Receiving God's Word part 2 Man's Reaction

Well take your Bible and turn with me to the book of James this morning. To the book of James. James chapter 1 we're going to be in verse 22 on down to verse 25. James chapter 1 starting in verse 22 on down to verse 25. Now we're nearing the end of chapter 1 in our study of James and by now we see and we have seen and we are seeing that there are three major tests in the lives of Christians when we walk with God, serve God, and love God. First of all we see that there's the test of trials. We study that really early on in the chapter.

Then we begin to see right in the middle of the chapter the test of temptations and now we're in the test of truth. Now a lot of people do not really see that truth can test us but we're seeing in these verses that truth will prove us it will test us. Now in last week's message the title of that message was receiving God's Word. We learned that we must submit to the authority of God. We must that we must submit to the authority of God's Word. We saw that we must receive the Word with submissive hearts, pure hearts, and humble hearts. That is receiving the Word of God.

Just in some of my study last night and this morning I thought about Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah the prophet had a heavenly vision and he heard the voice of God and he exemplified what we learned last week. He received what God would say. He was humble. He was submissive. He was pure when God did the work in him and he was able to receive the truth that he heard. I was speaking to a friend of mine this week and I was talking to him. He was talking to me about some of the things that God was doing in his life.

Difficult things, trials in his life and he was talking about what God was teaching him and he he expressed a submissive heart, a humble heart, a purified heart. That is that receiving the truth of God and God's teaching us that. Now in the conclusion of the message last week, I posed to you three questions. The first one was how are you receiving God's Word personally? How are you receiving God's Word personally? Now I was blessed to talk to one of our men in the church this week and he was expressing to me and he was telling me the things that God was teaching him.

He was basically explaining to me how he was receiving what is being preached in the book of James and he was able to answer that question correctly. He is receiving it bit by bit, word by word. I'll say it like this, just the nuts and the bolts of the Word. The second question was how do we or how do you how do we react when others either receive the Word or reject the Word? See when we walk with God and we're plugged into the life of the church, we will notice that certain people receive the Word. They will receive it and they will live it and they will express the fact that they've received it but we will be disappointed.

We will see that there are some they reject the Word and that can be extremely difficult. I know as my wife and I were discussing the message, we were talking about people that we have seen reject the Word year after year through our years of ministry and that will never change because people do reject the Word. Now I want to give you just a little tidbit of information here. When you watch people in the life of the church reject truth, when you receive truth that's preached, that truth really doesn't work in your life and then you watch those people reject the truth. You watch the pattern of their life after.

Many times they will offer a reason and it might be a spiritual reason but if you watch the pattern of their life after, they will not exemplify. They will not be living out a life more holy, more godly, and more plugged into the life of the church and the work of the kingdom. What that will do is that will show you they rejected the truth. And the third question was what is the context? What is the context that we expect to receive God's Word? And I explain the fact that it is the church. It is the church where God calls His people to assemble. It is the ecclesia, the call that ones.

We band together as brothers and sisters and we are becoming the church and working to become the church and it is God ordained people that God has put in the life of the church. Men to teach the Word and to preach the Word day in and day out. The context is the church. I was reminded of a conversation that my wife and I had with a young man.

He was telling my wife and I how there was a particular family that he knew they were in his family and they really didn't have a church home and they just floated between this church and that church and he began to express to me that but although they weren't really plugged into a church they got plenty of good preaching in other places off the internet and through books and tapes and things like that and I immediately thought they do not understand the context to where truth must be preached.

There are other places yes we learn truth but it is God's design that we plug into the life of the church to have God called men to not only shepherd you but oversee you. Now why are these questions important? Why do I repeat them? Why do we hold on to these questions in this morning's message? See we're moving this morning from receiving the Word to how do we react to the Word. It's more than just receiving it. It's how do we react to the Word. Now the title of the message this morning is receiving God's Word part 2. Receiving God's Word part 2 and I want to add to that title man's reaction. Let's pick up in the verses.

