All right, just keep your Bibles open there in James chapter 1, and I'll be preaching
through Genesis 40 for the afternoon service.
But James chapter 1 verse 22, look at the beginning there, it says, but be ye doers
of the word.
Be ye doers of the word.
The title for the sermon this morning is be a doer of the word.
You know, brethren, one thing I really appreciate about New Life Baptist Church is the fact
that I get to preach.
I get to preach the word, I get to study my Bible, almost like a full-time job being
a pastor now, you know, preaching the word of God.
But what gives me greatest joy is when I see the word that's preached being then done
in action.
You know, people taking it on board, hearing what is being preached, and then growing in
the Lord, growing knowledge in scriptures, growing in their faith in Christ, growing
in love to all the brethren, you know, growing in the work that God has asked us to do.
And so one key thing that I just want to start off the year here in 2020 is to remind ourselves
there's a need to be a doer of the word.
Yes, it's important to be a hearer, but more important than being a hearer is to take what
you've heard and apply it to your lives, okay?
So be a doer of the word, then look at the verse again, verse number 22, and it gives
us the reason why we ought to be doers of the word, okay, it gives us the reason.
Now, brethren, you know, I've been going to church pretty much my whole life, you know,
I grew up in a Christian home, grew up in a Baptist church and attended several Baptist
churches, and for a lot of my life, I was just a hearer, you know, I sat there in the
pew, listened, you know, gained knowledge, heard a lot of things, but it wasn't until
I was in my 20s when I started to do the things, and here's the danger of being just a hearer
and not the doer.
Look at verse 22 again, but be you doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your
own selves.
So think about that, if you're just a hearer, you come to church, you hear the word of God
being preached, but you're not a doer, according to the word of God, you're going to deceive
your own self.
What does that mean?
To deceive your own selves means you're lying to yourself, right?
And you will deceive yourself because here's the thing, when you can take what the word
of God says and then make the necessary changes in your life, then you're not being prideful,
right?
You have to humble yourself to make those necessary changes, and then the word of God
can have an effect in your life.
If you're not the doer, you're going to think you're fine with God.
You're going to think, well, there's no fault in me, there's no sin in me, there's no area
in my life that I can improve, I'm fine, and you won't do it, and you'll think you're fine,
you think you're mature in the Lord, but no, listen, the Christian life is one of continual
growth.
The Christian life is continually being more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's our goal.
And you'll never be in this life just like Jesus Christ, and so one thing that you need
to understand, till death takes you or till the Lord returns, you need to be growing and
being more like Jesus Christ, so you need to take his words and do it, or you're going
to remain stagnant.
You're going to think you're fine where you are, and that is deceiving your own self,
okay?
I mean, look, even me as the pastor, I'm not up to speed with a lot of what the Bible says.
I'm still growing.
I'm still growing in knowledge.
I'm still growing as a pastor.
I'm still growing as a Christian.
I'm still growing as a follower of Christ.
And none of us can say we've reached where we need to be and say we're satisfied where
we are.
You know, we've overcome the sins, you know, in our lives, and that's enough.
No, we've got to keep going.
We've got to keep striving.
We've got to keep this marathon of the Christian life.
Now, if you guys can just keep your finger there, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 as well.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and I'm saying James chapter 1 because we will be spending
most of our time in James chapter 1, but 1 Corinthians 3, and while you're turning there,
I'm going to read to you from Galatians 6, 3.
Galatians 6, 3 says, for if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself.
So we're thinking just right now, how can we deceive ourselves when you think you're
something but you're nothing?
And that's what happens when you're not doing the work of God, when you're not taking what
you've heard and applying it to your life, you're going to think you're something.
You're going to think you made it as a Christian.
Oh man, how much God owes me for walking after his ways?
No, you're nothing, and you're deceiving yourself.
You know, the only righteousness that we can stand before the Lord with is the righteousness
of Christ, right?
And our walk, our spiritual walk, we need to continue striving for perfection.
But verse number 4 says, but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have
rejoiced in himself and not in another.
This is really important for you to understand.
You know, to not deceive yourself, you need to prove your own work.
When you hear God's word, you need to say, well, how does this apply to my life?
You know, when you hear God's word, it's not time for you to say, well, I know brother
so-and-so needs that sermon, or I know sister, oh yeah, but thank God, pastor's preaching
on that because sister so-and-so, she really needed to hear that one.
