WEBVTT - James 1:19-27 - Be Doers, Not Just Hearers 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:12.280 Life Audio. How do you. Good morning, friends and faithful listeners. 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:16.440 Welcome to the Bible Explain podcast. On this lovely Tuesday morning, 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.720 we are in James chapter one, finishing out this chapter 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.360 and going to be talking about our words and also 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:27.360 talking about how religion becomes worthless to us if we 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.280 don't actually apply God's word to our lives, and that 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:32.600 is what James is going to warn us against today. 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:34.959 So right after this word from a sponsor, we will 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:39.720 get into James one nineteen through twenty seven. Are you 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.280 faithful listeners, So grab your Bibles. I will be reading 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.840 from the web version this morning, which is the World 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.640 English Bible. Also, grab your delicious hot beverage, whether it 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.160 is coffee or tea or something else. And you guys 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:54.520 can contact me to tell me what your favorite to 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:56.800 hot beverage is. I'd love to hear about all of that. 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:58.640 You can also contact me if you have a prayer 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.000 request as well. My email address is linked in the 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:03.560 description of the episode, and I do read all of 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.920 my emails personally. Let's turn to James one nineteen through 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:11.679 twenty seven and finish out this chapter four today. So then, 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.280 my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.279 slow to speak, and slow to anger, For the anger 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.680 of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.560 away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.680 the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.240 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.240 diluting your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.120 of the word and not a doer, he is like 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.399 a man looking at his natural face in a mirror. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:42.039 For he sees himself and goes away and immediately forgets 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:44.720 what kind of man he was. But he who looks 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.880 into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.280 a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.320 this man will be blessed in what he does. If 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:55.680 anyone among you thinks himself to be religious, while he 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.040 doesn't bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.880 religion is worth its pure religion and undefiled before our 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.520 God and Father. Is this to visit the fatherless and 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.079 widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:14.840 the world. Starting in verses nineteen and twenty, it says this. So, then, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.359 my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.239 slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.280 of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God. Now, in 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.160 today's society, we don't do anything that verse says. Pretty much, 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.760 everybody is not swift to hear. In other words, they 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.000 don't want to listen. They want to talk about themselves. 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.440 They are not slow to speak. They are very quick 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:35.519 to speak even if they don't know what the topic 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:37.760 is about. And they're not slow to anger at all. 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.640 They are very quick to become angry at somebody if 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.000 they disagree with them. I mean, you can go on 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.560 social media for what like thirty seconds and find a 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.720 fight in the comments section. But James is warning as 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.799 Christians against this kind of behavior. He says, for the 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.480 anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God. Now, 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.200 there are three different Greek words for anger. The first 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:04.720 one is orgay, which is a long lasting kind of anger, 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:09.200 like a simmering, sizzling kind of anger. Then there's thumos, 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.680 which is almost like a flame that bursts out, a 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.679 very quick to respond kind of anger. And then there's paragizmos, 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.000 which I think that's how it's pronounced. But it's like 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.880 an anger that was provoked. Somebody provoked you to this 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:28.200 deep irritation. Essentially, the type of anger that James is 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.680 talking about here is that first one, which is orgay, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:35.680 which means a long lasting, deep seated kind of bitterness 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.080 or anger, a sizzling like you're bottling something up. And 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:41.160 I can tell you, guys, that that is the type 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:44.120 of anger I struggle with. My husband has lovingly called 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.280 me a chihuahua in a golden retriever's body. I present 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.320 as a golden retriever to everybody that sees me or 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.720 knows me, But inwardly I am very much like a chihuahua. 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.720 But I don't have big outbursts of anger very often. 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.040 That is rare for me. But I do have the 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.400 orgay kind of anger that James is talking about right here, 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.160 this deep seated anger, as if you're like the Hulk, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.880 you know, you're always angry. That is the kind of 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:14.040 anger that James warns about here. He says, instead of 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.960 being angry, let every man be swift to hear, so, 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.279 in other words, ready to listen, not just talking about 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.520 themselves or talking over people or interrupting people all the time, 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.479 but swift to hear, to take interest in what other 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.200 people are saying, slow to speak, so not just jumping 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.159 into a conversation to air your opinion or a topic 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.680 that you don't really know very much about, or you know, 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.000 sitting there talking about yourself the entire time. You have 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.120 to be slow to speak and also slow to get angry. 