Church family, if you would open your Bibles to the book of James
chapter one. We have been going through James
for just a few weeks now. We've just started this series
after we finished the book of Numbers and this morning we're
going to be in James 119 to 21. We've been going through it at a
rather slow pace because James is is a fairly short book and so
I wanted to kind of plant ourselves in this book and look
at it at a slow pace. So we'll be in the 19 to 21 this
morning. Title of the sermon is quick to
hear, slow to speak, and that comes directly from our text
this morning. So let's read the text, open us
a word of prayer, and then we'll jump into the sermon this
morning. James one beginning in verse 19.
Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to
hear, slow to speak, 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.
Let's pray Father, I pray that as we look at these commands
this morning about being quick to hear and slow to speak, slow
to anger, putting away filthiness and and rampant
wickedness, receiving the the implanted word with meekness.
God, as we look at these 5 commands, I pray God, as next
week as what we're going to look at, that you would help us to be
more than just hearers of the Word, but to be doers.
So Lord, this morning, would you help us to put these things into
practice, Lord, not just so that we can ultimately be better
listeners or be calmer people, Lord, but that we would look
more like Jesus. And that the way that we live
our lives with our families, our friends at school, at a
workplaces, raising our children and our marriages, Lord, that
the way in which we live, it would reflect Christ.
That as we even just sung that to show us Christ that we would
reflect Christ and that our people in our lives would be
shown Christ and the way that we live.
Got to pray that you do this in his name, Amen.
When I read the text that preaching on this morning, this
week and and when I stand in front of the mirror and take an
honest assessment of my myself, of my own life, I realized that
I am often slow to hear and quick to speak and quick to
anger. I think in previous years I used
to justify anger as being a good thing.
It, it can be. I think I justified it because
it meant I cared. I get angry because I care.
I don't struggle with apathy, but I do struggle with anger.
And then I read what James writes, that the anger of man
does not produce the righteousness of God, and I
realized that meekness far more often produces the righteousness
of God than anger does. The meek person is quick to hear
and it's slow to speak. And that's what the sermon is
about. This morning, as we started, we
look at our text. I'm going to start with the next
position of the text where I kind of explain it and try to
help us understand what James is writing to us and teaching us.
And then I'll give application as to what we are to do with
this text. So let's start with the
exposition. I'm going to look at it section
by section, not just verse by verse, but section by section to
break it down so we know what James is teaching us.
So let's start verse 19 A where James writes know this.
My beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear.
James starts our passage this morning with the command.
It's the very first command he says is know this.
That's a command. It seems odd to command people
to know something, right? But we are commanded to know
God's truth, and so James wants them to know something.
Notice what he calls them again for the second time in this
letter. Know this, my beloved brothers.
We looked at this phrase last week where James said do not be
deceived my beloved brothers. Now he writes, know this.
My beloved brothers know what James is going to give them 3
commands. Let's look at them one at a
time. The first command is let every
person be quick to hear. What does that phrase mean?
The Greek word when it's for quick, when it's used as an
adjective means swift or speedy. The idea here is that a person
is ready and willing to listen. They are eager to listen.
That's the first one. Verse 19-B Slow to speak.
The second command James gives is the opposite of the first.
Let every person be slow. The word for slow here is used
only three times in the New Testament, twice in this verse.
It means pertaining to an extended period of time with the
implication of being slow to do something.
Whereas we are to be quick to use our ears, we are to be slow
to use our mouths. Now, obviously, we're not to be
slow to speak in every area. James is painting with a very
broad stroke here, as is very common in wisdom literature.
Look, let's look at the third command. 19C, Slow to anger.
So quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.
This word for slow to anger is the same word and slow to speak
no different. The Greek word for anger is used
36 times in the New Testament, 29 of the 36.
It is translated in the ESV as wrath.
All of those uses referring to the wrath of God.
Same word, same Greek word. It can take one of two
definitions. Either A it is a state of
relatively strong displeasure with a focus on the emotional
aspect. And when it takes that
definition, it's always translated as anger.
Or the second definition is a strong indignation directed at
wrongdoing with a focus on retribution.
And when it takes that definition, it's always
translated as wrath. Now, I want you to notice that
James's point here is not don't get angry.
That's not what he says. He doesn't say don't get angry.
His point is be slow to anger. In other words, anger is not
intrinsically sinful. There is nothing intrinsically
sinful about anger. How do we know this?
Because God gets angry. Jesus got angry.
But James wants us to be slow to feel and express this emotion.