No, you're proving your own work.
Focus on yourself first.
What is it that I need to change in my life?
Because it's when you're focused on the others, on other people in the church, then you're
deceiving yourself because you think you've met the standard, all right, and people need
to get up to your standard.
No, you need, all of us need to get up to Christ's standard, all right, Christ's standard.
You guys are in 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
Look at verse 18, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 18.
Let no man deceive himself if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let
him become a fool that he may be wise.
Now, should we be striving to be wise in the Lord, striving to be wise in the Scriptures?
Yes, but the only way you can become wise is if you allow yourself to become a fool
first, a fool in comparison to God's Word because you've got your opinions, you've got
your philosophies on life, okay, but if they don't line up with the Scriptures, if they
don't line up with the Word of God, it's time for you to become a fool and take on the wisdom
of God.
That's how you become wise.
If you're not doing the work, if you're not doing what you hear, then you're lifted in
your own wisdom and actually God will say, well, that's foolish.
That's being foolish, okay.
So make sure when you come to church, when you listen to preaching, whether it's me or
it's one of the other preachers, you say, well, Lord, I need to do what I've heard,
okay.
Start there.
Make yourself a fool so you can gain the wisdom of God and if you guys can go back to James
chapter 1, I'll read to you some other passages, 1 John 1.8, 1 John 1.8, very familiar passage
to us.
It says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us.
Why is it that we need to hear and do is because we all have sin.
You go into sin for the rest of your life, brethren, but here's the thing, we need to
reduce the sin.
We need to overcome those sins.
We need to live more righteously for God and if you're not willing to say, well, I have
sin, well, yes, what I've heard today has an effect on my life.
I need to change this.
I realize the sin I have, well, you're going to be deceiving yourself and the truth is
not in you.
And you say, why is it then?
Why is it that we deceive ourselves?
Well, Obadiah 3 says, the pride of thine heart have deceived thee.
The pride of thine heart deceive thee.
See, brethren, if you're coming to church week after week, month after month, year after
year and there are no changes, there's nothing that you're applying to your life, you know
by the pride of your heart.
You're prideful, okay?
And if that's the case, then that's something you need to change in life, right?
You need to have the meekness, you need to have the humility and we're going to cover,
I think it's four points that I have this morning about being a doer of the word, a
doer of the word of God.
Back to James 1 verse 19, James chapter 1 verse 19.
So it's one thing to say you're going to be a doer, but let's see what the scripture says
about being a doer.
How is it that we go ahead and become a doer of his word?
We want to take what is applicable and if there's some areas in our lives that we're
not doing these things, then you need to change that, okay?
And you need to be ready to hear what the word of God says.
Verse number 19, James chapter 1 verse 19, wherefore my beloved brethren, all right,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Point number one that I have for you this morning about being the doer, first of all,
you've got to be a hearer, okay?
You've got to be a hearer.
What did it say there?
In verse number, I'll just back it back in verse number 22, but be ye doers of the word
and not hearers only.
So before we can do the word of God, the first thing we need to do is be the hearer of the
word of God, amen?
Makes sense?
We've got to hear it, nothing wrong with hearing the word of God.
I'm not attacking that side of it.
Of course, you've got to hear it first, you've got to be a hearer.
And notice when it said in verse number 19, let every man be swift to hear.
What does that mean?
It means to be quick.
To swift means to be quick to hear.
Brethren, when you're in church, it's not the time to be distracted, right?
It's not the time to be thinking about, well, what do I have to do on Monday?
You know, what is it that we're going to have for lunch?
You know, that's not the time.
Oh, look how brother so and so is dressed today, or look how sister so.
That's not the time, right?
When you're hearing the word of God preach, you've got to be swift to hear, quick to hear.
Pay attention, don't be distracted, all right?
Swift to hear.
Proverbs 19 verse 20 says, hear counsel and receive instruction that thou mayest be wise
in the latter end, right?
Hear counsel, receive instruction.
That's how you receive the instruction.
That's how you receive what you need to change in your lives by first hearing the counsel
of God, right, being swift to hear, ready to hear.
Don't come thinking of distractions.
And you know, one thing that made me laugh just recently, brother Jason, when brother
Jason gets up behind the pulpit to preach, he said to me, sometimes I think I've said
something wrong because, you know, your face gets like, looks angry, right?