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.760 Because anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God. 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.280 So that deep seated kind of bitterness that I feel, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.880 and I'm sure many of you guys listening feel, that 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.200 kind of anger does not produce the righteousness of God. 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.880 So basically, it's almost like we're getting in God's way 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.120 of working in our lives. When we have that kind 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.000 of anger. We are preventing new fruit from growing up 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:14.359 in our lives because of bitterness, because of unforgiveness that 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.520 we might be feeling. It's hindering the righteousness of God 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.480 at work in our lives. So we have to put 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.880 these things away, is what James says in verse twenty one. Therefore, 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:28.200 putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:32.080 humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.000 So we have to put all of these things away, 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:39.440 and James calls them filthiness and wickedness. You would never 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:44.039 think that anger could be considered filthiness or wickedness, but 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:47.520 James is very blunt, and that is what he calls it. Now, 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.320 there is a caveat to all of this though. In 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.119 Ephesians four twenty six and twenty seven. Here's what it says, 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.680 be angry and don't sin, don't let the sun go 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.680 down on your wrath, and don't give place to the devil. 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.200 So someone might look at that verse and be like, well, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.240 that's kind of contradictory to what James says, where it 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.960 says that you know, anger is filthiness and wickedness, so 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.080 how do these two things go together. Well, you have 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.360 to look at the key phrase in James one verse twenty. 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.880 It says the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.400 of God. There are plenty times in the Old Testament 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.320 where we see God the Father get very angry, and 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.560 even in the New Testament, Jesus got angry on multiple occasions. 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.200 And we know that God cannot sin, so anger in 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.000 and of itself is not a sin. But it becomes 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.920 a sin when there's no forgiveness involved, when you allow 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.520 it to eat up your life, when you become jaded 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.400 with the world and unloving toward people, or maybe an 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:44.200 innocent person feels your wrath because something frustrating happened to 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.800 you at work earlier, and you know, the cashier is 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.560 just making you so angry. I remember years ago when 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.440 I worked as a hairdresser, there was this woman who 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.039 came in to get her hair done, not by me 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.920 but somebody else. And it was near Christmas time. As 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.719 this woman was leaving, the girl was like, hey, Merry Christmas, 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.599 and the lady just freaked out on the girl and 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.800 was like, what's Mary about it, and just like really 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.720 went off on this girl, and you know, the entire 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.120 salon was kind of like whoa. You know, that was 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.320 sort of crazy. Now, in this woman's defense, about an 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.560 hour later, she called the salon and was like, I 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:24.360 had a really bad day and it's been a rough 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.400 year and you know, things are going hard, and I 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.240 just want to apologize to that girl that I lashed 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.280 out at. And I mean, it was nice of her 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.880 to do that, but that's the kind of thing where, 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.080 you know, if something is building up inside of you, 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.840 you might take it out on an innocent person just 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.240 because they did something to frustrate you. That is when 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.480 anger becomes a sin. So it says, therefore, putting away 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.280 all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.800 implanted word, which is able to save your souls. So 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.160 we have to do this not just with other people, 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:02.920 but also when it comes to studying the word of God. Yes, 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.800 we should be swift to hear what other people are saying, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.040 slow to speak, and also slow to anger with other people, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.320 but we also have to be swift to hear God's 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.840 word slow to speak God's word. There's a verse just 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.480 in a couple chapters James three, Verse one that says, 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.440 let not many of you be teachers my brothers, knowing 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:24.400 that we will receive heavier judgment. So not everybody is 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.560 meant to be a teacher of God's word, because you 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.400 have to do your due diligence with God's word instead 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.280 of just speaking on something that you don't necessarily know about. Now, 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.600 this doesn't mean you can't be an evangelist. We are 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.920 all called to be evangelists, but we're not all called 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.960 to be teachers. There's a difference between evangelism and being 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.680 a teacher. In fact, with evangelism, you don't even have 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.760 to open up your mouth necessarily. You can just shine 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.320 the light of Jesus through your actions, through what you do, 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.520 through the conversations that you have, by sharing a Bible 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.200 verse with somebody who is hurting, or even sharing your 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.280 testimony with somebody, and that's also not teaching anybody. That 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:07.200 is just sharing your story, how God affected your life, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.920 how your life changed after you became a Christian. Those 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.920 are both very effective tactics to being an evangelist. And 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.319 sometimes you might have to talk about the gospel message, 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.559 basically saying you know who Jesus is, what he did, 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.559 and how he rose from the dead, how he's our savior. