Doers of the Word | Psalm 119:1-8

I want to start this morning in sort of a unique way.

I want to bring us back to the passage we read earlier

in our call to worship for this morning's service.

It's a familiar passage.

Many of you have studied it, read it.

It's James chapter one, and it lays out for us

the theme of today's message, which is this.

What does it look like to not just be one who hears the word,

but one who does the word?

And that phrase that you heard, James says,

prove yourselves doers of the word.

Most of us have heard that multiple times,

but very few of us know what he says in the previous verse.

And so let me put it on the screen for you.

This is what he says right before that.

He says, putting aside all filthiness

and all the remains of wickedness,

in humility, receive the word implanted,

which is able to save your souls.

Now I want you to focus on that phrase,

receive the word implanted.

It's a very interesting phrase that tells us

quite a bit about our salvation

and about our spiritual walk.

James is describing here in this section

what the New Testament teaches repeatedly,

that we were all once dead in our sins and trespasses.

We were ignorant and blind to the truth.

We were enemies of God and unable in our own strength

to incline ourselves toward him and to be saved.

But because of God's great love for us,

he marked us out for salvation

and he made us alive together with Christ.

And so Paul then concludes,

it's by grace that you have been saved.

So for us, the Holy Spirit brought the word

into our dead hearts, implanted it there,

and caused us to see the truth of Christ

as we never had prior to that moment.

And some of you can testify to that very, very clearly.

One day you had no thoughts of God,

and the next the word is implanted in your heart,

and you're seeing things all new for the first time.

And it's mind blowing.

And we're given life through that word of truth,

the gospel.

As you can see in the verse, James says,

the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

A few verses earlier in verse 18, he puts it another way.

He says, in the exercise of his will,

God brought us forth by the word of truth,

so that we would be a kind of firstfruits

among his creatures.

So in both cases, you see that God alone does the saving work.

He brings us forth by the word of truth,

he implants the word in us,

and here's the best news of all,

the word of truth implanted in the heart changes the heart.

It changes the heart.

It discloses to us our true condition.

It describes our need for grace and mercy,

and then it points to the place where we find

that grace and mercy in the sacrificial death

and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So this is in the backdrop of how everyone who's in here

this morning who's found in Christ,

this is the backdrop of how we got here,

that God was doing this work.

And the cool thing then is this word that saves us

doesn't come and go,

because the language here of being implanted is very strong.

It's deeply rooted in us,

it becomes a part of us as believers.

So the word is implanted in us and the spirit dwells in us,

and this is God's way of saving and preserving us

to the very end of our lives and then into eternity with him.

It's really beautiful what James says here in chapter one,

and we often read right past it,

we wanna get to that part about doing,

but we really see some beautiful language here

about our salvation.

Now the focus of today's message is what's between

the meat between the two bread,

the two breads of the sandwich, right?

Because we talked about, first of all,

the word coming to us and being implanted to us,

and then we talked about persevering to the end,

what about in between?

Well in between while we're living our lives

down here on the earth,

the word is living and active to transform us.

It's doing its work in us,

it's implanted in us and it's doing a work in us

to mature us in the faith and over time

to conform us to the image of Christ.

Here's how Paul puts it in 1 Thessalonians two.

He says, when you receive the word of God, same thing,

receiving the implanted word, when you received it,

you heard it from us, you accepted it,

not as the word of men,

but for what it really is the word of God,

which also performs its work in you who believe.

So again, catch this,

the word of God is implanted in us, it saves us,

it abides in us and it performs its work in us.

By the way, this is why Psalm 119 is so voluminous, right?

We've got 176 verses that point to the glory of the word

because of this,

because of the power of God's word in our lives.

This is why the emphasis of last Sunday was on,

we should treasure God's word

and we should meditate on it day and night,

because apart from God himself,

there is nothing more important in our lives

than the very word of God, amen?

Amen.

By the way, there's another side to this coin,

an unfortunate side,

the painful truth about people who claim to know God

profess to trust in Jesus,

but in reality, there is no true life there.

And a close analysis of their life proves that to be true.

Jesus spoke about this himself

while he was addressing the Jews in his day

as things were getting much more hostile,

the Jews were becoming violent and hostile towards him.

This is from John 8.

Jesus says this,

I know you Jews, you are Abraham's descendants,

yet you seek to kill me.

Why?

Because my word has no place in you.

This is the other side of the coin.

Now there's no doubt that the man he was talking to that day

had an intellectual grasp on God's law.

They knew it in an external way,

but it wasn't implanted in their hearts.

It hadn't gone from here to here, right?

And so when they were confronted by the truth

coming from Jesus, they wanted no part of it.

And yet they would still walk away and say what?

I'm a good person, I'm a moral person,

I'm actually part of God's people,

even though there's no true life there.

Why?

Because they're hearers of the word,

but they're not doers of the word.

