You'll take your Bibles and turn to James chapter one. James one. Go ahead and read this section that we're working our way through, the second major section in the book of James that is demonstrating that genuine faith comes through obedience. Look at verse 19 of James chapter 1 and we'll read down to verse 27. Right after verse 18 says that we've been brought forth by the word of truth that is the gospel. Know this my beloved brother, 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, Rather than going the wrong direction in how you relate to the Word 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. 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." Father, we Seek to humbly come before you this morning wanting you to show us how we need to remain or become even more humble before you and your word. And we pray that as your people with new hearts that we would receive that word which is already at work in us by the work of your spirit. That we would willingly arrange ourselves under your leadership with a meekness that is focused on you and not self, in a way that is liberating in our own walk with you and our relation to others around us. That we would be centered upon you and focused on others, freed from the crippling effects of foolish pride and self-focus. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, genuine faith is displayed through obedience and obedience that shows up in various ways. James certainly doesn't list all of the ways that Scripture shows us that obedience shows up, but two of the ways so far we've seen have to do with one, trials, how we relate to trials and how we relate to God in trials. That is a way for our genuine faith to be displayed in obedience. And then secondly, as we started a section this last week on how we receive the word of God, how we relate to the word of God, that displays also our genuineness of faith. If in fact we're brought forth by the word of truth, if we're born again from above, then we will relate to God in His Word in these characteristic ways. There are three main characteristic ways that are displayed in James 1, 19-27. And I want to emphasize the word characteristic because we are a work in progress, but these are at the heart of a true believer's disposition toward God and His Word. This is where You can encourage a believer to go and there will be something in them that says yes, and there'll be a desire to advance in that eventually. This is their desire by the work of the Spirit. They are in Christ. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, but that faith, as often has been said, is never alone. It's always accompanied by Spirit-produced transformation, transformation that is progressive. So there are still areas where we need to be transformed, but relating to God's Word in these ways is the pattern and emerging and clearer and clearer pattern in the life of a believer. And if you look at the whole life, the pattern becomes more and more evident. This passage describes the right way to relate to God in His Word in three ways. Number one, it shows up in how we react to God's Word. Two, how we receive God's Word. Three, how we obey God's Word. And the reaction, the receiving, and the obeying really can't be separated from one another. They're really all inseparable, part of the same picture. If you react to God's Word in His Word the right way, you're going to receive His Word in a humble spirit, as we'll see today, and you're going to be obeying it. These things are all connected. This week by God's grace, did you react to God's word in a way that made the genuineness of your faith in Christ evident? Were you quick to hear it? Or were you quick to talk over it and against it? And did you find yourself actually getting angry at it? If you responded with evidence of genuine faith, you were quick to hear it, you were slow to speak against it, you were slow to get angry at it. And remember, reactions are revelatory. When we react to something or someone, when we react to the Word of God, there's some revelation about our relationship or what we think about that other person. Well, what were your reactions revealing about your relationship with God? Just like our reaction in many areas of life are revelatory, it is revelatory with how we react to the Word of God. If it's someone's birthday and you're giving them a gift, what does it tell you if they will not receive the gift? Now, there could be different contextual reasons, but If someone doesn't receive a gift, there's some interesting explanation there, right? Some of which might be very damaging in terms of explaining the relationship and what's going on in that relationship. Or what if someone receives a gift without any acknowledgement? Or if they receive it disinterestedly, just you give them a gift and they're just kind of like, oh, you know, you gave me something today. How you receive something reveals how you view the giver or the source of what has been given. James 1, 19 through 27, the theme that we've been considering is genuine faith is displayed through our relationship with God and His word. Last week we considered in 19 and 20 how we react to God's word reveals the presence or the absence of genuine faith in our lives. And then today we want to consider this from verse 21. How we receive God's word reveals the presence or absence of genuine faith in our lives, how we receive it. Now, before we let this verse probe us with three questions of how we receive God's word, we need to look at the command, which is at the heart of this verse, and understand it, and it's gonna raise another question for us. Really, as you look at this verse, we need to make sure we understand the main point. The main point of this verse is the main verb, which is a command. And the way the ESV translates it can imply that there's more than one command, but there is actually one command. And the other, what seems to be a command, is actually related to the main verb. Look at verse 19. 