Your face looks angry back there, you know, and I've been told that in the workplace as
well, where people have not come to my office because they think I'm angry.
Listen, brethren, if I look angry at church, especially during the sermon, I'm just in
deep thought, all right?
It's just, you know, I've got to be like, you know, we've got kids, right, sometimes
on the back there holding a little child and I'm just like, you know, I've got to listen,
I've got to pay attention, right?
Because here's the thing, you know, even though I'm the pastor, I can still learn from you
guys.
You know, you guys have spent the time to study God's word, you get behind the pulpit,
you preach, I want to be swift to hear, all right?
And many times I'm holding the little baby and that can be distracting, so I'm kind of
like holding the baby and I'm focused, right?
I'm not angry, I'm just focused, I'm paying attention, so if there's certain nuggets of
truth that have been preached that I'm not familiar with, I can learn from that, you
know, I can heed the instruction from the preaching of the other men in this church,
but also as the pastor, I'm very focused when other people preach just in case you guys
make a mistake, right?
Just in case you say something wrong, so then I can address it with you after the service
or some other time.
So of course I'm focused on what is being said and if you see my face looking angry,
I'm just paying attention, right?
I'm just being swift to hear and I don't mind if I'm preaching, you guys look angry, it's
good, all right?
Because now I know you're in deep thought, you're paying attention to, you know, what
is being preached.
I don't mind if you guys look angry, right?
I still got to preach the truth of God's word, but what does it say there in verse 19, swift
to hear, slow to speak.
Why are these things together?
Is because sometimes when you listen to preaching, it's going to step on your toes, all right?
Sometimes you're going to be frustrated, you're going to get offended and you'd be wanting
to speak, right?
You'd be wanting to counter the argument, counter what you've heard there in the word
of God, so be slow to speak, right?
The weaker hearer is tempted to interrupt, you know, and this doesn't just go with preaching,
this can just be in conversation, you know, discussing doctrine, you know, sometimes the
men we get together on a Friday morning to do a Bible study and we have different thoughts,
different guys are speaking and there are times when someone says something that I'm
not really on board with and I can be tempted to interrupt, I can be tempted to say, well
hold on there, no, no, it's actually about this, but no, you need to be, you know, you
need to be slow to speak, pay attention to what is being said because once again, by
paying attention, being slow to speak, you probably realize, you know, if it is truth
that, you know, you've got to change your view on that, but here's the thing, even if
someone is speaking heresy, even if someone is speaking in error, I'm still slow to speak
because I want to understand why they believe that error, right?
Again, it's tempting, you hear someone say something wrong, it's tempting to just jump
in, oh brother, don't you know what the Bible says about topic, blah, blah, blah.
That's not going to help that person, right?
What helps them if you're slow to speak, you listen, you're swift to hear, you listen
what they have to say, then you can work out why is it that they got to that belief, why
is it that they got to that error, then you can speak and unravel where it is that they've
gone wrong.
That's helpful to the person that's in error, okay?
That's helpful.
And, you know, it's really frustrating when people have a genuine question, are genuinely
confused about a topic and they're being shut down when they just bring it up.
Hey, they're seeking help, they're seeking guidance and people are shutting them down
with the truth, that doesn't help them, they need to understand where they've gone wrong
in their interpretation of the Bible, right?
And that's why you need to be slow to speak.
And the Bible says in Proverbs 18, 13, hear that answer from matter before he heareth
it, it is a folly and shame unto him, okay?
Which leads us to the next point there in verse number 19, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
Slow to wrath.
And then this is the reason why you're tempted to speak so quickly when your toes are being
stepped on during the preaching is because you're starting to be filled with wrath.
The Bible says to be slow to wrath, right?
Is there anything wrong with wrath?
Is there anything wrong with anger?
No.
Okay, these are emotions that God has himself, these are emotions that God has given us,
but by being quick to wrath, that is when you're sinning, okay?
When you're not paying attention, when you're not letting others, you know, preach the word
of God and you're being filled with wrath, you're gonna be distracted at that point,
okay?
The Bible says in Proverbs 14, 29, he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding,
but he that is hasty of spirit exalts of folly.
