Let's turn back to James 1. While
you're turning there, Eric Sharon had an interview this morning
at Andover over here for a golf job, so everybody pray for him.
I'd be so thrilled if the Lord would make it to where he could
come back here. Everybody remember him. And we're privileged to
bring everything to the Lord in prayer. Verse 22, But be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. What comes to your mind when
you think of one that is not a doer of the word, but a hearer
only? What comes to your mind? Do you think of one who hears,
but it has no effect on his daily life? Do you think of one who
comes to church on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday, you'd
never know he's a Christian? Is that what you think of? Someone
that is a hearer only, but not a doer of the Word? Now, it is
a bad thing to simply come to services and then Monday through
Saturday live like you don't know God. That's a horrible thing.
But that has absolutely nothing to do with what James means. You know, when I was thinking
about this message, I thought, you know, you need to understand
the gospel to understand the book of James. You can just forget
it if you don't already understand the gospel. But that's true of
every other book, too. You have to understand the gospel and
these passages like this are only understood in light of the
gospel. Now the best commentary on scripture
is what? Scripture. Scripture sheds a
lot of light on scripture. And there's always other scripture
that tell us what the scriptures we're looking at means. Now turn
with me to Matthew chapter 7 for a moment. We'll come back to
James 1 in a moment. Matthew chapter 7. This is part
of the Sermon on the Mount. I love the Sermon on the Mount.
Preached it recently and would like to do it again. But at any
rate, look in verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man. which built his house upon a
rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it
was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, that's the hearer only,
shall be likened unto a foolish man. Which built his house upon
the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell. And great
was the fall of it. Now did you notice when I read
that passage of scripture, the Lord mentioned these sayings
of mine. Whoever hears these sayings of
mine and doeth them. Whoever hears these sayings of
mine, and doeth it not. I love to think of the Lord's
words in this light. Look in verse 28. And it came
to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, what he would
call these sayings of mine, the people were astonished at his
doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority. what he said recommended itself
as the very Word of God. With what authority he speaks,
not like the scribes. I love the way the Beatitudes
are started. He tells us who is blessed. Blessed
are. Now he's the one who can tell
who's blessed. And he's the one who decides
who's blessed. Blessed are they the poor in
spirit and they that mourn and they that meek and they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the pure in heart,
the peacemakers, the merciful, those who are persecuted for
righteousness sake. He declares who really is blessed. In this passage of Scripture
five times he said you've heard it been said of them of old and
he's quoting the Old Testament but I say unto you But I say
to you, you've heard it said of them of old, but I say to
you, he's telling us right now that he's the only true interpreter
of the scriptures. He's the only one who really
knows and what he says goes. Look in chapter 7 verse 21. Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name have we not cast out devils? And in thy name done
many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. You know what that tells me? That tells me that
he's the one who will decide whether we're in heaven or whether
we're in hell. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? Now, he talks about these sayings of mine, and look what
he says, back to verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, here's the man who's a
hearer, not a hearer only, but also a doer of the word. Therefore,
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I liken
him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and
it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Christ is the only
foundation. Amen? Christ is the only foundation. You know what that means? Real
briefly. The only way and the only reason
me or you will be in heaven is because of who he is and what
he did, period. He is the only foundation. You see, he's all in salvation.
Now, if you believe that, you'll build your house on this foundation,
Christ only. You really believe that, you
really believe that he is, he only is everything in your salvation. You build your house on this
foundation. Other foundations can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. all other ground is sinking sand. Now that man who hears his word
and does it is that man who trusts Christ alone. And we're told
that this is the truly wise man. This is who Christ says is a
wise man. You find me somebody who trusts
Christ only and I'll show you a wise man made wise by grace. You show me somebody who doesn't
trust Christ only and I'll show you a fool. Now, this foolish
man, he heard the same thing the wise man did, but he proved
he didn't pay any attention to what he heard because he didn't
build his house on the foundation. He built it on sand. And what
came? What happened when the winds
blew and the rain came down and the floods washed away? Why? Because he didn't build
his house on a rock, but on something unstable. His own work. Sand
is so unstable. A house would never hold up to
the storms of life if it's built on the sand. Now, so that gives
us some idea of who this doer of the Word is and who the one
who is a hearer only. Now, would you go back to James
chapter 1? And let me tell you what every
hearer only that's not a doer of the word, let me tell you
what every hearer only has in common. None of them see themselves
as the Bible describes them to be. Now let me repeat that. This
is what every hearer only has in common. All of them are like
this. If I'm here only, this would
describe me. None of them believe themselves
to be as the Bible describes them to be. Totally depraved
and totally unable to do anything about it. Now let me show you
this from the scriptures. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. Hold your finger there in James 1. We'll come back there
in a moment, but I want you to look at this passage in Romans
chapter 3. And this is so important. I wish I could emphasize this
the way it ought to be emphasized. I don't want to... I'll try to. Pray for me. Romans
chapter 3, verse 10. Verse 9, what then, are we better
than they? We Jews, are we better than the
Gentiles? No, and no wise, for we have
before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin as it's written. Now look at these four nones.
