James One Message 10

James One Message 10

The Implanted Word

James 1:19–21 NLT

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

Our Testing Continues

First are Tested by Trials

Verses 2-12

The test is simply how do you respond when life is hard.

The negative response is to become bitter.

The positive response is to build Christlike character.

Second we are Tested by Temptation

Verses 13-18

 God does not tempt us

It’s our own lust and desires

The schemes of the devil.

The negative response is death

The positive response is life through a new birth (v:18)

You are a new creation and free from the bondage of sin.

Third we are tested by

Our Response to TRUTH

Truth is the WORD

Truth is a person.

Understand this truth:

A heart that is transformed by God will be quick to receive His Word, slow to react in the flesh, and eager to remove whatever hinders spiritual growth.

Want to know if you are truly a believer?

Is there an affection a hunger for God’s word?

Second is there a proper response to the word. (Obedience)

One key factor in knowing God’s will is being obedient to His word.

It is the mark of a true believer.

John 8:31 (NLT) — 31 Jesus said “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.

John 8:31 NLT

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.

Becoming a Faithful Disciple

Quick to hear.

There are many levels of this.

The infant stage is basic reading the bible.

E.g. this verse.

James 1:19 (LSB) — 19 Know this, my beloved brothers. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;

James 1:19 LSB

Know this, my beloved brothers. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;

Threes simple commands

Quick to hear – Slow to speak – Don’t get angry (Simple)

Quick to Hear

But let us go deeper

Quick to hear what? God?

How do we hear what God is saying?

God speaks in four ways. Bible, prayer, circumstances, other believers.

Your first step is being a good listener.

A second is to hold your tongue.

Slow to Speak

We also need to be teachable

One of my life rules is to never stop learning.

This is how you progress from the elementary meanings to the deep things of God.

Let’s take Prayer

Prayer is talking to God.

We often come to God with a laundry list of needs.

Prayer should also be listening.

When you pray, do so with an open heart and mind.

God will bring things to your mind; a scripture, a person, an idea a sin.

You should act on those immediately

There is a second way to see this command.

Be careful what you say.

Not every thought needs to become words. (or a Facebook post)

I see a lot of “message deleted”.

You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Slow to anger

This could be a whole message in and of itself.

There is an uncontrolled human emotion that some can’t seem to control

That is a spiritual discipline problem.

Proverbs 15:1 (NIV) — 1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1 NIV

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

James gets to the danger of tongue in this book. James 3

There is another kind of anger.

The most quoted passage in not John 3:16

It’s Matthew 7:1

We love this verse because we don’t like our sins being pointed out.

We can have an unholy anger when our sin are brought to light.

Notice verse 20

James 1:20 (NLT) — 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

James 1:20 NLT

Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

We can and should apply this to hot headed anger.

We should be producing righteous fruit.

Righteous fruit comes from holy living.

The bible teaches we have our “conscience seared with a hot iron” 1 Timothy 4:2

The world has said your behavior is ok. I mean love is love.

Paul describes the Gentiles as hopelessly confused.

We can substitute Gentile for modern society. Listen to what he says.

Ephesians 4:18–19 (NLT) — 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

Ephesians 4:18–19 NLT

Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

Watch what happens when a preacher stands and says thus says the Lord your sin is an abomination to the Lord.

The unholy anger comes to the surface.

Who do you think you are? Judge not least you be judged.

You can lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.

The Implanted Word

Take out the garage.

James 1:21 (NLT) — 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

James 1:21 NLT

So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

Some of you in this room have repented

You no longer want to live a self-centered life.

You have chosen the path of

God-centered living.

You have planted that word in your heart

Two things are happening.

You know the joy of living the abundant life.

You are experiencing spiritual warfare.

Some of are in danger of hell fire.

You are holding on to sin.

You have justified it.  

There is no shame in it.

I think guilt and shame can be harmful emotions.

But they can also be very helpful.

God will use that guilt to bring you to repentance.

Turn to Jesus and humbly accept the word planted in your heart.

This is a Test