Doers of the Word. Some consider this to be the theme of James epistle: Be doers of the Word

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1 Doers of the Word James 1:22-25 Introduction Pastor Daniel Doriani says that he was once a part of a large team mission project. Most of us stayed in the same house and were together for large chunks of the day. One man always rose first every morning he could be seen having his devotions out on the porch reading his bible at sunrise. In fact one evening he told Pastor Dan I am excited to go to bed each night because I am that much closer to my time alone with God in the morning. Pastor Dan: I felt like a spiritual dung beetle next to this lion of the faith. However months later our spiritual lion was in legal trouble for getting drunk and doing things that were both sins and crimes. Worse yet it turned out he had been doing such things for years only now he got caught. Our spiritual giant was a giant hypocrite. Such a story would not surprise the Apostle James - who tells us in our passage of Scripture this morning to be doers of the word and not hearers only who delude themselves Some consider this to be the theme of James epistle: Be doers of the Word It raises the question: What does authentic faith look like? Any cursory reading of the NT reveals that it is very possible for some to be deceived about the state of their soul. I Cor. 6:9, 10 Do not be deceived... In our passage in James James speaks of some who delude / deceive themselves they have made a miscalculation / error in judgment They somehow have put their hope in a wrong idea about salvation / a wrong idea about grace / a wrong idea about Jesus In fact John Bunyan portrays this in his Pilgrim s Progress Christian and Hopeful are conducted into the Celestial City [heaven] but one named ignorance makes it to the gates but is turned away Bunyan: Now while I was gazing upon all these things, I turned my head to look back, and saw Ignorance coming up the river side: but he soon got over, and that without half the difficulty which the other two men met with. For it happened that there was then in that place one Vainhope, a ferry-man, that with his boat helped him over; so he, as the other I saw, did ascend the 1

2 hill to come up to the gate... When he was come up to the gate, he looked up to the writing that was above, and then began to knock, supposing that entrance should have been quickly administered to him. but he was asked by the man that looked over the top of the gate, Where do you come from and what would you have? He answered: I have ate and drank in the presence of the King, and He has taught in our streets. Then they asked him for his certificate, that they might go in and show it to the king. So he fumbled in his bosom for one and found none. Then they said, Have you none? but the man answered never a word. So they told the king; but He would not come down to see him, but commanded the two shining ones that conducted Christian and hopeful to the city, to take Ignorance and bind him hand and foot and have him away. Bunyan is drawing upon several biblical texts Luke 13:22-30 The testimony of Scripture is that some will come to the last day having a vain-hope / being ignorant about the state of their soul only to find out at the last that they did not have an authentic relationship with Christ How do we know? / How do we avoid this error above all errors to be deluded about the state of one s soul? James will speak to that this morning I. Doing the Word v. 22 Here we have this grand statement this theme of the book of James Be doers of the Word not hearers only who delude themselves. We are to put into practice what the Word says This is crucial because Our actions are the best indicator of what we truly believe If someone says, I love golf But they never play golf in fact they turn down every opportunity to play in golf tournaments. They don t own clubs. They don t know what wearing the green jacket means They don t know who tiger Woods is / Phil Mickelson / etc. You d say I don t think you really love golf! If someone says, I love Jesus But they don t read the Bible 2

3 They can t name any of the 12 disciples They don t pray They don t go to church They don t do anything Jesus said or put forth any effort to do so [just ignore His commands] You would likely infer I don t think they really love Jesus John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. We show the sincerity of our faith and commitment to Christ by obeying Him The doers of the word avoid the error of delusion *** We are to be aware that it is quite easy to deceive oneself about the state of one s soul J.C. Ryle once commented on the text of Scripture where Jesus spoke of one s need to enter by the narrow door. Matthew 7:13-14 A basic teaching of the Bible is that not everyone goes to heaven In fact Jesus says the way to heaven is narrow the way of destruction is broad He says the broad road is well populated you can follow the crowd on this road The narrow way to life not so populated Ryle focused in on that statement that there are few who find it He says, is this not contrary to the way the world tends to think? Ryle says [a man] may be utterly without evidence of true religion [swears / drinks / no commitment to God s Word] No matter! His friends will often tell you that he may not make so much profession as some, but that he has a good heart at the bottom and is not a wicked man. I ask anyone who knows the world... is [this] not so? And what does all this prove? It proves that men flatter themselves there is no great difficulty in getting to heaven. It proves plainly that men are of opinion that most persons will be saved. [Old Paths, p. 70] Which is an opinion that is counter to the Scriptures What he does next is really perceptive 3