That make sense?

Let's grab our Bibles.

Now that we've started in the New Testament,

let's go to the Old,

and let's see what the Psalms have to say about this.

Turn to Psalm 119, going to the very beginning of the Psalm.

You might remember last week we jumped all the way

to verse 97, and it really freaked some of you out.

Sorry about that, I know it's kinda weird.

We're gonna jump past the middle of it,

but I actually do have, there's a little bit of logic

in the way I'm ordering our four sermons in Psalm 119.

So last week, treasuring the word,

meditating on the word,

but this morning we're going back to the very beginning,

to that first section under the title Aleph,

which is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet,

verses one through eight,

and this section really dovetails well

with what we talked about last Sunday.

We start by viewing God's word

as the most prized possession that we have.

Right, obviously it's God himself,

but the word is the most prizing,

that thing in your lap right now,

whether it's on your phone or in your lap,

should be your most prized possession.

And that leads us to put it

at the top of our priority list in our lives.

We read, we study, we listen, we meditate,

but then there's another step, isn't there?

Let me say it again, we read it, we study it,

we listen to it, we meditate on it,

and then there's another step.

We go out and apply.

Right, we go out and apply the truths

that we're hearing and we're seeing.

Now, as we talk about being doers of the word,

I'm gonna warn you about how to respond to this message,

because this is a hard subject,

and it has a tendency to bring up all kinds of guilt

in our minds and our hearts.

And so I wanna give you four ways

that you can respond to this message,

because I've seen each one of these responses.

Number one, you can hear it and just ignore it

and say, you know what, I don't wanna deal with this.

It's too hard, too painful.

And just go on with lunch and ignore it.

Number two, you can deflect.

You can say, oh, well, good message, but you know what?

Doesn't apply to me, I'm gonna justify sin,

or I'm just gonna point the blame somewhere else

and just deflect.

Number three, it can drive you into despair,

because you can feel the weight of conviction

from God's word, and you can get all overclenched about it,

right, and upset and anxious about it,

but miss the remedy.

Miss the remedy for what you do with that

and end up just sitting in the weeds miserable.

And then fourth, you can be challenged and encouraged.

You can see the truth for what it is,

you can recognize your need for change,

and you can feel energized and excited and empowered

to face tomorrow with a whole new, newfound perspective

on the power of the Spirit

and the power of the word in your life.

So guess which of those four I want you to respond with.

Okay, so just have that in your mind

as we go through this, right?

You can ignore, you can deflect,

you can end up in despair,

or you can be challenged and encouraged.

And I hope you'll take that last one.

So here's how I wanna approach the text this morning.

We're just gonna walk through these eight verses,

verse by verse, sort of commentary style,

try to find some of the nuances

of what the Psalmist is saying,

and then we're gonna come back to James 1,

and we're gonna make some connections

between the New Testament and the Old Testament.

So here we go, verse one, Aleph.

How blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord,

or to put that second phrase,

who walk according to the Lord's instructions.

I don't want you to overplay the law

because we're reading the Old Testament

and just think this is the five books of Moses.

Those who walk in the Lord's instructions.

So key words to underline or highlight in your Bible,

blessed, blameless, and walk.

And blessed, and I know we've talked about this

already before, blessed is not what the culture

tends to think it is.

It's not the way the culture today,

the way they throw it around.

Biblically, to be blessed is synonymous

with completeness or wholeness in your life

that leads to being happy.

It leads to true happiness, and again,

that's a word that we throw around in the culture

with no earthly idea what it means.

So we might call it overflowing happiness

is what blessedness is, right?

And do we not all want that in our lives?

We all want to be overflowingly happy, true?

Okay, so how do we take hold of it?

Well, the psalmist says overflowing with happiness

are men and women whose lives are marked

by these two things.

Number one, their way is blameless.

And number two, they walk in the instructions of the Lord.

And obviously those two things are connected.

Walking in God's instructions will lead to a blameless life.

Now, you may read that and go, well, I give up already

because I'll never be blameless.

Well, the word doesn't mean perfect.

The word doesn't mean without sin altogether.

The Hebrew adjective tamim carries the idea of being whole

or being complete or full of health.

In the context, what it means is

this is a person of integrity, not a perfect person,

but a person whose life is marked by integrity.

They don't live hypocritically.

They don't live hypocritically.

They don't profess something and then do the opposite.

In New Testament language, we see this in 1 Timothy 3.

This is a person who's above reproach.

Again, not perfect, not sinless,

but they're free of any accusation

that they're living a duplicitous life.

Saying this, professing this, but doing the other.

Now, the challenge for us is to accept the premise

that the psalmist lays out here

that living that kind of a life above reproach

will bring you overwhelming happiness.

Do you believe that premise?

That if you live that godly life of integrity,

it will bring you happiness?

