Turn back to James chapter 1. Next Thursday, we'll start at
7.30 since school started and it'll make it easier for some
of you to get here who are in school teaching and going to
school. That'll be next Thursday. The
title of this message is listening, receiving, and applying, or hearing, receiving, and doing. We have before us how to hear
the Word of God swift, how to receive the Word of God That
meekness, humility. That God, Almighty God, when
you consider who He is, sent His Word of salvation to us. To this group right here. God
has sent the Gospel to us. That ought to be, and it really
ought to be so humbling that God would speak to us in
mercy. and in grace. And then He says
to be a doer, a doer of what we have heard. Put it into action. Our Lord said this in John 14,
15. And you'll notice here that the reason
for keeping His commandments It has nothing to do with obtaining
life. It has nothing to do with obtaining
salvation. You know, when James wrote the
book of James here, his whole message has to do with the justification
of our faith before men, not before God. The justification
of our souls before God is through the blood and righteousness of
Jesus Christ. It's not just the doctrine of
grace, but the application of grace in the soul. It's grace
at work, is what James is going to set forth. It's grace at work
in the soul. But listen to this, John 14,
15, how our Lord speaks. If you love me. He doesn't say, if you would
have life, if you would find acceptance with God, keep my
commandments. He said, if you love me. You know, I, Vicki and I were
married about 41 years ago. I go to work every day, take care of her because I love
her. Not because I signed a piece
of paper 41 years ago. If you love me, keep my commandments. Paul said the love of Christ
That's what constrains me, that's what moves me. If the love of
God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit, I cannot
help but love Christ. Hell is full. It's full of men
and women who believe the doctrine of election. You know that? All
the Pharisees believed it. Christ said, you're of your father
the devil. Hell's full of people who believe
doctrine. But there's not one soul in hell
who loves Jesus Christ. Not one. If you love Me, keep
My commandments. He said in John 14, 21, He that
hath My commandments, My Word, and keepeth them, he it is that
loves Me. It's evident he loves Me. And he that loves Me shall be
loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself
to him." Oh, I want him to do that. I want the Lord to do that. I want Him to manifest, reveal
Himself to me. I don't want this to be a religion,
just a cold, dry religion like the Jews turned it into. They'd
go to the synagogue. They would hear the Word read.
Old Testament. They just pack the bag and go
home. I don't want that. I want God to reveal Himself
to us. I want us to fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. Rolf
Barner called it a sweetheart love for Jesus. That's what he
called it. A sweetheart love for my Lord. He said in John 15.10, if you
keep my commandments, You shall abide in My love, even as I have
kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." Okay,
look in verse 18 first. Here's the verse that all these
other verses kind of point back to. In verse 18, let's never
forget this. Of His own will, God was under no constraint No
one twisting His arm for Him to save me or Him to save you.
It was of His own sovereign will that He beget us. And the way He begat us is with
the Word of Truth. What I'm doing right now, preaching
the Gospel, reading His Word, that's the seed. His Word is
the seed sown in that good ground. And when it was sown in that
good ground, it brought forth much fruit. It brought forth some a hundredfold,
some ten, and so on. That we should be a kind of first
fruit of His creature. You know what a first fruit is?
Well, the first fruit I told you last week, it was separated
to God, it was given to God, it was sanctified and set apart
for Him. But it also says this, the first fruit says this, there's
a lot more like it coming. That's what it says. There's
a lot more like it coming. Okay. Wherefore, on this premises,
wherefore, My beloved brethren." And James keeps calling them
his beloved brethren. How tender we ought to be toward
one another. Especially, now listen, especially
me standing here preaching the gospel to you. To preach the gospel to you,
Paul said to preach it in love. Not anger. But to preach it in love. James tells us here how to listen,
how to speak, how to act, and how to receive the Word of God
when it's preached. He says, let every man that confesses
to know Christ be swift to hear. Slow to speak and slow to wrath.
