Alright please turn in your Bible with me to the epistle of James chapter 1. And this morning we are looking at verses 19 through the end of the chapter. James 1:19-27, so let me read our text beginning in verse 19. “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 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 is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, now this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” Let us go to God in prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank You again for another opportunity to gather, to fellowship and also to hear Your truth. And we pray now that as we open up Your Word that You may grant understanding, that the Spirit of God may open up our eyes to see this wondrous truth. And help us also not only to understand and to know Your truth but that it would be our determined resolve to be obedient to Your will. For these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Alright, this morning we are going to look at this question: What should a Christian do with God’s Word? What should a Christian do with the Word of God? Are you a Christian? And have you ever asked yourself that question: What should you do with the Word of God? This is the Word of God. You don’t have to look far. You don’t have to wonder as to where to find the Word of God. It is in your hands. The Holy Scripture, the Bible, now this is the all-inspired Word of God. Have you ever asked yourself the question: What do you do with your Bible?

Now that is I believe the subject that James is addressing in this text- the Christian and the Word of God. Now you might remember that we looked at verse 18 last week which says: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”. You see verse 18 remember was the conclusion of the previous section, where James was trying to help us understand something of the blessings of God that everything that we have comes from God. Every good and every perfect gift come from above. And then he kinds of ends that section by saying that the greatest of all gifts, the greatest of all blessings, do you know what that is?

This is it. The greatest of all blessings is the Word of God. Why is that so? Because it says in verse 18 that it is the Word of God in a sense that brings life to us. We are brought forth. The meaning of brought forth is to be birth. Now he tells us earlier on in the earlier section that when we succumb to temptation, now that gives birth to sin and sin gives birth to death. But here he tells us that the opposite effect. The Word of God gives birth to life. So we are given life or we are born again. That is what it means to be a Christian that we are born anew or born again. But how so?

Now James tells us that we are born again or God brings us to birth as it were and give us eternal life through His Word. Now that is the Word of God, and that is why it is so important. And that’s why it is such a blessing. Now Peter confirms what James is saying in his letter in 1 Peter 1:23. He says: “having been born again (again it’s the idea of being born again)”. Now how so? “Having been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever”. Now here we have the biblical writer trying to help us understand something of the importance of the Word of God, something of the blessing of what it means to have the Word of God in our hands.

Now when James comes to this new section beginning in verse 19 through the end of this chapter, now James is now picking up from where he left off and that is this great blessing of the Word of God. So he is now talking about the Word of God. And you can see that here. You can see that that’s what he’s talking about. He mentioned the word ‘Word’ in verse 21. He talks about the implanted Word. He talks about the Word in verse 22 that you should be doers of the Word. He talks about the Word in verse 23 that you should be what? Not hearers only but doers.

Now you see, James is now thinking about the Word of God. He’s thinking about the Scripture. He’s thinking about the Bible. So what about the Bible? And he says what do you do with the Bible? What do you do with the Word of God? Now I tell you that what a person does with the Word of God really depends. What you do with the Word of God depends on what you think of the Word of God. What is the Word of God to you? 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul says. 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul says to Timothy is that “from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, (which is or) which are able to make you wise for salvation”.

Is that your understanding of the Word of God? Is that how you see the Word of God that it is able to make you wise for salvation? What do us who are parents think of the Bible? What do you think of other books? What do you think of the Bible? Do you really believe that the Bible (the Word of God), it is able to make a person wise unto salvation? If so, why is it that so many parents are not teaching the Bible to their children? Why is it that it’s not the focus of their parental training? Now you see, it depends what you think of the Bible, what the Bible is. Do you already believe that the Bible is able to make one wise unto salvation?

Romans 10:17, again here Paul writing to the Romans and he says this. Romans 10:17, Paul says: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”. Now if a person were to believe in Jesus Christ, how does that come about? If your friend were to believe in Jesus Christ; if your child were to believe in Jesus Christ, how will that come about? And the Bible is clear on this that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. That as far as the Scripture is concerned, there is no other way.

