James has told us again and again, he will tell us, he’s already told us thus far, that God is sovereign, right? He is sovereign and he grows us through the means of his choosing. The historical context of this letter, I’ll remind you again, some specific points, this is most likely the first most written of this book, the book of James, this epistle of James. It was written sometimes in the mid-40s of the first century. So the original audience, as well, were persecuted Jewish Christians who were scattered throughout the nation, throughout Palestine, and they were dispersed in the diaspora. And James is writing to exhort these Jewish believers to live in a manner that is consistent with their faith. What they live should match what their lips say and what their hearts believe. that God grows his people, God grows us to be perfect and spiritually mature. And then in verses 19 to 27 of our text this morning, James gives us another way that he does so. At first, he says that God employs trials to transform us, and then now he employs his word to show and to challenge us, are you growing to maturity? Are you following, are you being changed by the Lord in your life? If you look back one verse to James 1.18, we saw that he gave a defense for us by remembering who we are. He says, of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. It’s a very full and pregnant sentence. There’s a lot there. But he says all this happens because of God’s powerful word, implanted. Implanted. And the New Testament uses this language we’ll see again and again. of taking off and putting on, right? Taking off the old self, putting on the new self. We see this in Ephesians 4, we see it in Colossians 3, and we see it in James 1, 21 here, where he has said this very similar thing. When we look at verse 19 and following, that word, right, it says that that word, the implanted word, it rescues us, right? It resurrects us spiritually. It transforms us spiritually. And James will go on to talk about the characteristic marks of that transformed life, the life of the believer in whom that word was implanted and how that works out in daily practice throughout the remainder of this letter. But in this text this morning, the second half of chapter one, James mentions three things, three things that we should notice and then he says he wants to give to us. Let’s look at some important teachings here that we find that we need to understand if we’re going to understand the rest of James and indeed the rest of our Bibles. There is a doctrine part as we read Scripture, and there is a life part. Doctrine and life. But the thing is, these should never be separated. They go together. They’re always connected and related because life flows out of the true beliefs that we have. The beliefs that we have. God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. gifts is what? It’s the fact that He has brought us forth from death to life through the means of what? His Word, right? The preaching of the Gospel. James goes on to point out that since believers have been brought to life through that preached Word, they are to obey that same Word which has given them life. James tells them not only to hear the Word, but to do the Word, to obey the Word given by God to His people. not to do this to become saved, to become Christians, we do this because we are already saved, right? The good works flow out of our relationship with the Lord. And so true, genuine, saving faith necessarily leads to that very thing, two good works, right? The good works flow from the saved heart, the regenerated heart, the new man. And that relationship between the new birth and the good works, right, new birth and good regarding the faith, regarding the Christian doctrine. It’s very confusing to some people. And indeed, it’s used, this confusion and a wrong understanding, as a tool to bludgeon the believer in an inappropriate way. But James speaks directly to the matter of how the living faith produces good works. How the living faith produces good works. And at the end of this chapter, we’ll see that James speaks in general terms of the word. But he also starts to press the point, press in that the Word that makes us alive also produces a living faith that produces good works. There’s a necessary consequence of being saved, being made alive. And he begins to speak more narrowly about the perfect law, you’ll see as we go, right? Not just the Word as it was preached, but the perfect law of the Ten Commandments. that a Christian must do. These works demonstrate what the heart believed, right? Demonstrates that the genuine faith in Christ is present because those who God has brought forth, has brought forth by the Word of Truth, do good works. But before we look closely at verses 19 to 27, let’s first look at the question of this, a bit more of this question about good works and their role in salvation. And there are three things that we need to be clear about when we talk about this. We need to understand the cause of salvation, the means through which we are saved, and then the effects of that salvation. The cause, the means, and the effects of that salvation. James 1.18, as I mentioned, shows that God has acted sovereignly to bring life to those to whom James is writing. He’s not writing to evangelize non-Christians. It’s a letter to the church there. He’s writing to these persecuted Jewish believers who are undergoing difficult trials and persecutions. He’s telling these believers, these believing Jewish church, those who’ve been made alive already, those who’ve come to faith, have already been justified. He’s telling them what they need, what they’re supposed to be doing when they come under these persecutions. And in the face of these difficult circumstances, by obeying the commandments of God as revealed in that law. Those whom God regenerates, they will, James is saying, manifest that regeneration by not only hearing the word, but believing the promises therein given, and also obeying the things commanded in that very word, in that law. So the cause is God’s grace, and the salvation is God’s grace. The means is the priest’s word. And the effect is regeneration, faith and good works. He said that’s how it works out. And we should always remember as well, in regard to our being saved, our justification, the work of Christ is the ground of our salvation and faith is the instrument of that salvation. We must remember it’s always So