Living in God's Word by Being a Doer of It: James 1:23-25 Bible Study

Understanding God's goodness and its role in resisting temptation and sin.

The importance of being a doer of God's Word and not just a listener.

The dangers of self-deception and how it can lead to a worthless Christian life.

The need to be diligent in growing in the knowledge of God's goodness and love.

The Today we are going to talk about living in God's Word by being a doer of it. And we take our main scripture from James chapter 1, verse 22. But first, to just preface, this subject was paramount in James' teaching as he was dealing with a group of people who believed what they heard was true, but when it came time to practice what they heard they had a different perspective on why they really didn't need to apply it and this is why he told them not to betray themselves with their own belief systems. So when we read please keep in mind James' concern and correction that he was giving in these verses in hopes that the people would see the true light and turn completely towards it. Please go with me to begin in James chapter 1, verse 17, to begin and see an overview of this very important word for the edification, exhortation, and correction for every Christian believer's growth and maturity in Jesus Christ. Verse 17. Every good gift and perfect, free, large, full gift is from above. It comes down from the Father of all that gives light in the shining of, whom there can be no variation, rising or setting, or shadow cast by his turning as an eclipse. Verse 18. and it was of his own free will that he gave us birth as sons by his word of truth so that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures a sample of what he created to be consecrated to himself understand this my beloved brethren let every man be quick to hear a ready listener slow to speak slow to take offense and to get angry Verse 20. For man's anger does not promote the righteousness God wishes and requires. So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness. And in a humble, gentle, modest spirit, receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And verse 22. But here we go. Verse 22. This is our special emphasis and focus today. Be doers of the word. Obey the message and not merely listeners to it. Betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the truth. Verse 23. For anyone who only listens to the word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror. For he thoughtfully observes himself and then goes off and promptly forgets what he looks like. Verse 25. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the law of liberty, and is faithful to it, and preserves in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets, but an active listener who obeys, he shall be blessed in his doing and his life of obedience. Verse 26. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, piously observant of the external duties of his faith, and does not bridle his tongue, but deludes his own heart, this person's religious service is worthless, futile, barren. Verse 27, external religious worship, religion as it is expressed in outward acts, that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father, is this, to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their afflictions and need, and to keep oneself unspotted, uncontaminated from the world. wow did you see that James starts out in verse 17 saying every good gift and perfect free large full gift is from above it comes down from the father of all that gives light in shining up whom there can be no variation rising or setting or shadow cast by his turning as in an eclipse so James tells the brethren to just take time to consider God's goodness the goodness of God is a huge barrier against yielding to the temptation of sin, dear ones goodness in the Bible dictionary is described as a quality of being good as having a praiseworthy character and having moral excellence also the Bible speaks much about the goodness of God. God's goodness consists of righteousness, holiness, justice, kindness, grace, mercy, and love. Goodness is also one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit that should characterize Christian believers according to Galatians 5.22. And lastly, Christians are called to the goodness according to what Jesus commanded in Matthew 5, verse 48, when he said, Be ye perfect, even as my Father in heaven is perfect and good. As you have heard before, the word perfect means to grow in maturity in the Greek. How many of you know that it is better to be hungry by living in the will of God than full outside of the will of God. Dear listener, once we start to doubt God's goodness, we will be attracted to Satan's offers and the natural desires within the soul will reach out for his bait. It's just like that. Moses warned Israel not to forget God's goodness when they began to enjoy the blessings of the promised land. and we as God's people need this warning today as we're faced with many hardships in this world which many are created by mere greedy men and women who are bent on destroying this country by turning it into a communist nation but as true believers in Jesus Christ we must be diligent in making our whole being that is our body, soul and spirit growing in the knowledge of God's goodness and love for his true people to know that we know that God's word is truth and is the only saving grace and freedom for anyone it is only God who gives good gifts everything good in this world comes from God and if it does not come from God it is not good in some circumstances situations and trials We have seen God goodness only after the fact when this is made known to us Let us never be negligent in expressing our thanks for God for his kindness and goodness when it is made known, dear ones. This is a part of living in God's word by being a doer of it. If it comes from God, it must be good. even if we do not see the goodness in it immediately. Well, for instance, Paul's thorn in the flesh was given to him by God. Yet it seemed to be a strange happening at first, but only later did he understand that it became a tremendous blessing to him. He understood after Jesus told him that his grace was sufficient for him. and we must remember that Paul had seen many wonderful things shown to him including heaven in which he was not even able to share those things with us in his epistles well moving on to verse 19 James admonishes the people to stop deceiving themselves he said understand this my brethren let every man be quick to hear a ready listener, slow to speak, slow to take offense, and to get angry. Verse 20, for man's anger does not promote the righteousness God wishes and requires. I may make a point here to say you might keep a marker in your Bible just for the sake of we refer back to these scriptures that we have started with. now James' warning in the scripture is on the dangers of self-deception he was warning the brethren about deceiving themselves here they were lashing out at one another in anger and no doubt accusing each other for offenses they had caused in verse 26 he makes this clear he says if anyone thinks of himself to be religious piously observant of the external duties of his faith and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart this person's religious service is worthless, futile, barren now the exhortation and warning was given because these people were deceiving their own hearts into thinking they were just fine, thank you many people are deceiving themselves into thinking they are saved when they are not. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and in your name have cast out devils and in your name done many wonderful works? You see, Jesus, the great judge, declares to them, and I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. that's found in Matthew chapter 7 verses 22 through 23 now there are professing believers who are fooling themselves concerning their Christian walk they think they're spiritual when they're not did you know that it is a mark of true maturity when a person faces himself honestly, knows himself and admits his weakness it is the immature person who pretends I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. This is found in the book of Revelation when the Lord was speaking to the churches. Spiritual reality results from proper relationship to God through his word. God's word is truth. And if we are rightly related to God's truth and living in it and in his son, we will not knowingly be dishonest or hypocritical. Verse 21 is continuing in identifying the warning which declares, So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble, gentle, modest spirit, receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls. Hallelujah. You see, the implanted or engrafted word in the heart is the divine work of the Holy Spirit living in cooperation with the believer who is hungry for the things of God. Jesus said in John chapter 17, verse 17, Father, sanctify them, purify, consecrate, separate them for yourselves, make them holy by the truth. Your word is truth. Dear listener, it is only the word of God that is truth that every proclaiming Christian should live in and obey. All that God has spoken and all that is contained within the pages of the Bible is truth. All the commands and promises of God shown in the Bible are truths. the Bible profoundly and thoroughly shows God's image and likeness of his own character and also that of man the Bible also shows God's account of the mission and death of his son of the grave and the resurrection of judgment and eternity therefore all of these scriptural truths are tailored and fitted to sanctify the soul's maturity in Jesus Christ we have here also the testimony of the Savior, that his revelation which God has given and is true. All that God has spoken is true, and the Christians should rejoice, and the sinners should tremble. And we find this truth spoken by our Savior that was inspired through his beloved David in Psalms chapter 19, beginning in verse 7. we'll go there beginning in verse 7 to see the truth spoken by our Savior which was prophesied spoken through the prophet David and later fulfilled when Jesus walked on this earth verse 7 the law of the Lord is perfect restoring the whole person the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple verse 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure and bright, enlightening the eyes. Verse 9. The reverent fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even than much fine gold. They are sweeter also than honey and the drippings from the honeycomb. Verse 11. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, reminded, illuminated, and instructed. And in keeping them, there is a great reward. Who can discern his lapses and errors? Clear me from hidden and unconscious faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless. I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression. Verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my firm, impenetrable rock, my Redeemer. Hallelujah. So therefore we see this implanted and engrafted word into our spirit and soul is designed to produce abundant beautiful fruit And God's law, which is truth, is perfect, as we see in verse 7. It restores the whole person and makes the simple wise. You see, the engrafted word in our souls is able to save us and his strong encouragement to correct our wrong attitudes and make us more like Jesus Christ. The truth of God's word living in us makes us fully capable of being a doer of this word and the truth. We have read Jesus' parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13, which compares God's word to seed and the human heart to the soil. In his parable, Jesus described four kinds of heart. The hard heart, which did not understand or receive the word, and therefore bore no fruit. The shallow heart, which was very emotional, but had no depth, and bore no fruit. There was the crowded heart, which lacked repentance and permitted sin to crowd out the word. And finally, the fruitful heart, which received the word and allowed it to take root and produced a harvest of fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Hallelujah. But please understand, the word of God cannot work in our hearts unless we receive it in the right way. Jesus not only said, take heed what you hear in Mark chapter 4 verse 24, but he also said, take heed how you hear in Luke chapter 8 verse 18. So there are too many people who are in a dreadful state and condition which hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And that is God's word found in Matthew chapter 13 verse 13. You see, they attend Bible classes and church services, but they never seem to grow and Jesus declared in Matthew 13 through 15 he said this is the reason that I speak to them in parables because having the power of seeing they do not see having the power of hearing they do not hear nor do they grasp and understand verse 14 in them indeed is the process and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, You shall indeed hear and hear, but never grasp and understand. And you shall indeed look and look, but never see and perceive. Verse 15. For this nation's heart has grown gross, fat and dull, and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes and hear and comprehend the senses with their ears and grasp the understanding with their heart and turn, I should heal them. Now, should we blame for the fault of being the teacher or the pastor if people are dull of hearing? Do they receive the blame? Well, yes, it could be. if what is being taught is feel-good cotton candy meal, or better said, teaching the truth without substance and making people feel good, that they should go away from the service of the Bible study with warm, fuzzy feelings, rather than being taught like Paul talked about, which edifies and encourages and exhorts in the word of God and causes people to examine their own hearts and souls measured by the truth found in the word. Now, it may also be and lazy of hearing and doing. It is possible to be dull of hearing because of the decay in one's spiritual life. Apostle Paul dealt with this issue with his people because they'd begun to let their minds wander as they repeatedly heard some of the things each week. They heard them repeated over and over. Rather than listening carefully, hearing completely and comprehending clearly, they had become mentally and spiritually dull in their hearing. Understand please, they were not ignorant or slow learners, but rather they