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When The Mirror Doesn't Lie
Introduction: A High School teacher once quizzed a group of college-bound high school juniors and seniors on the Bible. Among the more unusual answers were these:
Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers.
Jezebel was Ahab's donkey.
The Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luther, and John.
Eve was created from an apple.
Golgotha was the giant whom the Apostle David killed.
In case you think this is an isolated instance of biblical illiteracy, let me quote the findings of a Gallop Poll:
"82% of Americans believe that the Bible is either the literal or inspired Word of God …more than half said they read the Bible at least monthly. Yet half couldn't name even one of the four Gospels…And fewer than half knew who delivered the Sermon on the Mount.
Listen to this, "The Bible is available in more than 1800 languages, and yet someone has observed that the worst dust storm in history would occur if all church members who were neglecting their Bibles dusted them off simultaneously."
Now, we can sit back and say what a tragic testimony that is regarding American Christians. Yet I believe a far greater tragedy takes place in the lives of those same believers, who Sunday after Sunday gather information in their minds, but never put that information into practice.
Many people have the mistaken idea that hearing a good sermon is where we get the blessing. Folks, "IT’S NOT IN THE HEARING OF A GOOD SERMON THAT BRINGS THE BLESSING BUT RATHER IN THE DOING, THE PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE, THAT BRINGS THE BLESSING.” As someone said, "Too many Christians MARK their Bibles, but fail to let their Bibles MARK them."
Today, there exists a tremendous gap in our churches between PREACHING and PRACTICING. So many Christians who "know what they believe" make us wonder if they "believe what they know." Now, with that discrepancy in mind, let's turn to chapter one in the Book of James.
In verse 18 we read “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” HereJames places emphasis on BELIEVING the WORD OF GOD to save our Souls.
In verse 21 we read, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” When James says to RECEIVE the Word of God, he means to WELCOME it into our lives.
In verses 22-25, James tells us to PRACTICE the Word of Truth. Here we read, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (23) For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (25) But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
From these verses there are THREE things I want to call to your attention. They will again be easy to remember as they all begin with the letter "C"
First: The Command to Obey. James tells us verse 22 "Be ye DOERS of the word and not HEARERS only…"
Paul said in Philippians 4:8-9, "Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are of a good report …if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK on these things. Those things which you have both LEARNED and RECEIVED and HEARD, and SEEN in me DO…"
John said in I John 3:18, "My little Children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in DEED and in truth."
In verse 22 the words "BE YE DOERS" is in the tense of the language which says "keep on becoming." Keep on putting into practice what you learn.
Unfortunately, there are believers who only occasionally rise to the mountain top spiritually. For the most part they live in the valley of defeat, discouragement and worldliness.
Unfortunately, there are believers who are like POSTS instead of TREES. What is the difference? If you plant a tree it begins to GROW. If you set a POST, it begins to DECAY.
James doesn't want us to be STUCK he wants us to KEEP ON
BECOMING to KEEP ON GROWING.
When James tells us to be doers of the word, he doesn't do it in a mild, matter-of-fact way. This is another one of James' 50 imperative statements. He doesn't request, rather, he commands,
You who have believed the Word of Truth, and
You who have received the Word of Truth, and
You who have heard the Word of Truth,
GET UP AND PUT IT INTO PRACTICE! Listen, if what you hear on Sunday does not equip you to live on Monday, you have missed the point of coming to worship and you have fallen victim to this gross sin of hearing without doing.
Christianity is not performing a set of rituals, it is putting into practice God's Truth. The message might conclude at 12:00 but the sermon begins as you before the Lord in the invitation determine to DO what the Word in the message has taught you.
Christianity is not just WORDS, it’s ACTION! As one missionary well said, "It is my conclusion that the greatest missionary problem is just the failure of Christian people to LIVE what they say they BELIEVE."
When James says "not hearer only", he is not rebuking us from hearing. Remember Romans 10:17 tells us, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." In James' day, the word HEARERwas what an AUDITOR is today. An AUDITOR is one who sits down with the other students, has the same advantages of learning, but does not have the same responsibilities.
When the examinations are given, he does not have to take them. He is just an auditor.
But when the day of graduation comes, the auditor walks way with only the knowledge learned while physically present in the class. He does not receive a diploma.
Isn't that the way of many Christians, who Sunday after Sunday sit through the singing, the prayers, the message, and the invitation but then walk away DOING NOTHING about the message? They have come, thinking the blessing to be received is in the HEARING, but in really it is in the DOING.
Don't be mistaken. People do need a blessing, and it is my prayer Sunday after Sunday, and service after service that the Word of God will be a blessing to you.
But the blessing James tells us about in verse 25 is found in PUTTING YOUR FAITH INTO ACTION.