Now why? Why does he want us to be slow
to feel and express this emotion?
Look at verse 20. For the anger of man does not
produce the righteousness of God.
The reason we are to be slow to anger is because our anger,
unlike God's, our anger doesn't produce the righteousness of
God. Now first we have to ask what is
the righteousness of God? This is important.
This phrase is used once by James, once by Paul and 2nd
Corinthians 521, and then five times by Paul in the book of
Romans. And we have to realize here that
James is using this phrase differently than how Paul uses
the phrase. Remember, most scholars think
that James wrote his letter first, so he doesn't have Paul
to work off of. James is using this phrase
differently than Paul. When Paul uses the phrase the
righteousness of God, he is referring to our position, our
standing before God, right? That type of righteousness is
only accomplished, it's only produced by Jesus Christ, by his
death on the cross. That's the only way you produce
that type of righteousness, right?
But James is not using this phrase in the position sense.
He's using it in the progressive sense.
In other words, this is the ongoing righteousness that we
are called to as Christians. As Christians we are called not
only am I righteous, my position, but then I'm called to
live righteously before God. That's what James is referring
to. This is our deeds and how we
live. In other words, what James is
saying here is that our anger, when we get angry, it does not
produce behavior that is pleasing to God.
Look at verse 21. A Therefore put away all
filthiness and rampant wickedness.
Therefore put away filthiness and rampant wickedness, James
writes. Therefore, what is the therefore
connecting here? James is probably suggesting
that just as anger doesn't produce the righteousness of
God, neither does filthiness or rampant wickedness, which are
often a byproduct of our anger. I think that's what he's getting
at here is that this filthiness and rampant wickedness often is
a byproduct of our anger, and out of those the anger produce
the righteousness. Neither of these produce the the
righteousness of God either. James tells the church to put
them away. That's that's one word in the
Greek. It literally means to lay aside.
Like if I were to take it, it also refers to removing one's
clothes. So if I were to take this jacket
off and I were to put it down, I would have lay it aside.
I would have cast it aside or throw it out in the street,
right? That's the idea here.
He says to put it away. Put away.
What tells us two things. Number one, put away all
filthiness. It's the only time this word is
used. It literally means dirt.
Dirt put away dirt, but it's used in a figurative sense, a
figurative sense. It's a state of moral defilement
or corruption, moral uncleanness or vulgarity.
That's the first one. Second one is rampant
wickedness. Put away rampant wickedness.
The word for rampant means that which is beyond what is regular
or what's expected. Surplus, abundance, and the word
for wickedness is the quality of state of wickedness, baseness,
depravity or vice. So James is making the same
point that the apostle Paul several times.
Ephesians 422 They all use the same word, same word as put away
here. Ephesians 422 Put off your old
self. Literally take off, remove your
old self. Ephesians 425 to have you put
away falsehood or Colossians 38 where Paul says but now you must
put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander
and obscene talk. Look at 21B.
Receive with meekness the implanted word.
Notice here James doesn't say. As I'm going to keep stressing
this, it is so important that when we read God's Word, we not
only read what is there, but what is not there, right?
What is there, what is not there?
James doesn't say. Hear the implanted word.
That's not what he says. He says receive it.
This word for receive means to accept or welcome it, to be
receptive to it and notice how we are to receive it.
We are to receive it with meekness.
What does that word meekness mean?
This is one of my favorite Greek.
It might be my favorite Greek definition.
I love this definition. Here it is.
The quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of 1's self
importance. Man, that's a good definition.
The quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of 1's self
importance. That's what meekness is.
It basically what James is saying is that we are to receive
the word humbly, not just receive it, but humbly receive
it. Humbly receive what?
The implanted word, implanted word.
It's the only time this word implanted is used in the Bible.
It means to be permanently in a place with the implication of
development placed in permanently established in.
In other words, God puts it there, He implants it.
I may be the one who is speaking, but what will
determine whether this goes in your ear and out the other or
doesn't even reach your ears, or whether it actually goes into
your heart, stays there and accomplices is whether God
implants it. I don't implant it.
You don't implant it. God implants it and He intends
for it to stay there. What is implanted?
The word receive the implanted word.
The word word here can refer to any of God's word.
This is any exhortation. It's not just me.
Afterward we go to worship and community or you go out to lunch
and somebody exhorts you. Somebody gives you a prophecy or
word of encouragement or a rebuke.