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, receive the implanted word. That's the thought progression. Be quick to hear the word of God, be slow to speak against it, Be slow to be angry about it because the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Therefore, receive the implanted word." Everything else in verse 21 is kind of a spoke out of that main clause. Receive the implanted word. The word translated receive has the idea of welcome or accept the implanted word. A definition would be to indicate approval or conviction by accepting, be receptive of, to be open to approval of it. The Word shows up at various places with people receiving God's Word. Let me just read a few of those in the book of Acts. Acts 8.14, now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent to them Peter and John. Or Acts 11.1, now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God. or 1711, now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. And we saw this as well when it comes to the church of Thessalonica and their exemplary example of how they related to the word of God. 1 Thessalonians 1.6 says this, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. or probably even more well-known is 1 Thessalonians 2.13, and we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. That's so encouraging, receiving the word which is at work in you believers. We are to receive God's word in this manner. Now, it is possible to receive God's word in a temporary way. That's not what we're talking about here. That's not what this reception is. That temporary reception is found in the parable of the soils. Luke 8, 13, our Lord says this, and the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. but these have no root, they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. That's not the kind of reception that's being referred to here. There's something in James 1, 21 that indicates for us that this receiving is a genuine receiving, something very, very different than the rocky soil that supposedly receives it, but then falls away from any association with it. It's a receiving, James 1 here, of the word that only a believer can do. You see, temporary receiving of God's word is merely an external thing. It's like a cord being plugged into an outlet that has no power hooked up. But the genuine faith of a believer receives the word like a cord being plugged into the outlet of a heart that is already hooked up to power. What indicates this in our text? Look at the main point of verse 21 again. Receive the implanted word. So that raises some important, an important question for us before we even consider what it's like to receive it. That is this, do we have God's word implanted within us? Do we have God's word implanted within us? We're gonna talk about what that means, but I wanna raise the question so as we talk about it and what it means, we can examine ourselves. You know, as we gather each week to hear the word of God, The orientation of our gathering is actually worship to the Lord because the gathering of the church is for God's people. Certainly we have unbelievers in our midst. Every week we have children who have not yet testified. faith in Christ. We have those among us that are adults that do not yet know Christ. We might have someone come in that we don't know that does not yet know Christ, but when we gather, the assumption is we gather as God's people, an assembly that is made up of members that we hope and trust and are careful to maintain a born-again membership of people who are worshiping the Lord and can be addressed, even as the epistles do, addressing the church as believers worshiping the Lord. We're to be equipped here that we might go out and evangelize and live out our faith everywhere, but we gather here to be built up and to worship the Lord as God's people. And yet, It is important, if we are to maintain a born-again membership, that we constantly hear the gospel, understand the gospel, and are examining ourselves in a Christ-centered way, even as Scripture says. And so both because we have unbelievers among us every single week and because we ourselves need to be examining that we trust in Christ and Christ alone, we need to hear the gospel, we need to understand the gospel and the nature of what it means to be someone who is born again. And so the way we're gonna do that this morning is simply by asking this question, do we have God's word implanted within us? If the answer is yes, then we are definitely a child of God. What is James talking about here? James is not saying that every single human being has the word of God inherently implanted within them. That's not what he's saying. No, he's speaking to believers and is saying, receive the word that has been implanted in you. The idea of the word being implanted is that it was not native to the heart, but was implanted into our hearts as believers. When did that happen? Well, just think about what James 1.18 says. Of God's own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. At salvation, we were brought forth by the gospel, by the word of truth. It would make sense that at salvation, when the word brought us forth, that would be the time when the word was implanted within us. Turn back to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. We're gonna read a prophecy because as Jeremiah foretells a future time when Judah will experience salvation with the Messiah reigning over them, as he's telling of this future time, Judah is facing judgment and captivity for their disobedience. But it is in this prophecy that we hear something that sounds very much like what James 121 says of the word of God being implanted within people. Look at verse 31 of chapter 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. That's another way of saying things like in those days, talking about the future days of the Messiah. Declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord." That's referring to the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant, they broke that. So there's this prophecy of a new covenant coming in the days of the Messiah. Now, before we read about this covenant that Jeremiah foretells, just keep in mind that in the New Testament, or the new covenant, that's what the word testament means, We learn that the New Covenant is experienced by the church. This New Covenant was revealed in the Old Testament as being for Israel as a nation, and there are