Brethren, if you find yourself getting angry quickly just by someone's opinion, that's
gonna lead you to folly, right?
It says he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding.
Listen, there are gonna be times you listen to the word of God and you're gonna be filled
with wrath, but it's slow to us.
Why?
Because then you can receive understanding.
If you jump to conclusions, you get hot-headed, you're not gonna be able to understand what
the word of God says.
You're not gonna be able to receive God's word.
You're not hearing properly.
How can you do God's word when you're not hearing properly and you're allowing the wrath
of, you know, your wrath from taking over?
And if you can just drop down to verse number 21 now, James chapter 1 verse 21, James chapter
1 verse 21, which leads up to be doers of the word, James chapter 1 verse 21.
It says here, wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive
with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.
So what's the point there?
Receive it with meekness, right?
What are we receiving?
The engrafted word.
The idea there that it's engrafted is when you hear it, it remains in your heart.
It stays engraven, as it were, in your heart, okay?
But you've got to receive it in meekness.
That's how you learn, right?
Meekness is kind of like humility, very similar words, humility.
You know, when you're listening to God's word, it's time to be humble, it's time to be meek,
and just let the word of God show you what it, you know, what it has to say to you, okay?
And receive it there with meekness.
And if we just, if you guys can keep your finger there and go to Acts 17, please.
Acts 17.
So point number one, brethren, was be a hearer.
If you want to be a doer, you've got to be a hearer first.
A hearer first.
Let's go to Acts 17 again, stay in James chapter 1, but Acts 17 verse 10, Acts 17 verse 10,
we get a second principle that's so important for you.
Especially if you want to be grounded in the faith, grounded in doctrine, grounded
in knowledge, okay?
Well, you're not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but Acts 17 verse 10.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, whose coming
thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received, there's the receiving,
right?
The word with all readiness of mind, right?
So these people in Berea, they were ready to receive the word of God, right?
That was swift to hear.
But look, then what do they do?
Once they've heard it, once they've received it in their mind, and then it says, and search
the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Point number two, brethren, is to search the scriptures daily.
If you want to be a doer of his word, not only do you have to hear it, you need to search
the scriptures daily.
It's not enough for you to hear preaching at church, that's not enough.
The expectation that we see, what makes you noble, what makes you grounded, is if you
take those things that you've heard and you then search the scriptures, to see whether
those things were so.
Would it surprise you, brethren, that there are false preachers in the world, that there
are people that will teach you false doctrine?
And look, if you're just a hearer, you're going to just receive the false doctrine,
you're going to think it's true.
But that's what the false prophets are like, they're wolves in sheep's clothing.
So what you need to do, you've heard something, especially something that is new, something
you're not familiar with, something you say, well, if that's the case, if that's the truth,
I need to make those changes in my life, then what do you do?
You go home and you search the scriptures yourself.
You look up those verses that were preached, you look up other verses and say, yes, this
was true.
Now, look, I'm not saying you necessarily have to do that for every sermon you listen
to, because many of the times we're covering the fundamentals of the faith, we're covering
the things that you already know, okay?
In those cases, you should have already established those truths, right?
You should have already established those truths, but don't rely on the preacher alone.
You know, there's been times, and I'm not talking about a false prophet, I'm talking
just about real pastors behind the pulpit, there have been times I've heard something
preached and said, well, that's different, I'm not familiar with that, but I've been
convinced by the preaching, right?
And then I've gone home to check it out, and I go, actually, no, that's not right.
It's happened, right?
You say, why is that?
Because we all have the flesh, right?
We all still have that part of us that we can make mistakes, you know?
No preacher is perfect, no pastor is perfect, nobody has perfect understanding of the scriptures,
but there have been times I've been convinced behind the pulpit, but see, if you've not
gone back and searched the scriptures, you would have been left with that false belief.
So that's why it's necessary for you to go back and search the scriptures yourself.
But notice that it said there, search the scriptures daily.
Now what you need to understand, this isn't saying, all right, you listen to a sermon,
now every day of the week, you need to go and check it out.
You know, when it says search the scriptures daily, the expectation there is that you're
already a daily reader of the Word of God.
You know, you're already in the mornings opening your Bible, reading it, in the evenings opening
your Bible, reading it.
You're already in that practice where you're doing this daily.
So not only are you confirming what you've heard, but just by your daily Bible reading,
you know, those truths should be coming out to you, right?