Any, any word, any encouragement, exhortation,
teaching, rebuke, prophecy. If it is from God's word, he's
saying receive that with meekness 21-C which is able to
save your souls. Now we may think, what is the
motivation to receive with meekness right now?
What is your motivation to listen right now?
What is your motivation at lunch?
When you go to lunch with your brother or sister in the faith,
or you're on the car ride home and your spouse is talking to
you, or when you do anything after, what is your motivation
to receive what is being spoken to you?
It is this. It is able to save your soul.
Now, what does James mean by this?
We've already established that he's writing to Christians.
This is confirmed by his four uses of the word brothers
already. It's clear that he's writing to
Christian. So why does James, say, receive
the implanted word which is able to save you?
Aren't they already saved, right?
Maybe even this morning you might be thinking like, Pastor,
like every week I come here. You're so worked up, brother,
we're already saved. Chill out, we must remember that
the Bible talks of justification as a punctilier event, but it
talks of salvation as past, present, and future.
You were saved. Romans 824 For in this hope we
were saved. You are being saved.
First Corinthians 15 one to two. Now I would remind you,
brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, what you
received and what you stand, and by which you are being saved.
And you will be saved for Timothy 416 Persist in this
young Timothy, for by doing so you will save both yourself and
your hearers. What James is saying is that the
implanted word does not simply justify us, it also keeps us.
It perseveres us to final salvation.
It is what keeps you from walking away and saying no
thanks, I don't want to do this anymore.
We'll stop there. At exposition application of the
text, I have 8 exhortations. 8 exhortations #1 Be quick to
hear, especially when angry, hurt, offended, anxious, or even
bored. Be quick to hear especially when
angry, hurt, offended, anxious, or even bored.
I initially wrote this first point of application
differently. I wrote it differently.
What I originally wrote was this.
If we are going to have a quick trigger, let it be with our
ears, not our mouths. If we're going to have a quick
trigger, let it be with our ears, not our mouths.
But then when I read that, and as I thought about it, I
realized that these first two commands, be quick to hear and
slow to speak, are not something that our church struggles with,
generally speaking. I realize this is not something
that our church struggles with. Generally speaking.
We are typically very good at being quick to hear and being
slow to speak. We're typically very good at
that. But then I thought about it and
I asked myself, when are we not quick to hear?
When are we not? And I think this happens when we
are either angry or hurt or offended or anxious or even
bored. Emotions can function like a
sound machine, right? A sound machine that drowns out
our ability to hear properly. That's how emotions can work.
My wife has a very gentle voice. She has a very, very gentle
voice. And if there is any noise going
on in our house? It becomes difficult for me to
discern what she is saying. The problem is there is almost
always noise going on in her house.
We have 4 teenage sons. I can hear her speaking.
I mean I like I can hear that she is speaking.
I can hear that words are coming out, but I can't discern the
words that she is saying. I get bits and pieces right?
Emotions can function like this. We will listen to our spouses or
our roommates or our friends or church members or family
members. But if they make us angry, we
are not quick to hear. We are quick to feel and quick
to react. The same is true if we get hurt
or offended. Sometimes the person who offends
us, they may even be explaining why they did what they did or
why they said what they said. But we are not quick to hear in
that moment and therefore we don't process what they're
saying. We just process our offence.
Or perhaps when we're anxious. How many times has something
been consuming your mind? Maybe you're anxious about work,
maybe you're anxious about school.
Maybe you're anxious about the girl you asked out last night.
Maybe you're you're anxious something's consuming your mind
and your friend or your spouse or your boss tells you something
and you're like, wait, wait, what?
Sorry, I wasn't listening. What'd you say?
Or even being bored. How many times in Sunday school
or Friday night or small group or the sermon do we space out,
doze off, or get distracted? And we're not quick to hear?
Quick to hear implies not only the quantity of our listening,
but also the quality. Don't let emotions and or
boredom become background white noise that keeps you from
listening well. Don't let your emotions, don't
let your boredom, don't let staying up to 4:00 AM keep you
from listening well #2 Be slow to speak, especially when angry,
hurt, offended, anxious, bitter, or prideful.
Be slow to speak, especially when angry, hurt, offended,
anxious, bitter, or prideful. Again, I initially wrote this
point differently. My original point was this.
If you're going to procrastinate, let it be with
your mouth, not your ears. If you're going to
procrastinate, let it be with your mouth, not with your ears.
But again, I thought about our church and I realized that we
are not quick to speak. In fact, what probably needs to
be stressed is the other side of the coin.