4 Ryle: Let us go through the whole 4000 years, over which the history of the Bible reaches. Let us find if we can, one single period of time at which godly people were many, and ungodly people were few. Days of Noah no / so bad God sent a flood to remove the wicked who may have numbered 200,000 people Abraham / Isaac / Lot s days Abraham couldn t find a suitable wife for Isaac in the whole land of Canaan - sent his servant to Abraham s brother Nahor found Rebekah [Sodom and Gomorrah whole town wiped off the map by God] Israel in the wilderness God was constantly killing off the rebellious The whole wilderness wandering for 40 years was a judgment to postpone the Promised Land for the next generation Judges every man did what was right in his own eyes Days of the kings there were some bright spots but idolatry plagued most of the period Days of the apostles the Christians were persecuted Ryle: The Bible and the men of the world speak very differently about the number of the saved. According to the Bible, few will be saved: according to the men of the world, many. According to the world few are going to hell: according to the Bible few are going to heaven. According to the men of the world salvation is an easy business: according to the Bible the way is narrow and the gate is strait... The Bible will prove quite right and the men of the world quite wrong. [Old Paths, p. 79] James comes and warns about this delusion Delude = refers to someone making a miscalculation / error in reasoning / to misconstrue The Iowa DOT is upset with a Minnesota construction company that took the bid for a $23M flyover bridge in Ames connecting I-35 to Hwy 30 Earlier this summer they discovered the bridge bases / piers put in place not at the right elevation due to either a survey or a math error On top of that last year the company began with the first pier and the contractor did not feel it turned out right and tore it down to start over There are a lot of great engineer students at Iowa State just up the street but there are some Yahoos from Minnesota are making a mess of their road project 4

5 A mis-calculation can be very costly A mis-calculation in the spiritual realms is simply disastrous But there is no reason for anyone to be deceived Because we have the Bible we have the roadway designs of how to get to heaven Trust in Jesus / His shed blood make sure your faith is real by being a doer of the Word As a teenager I grew up thinking believe in Jesus live however you want that s grace / that s being saved by faith alone I later came to see that that was a vain hope a miscalculation God used a couple events to get my attention I began to read the Bible and I began to hit some of these warning passages like mines in a minefield they were exploding all of my errors in judgment What passages? James 1:22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. I John 2:3, 4 Matt. 7:21-22 Other passages I Cor. 6:9, 10 Do not be deceived [these people] will not inherit the kingdom of God. What people? [fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, etc.] There is no reason for anyone to be deceived we just need to read the Bible with an honest heart John MacArthur: I can t believe how many times I ve talked with people in the homosexual movement who insist they re born again Christians because they believe in Jesus, can recite their creed, tell you the date they were saved, and so forth. My answer to them is, If you were Christians, you wouldn t sin continually, as you do, and defend it. You would be 5

6 brokenhearted and repentant, and you would pray to have your life changed. [Hard to Believe, p. 98] Gal. 5:21... those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. To embrace Christ as Savior is to embrace the teachings of the NT as a normative guide for life *** Satan loves to bring people to a profession of faith that lacks any change of heart or desire to obey because such a person goes away thinking they are saved seek nothing further from Christ People can pray a prayer and have it mean nothing / they can walk an aisle raise a hand / etc. The genuine believer self-identifies himself or herself as a Christian not only by what they say but by how they live / what they do How do we know who is saved in Sully or in the Sully Community Church They self-identify by professing faith in Christ and obeying His Word *** Good works / obedience are a kind of certificate of authenticity to one s faith II. The Illustration vv James gives us a little illustration to help us with what he is saying He says the Word of God is a bit like a mirror in that it shows us our sinfulness / our flaws / our need of trusting Christ A mirror gives us a degree of self-knowledge about our outward appearance The mirror shows you what you look like the outward appearance The Bible performs a far greater service for us it shows us what our soul looks like [healthy / unhealthy / under condemnation / rescued from sin] How do we come to know ourselves? The Word reveals it It shows us where we need to repent / where we need to change / etc. [Comm.]: As the Looking glass shows us the spots and defilements upon our faces that they may be remedied and washed off, so the word of God shows us our sins, that we may repent of them and get them pardoned; and shows us what is amiss, that it may be amended. But in 6

7 vain do we hear God s Word, and look into the gospel glass, if we go away and forget our spots, instead of washing them off. When God sent Nathan the prophet to David Nathan s parable [a word from God] helped David to see his own sin Then David had a choice he just saw his sin He could walk away and say, sorry but you re just trying to lay a big guilt trip on me! that s not cool! that s not what I look like Or he could say and do as he did: I have sinned against the Lord... II Sam. 12: and receive God s forgiveness The Word of God exposes the soul Heb. 4:12 The process of spiritual growth involves receiving the Word / having the Word convict us of sin then we go out and do the word In contrast to the flippant forgetful glance at the word the true believer does something else He looks intently at the perfect law of liberty / God s Word puts it into practice Conclusion J.C. Ryle: If there is a light in a house it will shine through the windows: if there is any real hope in a man s soul it will be seen in his ways. Show me your hope in your life and daily behavior. Where is it? Wherein does it appear? If you cannot show it, you may be sure it is nothing better than a delusion and a snare. [Old Paths, p. 106] We are all born on the broad road We can stay there by ignoring God s Word / by trying to please the world / follow its blueprint for our lives lust of the flesh / lust of the eyes / boastful pride of life Or we can repent / trust in Jesus believe He died for our sins / rose again then let us follow Him turning from sin embracing God s Word as our moral guide and compass. James: be doers of the Word and not hearers only who delude themselves. 7