James is clear, he’s bringing up these aspects throughout the verse, particularly the preaching of the gospel. And having brought us forth from death unto life, James is going to speak about what that new life should look like. And he’s echoing here, of course, what we read elsewhere later in Paul, chronologically in Paul, Ephesians chapter 2, right? It’s very well known, it’s a famous passage for us. as reformed believers, but Ephesians 2, 8 to 10, right, notice the similarities, the same flavor of what’s being said, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not sure what I’m doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of good works, so that no one may boast, right, that’s the reason why, and then it says, for we are his workmanship, created how, in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So having laid some of that out, let’s look first at this first point from our text in verses 19 to 20, which speaks of a wisdom for God. But here there’s this scene that is one that’s reflected in Jewish wisdom literature. This scene here of the importance of holding the tongue. Holding the tongue as a demonstration of a person’s wisdom. We see this in Proverbs, for example, verse 17, Proverbs 17, 27 to 28. Because whoever restrains his words has knowledge. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise. When he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. But there’s a wisdom, even if it’s perceived, of holding the tongue, of taming the tongue, of bridling a man’s words. And according to Proverbs, a person demonstrates wisdom by guarding his mouth, by guarding his or her words. But a person who is slow to hear and quick to speak and easily angered is what? It demonstrates a lack of wisdom. So James is saying their behavior, those two things, right, their behavior, believers, is inconsistent with the righteousness of God, right? This person who’s slow to hear, quick to speak, and easily angered, right? This person is inconsistent. It does not produce, he says, the righteousness of God. You know, James is clearly echoing here the righteousness, remember, that was what? That exceeds the Pharisees and exceeds the scribes and the teachers of the law. Anger does not produce that kind of righteousness which reflects God’s character, which reflects His goodness. In fact, anger is contrary to the righteousness of God. So James is giving some grounding here, grounding for what he’s going to say later in chapter 3. Remember, again, it’s this constant He’s going to say later about the power of the tongue to destroy through angry speech, and a warning against that. But here he’s saying that angry speech is sinful. It reflects a lack of wisdom. It does not produce the kind of righteousness in us, which is a true manifestation of the power of God’s Word that saved us. Wisdom from God shows itself in a behavior that’s, what, quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. So this is the righteous behavior that God produces in us through his word, a behavior that reflects God’s character. Again, remember as well, being holy for I am holy, the Lord says. This is a real call on our life. Hebrews says, without that holiness, we will not see the Lord. And so to react quickly, to react in anger, is to act in a way that’s inconsistent with the character of God. in our doing. So that’s the wisdom of God is speaking, but then he goes on and talks about the way of Christian living. In verse 21 he says, therefore put away all filthiness taking off what remains of what we were before we became Christians, right? Taking that off, like someone’s taking off dirty clothing. And Christians, we want to remove, as they are, dirty clothing, those things which are filthy. James is speaking here of moral filth. There’s a moral aspect to this, of course. And the kind of wickedness that James is talking about are the sins that just keep coming, right? They keep coming, this rampant wickedness. And that’s the case, when they come, our sins, and they come many, they come and they come again from the world, the flesh, and the devil. But he says again, rampant, the word is overabundant wickedness. Sins are persistent, they come in many forms. And the point we can draw from this that James is making is that our battle with sin won’t end in this life. It’s not as though victory begets In Galatians, in the Romans, Paul talks about putting on Christ as if putting on a garment. But here, James speaks of the other side, the need to strip off the dirty clothing of our human sinfulness. Again, we see this put on and take off language, Ephesians 4, Colossians 2, Colossians 3 rather, Hebrews 12, we have the same reference, 1 Peter 2, 1. And then here in James 1, 21, we have this phenomenal phrase as well, it says that in So James here, what’s he talking about? He’s not talking about some kind of innate knowledge of God, but that word that was preached to us, that the Lord used to draw us to himself. And the stress is allowing the word that we’ve heard and which we’ve received, the same word that has given us life, allowing it to continually influence and to permeate all of our thinking and doing. It’s not really one more thing added to the rest of our lives, right? But it changes all of life. It changes all of who we are. This word that transforms, that cuts to bone and marrow, right? This analogy to the old sacrificial system. It has its work and it changes us through the spirit working in that word, who is the author of that word, and also the author of your salvation, the author of your life. Notice how James commands us to receive the word of truth. He says, meekly or humbly, we are to be open and receptive to the work of the word in our heart as it transforms our spirit. Because God implants the word in all whom he brings forth through that word, James points us ahead to that day when God’s work in us will be finally perfect and complete. And this is what it means when he says future tense, right? The word which is able to save our souls, right, as something future. God has begun his work in us when we were made alive, right, brought forth by the word of truth. He implants that word into us. He will complete that work on that day when we are raised from the dead and glorified. Because you’ve been made alive, you’re a believer in Christ. You are to be stripping off You’re putting off your sin, taking off the dirty clothes, as it were, and receiving all the good