promises made to that nation in the fulfillment of the New Covenant that have not yet happened, but they will. And yet, the New Testament reveals that there is an expansion of the New Covenant blessings, a partial fulfillment of them right now in the church. This does not eliminate the fullness of the New Covenant promises the Lord gave originally to Israel. Romans 11, the gifts and callings of God, referring specifically to the future of Israel, are irrevocable. But what this does mean is that we can learn about the nature of our salvation as New Covenant believers from this prophecy of the New Covenant. I'm trying to explain why we're looking at a passage that's to Israel and yet learning about our salvation. Just briefly, let me explain why I am understanding the New Testament to expand the new covenant blessings to us in the church. More could be said, but simply this, the data would be this. When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, he told us to remember his death by partaking of the cup, which represents his blood shed on the cross, and do this until he comes again. So the Lord's Supper is a local church practice ordinance. And what does he say about the cup? Likewise, the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Remember this. 2 Corinthians 3 speaks of the apostolic ministry as a new covenant ministry. Hebrews 8 quotes this very passage of Jeremiah 31 about the new covenant and argues based on the blessings we have through Jesus in the new covenant that he is better than the old covenant and anything we might be tempted to turn back to. By the way, Jesus is our great high priest today and what does he minister? He ministers the new covenant, which is better. So we rejoice in Jesus who is our better high priest who ministers a better covenant, the new covenant. So with that background explaining why I'm saying we can look at this prophecy and learn about our own salvation in the new covenant, let's keep reading in Jeremiah 31 and listen for anything that sounds like the word being implanted within people. Look at verse 33. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them. and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." The old covenant, under the old covenant, not everyone that was of the old covenant was truly knowing the Lord, but everyone in the new covenant truly knows the Lord. Do you see the phrase? I will write my law on their hearts. That sounds like God's word being implanted. Now, turn over to Ezekiel 36. In your mind, you can just always associate Jeremiah 31 with Ezekiel 36. They are companion prophecies of the new covenant, and Ezekiel 36 emphasizes the ministry of the Spirit in the new covenant. Look at 3622. Again, as we read this passage, remember there are specific things that have to do with the nation of Israel being restored in the land and having Christ reign over on this earth during his thousand-year reign. At that time, all Israel, as Romans 11 says, will be saved. At that time, all Israel as a nation will experience the fullness of the new covenant blessings. We who, however, who trust in Christ right now in the church are experiencing a foretaste. So again, we learn something about the word being implanted in our hearts right now. Look at verse 22 of Ezekiel 36. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land." That's the future aspect of the new covenant, the fullness that has not yet happened. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. And from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you, here's what we connect with here, I will give you a new heart. and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." Sounds very much like what Philippians 2 says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both the will and to do his own good pleasure. You shall dwell in the land that I give to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God and I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God. Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel." Thus says the Lord God on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt." You can hear there's aspects of the future that have not yet happened, but there's this reality at the heart of what a New Covenant believer is. right with God, with the Spirit of God at work in their lives, with the Word, the Law of God written on their hearts, that is there that we can see even apply to ourselves. So here's the question. Do we have God's Word implanted within us? If the answer is yes, then here's what we can say. Then we have genuine faith as New Covenant believers. If the Word of God is implanted within us, then we have genuine faith as New Covenant believers. Now, we've considered one of four questions that will help walk us through the passage today. Do we have God's word implanted within us? If the answer is yes, then it is because we have been born again. It's because we've heard the word of truth by God's great mercy. We've repented of our sin and trusted in Christ alone. Or you could say he caused us to be born again by his great mercy to a living hope, as Peter says, that we might be accepted before God. All believers have the Word of God implanted in them by the work of the Spirit. At heart, we are receivers of the Word because we have a new nature. We are fundamentally oriented toward God. So this is my confidence as a new covenant preacher of the gospel is that when I preach to God's people, I know in your heart you're saying yes to Christ. I know you're saying yes to the Word of God because you have a new heart. This is encouraging. Think about what this means. James 1, 19-27 is saying that our genuine faith is displayed through how we relate to God in His Word. But if we have genuine faith, we're relating to God in His Word by relating to the Word which is implanted already within us. In other words, there is an internal work of God through the Word going on in our lives. So this whole question of whether or not we have genuine faith is not about navel-gazing. It's not about looking at yourself saying, am I worthy in and of myself? It's actually looking for the evidence that the God of grace is at work in your life, though you don't deserve it. It's about