James 1:19-27 | 12th July 2026

So good morning. We're going to turn to

God's word now. If you have your Bible

with you, we're reading from James

James 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and reading from verse 19 to

verse 27. It's page 119

in the Church Bible. So page 119 in the

Church Bible.

And uh yeah, last week or the week

before Steve introduced it and and he

began with with the the reminder uh

count it all joy when you go through

trials of many kinds and and Steve

worked on that telling us that part of

the Christian path is that we will

struggle. We will have trials. Peter

then as John reminded us spoke of the

the blessing and the goodness of God

towards us. But this week we're going to

read um and see James is taking it on a

step after this then and reading from

verse 19 of James chapter 1. He says,

James 1 · chapter mention

"Know this, my beloved brothers, let

every person be quick to hear, slow to

speak, and slow to anger. For the anger

of man does not produce the

righteousness of God. Therefore, put

away all filthiness

and rampant wickedness and receive with

meekness the implanted word which is

able to save your souls. Be but be doers

of the word and not hearers only,

deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a

hearer of the word and not a doer, he's

like a man who looks intently at his

natural face in a mirror. For he looks

at himself and goes away and at once

forgets what he was like. But the one

who looks into the perfect law of

liberty

and perseveres, being no hearer, who

forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be

blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks

he is religious and does not bridle his

tongue, but deceives his heart, this

person's religion is worthless. Religion

that is pure and undefiled before God,

the father is this, to visit orphans and

widows in their affliction, and to keep

oneself unstained from the world. Father

in heaven, we truly believe this is the

word of the living God to men that you

spoke directly to your people when James

wrote this nearly 2,000 years ago. But

it still speaks because it is the

eternal word of God. It has lost none of

its truth. It has lost none of its power

because it is the spirit of God who

empowers it. Gracious Lord God, we pray

that you would bless our hearts this

morning as we spend just a little time

in your word. enrich us and encourage us

as we give thought to the things you

have to say to us. And thank you Lord

for all your goodness to us. Amen.

So James as he introduces this letter,

he gives some teaching um in in the

first few few lines of of the last

couple of sermons, but he didn't give

any commands until now. But from here on

the commands come thick and fast. And I

think someone said there are over 50

different commands in the book of James.

There's listening, there's speaking,

there's anger, there's immoral behavior.

It's one thing after another. But James

also demands a response. It isn't enough

that you just hear, but be doers of the

word. So what's the letter all about?

You ask. Is is this what Christianity is

all about? Rules and regulations and

commands.

Well, yes and and no. And it's why some

people have difficulty with this letter

because if you are a Christian, if you

know the Lord Jesus as your savior, you

know that you have come to faith through

faith alone. It wasn't anything you did

that made you a Christian. And it's not

anything you do that keeps you a

Christian. It is your faith in Jesus.

And yet here we have a letter that is

full of commands.

Good behavior appears to almost

contradict the gospel at times, but it

doesn't, as we'll see. So what what is

the purpose of this letter? What does

James want us to see in this letter?

Well, in one word, I would break it down

to one simple word, and that is

holiness. Holiness. Um, and it's a very

it's a quaint word. We don't use it, you

know. Would you ask a fellow Christian?

How is your walk with God? Are you holy?

We're we're almost embarrassed to use

the word holy now, just like we're, I

suppose, reluctant to use the word hell

or eternal punishment. We holiness is

something that has gone out of fashion.

And yet probably no other word is more

frequent in the Bible than the fact that

God is holy and he calls us to be holy.

What are our images then of a person who

is holy? What what does a holy person

look like? Is it someone who is so

heavenly minded that he is of no earthly

use? Well, maybe a little bit. You say

they're not living in the real world and

they spend time in isolation from

others. For example, there was a man in

the in the fifth century called Simeon

Stalites. Simeon Stalites. He spent most

of his life up on a high pillar. It was

just a few meters across and he wanted

to get away from people. He first became

a a a monk and and joined an order, but

he found he couldn't get away from

people. So eventually he totally

isolated himself for over 30 years. He

lived up on a high pillar. Imagine just

a high pillar the height of the roof up

there. Your food is passed up to you.

People came to see him still to ask

questions. But he was seeking God. Is

that our image of holiness?