Be quick to speak when God calls you to speak.
That side of the coin probably needs to be stressed at our
church. And so again I realized that
even though we are generally painted with a broad stroke here
generally are slow to speak. Emotions can make all of us
quick to speak. You ever gotten angry at your
parents or your siblings or your spouse or your friend and you
said something you regretted? You've been hurt or offended and
rather let it be to your glory to overlook the offence.
We retaliated with our tongue. You ever been bitter about life
not going a certain way? This is not how I wanted it to
go. And we said unrighteous things
towards God or maybe towards another person.
Or you ever had pride well up in your heart only to overflow out
of our mouths like a broken oil rig?
One of the ways to solve this problem is to be slow to speak.
Now let's be clear, being slow to speak doesn't solve all
problems, right? You can be slow to complain.
You just complain in your heart. God hears it, so we're not
saying it solves all problems, but it does solve at least one
problem. Proverbs has many words about
the danger of words. Proverbs 1728.
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise.
Proverbs 10/19. When words are many,
transgression is not lacking, but whoever strains his lips is
prudent. Proverbs 33.
Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life.
He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
Proverbs 2123. Whoever keeps his mouth and
keeps his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.
Martin Luther said speak only when you can improve upon
silence. Church family Be slow to speak,
especially when angry or hurt or offended or bitter or prideful
#3 there is a time to be angry, and that time should be slow.
There is a time to be angry, and that time should be slow.
I think the reason that James has put this command here about
anger in the context of listening and speaking is
because being quick to anger leads to us being quick to speak
and slow to hear. I think one leads to the other.
I think they're they're connected here.
They're tied together. Nothing will open our mouths
quicker or close our ears faster than anger or frustration.
Notice James doesn't say don't be angry.
That's not what he says. He says be slow to anger.
Meaning there is a time to be angry, but that time should be
slow. A few weeks ago, my, my glute
was hurting. I, I think I strained it or
something. And playing basketball, it had
been hurting for months. I mean, like, like maybe even a
year. By the way, it's better now.
Just thank you for praying. We pray for on a Friday night.
And it I, yeah, I just think that God answered your prayers.
So it's better now. But it had been hurting for
months. It had been hurting for like a
year. It was painful to sit.
I couldn't sit very long. It was painful when I play
basketball. It was painful when I worked
out. Even if I just bent over to pick
up something, it was painful. I read online that applying heat
might help it. I tried ice.
That didn't seem to help. So I read online and said maybe
heat would work. So I tried that.
So I pulled out our heating pad. I plugged it in, sat on it, and
I waited and waited and waited. And I thought, man, this thing
takes forever to heat up. That's how our anger should be.
It takes forever for our anger to heat up.
God has called us to have a long fuse, not a short fuse, to have
a slow trigger rather than a quick trigger, to go from zero
to 60 and hours, not seconds. There is a time to be angry, and
that time should be slow. Four, we are to be slow to anger
because our God is slow to anger.
We are to be slow to anger because our God is slow to
anger. Now, James doesn't make this
point right. I typically only take my points
from the text, but I wanted to include it here.
Even though James doesn't make this point.
And the reason I wanted to include it is because the world
can be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger.
The world can do these things. There is nothing necessarily
Christian about being a person who does all three of these
commands. There's nothing necessarily
Christian about them, but the basis of why we do these
commands matters. We do them because they model
our God. Our God is quick to hear our
prayers. Our God is slow to speak
judgment and the reason he is slow to it is because he is slow
to anger. I find it fascinating that one
of the critiques of atheists and secularists alike is that the
God of the Old Testament is an angry God.
That will almost universally all humanists and and secularists
and and an atheist will say that the that they don't like
Christianity because the God of the Old Testament is an angry
God. And yet that is not the
perspective of God's people in the Old Testament.
Listen to what God's people say and what they testify in their
writings. Exodus 34.
Six. The Lord the Lord, a God,
merciful and gracious. Slow to anger, Numbers 1418.
The Lord is slow to anger. Nehemiah 917.
But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful.
Slow to anger. Psalm 8615.
But you, O Lord, are a God, merciful and gracious.
Slow to anger. Psalm 1O38 The Lord is merciful
and gracious. Slow to anger.
Psalm 145 Eight The Lord is gracious and merciful.
Slow to anger. Joel 213 Return to the Lord your
God, for he is gracious and merciful.
Slow to anger. Jonah 4/2 For I knew that you
are gracious God and merciful. Slow to anger.