us looking not to ourself as the answer. It's not about our works. It's about identifying whether or not there is an internal work of God that is showing up, yes, in works, but works that can only be traced back ultimately to God's undeserved grace in our lives. Is God at work in you personally by the Spirit like that? Or do you relate, now this might be a very clarifying moment for you, do you relate to God's word like it is an outsider to you? Like many other things. Or is there something in you that says, no, that I know the God of the word. He's my God, he's at work in my life. Is it an outsider thing or is it an internal thing? Is the spirit working in your heart such that when you hear God's word, you say, yes, that is God's word. Like a magnet designed to be attracted opposite sides. Do you hear the word in it? You're attracted to it because God's at work in you. Or are you repelled by it? Or are you indifferent to it? If you're a believer, your heart is drawn toward the word. So when this passage talks about displaying the genuineness of your faith through how you relate to God and his word, you say, oh, how I want God's word. You want the word of God who graciously saved you through his son who died for you and rose again. You want that word to have fruit in your life. The very depths of your being says, oh, how I love your law. When you hear people in the scripture say things like that, when you read Psalm 119 and you hear this display of the word, yes, you're convicted because you wish your heart was more engaged with the word like his was. But your heart says, yes, he's right about that. That's exactly right. So this challenge to display your genuine faith through how you relate to God and his word is something that God is working in you, both the willing and the doing for. Now with that in mind, let's make sure we have the flow of this passage before we continue letting it ask us some questions. Here's the flow, verse 18. Tells us that we were brought forth by the word of truth, the gospel. We heard the gospel, there was a time we heard it, and eventually he called us to himself through that gospel. We were brought forth by the gospel. And then verses 19 through 20 says, be careful how you react to the word which brought you forth. Now that you're a believer. And verse 21 says, this word that brought you forth and which is now implanted in you, you are to receive it in an ongoing way. But how should we receive the implanted word? Well, we need to do so with repentance. So here is our question. Do we receive God's word with repentance? Do we receive God's word in an ongoing way with repentance? The main verb or point of verse 21 is to receive the implanted word, but look how repentance is associated with that. Look at verse 21, therefore put away all filthiness. That sounds like a command. It does have the force of a command, but grammatically it is serving the receiving the word which is implanted. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls." You could say, putting away sin, receive the implanted Word. That's the grammar of it. Putting away sin, receive the implanted Word. You can think of it like this. The prerequisite for receiving the implanted Word is repentance. The prerequisite for ongoing reception of the word of God, which is implanted in your heart as a believer, is ongoing repentance. So here's the question, do we receive God's word with repentance? That is the prerequisite. That is the prerequisite. Many times when I worked at a college in Manhattan years ago, I would look at the classes a student had registered for and would have to tell them they couldn't do that class that they were trying to register for, because they didn't have the prerequisite. They were trying to take English 102, but they hadn't done English 101 yet. 100, I can't remember. 102 to 103, there it is. Why? They had not yet completed the prerequisite for that class. If you're gonna receive or welcome the Word that's already been implanted within you at salvation, then you will have to be someone who repents of sin on an ongoing basis, which is also evidence of genuine faith. We must put away our sin as we receive the Word of God. Yes, God's Word is at work in you by the Spirit, But if you're to receive the word that is being communicated to you from the Bible, you must not grieve the spirit by letting sin be at home in your life. Think about that. The very reason that the word is implanted to you is through the work of the spirit and the gospel. And so if you're letting sin be at home in your life, you're grieving the very one that's at work in your life with the word. You must put away sin. Put away has the idea of taking a piece of clothing off, put it away, take it off. And we're to do this with all sin, every instance of sin. What kind of sin? Well, there are two that are referred to here. Filthiness, that is all that is morally defiling, and rampant wickedness. Turn over to 1 Peter 1. Deep Bible study is not going deep into a dictionary about what one word means. Deep Bible study is understanding what that word means in its context and in the overall context of all of Scripture, which means deep Bible study is looking at other portions of Scripture in relationship to what you're seeing in this passage of Scripture and coming to know the inherent fabric of God's revelation. And that's what we're gonna see in 1 Peter 1. The internal reasoning or the DNA of 1 Peter 1, 22 through 23 is very much like what we see in James 1. 