We ended with verse 22. We dealt with verse 22 last week but we're really gonna spend quite a bit of time in verse 22 and we're gonna go down to verse 25 as well. James says but prove yourselves doers of the Word not merely hearers who delude themselves for if anyone is a hearer of the Word and is 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 but the one who looks intently at the perfect law the law of Liberty and abides by yet not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer this man should be blessed in what he does.

Now I've gotten in the habit of giving you the breakdown of the message and then diving right into it and I want you to see that we're gonna look at four main truths out of verse 22. Four main truths out of verse 22. First we prove ourselves. First we prove ourselves. Second we must be doers of the Word. We must be doers of the Word. Third we must not be hearers only. And fourth we must not fool ourselves. We must prove ourselves. We must be doers of the Word. We must not be hearers only and we must not fool ourselves.

And then when we get through with verse 22 we're gonna look at two pictures from Scripture that illustrate the truths in verse 22. So let's read again together verse 22 and then we're gonna really dive into this verse. Notice what James says. He says but now remember this ties into verses 19 down to verse 21. He says but prove yourselves doers of the Word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. That leads us to the first main truth I've already given it. We must prove ourselves. Now when we look at the different translations and I like to touch on the different translations many of you have different translations.

The King James says but be ye. The English Standard Version says be but be. Now the new international it reads do not merely. But in the original language it simply says now be. Now you've noticed that I have the new American Standard and the new American Standard says but prove. Now some of you might say is it important to spend a great deal of time with small a small verse and a few words. Yes it very it very much is important because each of these words communicate a lot of truth. Now originally in this the original language this word literally means be continually be continually.

Now what that means is in the construction of the language it is a command to do something in the future which involves a continuous and repeated action. So if I can add that to the translation that we're looking at we can say it like this. James is saying prove yourself. He's saying do not merely listen he's saying but be. What doers of the word not just today not just tomorrow but all of the days of your life. This is a continued action. This is a command that must be obeyed all of the days of your life. I'll give you an earthly illustration that will help you with that.

Many of you know that I spent quite a few years working full-time construction. I worked on a crew and we had a foreman and an owner and all that good stuff and we had guys who worked and you know we had a project a main project you we would usually be building a house but we would always start work right about daylight. That might have been six o'clock six thirty when the days were shorter it might have been seven but it was always understood that you were to be there at starting time. Now if we started at six thirty starting time was not six thirty.

You better have that truck park there at least five minutes early or the head of the group the head of the crew would expect you or call you late and what he did was he said you'd be here at this time and that was a command and it was meant to be obeyed not just today but in the future and it involved a continuous repeated action. If he told us to be there at six thirty we dare not ask the next day boss what time do we be here he would say son I told you yesterday.

That is exemplifying a command which carries into the future a continuous repeated action and that is what James is saying he says prove yourself he says do not merely listen he says but be ye what he's saying this is a command and this command proves now listen who you are. I guess what James is saying is I don't want to hear words I want to see actions I don't want to hear words from you and aren't we learning that that's what our culture needs listen I don't know if you know it but our culture is sick and tired of words from the church.

The lost world does not want to hear words they've heard word after word sermon after sermon they have heard so much from the church but what they desperately need to see is action. Action behind those words. Now we have a presence in India we pray for those orphans that we sponsor those those Indian pastors and ministers there we pray for and I thought about the the great Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi he was a Hindu we know that those of us who know a little bit of Indian history he was never converted to Christ although there were many Christians he came in contact with but one of his quotes about Christianity was this Jesus is ideal and wonderful but you Christians are not like him.

What was he saying? Your words don't line up with your actions and what is James saying? He is saying that we must prove our self not just today not just tomorrow but all of the days of our lives that's why it is important sometimes to unpack one word because look it's as if most people in the life of the church they don't know this. James doesn't want to hear Christians just with words he wants Christians who continuously obey who prove themselves that's what James is saying.