Nahum 1/3 The Lord is slow to anger.
I don't see an angry God. I see a God who is slow to
anger. And if that doesn't do it for
you, I don't know that this will either.
But it does it for me because when I look at my life and I
consider how many sins I've committed and man, I, I know
many of you are very moral. You grew up in a moral family
And, and I, I didn't, I was not a moral person.
I, I don't even know that I would still say I'm moral.
When I look at my life and I consider how many sins I've
committed and then I consider how good my life is.
It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense, and
the only way I can make any sense of it is that God is slow
to anger. He must be slow to anger because
my life shouldn't be this good. The reason we are called to be
slow to anger is because our God is slow to anger.
Five, Anger typically makes us more unlike God than like God.
Anger typically makes us more unlike God than like God.
Psychology in the 20th and 21st century has influenced the way
people think in ways that we can't even quantify.
If you look back, I mean, you could do a study on this.
If you look at like how psychology in the 20th century
started, maybe even in the 19th century, but in the 20th century
and 21st century, it is influenced the way that we think
in ways that we can't even quantify.
This is true even for the church.
One of the ways that this is true is how we see emotions like
frustration or anger or anxiety or fear.
I asked ChatGPT, Can you give me a summary of the different ways
that secular counseling treats anger versus biblical
counseling? Now, there are even three
different categories. There's secular counseling,
there's Christian counseling, and then there's biblical
counseling. These are these are three I just
asked you to compare. Give me a summary of how secular
counseling treats anger and how biblical counseling treats
anger. This was the summary table for
the source of anger. Secular counseling says it is
primarily psychological and due to trauma.
For biblical counseling, it is due to a sinful heart and a
spiritual condition. For the goal of anger.
For the goal of this, For secular counseling, the goal is
emotional regulation. For biblical counseling, it is
heart transformation and obedience techniques.
Secular counseling, Cognitive behavioral therapy.
Mindfulness and coping strategies for biblical
counseling. Scripture, prayer, repentance,
accountability, and the ultimate measure of success for secular
counseling. Calmer emotions, better
relationships for biblical counseling, God, honorary
responses, sanctification. Another way to summarize this.
You can summarize this with this just this for secular
counseling. Anger is a part of us that must
be regulated. Anger is a part of us that must
be regulated For biblical counseling.
Anger is a sin that must be killed.
Now, the typical response to this might be, yeah, yeah, OK.
But even the Bible says that we should get angry.
Paul writes Ephesians 426. Be angry and do not sin.
That's even a command there. Be angry.
You are commanded to be angry and do not sin.
And I would say that's absolutely true, 100% true.
And then 5 verses later Paul writes let all bitterness and
wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you.
He says be angry, do not sin. And then 5 verses later he says
put it all away. Now, how do we make sense of
this? As James writes, the anger of
man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Or in other words, anger typically makes us more unlike
God than it does like God. You see, anger is a lot like
dynamite. It's very useful, it's very
effective, but it's not something you want lying around
your house. Anger typically makes us more
unlike God than like God. Six Take off your old clothes
and donate them to Mr. Goodwill. Take off your old clothes and
donate them to Mr. Goodwill, James writes.
Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant
wickedness. The verb put away, it's
typically used in the clothing sense.
It literally means like to take off your clothes.
That's how it's literally used. And then it's figuratively used
in other senses. You ever kept old clothes that
don't fit you anymore, right. If you go to your closet or your
wardrobe or your drawers, you ever you ever had clothes that
don't fit you anymore? Either you gained weight and the
clothes like are too small for you now or they're too tight and
they don't fit you anymore or you, you, you lost weight and
the clothes are too big or too baggy for you.
What should we do in those moments?
Well, we probably should go through our closet and donut
this clothes to goodwill unless I, I well, I guess if you gained
weight, maybe you should lose weight and give it a give it a
shot. But you know, I don't know, but
it's probably a good idea to to go through and say if I'm not
wearing this, this doesn't fit me anymore, probably never will.
Should donate it. In the same way James is saying,
brothers and sisters, filthiness and rampant wickedness, they
don't fit you anymore. They don't fit you anymore.
Christ has given you a new heart, a new spirit and a new
wardrobe. And these old rags that you used
to wear, they don't fit anymore. So take them off and donate
them. Now, one of the questions I had
with this is what is the connection here, right?
Like he, we're talking about listening and hearing and
speaking and anger. And then he talks about
filthiness and wickedness and he talks about receiving the word.
And I'm like, what's the connection here?
