I Desire Obedience, Says the Lord

As you may recall, I was speaking about that call from the Lord to a life of deeds and not merely of emotions with regard to the work of holiness, the life of holiness. The Apostle Paul says that the Gospel does not consist of words. Words are lovely, feelings are nice, but the Bible speaks of obedience: “I want obedience,” says the Lord. That is what truly moves God’s heart: when we obey His word.

That is why James says in verse 22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” If anyone is a hearer, he says, but not a doer, he deceives himself. I made some notes here many years ago—more years than I care to remember. I think these yellow papers are more yellowed from age than from their original color. But I wrote here many years ago: there are people who come on Sundays and sit in the sanctuary to listen to the sermon. They like what the preacher says, and for a moment they become enthusiastic and excited, but a moment later they forget what they heard.

It says here that such a person is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, but after looking at himself, goes away and forgets what he looked like. From the moment these people cross the threshold of the church and walk out its doors, they are struck by a kind of total amnesia. If they are asked what the preacher spoke about, they cannot answer. They like to gargle with the word of God, but they do not swallow it.

It seems I was in a bad mood when I wrote this passage. I don’t know. Maybe I had not eaten a good dinner. I don’t know what happened there. I think you understand what I mean. It is like when they gave us a pill as children and we held it under our tongues to fool our mother, and as soon as she left, we spat it out. So thank God that you caught me now that I am tired and old.

James says that we must be doers, because if anyone is a hearer of the word but not a doer, he deceives himself. We are deceiving ourselves. God cannot be mocked, the Bible says. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. And we must always keep this firmly in mind, brothers and sisters: in our actions, our words, and the things we do, others may not see them, but they will certainly catch up with us at some point. If we think we can do things that are not right before the Lord and simply emerge completely unscathed from those little escapades, we are deceiving ourselves. The ones we deceive are ourselves. And if we make double-mindedness and inconsistency the rule in our lives, we are truly deceiving ourselves.

Again, he says it is like a mirror, like a person looking at himself in a mirror. The word of God is a mirror; it shows us exactly as we are. Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12, comes to mind. It says that the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrates even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart; and there is no created thing that is not manifest in His presence. Rather, all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.

So the word of God is very powerful, not merely in the sense that God implants it within us and transforms us, as we were saying earlier—that implanted word. The word of God also gives us life; verse 21 says that it is able to save our souls: “which is able to save our souls.” But that word also has the virtue of showing us exactly as we are when we search it and read it continually. It is as though it analyzes us and takes an X-ray of us.

When we read the word, the word portrays us, and we can see ourselves in it. And in truth, I would say that the word of God is the only reliable way for us to see ourselves and recognize the human condition. There is no other system or document like it. It is a mirror; that is why James compares it to a mirror that never lies. That mirror of the word is very powerful.

It is not like the mirror of the witch and Sleeping Beauty. You remember that the woman asks it, “And who is the fairest?” And the mirror always tells her, “Why, you are.” But the word of God shows us in our true nature.

Only this mirror shows us the human soul exactly as it is, unlike psychology or sociology and other disciplines of that kind, which present a mistaken and distorted image of man. They have some value up to a point, but today, for example, psychology is being used to justify a great many things that are harmful to the fabric of human society, and it can be twisted in a very powerful way.

But the word of God is that standard which, when we use it, see it for what it is, and regard it for what it is, gives us an exact and precise picture of what the human soul is like. God knows us very well through His word.

So James establishes a kind of relationship here. He says that the person who does not do the word of God but merely listens to it is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, because he looks at himself, goes away, and then forgets what he looked like.

It is interesting; consider that James is talking about mirrors 2,000 years ago. And you know that mirrors back then were not like mirrors today, in which you can see yourself almost exactly as you are, even though you see yourself in only two dimensions. The mirrors of the past, for those who had the blessing or good fortune of seeing themselves in one, were actually made of metal. Remember, there was no glass coated with that substance—whatever it is, I cannot remember its name—that causes a person to be reflected. No, what people used was metal, burnished bronze or something similar, in which to see themselves, and so they saw themselves very imperfectly. Very few people even had a piece of metal polished enough to see their face. They might see themselves in a river or something like that, but that was all. And they saw themselves in a very limited, very imperfect way.

