Introduction

James 1:22 ESV  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

• This is one of my all time favorite verses.
  • So simple, so clean, so straight forward.
    • It’s not enough just to hear the Word of God… it’s not enough just to read the Word of God… you actually have to DO the Word of God.
    • You have to obey it!
      • You have to do the things it says to do.
      • You have to refrain from the things it says NOT to do.

James 1:22 ESV  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

• I think, in fact, that this verse really sums up nicely what it means to be a Christian.
  • “But pastor I am a Christian because I follow Christ”
    • Well yes that is true, but you follow Christ because the Bible told you to.
  • “But, I am a Christian because I am born again”.
    • Praise God! YES! And you were born again because the Bible told you to be.
  • “But pastor, I am a Christian because I believe in God and in Jesus!”
    • Great! But which Jesus and which God do you believe in? Because for me it is the God of the Bible and the Jesus of the Bible.
• Unless you came to Christ from a vision or dream, which does happen, you believe, you follow, you are saved because the Bible told you to.
  • Sure, you may have not read it for yourself before you got saved… but I bet the person who lead you to Jesus did.
    • And the person who led them to Jesus…
      • And the person who led them. And so on and so on…
  • Yes there were people who lived with Jesus and followed Jesus and were born again because of His spoken words… but those words were recorded and became the word of God.
• Therefore I think it is fair to say that a Christian is not just someone who hears or reads the Word of God, but it is someone who DOES the Word of God, in all areas.
• Geroge MacDonald, a Scottish pastor, author, and poet, had this to say about being a doer and not just a hearer:

Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have, this day, done one thing because He said, do it! or once abstained because He said, do not do it! It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe, in Him, if you do not do anything He tells you.
-Rev George MacDonald

• This is Christianity, it starts by obeying God’s word to be born again, and it continues in a life of reading, believing, obeying, and doing!
  • Now, just a side note before we get into the three points this morning, this is really a two part message. Next week’s message is very important to pair with this one… because next week we are going to talk about using the Word to examine ourselves and our hearts.
    • The Pharisee’s where good at obeying God’s word… sometimes… but they never examined their heart, they never looked deep within to see their own depravity and need for a savior, need for redemption, need for growth, and need for change… so we will talk about that next week.
• But for now we are going to talk about one of our church’s moto’s:

Open Your Bible, Read It, and Do What it Says

Point One – To be a doer of the Word you must first be a reader of the Word.

• Point one this morning is simple “To be a doer of the Word you must first be a reader of the Word”.
  • Seems pretty simple right? To do the Word of God, you actually, you know, need to know what the Word of God says.
    • This one Christian discipline is so incredibly important for the Christian.
      • Last night at Youth Group we did a question and answer night, where the youth can ask any question they want.
      • And one youth anonymously asked “I connected with God the best during worship… but I feel like I am losing that connection… what do I do?
      • My response was long winded and rabbit trailed a lot…
      • But the gist was this:
      • “Worship is not for you. Worship is for God. You should never go into worship thinking “What can I get out of this?”
        • Sure, God inhabits the praises of His people… and we certainly can connect with God during worship… but that is not the point of worship. Worship is intended to bring glory to God, to lift Him up, to praise Him, to worship Him… it’s all about what GOD get’s out of worship, not what we get out of worship.
      • So, you are looking at worship wrong… worship was never intended to be the way you connect with God, that is just a nice added benefit…
      • BUT YOU KNOW WHAT WAS INTENDED FOR YOU TO USE TO CONNECT WITH GOD? THE WORD!
        • READ YOUR WORD.
  • SO MANY CHRISTIANS STRUGGLE WITH THIS DISCIPLINE! YET IT IS FUNDAMENTAL.
    • I know some who Tithe… but don’t read the Word.
    • I know some who serve in church… but don’t read the Word.
    • I know some who go on missions… but don’t read the Word.
    • I know MANY who go to church every Sunday, worship every Sunday, say amen to the sermons every Sunday… but don’t read the Word.
      • Why is it that people can find the time to come to church on Sunday morning and listen to me, and my bad jokes, and my rabbit trails, and my distractions…
      • Why is it that people can find time to do that on a Sunday, but then come Monday they can’t find time to read the pure, unadulterated Word of God?
        • Is it because you think I am more entertaining than the Word?
          • Your wrong!
        • Is it because you think I am easier to understand than the Word
          • Wrong again!
        • The Word is active and alive and you have a Holy Spirit inside of you who can help you understand the Word… the same Holy Spirit that helps me preach the Word.
          • My job is simply to encourage you to open your Bible, read it, and do what it says.
        • And sure I can be entertaing, and yes God helps me make things plain when I preach…
          • BUT I AM NO SUBSTITUTE FOR READING GOD’S WORD.
• And if you don’t read God’s word, you are not going to know what it says, and if you don’t know what it says how can you do what it says?

