Welcome to the Believers Bible Assembly This is the day that the Lord has made and we're going

to rejoice and be glad in it Today we're going to continue our teaching series on the

spirit and the word Last week we talked about how the spirit will always lead you to

the truth of God's word That's the spirit's job that's the spirit's role He's going to lead

us and guide us into all truth and that truth is found in the scriptures However once the spirit

leads us to the word we must do what it instructs us to do James chapter 1 verses 21 to

humbly accept the word planted in you which can save your souls Verse 22 be doers

of the word and not hearers only Otherwise you are deceiving yourselves For anyone who hears the word

but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face

in a mirror And after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like Verse

to do so not being a forgetful hearer but an effective doer he will be

blessed in what he does The focus of our teaching today will be on hearing and obeying the

word hearing and obeying the Word Once the Spirit leads you to the Word we have to not only hear

but we have to obey the word Many believers read the Bible from cover to cover but they remain

unchanged and the issue is not a lack of information The reason is not a

lack of resources but it's a lack of obedience When the Spirit leads us to the Word we have

to be obedient and do what the Word instructs us to do Bible knowledge is fine

Bible knowledge is essential but God does not bless Bible knowledge alone He blesses obedience So what I want to

do this morning I want us to walk through these verses in James chapter one and

learn how to hear and be obedient to where the Spirit is leading us The first thing

I want to share with you is that we have to receive the word with

humility and we do that by 1 removing all the hindrances from our lives Verse

need to do in order for us to receive hear and do what the spirit is leading us to

do Now this verse calls for a decisive decision We have to make up our

minds to remove any and all sin from our life We have to get rid of

any moral filth impurity corruption that's associated with the sinful nature of man Yes we're born again Yes

we're saved but we still have a sinful nature that we have to be delivered from each and every

day It's called the flesh It's called the old man It's called the sin nature of man But we have

to make a decisive decision to remove these obstacles from our life in order for

us to flow where the spirit is leading us Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22 and 24

says to put off the former way of life your old self which is being corrupted by its

deceitful desires and be renewed in the spirit of your mind So what do we have

to do Number one we have to put off our old self our old sin nature which is being

corrupt by its deceitful desires And then we have to be renewed in the spirit of our minds

Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says that we are not to be conformed to this world but

what be renewed in our minds That's the first part Then the second part is now

that we put off now we have to put on the new self that's created to be like

God in true righteousness and holiness and this is an intentional act of our will We have

to intentionally put off the old self and we have to intentionally put on the new Because one of the

things that sin does sin dulls our spiritual hearing not allowing us to hear what the spirit is saying

to us When we're reading the word we're just not reading words on a piece

of paper The spirit is speaking to us trying to lead us trying to guide us

trying to direct us and we cannot hear what the spirit is saying because sin's in the way So

we have to get rid of we have to put off all these things in

order for us to hear what the spirit is saying to us John chapter 6 verse 63 says the

Spirit gives life the flesh profits nothing The words I have spoken to you are spirit

and they are life So when we're reading the word we're just not reading words on a piece of paper

We're engaging spiritually with the spirit of the living God and we cannot hear what

the spirit is saying to us if sin is in the way So that's why it has to be

intentional for us to put off the old self put off those old sinful habits and desires that we have

and put on the new and we do that by renewing our minds to the word of God Psalm 66:18

says If I had not confessed the sin in my heart the Lord would not have listened

So we have to number one remove the hindrances in our life What else do we have to do

in order to receive the word with humility We have to acknowledge that God knows more than

we do We're talking about receiving the Word with humility Isaiah chapter 55 verse 8-9 says For my thoughts are

not your thoughts neither are your ways My ways declares the Lord For as the

heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my

thoughts than your thoughts The Lord's ways and the Lord's thoughts are greater than our ways greater

than our thoughts and When we receive the word with humility we understand that God's ways God's words God's commands

what he's telling us to do is for our good Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 13 and you must always obey

the Lord's commands and decrees that I'm giving you today for your own good Moses was

talking to Israel at this time But the principle is good for us in this day We must always

obey the Lord's command that He's given us through the Scripture through the Spirit because what the Lord is instructing

us to do is for our own good Why would we ever want to reject something that's

for our good Because obedience to God's word leads to blessings The obedience of God's

word leads to prosperity The obedience of God's word leads to the abundant life and

that's what we want and that's what we need We have to receive the word with humility and do

what it says because what God is asking us to do is for our own good God is

good and he wants what's good for his people Now Jesus reiterated this in the Gospels He taught

that his teachings and his commandments are for the benefit of those who believe and follow him John 10:10 it

says the thief comes only to steal to kill and destroy That's what the thief comes to do

That's what Satan comes to do That's what the devil comes to do In contrast

Jesus said I have come that they whoever they those who hear those who believe and those who obey