Because I know about you,

but I grew up being taught the exact opposite.

The world told me that living a godly life is boring.

Right?

There's no fun in it.

What you should do is do your own thing, your own way,

and just seek to fulfill all of your desires and impulses.

But after a while, you find out something kind of funny.

It never ends up that way.

How funny? It never ends up that way, does it?

It turns out that ignoring God's instructions

over the long haul brings the opposite of happiness.

It brings conflict and pain and suffering and unhappiness.

And yet the world doesn't get it, right?

Because they're blind.

So the man or woman who lives a life of integrity

is one who walks in the word.

They live in harmony with the instructions

that God has given to mankind.

And the promised result is overflowing happiness.

And by the way, the opposite is true.

The East Montgomery boy says this,

the reason we are not happy is that we sin.

Do you believe that?

That's what, because we're out of alignment

with what God has commanded for all men.

We're sinning against him.

So that's why.

And the main reason we sin as much as we do

is that we do not know biblical principles well enough.

Apart from being instructed by God,

human beings just do not know how to achieve happiness.

And we've heard that, wait,

we're always searching for happiness

in all the wrong places.

Natural man does that all the time.

They just, it's the next thing.

The next thing will make me happy.

And they never actually get there.

Because they're avoiding God's instructions.

So every time we choose to sin by disregarding God's word,

we are in some form or fashion saying,

God, I have found a better way to be happy

than you think I should.

I'll find my own happiness and not your way

because my way is better.

I know you don't say that out loud,

but by your actions, that's what you're doing.

You're saying, I found a better way.

But it's a lie.

Every time we intentionally disregard God's word,

we're doubting that the way of blessing and happiness

is the way of his word.

That's just a reality.

And we all do it.

Everybody in this room does it.

So you're not the Lone Ranger.

We all do it.

So that's blessed and blameless.

Now look at the word walk.

Notice the word walk is an action word.

And we're gonna see more action words

all through this section.

Walk, keep, seek, look, learn, do.

There's a lot of doing here, right?

Listen now, the path of blessing is not passive.

It is active.

The path of blessing is not passive.

It doesn't magically come upon you.

It's active.

Being a Christian is not just about thinking

the right thoughts or saying the right words

or being able to engage in deep theological debates.

It's about walking in faith.

It's about steady progress towards the goal

of being conformed to the image of Christ.

And it's not to be done through gritted teeth,

bitter and angry that I've gotta do these things.

God says I gotta do them and now I gotta do them.

Through gritted teeth or done so that we can look really

shiny in front of other people.

We can perform in a Christian way to impress others.

The motivation for walking in the law of the Lord

is our affection for Christ because he loved us first.

And you've gotta get that right.

Every time you hear doers of the word,

we think about external obedience.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna grab my fortitude

and I'm gonna gut this out and I'm gonna obey.

No, that's not the motivation.

It's love for Christ because of what he's done for us.

Make sense?

Okay, verse two.

Here comes a second promise of blessing.

Look how it starts.

Verse two, how blessed are those who observe

and the better translation,

those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with all, underline all, all their heart.

So we have two more action words, keep and seek.

To seek the Lord means really listening for his voice

and discovering him in his testimonies,

in his witness about himself.

To seek the Lord means listening for his voice in the word

and discovering him as he witnesses

in his own self-revelation.

And the instruction here is to do this

with all of your heart.

That means priority number one in your life.

Don't seek him with a divided heart,

but with all of your heart, all of your soul,

all of your mind, all of your strength.

This is the greatest commandment.

We're not to seek him with a divided heart, right?

And then go out and be a doer of it.

Don't be satisfied with just knowing about God

as testimonies.

Strive then to keep his instructions

out of affection for him.

I'll let Spurgeon sum this up,

because he's better than me.

Notice the order of this.

He says, blessedness is ascribed to those

who treasure up the testimonies of the Lord.

They search the scriptures,

they come to an understanding of them,

they love them, and then they continue

in the practice of them.

It's a great order.

We must first get a thing before we can keep it,

and we cannot keep in the heart

that which we have not hardly embraced

by the affections, by the heart, right?

If you want, I saw somebody taking a picture of that quote.

It's a great quote, right?

Because the order there is so important.

Okay, now this next verse, verse three,

flows naturally out of verses one and two.

In fact, all eight verses sort of flow out

of each other as it goes along.

Verse three, they also do no unrighteousness.

They walk in his ways.

So a man of integrity is known both by what he does

and what he doesn't do.

And if he's walking in the path of righteousness

and he's seeking God with all of his heart,

then the fruit of his life will reflect both sides of that,

in absence of unrighteousness or wrongdoing

and the presence of purity and goodness.

And then beginning in verse four,

we see, interestingly, a change of pronoun,

now the psalmist begins to speak directly to Yahweh.

So the rest of the section becomes a prayer

because he's now speaking to God.