Or is it like someone I knew one time he

was telling me his his aunt was a very

very holy person. She used to go to mass

every day. She used to spend a lot of

time in the church. She was getting away

and spending time with God in as much as

she could find him. Those are are images

that we have of holiness.

And those things are relevant. You must

seek the Lord. But I would suggest there

are two aspects to holiness because

getting away from the world does not

make you holy. It does not make you

necessarily a better person.

In fact, scripture is very much seen as

very active and very social in its

outlook. Holiness affects your

relationship with other people.

And you see it in this letter in

particular. So yes, there is a call to a

close personal walk with God, time to

spend with him, but there is also, you

might call that, you might call that

personal holiness, but there is also

very simply practical holiness. And

that's what we're looking at in this

book today, practical holiness. Because

James, if if you're familiar with the

letter at all, you know it's a very very

practical letter. It deals with just how

you treat others, deals with how you

speak, how you with your issues of

pride, of anger, of greed, and just

about everything in your life daytoday.

James addresses it. It's, as I said,

there are so many commands in it. is

going to hit everything that that you

are. But let me ask you, do you ever

think of your own holiness? Do you ever

measure yourself and say, "Am I being

holy before God?" Because in the Old

Testament, God calls on his people. He

says, "Be holy because I am holy." And

that's repeated in the New Testament,

word for word, be holy because I am

holy. And it should be the desire of

every Christian to say,"I want to be

holy before my God. I want to be holy."

And if you're required to be holy, then

how then do you become holy? Is it a

gift from God or do we do something

ourselves?

Well, in a sense,

it it is true. It's it's a gift from God

because as as verse 21 there says um

therefore put away all filthiness and

rampant wickedness and receive with

meekness the implanted word which is

able to save your souls. The implanted

word and that is the word of God

speaking to your soul. And the first

thing we look at is the fact that the

word brings salvation. The word brings

salvation. And James is saying there

that the word can save you. That is to

say, by hearing and obeying God's

command, you are saved from your sin.

But it doesn't end there. It doesn't

just save you. It makes you also a child

of God. If you are a Christian, you can

call God your father. Only a Christian

can truly call God their father.

But it also

makes you righteous before God. It means

God looks on you and he no longer sees

Brendan the sinner or or whoever you

are. He sees you as righteous in his

sight as righteous as Christ himself. It

is imputed righteousness. God gives you

his righteousness. He makes you holy.

Therefore, you are made holy when you

become a Christian. So Paul says in so

many of his letters when he's

introducing it first Corinthians he says

to those sanctified in Christ Jesus in

Philippians he repeats again and in

Colossians to God's holy people you are

holy if you are a Christian it is

automatic

what is the source of holiness James as

I said he he says humbly accept the word

planted within you by by embracing God's

truth by act by asking Jesus Christ to

save you you are made holy. The word is

planted within you. And earlier s S S S

S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S Sarah

was reading the the parable Jesus told

about the swer and the seed. James was a

brother of Christ. This James and no

doubt growing up with Jesus, he would

have heard Jesus perhaps Jesus told

stories when he was a young lad when he

was a teenager teaching his brothers and

sisters. He would have I'm I'm sure

spoken about God. His his aim was to

please his father in heaven. Jesus, I

believe, even before his public

ministry, would have in his home life

brought up the the theological things

and and the things of God constantly

within his family. And after the days of

Jesus resurrection into heaven, can you

just imagine the the disciples

afterwards,

the early believers reminiscing about

all the things that Jesus began he said

and they'll say, "Do you remember the

time that we were out walking with Jesus

and he was teaching us about forgiveness

and he talked about the the the

king who who forgave his servant and the

servant didn't forgive his fellow

servant and remember the the

illustration Jesus gave there or or do

you Remember the time when Jesus fed the

5,000? That was an incredible day. They

would have been reminiscing about all

the things Jesus did because it was a

very be very verbal society back then.

We have books. We we write things down.

They didn't have books, papers, pens

then. So they would have remembered

things by speaking about them and they

they would have retold the stories of

Jesus and they'd say, "Well, do you

remember the time when we were out Jesus

was was preaching one day and there was

a man in the distance and he was

scattering seed on the ground and

scattering seed and he had others

working with him and and the farmer was

warning the the workers, don't waste

seed. Don't throw it on the path. Don't

throw it in the rocks or in the bushes.

