Be Doers, Not Just Hearers

“But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”  Jacob (James) 1:22

 

I don’t know how many times I would hear a great sermon, study the Word of God, have a Bible study or late night discussions with friends about God, Jesus, being a Christian, etc., with this nagging knowledge that there were many things that had to be cleaned up in my life.  Indeed I was a Christian, I was Saved, but I was living more like the world, there was sin in my life and I knew that one day I would have to stop and repent.

 

How many times does a Believer have to say that ‘I know I need to do that’?  God called us to be separate from this world and in Jesus Christ our lives are supposed to be His.  While we know that no man is perfect and none of us are without sin, we also know what God expects, what Christ did for us and should be well aware of how we ought to behave.  Yet it is sin that keeps us not producing much fruit or in some cases, not producing fruit at all for many years.

 

“Therefore, Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”  2 Corinthians 6:17

 

“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything in Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, patiently waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  1st Corinthians 1:4-8

 

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  1st John 1:8

 

“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”  1st John 2:6

 

“For a good tree does not produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit.  For every tree is known by its own fruit.  For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.  But why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?”  Luke 6:43-46

 

These sort of things keep us from fulfilling our duty as Christians to put all of our lives in subjection before God Almighty, to do all to stand.  Other times they can be very dangerous and I dare say, despite those who will greatly refute me otherwise, that a Believer can become so bound with sin as to purposely throw away their Salvation and NEVER get it back.  Yet God will chastise the Believer for their sin.

 

“For it is impossible for those who at one time were given understanding, and have tasted the Heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and also turn aside, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and expose Him to public disgrace.”  Hebrews 6:4-6

 

“Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul is not pleased with him.  But we are not of those who draw back to destruction, but of those who believe to the preserving of the soul.”  Hebrews 10:38-39

 

“Behold, blessed is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.”  Job 5:17

 

“Blessed is the man whom You correct, O YAH, and teach out of Your Law, that You may give him rest from the evil days, until the pit is dug for the wicked.”  Psalms 94 12:13

 

“YAH has chastened and corrected me, but He has not given me over to death.”  Psalms 118:18

 

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept Your Word.”  Psalms 119:67

 

“My son, do not reject the chastening of Jehovah, and do not loathe His correction; for whom Jehovah loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son with whom he is pleased.”  Proverbs 3:11-12

 

Let’s face it, being a Christian is tough, we can not do it ourselves, we need to wear the Armor of God, we need His help.  Through obedience, through faith, we can be assured that Jesus will keep us to the end, we must simply continue to pick up our cross daily and follow Him.

 

“Therefore let him who thinks he is firmly established take heed that he not fall.”  1st Corinthians 10:12

 

“Put on all the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”  Ephesians 6:10

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  1st Peter 1:3-5

 

“Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”  Luke 9:23

 

God has called us to be holy, to die to ourselves, to love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind.  Beloved, if you call yourself a Christian, yet have sin in your life and have NEVER been chastised by God, I would fear that you might fail the test.

 

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also become holy in all conduct, because it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.”  1st Peter 1:13-16

 

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20

 

“Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  Matthew 22:37

 

“For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and whips every son whom He receives.  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not discipline?  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.  Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.  Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?  For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.  Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it.”  Hebrews 12:6-11

 

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Do you not know, yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you; unless indeed you are ones failing the test?”  2nd Corinthians 13:5

 

Know this that the Word of God is quite clear about what God expects.  If you have been being chastised and you are refusing to repent and return to God, you ought to take heed.

 

“The soul who sins shall die.  The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son.  The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has done, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall live life; he shall not die.  None of the transgressions which he has done shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.  Do I delight with pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord Jehovah, and not that he should turn back from his ways and live?  But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live?  All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the treachery of his unfaithfulness, and the sin which he has sinned, in them he shall die.”  Ezekiel 18:20-24

 

“When I say to the righteous that he shall live life, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of all his righteousness shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has done, he shall die.  Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall die the death; if he turns from his sin and does justice and righteousness, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life, not committing iniquity, he shall live life; he shall not die.  None of all his sins which he has sinned shall be remembered against him; he has done justice and righteousness; he shall live life.  Yet the children of your people say, The way of Jehovah is not fair.  But as for them, it is their way which is not fair!  When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.  But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, he shall live because of it.”  Ezekiel 33:13-19

 

“He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”  Revelation 22:11

 

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I would that you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.  Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked; I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.”  Revelation 3:15-18

 

“He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”  1st John 2:4

 

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, prostitutes, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”  Revelation 21:8

 

“For this you know, that no prostitute, unclean person, nor covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one beguile you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”  Ephesians 5:5-6

 

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be led astray.  Neither prostitutes, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”  1st Corinthians 6:9-10

 

Now for those who like to pretend to be part of the body of Christ, for those who call themselves Christians and are not, hear this well:

 

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, Please come and hear what the Word is that comes from Jehovah.  So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they act out love, but their hearts go after their unjust gain.  Indeed you are to them as a singer of love songs, as one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.”  Ezekiel 33:30-32

 

You attend meetings, church, bible studies and discussions, nodding your head in agreement to the words that you hear, yet you yourself do not do them.  You somehow consider yourself justified because you are in agreement, yet are you exempted from God’s commands?

 

Know this well, that God will Judge you and your hypocritical ways.  Your Creator knows your thoughts and your intents.  You must repent and believe into Jesus Christ, belief is not enough.

 

“For the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12

 

“I Jehovah search the heart, I examine the soul, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”  Jeremiah 17:10

 

“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”  Luke 13:3

 

“You believe that God is One. You do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder.”  Jacob (James) 2:19

 

Do not be hearers only, but be doers.  Fall before the Almighty God with godly repentance, crying out to Him, knowing that He will forgive you.  Then look forward and march on, following Jesus until you are with Him who Saved you.  It is not yet too late, how long will you put it off or rather can you?

 

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”  Revelation 3:19

 

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and stretching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:13-14