Verse four, he says, you, Lord, have ordained

or commanded your precepts,

that we should walk in them how?

Diligently, diligently.

Now recall last week we defined precepts.

Precepts are orders that come down from an overseer.

And in this prayer, the psalmist affirms

how God's precepts come to us.

They're given to us in the form of commands.

Nobody here likes that word, right?

It like bumps up against the natural flesh.

You're gonna command me now?

Right, well, what's the saying?

You're not the boss of me.

Well, God is.

He is, his precepts,

he gives them to us in the form of commands.

In other words, they're not suggestions,

that we can consider.

Maybe we can create a small group

and consider the commands of God.

What do you think?

Should we do them?

That would not be good.

These are instructions from the king.

And they come down to his subjects as

with the force of a divine order.

And therefore our response should be obvious.

We should strive to keep them diligently.

Now what does that mean?

What does that imply?

It means that by the power that God himself provides us,

and that's what's so amazing.

He says, do this diligently.

By the way, I'm gonna give you the power to do it.

So by his power, we're to make every effort

to obey God's orders exceedingly, mightily, eagerly,

and enthusiastically.

That's the call here.

That's the command.

Again, he hasn't said, hey, good luck with that, guys.

See if you can muster up that kind of strength.

He said, no, I'll provide you.

You just need to cooperate with my spirit.

I'll provide you the power to do exactly that.

If that's your heart's desire.

Here's the truth to write down somewhere.

Nobody accidentally keeps God's commands.

Oops, I stumbled into obeying God today.

It's something we do actively.

Obedience comes first,

but it comes out of the affections of the heart.

Just make sure you get that.

I can't say that enough times this morning.

Obedience ultimately comes from the affections

of the heart.

Those affections spill out in our desire

to apply all of diligence and effort to please the Lord

because he's worthy of that.

There is the motivation.

We want his blessing.

We want happiness.

But the ultimate motivation is to please the Lord

because he is worthy of this sacrifice,

of this offering of all of our lives.

When we stop to think about what he's done for us,

in spite of who we are,

he is worthy of that sacrifice of praise

to give him all of our lives.

Now, as we come to verse five,

the psalmist now shifts into first person

and he starts talking about himself in relation to God.

Oh, that my ways, he says, may be established

or may my ways be steadfast to keep your statutes.

So now he's dealing with God in a very personal way

and he desires to obey the teachings of scripture.

And really this is something that if you want

just a regular prayer that you can say each and every day,

this is a great one.

May my ways be aligned with your ways.

That's what he's asking for.

And he desires to be steadfast about this,

to be diligent and disciplined and consistent in obedience.

And it's not only a hope that this would be true,

it's an actual prayer request that God would grant him

the strength and the power and the ability

to make that true in his life,

to make him an obedient follower.

Because we can't do that alone.

You see, the psalmist was aware

that his heart was prone to wander.

All of our hearts are prone to wander towards self.

The psalmist was aware that we're not naturally

inclined to obedience.

So he acknowledges that he needs the Lord

to bring this about in us,

to establish my ways in line with your ways.

That's a great prayer.

And that's a humble place to come from,

knowing that apart from his word,

knowing that apart from his work,

we cannot keep this command.

Look at verse six now.

Then I shall not be ashamed

when I look upon all your commandments.

Here's the glorious result of being established

in God's ways.

I will not be put to shame.

I will not have to feel that sense of guilt and shame.

Now, loss of salvation is not in sight here.

That cannot happen.

But it's true, a Christian can certainly feel ashamed

when we do self-examination

and we hold up our lives to the standard of scripture,

we can feel a sense of guilt and shame.

That happens with self-examination

because God's law is like a mirror.

And if we take enough time to look deeply into it,

we see ourselves as we really are.

And if you're open to the,

if your prayer is Lord, search me and know me

and show me the things about myself in the deep,

the result can be shocking.

But friends, listen to me now.

Self-examination, which is a biblical habit,

which we should all engage in,

it is not designed to drive you into despair.

If you've been taught that, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that you've been taught that.

Wipe it from your mind.

Self-examination is designed to drive us

to confession and repentance and to grace.

That's why we can't be afraid of it,

why we shouldn't be afraid of it.

So many of us are afraid of it

because we feel like we're gonna be ashamed.

We gotta move past that towards grace

because that's what Christ has offered us.

It's designed to show you the forgiveness

that is available in Christ.

And then also to push you towards then,

because of that realigning your priorities

to recommit yourself to seek the Lord

with all of your heart, not with a divided heart.

Self-examination is wonderful.

We cannot be afraid of it.

So the advice of the psalmist is this,

if you wanna live without shame,

without a guilty conscience, nagging at your soul,

then fix your eyes on God's word.

Fix your eyes on his word,

ask the spirit to strengthen you to walk in his ways.

