Handling the Word
James 1:19-25
October 12, 2014
As you know we are studying through this book of James.
The whole theme of this book is simple: BE REAL
James just wants the people who claim to follow Jesus
To actually live like Jesus.
We spent the first 18 verses of James
Talking all about how a believer handles trials or temptations.
Whereas the world is prone to get unnerved or grow bitter because of them, James expected that a follower of Jesus would respond much differently.
• Joyful in adversity
• Trusting in times of dismay
• Glorying in times of hardship
• Enduring through temptations
• Discerning of their purpose
These were James’ expectations for those with genuine faith.
These were James’ expectations for those who are real.
TONIGHT JAMES MOVES ON TO ANOTHER LITMUS TEST
Now it is no longer how we handle trials,
But how we handle the word of God.
You can tell quite a bit about a person’s faith
Simply in how they respond to Scripture.
After all, the Scripture is the very word of God,
A person who isn’t interested in Scripture
Isn’t interested in listening to God.
And a person who isn’t interested in listening to God
Will have a tough time proving they trust or love Him.
John 14:24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”
On the flip side:
1 John 2:5 “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:”
So how we deal with Scripture is an excellent revealer of our faith!
There are two things James wants us to examine tonight.
#1 HOW WE RECEIVE THE WORD
James 1:19-21
Back in verse 18 James began talking about the word of truth.
He said, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”
Of course James was talking about the fact that
The MEANS by which God saves us is His word.
Having just recorded that truth James goes on by saying, “This you know, my beloved brethren.”
The fact, was they knew that.
They knew, just as we know, that God saves and sanctifies us through His word.
They knew, just as we know that God’s word was given
To lead us to salvation, and to lead us in obedience.
The purpose of God’s word should not be a mystery to anyone.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
We know the purpose of God’s word.
His word is not to harm us, His word is not to destroy us.
His word is meant to guide us, to save us, and to lead us in obedience
which brings the consequence of blessing.
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
1 Timothy 4:13-16 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
We know what God’s purpose is in providing us with Scripture.
Since we know these things,
James continues here by teaching us then how we should receive God’s word.
If we really believe that Scripture is inspired by God,
If we really believe that Scripture is adequate to train us in righteousness,
If we really believe that Scripture is meant to guide us, restore us, educate us, make us happy, enlighten us, warn us, and reward us,
Then how would we receive it?
I guess at one time or another everyone here has had a job, and thus received a paycheck. Did anyone here ever refuse their paycheck, because they didn’t know what their boss was up to?
Of course not. Most people go after that check as quickly as possible.
The point is this. We really believe our paycheck is a good thing, so we willingly receive it.
If we really believe God’s word is a good thing,
We will willingly receive it as well.
James gives two ways we should receive it.
A) We ought to have a DESIRE for it.
(19-20) “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”
James teaches us here that we ought to desire God’s word.
Don’t most people begin looking forward to getting it before it comes?
I bet if I ask anyone in here,
They can tell me when they will get their next paycheck.
It is something we desire, because it is a good thing.
So is God’s word, and we should have an even greater desire for it.
NOTICE A DESCRIPTION OF
A PERSON WHO TRULY DESIRES GOD’S WORD.
“quick to hear”
What does that mean?
It means a heart that desires God’s word
• Takes every available opportunity to hear God’s word.
• Takes every available opportunity to read God’s word,
• Takes every available opportunity to listen to preaching or teaching.
It is a heart that truly thinks the word of God is helpful in all situations.
When this heart is happy, it goes to the word for Psalms of praise.
When this heart is down-trodden, it goes to the word for encouragement.
When this heart is confused, it goes to the word for guidance.
When this heart is hungry, it goes to the word to be filled.
It is a heart that is quick to hear the word of God.
Psalms 19:7-11 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”
Psalm 119:25-32 “My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word. I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes. Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders. My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word. Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law. I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.”
Psalms 119:97-104 “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.”
A heart that truly desires the word of God will run to it, and is “quick to hear” it.
NOT in a heart of a person who does not truly know the Lord.
There is no hunger for the Scripture,
There is no hunger to get to know God better,
There is no thirsting for God’s truth.
Charles Spurgeon said, “Some of you have enough dust on your Bible to write damnation on the cover with your finger.”
That is the sad state of the unredeemed.
A heart of true faith loves the word so much that it is “quick to hear”.
James said a heart that desires God’s word is also:
“slow to speak”
Understand this in light of what church was like in James’ day.
Most people didn’t have the Scriptures to read for themselves.
Then, if people were going to get it,
It required someone else reading it to them or preaching to them.
James said a person who desires God’s word, would be quiet, not interrupting, and certainly not argumentative.
Have you ever had a conversation with a person who finishes your sentences?
Have you ever had a conversation with a person
Who interrupts you, or won’t give you an in to talk?
You know what that reveals? It reveals a person who cares more about what they are gonna say to you than what you are gonna say to them.
Now, it’s one thing to be that way with normal conversation,
But when you do that to God, we have a problem.
Proverbs 18:2 “A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.”
Proverbs 10:19 “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.”
A heart that really desires to know the word of God
Won’t try to interrupt it.
Furthermore, when the Bible does speak, they won’t argue with it.
Proverbs 13:18 “Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline,
But he who regards reproof will be honored.”
Proverbs 15:5 “A fool rejects his father’s discipline, But he who regards reproof is sensible.”