James 1:22 ESV  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

• So let me just take a moment to combat, with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God… let me combat the lies and excuses I hear as to why people don’t read the Word of God.
• Maybe you say, as I have heard many times before: “I am not a strong reader”.
  • Fine! The Bible was intended to be listened to! When it was written only a handful of people in each town would know how to read… so the Bible was written for one person to read to many persons.
  • Go get the Bible app, it has FREE audio Bibles, you can listen to the Word. BE A HEARER OF THE WORD!
• Maybe you say “I don’t have time to read the Bible”.
  • My response would be, I don’t believe you. If you have time to eat you have time to read.
  • Maybe you need to get on the Job diet… and read the Word before you ever eat.

Job 23:12 ESV I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

• When I was in college I struggled to find time to read the Word, so I went on the Job diet. I refused to feed my flesh with food if I did not first read the Word.
  • And so before every meal I read my Bible… Voila! I found out I did have time to read!
  • Jesus even doubled down on this after fasting for 40 days…

Matthew 4:4 ESV But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

• The Devil had tempted Jesus with food… but Jesus shut up the Devil by quoting… get this… THE OLD TESTAMENT! He was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3
• Which brings me to the next lie people believe that neuters their time in God’s Word…
  • “Well pastor I only read the New Testament”
    • Well then you are not really reading the Word of God are you.
    • Sure you are reading a part of God’s word… but what would you say of me if I only read John 11:35?
      • John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible:

John 11:35 ESV  Jesus wept.

• What if I only read this verse, every day, all day. And never read anything else?
  • In the morning: Jesus wept. In the evening: Jesus wept. On Christmas: Jesus wept. On Easter Sunday: Jesus Wept.
    • For hours as I fasted, I just read over and over: Jesus wept, Jesus wept, Jesus wept.
      • If that was all I read, would you say that I read the Word of God?
      • NO!
        • Because reading only a small part of it is not enough!
        • STOP IGNORING THE OLD TESTAMENT!

Romans 15:4 ESV For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Matthew 5:17 ESV “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

• Another reason I hear people don’t read their Bible “Well I just don’t get a lot out of it”.
  • Then pray according to Psalm 119:18

Psalm 119:18 ESV Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

• You trust God with your salvation, now trust that He can open up the wonders of His word to you!
• Finally, I hear people tell me the Bible is boring… first of all, what Bible are you reading?! But second, stop filling your entertainment time with filth…

Psalms 1:1-2 ESV  Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;  (2)  but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

• What if we read more than we Netflixed? What if instead of GTA we got in the Word? What if we stopped hanging out with those people who always want to be filthy in their language and actions… and we got more in the Word?
  • I am not saying we can’t have leisure time, and watch honorable media and have honorable hobbies… I am just saying if your flood your mind with filth, holiness will seem foreign and boring to you.
• Now there are a lot of other excuses people give, but those are the main ones… for the sake of time let’s move on to point two:

Point Two – To be a doer of the Word you must be a believer of the Word.

James 1:22 ESV  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

• To be a doer of God’s Word you have to actually believe God’s word.
  • If you look at a bridge, and you don’t believe it is going to hold you up… you are not going to try to cross that bridge.
• But so many people don’t actually believe the word of God. They may read it from time to time, but they don’t believe it.
• You know why people don’t confess their sins? Because they don’t believe in the Word of God.

Numbers 32:23 ESV  But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.