Now the second main truth I want us to see is we must be doers of the word we must be doers of the word but prove yourselves doers of the word now all of the translations that I refer to use the word doers except for the the new international version it goes on to just say do what it says I like that because it communicates the same thing James is saying to be doers of the word do what it says now this word doers it communicates the characterization of the whole personality all of the person what that means is it communicates all of your mind all of your soul all of your spirit all of your emotions your entire being James just doesn't say part of you obey he says all of you you are to obey go back to the verse but prove yourself not just today but all of the days of your lives as doers the totality of who you are doers of the word many of you might not realize this but if you do the language study sometimes there is a word picture and this is a classic example example of a word picture many of you are familiar with people who were in the military nobody in my family that I know of has been in the military except my grandfather in World War two he was in the Navy but you know there are certain families that are really involved in the military now I can remember when all of the Gulf War conflicts came about I remember years ago during the first Gulf War when George Bush the father called up the troops and sent them into action I can remember I worked in an environment where there were several ladies who were secretaries in some office complexes and they had husbands who were in the National Guard and when those men were called up I'm telling you those ladies had a fit they didn't want their husbands to go in the battle they didn't want their husbands to be shipped off now most of you probably know that our own Chris Cook sees in the National Guard and I remember talking to him one day I kind of refresh my memory with him this week to have some of the the information correct correct and he was talking about when the we went back into the Gulf situation and when the the the National Guard was called up again that was when they were really sent into action and Chris Cook she was talking about how when those weekend warrior soldiers were called up that's when they begin to get out that's when they begin to get out of the service they didn't want to fight but he said that's when those professional soldiers they grab their gear they put their training to the test and they went into battle why because they were professional soldiers and not weekend warriors and and Major Cooksy was explaining to me how that did the National Guard a lot of good because what it did is it sharpened them and it refined them and it made them into a viable fighting force it made them into professional soldiers now what's the word picture here this word doer it's not the weekend warrior it is the professional and see what James is saying is you better prove yourself not just today but all of the days of your life to be a professional doer of the word not a weekend warrior and see there are many people in the life of the church they misinterpret this they don't understand this they don't know this they think that maybe they should come and learn they should come to Sunday school learn the books of the Bible those guys it's not about learning the word it's about doing the word that's what James is saying he says prove yourself by continued obedience prove yourself professional doers of the word morning noon in night seven days a week and prove yourself then the third main truth is we must not be hearers only again verse 22 but prove yourselves doers of the word not merely hearers now the King James and the English Standard says not hearers only now the new international version says do not merely listen to the word there at the end of the verse communicates the same thing communicates the same thing James is saying do not be hearers only now this word hearer now listen close it means to be one who simply listens yet what is heard goes no farther it communicates to simply hear and nothing more now again we have another word picture I remember my days when I was in seminary I was always a seminary student who commuted what I mean is I served in the local church I served in full-time ministry and then I would travel down to New Orleans started off in Jackson and I would go to seminary class but every now and then when we were in class we would have people who would come and sit in a class they were perspective students now there's a word for that they would come and they would what's called audit the class they weren't enrolled they weren't on the roll the teacher didn't call their name they didn't have to take tests they did not have to submit themselves to the reading assignments to the notebooks to the class projects they would come and they would sit and they would just listen they would audit the class they would see what it was about sometimes they would come from one class sometimes they would come for two or three classes but that is a great example that is a great picture of what's going on here James is saying do not be just a listener do not just sit there and audit do not be one who is outside of the responsibility and see for us that teaches us that it's more than just hearing the word it's more than just learning the word it is being responsible for every part of the word I remember in my seminary days every now and then my wagon would be pretty loaded a wife a home full-time ministry sometimes I would take a full-time load and I remember a couple of times I would go to a particular professor and I would just whine a little you know I'm having a hard time I've got these assignments I've got a church I preach but none of them would take me out from under the responsibility that I had they would basically say yeah you got a tough road get busy they would not let me just be a listener and see that's what James is saying we cannot be just a listener we are responsible we are accountable we cannot