And that is why I think many people perhaps did not really know what they looked like—and many would say, “That’s a good thing.” But many people did not have the ability to see themselves or remember what they looked like. That is important. It speaks of a person who can look at himself, see his face, and not remember what he looked like.

I think that was how it was for many people: they simply caught a quick glimpse of something and then forgot it. We have a very clear image of ourselves; we look at ourselves 20 times a day, and some of the sisters even more often than that. That is why what it says here is so important: many people are like that. They listen to the sermon, and for a moment the word portrays them, but then they do this and—poof!—they have an image… because they are not accustomed to examining themselves carefully. That kind of situation is dangerous for the Christian.

“To consider” is contrasted with “to look intently.” To consider is to take a quick look, a swift glance, as when you are rushing out of the house and only have time to look at yourself in the mirror for a moment before running out. You quickly consider yourself.

But it says, “the one who looks intently.” There is a contrast between considering something quickly, lightly, and superficially, and looking intently—looking carefully and scrupulously, with the utmost attention, concentrating all your energy on the effort of looking, as we look at something we cannot lift up to our eyes but must bend our neck and lower our head to inspect, as though furrowing our brow.

How many of you know that expression, “furrowing your brow”? That is a very refined expression. I find myself doing that more and more as the years go by. It is like bending down to look at a tiny flower hidden along the side of the road, a curious insect, or some other small thing—to look at it carefully. That is how we should approach the study of the word of the Lord and the principles of the word of God: we should search it with the utmost attention.

Frankly, most of us Christians are very superficial in our knowledge of the word of God. Every day, fewer people know Scripture and its principles, and fewer people devote time to searching the word. As I said some time ago, we must be people of the word, people who know the main themes, the main characters, and the stories of the Bible.

You can ask such people anything, and something that reminds them of it immediately springs to mind; they constantly have verses in their minds. That person—the person who comes to the house of the Lord with the utmost seriousness because they know that, at that moment, they are engaged in an intimate and personal relationship with the voice of God speaking through the word being expounded, or through the word they are reading at that moment.

That is how we should be: attentive observers of the word and the principles of the Lord. When you come to church, come attentively; come with your spirit alert; come expecting God to speak to you; come with determination: “I am not going to start thinking about little birds in the air and let my mind wander all over the universe. No, every time my mind begins to wander, I will bring it back and concentrate on what I am hearing. I will listen to it with faith. I will listen as though God were speaking to me.” Such people receive from God, God speaks to them, and they are touched.

So we must look intently. It says, “the one who looks intently into the perfect law.” What is that law? The law of the word of the Lord. I think of that verse which says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The law of the Lord. Consider that James is now presenting the word of God in terms of law: God’s commandments, precepts, counsel, and divine standards. And it is a perfect law, with no hindrance or defect in it.

Not like the Mosaic law. I believe James is also drawing a small contrast between the Mosaic law, which was an imperfect law, and the perfect law of God’s revelation. He says, and then clarifies, “the one who looks intently into the perfect law, the law of liberty.”

Do you see an irony and a paradox here? Law is generally not associated with liberty. Law is something that restricts us; law is something that limits us. Yet it occurs to James, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to speak of the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, because the word of the Lord sets us free. It is true that the word of the Lord sets certain boundaries for us and limits us in the exercise of our appetites and in the things that are destructive to us, but paradoxically, it also sets us free. It makes us free to enjoy life, free to live peacefully, and free to run the race of the Christian life with ease.

There is nothing like adhering to the word of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, let me tell you: the more time passes, the more I discover that remaining within the boundaries of the word of the Lord provides a sense of safety and peace that one would not trade for anything. So many mistakes, so many things we fall into in life, and so many blows we suffer are often the result of our having stepped outside the safety of the word of the Lord.