And in the words of the great Puritan John Owen,

this is a great quote,

be killing sin or it will be killing you.

Amen?

Amen.

Now, when we're walking blamelessly with God

and that shame is lifted,

guess what we're ready to do?

Worship.

And that's what we get in verse seven.

I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart

when I learn your righteous judgments.

In the Hebrew, that word uprightness carries the idea

of being straight, of being correct.

And so praise follows naturally

from being straight with God, from being right with God.

And praise also comes from a mind

that is constantly in the process of learning more and more

about God's just and righteous nature.

It's right there in the verse.

Learning, learning is active.

It doesn't happen by osmosis.

It doesn't just, I'm gonna wake up this morning,

not touch my Bible and learn.

No, it's active, we're to learn.

Now I know learning can puff a man up.

Learning can puff a woman up.

I've seen it too many times, right?

People who end up with a passion

for the academic side of the faith

and the Bible becomes a textbook,

it's just about intellectual pursuits.

And there's no real thought of application.

In fact, oftentimes people, they'll study it so much,

they believe they're above application.

And sadly, where that ends up is that man in time

will veer off track and shipwreck his faith

because he's not being a doer of the word.

But healthy learning, the type of Bible study

that's sensitive to the Spirit's leading,

that will always lead you to greater praise.

Plumbing the depths of scripture with an eye of,

of laying your life open before God and being transformed,

that will lead you to greater praise.

Being rooted in sound doctrine

for the purpose of glorifying God,

that will lead you to greater praise.

And it won't be a chore, it's gonna be a natural outflow

of the learning, the study,

the time you're spending in God's word.

And the reality is guys,

when we find that praise doesn't come easily, why is that?

It's because something's not right in the heart.

We've all felt it at times, we've come in on a Sunday

and we're like,

I got nothing, it's not the fault of the worship team,

it's not the fault of the lyrics,

there's something going on that's not right in the heart

and it's a chore to worship, it just, it doesn't flow naturally.

Well, probably because we've allowed some type

of sinful thing to get a stubborn foothold in our lives

and we haven't dealt with it.

And that too is part of the Spirit's way

to get us to confess and repent and to change our ways

because it becomes hard to do.

When that shame comes upon us and our conscience is guilty

and we haven't gone to God

and we haven't confessed and repented,

guys, it's a miserable pace to live.

Why would we live there if we've been offered forgiveness

and cleansing, why would we live there

and not go to God and say,

Lord, you know my heart, I'm gonna lay it open before you

and just, I'm gonna confess all of it

because you already know it, it's miserable.

But know that if you confess all of it,

you're gonna be saved, you're gonna be saved.

But know that if you're a believer

and the Spirit of God lives in you,

you have an advocate before the Father.

You have a great high priest

who's made a blood sacrifice sufficient

to cover all of your sins,

that work was accomplished on the cross

and so all you need to do is confess, repent,

and change course by the power that he supplies.

And the promise we have is that God is always faithful

to cleanse us from unrighteousness

and to the sin of sinning.

So don't be stuck in a place where I can't praise,

I don't know why I can't praise,

you probably know why, you just need to deal with it.

Okay, final verse, and this one is gonna sound

a little strange to your ears, verse eight,

I shall keep your statutes, do not forsake me utterly.

And at first glance, that sounds like, wait,

those two things don't really fit together,

but take a second look, this is,

you're gonna memorize a verse, memorize this one,

it's really powerful.

First, we see in the psalmist a resolve

and a determination to do what?

To keep God's law, is that a good thing?

Absolutely, we should be resolved and determined to do that,

that is the best thing for him in his life, right?

That is the path to blessing and happiness.

And he wants to do this so bad,

you get a sense throughout this, he's so,

and I know some of you do too, right?

I so badly wanna keep God's precepts.

But then he follows in the second phrase

with this humble and heartfelt request,

but Lord, please don't forsake me, don't abandon me.

Now, why does he ask that?

Because he knows himself, he knows the weakness, right?

He knows his own heart, he's aware of his inability

to fulfill this command, the thing he so badly wants to do,

he knows he's gonna fall short.

And that's a healthy place to be, by the way.

On the one hand, absolutely resolved to wake up each morning

and to please the Lord in every way,

yet on the other hand, not trusting in your strength

and power or ability to pull that off.

And then to depend upon the Lord,

Lord, I wanna do your word today,

but I know I'm gonna fall short, so I need grace.

Lord, I wanna walk according to your word,

but I know a time is coming,

I'm gonna fall flat on my face, so I need your mercy.

That's what this verse says,

but Lord, above all, don't leave me, don't forsake me,

because I have nowhere else to go, you, God, are my only hope.

That's what the psalmist was feeling.

What I love about this is the struggle for him is real,

just like it's real for us.

Like the authors of scripture are not supermen who never fail.

The struggle was real for him.