be just listeners we must be professional doers and we must prove that through continual obedience every day of our life the sad thing is many people in the life of the church they're just listeners they come they listen they turn around and they leave and really before they hit the back door or get in the car they have forgotten what they've just heard many people in the life of the church they're not professionals they claim to live for God when they're on the church view but they do not live a life of continual obedience they do not prove themselves we don't need auditing Christians anymore we need professional Christians and then the fourth thing I want us to see the fourth main truth is we must not fool ourselves verse 22 but prove yourselves that continued action doers of the word professional Christians not merely listeners or auditors notice who delude themselves now every translation that I've run across uses a word deceiving the King James the English Standard uses the word deceiving now that's the same thing as delude now the word delude or deceived it means to deliberately reason alongside of the truth for the purpose of deception let me say that again this word in the original it means to deliberately reason alongside of the truth for the purpose of deception again we've got another work picture when I was in high school I'm ashamed to say I really didn't apply myself I was lost and rebellious and my rebellion and my lost wicked heart hindered my studies wasn't that I didn't have the ability I just didn't want to use the ability but I'll tell you whoo excuse me but I'll tell you I was never very good in math even when I got into my seminary years I made good grades and I applaud myself but I still was not good in math I'm still not good in math today but you know in math we have rules don't we not we learned these rules of addition and subtraction in multiplication and division and they build you know we get off into algebra I never could get understand math with letters I still don't and you build Monday will continue over into Tuesday and I can remember those days in algebra when I didn't really get what was going on on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday when it got to Friday test time I was really in bad shape but the picture here is of is of a person who has faulty calculations and that is right beside the truth and they are deceived I guess in a very elementary way it'd be like this we all know what two plus two is is four it doesn't matter what day of the week but see to deceive ourselves would be to stand up right here and say no two plus two is not for two plus two is three and I can take a piece of paper and I can show you how two plus two is four but you would sit there and say no two plus two is three you're deceiving yourself that's the picture of what goes on here when you are a hearer and you are not a doer you have diluted yourself you have fooled yourself you have deceived yourself and I'm gonna tell you when a Christian hears the truth but yet does not obey it they immediately enter into a state of self-deception and they don't even know it and I'm gonna tell you there are many people and the pews of the church they deceived the listen themselves I've watched people through the years the preacher preaches a tough message and they leave and they just go well I'm not so sure of that now I remember my days as a layman when I first got saved look I remember the days when my pastor would preach messages and I would walk out and I would say where in the world is brother Dennis and I would take my Bible and I would go to my prayer time and I would study verse by verse chapter by chapter to see my pastor taught me you interpret one book in light of another book one verse in light of another verse and every time I would come back and I'd say brother Dennis was right the spirit of God working in me and me working in the Word of God would not let me deceive listen myself and there are many people they deceive themselves why because they choose not to receive the Word and notice what James is saying this verse 22 is so powerful he says prove yourself by continued action all the days of your life doers of the Word a professional obeyer of the Word and not merely just listening to the Word auditing the Sunday School class auditing the preacher sermon and deceiving yourself be a doer I ran across this quote by John MacArthur he really hits the nail on the head he says obedience to the Word is the most basic spiritual requirement and is the common denominator for all true believers the bottom line of spiritual life is not a momentary feeling of compliance or commitment but long-term obedience to the scripture and I want to say this to you if you are a born-again Christian prove it prove it by doing it don't just listen and shake out of yourself deception just like James is trying to shake these Christians out of their deception now what about the rest of the verses I've chosen to deal with verse 23 through 25 by showing you two pictures there are two pictures here you can write this down picture number one the hearer of the Word picture number one the hearer of the Word go back to verse 23 through 24 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 this is the picture and I want you to notice a few things about this here first of all we see that he hears the Word says it in the text also we see that he's not a doer of the Word but also I want you to see that he is like a man now look at this this this man he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror now what is this mirror now in their day they did not have mirrors like we do they did have mirrors they would have a an object that was made of a particular metal maybe it was bronze or gold a wealthy people would have a mirror of gold and it would be highly polished and they would take that mirror and if they got the sunlight or the light just right they could see a reflection of themselves now we don't have mirrors like that we can see every bump and wrinkle can we