There is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. You know you can't understand
the gospel unless God is pleased to make it known. You can't understand. There is none that seeketh after
God. Not one. Not one person that
seeks God. Now, people be religious. They'll
seek after His blessing, His favor. They'll seek after having
Him answer their prayers so they can get what they want. But there
isn't one person ever to ever live who's actually sought the
living God. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now what that's speaking of is
what we call total depravity and total inability. Now this
is, please listen, you won't be able to hear the gospel. You'll
be a hearer only if you can't hear the gospel as a sinner.
And every one of these people who hear the word only, but are
not doers of the word, they never hear as a sinner. They never
hear as someone who's totally depraved with, my mind's no good,
my affections are no good, my will's no good. They never hear
someone who, as someone who's totally unable in and of themselves,
totally dependent upon grace. Now if you're, if you hear as
a sinner, You're going to hear the gospel differently than that
person who does not hear as a sinner. Now let's go back to James chapter
1. This will manifest that. Verse 22, But be ye doers of
the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For
if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, He is like unto
a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. Now, when you look in the mirror
of the Word, and this is what this is referenced to, what do
you see? When you look at yourself, in
the mirror of the Word, what do you see? Well, turn with me
to Isaiah chapter 1. Verse 2, Hear, O heavens, and
give ear, O earth. For the Lord hath spoken, I have
nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against
me. The ox boweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib.
But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider all
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors. They've forsaken the Lord. They've
provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They are gone away
backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
There's no point in it. You'll revoke more and more.
The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. From the sole
of the foot even to the head there's no soundness in it, but
wounds and bruises and putrefying cells that have not been closed,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." Now that's what
you see of yourself when you see yourself in the mirror of
the Word. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And you'll never see this, and
I'll never see this, unless we see the Lord. If you see the
Lord, you'll see this. If you don't see the Lord, this
is going to be meaningless to you, just a kind of a negative
doctrine. Isaiah said, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. High and lifted up,
his train filled the temple. And what did he say with regard
to himself? Woe is me for I am undone for I'm a man of unclean
lips and it's the lips that's the index of the heart and I
dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips for mine eyes
have seen the king the Lord of hosts. Now you if you look at
yourself in the mirror of the word you'll see you have no reason
to think anything about yourself other than this I'm very sinful
I'm very sinful. That will be your conclusion
if you look at yourself in the mirror of the word. I don't care
who you are. You can't look at the word and have a high opinion
of yourself. Not with what the scripture says
about man and his nature and his sinfulness. But look at this
fella. Verse 23, But if any be a hearer of the word, and not
a doer, he is like unto a man, beholding his natural face in
a glass. For he beholdeth himself, But
what you do next? He goes his way. Not God's way. His way. And straightway or immediately
forgeteth what manner of man he was. Now if I see myself in
the Word, I'm going to cry out to oh wretched man that I am.
This is personal. It's personal. You know, everybody's
able to see everybody else's wretchedness. I can see your
sinfulness. I can see your problems. I can see your... That's... We're
all real good eagle eyes toward other people. But whenever you
really see your sinfulness, you're not concerned about anybody else.
You see your own personal sinfulness before God. And you say, Oh,
wretched man that I am. Now, this man, he sees himself
in the mirror of the Word. The only way he's going to get
a true picture. Now, the mirror of the Word doesn't
lie. And the other kind of mirror is distorted. But the mirror
of the Word doesn't lie. And this fellow sees himself
in the mirror of the Word, and what's he do? He leaves it, and
he forgets what manner of man he was. He forgets about what
he looked like in the mirror of Scripture. That word forgets
carries with it the idea of negligence. And through this negligence,
he forgets what a sinner He is. And the moment I forget what
a sinner I am, I'm rendered unable to hear the gospel. It's meaningless
to me. This man sees himself in the
mirror of the Word. He goes away and forgets what
manner of man he was. And then self-deception begins. If we say we have no sin, what? We deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. Now,
when I'm not hearing the gospel as a totally depraved sinner,
and I look at myself knowing that in and of myself, in my
flesh dwells no good thing. No good thing. And I really believe
that. When I hear the gospel as a sinner, I hear with a great need of Jesus
Christ. I need thee, precious Jesus,
for I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty. My heart is dead within. I need the cleansing fountain
where I can always flee the blood of Christ, most precious, the
sinner's perfect plea. When I hear the gospel as a sinner,
what we call the doctrine of grace becomes an absolute necessity
for me. You see, hearing the gospel of
the sinner, I need God to choose me and to elect me. I know that
in myself, I'll never choose Him. I know if I'm left to myself,
I'll just go farther and farther away. I need Him to choose me.