And we should be encouraged by that,

to know that we're all in the same boat together.

But know this, listen now, resolve and dependency go together.

That's what you see in verse eight, resolve, but dependency.

And we need both in our lives.

Right here in this very short, simple verse,

we see both God's word and the gospel of grace

coming together in the life of the believer.

And then know that we have this promise,

and it's laid out so beautifully in Hebrews 13.

Remember this, he himself has said,

I will never desert you.

If you're found in Christ, have you been saved?

If he's marked you out and saved you,

he will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.

So that we can confidently say,

the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.

That drives out fear.

When we trust in that promise, now we can press forward in life,

with the ups and the downs and the victories and the stumbles,

and we can do it without being ashamed,

constantly praising the Lord,

coming back to him each and every day and saying,

Lord, I've fallen short, I need your grace.

This is the Christian life.

These are the basics of the Christian life.

But man, it's been so messed up over the years

by so many people preaching this external false gospel

of just grit your teeth and do it.

Okay, let's go back to James 1.

I wanna connect now all of these concepts

that the psalmist gives us with what James says.

So turn to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

We're gonna look at particularly verses 21 to 25.

By the way, every time I read this passage

about being doers of the word, I have this,

you know how sometimes you have certain imprints

on your mind?

From your past, I've forgotten most of my life,

but there's some things I remember.

And I have this vivid memory of an old mentor of mine

telling me this joke.

And every time I read this passage, it comes up.

Here's how the joke goes.

A particular Bible teacher was teaching a class

on a Sunday morning before worship service.

And it was a class on the principles of Bible study.

And so the teacher was showing members of the class,

here's how you recognize the promises of God,

and here's how you recognize the commands of God

and the principles of the Bible study.

And here's the commands of God in the text,

and here's how you respond to them.

And towards the end of the class,

he decided to do a quick summary review,

and he asked the class rhetorically,

now what are we supposed to do with the commands?

And this cute little old lady in the front row

raised her hand and she said, I underlined them in blue.

Cute story, right?

You can go through your Bible and underline

all the commands in blue, that is not enough.

You can't be obeyed, right?

We can't just be hearers and underliners of the word.

Is that a thing?

I'm an underliner of the word,

I'm a highlighter of the word.

That's wonderful.

Blue, yellow, pink, I don't care.

The commands are given to us to do and obey.

Okay, I don't know why that story

just tickles my funny mind.

I could just picture this cute little lady,

I underlined them in blue.

Okay, James 1 verse 21,

James 1:21

therefore putting aside all filthiness

and all the remains of wickedness,

in humility receive the word implanted,

which is able to save your souls.

But prove yourselves doers of the word

and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer,

he's like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror.

For once he's looked at himself and gone away,

he's immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

Now, we started this morning by looking,

particularly verse 21, receive the word implanted.

Again, look at the action word.

What's the action word here?

Receive.

If you've been saved, the word has been implanted in you,

it's brought you to life,

but then James says, take the step of action.

Receive it.

Make sure your heart is receptive to its truths.

Again, it's an imperative that requires action.

Receive it.

Now, I read an article this week from John Piper

who talks about this interesting phrase

and he compared it to oxygen.

He says, oxygen gives life,

and in giving life, it causes you to breathe,

and when you breathe, what happens?

You bring in more oxygen, and it's a cycle.

So it is with God's word.

It's implanted in the believer,

and then its truths cause us to take in more,

and as we receive more, it does a work in our hearts,

and that makes us hungry to get even more of it.

It's a cycle.

Again, make sure you see that God gives us

this imperative command.

Receive the word, and notice also that James tells us

how we should receive it.

He says, in meekness or in humility.

Okay, in humility.

That means having a heart that is teachable.

It means having a heart that understands the need

to hear the voice of God in his word,

and then to submit to what it says.

The opposite would be saying, receive it with pride.

Receive God's word with pride, thinking,

oh, I already know that.

Have you ever caught yourself doing that?

You're reading through text, like, oh, I already know that.

Don't do that.

Read it.

Or that doesn't really apply to me.

Or the worst thing we can do is look at the word and say,

you know what, I don't like that, I'm not gonna look at it.

Because that puts you in a bad place.

James says, receive the word in humility.

Welcome it into your lives.

Meditate upon it.

Rehearse it all day long.

Incline your heart towards loving God's word

and wanting more of it in your life.

More transforming power, and then go out

and apply what you've received.

And over time, if you'll do that, if you'll welcome it,

if you'll receive it, if you'll apply it,

you become like the man in Psalm one.

We read it last week.

The man in Psalm one is like a tree

planted by streams of water.

Isn't that, it's such a beautiful picture in your head.

A tree planted by this rushing stream of water.

A tree planted by this rushing stream.

The roots go deep and it's just feeding off that stream.

It yields its fruit in its season.

And its leaf never withers.