not every gray hair but the illustration is still the same they had the ability to look at themselves and what James is saying is the here of the word it is a picture of a man or a woman who looks at themselves and they see their natural reflection and then they automatically immediately forget what they look like I don't know about you I don't know about me but most of us we would probably say well they're just doing how stupid but what is James saying this is a picture of the one who audits the word they're only a listener and they're just as foolish as the one who would look at his own image and forget now what is the point of the illustration the point of the illustration that James gives us is it is forgetfulness because this word looks it means more than just a glance it means to carefully look into that mirror but yet they quickly forget what they've seen and when I think about that illustration I just think how foolish could a person be but yet that's what James is saying they are foolish they are forgetful and that's the point of the picture now why does this individual forget why why does this individual look at himself and then immediately forget even though it's more than just a glance maybe they're distracted maybe they're distracted by sin maybe they're distracted by other people lost people in their life maybe they're distracted by the world maybe they're distracted by the condition of their own heart but I want to ask you a question could we be this foolish could we be this foolish could we be foolish enough to look into the mirror of the Word of God and hear the word and yet only be listeners you know I thought about reasons why people can do that today and I want you to listen close first of all I think there are many people they misunderstand why they come to a service like this see many people think that they just come so they could check off the list many people think that they come just because it's expected of them no that is a terrible misunderstanding the the proper understanding of why we come is we know we come to fellowship with other believers we come to see truth we come to be a part of the expression of the church but yet we gather on Sunday morning on Sunday night we gather at special times to sit under the authority of the Word of God the word preached the word taught the word explained it is a living book it is a powerful book they are the words of life they have authority in our life they are all that God wants to say all that God wants to do they are the pattern to every issue that we could face in life and as a matter of fact James is the manual for the Christian life and we misunderstand that I think many of us are dumb like most men we explain what I mean you know most most of us men when we have something to put together in our home what do we do we open the box and pitch the directions don't we should be honest my dad cured himself of that he goes in the store and when he looks to buy something needs to be put together he looks on the shelf and says I'll pay extra for that because it's put together but see we misunderstand look the directions are not for us to pitch therefore us to bake our life on I think another reason why we can be foolish is the wrong expectations what should we expect when we come and sit under the Word of God we should expect to learn about God yes we should expect to learn about God's people we should expect to learn about the the church we should expect to learn about their successes and their failures we're learning on Sunday nights about the great failures in the life of the Ephesian church we should expect to hear now listen from God from the Word of God speaking of the military and soldiers my mom gave me some copies of letters that my grandmother received from a cousin during World War two they're short letters but for me I'm interested in history and those letters he speaks about his life in London and he speaks about the food and he speaks about missing my grandmother's fried chicken now what's what's behind the letter a loved one and what's behind this book it's not a loved one it is the holy God of this universe and we have the wrong expectations we should come to hear from God to learn truth yes to learn about me and like Joshua who were men of God men like Moses men like Paul even people who are negative in their example people like Demas the scripture is filled with people and examples but the understanding of the expectation is to come to hear from God I think another reason why we can act foolishly in this area is bad habits habits sometimes are hard to shake the older we get the tougher they are many of us have groomed bad habits through the years of coming not expecting to hear a word from God every single time you come to church bad habits but see bad habits a lot of times will follow behind bad preaching bad preaching will make you become a hearer and not a doer why because when you have boring dry dead preaching when you come in and you sit here your heart can't tune in and look your mind will go a million different directions how do I know I've been there I'm setting the pew like you when it's been dry dead boring bad preaching and look you have to fight tooth and nail to get anything and what that does is it develops bad habits I don't speak to you from my heart I work hard to come Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night to have something from the Word of God that didn't come out of a book that didn't come off of a shelf that I have studied and I have dug into that to give you the words of life now I'm by vocational you know that there's a lot of ministry that I would like to do that I can't do time will not permit it now there are times I do not make a phone call that I need to make there are times I don't make a visit that I need to make and every now and then I'll call brother Keith and I'll just begin to complain and I'll begin to lament about certain things that I want to do now that I can't do and he don't remind me you are by vocational do what matters and what