In this message, Pastor Vance continues our study of the book of James and teaches how we should respond to the Word of God in our lives. What does it mean to respond with a heart of repentance, a heart of submission, and a heart of perseverance? Listen to this message to find out!
Sermon Notes
How to Rightly Respond to God’s Word
The Book of James Week 6
“Therefore, ridding yourselves of all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does.” - James 1:21-25
I. I MUST RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD WITH A HEART OF REPENTANCE
“Repentance is a discovery of the evil of sin, a mourning that we have committed it, a resolution to forsake it. It is, in fact, a change of mind of a very deep and practical character, which makes the man love what once he hated, and hate what once he loved.”—Charles Spurgeon
Confess my sin
“He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.”—Proverbs 28:13
Turn from my sin
“Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.”—J.I. Packer (Keep in Step with the Spirit)
Embrace God’s forgiveness
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”—1 John 1:9
II. I MUST RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD WITH A HEART OF SUBMISSION
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.” – James 1:22
Life Application:
Time in the Word is not a ritual to be performed; time in the Word is a means by which we are transformed.
“But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit”—2 Corinthians 3:18
“Transformation is God’s work alone, yet it hinges on something that we must do. We must behold—or focus intently—on all that is glorious about Christ. In response, God performs His supernatural work of transforming our very lives.”—Clyde Cranford (Because We Love Him)
III. I MUST RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD WITH A HEART OF PERSEVERANCE
perseverance (n.) persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success
“But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:25