In fact, the whole emphasis of Romans 10 is to underscore the point that if we don’t preach the gospel and if people do not hear the gospel, we don’t expect salvation. We don’t expect people to become a Christian. No way. No other tricks will do, only the Bible. So if you believe that the Bible is the only way whereby a person bcomes a Christian, what do you do with the Bible? Listen to Paul again in Acts chapter 20. Acts 20:32, speaking to the elders of the church in Ephesus. And he says this, verse 32 of Acts 20: “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace”.

Why? I commend you to the Word of His grace. Why? He says because it “is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified”. To the church, he says that this is so important. What is the priority of the church? What is it? As far as Paul is concerned, it is the centrality of the Scripture. Why? Because it is the only thing that can build up the church of Jesus Christ. This is the thing that converts a soul. This is the thing that builds up the church of Jesus Christ. You see, what you do with the Bible really depends what you think about the Bible. What is the Bible to you? How important it is to your Christian life, to the salvation of the lost, to the building up of the church of Jesus Christ?

See, James is thinking about the Word of God. I hope this morning you’ll think about the Word of God. Give the Word of God, give the Bible some serious thought and think about what you as a Christian do with your Bible. Let me tell you what a lot of people do with their Bible. They buy a new Bible from the bookshop, they bring the Bible home, and then they find a space in their bookshelf and they just put it there. It is one among many books. That is what they do with the Bible. For others, perhaps they buy a nice Bible and they put it beside you know their bed and it stays there forever. And that’s what they do with their Bible.

Others perhaps, they bring the Bible and they put it into their handbag for protection, and that’s what they do with the Bible. So what should a Christian do with the Word of God? Now I have just three things to say about this, and I believe that James is saying that too. What should a Christian do with the Word of God? James says firstly the Christian must be quick to hear. The Christian must be quick to hear. So let’s get back to James 1:19- “So then (or in your other translations says know this)”. I think that is a better way to put it. Know this. There is an emphasis here. As he thinks about the Word of God, he said I want you to get this. Be, he said my beloved brethren, “let every man (or every person) be quick to hear”.

So that is the first thing James tells us about what a Christian should do with the Word of God. We must be quick to hear. What does that mean when James tells us that we are to be quick or swift to hear? Well, this is what James means. When he says be quick to hear, it’s not simply you know we just being slow. When he says be quick, he means that we must be ever ready to hear the Word of God. Are you ready this morning as you come among many things perhaps you’re looking forward to in church? Is this the thing, the most important thing that you are here and you are ready. Lord speak, thy servant heareth.

Is that your attitude? To be quick to hear means that you must be eager to hear. It means that you must be longing to hear the Word of God. It means that you must have an appetite for the Word of God. That is what James is talking about here when he says be quick to hear. It is as Peter who tells us in 1 Peter 2:2. Now Peter tells us here that “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby”. And here Peter uses the picture of a baby and mothers know babies. And when babies are hungry, mother knows what happens. There would be that scream. There would be that cry of hunger, the hunger pang, asking for milk.

And Peter is saying that that is exactly how we should come before the Word of God, like a baby hungering for the Word of God. Is there a scream in your heart? Is that the cry, that longing, a cry that longs for? Now I dare say that probably not a lot. Not a lot of Christians comes to the Scripture with that scream, with that longing. But that is what James is saying about what we should do with the Word of God. We should have the hunger. Remember in Psalm chapter 1 the psalmist says his delight is in the law of the LORD”. There must be a delight “and in His law he meditates day and night.”.

I mean just listen to that description, to those words about the psalmist’s attitude towards the Word of God. And how much of that describe us? Now that is the challenge. That is what James is asking us to examine ourselves this morning, to ask ourselves in relation to the Word of God. What is it like? What is it like? Does any of these describe us? The baby screaming for mother’s mike, like someone who delights in some food? Listen also again to the psalmist in Psalm 19:10. And he says this, Psalm 19:10. And in Psalms we have in this Psalms, we have a Psalm of the Word of God. Psalm 19:10, the psalmist says: “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”.