had allowed themselves to grow lazy and complacent. A spiritual hardening of their hearts crept in and they became disinterested in that which could save their souls. One of the first symptoms of spiritual regression or backsliding is the dullness towards the Bible. Church becomes dull. Preaching becomes dull. And soon anything spiritual is dull. Now the problem is usually not with the pastor or the teacher, but rather it is with the believer themselves. Apostle Paul had much to say regarding the brethren growing dull of hearing. They definitely could not be a doer of God's word by growing spiritually lethargic. Look with me in Hebrews chapter 5, beginning in verse 11. Paul says concerning this we have much to say which is hard to explain since you have become dull in your spiritual hearing and sluggish even slothful in achieving spiritual insight. Verse 12, for even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. Verse 13, for everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness, of conformity to the divine will and purpose, thought and action. For he is a mere infant, not able to talk yet. Verse 14, but solid food is for full grown men, those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law. You see, dear listener, if the seed of God's word is to be planted in our hearts, then we must obey the instructions in the Bible and makes it clear and gives us a road map into God's eternal kingdom. Now, reiterating the message titled today is called, Are You Living in God's Word by Being a Doer of It? we have been taking our main scriptures from James chapter 1 so let's move to our main focus as I said at the beginning which is verse 22 and it declares again but be doers of the word obey the message not merely listeners to it betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the truth this word tells us that doing the word of God in the scripture means preserving or diligently living in God will when we experience temptation to depart from it. Hearing God's will is as good as far as it goes. And it is essential and imperative. But dear listener, obedience must follow what you and I hear. Some professing Christians deceive themselves by thinking that knowing God's will is enough, but it is only foundational to doing God's will. You see, the blessing of obedience does not come in the study of the word, but it comes in actually doing and living in the word. the exhortation and call to do what it says is at the center and foundation of all that James teaches it really sums up the message of the whole book true believers in Christ are called to put to practice what they profess to believe dear listener this is not a suggestion for us but this is an absolute command for us to put into action and believe and live. Again, verse 21, the command is, but be doers of the word, obey the message, and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the truth. Now we have read in the previous scripture where James compared the word to seed, but in verse 23 he compares the word to a mirror this is the main purpose for owning a mirror to be able to see yourself and make yourself look as clean and neat as possible some of us don't always like what we see in the mirror and you know because well this deals with the physical and, well, we just do the best we can, right? But as we look into God's mirror, the word of God's truth, we should see ourselves as we really are. If we are earnest of growing in maturity that God calls for, because this is dealing with the spiritual realm of our Christianity, and this is the work of the Holy Spirit as we cooperate with him. James does mention several mistakes people make as they look into God's mirror. They glance at themselves. They just merely glance in the mirror. And that's just saying the word. Amen. They do not carefully study themselves as they read the word. Many sincere believers read a chapter of the Bible each day, but is only a religious exercise and they fail to really profit from it personally. The conscience would bother them if they did not have their daily reading when actually their consciences should bother them because they read the word carelessly. A hurried or careless reading of the Bible will never reveal our deepest needs. There's an analogy here. A great difference between looking at a photograph of a person and an x-ray. The photograph shows the outside of the person. The x-ray shows the inside. If people were really looking deep into their own hearts, what they would see would be unforgettable. When Isaiah the prophets cried out, Woe is me, for I am undone. God had showed him the condition of his spiritual nature. his spiritual heart. And the same for Peter, when he cried, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And Job, the most righteous man on earth in his day, and yet he confessed, I abhor or I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. Job chapter 42 verse 6. You see, in failing to obey what the word commands for us to do, people think that hearing is the same as doing. And it is not. Many Christians enjoy substituting reading for doing or even talking about their Christianity for doing. But if we are to use God's mirror fruitfully, then we must gaze into it carefully and with a serious intent of learning ourselves. Reiterating again, James chapter 1, verse 25, the scripture shows, but he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the law of liberty, and is faithful to it and preserves in looking into it and being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys shall be blessed in his doing, his life of obedience. You see, we cannot give a quick peek into the word. It's not okay with God. It is like giving him a little hand clap and throwing him a little kiss on the way out the door as you go to work every morning. The Holy Spirit wants to illumine the eyes of your spirit and soul to see the divine and supernatural life in the word and cause your hearts to desire and taste and see that he is good. He wants to show you your heart in the light of his word and cause you and me to examine our own hearts with deep, honest, spiritual evaluation. this requires time and attention and sincere devotion five minutes with God each day will never accomplish a deep spiritual examination dear ones the laws and commands of God are perfect first because they perfectly express his nature and character and secondly because he wants them to perfectly match our nature and character too. It is called the law of liberty because by obeying it, we find true liberty in Jesus Christ and from sin and its consequences and penalty of eternal death. Remember, yours and my response is first to hear the words God speaks to us within the scripture, and secondly, we are to receive the word as truth from his mouth and thirdly, we are to obey the word. You see, obedient compliance and submission to the word of God is the key to experiencing God's blessing in our lives now as we journey on our way to our eternal home. Be faithful, be obedient to your Savior by living in his word and commands, first of all because you love him, and secondly because you know this is the right thing to do because he commands it and requires it for every professing believer. .

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