I need Christ to actually make payment for my sins so I'll never
have to pay for them. I mean, I need for Him to die
for me to the extent that my sins are gone and I'll never
stand before God and give an account for them. I need the
irresistible, invincible grace of God the Holy Spirit to give
me life, to cause me to believe, to cause me to repent, to cause
me to follow on. I need to be preserved by the
grace of God. I'll fall away if I'm not preserved.
I know that. Now when you hear the gospel
as a sinner, this is not just doctrine to you, it's the very
heart and soul of the gospel. Verse 24, For he beholdeth himself,
and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and
continueth therein. He doesn't leave. He continues
therein. He being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work, This man shall be blessed, blessed
by God in his deed. Now the word looketh here is
literally whoever stoops down to look. Now whenever you look to Christ,
there's got to be some stooping. You stoop down to look. You can't
see him from a high and lofty position, you really can't. You
gotta stoop down to look. May God give us the grace to
stoop, to humble ourselves under his mighty hand. You know what
I thought when we were considering last week the Lord humbled himself,
and I thought, how is it that the Lord himself could humble
himself when we have such a hard time humbling ourselves? Who so stoops down? looks. Remember, the way up in the kingdom
of heaven is always down, always. Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. But whoso humbles himself,
I can't remember the rest of the verse, but it goes along
those lines, but look what he's looking into, verse 25, but whoso
looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty. I love this title
of the gospel, this name for the gospel, this perfect Law
of Liberty. Now here's the thing, you sinners,
you sinners, I'm talking to myself too, listen to this. In Christ,
you're perfect. If all you ever thought about
was your sinfulness, there wouldn't be salvation in that. In Christ
Jesus, I am perfect right now. Hebrews 10, 14 says, He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Someone says, I'm not perfect.
I am. I am. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. I've been made perfect by what
He has done, and I right now stand before you perfect, without
spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. Perfect, unblameable, unreprovable
in His sight. Now that's what the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. It's made everyone who is a sinner perfect. Don't you love that
word? Perfect and complete. Having
reached his end, I can't get any more saved, any more loved,
any more accepted, any more perfect than I am right now in Christ
Jesus. Now, this sinner looks into this
perfect law. Law. Now, when you believe The
gospel becomes law to you. And I don't mean a law you keep.
I'm talking about it becomes your nature. It becomes a law
of nature. It's your nature to believe the
gospel. It's your nature to be in a state,
a continual state of repentance, changing your mind. It's your
nature to love holiness. It's your nature to hate sin.
You have a new nature. We follow the law of our nature,
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It made me free
from the law of sin and death. And this takes the pressure off. When I think about this, I don't
decide to believe. I've been given a new nature
that believes. I don't make a choice to love God. It's my nature to
love God. It's my nature to love holiness,
who he is. It's my nature to love the way
he saves sinners. We look into this perfect law,
and what's that next word? A perfect law of liberty. There isn't anything as liberating
as the gospel. Now I was talking about being
totally depraved and totally unable and that is what I am
by nature. But you know the only thing that
I find liberating is not giving me something to do. The only
thing I find liberating is knowing that salvation is completely
in Christ and I'm complete in Him and salvation is all of grace
and there's not one work I'm called on to do to save myself
or to contribute to my salvation. That's liberating. That's liberating. It's liberating to know that
I'm complete in Christ, that all God requires of me I have. Somebody says, you say that all
the time. I know I do, and I intend to say it a whole lot more. Everything
God requires of me, I have in Christ Jesus. Oh, how liberating
that is. If you give me any works to do
that makes any part of salvation dependent upon me, I'm in bondage.
I'm a wreck. I'm upset. But if I find out
that I'm liberated, I'm free in Christ Jesus, stand fast in
the freedom the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage. If the Son shall
make you free, if the Son shall liberate you, and the only liberation,
like I said, I know, the only liberty I know is if all my sin
has been taken care of and I stand perfect in Christ Jesus. How
liberating that is. Now whoever looks into this perfect
law of liberty and continues. He continues therein. He doesn't quit. He doesn't go
somewhere else. He continues therein. He continues in the faith, grounded
and settled, and be not moved from the hope of the gospel. He continues therein. We're made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. He continues therein. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in Him. You know, here's the deal. You never graduate past being
a sinner looking to Christ only as everything in your salvation.