things that God has given to you in life, and especially in the Word, which has the power to change, and the Word is to have its effect on God’s people. pastor used to say, this book will keep you from sinning, and sinning will keep you from this book. And so we’re always to be going back to and layering our mind and washing our brainwashed minds with the truth of God’s Word and its cleansing power. So James sums up what he’s been telling us in verse 22 and leads to this third thing that he wants to give us from this text, and that’s a warning against self-deception, right, a warning against self-deception. It says, be doers of the word and not hearers deceiving ourselves. But for James here, this is his way of fleshing out in a very practical sense what it means to receive the word with meekness. With meekness, right? The order here is very important. In this argument, notice he says, hearing the word come before doing the word. That seems obvious. The people who respond to the difficult situations in their lives, those situations, by the way, that the Lord has brought into their lives in ways that are completely inconsistent with His righteousness. They’re self-deceived. And James wants to tell us in the New Testament, of course, he’ll tell us over and over, don’t be self-deceived. Don’t be self-deceived, be aware. People like this may think that they’re secure before God because they’ve done a certain task, or they’ve walked an aisle a number of times, or they’ve prayed a certain prayer, grew up in a church, or that they’ve performed some religious ceremony. But if the Word is truly implanted in them, and they truly receive it with meekness, then that Word will set off a raging battle against sin. Those who don’t do the Word don’t struggle with sin. It’s those of us who struggle against sin in a constant, ongoing battle. It’s evidence to you that there’s life in you, that the Spirit is working within you. Again, it is what would be all of our filth at once to us, or we would be undone. It’s like most of you will turn gray in your life, in your hair. The Lord doesn’t do that all at once, or we would be undone. He grows us, and as we grow, we’re more aware and aware of the depth of our sin. These people he’s talking to, they’re comfortable wearing their filthy clothes. That’s what he’s challenging them. They’re comfortable acting without listening, speaking without thinking, rushing into anger. And they may make a profession, but they show no sign whatsoever of actually following it. The profession of faith is shown empty and shallow and hollow by their actions. They say they’ve heard, but there’s no doing of that word. There’s no evidence of their hearing the word. But those who truly hear, he says, listen to what it says, and they put that line to practice in their lives. The struggle is the spirit rock struggle, right? And He will change you and He will grow us. And those who truly hear the word, as He said, put it into practice, and their conduct ends up reflecting the righteousness of God, right? Righteousness of God. And this is similar to what the Lord from His mouth says in Luke 11, right? When He says, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Blessed are those who hear the word and keep it. And we have James here, what comes next is he uses what he often does is word picture or illustration to clarify this point. This is verses 23 to 25. And he’s describing this person who merely hears the word, but he doesn’t listen with faith and doesn’t do what the word commands him. And it says, 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 then he goes away and forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres by being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. So you see the contrast that James is making here. The hearer of the word only looks at the reflection of himself in a mirror, and he gazes intently upon his reflection. But when he walks away, he immediately forgets what he looks like. But the doer of the word, on the other hand, looks not at himself. Notice that, he’s not looking at himself. He gazes upon the perfect law of the Lord, which Abraham calls the law of liberty. So the contrast between the hearer and the doer is that the person who intently gazes upon the law is the person who perseveres under trial. The person who is a doer of the word gazes upon that law of freedom, the law of liberty, and receives the appropriate blessing that the Lord has for them. And you see this contrast. One is self-obsessed, right? One is self-obsessed, the other is blessed by God. One is self-absorbed, the other is God-blessed. And notice the shift that we see here. As we move into James through this text, the shift from a broad mention of the word, But only, notice, and this is important, only as it is interpreted through the lens of Christ, in the reality of Christ’s redeeming word. The Jews often spoke of the law as perfect, perfect. And this is beautiful and repeated throughout the Psalms, and it’s a wonderful text. One example, Psalm 19, 7, says the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. And that’s why the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. And as we’ll see later, James speaks of that law as being fulfilled. And this, of course, is something that Jesus did through his own obedience to the law of Moses, in which believers who trust in Jesus must likewise do, not to be justified, but because they are justified. We’ve said it time and time again, it’s only those who are free from the law who are able to begin to keep the law. James’ reference here, the law of Moses must be understood in the light of Christ’s fulfillment of that law. We see this doing of the law is the fulfillment of the prophecies of places like our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36, that we read earlier. There the prophet foretold of the coming age in which God will call his dispersed people to himself from the nations. He will remove their heart of stone, calling them forth. something which Paul mentioned specifically in the New Testament as well, and delivering them from their uncleanness and creating within them a desire to obey that law and an ability to keep that law. You see, the law for us, dear Christian, is not a list of bondage. It’s not a list of death for us. It’s a law that sets his people free, the law of liberty. But how can James call it the law of liberty? when that law contains commandments