Doers of the Word
Introduction
1. These verse are a continuation of Jas 1:19-20.
2. They answer the question, "Why must I be swift to hear?"
3. As we travel through these verses we will find a 2 part answer to this question.
4. The first part is we must be swift to hear so our hearts will be prepared for the word of God.
5. The second part is we must be swift to hear so knowledge of our salvation will not be hid from us.
6. Examination of this answer reveals a unique quality about the answer to this question.
7. The answer exposes what we are to do.
8. We required to act with the proper attitude.
9. The Doer of the word has an attitude of action that says, "Speak Lord, they servant heareth; and command and I will obey."
10. This attitude conditions, coalesces, and completes the Heart so that it may do the works of God.
I. Conditioning the Heart to Do.
A. Filthiness - means dirty
1. There is a connotation of loathsome filth.
2. The root of the word means wax in the ear.
a. It is a medical term
b. The significance is that it prevents on from hearing.
B. Superfluity of Naughtiness
1. Can be translated overflowing of wickedness.
a. The word describes the state of a man's heart as overflowing with evil.
b. This evil spilling on the floor and making a mess of his life and others.
2. James is speaking to Christians
a. James is telling people that they are destroying the influence of the church by their evil actions and evil hearts.
b. James is not softening the character of sin
c. James is not altering God's view of sin.
C. Conditioning the Heart to Do means putting away these things.
1. Putting away - Act of stripping oneself completely of every evil act.
a. Going before the throne of God exposed
b. Tearing away sin by ripping it apart and doing it speedily.
2. Putting away - Act done once and for all
3. Putting away - Something done for ourselves.
4. These three things condition our heart to do the righteousness of God.
II. Coalescing the Heart to Do
A. Coalesce means to gel together, unite under one purpose.
1. God is uniting us with him
2. Given to us is the seed of life and we must cultivate it and allow it to grow in our hearts.
B. Seed of God
1. Receive
a. The word must be taught as inferred by this command.
b. The word must be heard
i. Once again this is an action done once and for all.
ii. By making this decision you are saying that you will hear and obey.
c. The attitude of reception is a recognition of authority.
i. We are submitting ourselves to God.
ii. We are allow God's commands bind us to eternal life.
2. Receive with Meekness.
a. Here is how we must receive the word
b. Meekness is defined as a humble and docile character.
i. One's whole existence is dedicated to discovery.
ii. Meekness allows the heart to be open to what God says rather than trying to prove himself right.
c. So we receive with meekness so that we are not seeking to rationalize our sinful lives but seeking to find out God's plan.
C. Engrafted Word
1. This is the implanted seed.
a. It is a representative seed which represents the body of truth contained within the scriptures.
b. It is implanted for God into our hearts.
2. Grafting the Seed.
a. God cuts our hearts with his word.
b. Heb 4:12
c. Exposing our hearts God grafts his will contained in his word to our soul.
d. This is eternal life.
3. This engrafted word is powerful.
a. The word has the power to create the world.
b. It has the power to calm the tempestuous sea.
c. Power that restores and heals the bodies and souls of man.
d. Death cannot resist the Word of God.
III. Completing the Heart to Do
A. Receive with Meekness the Engrafted Word is an action.
1. Rom 10:17 - So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
a. Remember we are doing this continually
b. So then this continual reception is the problem.
c. Faith only comes from hearing but faith is not simply hearing.
2. We are commanded to be hearers and doers
a. Only in this manner can we be full of faith, that is faithful.
b. Why then is being a hearer only deceiving oneself.
B. Deception of Hearing Only
1. Hearers are deceived because they think they are blessed in their hearing.
a. Deceived because they are cheating and deluding themselves of the grace offered by God.
b. It is illogical to claim that one must hear God's commands but not do them.
c. Can we not see that there is no benefit to quoting scripture if we are not willing to do them.
2. Hearer beholds himself in the mirror and forgets.
a. This man sees himself in the comparison to the word.
i. In many ways he thinks that he is unworthy of forgiveness.
ii. Beholding here implies that he looks intently at his image.
b. This man sees what manner of man he is.
i. The word manner of man is positive in nature.
ii. In other words this man looks and see the excellence of his character.
iii. He neglects to see the opening of his heart to the things that he should do.
iv. The mirror represents an image that is preconceive in his mind. In other words he sees what he wants to see.
c. Turning away this man forgets what he say.
i. He forgot the impressions that were presented to him.
ii. He dismissed them because they confirmed what he already knew about himself.
iii. So he turns away nodding to himself that he is a good person who heard what was said agreed with it and went on his way.
C. Looking in to the Complete law of liberty.
a. Mirror and Perfect Law of Liberty are parallels.
1. Mirror represents that which the hearer perceives about himself.
2. Perfect Law of Liberty represent that which the doer perceives about himself.
3. Each man examining himself whether in the mirror or in the perfect law of liberty observes what he knows about himself in relation to what is being taught.
b. The difference is his reaction.
1. The doer sees a rule of action that will complete him and give him freedom from death.
2. Each word for the doer is a glance into the plan of salvation pleading for him to act.
i. He sees what he must do to serve God.
ii. He sees what he must do to love God and his fellow man.
c. He does not see what he is lacking but sees what he must do.
1. The completing aspect of the perfect law of liberty exposes the action this man must perform.
2. It does not expose the areas he is lacking. For that is of no concern to him.
i. He sees his responsibility to God.
ii. He sees what will put him in heaven not what keeps him out.
iii. He is not looking at a reflection but what makes him whole.
iv. His deficiencies do not matter for they are in the past.
v. He merely says, "Speak Lord, they servant hearth, and command and I will obey."
Conclusion
1. We cannot leave this service without recognizing to whom James is referring.
2. He is not speaking about those lost but those who are Christians.
3. Imagine the hearer today.
A man is sitting in his pre-assigned seat listening to this sermon. He is nodding his head at the message being preached. He opens his Bible and reads the scriptures being used. He is here every Sunday and Wednesday. He may even take a note or too. He promises himself that he will look at that scripture because what the preacher said was interesting. As the service is over, he shakes the preachers hand and says good sermon today. I really like it. As he is leaving the preacher walks over to him and asks, "Which part did you like?" The man cannot answer. He hurries to think of one point that the preacher made. His mind is blank and he is struggling for an answer. So he simply says, "The beginning."
4. How sad is it that five minutes may pass and the impressions of the word of God have gone from this man's mind.
5. WHILE BANGING ON THE LECTURE SAY, "LOOK AT YOURSELVES, ARE YOU A HEARER OR A DOER. DO YOU FORGET WHAT THE SERMON WAS ABOUT THE MOMENT YOU STEP OUT THE DOOR?"
6. The Perfect law of liberty is the one that makes you whole. Look not for you deficiencies of character but what God requires of you.
7. He commands you to do: Belief, Repentance, Confession and Baptism are all actions and requirements for salvation.
8. If we forget the word of God then we have fallen away from God. God says don't hear what I say unto you but do and ye shall have. Return and become a doer by doing the acts of repentance and confession of your sins.
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