d Doers of the Word
James 1:22-24d · Roger Henderson · Mar 19, 2023
James, No. 10
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261930387489

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

I'd like to go back and review the verses from last week. And this is a section which is really cool. It's really about hearing God's word, about doing God's word, so it's really very appropriate for the Christian life. Okay, so from last week, I'll just read the verses we had back in 19. This you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. And in 21 it says, therefore, and it's important to realize that this is actually an Aorist tense, so it doesn't seem that way in the New American Standard and others. It's actually, it's a past completed fact. Having put aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness and humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

So I'm just going to give the, this is a, you know, Roy gave us the detailed version last week. I'm going to give you the executive overview. So just one chart with about five or six points. And this will be just a short review. So basically, so in the context, what, what James is talking about here, almost through the whole book is about hearing God's word. And it's the idea to be quick. And so what is quick about? You probably had some good ideas about quick. I thought from the definition, one of being ready, ready to hear, and being eager to hear God's word.

So we're going to see that hearing God's word is surely super important, but also doing God's word is even more important. And we're going to see, what does that mean to do God's word? Hopefully we'll answer that question today. So in the context here, if you look at the, he has be quick to hear, and then he comes back with be slow to do this and slow to do that. And it seems like, and I like what Macaulay said about this, that we want to maximize our time in taking in God's word.

If you're moving your choppers, if you're always talking, you can't hear God's word. That's one take away. And then the other thing is if you get angry, maybe you're angry with God, you can't hear his word either. So it seems like he's Contrasting those two things, being quick to hear God's word, be ready, and to be eager, with not being very slow to anger, very slow to speak.

Then he goes on, and he says, down in verse 21, 21's a tough verse, because it talks about a past completed condition. Every believer has put aside the sin nature positionally. And Roy did a good job on that. You have to look to make sure that's not a command, it's an heiress, it's a past completed action. You have put aside, every believer has put aside the sin nature positionally. So based upon that, he can now receive God's word and he has an all humility. We can take in God's word because we put aside the sin nature, we can hear God.

And then the last part is, It seems like the last part's talking about, well, it's just talking about my salvation, and it's talking about the big picture of salvation, right? Salvation is past, present, and future. I was saved, I'm being saved, I will be saved. So it's talking about growing in grace and the knowledge of our Savior, knowing Him, and that's what we would call the present tense of salvation.

So I think that's a real short review of those three verses. Any questions about that before I get into today's verses? So hopefully that helps. Okay, so today's verses, kind of following along with that theme, we're talking about the doers and the hearers. We got the Hatfields and the McCoys, right?

And it's actually, you know, the more I looked at this and the more I kind of listened to others, that hearing is good. Hearing God's word is crucial. But God desires that we go beyond just hearing his word. We have to hear his word to come to faith, right? If we don't hear his word, we can't know who he is.

But doing his word, or being doers, is really important too. Or even, he's gonna say it's more important, James. So he says in 22, but prove yourselves to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, And not a doer, he's like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he is. So really, really interesting verses.

And it goes along with, James is all about, James is into doing, right? He's a doer. You come across some people and you say, that person's a doer. I mean, they're always, Phil's a doer. He's not here, so I can... If you've ever been around Phil, he's a doer. He wants to do stuff, and he does stuff. And the Lord would have us be doers of His Word. And so the question is, what's that about? So hopefully, keep referring to that. We'll see how that plays out here. Okay. First verse, verse 22. But prove yourselves doers of the Word.

The New American Standard isn't the best here, because of a couple things. So I'm going to use interlinear here. So interlinear is just a word-by-word translation from the original. So actually the first phrase says, now be doers of the word. And that prove yourself is what they think the B is more explanatory for B. I'm not sure it's really that helpful. Anyway, so B, let's do now first. We'll do word-by-word here. Now is a conjunction and it's So here's a question, many times you'll see translators will put in a but sometimes, they'll put in a now.

And McCauley helped me on this. I had struggled with this for years. But it either can be a contrast, so the new record standard believes it's a contrast. The inner linear says, well, from the original, it's just like additional information. Now, he wants to give you more information. So hopefully that'll help you.

It helped me understand sometimes there'll be a but, and it's all about how you take that word and it's a day, or day in the original. So this isn't a huge point, but just an interesting point. So now, or but, you be, use implied, you be, and this is one of my favorite words in the Greek, and it was Hal's favorite, so it became my favorite, anyway. So it's ginome, ginomi, to come into a new state of being, so it's literally become, present tense, imperative, middle voice, So the best example of this Greek word, if you ever, I don't know whether you write down Greek words, but if you do, one of the best examples of all the scripture is John 114a. The word became, it came into a new state of being, right? He was God, he became man. He became, that's our word, right? He became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. So that's our word we're gonna use. You're gonna use it in this context. So what does it mean in this context? Because of the present tense, it's continuous action. It's a command.

And Macaulay phrased it, to move out of the hearer condition into the doer condition. Oh, I really love that. Move out of the hearer condition to the doer condition. Be a doer. A Christian is a doer. And Uist, I just love it. It helps me so much. I'm just talking. It helps me so much. I say the word, and I say, well, how did Uist do it? the Greek god, but he does try to bring across it. So he says, based upon the tense, and the verb be or become, you keep on becoming doers. Beautiful. So that's that first little phrase there. Okay, we'll go on, keep working on this. Now we're down to doers. Roger? Sure, go ahead. Just a thought.

The same book that you just quoted in the Gospel of John, in verse 3, all things came to be by Him. And when we look at this word here, in James' mind, he was our Lord's brother, half-brother, and heard him talk about being doers, right? over and over. If you hear my word, you know, this is what you will become. This is what you will be made.