In all that he does, he prospers.

Why? Because he's constantly fed by that living water.

Now, if you ignore what James says here, right,

if you just look at the word, right,

or listen to the word preached, just to check a box,

just to check a box, Christians, come on, let's be honest,

sometimes we do this, I'm gonna hear the word,

I'm gonna go, I'm gonna grit my teeth,

go to church, hear a sermon.

I'm gonna open up the Bible because I've been told

I gotta read it every day, okay, okay.

Check.

If you're doing that with no intent of applying it,

well, James says, you are like that knucklehead

who looks in the mirror in the morning

and then rushes off to do more important things.

And he forgets what he saw.

He forgets that he didn't shave, he looks like a mess.

He forgets that he didn't comb his hair,

stick it up in all kinds of funny reasons,

all kinds of funny ways.

The mirror showed him the problem,

but he didn't do anything to fix the issues.

He didn't look intently at it.

He just ran off to do other things, right.

So the man who looks at the word,

he sees what he's really like in his heart.

If you look at the word intently,

you will see what your inner man is all about.

It'll be reflected in the word.

But if you rush out the door and forget what you see,

what good is it?

James is not describing a man with a poor memory,

he's describing a man who has an idolatry problem.

Because he's deemed that what he sees in the mirror

is not the most important thing.

What's more important is the things he's rushing off to do.

Those are his priorities.

That's the idol in his life.

He doesn't wanna spend any time in front of the mirror,

he wants those other things, so he rushes out.

He doesn't remember what he saw in the mirror

because he doesn't regard it as very important.

What's important are the idols of his heart.

And those idols are the idols of his heart.

And those idols need protecting.

We've all done this before.

Man, there's something in my heart, I cherish it, I want it.

Doesn't line up with God's word, but I want it.

And so I need to protect it.

And what that means is I'm not gonna look at the word

for too long.

I'm not gonna look at the word closely

because it threatens my idols.

Every parent in this room who's ever had a grade school child

knows this truth all too well.

Have you ever noticed that God gives us

the privilege of parenting

so that we'll understand how God feels?

You tell your grade school child, go up and clean your room.

And then you come back an hour later, and what's happened?

They're playing with some toy, room hadn't been touched.

I told you to clean your room, you say.

And they reply, I forgot.

Did they really?

Did they forget?

It's not that your child has a memory problem.

They just have a much stronger desire

for things other than obeying you.

Much stronger desires for things

other than what you told them to do.

That's what we can be like as Christians.

We're only deceiving ourselves if we say we hear the word

but then ignore it.

And we defraud ourselves if we don't respond

because we actually miss the opportunity

that God is laying before us

to grow and mature in our faith.

To find that path of blessing.

And we did it to ourselves by ignoring the mirror.

We miss out on opportunities.

We quite literally miss the chance

to have overflowing happiness in Christ.

Because we're cherishing our idols.

Even Spurgeon knew this, this has been true

in every generation, back in his day in England.

I fear we have many such in all the congregations of England.

Admiring hearers, affectionate,

affectionate hearers, attached hearers,

but all the while unblessed hearers

because they are not doers of the word.

Now, here's the contrast.

Look at verse 25, last verse.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law,

the law of liberty, and abides by it,

not having become a forgetful hearer,

but an affectionate doer, this man

will be blessed in what he does.

So we have forgetful hearer versus effectual doer.

The forgetful hearer takes a quick glance

in the mirror and he runs off.

But the effectual doer, he lingers at the mirror

and he looks intently at it.

And the Greek word that's used here is powerful, parakoupta.

It means to stoop or to bend the body down

to look carefully at something.

It's the same word that's used of John and Mary

when they stoop down to look into the empty tomb.

Because they didn't want to take a quick glance

into the tomb.

They wanted to look carefully and intently

to see where the body was.

It's not a quicker casual look.

It's not the glance of a guy who rushes out the door

to do more important things.

James says that this man bends down

to look carefully at God's instructions

and then he says, look what,

then he sets out to abide by it.

In other words, he's not coming to the word

for a quick fix.

It's a long-term approach that he takes with God's word.

Requires discipline and diligence over time.

In the language of Psalm 119,

he walks in the law of the Lord

and he walks in the way of the word.

He's a doer of God's word.

And what's the result?

Look again at the last phrase in verse 25.

It's the same language we just read in Psalm 119.

I love when the Old and New Testament connect, right?

What's the result of that?

He's blessed.

He's overflowingly happy.

One of the things I love about the Book of James

is just so how practical it is.

Because after this discussion of hearing versus doing,

have you ever read James?

It's a harsh book.

He goes on to give all these examples

of how that metaphor of looking in the mirror

and not remembering what you see,

how that gets played out.

And James is concerned, listen friends,

he's concerned that there are people

in that early church, that primarily Jewish,

that are not really listening to God.