matters most is that I come in here with words from heaven to divide the word chapter and verse not in a boring manner having prayed over it look to feed you the words of life that's why I do what I do I'll let you in on a little saying Keith and I have many of us know that in the past we think that Nola has been just overlooked I think that there have been ministers and preachers that have been here that just might have overlooked Nola and maybe treated it like a stepchild Keith and I have a little saying between us we might be here we are out here at Nola and we're thankful it's not a stepchild to us it's God's call but to many this place is not first Baptist Dallas but we treat it as if it is I wouldn't trade Nola Baptist Church for first Baptist Dallas now what am I trying to make the point what is the point I'm trying to make there are people who have treated Nola just like a stepchild but we don't treat it like that it doesn't matter if I'm in a big church or a little church this is the call of God now what am I trying to explain to you I am coming we are coming to bring truth to you don't be a foolish hearer as a born-again Christian shake off the lethargy get right with God pray come ready anticipating have expectations to hear from God picture number two the doer of the word look at verse 25 but the one who looks intently at the perfect law the law of Liberty abides by it not having become a forgetful here but an effectual doer this man should be blessed in what he does picture number two is the doer of the word I want you to notice that he looks intently into the word he obeys the word he becomes this doer of the word and he's blessed this is the picture of the one who does his job he's not this weekend warrior kind of Christian no he is the professional doer now the point of the illustration here is obedience see the word abide right here it is obedience he abides in what truth he is obedient to what truth in the word looking intently it is a strong verb it means to make an effort to carefully examine something from the clearest possible vantage point so what is this do we're doing he is doing whatever he can to look intently into the Word of God from the clearest possible vantage point he is the doer of the word and notice the stark difference between the here and the doer there's no comparison but let me ask you this could we all become this kind of doer of the word could we all become a picture of what we see here in verse 25 now let me tell you this would take some change in you this will take changing us because we need our bad habits broken we need our expectations expanded we need discipline we need understanding we need to discipline our lives discipline our Saturday so when we come in here we're ready discipline our Saturday night so we can come ready discipline our family lives to come ready discipline our own thinking our own expectations to come what ready to hear from God each time we meet so that we can become these professional doers as I close I'll give you a quotation that I ran across from Warren Wiersby he said too many Christians mark their bibles but their bibles never mark them if you think you are spiritual because you hear the word then you are only kidding yourself we have many people they mark their bibles but do our bibles mark us or own are we only kidding ourselves now I'll tell you a story and then we close years ago when God first called me in the ministry I went to a church in Ellisville Mississippi first Baptist church in Ellisville I went there in 1996 and I left in 2002 but when I went to first Baptist Church Ellisville as a part-time youth minister they handed me something on paper it was a job description it went about three quarters of the way down the page now we are all familiar with job descriptions to be honest with you I defied that job description let me explain what I mean I did far more than that job description ever called far I went there in the spring and just a few months later my wife and I were married and my wife and I looked at her and I said sweetheart I know what the job description says but I know what needs to be done my wife had a job and we could make it financially and I looked at her and I said I can get another job but what God's called me to do will suffer and the ministry will suffer nobody asked me I was led of God and look although it was a 20-hour a week position I did it full-time I never forget when the church voted to move me from 20 hours to 30 hours a week and then the 40 hours to week one of the students in the church came to me and said brother Chris what are you gonna do different I said nothing I defied that job description and not only did I defy it I completely rewrote it because when I left in 2002 they wrote a new job description and the new job description was two pages in the new job description describe everything that I had implemented everything that I had done everything that I had built I'll give you an example we started a missions ministry within our community just students on Mondays every Monday afternoon we went down to the local trailer park the one that everybody overlooked and we went into that trailer park and we ministered to those children and as a matter of fact then we began to bring them to the to the church every Monday and that was written in the job description everything that I did everything that I had lived far for almost six years was written in the job description now what am I trying to say for you for us James is rewriting the job description he does not want us God does not want us just to be listeners just to tip our hats up the word the living Lord God is trying to teach us that we must prove ourselves by continued action professional Christians obeyers of the word not just listeners and to shake ourselves out of self-deception and look all that is is what the title of the message series good works flew from good faith that's real Christianity let's pray Ward thank you that you have raised the bar not just for me but for many that are listening