So if we are obedient to the word, the word protects us and sets us free to live happy, productive, peaceful lives—to sleep peacefully and wake up peacefully. If we go through tribulations and trials, we do not have to keep asking ourselves, “Is it because of that sin?” No. Okay, amen, I am going through a trial, but the Lord will bring me out of it, because one examines oneself and, like Job, says, “Well, I am searching to see where I might have…” But no, I am at peace; I have done everything I could. We always sin against the Lord, but then we have a certain assurance, and we know that the Lord will help us and bring us through. We feel that we have the authority to come into His presence. Our conscience does not accuse us; we know that the devil cannot take advantage of our lives.

One day I want to preach about an image, a passage that came to mind recently and that I have wanted to address at some point, where it says that we must not give place to the devil. “Place” is a word like the handle of a cup: do not give Satan a landing strip in your life. Do not give him any place by which he can grab hold of you. And when a person is in the Lord’s will, doing God’s will, the enemy has no means of manipulating us, accusing us, or trapping us, because he is defeated in our lives.

If some trial or pain comes into our lives, we know it will be for other reasons, and God will help us; God will bring us through. And we feel content and certain about that.

So it is a law, but a law that liberates. Living in the truth is what offers us the greatest freedom. Let us make an effort, brothers and sisters. I know it is difficult, but let us do everything possible to live according to the law of the Lord, which sets us free.

It says, “the one who looks intently into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres in it.” Lately I have spoken about persistence, about remaining faithful to the things to which we commit ourselves, the visions God gives us, and the goals we pursue. Persistence is extremely important.

It says that the person who perseveres stands in contrast to that double-minded man whom he spoke about earlier. In this same chapter 1, he speaks about the double-minded person who is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed about by the wind, and says that anyone who behaves that way should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. That is verses 6 and 7 of chapter 1.

The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Contrast that with the man or woman who perseveres in the law of God and in the commandments of the Lord. I wrote here that, in contrast to the double-minded man, the Christian who grows is the man or woman who remains steadfast through the years, knowing that a long race lies ahead and that this race must be run with patience. So we must persevere.

The Bible says that the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. There is something about perseverance, because the Christian life is a marathon; it is not a 100-yard dash in which you give it everything you have and in 3 seconds, 5 seconds, the race is over. No. The Christian life is a marathon lasting a couple of hours, at least, under the best of circumstances—26 miles. And the Christian life is for the long haul.

Along that journey, along that walk, difficulties will come, illnesses will come, trials of different kinds will come, and times of great blessing will also come. We are going to go through difficult situations. Tonight, before the service began, a sister told me about the burden she carries for her son, and in the Lord we bless him right now; in fact, she does not know where he is, and we declare blessing over that young man. Father, You are mighty, Lord.

But one can imagine the pain this Christian woman, this Christian mother, feels for her son, the anguish one feels. And that is what the Christian life is like: concerns arise, and sometimes we pray for our children and there is no answer, and seasons and stretches of difficulty come into our lives; but times of victory also come, times of refreshing, of moving forward, of breaking through the breach and coming out on the other side. And it requires patience; it requires persistence.

The person who gets discouraged too quickly does not reach victory. We must arm ourselves with faith; that is why the Word says that we should run with patience the race set before us. And every day we must say, Lord, I am in this for the long haul. I am not going to pull away from You. I put my hand to the plow, and I am not going to take it off. Amen. Once you have committed yourself to the ways of the Lord, keep moving forward, arm yourself with faith, and no matter what comes, fight against your flesh; fight against your emotions, which will tell you, No, God has abandoned you now, God has forgotten you, the Christian life is good for nothing. You keep moving forward and persist, and remember: the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

Throughout the centuries, the children of God have gone through the same process, often through the crucible of trial. Peter says, I believe in Second Peter, that our faith, tested like gold, may come forth shining; and that is what we must do in our spiritual lives. No matter what we go through, we must persist until the final moment and persevere, because that is what will allow the Lord to do His work in our lives.

So, the one who perseveres in that Word of the Lord, in that law, not being a forgetful hearer. I believe that this is the heart of tonight’s meditation: let us not be forgetful hearers. Let us ruminate on the Word like cows, eating it little by little, chewing the Word of the Lord. We should always be meditating on the Word of God. It should be our meditation day and night, as the psalmist says: “How sweet is Your Word; it is my meditation day and night.” And that is how we must be; those are the people who are truly blessed by the Word of God.