If you're saved, you have the Holy Ghost indwelling you, He's teaching you all these things, you
know, you should already understand a lot of whether that's right or wrong, okay?
And I'm sure there are times if you've been in bad churches where you've heard something
preached and you know you've been convicted in your heart, well, that's wrong because
some verse pops into your mind, right?
Because that's your daily reading, that's your daily study of the scriptures that has
given you clarity of thought.
You know, I don't mean to pick on brother Jason this morning, but you know, sometimes
when I preach a sermon, you know, especially like if I focus on one topic and I go really
deep and I answer a lot of questions, brother Jason comes up to me once in a while and goes,
man, that was a slam dunk sermon, all right?
Slam dunk, you just slam dunk it.
That's good, right?
It's a slam dunk sermon.
But here's the thing, that's not enough.
Then you go home and you slam dunk it yourself, right?
You take the scriptures, you slam dunk it yourself, right?
And so it's not enough for a pastor to slam dunk.
You know, when you're trying to teach your family, your children, you know, you're trying
to convince your friends of certain truths in the Bible, you can't tell them, well, pastor
Kevin preached a great sermon or some other pastor, you listen online or something preached
a great sermon.
No, you got to be able to show them from yourself.
You've got to have the confidence.
You've got to have the faith in the word of God that that's saying the truth.
And they're going to listen to you because they're your friends.
I'm not friends with those people that you know.
They know you.
They're going to want to hear from you and see the personal convictions, the truths that
you hold to.
And you can show them that in the scriptures, okay?
Base your doctrines on the black and white things you can see in the Bible.
Now if you guys, where are you guys?
You guys are in Acts, aren't you?
Acts.
Well, you can go back to James 1.
I'll just read a few passages to you.
And even Jesus says in Matthew 4, when he's being tempted by the devil, he says, man shall
not live by bread alone.
Now, brethren, how often do you eat food?
Unless you're fasting, it's every day, right?
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God.
You know what needs to be your daily food for your spiritual life?
The word of God, okay?
The word of God.
That's what Jesus likens it to, right?
You feed your body, food, bread, well, you need to feed the new man and the spirit with
the word of God.
That's what nourishes the new man.
And Jesus' expectation is that you will do that on a daily basis.
And you know, when Joshua led Israel into the promised land after Moses had passed away,
God speaks to Joshua in Joshua 1.8, and he says this to him.
He says, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt, now listen,
these are commandments, thou shalt, right, meditate therein day and night, that thou
mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.
For when thou shall make, sorry, for then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then
thou shall have good success.
So what does God tell Joshua?
He says, you've got to meditate on the word of God day and night, that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is, that's what we're teaching about, right, being a doer
of the word.
See, Joshua was a doer of the word.
The reason he was able to lead the Israelites into the promised land and have his great
victories is not only because he would meditate, hear the word of God every day, but he would
then do the word of God, okay?
That's the process that God has for us.
Meditate in his word, listen to preaching, listen to the word of God, then you go and
do it.
And the promise there was that your way will be prosperous and then thou shall have good
success.
You say, why should I do the word of God?
Why should I do what I've heard?
Because God will make your way prosperous and you will have good success.
That's the promise of God, all right?
You know what that means?
If you don't do the word of God, you're not going to be prosperous, you're not going to
have success.
Now, you may have success by this world standard, you know, this world has a lot of success,
but all of it's going to burn, you know, none of it's eternal, none of it's laying up treasures
in heaven.
You know, make sure your focus is on eternity.
You know, when you do the word of God, God's going to reward you for the labor, for the
work you've done in his name.
So just a reminder, number one, if you want to be a doer of God's word, number one was
be a hearer.
Number two, search the scriptures daily, okay?
Search the scriptures daily.
Now, let's go back to James chapter one, James chapter one verse 23.
James chapter one verse 23.
The next thing we need to do in verse number 23, it says here, for if any, be a hearer
of the word and not a doer, okay?
So this is describing the times you've come to church, the times I've come to church,
and I've listened to preaching, but I didn't do what was said, okay?
And if we're all honest, we can all admit there's been times we've heard some truth,
we know we need to make those changes, and we just said we're not going to do it, right?
Because of pride, okay?
And this is the example here in verse number, sorry, 23.