There's no higher grade to get to. This is the high life. This is the best it can be. Can't
it get any better than that? No, no it can't. No graduation
can pass this. It's continuing in the faith,
grounded and settled. We continue coming to Him and
looking to Him only. We continue to glory only in
the cross. We continue to rejoice in Christ
Jesus. We continue to have no confidence
in the flesh. We keep looking into that perfect
law of liberty, and it keeps us seeing our own sinfulness
and His sufficiency, how He is all that we need. As John Newton said on his dying
bed, there are two things I know. I'm a great sinner and He's a great Savior. Now look what it says next. Verse
25, But whoso looketh into this perfect law of liberty, and continueth
therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, like the other fellow
was, but a doer of the work, This man shall be blessed in
his deed. Now, how is it that he is a doer
of the work? What's that mean? He's this one
that continues looking into the perfect law of liberty. He's
a doer of the work. Well, turn with me to John chapter
6. John chapter 6, verse 27. Let's start in verse 26. Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that
meat which endureth unto everlasting life. which the Son of Man shall
give unto you, for Him hath God the Father sealed." Now hold
on just a moment. I love the way the Lord said that to some
people that He knew would leave Him. This whole group, all 5,000
of them left Him. And He still said to them, don't
you labor for the meat which perishes, but you labor for the
meat which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall
give unto you. I love that. I love the way the
Lord preached the gospel. Now look what he says, and look
what they say in response to this. Verse 28, Then said they
unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? You're telling us not to labor
for meat that perishes, but labor for meat which endures to everlasting
life? Well, then tell us what to do
then. What work do we need to do in order to work the works
of God? That's quite a question, isn't
it? Now look at the Lord's reply. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. This is the work of God. This
is the work of God in you and this is what you do when God
works in you. You believe on him whom he hath sent. Now first of all, I love the
simplicity of this. You believe God sent him. Do you believe God sent his son
as the savior of the world? Do you believe that? He said, I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth
the Son and believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Now, what must I do to work the
work of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. If I believe the Father
sent Him, you know what else I believe? I believe He did what
the Father sent Him to do. Do you believe that? You believe
that whatever it was the Father sent Him to do, He did? You believe that? This is the
work of God that you believe on Him who He had sent. You believe
He is who He said He is? His Father sent Him, He did what
His Father sent Him to do, and you're completely trusting Him
for that. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. The Father sent
Him to do that, and that's exactly what He did. Now, do you want
to work the works of God? Well, here it is. You believe
on him whom he has sent. And you know what? You're blessed
in that doing, in that deed. What a blessing it is to believe
the gospel. You know, I love that scripture
in Romans 15, 13 that speaks of the joy and the peace of believing. What joy it is to know that Jesus Christ is my all in
salvation. What peace that brings. You know, talking about being
depraved and all that stuff, how do you have any peace? Because
Christ is my righteousness. Because Christ is my Savior.
Because Christ is my Redeemer. Because Christ rules and reigns.
He's my prophet. He's my priest. He's my king. Peace. Peace. You'll be blessed. Blessed by
God. You're the only one who can bless
is God Himself. You know, somebody says, bless
you. Well, I'm not real sure you can do that. God can though. God can. If He blesses you, you're
blessed. This is the man who's blessed
in his deed. That man who continues in the
perfect law of liberty, looking nowhere else but Christ. Now, this religious world sees
this thing of doing the Word as being up and working. You're
not hearers only, you're doing all kinds of stuff. You know,
you're witnessing and you're praying and you're reading the
Bible and you're going out and seeking to spread the gospel
and you're trying to be a servant to people and you're doing all
kinds of good works. Now, great! Read the Bible. Pray. Do all kinds of good works.
But beloved, understand this. The evidence of salvation is
not somebody who's up and doing. The evidence of salvation is
someone who has ceased from his own works as God did from his
and he looks into that perfect law of liberty and he finds rest
and he continues in that perfect law of liberty looking to Christ
only. I repeat The evidence of salvation
is not working and doing, but resting in Christ. Ceasing from
your own works and looking only to His. You know what? If you do that,
you're going to be fine everywhere else. I have no question about
it. Let's pray. Lord, deliver us. Oh, deliver
us from being hearers only, going to the mirror of the Word, and
immediately forgetting what manner of man we are. But Lord, cause
us to look, to stoop, and to look into that perfect law of
liberty, the gospel of your Son. And cause us to continue looking
to continue seeing our own sinfulness, but not only that, to continue
seeing the liberty, the perfection that's in Christ Jesus. Lord,
give us the grace to stop working and simply trusting. And Lord, cause us to continue
therein. Lord, enable us to work that which is Thy work,
to believe on Him whom You have sent. Bless this word for Your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. You
got it.