted Pharisees. Sinful anger, on the other hand, gets upset with all kinds of things that are not necessarily sin. And this is what we can fall into. so easily. We get all bent out of shape over things that simply don't cater to our personal preferences. A traffic jam. So frustrating, right? A long line at the grocery store. Things like that. We get irritated and annoyed by petty things. Maybe the computer isn't working the way I need it to work. The TV isn't working the way it should. It's not working properly. Or a co-worker or a family member isn't working properly, right? They're not doing things the way I want them to do these things. Drives us crazy. That's the anger that so often arises within us, and we need to confess that before God and seek His forgiveness and His grace to help us overcome that anger. And you know, even when our anger is directed at sin, when it is a righteous, appropriate anger, Uh, even that anger can still be sinful if we're not trusting that God is a just judge. It may be that someone has sinned against you terribly. And maybe you're holding a grudge against that person. Maybe that person's sin hurt you very deeply. But if you are holding a grudge, then you're sinning by not trusting that God is perfectly just. God is a just judge, and he will see to it that every sin is dealt with appropriately. For those who never put their faith in Jesus Christ, they will suffer in hell for eternity. That will be the punishment for their sin. For those of us who are trusting in Jesus, our sin was punished on the cross. Jesus shed his blood to atone for that sin. Therefore, it's not our place to hold grudges or to take our own revenge. God will deal with every sin, and we need to trust him with that. I think these things will help us to be slow to anger. If we realize that we should only be angry at sin, and even then we must remember that God will deal justly with every sin. Okay, letter D, put away immorality. We're almost done here. Put away immorality. We see this in verse 21, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. And in verse 27, the instruction to keep yourself unstained from the world. Focusing on verse 21, verse 21, the verb for put away This conveys the idea of removing a robe or removing clothing of some kind, and it's used in the New Testament to refer to taking off the old self. In Ephesians 4, 21 to 24, it uses this image of putting off the old self and then putting on the new self. Assuming that you have heard about Christ and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self Which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Similarly, James here, he's telling us we need to take off, we need to put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. Thinking along these lines, these biblical categories, this can be a very effective strategy of fighting temptation. When you're feeling that urge, that temptation to sin in some way, maybe with your words, you're struggling to hold those words back, or in your thoughts, or in your actions in any other way, remind yourself of who you are in Christ. You have a new identity and you need to very intentionally, day by day, be putting away that old self. All those words that want to come out of my mouth right now, that's not who I am anymore. I need to put that off and I need to put on the new identity I have in Christ and live according to that new self. Okay, letter E, serve those in need. We conclude here now with yet another very practical outworking of our life in Christ. The life of doing the word, not just hearing the word. Verse 27 gives two examples of what this changed life will include. The life of one who is born again. who has been brought forth by the word of truth and who is humbly receiving the word. In contrast to the worthless religion described in verse 26, verse 27 says, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. James is getting very specific about the kind of deeds that will be produced in the person who is a doer of the Word. And it's not an exhaustive list here, but James helps us understand the kinds of activities that the doer of the Word will be engaged in. Our Christian lives will include many things. But one thing that will not be absent is compassion for the needy. Doers of the Word will reach out to help others, especially those who are helpless and disadvantaged. In this way, we reflect the nature of our Heavenly Father. Psalm 68, verse 5, describes our Father in this way. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation. If we are truly His children, then we will resemble Him. And we will have this kind of compassion for the most needy and helpless individuals in our society. We need to ask ourselves, do I only look out for myself? Do I only think of number one here? Or am I seeking to serve others, especially those who will never be able to pay me back or return the favor? This may involve visiting those who are sick, or being involved in a prison ministry, or helping the homeless, or considering adoption, or helping the elderly, or ministering to the needs of recent immigrants to our country, or traveling to other countries to help those who are impoverished. The needs are all around us and all around the world. The possibilities are endless. We need to examine our hearts and pray that God would conform us more and more to his likeness so that we can have his compassion for the orphan and the widow. What I hope you'll take away this morning is the realization that the Bible is strong and mighty to change your life, and it ought to be changing your life week by week and month by month. Receive the word, brothers and sisters. Don't just hear, do. Don't merely listen to the Word. Obey. The Father brought us forth by the Word of Truth. Now we must receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save our souls. So, here's the concluding encouragement to you. Consider this week. Okay, in very tangible ways, how the implanted word will transform you into a person who listens carefully, speaks thoughtfully, lives peacefully, who puts away immorality, and who serves those in need. Let's pray. God, we do pray that by your spirit, through your word, you will be transforming us. God, we don't want to be a congregation who just listens to your word. God, grow us to obey, to do. I thank you for the abundant fruit that you are producing in our lives, in this congregation. And we just pray that you'll continue to refine us. And for anyone here this morning who is just a hearer but not a doer, God, please bring conviction. change lives. For those who have not yet been born again, God, please draw people to yourself. Awaken them to who you truly are. And that this book, the Bible, is not just a compilation of writings for us to study and examine in an intellectual way, but it's a living and active word that will transform us. Please do that work in us today and this coming week by your grace. We pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper
Be Doers of the Word
Serie James
ID del sermone | 1013191613221471 |
Durata | 46:36 |
Data | |
Categoria | Servizio domenicale |
Testo della Bibbia | James 1:19-27 |
Lingua | inglese |
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