He says I have come that they may have the more than abundant life and to

have it in all its fullness to the full until it overflows That's what Jesus

said is the benefit for those who believe and follow Him those who hear believe and obey So we

need to humble ourselves and receive the grace of God that is available to us when we obey

Him James chapter 4 verse 6 says He God gives us more grace How many of y'all know he's a

grace-giving God and he wants to give us more grace That's why the scripture says God

opposes the proud but he gives grace to the humble So listen you will never be able to hear

from the Spirit You will never be able to receive anything from God if you

don't receive the word with humility We have to know that God knows more than we do that God's ways

are greater than our ways and that God's ways is for our good We receive the

grace of God that's available to us when we obey Him Number 2 we have to be doers of

the word not hearers only The reason for that is because hearing alone is self-deception

Let's look at the text verse 22 It says be doers of the word actively and continually obeying

God's word and not hearers only hearing the word but failing to internalize its meaning and put it into action

Otherwise you are deceiving fooling yourself This is why we have to be doers of the word that we

hear Because when we fail to put into action put into practice to actively and continually

obey God's word when we fail to do that we are deceiving ourselves meaning what we think the word

is going to accomplish is not going to be accomplished in our lives because we're not putting it

into action Now the Greek word for deceiving Implies a false reasoning or miscalculation In other

words it's deception self-deception The Bible teaches that in the last days there's going to be a lot of deception

going on in the world from Satan his demons false prophets false teachers But what

this scripture is talking about is self-deception We're fooling ourselves when we don't put the word into

action We don't put the word into practice So we can't be blaming the devil we can't be blaming

the president No it's us We deceive ourselves when we fail to put the word into action Now Jesus

had to rebuke a whole church for their self-deception In Revelation chapter 3 verse 17 you say I'm

rich I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing but don't you realize that you are

wretched you are pitiful you are poor you are blind and you are naked That's what

Jesus' response was to the church of Laodicea They thought they were something when they were nothing They thought just

because they had riches and have acquired wealth that they didn't need anything Jesus said No no

no no no You don't even realize you're wretched you're pitiful you're poor you're blind you're naked

They deceive themselves thinking they were something when they were not How many of us

are deceiving ourselves thinking that we are in the will of God but we're not in

the will of God because we're not being a doer of the word We're not putting into practice

what the Lord has instructed us to do Knowledge without obedience is spiritual arrogance and that's

what this church in Laodicea had and that's what many believers where they at today They have knowledge without

putting it into practice That's spiritual arrogance 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1 teaches that knowledge alone makes

people self-righteous and arrogant Now listen you know my position here in this ministry about

having knowledge of the word being a student of the Bible that's essential that's critical but knowledge

alone does not make you righteous Knowledge alone does not open the doors of blessing Being obedient

to the word of God does So what we have to do as believers we

need to do a self-examination of ourselves to see whether or not we are hearers of the word or

doers of the word 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 says examine yourself to see whether you

are in the faith to see if your faith is genuine Am I a do of the word

Because if I'm a doer the word I should be receiving the blessings of God in my life The blessing

of God is not money it's not jewelry it's not houses it's not material things The blessings of the

Lord peace joy contentment having all my needs met health peace of mind The blessings that

come from the Lord are not material but they're spiritual The Lord wants to bless and he

blesses in His way But here's my point none of that's going to happen None

of that is going to come to your life if you're just a hearer of the word only In

the Bible from Genesis Revelation who you see the Lord blessing those who are obedient to His word So

true discipleship requires an action on our behalf If we say that we love the Lord and we

say we're doer of the word the proof is in our actions Jesus said in John 14:15 if

you love me keep my commandments The proof the evidence that you love me is that you're keeping

my commandments You're doing what I'm instructing you to do Many people say oh I

love the Lord hallelujah but they're not keeping commandment the first That's why Jesus said in the

last days we're going to say Lord didn't I do this Didn't I do that The Lord's

going to stay away from me I never knew you But Lord I loved you There's no proof there's no

evidence of your love for me because you didn't keep my commandments The Church of Ephesus in

the book of Revelation the Lord rebuked them First he commended them He said Look I see

all the good stuff you're doing but I have one thing against you You have

left your first love which is me Now they were doing a lot of stuff now they were

doing a lot of activities in that church but they weren't doing anything that the Lord

commanded them to do And see that's where the church is right now We're busy doing stuff but it's the

stuff that we're doing is it what the Lord requires Because the Lord is only going to

bless obedience Keeping the commandments of God is not legalistic but it's about living out the word in

our lives that reflect our obedience toward Him Jesus says if you love me keep my commandments The

word keep implies us guarding and preserving careful and intentional observance to keep the word of truth