Keep it to the good ground. Be careful."

And Jesus took that and he used that as

an illustration. You remember the

parable of the sewer and the seed and

all of these things because Jesus used

parables to teach eternal truths.

And I'm sure that parable was often

referred to in the early church because

it gives a clear teaching to those who

hear of the need to respond, the need to

persevere and the power of the word of

God, but also the responsibility on

those who hear to act on it. And that's

what James is saying here. And the

explanation that Jesus gave then was the

the seed is the word of God. The soil it

falls on determines whether it will grow

well or not. There's nothing wrong with

the seed. The seed is fine. But it's the

soil is what Jesus is pointing to. And

he's challenging there to to his

followers. Jesus when he was on earth,

he was challenging the need to listen

and to hear the word. And James then is

saying be hearers. be not just hearers

but doers of the word. Heed it, obey it,

and live for Christ alone. And it's

essentially a call to repent,

but a warning also. Christianity is not

a one once- off decision. It is a

lifelong surrender every day to your

savior. It is lifelong. It's not a

once-off thing. When you become a

Christian,

a person who is not a follower of Jesus,

by the way, is not holy. And let's let's

be clear about this. They may be a very

very good person. They may meditate, may

think, maybe in the eyes of the world, a

person could be very very good, but only

a Christian is holy in God's sight.

Because someone who is not a Christian

does not have the Holy Spirit.

And it's not an arrogant statement to

say that. It's simply following what the

scriptures say. Romans 8 tells us that

if anyone does not have Christ, he does

not have the spirit of Christ. He does

not belong to Christ. He therefore

cannot be holy in God's sight. Only a

Christian is holy. And as I say, that's

not being arrogant. It's saying what the

scriptures say. No matter how good you

are, if you are not in Christ, you are

not holy in God's sight.

But the word brings salvation as as we

see and it makes someone holy in God's

sight. But the word also does something

else. The word that's implanted in us.

It begins the work of making someone

holy. Someone who is set apart from God.

How holy you are is up to you. And that

is what James is challenging here today.

And it's the second aspect of this

command. The word that is planted in

you.

Does it bear fruit? How does it do it?

Well, the word brings conviction. That

is the second thing. As well as it

brings salvation. It brings conviction.

And Jesus says you need to be a soil

that that causes the seed to flourish.

The word will will either linger or it

will grow in the soil it's planted in.

What does it look like? Well, what what

James is looking at today in in this,

you know, when he says um let every

person be quick to hear, slow to speak,

slow to anger. And then down in verse

26, he says, "If anyone is religious and

does not bridle his tongue, but deceives

his heart, that person's religion is

worthless." So, he's talking about your

words there. And that that will be dealt

with later on in the letter because this

is part of the series, the letter we

we're going through uh for the summer.

So someone else would be bringing that

to you in the coming weeks. But

your speech, your words, Jesus, James is

beginning with and and he's warning

people here.

And he says, and it's a good thing if

Yeah. And all of us, I think I certainly

need to learn this, but

Proverbs um Solomon said, "Even fools

are thought wise if they keep silent and

discerning if they hold their tongues."

That's a good piece of advice to anyone,

I'm sure. Keep your mouth shut and no

one will know how stupid you are. So

that's that's in modern terms.

But

the first thing James is warning is

watch your words because your words are

a constant theme through the Bible. So

for example, Proverbs also says, "A

gentle answer turns away wrath, but a

harsh word stirs up anger." Says, "The

tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but

the mouth of the fool gushes folly."

Psalm the psalmist says, "May the words

of my mouth and the meditation of my

heart be pleasing in your sight, oh my

God." In the New Testament, Ephesians

says, "Do not let any unh wholesome talk

come out of your mouth, but only what's

helpful for building one another up."

And Jesus himself said, "You will have

to give account for every idle word,

every foolish word." So the words we

speak are really a reflection of what is

in our heart

and they have an impact on us and an

impact in others. So James is

immediately introducing the words that

we speak

and every one of us is aware as as I am

myself of our failure in this area of

our lives.