that we are obligated to keep. That seems sometimes in our flesh like a contradiction. How can the demand to obey be called a freedom? Again, the key here is that the law has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus obeyed every one of those commandments perfectly. His death upon the cross pays for my every breach of that law. And since he has fulfilled the law perfectly and died for all those times in which I broke the law, the law no longer condemns me. No longer condemns you who believe in Christ. Our confession says this quite nicely and simply. It says true believers, doers, be not under the law as a covenant True believers are no longer under the covenant of works as condemnation of themselves, because therein, under the covenant of works, it’s only death. It’s only death and failure. But the law no longer condemns you who believe in Christ. Those of you who are united to Jesus, it no longer condemns you. It’s no longer a burden to crush you and smother you. In fact, in Christ, I’m actually free to obey the law, because I’m already counted as righteous and as a law keeper by my heavenly father, because he sees me only through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Right? That’s a glorious saying. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s amazing. And in fact, in Christ, I am free to keep that law, to keep and do, to be here, yes, but a doer. The law reveals to me what God requires of me, now that I am in Christ, right? We call it a rule of life. The mere hearer of the law knows what the commandments require, but he never does them. The doer realizes that they aren’t obeying the commandments to earn something from God. It’s not the reason that it’s a rule for us that we perform these things, but they do the commandments because Christ has fulfilled them. James says, as a ramification, as a result, they will be blessed, those who do. This is why we refer to, when we read older theologians or older works from men from Christian history, refer to the law as a rule of gratitude. exactly what we see here James talking about. For those brought forth by the word, who accepted that word, the law reveals what we are to do now that we are Christians. The law tells us what to do so that we show the righteousness of God through our doing, through our lives. We show the righteousness of God through the acts that we partake of in this life. Well, we can only do this, why? Because the word has brought us forth. implanted within us. James says we must accept that word and then we must do the word. And then notice in verses 26 and 27, James speaks more specifically about obeying the law by introducing three major themes. Again, he’s setting something up and he’s going to later talk about it. These three major themes unfold in the letter. right of the tongue, but this sense of heart, this person of religion is worthless. Religion is pure, that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is, to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction and keep oneself unscathed from the world. Right, this is what James is going to talk about. In chapters 3, he’ll deal with controlling the tongue. In chapters 2 and 5, he’ll talk about, it’s an exercise that he’s making, James is making, is simply that true religion, through truth through trials, shows itself not in words only, but in concrete action. This is what James will show in the rest of the letter. To hear and to do the word, those who do so, every effort to avoid being contaminated by the world and to throw off the contamination that they have in their own hearts. And what James is telling us here is that there will be people who hear the word and make professions of faith, but there’s no evidence that these people are true believers. They’re mere hearers of the word only. Like the one who professes to be a fan of a sports team, for instance. Whatever X team is your team, right? And they say that they’re a fan, but they have no interest against them sometimes. What does that show about their profession? Not only that, but when they’re persecuted, when trials come, mere hearers become just like the persecutors to avoid their persecution. They don’t listen. They act irrationally. They act in anger. They don’t tame their tongues. They don’t help the helpless. They don’t avoid thinking and acting like the pagans around them. They’re not even interested in these things. James says they’d rather gaze at their own image than delight in the law which reveals the righteousness of God. James is saying don’t be like that. He’s telling us don’t be like that. I mean, we remember these things in our lives. I mean, we live these liberal lives and do the things that we do that match our profession out of heart and gratitude for the Savior, the Savior that’s so tenderly and lovingly, live the perfect life, completed that law, the Mosaic law, the covenant with Adam, for you in your place. What’s in our head and in our hearing must make its way into our hearts and then into our lives in doing, right? We listen, we love, and then we live, right? We listen to the word. We love in our hearts and we live that out. And because God has brought us forth from death for us in our place as our substitute. Because Jesus Christ’s death and perfect obedience, because of these things, obeying the law is no longer a burden to crush you. It’s an exercise of freedom, the freedom that we have that Jesus has won for us. So Christian, if you are united to Christ, you are if you are a believer. God, Colossians 3 tells us. And you are free to do. Free from hearts of gratitude, hearts made new. Hearts able to copy and imitate your Savior and your Lord. And so let us do that, dear Christian. Let us be doers of the Word and not mere hearers only. And let us reflect the righteousness of the Lord Heavenly Father.

Almighty and loving God, we come again before you. We delight to give you praise. We thank you for your providence in our lives and for our beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus, who gave his life for our sins and rose that you would continue to bless this church. Father, place in our hearts a longing for your name to be spread, to delight in your way, and to live true and faithful lives. Strengthen all of us, we pray, Lord. Show us the love and grace that we’ve been shown to invite people to hear of your mercy and your holiness and to hear the gospel and be confronted with Jesus.