Now that is what James is talking about. Is that our attitude that the Word of God is more desirable than gold, sweeter also than the honeycomb? Now listen again to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, and then I want to draw your attention to these many words that describe the psalmist’s attitude towards the Word of God. Psalm 119:20, the psalmist says: “My soul breaks with longing”. “My soul breaks with longing for Your judgements at all times.”. Longing for what? For Your judgement. The judgement here refers to the Word of God. My longing for the Word of God. Verse 31. Verse 31: “I cling to Your testimonies”. I long for Your Word. I cling to Your Word. And verse 97. Verse 97: “Oh, how I love Your law!”. How I love your law.

You see, there is such a craze for entertainment and nobelty in worship today that the Word of God is not central, that the Word of God and the preaching of the Word of God has been obscured, have been put to the side-line as it were, and everything else take centre stage. People have lost sight of the place of preaching. And therefore, people are not quick to hear. There is this little longing and eagerness. In fact, people do not come very often to church to hear preaching anymore. The anticipation is not the hearing of the Word of God. The anticipation is whatever else is happening in the worship.

So why are you here this morning? Why are you here this morning? I think that is a good question to ask ourselves when we come to church. Now, what is the reason for this exhortation? Why is James trying to make this point that we should be eager, that there should be this longing in us to come and hear the Word of God? Well, I think it is not difficult to find the reason because Jesus tells us the reason. You might remember in Luke chapter 8, now Jesus says to His hearers now these words. Luke chapter 8, you see in verse 4 we are told that “when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Jesus from every city, He spoke a parable”.

Now, this is a scene alright in verse 4 that Jesus was in a certain location and multitudes, meaning to say thousands and thousands of people were gathered to listen to Jesus. Now, what do you think was in Jesus’ mind when He sees a multitude, a crowd, when He sees thousands of people waiting to hear Him? What do you think comes to Jesus’ mind? Now it is this. He’s wondering. He’s wondering how much of a benefit these people would receive from listening to His Word, how much of a benefit that these people who are gathered here will benefit from the preaching of the Word of God. And His thought is maybe not a lot alright- not a lot.

And so He tells a parable of the seed sower. He tells a parable and says that well you know what that in this crowd of thousands of people there are different kinds of hearers, people who come but with different attitudes towards the Word of God. There are those, He calls them the wayside hearers. The wayside hearers. In verse 12 those by the wayside are those who hear, but they do not benefit. There are those who are the rocky hearers, the hearers on the rock in verse 13. But the one on the rock are those who hear when they receive the word with joy but they have no roots. They’re just here. It’s just as it were for the entertainment. They receive with joy and they say good, but it doesn’t get in. And so, no root.

There are those he says in verse 14 are the ones that felt among thorns, who when they have heard go out and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. Now you see, what Jesus is thinking about that day is possible for thousands and thousands of people gathered even to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ and benefit nothing from the hearing from the Word of God because they do not have the right attitude towards the Word of God. They are the wayside hearers, the hearers on the rock, and the thorny ground.

And that’s the reason why there is a need for James to make this point that when we come to the Word of God we must have a proper attitude. We must be quick, eager. The appetite, have the longing to hear the Word of God. Now that is the first thing James tells us about what a Christian should do with the Word of God. We must be quick to hear. But secondly, James tells us that but not hearers only. Not hearers only. So let’s go back to James 1:22. And James says: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”. So James says we must be quick to hear, we’re eager to hear but not hearers only. Why? Because he says that if you are hearers only, you are only deceiving yourself.