He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
So what's being compared here is when you look in a mirror, right?
When you look in a mirror, verse 24, for he beholdeth himself, so you look at yourself,
and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Listen brethren, when you're reading your Bible, or you're coming to church, and you're
listening to preaching, you hear God's word, and you don't do it?
That's like when you wake up in the morning.
There's nothing wrong with this, obviously, in the morning.
This is the comparison in real life.
You wake up in the morning, you look in the mirror, you fix yourself up, then you go on
for the rest of your day.
The rest of the day, you're probably not checking yourself out, all right?
I mean, I would say there's something wrong with you men if you're constantly checking
the mirror, all right?
And girls, it's vain to just constantly look in, or how do I look today, right?
Now look, the expectation here is you look once, you fix yourself up, you go about your
life, and then you forget what you look like.
It's not important to you anymore, right?
You're going about your day, you're doing the work that you need to do, whatever that
is, whether that's at home with the mothers and the children, whether that's the men getting
out there and working, you're focused on that task for the day, and you forget what you
look like, okay?
Nothing wrong with that illustration.
We all tend to do that, right?
But then that's being compared to someone who hears God's word, and God's word is like
a mirror, right?
It shows us the errors in our life.
It shows us our defects.
It shows us our problems, okay?
So it has that mirror effect, but then when you don't do it, you're going to forget what
you were like.
You're going to forget the things that you heard, that you learnt.
So point number three to be a doer of God's word is to act upon it speedily.
Act upon it speedily, okay?
Because remember what it said there in verse number 24?
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway, or like straightaway, forgeteth
what manner he was, of man he was.
You know, brethren, you can come to church and be motivated by a sermon, realize, man,
these are things I need to change, and you go home.
You can forget almost immediately, straightway.
What the sermon was about.
I mean, how many times has it happened where you've gone to church, and someone says, so
what was preached?
And you go, I can't remember, all right?
Because you're like the natural man that beheld his face in the glass.
You knew at that point what he was, and then you've gone and you've just forgotten about
it.
Now here's, you know, that's, and when you forget, guess what?
When you forget, you can't be the doer.
You can't be a doer when you forget.
So point number three was act upon it speedily.
Do it quickly, all right?
Act upon it speedily.
So once again, I already used this illustration, but once again, when you're listening to God's
word, don't take the attitude, oh yeah, brother so-and-so needs to hear it.
No, what did it say there?
For he beholdeth himself, a natural man, looking at himself in the glass.
When you listen to God's word, look at yourself in the glass.
It doesn't say look at brother so-and-so.
It doesn't say look at sister so-and-so, because then you're going to forget what you look
like.
You're not even looking at yourself.
Brethren, you need to look at yourself when you hear the preaching, when you read God's
word and you say, well, these are things I need to change.
Do it.
Change it.
Do it quickly, all right?
Or you're going to forget.
You're going to forget the defects that you have in accordance to God's word.
So let's drop down to verse number 25 now.
James chapter 1 verse 25.
It says here, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he
be not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his
deed.
Now, when the Bible says the word deed, that's the work, the action, the doing of God's word
that's been referred to there.
So what does it say here?
It says that if we hear God's word, we look at the perfect law of liberty, we continue,
we do the things that God asks us to do.
We're not the forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in
his deed.
Do you want to be blessed by God today?
Do you want God's blessing on your life?
Well, does it say you can be blessed just by hearing?
No.
It's not about being the forgetful hearer.
The doer of the work, this man, the one that is the doer of what is heard, this man shall
be blessed in his deed.
You see, God blesses the work that you do.
If you take something from scripture, no matter how hard it is for you to live by, no matter
how much you love that sin and say, well, God, I need to change this, please help me
make these changes, please help me walk in the spirit, God's going to say, well, I'm
going to bless you.
What an advantage, what a privilege that when God sees you make the necessary changes in
your life to line up with his word, that his blessings are going to come upon your life.
And so point number four, to be a doer of God's word is to count your blessings.
You see, there are already things that you've heard in God's word that you've already applied
in your life.
God's blessings have already fallen your way.
And here's the thing you need to do.
When you find there's something too difficult in the word of God, just go back and count
the blessings that God has given you in your life, because that will encourage you, that
will motivate you to do what you've heard.