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.000 You know the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. You might have 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.480 to explain those to somebody, but that is not teaching 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:37.000 the inner workings of theology and Christology. Those things should 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.320 be left up to the teachers, and we aren't supposed 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.079 to be many teachers. Now. Granted, I am a teacher, 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.560 and it says in James three, verse one that I 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.120 am going to receive a heavier judgment than all of 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.360 you faithful listeners out there. And that is something that 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.800 I need to be taking very very seriously. That God 0:09:55.880 --> 0:10:00.000 will judge me harsher if I purposely abuse or miss 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:04.080 use scripture to fit my own agenda, or if I 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.600 don't do my due diligence to study something properly and 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.280 I just start spewing, you know, whatever I want to 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.960 spew about James chapter one without really researching what this 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.719 passage has to say. So I shouldn't be speaking things 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.240 about God's word if I don't really understand what it 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.520 says or what it means, because at that point in time, 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.120 I am just making stuff up on the fly about 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:31.000 God's Word without truly understanding the text. And that should 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.040 be something very heavy for every teacher of God's word 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.560 because we are teaching it to other people. We are 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.959 teaching what God said, the God of the universe said 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.400 to other people, so we teachers must be very very careful. 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.000 It is a warning to us and f any teacher 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:49.760 that says, oh, well, the Holy Spirit will just give 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.840 me the words to say, well, that's a twisting of 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.640 Luke Chapter twelve, eleven and twelve, which says, and this 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.000 is Jesus himself speaking. When they bring you before the synagogue, 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.760 the rulers and the authorities, don't be anxious how or 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.320 what you will answer or what you will say, for 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.920 the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.160 what you must say. So that is not talking about 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.120 like teaching God's word, but rather giving a defense for 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:20.480 yourself when you are potentially on death row in front 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.000 of all of these people because you are a Christian. 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.920 That is what Jesus is talking about, not about, you know, 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.440 discussing God's Word on your podcast or in front of 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.719 church on Sunday mornings. So yes, just as other skills 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.680 take time to learn and to really understand before you 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.560 can do them at a higher level. Like you know, 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.520 you wouldn't just sit down at the piano and say 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.080 that you understand everything about the piano if you don't 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.200 study it and learn it and figure out how to 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.720 read sheet music. You shouldn't do that with the Word 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:57.200 of God either. So basically, understand God's word first before 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.280 you start to talk about it, even if it's one 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:03.200 little passage like if you want to be an effective 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.160 evangelist where you're really speaking the gospel message. Make sure 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:10.640 that you have that gospel down pat Now, that doesn't 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.319 mean that somebody isn't going to ask you tough questions, 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:15.720 and you might do your best to answer them, but 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.839 probably the better response is to say, I don't really 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.959 know that right now, let me study it and i'll 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.200 get back to you. Slow to speak until you really 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.320 understand what God's word says, until it's been sunk deep 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.440 in your heart. And also slow to anger, because again, 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.280 when we have anger in our hearts, it doesn't just 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.720 affect ourselves or other people, but it also affects the 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:41.239 spiritual fruit in our own lives. When we have unresolved 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.360 bitterness or anger or resentment, or if we're just jaded 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:47.880 with the world, if we're not showing love to other people, 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.160 that really is going to cause us to become stagnant 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:55.640 and hinder the righteousness of God. That is what the 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.240 Book of First John talks completely about. It talks about 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.439 what happens to a Christian when they don't have any love. 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.680 There's also a warning, and I believe Revelation chapter three 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:09.480 let me get there real quick so I can read 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:15.360 it to you guys. Actually it was Revelation two one 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.160 through seven. And this is a letter to the Church 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:22.199 of Ephesus. And this is God speaking, he says, He 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.920 who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.480 who walks among the seven golden lamp stands, says these things. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.800 I know your works and your toil, and your perseverance, 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.880 and that you can't tolerate evil men, and have tested 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.640 those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.760 found them false. You have perseverance and have endured for 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:43.600 my name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.720 have this against you, that you left your first love. 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.720 Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.240 do the first works, or else I am coming to 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.839 you swiftly, and I will move your lamp stand out 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.719 of its place unless you repent. But this you have, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:01.600 that you hate the works of the Nicolaydens, which I 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.480 also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:07.200 what the spirit says to the assemblies. So that is 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:11.199 a warning to the Church of Ephesus. Apparently they left 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.959 their first love. Now this has been translated multiple ways. 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:20.000 Some people think that they left Jesus essentially, but probably 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:24.040 not considering that they endured for Jesus' namesake. I would 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:27.240 guess that this means that they left the love that 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:31.400 they once had. They became jaded with the world, bitter, angry, 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.880 irritated all the sin and the corruption that they saw. 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.000 They had that orgay kind of anger that James chapter 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:42.080 one talks about, that deep seated bitterness, and this correlates 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.160 perfectly with James Chapter one, verse twenty one. We have 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.800 to put away all filthiness and overflowing wickedness, receive with 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.800 humility the implanted word, which is able to save souls. 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.400 And continuing in verse twenty two and twenty three, it says, 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.880 be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:01.280 your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.520 the word and not a doer, he is like a 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.920 man looking at his natural face in a mirror, For 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.840 he sees himself, and he goes away and immediately forgets 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.480 what kind of man he was. But he who looks 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.160 into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.720 a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.880 this man will be blessed in what he does. Not 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.560 only do we need to get rid of this anger 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.920 that we might be having and receive God's word with humility. 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.440 But we also shouldn't just be hearers of God's word, 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.600 but we have to be doers as well, because if 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.480 we're hearers, it actually says that we are deluding ourselves. 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.640 And he gives this analogy in verse twenty three. He says, 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:41.400 if anyone is a hearer of the word and not 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.840 a doer, he's like a man looking at his natural 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.080 face in a mirror. He sees himself and goes away 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:49.720 and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. So 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:52.520 this is an analogy actually of deep study of the Word. 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.600 In fact, this person James is talking about might know 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.600 the Bible inside and out. They might have tons of 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:04.000 passes is memorized. They might really understand the core truths 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:08.320 of Scripture, but unfortunately they don't apply it to their 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.520 own lives. If you just study yourself in the mirror 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.480 and don't brush your hair, and don't brush your teeth, 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.560 and don't get the gunk out of your eyes or 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.640 wash your face, then that mirror doesn't benefit you. The 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.520 same thing goes for somebody who is studying the Word 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.880 of God, who really wants to understand theology and history 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.480 and everything else, and they have a good grasp of 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.880 God's word, but they don't apply it. Just like this 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.520 man who studies himself in the mirror without using that 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:38.440 mirror as a tool. It says he sees himself and 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.720 goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.080 So as he was studying himself in the mirror, he 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.640 might have done some self reflection. He might have been like, oh, man, 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:49.840 I really need to brush my hair, and he thinks 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.120 about it and he's like, yeah, yeah, I certainly have 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.120 problems in these areas. But then he doesn't do anything. 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.240 He just walks away from the mirror and forgets about 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:01.040 it and goes out into the world a mess without 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:04.720 making himself presentable. That is what we can do too. 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.800 It doesn't matter how studied someone is in God's word 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:11.720 if they are not applying it in their own lives. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.120 It could be that somebody is looking at God's word 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.879 and maybe even listening to this episode on James and 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.200 being like, yeah, you know, I definitely have an anger problem. 