The one who perseveres in it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, will be blessed in what he does. Glory to the name of the Lord. Do you want a foundation for prosperity and blessing in your life? Be an attentive, persevering hearer and practitioner of the Word of the Lord, and you will be blessed; you will be happy.

I leave you with the words of Psalm 1, the first three verses. Remember them and compare them with what James says at the end: that he will prosper, that he will be blessed in everything he does. The psalmist says in Psalm 1, verse 1, “Blessed is the man, blessed is the woman who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers”… You see conduct there, integrity, a holy life, a life consistent with the Word of the Lord.

“Blessed is that person, but his delight is in the law of Jehovah; it is his joy”… Think of the person who rejoices and delights in the Word of the Lord. It is not enough simply to tolerate the Word; it is not enough merely to submit to hearing it once a week for a little while, reluctantly; it is not even enough to read it religiously, as many people sometimes read it almost superstitiously: I am going to read two verses before I leave the house to see whether that will cover me a little when I go out into the street. No, no. He delights in the law of Jehovah; it is his joy, and on His law he meditates day and night.

Look at the consequence of that kind of posture, that kind of attitude toward the Word of the Lord—of obedience, of delighting in it, and of continually meditating on that Word. It says, “He will be like a tree planted by streams of water.”

That Word will flow within you; it will continually refresh you; it will give you comfort, counsel, rest, and hope at all times. “He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither; and everything he does will prosper.”

Everything he does will prosper. Glory to the name of the Lord. It is very similar to what James says centuries later: “He will be blessed in everything he does.” Very similar: everything he does will prosper. It is a promise the Lord repeats again and again: when you devote yourself to aligning your life with the Word of God, the Lord will bless what you do in some way. Sometimes it will take time; you will have to go through difficulties and everything else, but in the long run the Lord will give you victory, and you will be blessed in everything you undertake.

Glory to the Lord. That is the hope I want you to take away from here tonight: that if God is with you, no one can harm you. If God is with you, you cannot fail. If God is with you, your life will keep getting better and better. If God is with you, you will be like the light of dawn, growing brighter, as we have said several times already, until the day is perfect. Do not worry if, along that journey, there are moments of difficulty, trial, fatigue, suffering, and tribulation. Do not worry; that is part of the process. But in the long run, God will lead you to places of tender pasture, and beside still waters He will shepherd you, because His Word will be like that stream of water that continually refreshes you throughout your life.

May that be the image you take with you tonight, along with this resolve: Lord, I am going to be a doer of Your Word; I am going to be an attentive hearer; I am going to meditate on it day and night; I am not going to let life tear Your Word and Your promises away from me. And so I believe that You are going to work with me and that You will attend to my cause, in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Let us stand. Receive the Lord’s promise in your life. Leave here with joy in your heart. If you came in a little tired, be renewed right now in the waters of the Lord. Enter that beautiful, refreshing lake of the Lord right now. Father, tonight we are refreshed inside and out from our burdens and our struggles. We trust in You and say, as we said a little while ago, I will lift up my eyes to the hills; from where will my help come? My help comes from Jehovah, who made heaven and earth.

Lord, I declare that Your children receive help—timely aid tonight for every need—and that You renew their strength in the name of Jesus. We refresh ourselves in Your waters, Lord; we immerse ourselves in Your waters; we find hope in them, Father. We rebuke all anguish, all emotional and physical weariness. Father, we cast the trials and burdens of life at Your feet, and thank You, Father, because by dwelling… the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, the one who dwells in the shelter of Your Word, will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I bless Your people tonight, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You. Brothers and sisters, receive God’s blessing. Go home, go to bed trusting in the Lord. Take a nice little shower before you go to bed and believe that God is with you. Amen. I bless you in the name of Jesus. Greet someone and declare God’s blessing over their life tonight. Glory to God. Amen. Amen. Glory to the Lord.