Because you say, well, yes, God has blessed me in the past, God has given me this, God
has given me that, God has made my life fruitful, whatever it is, God has blessed the work of
my hands, I've seen the changes in my life, I'm living more righteously now, I can see
the improvements, people look at me now and I have better relationships, I've been able
to win souls, I've been able to show people the way of God, count your blessings and that
will motivate you, that will encourage you to continue, continue doing the work that
God has given us to do.
It's the truth, it is, because when you can see the reward, the blessings of God, that's
going to keep you going, it's going to keep you going, right?
And you know, I can relate to this because there have been times where, you know, obviously
growing up in a Christian home, you know, seeing my faults, listening to the great preaching,
I've been able to get rid of a lot of the trash, a lot of the sin in my life, you know,
and there are times where I'm tempted to say, well, Lord, I think I'm fine now, I think
I'm okay, you know, I think I'm mature enough as a believer, but no.
So when I get to that point where I might be stagnant in my growth, I need to go back
and say, well, hold on, God, you've blessed me so much.
You've given me so much for walking in your ways and that needs to push you forward to
keep going, keep going and serving the Lord.
You know, the Bible says in Luke 11, 28, and he said, yea, rather blessed are they that
hear the word of God and keep it, right?
Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.
That's how you're going to receive God's word, you keep it.
It's engrafted into your life.
And if you guys can go to Psalm 119 now, Psalm 119, you don't need to go back to James Chapter
1 now, I'm done with James Chapter 1, go to Psalm 119 for me.
You know, one major blessing you can have in your life that you may not necessarily
consider as a blessing, but it surely is, is that when you've been able to clean up
your life from sin, when you've been able to find victory over certain sins in your
life, that is a great blessing because sin destroys your life.
Sin destroys people around you.
And when you're able to overcome sins in your life, then that is one of God's blessings
in your life.
Psalm 119 verse 11, Psalm 119 verse 11, it says here, thy word have I hid in mine heart
that I might not sin against thee, okay?
How do we keep God's word in our heart?
Well, I just read it to you in Luke 11 28, blessed are they that hear the word and keep
it, hear and keep it.
That's doing the word of God, putting it into practice, putting it into your life.
Psalm 119 verse 11, thy word have I hid in my heart.
That's taking God's word, applying it to your life, memorizing that scripture, right?
Helping you overcome those sins in your life that I might not sin against thee.
The only way, brethren, that you're going to have victory over sin is when you can keep
God's word in your life.
That means you can't be the forgetful hearer.
You've got to be the one that keeps it.
You've got to be the one that does it.
Drop down in the same chapter to verse number 158, please.
Psalm 119 verse 158, because now we have the comparison to someone that keeps God's word
in his heart.
Look at Psalm 119 verse 158.
It says, I beheld the transgressors, all right?
So the psalmist is saying, look, I'm looking at the transgressors.
I'm looking at the wicked.
I'm looking at the sinners and was grieved.
Why?
Because they kept not thy word.
They kept not thy word.
So what's going to happen, brethren, if you don't keep the word of God, if you're just
a hearer but not a doer, what's going to happen?
You're going to be a transgressor of God's word.
You're going to be a sinner.
You're going to continue in your wicked ways.
You're going to continue in your bad habits, in the sins that you're not having victory
over.
You're going to continue in those ways.
That's why you've got to be the one that hears it and keeps God's word.
So you can have the blessing of overcoming sin in this life.
And once again, brethren, we're never going to fully overcome sin.
That's the nature of the Christian life, the dual nature, the old man versus the new man,
the flesh versus the spirit.
But one thing we can strive for by doing God's word is that we would spend more time in our
life in the spirit, more time in our life pleasing the Lord and less time given into
the lust of the flesh.
So please go to Matthew 7 now in conclusion, Matthew 7, Matthew 7, please.
And again, a very familiar passage, but it's a perfect passage to conclude the sermon on.
So Matthew 7, verse 24, Matthew 7, verse 24.
Jesus says this, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine.
So there's the hearing, right?
Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine.
So you've got to be open to hear God's word.
But then he says, and doeth them.
So when he hears and does them, he says, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock.
You want to be a wise man?
You want Jesus to say, wow, that is a wise brother.
That is a wise sister.
That is a wise father.
That is a wise mother.
Those are wise children.
That is a wise pastor.