He's concerned that there are people in that early church,

that primarily Jewish church at that time.

He's concerned that many are professing to know Christ,

but they don't.

And there's no life there.

So at the end of chapter one, he gives this example.

He says, look, if you can't bridle your tongue,

if you can't control your mouth, you're self-deceived.

He's giving an example of a man who looks in the mirror

and rushes off and forgets what he sees.

He's like, you're self-deceived.

You don't have words.

In chapter two, he brings up the sin of favoritism

and partiality in the body.

And he says, if you do this,

you're judging with evil motives.

You're judging people.

Later in that chapter, he famously talks about

this person who says, I believe Christ,

but I have absolutely no deeds to prove it.

No deeds whatsoever.

I don't show care for people.

My relationship with people

doesn't reflect the love of Christ.

And so James says, you know what type of faith that is?

It's dead faith.

You're like the man who looks in the mirror

and you ran off.

You're not a doer of the word.

That's dead faith.

In chapter three, he talks more about the danger

of our tongues.

And then he talks about people in the church

who are filled with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.

And he says, if those things are present in your heart,

you lie against the truth.

In chapter four, he continues.

He says, you fight and you quarrel

because of the sinful desires of your flesh.

Adulterous is hostile to God.

You slander and you speak against one another

and you boast in your arrogance, which is evil.

He says, and finally in chapter five,

he goes after those who are rich,

who are trusting in their material possessions.

And he says, you have fattened your hearts

in the day of slaughter.

Friends, listen to me.

James is talking to church going people

in all of those things.

This letter of James is written to church going people.

They've read the word.

They've heard it preach Sunday after Sunday,

but they're not applying any of it.

It makes no difference in their lives.

They look in the mirror and they rush off

to satisfy their desires instead of addressing

the problems that they see

that have taken root in their hearts.

And so what's the result?

They've got foul mouths and sharp tongues

and they make evil judgments

and they don't care for people

and they have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition

and they fight and quarrel with people

and they gossip and they slander

and they trust in all the things in their life

that make them comfortable.

And sadly, these same people will come back to church

over and over again.

And they will read another passage in scripture

and they will hear another sermon preached

and then they will rush right out forgetting all of it

and continue a cycle of self-deception.

Now, the good news about our church is

we live life together really well

and we hold each other accountable

to our profession of faith.

But there are so many in the church today,

all over this country, all over this world.

And there's nobody holding them to account.

There's nobody asking about their lives

and they live this cycle of self-deception.

So friends, heed James' warning here.

Heed the warning, the Christian faith must be lived out.

It can't just be talked about, asserted or professed.

It has to be lived out.

So when you're done reading your Bible

and you close it, you're not done.

When the sermon is over, it's not over.

There's still a response required by the King.

Has the word been implanted in you?

Has it saved your soul?

If so, let it show.

In humility, receive the word and become a doer of the word.

And let me just repeat this truth before I close

because I think this goes back to how you make a choice.

You make a choice.

You make a choice.

You make a choice.

I think this goes back to how you might respond

to this message.

If you're a true follower of Christ

and everything we've talked about this morning

has only served to remind you of your past failures

and your inability to get on track,

I want you to know this this morning,

God's mercies are new every single morning for his children.

Every morning, there is grace available

for a heart that desires change.

And there's power available to see that transformation

happen in your life.

So don't let guilt or shame keep you

from the truth of these passages.

Run to Jesus, confess your sins,

and bask in the freedom of his forgiveness.

He's wiped your slate clean.

Don't sit in the weeds

because God doesn't want you in the weeds.

You've been saved for more than that.

But then resolve to walk in his law

and resolve to seek him with all of your heart.

Remember verse eight, these two things go hand in hand,

resolve and dependency.

And trust what God has declared here.

You'll be blessed if you do.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's bow our heads.

Father, we thank you for our time this morning

in your word.

God, we thank you for this treasured possession

that we have.

Sitting in our laps this morning, may we never take

for granted the privilege that we have

to read your word and to study your word

and to hear it preached.

There are places in the world where that can't happen.

And with much privilege comes much responsibility

for us to look intently at the word

and for us to seek your face and to resolve God

to please you in all that we do.

But this morning, Lord, I'm reminded how grateful we are

for your abiding presence in our lives

and the fact that you tell us, you promise

you will never leave us, never forsake your children.

So we can come to you again this morning and say,

Lord, I want to do your will.

I want to be your doer of your word.

And yet Father, I will fall short.

And so shower me with your grace.

Bring me back to your throne of grace each and every day.

To ask for new mercies and to ask for greater power.

And help us to walk with you in a way that is upright

and filled with integrity.

So Lord, encourage our hearts this morning.

Don't let us sit in the weeds.

Encourage our hearts to recommit our lives to you,

to worship and to obey in your will.

Thank you for our time.

We pray in Christ's name, amen.