It's an intentional act We have to make up our minds that we have to be doers of

the word because what Jesus is asking us to do is not burdensome it's for

our good They're meant to lead us to a life of freedom and fulfillment that is

only found in Him That's why we have to keep His commandments Obedience to God's word is a sign

of our faithful desire to follow and to live for Him Number 1 we have to receive

the word with humility 2 we have to be doers of the word Number 3 the Bible reveals our

true condition Let's go to verse 23 and 24 It says for anyone who hears the

word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his

face in a mirror and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like Now

in these verses James is using a metaphor of a mirror to illustrate the need for a self-examination of

ourselves to determine the genuineness of our faith Looking in the mirror then forgetting what we see is spiritual

negligence is hearing the word and not doing it A mirror shows us who we are

It's going to show us our sin it's going to show us all of our negative

attitudes It's going to reveal our true motivations and the areas that we need to repent That's what happens

when you look at the man in the mirror Looking in the mirror and walking away unchanged

is unwise because you're neglecting you're ignoring what you see The purpose of looking in the mirror is to

do a self-examination so we can assess the genuineness of our faith if we are here of

the word only or we're do of the word So looking in the mirror realizing that my life

does not line up with the scripture and then walking away unchanged is unwise Hearing

the truth without acting on it is only gonna lead to spiritual stagnation which hinders

our spiritual growth When we look in the mirror and we see what we see and we say all

right I'm good First of all you just deceive yourself because you're not good We're ignoring

what we see in the mirror and we walk away unchanged thinking that we're all

right with God thinking that the blessing of the Lord is still upon our lives That's

why James said you're deceiving yourself you have that kind of mentality The spiritual stagnation we're not going to grow

If you don't change you're not growing And change is not change until you have changed Now you

can deceive yourself and think you've changed You can put on some cosmetic makeup but when you take the

makeup off there you are So the makeup was just a temporary illusion The mirror is

going to show you who you are So what we have to do we have to look in

the mirror and tell the man in the mirror to make that change to stop being a hearer of

the word and become a doer of the word The Lord revealed these things to us for a reason

Let's go back to Ephesians The Lord revealed these things to us so we can what Put off so we

can do what Put on But if you ignore what you see in the mirror that's going to

lead to spiritual stagnation which hinders our spiritual growth and we'll continue on with life

without any transformation in our lives So number 3 the Bible reveals our true condition

when you look in the mirror And number 4 the blessed life comes through obedience I think that's

made that clear throughout this teaching this morning Verse 25 says but the one who

looks intently into the perfect law of freedom talking about the word of God and continues to do so

not being a forgetful hearer but an effective doer he will be blessed in what he does The blessed

life comes through obedience Obedience leads to freedom not bondage What the Lord is telling us to do commanding

us to do teaching us to do instructing us to do is for our own good is

for our own benefit But often people think I'm being put in bondage No you're being released

from your bondage You're being released from your prisons those things that have held you

back all these years That's what obedience to the word does It leads to freedom not bondage God's commands

are life-giving and life changing if you put them into practice John chapter 13 verse 17

says this if you know these things talking about the teachings of Christ you are blessed if you put them

into practice The amplifier says if you know these things you are blessed happy and favored by God if

you put them into practice and faithfully do them The word if is a conditional word

because we've been given freedom of will We have the option to know these things and

not put them into practice or to know these things and put them into practice But the scripture says

if you know these things the teachings of Christ the teachings of the word you are

blessed you are happy and you are favored by God if you put them into practice And faithfully

do them Blessings come from being a doer of the word Blessings come by being obedient to the word

God promises to bless the intentional believer who puts his word into action So let me leave you with this

this morning Hearing and obeying the word is essential They go hand in hand It's essential for our lives It's

essential for spiritual growth and development because you cannot grow if you don't listen and obey the word is

essential for producing daily fruit in our lives transforming us into the image of Christ and hearing and

obeying the word is essential for living the more than abundant life God wants us to have

it and he wants us to have it to the full until it overflows but it'll

never happen if we do not submit to the Spirit's leading And practice put into action be a doer

of the word daily So we need to let the scripture change us We need to

let the scripture correct us We need to let the scripture cut us where it's

needed because it's for our good It's for our betterment God wants to reveal something to us He wants

us to look in the mirror and make that change So we need to let the scripture correct

us and change us and that's what the Spirit does The Spirit leads you to the word In

order for us to hear the word and be a doer of the word Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12

says For the word of God is living and is active it's alive and it's full of power and it's

sharper than any two-edged sword It pierces even to dividing soul and spirit joints and

marrow It judges the thoughts and the true intentions of the heart So the word is going to

discern whether or not you're a hearer of the word or if you're a do of the word and it's

going to reveal it to you So when the spirit leads us to the word we need

to obey it Then the word will come alive Then the word will be powerful and transformative in your

life So we have to not only be a hearer of the word but a do of the

word Amen