And then he deals with anger after that.

He he he goes through anger and again

it's something that the Bible talks

about and and James will go through it

again further on in the letter. Jesus

was angry at the temple for example.

You'll remember he threw out the money

changes. He was righteously angry that

people were making a mockery of the

house of God because it was the dwelling

place of God on earth in that time. He

he dwelt among his people the ark of the

covenant there. It was precious to them

and yet they were dis they were

dismissing God as it were by their

behavior. So Jesus was righteously angry

at that.

And there are times when there is

righteous anger for you. You may feel

well I you know someone is is hurting my

child therefore I am angry about that.

There is such a thing as righteous

anger.

There are many areas that James is

dealing with but he says it should

always be under control.

He says

talks about moral behavior and your evil

ways and he said these are things that

you need to address. Let the word of God

challenge you in these things. And he

packs a whole load of of commands into

just a few verses even here.

Christianity

in the Roman times transformed society.

It absolutely transformed society and

Western Europe and indeed you could say

the Western world is is Christianized

and it is better for it because the

commands of God change people's lives.

If we embrace God's word, if we allow it

to have its way, it will transform us.

And in so doing, it will transform

society. And so Christianity,

it as it were, it's civilized and and

saved the Roman society in so many ways.

And he says, "Humbly accept the word in

you that's planted in you."

What does it mean to humbly accept the

word planted in you? Well, I hope that

each one of you is listening carefully

to what I'm saying this morning. And I

trust God has answered your prayers,

that you were praying for the preacher.

And that's a hint. Pray every week for

the preacher, not just for me, but for

yourself. Pray that God would bless the

preacher and so bless you through the

word that's given to you.

But listening will not do enough. You

need to be doers of the word.

And James when he was growing up with

Jesus, as I said, he possibly heard

Jesus giving giving um all kinds of

illustrations.

And just as Jesus used this the the

story of the ser and the seed in his in

his ministry, James also said, I will

use an illustration. And so he uses the

illustration here here of the mirror.

And he talks about the mirror. You look

in the mirror. Do you look at what you

see? Do you do you understand what you

see?

And I I personally think in some

respects mirrors are the worst thing

that man has ever invented because we

look at ourselves and we become too

self-conscious in in so many ways. I

have a dog. All right. Yesterday I

clipped my dog's hair. I am not a dog

groomer.

The dog didn't mind. I showed her

herself in the mirror. She looked I

think she's slightly self-aware. She

sees herself in the mirror. She didn't

care whether she was tidy or untidy. She

could have been like me or like you or

whatever. She just looked and thought,

"Yeah, that's me and that's it." She is

totally un unaware of herself as long as

she is her food, her fun, and her

affections. Everything is fine. She

doesn't care what she looks like.

But we are not like that. We look in a

mirror and we're so very self-conscious.

Man is very very self-aware

all due to mirrors. But James is using

the illustration here and un it says

unfortunately see when when we look at a

mirror we look for what is attractive

about ourselves.

But sadly and it's particularly true of

teenagers. Teenagers by the way don't

worry about this. When you look in the

mirror, you'll probably only see the

flaws in yourself. You don't need to

worry about it.

Others see the beauty in you. But when

you look in a mirror, you will see the

flaw. You will see I have a spot or my

hair is is all out of shape today.

And it's a curious thing that we can

look in a mirror and we can become so

aware of the flaws in our appearance

and we go to so much effort to correct

that flaw. So if I say to someone, look,

you have a, you know, you have bit of

food on your chin, they might look in

the mirror and you wipe it away or a

spot or or your hair is tossed, they

will correct it when they look in the

mirror. But James says, you need to look

at the mirror of God's word and act on

that and take heed to what it shows you.

And the the the irony is that we are so

much more conscious of our outward

appearance than of our character of our

hearts.

And we hold up the God the our our heart

as it were to to the mirror of God's

word. And we have an incredible capacity

to ignore it to totally ignore what God

is saying to us. And James is warning

about that.

And so we come to our our third point.

We have the word brings salvation. The

word brings conviction. But the word

does bring transformation. And if we

look at the word of God and if we are

willing to apply it to ourselves as

James is saying,

how we behave in comparison to God's

commands, God desires of us, we would

soon realize this is sin in my life. My

behavior is not according to God's word,

according to God's rules.

our deeds, our thoughts, our hearts,

they are exposed before God

and we turn away and we ignore it.