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.320 I definitely have some bitterness in my life. And you 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:23.719 think about it and you're like, I need to get 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.199 rid of that, you know, that's not good, that's not godly, 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.320 and then you close your Bible and the podcast turns off, 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.840 and you know, an hour later, somebody makes you really 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:36.320 angry and you forget everything that you had just learned 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.240 and the conviction that you had. Now, of course, that 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.000 doesn't mean that we're going to be perfect. We are 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.960 always going to sin. What did Paul say in the 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.600 Book of Philippians. He said, I did not achieve perfection. 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.479 He was not going to achieve perfection because we are 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.080 in an imperfect world, and we have the sin nature, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:54.080 and we have flaws, and we have our humanity, and 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.040 we have Satan tempting us. We have all of these 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.000 things working against us. But there is something so much 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.280 more powerful than all of these things, and that is 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:05.800 Jesus himself. Jesus said, in this world, we're going to 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:10.200 have temptations and trials and problems, but take heart, because 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.560 he has overcome the world. There is something so much 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.480 more powerful helping us along the way, leading us away 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:20.199 from temptation, giving us a way out, helping us in 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.159 our struggles and our trials and our temptations. We have 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.399 Jesus helping us, and we have the Word of God. 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.240 Helping us as well. So that is why we need 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.440 to not just be hearers of God's word but doers. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:33.480 We need to do our best to get rid of 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.360 these sins out of our lives, not to be habitual sinners, 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.280 not to have any addictions that are getting in the 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.400 way with our relationship with God, not to have unresolved 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.159 anger that is just eating us up inside. We have 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.520 to look into the perfect law verse twenty five of 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:53.320 freedom and continue not being hearers who forgets, but a 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.919 doer of the work. This man will be blessed in 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:59.880 what he does. So God's word provides us with freedom, 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.399 and we need to continue in that freedom, not in 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:07.400 the sin nature that produces slavery and death in our lives. 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.960 God's word produces freedom. So we must have the truth 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.119 of the Gospels sink deep in our lives, and not 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.160 just hear it, but do it. And concluding with verses 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.920 twenty six and twenty seven, if anyone among you thinks 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.760 himself to be religious, while he doesn't bridle his tongue, 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.600 he deceives his heart. This man's religion is worthless, pure 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.480 religion and undefiled before our God and Father. Is this 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.199 to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.400 to keep oneself unstained by the world. So the world 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.199 has a tendency to stain us with its corruption and 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.639 its vices, and its achievements and wealth that we can 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.560 gain here. Now, it's not always bad to achieve something, 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.040 it's not always bad to have wealth, but these things, 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:54.280 if we allow them to, can certainly stain us. We 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.159 need to keep ourselves pure from the world, and we 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.480 also need to keep ourselves in love for others people, 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:05.399 specifically by visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction. 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.160 So the people who are the most vulnerable in society, 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.000 the children who do not have a father figure in 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:16.440 their lives, and also widows who have lost their husbands. 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.760 They are considered kind of to be the dregs of society, 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:23.000 which is why Christians were called to support widows in need. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:25.280 In fact, there's a whole chapter on that that we 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.000 covered in What was it? Was it First Corinthians? I 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:31.959 cannot remember, no, no, no, it was like Titus or something. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.560 I cannot I'm so sorry, I cannot remember when we 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:38.720 covered the widow Oh no, no, no, it was First Timothy. 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.280 That's when we covered the widows. Well, I'm just having 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.560 this conversation with myself right now. I am so sorry. 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.000 I will find that episode in link it in the 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.600 description of this episode so that you guys can listen 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:51.159 to it. But yeah, we talked about this whole chapter 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.080 about how Christians need to take care of widows, the 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.600 people that others would consider to be just filthy and 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.400 someone you wouldn't want to associate with. That is who 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:06.440 James is talking about right here, reaching these people, fatherless 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:10.480 children and widows in their affliction. So as Christians, we 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:15.280 should never be mistreating any fatherless child or any widow. 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.120 There are myriads a versus warning against this. So Christians 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:22.479 need to be very very careful about what they do 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.919 to fatherless children and widows. God will be angry with 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.919 the individual that mistreats these people specifically, so you have 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.080 to be very careful about that. But concluding, James says 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.680 that pure religion, so religion is not always a bad thing, 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:41.600 by the way, because he says pure religion, an undefiled 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:47.080 religion before God is to protect the fatherless and the widows. 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:49.800