The blessing comes from walking the talk of what is believed.
It is putting the skin of Christianity over our human flesh.
Remember this, "Salvation is a free gift offered by God to the sinner who receives it by faith. But once you have become a Christian, your Christianity isn’t worth very much if it isn’t practiced.”
There’s a difference in “reading a menu and eating a meal."
There’s a difference in "filling a prescription and taking the medicine."
There’s a difference in "reading the Bible and Growing in Grace."
Listen, you may read your Bible, and you may come to church Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday evening and even go to some Bible study and be blessed by the teaching and preaching of the Word. You may even on occasion say to the preacher, “Thank you, I needed that.” But hold it! You are deceiving yourself if you think you have matured as a Christian just because you have heard a message. You are just deceiving yourself unless you determine in your heart to PRACTICE WHAT HAS BEEN PREACHED.
Over the years, I have had many people claim to have been taught Biblical principles.
If that is true, then why have there been so many church splits?
If that is true, then why are there good people who have been saved for years but not been obedient to following the Lord in Baptism?
If that is true then why don't we have believers out winning souls to Christ each week in their communities?
If that is true then why is there difficulty in understanding the Biblical principle of separation from worldliness?
If that is true then why is there still a problem getting people consistently into the house of God on Sunday morning and back again on Sunday night?
If that is true then why isn't prayer meeting on Wednesday evening just as full of believers as Sunday morning service?
I believe I have made my point. Again James says in verse 22, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Now we come to the second “C.”
Second: The Casual Approach: Verses 23-24, “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” In order to illustrate his words, James once again reaches into the everyday life of his readers, as he asks them to consider the MIRROR. The mirrors of the first century were made of a highly polished metal. They were not mounted on walls but rather were placed flat on tables so that the person who wished to see his reflection had to bend over and look down.
Please notice in verse 23 the word "beholding"and in verse 24 the word "beholdeth", these are very descriptive words. They refer to a "CASUAL, HAPHAZARD LOOK, or a glance." You see the reflection, but you really don't see it. Now, there are several ways you can perceive or evaluate your appearance.
Photography can work miracles and be very flattering to us. But remember the photographer deals in MERCY not JUSTICE.
A mirror on the other hand is absolutely JUST and DEPENDABLE. It shows us exactly how we look. Every morning the blow is just as great. "Can this puffy-eyed beggared-wreck of humanity be me?" That first look in the mirror is enough to jar anyone. Yet, it honestly shows us how we look "before we hide our imperfection."
Now if I simply walk away with that morning face and forget to do anything about it, I might fool myself, but certainly no one else. The Bible tells us that
The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, as all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
The MIRROR of GOD’s WORD points out all our WEAKNESS and our WICKEDNESS and our IMPERFECTION. Then it tells us HOW TO and HOW NOT TO LIVE. When we look into God's Word, we see ourselves for what we are.
When Isaiah did, He cried "Woe is me! for I am undone."
When Peter did, He said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man."
When Job did, He cried, "I abhor myself."
When Paul did, He said, "I am the chief of sinners."
We can dream up thousands of ways of improving our self-image, but when we read the WORD of GOD we will see ourselves exactly as we are. When we come to the Word of God, we may choose to ignore what we see, or we can choose to change what we see.
Notice in verse 24 that after this man saw himself, James says, "He goeth His way." The tense of the language indicates the one has gone away from the mirror WITH THE PURPOSE OF STAYING AWAY. In other words he came and heard the Word, saw himself in the Word, but left with no desire and no intention to do anything about it, ever.
Third: The Careful Approach, (the third “C”) is in verse 25, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” Using the word "But" in verse 25, James goes from the CASUAL observer of the Word of God to the CAREFUL observer of the Word of God.
The word "looketh," which speaks of commitment, means "to look at something that is out of the normal line of vision." The examiner looks intently into the truthful Word of God with a desire to put into practice everything that God is saying. When we approach the Word of God, there should be diligent pursuit of its truth. We should completely focus our attention on discovering its truth. We must study it carefully, and then apply it in our lives. "But whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth in it…" However, there is a basic difference between an explorer and a tourist.
The tourist quickly looks only at the publicized point of interest.
The explorer takes his time to search out all he can find.
Folks it is important that we take the time to explore the Bible if we are to grow in our Christian life. Exploration of the Bible requires MEDITATION.
Psalm 119:97 says "Oh, how I love your law! It is my MEDITATION all the day."
Psalm 19:14 tells us, "Let the words of my mouth and the MEDITATION of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."
Psalm 1:1-2 says "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he MEDITATES day and night."
James says to Look and Continue to Think about that which you have seen. That requires Meditation.