1 John 1:9 ESV  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• These two verses are very clear… it doesn’t take a Rocket Surgeon to understand them.
  • If you sin, no matter how secret you think it was, it will come to light… it will be made public… but if you confess your sin you will be cleansed of all unrighteousness.
    • Yet SO many people sin in secret and try to keep it secret.
      • Secret affairs. Secret addictions. Secret sins…
        • And they go on for years… years of lying, years of hiding, years of shadows… because they don’t believe the word of God, they don’t believe it, so they don’t do it.
        • If they believed that their sin would find them out, they would confess and be cleansed… but instead they lie and hide.
• I have been told by people when confronted on their sin “I couldn’t help it… the temptation was to strong”.
  • And I respond to that “LIAR!”
  • Because unlike them, I actually believe the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

• So when someone says they couldn’t help it the temptation was too much… either they are lying or God is lying… and God is not a man that He should lie.
  • Instead, if we READ the Word, we would know this scripture… that God does not allow us to be tempted more than we can take.
  • And if we BELIEVED the Word we would KNOW there must be an escape from this temptation and we would look for that escape instead of looking for an excuse.
• You know why people don’t tithe? Because they don’t believe the Word of God.
  • I require our Deacons and Pastors to tithe… the only people in the church that we actually check to see if they are giving tithes and offerings.
  • Why? Because I want their money? Not at all, God has always provided for this church and we are doing great financially.
    • No, I require them to tithe because I require our Deacons and Pastors to believe the Word of God.

Malachi 3:8 ESV  Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.

• So if I have someone who is a Deacon or a Pastor who is not tithing… then at least one of three things is true…
  • Either they don’t read scripture and don’t know that this verse exists.
  • Or they don’t believe scripture, and think it is perfectly fine not to give their full tithes and offerings.
  • OR they read it and believe it, but for some reason they are OK with robbing God.
    • EITHER WAY, THEY ARE NOT FIT TO LEAD IN THIS CHURCH.
• Let me read the full context of this verse:

Malachi 3:8-11 ESV  Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.  (9)  You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.  (10)  Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.  (11)  I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.

• If you believed scripture… if you believed these verses… you would NEVER miss tithes and offerings!
  • Because you would never want to rob God, you would want to be abundantly blessed, and you would want God to rebuke Satan for your sake!
• Read the Word Church, and Believe the Word… But point three this morning… you actually have to do the Word!

Point three – To be a doer of the Word you must actually do what the Word says

James 1:22 ESV  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

• You know in Luke 4:1-13, Satan tempts Jesus… and you know how Satan does this? By quoting Scripture.
  • That means that SATAN know the Word. He has heard it, He knows it well enough to quote it verbatim from multiple books…
  • And later on in James we read:

James 2:19 ESV  You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

• This means that Satan not only hears or reads the Word… but believes! At least to an extent.
  • Which means point one and two of todays sermon are useless without point three.
    • Point one – Read the word.
    • Point two – Believe the word.
    • Point three – Do the word!
      • Satan does point one and two…
      • All I want is for all of us to be better than Satan… is that so much to ask?
      • We Actually have to OBEY the Word.
      • Open your Bible, Read it, And Do What It Says!

Luke 11:27-28 ESV  As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”  (28)  But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Romans 2:13 ESV  For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

• Listen, if the Bible says not to do something, then don’t do it.
  • And if the Bible says Do something… THEN YOU DO IT.
    • You don’t look for excuses and work arounds…
      • “Well I know the Bible says ‘Don’t Steal’ but who am I really hurting by downloading this movie illegally?”
      • “Well I know the Bible says ‘Don’t lust’ but the storyline of Game of Thrones is just too good to miss.”
      • “Well I know the Bible says “Don’t Forsake the Gathering of the Brethren” but Sunday is my only day off.
      • “Well I know God calls me to make disciples but I am just an introvert”
    • Stop making excuses in order to disobey. THAT’S WHAT THE PHARISEES DID… You know, the Jewish scholars who killed Jesus.
      • Some people call the Pharisees “legalists” but I like to call them “illegalists” because they looked for ways to break God’s laws.
        • They would say “I know God tells us to honor our mother and father… and my parents really could use some financial help right now… BUT… if I give all my money to the church then I don’t have to give any to them, and the church can just take care of me…”
        • Literally Jesus called them out for this, and many other ways they would twist the word of God so they wouldn’t have to obey it.
• WE DON’T DO THAT! WE ARE CHRISTIANS! WE OPEN OUR BIBLE, WE READ IT, AND WE DO WHAT IT SAYS! Amn?!

Conclusion

Psalm 19:7-11 ESV The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Gospel Call

Aaronic Blessing