So for example, if if you have a job

interview and and you were going for the

interview, you would look in the mirror

and see, is my tie straight? Is my hair

okay? You will go to so much effort and

yet someday you will stand before God

and he will say look I gave you a mirror

to look at yourself and you you ignored

it. I trust that you are not totally

ignoring God's word but it's continual

challenge every day. It's why you need

to read the word every day.

It transforms us if we're willing to let

it. And yet so often we treat God's word

casually and ignore it. Like James is

saying, one of the great dangers uh and

and this is slightly aside, but it it is

a warning to us. We live in a world

where we have the word of God. I I trust

I hope every one of you has your own

Bible.

I hope you read it every day.

But sadly in the modern world, yeah, we

we have not just our Bibles, we have our

smartphones. Every one of us, I'm sure,

listens to sermons, podcasts,

all kinds of of teaching in from from

God's word. All kinds of things, whether

it's to do with it could be uh feeding

our souls on on things such as social

changes or whether it's um doctrinal

things, whatever it is,

there's so many things and we could

discuss and say, "I heard a great sermon

the other day. I heard a really

interesting podcast. It it was

fascinating. I must pass it on to you.

It's really, really good.

But it can be a great cover up when we

do that.

Because James is saying, "Be doers of

the word. Don't just listen to it, do

it.

There is nothing to replace your own

quiet time with the Lord. A podcast is

not enough. A sermon is not enough. You

need to spend time on your own with the

word open before you reading it, asking

God's blessing every day. It is not

enough simply to listen to podcasts or

sermons. God wants you to talk to him

using his word as the means to

communicate with him.

Holiness is all about transformation. It

will only happen as you are willing to

obey it.

So the first thing is that you need to

spend time in God's word. If you do not,

you will not understand it. Secondly,

James says you need to think about it.

Give thought to it.

Go back and forth. Speak to others about

what you have read that day. Perhaps

spend time thinking about God's word.

And finally, you have to choose to act

on God's word. Read, think, obey.

Holiness

is something you automatically receive

when you become a Christian as I said.

But holiness then has to be part of what

you are. You are holy. Therefore, be

holy is what James is saying. And that's

where our responsibility comes into it

because God has given you the

responsibility to live a holy life

before him.

God has done his part. Now it's your

turn. And if it does not transform your

behavior, it is wasted on you. In fact,

I would go so far as to say if we are

not being transformed in our lives day

by day, and it's not massive, but it's

small steps bit by bit, and you will

always struggle with sin. Don't be

discouraged when you stumble and fall

into sin. But don't stay down. Get up

and come back and walk with Jesus.

But if you are not being transformed at

all day by day, then you are living in

disobedience. You are living sinfully

against God.

James says the word has been planted in

you. Let it grow. Let it transform you

into the person he wants you to be. You

have a mind. You also have a will. Your

will determines what you think about.

Your will determines what you look at.

It is not the devil that leads you

astray. It is you yourself choose.

It is you who choose the path you want

to take. It's not blind chance. So if

you sin, it is your responsibility,

not because you're weak or lacking in

understanding. It is a choice as to

whether we sin or not.

And the rest of the book here, James

goes on to zoom in on those areas in our

lives where the Holy Spirit knows we

most need transformation. And he will

transform us.

This is God's word. Think about what he

says. Let it transform your life because

as it does, it will enrich you. This

world will not make you happy. This

world will never satisfy you. Only

living for Jesus can do that. Let's pray

and ask God's blessing on us.

Father in heaven, we truly believe that

the word of God is living and active,

sharper than any two-edged sword.

It cuts to our thoughts, our attitudes,

our hearts. Lord God, let us never

ignore your word, looking at it as

though it were a mirror that we turn and

forget about what we have seen. but

cause us to think deeply on it and to

act on it as you call us to do. Thank

you, Lord, that you speak to our hearts,

that you are a good God, as we have

already heard last week. And Lord God,

cause us to want to live for you, to

turn from sin and self, and live for

Jesus. Amen. Amen. We'll stand to sing

the next song.