You know what you need to be?
You need to be a hearer and a doer of God's word.
And he says that man is building his house upon a rock.
Now when it comes to the term house here, again, this can mean multiple things.
This can be your life, okay?
That you're building your life, your Christian walk upon the rock.
This can be your family.
Your house sometimes is referred to your family in the Bible, right?
Building your family, the foundations of your family upon the teaching of God's word.
What else is a house?
The church is called the house of God, right?
New Life Baptist Church needs to be built upon the rock, right?
This is why we can't just be hearers.
We need to be doers so ensuring that our church is built upon the rock of Christ's words.
So whatever it is that you're building, maybe you've got a business that you're building.
Whatever it is, build it on God's word.
Yes, even your secular job, build it on the principles that God has laid out for us in
the scriptures and do it in accordance to God's ways, okay?
Don't do it in accordance to the way the world tells you to run a business.
Do it in the way that God tells employees to treat employees and vice versa.
Build it on what God says.
That would be building upon the rock.
Verse 25, and the rain descended and the floods came.
So brethren, let's stop there.
When you build upon God's word, when you listen and you do God's word, does that prevent the
floods and the rain from coming?
Does that prevent tribulations and persecutions, trials and tribulations coming in your life?
No, it doesn't stop it, okay?
But when it does come, it says here, and the winds blew and beat upon the house and it
fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
Brethren, I don't want New Life Baptist Church to fall.
You know there are churches that fall all the time.
There are churches that are closing down all the time, okay?
New churches starting up, churches coming down.
You know why they fail?
Because they've not been built upon the rock, okay?
And we say, what does that mean?
It means the church was full of hearers, but not doers.
Or maybe what they heard was not even true.
You know, they were listening to a false prophet, a false preacher.
No, to ensure stability, to ensure longevity in our church or in your life, in your family,
you need to build upon the rock.
So when the trials come, when the difficulties come, it remains standing.
That's the promise that Christ has given us, right?
It says there that it was founded upon a rock, that it fell not.
You know, the rock represents stability, strength, power, and longevity.
That's how we're going to, you know, persevere.
That's how we're going to sustain ourselves.
You know, till the Lord comes back or till death, whatever it is, we need to make sure
we're founded upon the rock, verse 26, and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine.
So brethren, this is about us, okay?
You're listening right now to the sayings of Christ.
And doeth them not.
Do you want to be what we're about to read, okay?
This could be you.
You know, you're hearing God's word, but you're doing them not.
Shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
Brethren, if all you do is come to church and you hear, but you don't do, Jesus says
you're foolish.
You're foolish.
You know, just accept it.
You're foolish, and you're not building your house upon, or you're building your house
upon the sand, verse 27.
And the rain descended, so the same trials, the same difficulties in life are going to
come, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell.
And great was the fall of it.
I've seen great men of God fall.
You know, I've seen pastors that I look up to fall, okay?
Say, why do they fall?
Because they preach God's word, they heard God's word, but they themselves did not do
God's word, okay?
That should not be the example that a pastor has before his church, all right?
A pastor ought to be someone who's at least living out what he preaches, right?
And here's the thing.
If you're not doing it, your life is going to fall.
This isn't it could fall.
It may fall.
It will fall.
And not only will it fall, but great was the fall of it.
Great will be your fall.
And this is the situation, brethren, we see churches collapse, when we see pastors fail,
you know, or families breaking up, you know, divorced kids, you know, not being obedient
to their parents, you know, failing in your job and, you know, being a total loser.
It's simply because you did not build your house upon the rock, okay?
God's instruction is sufficient for us to live our lives.
And I don't want you to have that great fall.
I don't want New Life Baptist Church to have the great fall.
So you know, brethren, in 2020, this is what we need to do.
When you come to church, say, well, I'm going to listen, I'm going to be swift to hear,
I'm not going to be filled with pride, I'm going to be willing to make necessary changes
that I need in my life, and then you go home and you do it.
You search the scriptures, confirm it for yourself, then you go and do it, okay?
So in summary, brethren, what are the four things that I wanted to focus on?
How can you be a doer of God's Word?
Number one, be a hearer, okay?
Number two, search the scriptures daily.
Number three, act upon it speedily.
And number four, count your blessings.
Keep yourself motivated to serve the Lord.
Let's pray.