It doesn't seem connected. Here's how I think it's
connected in this passage. These old clothes that we used
to wear, filthiness and wickedness, these old clothes,
they make it difficult, if not impossible to receive the
implanted word. Let me switch metaphors for just
a minute here. In the next line, Paul exhorts
the church to receive the implanted word with meekness.
But to do that becomes difficult, if not impossible, if
we have the wrong kind of soil. You see, you can take a handful
of seed. You can, you can gather a whole
handful of seed and you can plant it.
You can water it. You can till it, you can
fertilize it, you can weed it, but if it is planted and sand
rather than soil, it won't grow. The seed needs soil, it needs
nutrient rich soil. Sometimes people will tell me, I
don't feel like I get much out of my time with the Word.
Now you keep telling me, pastor, I read my Bible every week I
read it. I don't think I can get much out
of it. I don't think I can get much out
of the sermon. I mean, every now and then you
tell a funny joke or a funny story, that's about it.
I don't think I can get much out of the sermon.
I I just don't feel like I can get much out of it.
My first thought is this. How was your soil?
How is your soil? Have you put away filthiness and
rampant wickedness in your life? Because if not, me preaching to
you is about as effective as planning an orange tree on the
beach in the sand. Seven.
It is not enough to listen to the word.
We must receive it with meekness.
It is not enough to listen to the word.
We must receive it with meekness.
Notice James doesn't say and listen to the implanted word.
It's not what he says. He writes.
Receive with meekness the implanted word.
Receive with meekness, implanted word.
Alec Mott, you're a commentator, writes this.
It is possible to be unfailingly regular and Bible reading, but
to achieve no more than to have moved the bookmark forward.
Man. Likewise, it is possible to be
unfailingly regular and church attendance, but to achieve no
more than to have warmed the chair.
James calls us to receive the Word with meekness.
There are two parts here to receive and meekness.
Let me take this one at a time. There is a difference between
listening and receiving. There is a difference.
They're not the same. I can listen to what you're
saying, right? Fred can tell me something and I
can listen to him. I can listen very well, but I
can reject it out of pride or indifference or anger.
I just reject it out of hand. As a pastor, I can't tell you
how many times I have said something.
I've been here for 14 1/2 years now, preached a lot.
You count up Sunday school sermon Friday night.
I can't tell you how many times I've said something.
And as I look out and I see somebody, I can see that they
are visibly angry at what I just said.
Visibly. Other times I look out and I I
can see that somebody is visibly apathetic to what I just said,
don't care about it at all. To receive the word is to be
hospitable to it, to make a room for it, and to invite it to stay
the night. It's not to treat the word as
ants in the house, pests that need to be kicked out.
You read this word and it comes across something that you don't
want to hear, and it's just like a pest in your ear.
And it's like, stop, I don't want to hear that.
I don't need to hear that. James says to receive it with
meekness. I realized that anger and
apathy, they're both forms of pride.
They're both anger, and they're both.
To be angry at the truth of God's Word is to suggest that we
know better, which is pride. To be apathetic at the truth of
God's Word, it's to suggest that we don't need it, which is
prideful. You see, meekness is becoming
like one of the little dogs that sits under the children's table
and is desperate to receive whatever crumbs will be given
it. Eight last point.
The Word is not just what justifies us, it is also what
God uses to persevere us. The Word is not just what
justifies us, it is also what God uses to persevere us.
James is exhorting. He is not exhort.
He is not exhorting lost people to receive the implanted word
which is able to save them. He's not exhorting lost people
to receive this. He is exhorting Christians to
receive the implanted word which is able to save them.
In other words, this implanted word is not only what justifies
them, it is also what God uses to persevere them unto
salvation. Think of it like this.
If we were flat lined, right? No, no heartbeat, not breathing.
We flat lined and somebody came to us and they breathe oxygen
into our lungs. That oxygen did not only make us
alive, but we must continue to breathe that oxygen in order to
live. There never comes a day that I
don't need this oxygen. It didn't just make me alive.
I must continue to breathe it in order to live.
Likewise, when we heard the gospel, when you were 6 or 16 or
26 and you heard the gospel, it breathed life into your dead
souls. But our souls must continue to
breathe the gospel in order to live.
I receive this word with meekness, not because it makes
my life better, but because it makes my life.
The gospel is not simply my ticket into heaven.
It provides the very legs to even walk there.
Receive this word. Hold fast to it.
Because it will keep you on the path that leads to final
salvation. Let's pray.