Now I say what is the purpose of hearing the Word of God? That is what James is coming to. He is urging us on the one hand to be quick, to be eager to hear the Word of God. And on the other hand, he is asking what is the purpose of having that eagerness to hear the Word of God? To answer that question, we must ask: What is the purpose of preaching? What is the purpose of the Word of God? What is the purpose of people coming to the church? Now let me tell you what is the purpose of preaching, and Paul tells us. And he wants his hearers to be clear about that. Now he went from place to place and he proclaimed the Word of God. And he tells them: Look, you have to be clear as to why I am doing this.

Colossians 1:28. Colossians 1:28. And here writing to the Colossian church, he says in verse 28: “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom”. Why? Why are we preaching Him? Why are we preaching the gospel? Why are we preaching the Word of God? And he tells us the reason, “that we may present every man matured (or complete) in Christ Jesus.”. There is a goal. And so he says in verse 29: “To this end”. This is the purpose, to this purpose or “to this end I also labour, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”.

It is to this end. And the end is that the hearers might be changed, might be transformed, that the hearers might grow in their spiritual life, that the sinners might be converted that they might become perfect or mature or complete in Christ Jesus. You see, what Paul is saying that you are not here watching a performance. The preachers are not here to try to outdo one another as to who would be the best preachers. That is not the intention, and it should not be the intention or the goal of the preachers. Our goal as it were, Paul tells us, is that you might be changed.

See, most of you perhaps you see throughout this year or throughout a year in any one year would have heard many, many sermons. If you are faithful, you would have heard fifty-two at least sermons a year. And perhaps you add to that your own listening in the internet. But how many of you have ever asked yourself that for all those listening to the Word of God, all the hearing, all the intake of the Word of God. For all the hearing, have you ever asked yourself what changes have been made in your life? Or do we come in the beginning of the year and then we end the same year the same person, no change?

ow that is not the purpose of the Word of God. The purpose of the Word of God is meant to change us. It’s meant to transform us. Again in Colossians 1. And that’s why in verse 9 Paul says to them: “For this reason we also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding”. You see, that’s Paul’s great burden. He says I pray for you and my heart’s desire as it were, my prayer for you is that you may grow in your understanding of the Word of God. It is our desire that you increase in the knowledge of His will.

But why? This is just not the end because Paul goes on in verse 10 and says: “so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”. So thaere is a goal. It is not simply that you increase in the knowledge of the truth. It’s not simply giving you books and theology books so that you become a theologian and so that you become well versed with the Puritans. Or maybe there’s some reformed doctrines. It’s suppose that is not the end game. That is not the ultimate goal. It’s not simply knowledge but it is transformation of life that you may walk worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to Him.

And so you see, worship is not a show. It’s not a performance. The preacher is not trying to outdo one another, and that should not be. Our goal, says Paul, is that you might be perfect, that you might be holy as God is holy. And this is what James is saying to the people that if you are only hearers, you are deceiving yourself. And then he gives a picture to illustrate alright what he means that if you are only hearers, if you are those kinds of people who come and merely sample sermons and then maybe you give grade. Oh, that preacher, five out of ten. Now the other one, seven out of ten. Now this one no, two out of ten, then you miss the point.

And so James now uses a picture to help us see what he’s trying to say in verse 23: “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer”. You know what? Then “he is like a man who looks intently into the mirror”. And then he sees some black marks on his face, he observes himself in verse 24, and then he “goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of a man he was.”. Now, how many of us go out of this place every week forgetting what kind of a man we are? We come in here, we hear the Word of God. We are told of the standard of God, we are told of the law and the high demands of God for our life.

We are taught as to what we ought to be, and then we go out, we forget what kind of a man we are that we are not the kind of man that God wants us to be. Now James says that is with a lot of people. That is with a lot of people. Now we may say it’s ridiculous. We know that it’s ridiculous for people to look at the mirror and not do anything about. Then what is the point of looking into the mirror every morning? What’s the point then? And that is what James is saying, and that is what is true for so many Christians. What should a Christian do with the Word of God?