Swift to hear. You can translate that word anxious.
It's like coming here tonight. It's like coming here tonight,
anxious to hear from God. Anxious to hear the Word of God
opened and read and preached, and you're hearing God speak.
When I read those verses to you, that's God speaking. I just gave
you His Word. Anxious to hear that. Oh, that
the Lord would give us such a spirit to be so anxious and hungry and
thirsty to hear Him speak. You know, one time, He did not
speak for 400 years. He went to space in 400 years. And here tonight, God's given a preacher. He's
given us His Word. And he says, be swift, anxious,
anxious. When we come together to hear
the Word of God preached, we come to hear, hear Him. Speak, Lord, the prophet said,
speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. Speak to my heart. I don't want
to go away empty. I don't want to go away, this
just being a religious service. I want to go away hearing from
God. I want to go away impressed. I want to go away fed. I want
to go away with my mind and my heart set upon Christ. I remember when I first heard
the Gospel and I came down to 13th Street and listened to Henry
preach for years. I can remember going in and hearing
the Word and I kid you not, leave in awe. Not just because of the ability
that God gave Henry to speak, but God spoke. And it stayed
with you. It's like having a good dinner
and it stays with you all day long. You had a great meal and
late in the evening your wife says, what do you want to eat?
You say, I'm still full. I'm still full. I'm still working on what I had
six hours ago. That's the kind of hearing I
want. That's the kind of hearing we are to have. That's the way
we are to hear, to listen, God speaking. We should listen so as to be
instructed. Teach me, Lord. That's what David
said. David said, teach me thy ways. You know, God revealed His, listen,
God revealed His ways to Moses, His acts unto the children of
Israel. I don't wanna just know the acts
of God. You can read the Bible and see
what God has done, but I wanna know the way of God. And you
know what that is? Christ said, I am the way, the
truth. God revealed to Moses His way,
Christ. I want to be instructed in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I want to grow in grace and in
knowledge of Him. You cannot exhaust the knowledge
of Christ. He's the wisdom of God. Can we
exhaust the wisdom of God? No. In eternity you can't do
it. There'll never be a time, even
in eternity, that we will exhaust the knowledge of God. It's not
possible. We should listen to be instructed,
to be edified, to be encouraged? We live out there in a God-hating
world. We live out there in a mess.
I want to come here and be encouraged. I want to come here and hear
about what I have in Christ and what's coming. I want to hear
about Him. I want to be fed. I want to be
warned. I want to be warned. Listen to this. Psalm 119, 105. I write these down. I probably
ought to turn to most of them, but it would take so long. If you're taking notes, write
them down. 119, 105. Thy Word is a lamp
unto my feet. and a light unto my path." John
Newton said, a person who has saturated themselves... I'm about
to quote him verbatim here. I'm paraphrasing. He said, a
person who basically has saturated themselves in the Word of God
generally know what to do about all the time. Thy words are a
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. You want to know
which way to go? Immerse yourself in the Word of God. Psalm 119, 9. Wherewith, wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according
to thy word. Saturate yourselves. Immerse
yourselves in the Word of God. I remember one time I was reading
a little storybook to my grandson. Four years old, maybe, about
four years old. And I was just a little storybook. So I said, Cole, let's just,
let's just jump right in it. So he and I act like we were
jumping into the book. So we act like he dived into
the book and I got into the book. And then I read the story and
I said, here we go. Immerse yourself into the book. Dive into the
book. Dive into the word of God. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse
his way by taking heed to the word of God? Also, seeing that
it is by the word of God we are begotten, that's what he says
there in verse 18, of his own will begat he us with the word
of truth. Oh, my soul. How much ought we to be in if
it is the very instrument, the very means that God used to save
me? And you, I tell you this, you
will never ever learn anything of God or have any revelation
of God or of Christ apart from His Word. It ain't gonna happen. You're not gonna be walking through
the woods and some coconut hits you in the head or something
and all of a sudden you got this epiphany. No, you've got a headache. What
you've got is out of your head. If you're going to learn anything,
you're going to learn it through the Word of God. That's how you're
going to learn. By His Word. Listen, 1 Peter 2. As newborn
babes desire They cry, they don't shut up.