Proverbs 15:31-32 “He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof Will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding.”
I think you get the point.
A person who will not only be “quick to listen” but also “slow to speak”
Is a person who values God’s word and God’s thoughts above his own.
He isn’t interested in arguing with God,
He is interested in learning from God.
This is good fruit!
James also says this type of person is:
“slow to anger”
Now this means, they are moldable by the word of God.
They just love God’s word, even if it tells them they are wrong.
Even if God’s word reveals that they are wrong in every facet of life,
They will still love the word of God,
And instead of rejecting it and getting angry,
They will submit and respond.
That is an attribute of true saving faith.
A person who reads the Bible, or hears Scripture preached,
But gets angry when it convicts their lifestyle,
Is not a person who truly believes the Bible is for their own good,
and that reveals the absence of saving faith.
Acts 7:54 “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.”
Paul dealt with a group of people who responded this way,
And it forced him to ask them:
Galatians 4:16 “So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
What James reveals here is that
A heart that truly believes God’s word leads to salvation
Is a heart that will truly desire God’s word.
But not only will they have DESIRE FOR God’s word.
They will have a:
2) DEDICATION TO IT
(21), “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
Of course, this follows very closely with what James said about being “slow to anger.”
A person with true saving faith, will listen to what the word says,
And will be dedicated letting it work in their lives.
A person who is truly dedicated to receiving the word of God
Will do two things.
“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness,”
Will get rid of the obstacles
That would keep them from wanting to receive it.
A person who is living in sin won’t want to hear God’s word,
Because it might convict that sin.
So a person who truly wants to receive God’s word
Will get rid of the sin that would make them feel that way.
They don’t want anything to cause them to not want to hear God’s word.
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”
It is a picture of a person who doesn’t want anything
Coming between them and the hearing of God’s word.
“in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
This is a person who just wants to know what God has to say.
1 Peter 2:1-3 “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”
John MacArthur said, “Just as a newborn baby does not have to be taught to hunger for its mother’s milk, the newborn child of God does not have to be taught to hunger for God’s word, his spiritual food and drink.” (MacArthur, John; “The MacArthur New Testament Commentary; James”, Moody Press, Chicago, Ill, 1998, pg. 65-66)
RAMEY WANTED FOOD WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
(You could offer her anything else, but she wasn’t having it!)
That is how we are to receive God’s word.
We are to DESIRE it, and we are to be DEDICATED to it.
How we receive God’s word reveals rather or not we have saving faith.
A person who can’t get enough of God’s word reveals they believe it.
A person who could care less about it, reveals they don’t.
So the first indicator of our faith is how we receive the word of God.
#2 HOW WE RESPOND TO THE WORD
James 1:22-25
It is important to see how a person receives the word of God.
A person who doesn’t want it, won’t listen to it, and gets angered by it, isn’t receiving it properly.
However, receiving the word is only half of the equation.
That is why James continues here.
He doesn’t want us to think that simply being dedicated to go
And to sit quietly through sermons is all that it requires
To be able to say we have saving faith.
There is another aspect to our faith and its relationship to God’s word.
What do we do with the word once we get it?
And there are two responses people have.
1) DISREGARD IT
(22-24) “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”
Some people may seem eager to hear the word of God,
And some may even sit quietly through a sermon,
But reading your Bible, and going to church does not equal saving faith.
For there are many who hear the word, but who do nothing about it. And as James tells us plainly here,
A person who hears the word, but doesn’t obey it,
Has deceived themselves.
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”
We’ve talked about it many times
SAVING FAITH OBEYS GOD
Too many people today have watered down faith to where it is nothing more than an intellectual agreement with a truth they can’t disprove.
True faith obeys.
John 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;”
John 10:1-6 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.”
1 John 2:3-6 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
And the tragedy is that those who hear,
But don’t obey are not genuine.
And some day this truth will hit people like a ton of bricks!
Matthew 7:21-27 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
It is a clear truth, true faith obeys.
To that James says, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”
Picture a person with a big pimple on their nose.
They look in the mirror and see it, but if they don’t do anything about it,
When they walk away from the mirror, they will forget that it is there,
And will suffer the consequences.
So it is with a person who hears God’s word, but does nothing about it.
A person who reads the Bible and it reveals their shortcomings,
But they do nothing about it,
When they leave, they will forget their shortcomings,
And soon suffer the consequences.
God’s word is not a suggestion, it is meant to save you.
Meant to deliver you, to warn you, and to set you free from the enemy.
It is not wise to disregard it.
First some disregard it.
2) DO IT
(25) “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
The proper response to hearing God’s word is to do what you heard.
Put God’s word into action.
We call this obedience.
True saving faith will obey.
And James says this person will be blessed in what he does.
Obeying the word is wise
Obeying the word works
So if you want happiness, if you want blessing, then obey it.
This person will inherit salvation.
I do not believe you can work yourself into heaven.
But I will tell you this.
If you do what the Bible says,
I promise you will spend eternity in heaven.
Because the Bible tells you to repent of sin, to trust in Jesus,
To persevere to the end.
God’s word will never guide you down the wrong path,
So obey it!
GET TO KNOW IT AND THEN DO WHAT IT SAYS
Psalm 19:7-11 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”
Our level of obedience is a great revealer of our faith.
Saving faith obeys. Fake faith doesn’t.
