Belief that Behaves Part 1 A Proper Reception of the Word

James 1:19-21
September 17, 2017
Pilgrims Baptist Church

James 1:19-21King James Version (KJV)

19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted

word, which is able to save your souls.

Introduction:
- Today @ 1872, 145 years ago, Phillip W. Prat patented the First Automatic Fire Sprinkler Systems. The
fire sprinkle has a glass that will shatter at a certain high temperature which will allow the water to
flow freely.
- This was first used in businesses but later on new laws were passed that this system should be
mandatory to be installed in building with large occupants.
- The risk of having a fire related disaster in building with this system was low.

- James presents different tests for a true believer. The first was response to trials, the second was
response to temptations and third is response to the truth revealed in the Word of God.
- When a true disciple hears the Word of God, there is an affection for its truth and a desire in his heart
to obey it.
- One of the most reliable evidences of genuine salvation is the hunger for the Word of God Ps 42:1
as the deer
- A newborn baby does not have to be taught to hunger for its mothers milk. The newborn child of God
does not have to be taught to hunger for Gods Word his spiritual food and drink.
- This is the nature of his new spiritual life, of his new creation.
- Ps. 119:1, 10, 14 true believers love Gods Word. Their highest joy is to understand and keep it and
thereby please their Lord.
- A person who is truly related to Christ through saving faith responds gladly to His word.
- A person who has no interest in hearing, in obeying Gods Word give evidence that he does not belong
to God. 1 John 3:10
- The natural desire of unbelievers is to disregard and disobey the Word of God. They naturally rebel
against it when the Word convicts them of their sinfulness, lostness and condemnation under God.
Ps. 119:55 (Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek Your statues)
- Like the parables of the soils roadside, rocky places & thorns they ultimately reject in their minds
and their hearts the gospel along with the rest of Gods Word.
- In our text, James reveals 3 attitudes for believers to rightly receive Gods Word:
o Willingness to receive it with submission 19-20
o Willingness to receive it with purity 21a
o Willingness to receive it with humility 21b
Willingness to receive it with submission 19-20
1. This you know / Wherefore this refers to the truths expressed:
a. One - General truth of the power of the Word in regenerating believers and making them new
creatures
b. Two - Believers are the first fruits of the Gods creatures.
c. From the teaching of the apostles and their experiences, they know what it was to be
transformed by the Word of God (incorruptible seed of God) & given eternal life in the family of
God
d. At this point James is making a transition that because we have experienced the transforming
power of God, we are to continually submit to His Word thus allowing it to continue its divine
work in and through our lives.
e. 2 Tim. 3:16-17
2. My beloved brethren
a. A deep concern and compassion for his readers
3. Swift to hear
a. A careful listener paying attention to get the message right.
b. Prov. 17:28 - Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his
lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
c. Prov. 29:20 Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of
him.
d. James appeal is for believers to seize every opportunity to increase their exposure to Scripture
and to take advantage of every privileged occasion to read Gods Word or to hear it faithfully
preached or taught.
e. The sincere desire of learning is one of the surest mark of a child of God.
i. Blessed words of thanksgiving and praise
ii. Troubled words of comfort and encouragement & strength
iii. Confused words of guidance and wisdom
iv. Tempted words of Gods standard for purity and righteousness & resist temptation
f. The Word of God gives us the most intimate communion with our heavenly Lord.
g. Application: Do you have that eager desire inside you? If you miss reading Scripture before the
day begins, do you notice a difference in the day in yourselves?
4. Slow to speak
a. You cant listen well or understand the message of another person if you are talking.
b. But that is not what James is talking about here.
c. In this context, it seems that slow to speak includes the idea of being careful not to be thinking
about ones thoughts and ideas while someone is trying to express Gods Word, we cant really
hear Gods Word when our minds are on our own thoughts. We need to be silent inside as well
as outside.
d. However, the primary idea here is that when the appropriate time to speak does come, what is
said should be carefully thought out.
e. Background:
i. James 1:26 and 3:1, some believers in churches to whom James wrote are accustomed
to saying and teaching whatever happened to come to their minds, without a careful
thought or checking against the Scripture.
ii. Many of the would-be teachers were perhaps sincere but poorly taught and
unprepared, some were proud and arrogant (4:6) and enjoyed hearing their own voices
and being considered teachers and leaders.
iii. Some are discontent and have disputes with each other.
 iv. There were unbelieving false teachers who were deceptively confusing the church and
damaging it.
f. Point: The man of God whom God had appointed to preach and teach His Word is compelled to
do with both willingness and joy with the sense of awe by careful and patient study,
preparation and prayer.
5. Slow to wrath or anger
a. Anger = orge an inside deep resentment not thumos or blownup outside.
b. Now listen to what he's saying. Listen to the Word, be eager to listen, be eager to listen, be
very, very cautious before you ever speak the Word and thirdly, when you hear something
from the Word, don't build up inside of yourself a resentment to it because:
i. one, it doesn't agree with what you thought, or
ii. two, because it confronts your sin.
c. 4:1-2, People desired to be heard and have their opinions confirmed, their own ways
approved and their own likes and dislikes accepted by others.
d. Instead of working in love with one another.
e. James was trying to contain and defuse personal resentment and hostility in some
churches. They were also his beloved.
f. There is a holy anger against sin but mere personal anger and bitterness does not achieve
the righteousness of God. It does not accomplish what is right.
g. In other words, to sum those three things up, receive the Word with submission. Don't get
angry. Listen carefully. And talk only when you're prepared.

Willingness to receive the word with purity 21a

1. Before Gods Word can produce His righteousness in us, we must first abandon and put away the sin
in our lives that stands between us and that righteousness.
2. Filthiness rhuparia any sort of moral defilement or impurity. It is closely related to the wax in the
ear which impairs hearing. Moral filthiness is a serious barrier to clearly hearing the comprehending
the Word of God.
3. Remains of wickedness kakia moral evil and corruption in general. It pertains to the sin that is
deliberate and determined. It may reside in the heart for a long time. This sins can never be expressed
outwardly so it includes many hidden sins that the Lord and the individual are aware of.
4. Implication: eliminating every semblance of evil that corrupts our lives, that reduces our hunger for
the Word of God, that clouds our understanding of it.

Willingness to receive the word in humility 21b

1. Humility prautes meekness or gentleness. The idea of putting self as well as sins aside. WE Vines
It is the temper of the spirit in which we accept the dealings of God with us as good and therefore
without dispute and resisting. Another area is the quality of being teachable.
2. Implanted - planting a seed to the ground. The Word of God being implanted and taking root in the
heart of the believer.
3. We must receive it while it is implanted in a sense that we allow it to direct and control our lives.