Fuel Up With The Word. (James 1:16-27)
Introduction
2008 has being the year of rising oil prices. Therefore there is a great push to discover and develop alternative sources of energy.
Last week we talked about “Be Fueled with Prayer.” How to be fueled with Prayer? Jesus said pray in secret and secondly pray like you mean it.
Today we want to add “Be fueled with The Word” to “Be fueled with prayer”
Text: James 1:16-27
Notice straight off that the very first verse of our text (v16) begins with a warning. The warning reads “Don’t be deceived my dear brothers.”
“Don’t be deceived my dear brothers” is a warning label. But a warning label for what?
“Don’t be deceived my dear brothers” is a warning label to put on the cover of your Bible.If we are not fueling up with the Word it is because the Devil has deceived us.Likewise if you are fueling up with the Word it is because the Devil hasn’t deceived you.
Look at 4 areas where the Devil has successfully deceived people from fueling up with the Word. If you are struggling with studying the Bible you are going to find the cause today.
1. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about where the Bible came from.
2. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about the Bible’s content.
3. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about the Bible’s purpose.
4. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about how to get help from the Bible.
These 4 deceptions are corrected for us in our text.
1. Where did the Bible came from?
Ask people the question “where did the Bible come from?” most people will tell you that some men wrote it thousands of years ago.
1. If that is true then the Bible is really no different from any other book.
2. Because it was written thousands of years ago it badly needs to be updated.
Where did the Bible come from?
V17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
1. According to v17 the Bible came from God Himself.
2. According to v17 because God is unchanging He got the Bible right the first time.
“Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18)
“All scripture is God-breathed…” 2 Tim. 3:16
Application: Don’t Be Deceived.The Bible is not like any other book. When you fuel up with the Word you are fueling up with the unchanging Word of God.
2. What does the Bible contain?
What do you think most people would say if you asked them the question “What does the Bible contain?” (Stories, legends, contradictions, strange customs…,)
What’s wrong with these answers? They rob the Bible of it’s authority over our lives.
But what does the Bible contain?
(V18)” He chose to give us birth through the word of truth…”
According to verse 18 the Bible contains the word of TRUTH.
4 DISTINCT MEANINGS FOR TRUTH
1.What is fact, reality, the actual state of affairs, correct or accurate as opposed to what is falsehood, error and wrong.
2.Truth as opposite to types, emblems or shadows
3.Truth as in integrity, sincere, genuine, open and true
4.Truth as in absolute truth, ultimate truth and divinely revealed truth
Application: Don’t Be Deceived!When you fuel up with the Word you are filling up with the truth.
3. What is the Bible’s purpose?
What do most people believe to be the Bible’s purpose? The purpose of the Bible is to take all the fun out of life.
What’s wrong with all this answer? It discourages people from ever reading/studying the Bible.
So what is the purpose of the Bible?
(v25) “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.”
The purpose of the Bible is to bless your life!
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:1-3)
How God uses the Bible to bless your life.
1. God uses the Bible to tell us how to be born into the family of God (v18)
” He chose to give us birth through the word of truth…”
“To all that received him, (Jesus) to those who believed in his name (Jesus means salvation) he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
2. God uses the Bible to save us from all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent (v21)
“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”
3. God uses the Bible to give us freedom (v25)
“But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom…”
4. How to get help from the Bible?
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (v22-24)
Merely listening to the word is not going to help my life.
James likens merely listening to the word to looking at your face in the mirror then going away and immediately forgetting what you look like.
How do we get help from the Bible?
But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” (v25)
We get help from the Bible only by doing what it says.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)
The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but in order to change our lives.
James concludes with a Test to see if we are really a doer of the word or a hearer of the word only
1.The Religion Test
“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”
Am I keeping a tight rein on my tongue? If I am then I am a doer of the world.
But if I am a gossip…If I am a discourager of others… If my words are always getting me into trouble…
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Eph. 4:29)
2. The Responsibility Test
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”
If I’m looking after orphans and widows in their distress then I’m a doer of the word.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matt. 25:35-36)
3. The Righteousness Test
“and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
If I’m really no different from the world then I’m far from being a doer of the word.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” (Matt. 5:13)
Conclusion
If I’m not doing what the Bible says for me to do then I have been deceived by the Devil.
James says in verse 21 that I need to humble myself (repent) and accept the Word which can save me.