1 Peter 1, 22, having purified your souls for obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. You've been brought forth by the word of truth, same point. For all flesh is like grass in all its glory, like the flower of grass, the grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, that's the prerequisite for what's coming next, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk. that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. You see, it's the same idea. Sometimes we desire to get back on track and to start receiving the word of God in a appropriate way and have our hearts engage with God and his word and we can't figure out why our attempt to be disciplined to get into the word of God seems to run flat again and again. And often the answer is this, The prerequisite is not being practiced. One of the reasons for that is that we have not put aside known sin and we are grieving the Spirit of God who is the author of the Word of God. When we come to read God's Word, we need to be ready to turn away from known sin if we want to have really fruitful fellowship with the Lord. The way anyone gets saved is by turning from their sin and putting their faith in Christ. Faith and repentance from sin is always a mark of maturing Christian. Are you ready and willing to repent of sin that you might receive the word implanted in a consistent way? Again, think about this in human relationships. If you say, I would like to have better communication with so and so. You and me, let's talk, let's have better communication. But you both know there's something between each other and it's not being dealt with. A prerequisite for better communication is acknowledgement of the problem. How much more is that the case with the Lord? In Christ, we have a perfect standing. We're righteous in Him, and we are safe for all eternity, and yet in evidence of ongoing True, genuine faith in Christ is a confession of sin, not to be saved again, but to be cleansed and relationally restored in a practical way before the Lord in our daily lives. Are you ready and willing to admit sin? specifically, and deal with it before the Lord and others. That is a prerequisite for receiving the Word of God. Every time we pridefully resist admitting our sin before the Lord and others, we are resisting the Spirit's work, who is the author of the Word of God, His work of giving us understanding of Him and His glory in the Word. We're resisting truly receiving the Word. We won't turn to Romans chapter 6 this morning, but you can look at Romans 6, 1 through 6, and it very much has similar reasoning of what we've considered, except it doesn't use implanted word. It talks about us being united with Christ. And it basically says this, that even though God's grace is abounding over sin, does that mean we should sin and do whatever we want? The answer is by no means. We are in Christ. We've been crucified with Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection is our story. His victory over sin is our victory over sin. We have a new master. In James 1 terms, are we to continue in sin? By no means. God has implanted his word in us and so we are to turn away from sin as we receive that word which has been implanted in us by the work of the Spirit. Is it your practice to speak to the Lord about your sin and have godly sorrow over it? If you are someone who cannot admit your sin to those that you are sinning against relationally, it is unlikely that you are admitting your sin specifically before the Lord. Repentance is a change of emotion, mind, and will about sin. This is something that is an ongoing prerequisite for receiving the word of God in your life. To receive God's word is to acknowledge his holiness and his right to rule your life. So holding on to sin, to live your life as you wish, is incompatible with receiving God's word. Do we have God's word implanted within us? Then we have genuine faith. Do we receive God's word with repentance? That is the prerequisite. Let's look at verse 21 again and notice another word that is connected to receiving the implanted word. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with what? With meekness or humility, the implanted word. We are to receive the implanted word with meekness. The word meek here refers to a kind of God-centered humility before him in his word. The standard Greek dictionary defines the word like this, the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one's self-importance. That is such a beautiful divination. We are overly impressed by a sense of our own self-importance. Let's just go ahead and mark that down. That's our tendency. Prone to wander, prone to be overly impressed with our own sense of self-importance. That is a roadblock to receiving the word of God in our lives. Notice how this whole passage works together. If you are overly focused on your own supposed self-importance, why would you be quick to hear someone else's word, like God's word? Why would you be slow to speak against it? I mean, if you think you're something, you have an over-inflated view of yourself, and you probably think what you think is more important, and you could tell God what he says is wrong, and get angry at what he says, and maybe do it in sophisticated ways that doesn't immediately show that you're doing it that way. at the heart of talking over God's word, speaking against God's word and getting angry at God's word is being overly impressed with ourselves rather than fearing the Lord of the word. So here's our question. Do we receive God's word with humility? Do we receive God's word with humility? There are biblical examples of this. This was Ezra's example when he heard that the people of Israel had violated God's word by intermarrying with those who were of other nations who did not know the Lord. Ezra 9.3, as soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, And it goes on and speaks of what happened. But they trembled at God's Word. Why? They were humbled before God's Word. Ezra 10.3, This trembling before God. and his word necessarily involves an appropriate view of self before the glory of God. Proud people don't tremble before the word of God. They expect others to tremble before their words. Proud people question it, they disregard it, and are hardened to it. But listen to what the Lord values as a disposition toward him. Isaiah 66, 1 and 2, All these things my hand has made, and so all these things come to be, declares the Lord, but this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Do we receive God's word with humility? And that, and the point that we want to notice is that is to be our manner. That is to be our manner. Again, this word for meekness or humility means the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one's self-importance. It's very easy to fall into the trap of interacting with God's word with an overly inflated view of self. The sinful spirit, this even happens