Let the Word of God melt into your heart and mind again and again, day after day, month after month, and year after year. As you read it, study it and listen to it as you THINK IT OVER and MEDITATE ON IT.
Pray the scripture back to God until there comes great spirit-filled changes in your ATTITUDE, OUTLOOK and CONDUCT.
When James speaks of, "The perfect law of liberty" he is speaking here of the law that requires us to love God with our hearts, souls and minds. Everything that we are and have belongs to God. But what God requires of us in our hearts, he also gives us delight in doing, and that brings spiritual freedom.
Please notice again the word "continued." The word means to "keep looking steadily." If our discipline keeps us in the Word and we come away and WORK HARD at what we have HEARD, James says, "This man shall be blessed in his deed" He will be blessed while doing it.
The blessing from God doesn't come because you come to Church, sit, sing, listen to a sermon preached, and then get up and leave taking your spiritual HALO off and folding it up as you walk out the door.
The blessing from God doesn't come because you say that sermon was a blessing to me.
The blessing comes when you hear the word and then leave determined in your heart to DO the DOING of what you have HEARD from the Word. This is putting FEET to your HEARING. Now while you are DOING the DOING God is giving the BLESSING.
James is reminding us of the great tragedy that takes place thousands of times every Sunday, every Wednesday, and every time there is a Bible study where people come to hear the Word of God, listen to it, but DO NOTHING ABOUT IT. Look:
it is important that we BELIEVE the Bible, and
it is important that we RECEIVE the Bible, and
it is important that we PREACH the Bible, but
it is also important that we PRACTICE the Bible.
When we come to the hearing or reading of the Word of God with the proper preparation of heart, with a careful examination of its truth, and with a determination to put into practice the application of its message, something dramatic will happen in our lives. We will be changed! This is the promise of God Himself found in Isaiah 55:11 where we read, “So shall My Word that goeth forth out of My mouth; It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Probably there is no more sensational example of the life-transforming power of the Bible than the legendary story, “Mutiny on the Bounty.” In 1788 the Bounty, under Captain William Bligh, set sail for the island of Tahiti in the South Seas. After a voyage of ten months, the ship reached the Friendly Islands in Tonga, and the sailors became attracted to the native girls. Upon receiving the order in April 1789 to once again embark, they mutinied, set the Captain and a few men adrift in an open boat, and returned to the island.
Captain Bligh survived his ordeal and eventually arrived home in England. A punitive expedition was sent out, which captured 14 of the mutineers. But nine of them had transferred to another island, where they formed a new colony. Here, because of the native whiskey they degenerated so fast and became so fierce as to make the life of the colony a hell on earth. Finally, all the men except one were killed or had died off.
Alexander Smith was left alone with a crowd of native women and half-breed children. Then a strange thing happened. In a battered chest, he found a Bible. He read it, believed it, and began to live it. Determining to make amends for his past evil life, he gathered the women and children around him and taught them too. Time rolled on, and the children grew up and became Christians. The colony became a prosperous Christian community. There was no disease, no insanity, no crime, no illiteracy, and no strong drink. It was a veritable utopia on a small scale. What brought about this astounding transformation was the reading and the practicing of the Word of God. Amen!
In bringing this message to a close, let me ask you to go back to a passage we pointed out as we started this message.
In verse 18 we read, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” HereJames places emphasis on BELIEVING the WORD OF GOD to save your Souls. Do you need to be BORN AGAIN through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
In verse 21 we read, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” Do you need to take the wax of sin out of your ears, and remember verse 21, "Either the Word of God will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Word of God" so that you may humbly RECEIVE the Word of God into your Soul?
Meditate on James 1: 22-25, where we read, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (23) For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (25) But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” Do you need to do something about this message and others like it? Then DO THE DOING after you have HEARD the PREACHING. Start walking the talk instead of just listening to the talk. Become a "Doer of the Word!"
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If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon“When The Mirror Doesn’t Lie” then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.
Do you have the assurance that one day you will go to heaven? If you have no assurance that you know Jesus Christ, then I trust you will decide to accept Him as your personal Savior. The Bible tells us in
Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”
Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This prayer is here for those who need to ask Jesus to be their personal Savior: “I do want to go to Heaven. I know I am a sinner, and I do believe Jesus Christ died for me. I realize I cannot buy this great salvation, nor can I earn it. Knowing Jesus died on the cross and arose from the grave to pay my sin debt and to purchase my salvation, I do now trust Him as my Savior, and from this moment on I am completely depending on Him for my salvation.”
If you made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior would you let me know? Please send an e-mail to, pdmikBBM@aol.com and I will send you some literature that will help you in your Christian life.
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In His Amazing Grace,
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