First, we must alright- we must be quick to hear. Have that longing, have the right attitude to know what the Word of God is, know what a blessing it is. And then we must not be hearers only but be doers of the Word. Now the third thing James tells us is this. What if you are hearers only? Maybe you ask that question. What if I’m hearers only? Is that a big problem? You see for a lot of people, they never really seriously think about this question. They come and hear the Word of God, they never seriously think about this question. What if I am a hearer-only kind of person? James tells us this. If you are only hearers of the Word of God, it doesn’t matter.

Maybe you’re a very regular churchgoer. You never miss a sermon. Maybe you listen every day to John MacArthur or whoever other preachers in the internet. What if you don’t do anything about it, about your life? Now James gives us a warning. Verse 26: “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.”. Worthless, no value. That is the warning from James you see that if you are a hearer only in verse 25, he said that you will not be blessed. Only those who hear the Word of God and do the will of God, that one those people will be blessed. And if you do not do the Word of God, then your Christianity is of no use, worthless.

Now that is the great danger. So what if you are hearers only? I pointed out some weeks ago that James is a good student of the Lord Jesus Christ, his own brother. And here he is kind of echoing what the Lord Jesus Christ has been saying all along in His ministry while He was on earth. To the people who think that it is good enough just to be religious, it is good enough just to be so-called followers of Jesus Christ, it is good enough just to come to church, it is good enough just to hear the Word of God.

And here James is echoing the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 7 and which Jesus said exactly the same thing, giving exactly the same warning, saying to the people in verse 21 that not everyone who calls themselves a Christian, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven”. In other words, their religion is so useless they cannot even make them make it to heaven. They shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. “but he who does the will of My Father”. You see what Jesus is saying? What makes the difference? What’s the difference between this group of Christians and the other kind of Christian? It boils down to this. It is whether they are doers of the will of God or they are not.

It is not about whether they are hearers of the Word of God. Now all of these people may be hearers of the Word of God. All of them may be going to church. All of them may own a Bible, but not all of them are going to heaven. You get that? You hear what Jesus is saying? And you hear what James is saying that your religion is useless because it doesn’t get you into the kingdom of God, into heaven? That is what Jesus is saying. That’s the bottom line. That is what it finally amounts to or depends on, whether you do the will of My Father in heaven.

And then He tells a little parable which is well known to many to underscore His point in verse 24: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine”. You see, they are the hearing. And he said: “whoever hears My word, hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock”. See, the people who hear the Word of God and they do the will of God, they are like people who built their house on the rock. Verse 25: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall”.

His religion is true. His Christianity is genuine. His faith is real. Why? Because they are not just hearers only, because they are also doers of the word. What about those other group of people? Verse 26: “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine. Everyone who hears My words and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was its fall.”.

So what is the great dividing line? What is the great thing, is the main thing that divides these two groups of people? It’s not that they don’t call themselves Christians because these are the people who call Jesus Lord, Lord. It’s not that they do not go to church because these are the same group people who come to church. It’s not that one group called themselves Christian, the other group no because they all call themselves Christians. Those are not the differences. The difference lies here- those who hear and do My will, and those who hear and do not do the will of My Father in heaven.

What if you are hearers only? Answer, then your Christianity is useless. Useless, exactly the word from the Bible. It’s not the word that I invented because James uses that word. Or in some translation ‘worthless’. That is the warning. So what should a Christian do with the Word of God? Do not take the Word of God lightly. Know what the Bible is. Know what the Bible is able to do. It’s able to save souls. It’s able to build up your spiritual life. It’s able to build a church of Jesus Christ. Everything about our Christian life boils down to this. What do you do with the Word of God? Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we again bow and thank You for Your Word. We know that through the ages the devil has attempted to destroy Your Word. But You in Your goodness and Your mercy have preserved this for us. And our sin, O Lord, is that we do not take Your Word seriously often. And now we pray that You’ll help us to heed to this message that we will be people who will be quick to hear, eager to hear the Word of God, have that longing every time for Your truth. And not just hearers only but the people who would be obedient to Your will, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.