in the way we forget about it being God's word. We can use the Bible as if it's some kind of a commodity, some kind of a talking point with other people. How we relate to God's Word often shows up with how we relate to others about God's Word. We can easily get into disagreements about the Bible or study and discuss the Bible with an orientation toward one another alone, rather than with an orientation toward the Lord of the Word humbly before Him. This is not about me. And you, this is about God first, and then it's about us in terms of how we relate to him and one another. How you understand something in scripture is not really about me. It's really about you and the Lord, and me and the Lord. It's really about humbling ourselves before the Lord. Why do we interact with the Scripture with one another? Well, is it so that we can feel like we were right? Or is it so that we can feel validated? Or is it because we love the Lord and we love the Word and we love others and we want to see others and ourselves willingly arranging ourselves in glad submission to the Lord of the Word? When we relate to God's Word and when we relate to one another with God's Word, may we not be overly impressed by a sense of our self-importance. how easy that is. but may we be captivated by the unique excellence of our God who is supremely important and worthy of our praise. And finally, there is one more phrase at the end of verse 21. It's connected to the main point. Look what it says. Therefore put away all filthiness, that's the prerequisite, and rampant wickedness, and receive with, here's the manner, meekness, the implanted word through the work of the Spirit in the new covenant, which is able to save your souls. The way I've tried to capture this is by asking this question, do we receive God's Word in hope? Do we receive God's Word in hope? Biblical hope is future-focused faith. It's the same thing, but it's future-focused. It's confident expectation based on the promises of God revealed in His Word, guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hope of what? Well, receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. The hope of salvation. Soul here is referring to your whole self. The point is that we are to receive the word with humility, with this hope. It is able to bring about salvation. Now you say, well, I thought we were already saved. We've already been brought forth by the word of truth. Answer, yes, that's absolutely correct. Now, if we have the word already implanted in us, we are already saved. We have already been brought forth by the word of truth. But as we've seen multiple times, there is a future aspect of our salvation. We are saved now, but we will enter into the fullness of our salvation later. We have eternal life now, but we will enter into eternal life later. We're saved, but we look forward to entering into our final and full salvation, or this is the word, deliverance. That deliverance will include the eradication of all our sin and the glorification of our bodies and the wrapping up of all of human history according to God's purposes. But notice that we are to presently receive the word in our life right now when that has not yet happened. We're to receive it which is able to save our souls, which is able to deliver us. were to receive the Word of God here this morning, throughout our daily lives, knowing that it is the God of the Word and the promises of the God of the Word that have everything to do with our ultimate deliverance. This is a future focus. A future focus of deliverance that is the culmination of a deliverance that we are progressively moving toward. Right now, we get to Consider this in 1 Corinthians 1.18 of what is actually happening in our lives. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 2 Corinthians 3.18, and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. And what is at the end of that path? The end of that path is in the presence of Jesus, completely without sin, face-to-face with our Savior. Right now, we're growing toward that. When Jesus returns, he will make it happen in his presence. The Apostle Paul emphasizes this reality of the Word at work in us right now and bringing about the future deliverance that the Gospel promises to us, Acts 20, 32. And now I commend you to God, Paul says to the Ephesian elders, he commends them to God and to the Word of His grace, the Word of truth, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified, and is able to build you up and to deliver you." When we receive the Word of God with humility, we are receiving that Word of His grace, which is able to build us up and bring us to that inheritance that is promised in our future deliverance. So here's the question again. Do we receive God's word and hope? The hope of progressing toward future salvation. The hope of progressing toward future salvation or deliverance, the culmination of our deliverance we have in Christ. Genuine faith is displayed through our relationship with God and His Word. How we react to God's Word, how we receive God's Word, reveals the presence or the absence of genuine faith in our lives. Do we have God's Word implanted in us? Then we have genuine faith as New Covenant believers. Are we continuing to repent of sin? That's the prerequisite for receiving the Word. What's our manner? Are we meek and humble before God's Word? And do we receive God's Word in hope? The hope of progressing toward future promised deliverance. May the Lord help us to truly receive, this is so encouraging, receive what he's already doing in our life through the Word for his glory. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would implant your word in the hearts of those even here this morning that do not yet know you. And we pray for those gathered here as the church that know you, seeking to follow you together under your lordship. that we would receive the word that has been implanted within us. Help us to be humble people. Help us to be quick to admit our sin. Help us to be people that receive it in hope, knowing that you are using it to bring us to the intended end of the deliverance you've already given us in Christ. Help us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.