A newborn baby will not shut up until he's feeded. And Peter says, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow. Grow. What's he mean grow thereby? What's he mean grow? I will never grow in the doctrine
of election. It is what it is. God chose a people. You can't
grow in that. I mean, it is. Particular redemption. I'm not going to grow. Christ
died for the people that God chose. I know that. But you know
what I can grow in? Love. Joy. Peace. Long suffering, which
is patience. Kindness. This is what we're
to grow in. the fruit of the Spirit. And
the only way you're going to grow in that is by the Spirit
of God taking the Word of God and instructing you and teaching
you. That's how it's going to happen. Job said this. It's written over
in Job 23.12. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than
my necessary food. Isn't that something? Job said,
I esteem His words. Speak, Lord, more than I do the
food I eat to live by. And then, listen, swift to hear.
You come here tonight. You're going to come Sunday.
This is how we are told to come. Anxious to hear from God. looking
to hear from God. Pray. Pray before you come, Lord,
speak to my heart this morning. Lord, teach me something. Instruct
me." And then he says, slow to speak. Slow to speak. We naturally have it the opposite.
And I know you who teach, you know that so. We naturally have
it the opposite. We are fast to speak and slow
to listen. In fact, while somebody's telling
us something, we're already having on our mind what we're going
to say before they finish. There's a real art to listening. Listening. And brethren, I'm
telling you this, if God is speaking, you and I need to shut up, be
still, and know that I am God. That's what he said. You, and
I've learned this over the years. I wish I had learned it when
I was in high school. You can't learn a thing when your mouth
is running. When you're doing the speaking, you can't learn.
You learn when you shut up and listen. And I'm not talking about
just hear somebody talk, but to listen to what they're saying.
What are you saying to me? Slow to speak. Slow to speak
against God's Word when preached. Until prayerful thought is given
for understanding. Lord, give me understanding of
what I just heard this morning. What you're hearing tonight.
Give me understanding. Don't walk out and forget it.
Don't walk out and just let it go. Walk out and say, Lord, teach
me what I just heard. It says in Ecclesiastes 5.2,
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou
upon earth, therefore let thy words be few. Few. Here's a good rule of thumb.
If you really haven't thought about it, don't talk about it.
Here's a good rule of thumb. If you haven't really thought
about it, don't talk about it. The Word of God says, even a
fool, in Proverbs 17, even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted
wise. And he that shutteth his lips
or shuts his mouth is esteemed a man of understanding. He might
be dumb as a box of rocks, but if he keeps his mouth shut, nobody
will know it. Is that right? Somebody said, it's better to
be a thought or a fool than to open your mouth and remove all
doubts. Yes, it is. Slow to speak against
God. Now here's important. Slow to
speak against God dealing with us under trials. Slow to speak. Slow to say anything. Just wait. And that's the hardest
thing to do, is keep your mouth shut. It is. Matthew Henry said this. Instead
of censoring God under our trials, let us pray for our ears and
hearts to hear what He's saying to us. Lord, what are You teaching
me through this trial? Whatever it is, teach me. Wisdom knows when to speak and
when not to speak. And then slow to wrath. Slow
to wrath. Slow to act out of passion. And this is especially important
for me as a pastor. Somebody upsets you, and it will, it'll happen. Somebody
upsets you, you don't get in a pulpit and attack. You don't
do that. You get in the pulpit and you
preach the gospel of love. Let the gospel settle the matter. You'd be surprised if you just
keep preaching Christ how much that settles everything. I couldn't
tell you over the years how many questions I've had, and I just
keep listening to Henry, and they got answered. They may not
have got answered today when I wanted it. It might be a year
or two from now, but it got answered. Just keep listening. Slow to act out of passion. Instead,
wait on the Lord for guidance and wisdom. Slow to take offense when corrected
by the Word of God because we all, every one of us, in the
past, now, and in the future, including me, is going to be
corrected by the Word of God. My attitude, my attitude always
needs an adjustment. It always gets out of adjustment. But slow to take offense when
corrected by the Word of God and to never get angry with God. How many times, we've been going
through pictures of Christ in the Old Testament. How many times
have we heard Or did we read of Israel getting upset, angry
with God because of the way that He led them? They come into trouble,
the first thing they do is murmur against God. James is saying,
don't do that. He says, don't do that. The Scripture says, whom the
Lord loves, He corrects. What if He leaves you alone? What if He leaves you alone?
You know what the Lord said to His disciples concerning the
Pharisees one time? The Pharisees said, don't you
know you offended them? And the Lord said, leave them
alone. That is the worst thing God could
ever say concerning you. Leave them alone. and slow to get angry with others
who don't believe the gospel. There was a time I didn't believe
it. A time I didn't understand it. You wouldn't go up and stand
beside the casket and get mad at the guy for not listening
to you, would you? They'd put you in a straight jacket. What we don't realize is that
the world is dead. Spiritually dead. Spiritually
blind. They're not wounded. It's not
that they've got a bad vision or bad hearing. They're dead. As I said before, there are no
degrees of dead. Dead is dead. That's why we have to be patient,
especially when you stand here and preach. You're patient. Because I sat there one time
and I didn't hear anything. Didn't care, didn't give a lick. He says in verse 20, For the
wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. Here's another reason
to not show anger. It doesn't promote the righteousness
of God. It does not adorn the gospel
of God. That's what he's saying. It doesn't
adorn it. If I stood up here and I was...
It's like Scott Richardson said one time, he was giving a story,
you probably heard it. Somebody was telling him about feeding
chickens. And it had to do with how to
preach. And he said, watch this. He took
the feed and he just put it on the ground and the chickens came
by and picked it up and ate. He said, now watch. And he took
it and he just threw it at them. And those chickens just flew
off. A lot has to do with presentation. The wrath of man, and I know
this about my wrath and my anger, it has nothing to do with justice,
does it? It has more to do with getting
even. You know, when God executes judgment, it's not God getting
even, it's God doing right. It's just God doing right. But
the wrath of man is just getting even. Trying to settle the score. And another reason here, it says,
the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God, it does
not promote peace. As much as possible, Scripture
says, as much as possible that lies within you to live peaceably,
peaceably with all men. All men. It stirs up strife. It doesn't
further the Gospel. It builds a wall. It builds a
wall that no one can get over. No one can get over that. And
we're not going to argue with men over the Gospel. When I was
a young man and I first heard the Gospel, I wanted to argue.
We don't argue the Gospel. We proclaim it and leave it to
God. You know, if you're right, you
don't need to argue. The Lord never argued. It says He didn't
lift up His voice in the streets. He didn't go around crying, lift
up His voice. He didn't argue. He didn't argue.
He told the truth. When He spoke to the Pharisees,
He didn't argue with them, He just told them the truth. And then He tells us here to
suppress other sinful tendencies. See, these three here has to
do with the Spirit. It has to do with our attitude
and conduct in that way. But He says, "...Wherefore, lay
aside all filthiness." It is filthiness of our nature. We
still have it. I tell you, there's a... That old nature I have, I still
have. I'm still just as rotten as ever.
And it wants to raise its ugly head way too often. I still have
that old Adamic nature. Mean. Rotten to the core. Rotten to the core. He says here, lay that aside. And superfluity, that is excess. Excess of naughtiness, that is
bad behavior, rude behavior, improper behavior. That's what
that is. You say, Who's he writing to
here? He's writing to believers. And
he's telling them, you still have this nature in you. You
still have this in you. You still have all this sin and
potential in you. Lay it aside. Lay it aside. But here's another rendering
of this. James is saying, since you have laid aside, the filthiness
of the flesh and the excess of improper behavior, receive with
meekness the Word of God implanted in you by grace, the Word that's
able to save your souls. Since you have laid it aside,
told to mortify the deeds of the flesh, in Romans 8, 13, for
if you live after the flesh, you shall die, but if you eat
through the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to mortify the deeds
of the body, you shall live. Since you have laid aside this,
God has saved you. Of His own will beget He us with
the Word of truth. You've been born of God. I'm
looking at a people that have been born of God. What a responsibility that I
have with God's people. You're His
children. Christ died, you who believe
the gospel, Christ died for you. God himself came into this world,
took upon him flesh, went to the cross and took hell, took
it away. Took it away. How serious is that? How serious
is that? And the word of the gospel he
has sent to you, And you and I are to receive it, He says
here, with meekness, humility, which is able to save your soul. What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? What's your soul worth? You ain't got enough money. You
don't possess enough to pay for what you think you're worth.
And what my soul is worth. You take the richest man in the
world at his hour of death, That rich man that went to hell, lifted
up his eyes in hell, been in torment, he would have given
every penny to be out of that place. We are to receive the Word of
God just like I received this water. into myself, into my heart. Like a plant, he says, engrafted
into a vine, they become one. And the branch feeds off the
vine. Christ said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. And we yield to its instructions
with meekness, knowing, that the salvation of
our souls is at stake. It's at stake. God's Word is able to make us
wise unto salvation. Then he says here, and I'm not
going to go through all this. I'll just save some of this for
next week. But be ye doers, not just hearers. What's he saying? Be ye doers
of the Word, not just hearers only, deceiving your own self.
Do what I just said. James is saying now, just do
what I said, what you just heard. Swift to hear, slow to speak,
and slow to wrath. Do that. Not hearers only. The Word of
God. Henry said this in his commentary. The Word of God is to be believed,
is to be loved, is to be obeyed. We are to put into practice its
commands, its ordinances, its principles. And those who rest
upon outward hearing only are going to be greatly disappointed
in that day. In that day. Our Lord said, a new commandment
I give you. He said a new commandment, and
then He called it an old commandment. And it's this, that you love
one another. If you genuinely love one another,
everything else will be taken care of. It will. Everything
else. You'll look after each other,
you'll take care of each other, you'll consider one another before
you consider yourselves. The Lord said in the Sermon on
the Mount, He said, love your enemies, I tell you what, believing to
me, believing the doctrine of election, particularly redemption,
is not nearly as hard as loving my enemies. How's that going? Do good to those who despitefully
use you. Pray for them who despitefully
use you. Somebody will ask you your coat,
give him your cloak also. If he asks you to go a mile,
he says go two. Now that's just not good. He
meant it. That doesn't just sound good.
He meant that. And when I see... He said another
place, be ye holy for I'm holy. He absolutely meant that. When I read that scripture, you
know what that makes me realize? How much I need Christ. He didn't
say try to be holy. He said be holy. And I said,
Lord, I need You. You're my holiness. You're my
righteousness. He said to that woman who was caught in adultery,
what did He say to her? Go and what? Sin no more. And you know what? He actually
meant sin no more. God never approves of sin. But
what that does is it makes me feel my need of Him that much
more. Because I know that I can't I
can't get away from sin. And he said, sin no more. Lord,
I need Your righteousness. I need You. I need You. For if any man be a hearer of
the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his
natural face in a glass. It's just like I got up here
a few days ago and got dressed. I was sitting there looking in
the mirror. Hair was all messed up. So I went to get a brush
and something distracted me. I don't know if I got a phone
call or a text or something. I got something. Anyway, I forgot about
it. And I got in my car, drove down
to get me a breakfast, saw myself. My hair was all messed up. I
mean, it looked like I just got out of bed. That's what it looked
like. I forgot what I looked like. I forgot it. This Word says, there's none
good, no, not one. I wrote out by that verse, even
me, just so every now and then I won't forget that. But the
man who looks in the Word of God, he reads it, and he sees
that Word says, there's none good, no, not one. He gets up,
shuts the book, goes off to work, and completely forgets what he
just read. Or a man who's sitting here. Man or woman, sitting here.
You hear the Word. You're troubled by the Word.
You're oppressed by the Word. You're moved by the Word. And
you no more get out that door and you forget what you heard.
Was it Felix who said to Paul, said, I'll call for you another
season? You know, he never did. Never
did. Herod. Herod had said, I'd like
to hear John the Baptist. He'd like to hear him. But that man died, died in unbelief. He forgot what he heard. Benjamin
Franklin, one time, he was going to hear George Whitefield. And
someone asked him, said, why are you going to hear that man?
You don't believe what he's preaching? He said, no, but he does. But Benjamin Franklin didn't.
But he liked to hear Him. And when he'd hear Him, he was
moved by Him. Moved by the Word. Agrippa, remember Agrippa? He would shake almost, Paul,
almost off persuading me to be a Christian. Well, almost is
all lost. That's what it is. That's all it is. The Word of God reveals who God
is. He reveals God in His holiness, His justice, His mercy and grace.
It reveals Jesus Christ. It reveals the sinner. It reveals
to me what I am. And then walk out that door and
forget what I heard. That's like he said, the man
looking at his face. And that's what the Word of God
is like. It's like looking into a mirror. You see yourself. He's like a man beholding his
face in the natural glass and then he goes away and he forgets,
he goes away and he forgets what manner of man he was, had a spot
on his face. And he goes away and forgets
what he just saw, a blemish. He saw that blemish and he left
and forgot it. But the man who looks into the
perfect law of liberty, it's a law of liberty, it's the gospel. It's the Word of God. And he
looks into it with full intent of receiving it and believing
it and asking God to speak. Lord, speak to me. Teach me. He says, listen, this man shall
be blessed in his life, in his deeds, that's in his life, his
life of faith, that man will be blessed, blessed of God. He looks into that perfect law
of liberty, and he continues therein. He continues looking
into it, looking to be instructed and be taught to know God and
to know Christ, to be more established in Christ. You know, Scripture says, let
him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall. I don't want to fall. And one
of the things that really helps prevent that is the Word of God. I want to give you a homework
assignment. Go home and read Psalm 119. And you see how many times the
word God's Word, testimony, precepts, commandments, and law, and so
often the word law means Word of God. See how many times David
says this in that psalm. Now if any man among you seems
to be religious and doesn't bridle his tongue, he deceives his own
heart. His religion is vain. It's vain. If he seems religious, doesn't
bridle himself, what he does, he makes a show. He makes a show
outwardly, But inwardly, it's empty. Empty. Outwardly, he may
pray, he may preach. He may preach. And then turn
around and boast of his works, slander others, bringing them
down. He says his religion is vain. Vain. Pure religion. I'm going
to close. I'm going to finish this off.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father. Here it is.
And you notice, he doesn't mention one thing about doctrine. That
stood out to me. And the reason I think, believe
that James didn't mention one thing about doctrine, because
if God has saved you, you believe it. You believe the doctrine. You believe the gospel. You believe
the doctrine of election. You believe the doctrine of particular
redemption. You believe the doctrine of total depravity. You believe
it because you've experienced it. You believe that. Pure religion, and there is one.
Genuine, that's why you say it. Undefiled before God and the
Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in
their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
It's evidenced by works of faith and labor of love, that's why
you say it. It reaches out to the helpless and the hopeless. Christ said, I was hungry, and
you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me.
I was in prison, you visited me. This is the effect of salvation,
not the cause of it. Not the cause of it. Let us be swift to hear, slow
to speak. Pray about it, think about it. And slower, even slower to wrath. All right, pretty.