And John 1.4 says all things come to be by Him. It's an aspect I think that maybe we need to remember that the command is let yourself become And I think that goes right along with the previous text, doesn't it? It does. It does. That's good. That's good. Well, thank you. Thank you. Okay. So let's look at doers. And I'm not sure I can pronounce it, but anyway, I won't try to. Anyway, a doer is the word for one who makes something, or a doer, a performer.

And I really liked this. Here's another usage of this same Greek word. but it phrases it differently. I really like this because I think it points to how we're to be a doer. So in Matthew 7, 24, therefore everyone who hears these words, so you're here of mine, and acts on them. So that's another translation of that same Greek word. I really like that, acts upon them. So we're to act upon God's word.

And boy, that's just, that helps me so much because it's hard to get my hand around head around or hand around. We have many wonderful statements about our Savior, about our God, and so how do we become a doer upon that? Well, we believe it, right? We believe what God said, and that just helps me so much in saying, how do I become a doer of God's word? We believe Him.

And then there are times when we can love our brothers. We can do things that are actually physical actions or things. But many times it's just believing Him. And he said, maybe compared to a rock, a wise man who built his house on the rock. A very familiar passage. So act upon, I really like that. So in this structure, this is a, this is a, this identifies, a doer of the word identifies you. It identifies the person, the believer. It identifies who you are. You're a doer of the word. Ginome is a present tense. This is Macaulay. Since ginome is a present tense, This is a never-ending process.

So what's cool about this, that's the Christian life, being doers of the word. That's what it's all about. We're doer of God's word. And much of that is just believing what he says. And then, so actually, we keep on becoming a doer of the word. That's kind of another phrase of Weiss there again. And then finally, The believer as a doer of God's word is a major theme of the book of James.

I mentioned that before. That's certainly true. Okay. Roger. Go ahead. Just a question. Who's the one doing? Okay. It's a question that comes to my mind. And that's an excellent question. That's an excellent question, right? Well, should we, as Hal would say, should we throw that question out for the class? Christian life who's doing who's doing the doing Holy Spirit, okay. All right, or I Would like to say I would say isn't it Christ in me isn't he living his life through me? That's who's doing the doing Amen, right? So that's good. I know that this is such a practical section. It really is just so cool Okay, good. Good.

Okay Let's go I see okay good here now Second part of them, and this is a compound sentence If you haven't there's only there's one verb The verb is is here. It says prove yourselves, but it's actually be So this is the second half of the compound sentence and not only here is deceiving yourselves a compound structure with the main verb be you know may you be And we had the first part, you be a doer and not only a hearer, continuously.

So actually what is being said here, he's saying, stop being just a hearer. He said, he wants you to be a doer. He says, stop just only hearing. Because that's what the structure is. Prove yourselves or be doers of the word, not only hearers who delude themselves.

So he says, if you're just a hearer, If you're a Christian and you're just a hearer, you're missing out. You're not living the Christian life. A Christian is a doer. And a doer is, as we said, Christ in you, Christ is living his life through you, and he's doing the doing.

Okay. So in this case, his warning here, this is an action. He says, stop being a hearer only. This is an action that's, by the tense of the verb, is already going on, and James wants him to stop it. And hearers hear is a word for, in the New Testament it means just listening, and this is from Vine, it means just listening without practicing what one is hearing.

And we just studied this, this is a challenging verse in Romans we just studied, but the principle, same principle, same principle. Here we have the same, and actually Macaulay pointed this out, or actually Merriman did too. Same principle we're saying right here in Romans 2.13. or it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. So it's the same principle, but we have to keep our dispensational hats on, so to speak. In the church age, we're under grace but not under the law. So, same principle applied to the nation of Israel. They were to be hearers. They were not just to be hearers, they were to be doers of the law. the same principle, when God speaks, whether it's the law to the nation of Israel or to us, we're to be doers of His Word.

We hear His Word and we do His Word. And what's amazing is, in doing His Word, He's doing the doing. So isn't it amazing? We take His Word, we hear it, and He says, you know, you can't do that. I'm going to have to do it through you. It kind of blows your mind here, right? I mean, you think, wow. He's given us his word, and he's given us the power to do that word through Christ in us. And then he rewards us for doing his work through us. As he did through us. Now, wait a minute. How can you think, wow, what a deal? Can you imagine if somebody says, well, I'm going to come to you. I'm going to build your house. I'm going to let you live in it. I'm going to feed you all this.

Wow. It is pretty amazing. Okay, all right. So we're still in verse 22, believe it or not. Okay, the very last part is, and here's the warning, deceiving yourself or deluding yourself. It's the idea to reason falsely. This is an interesting word. Paralogizami. Paralogizami. Darby translates it to beguile.

So you're beguiling yourself. If you're only hearing, you're falsely reasoning. you're beguiling yourself, is another way you think of it. This word was used in Colossians and others, it would delude yourself. So actually the Amplified had it, you're betraying yourself, so choose what you want. That word is the idea, to reason falsely, betraying yourself, deluding yourself. If you're only hearing God's word, you're missing out, you're being false with yourself.

Sure, go ahead. Finally, Christians in the main groan and strive and struggle largely on the basis of human effort. For the grace of God, though acknowledged as scarcely operative, only to come to grief. Even at their best, they find the purpose of the Lord Jesus remains an ideal, infinitely beyond the trouble of their proceeding on the wrong basis. I mean, so it really relates to torture. Great, great. No, wonderful. Thank you. Wonderful. OK, we're finally going to get, OK, We just finished verse 22. Okay, a lot of cool stuff there. But it continues. Now he's gonna kind of amplify on this. So this verse will give the results.

So now he's gonna say, okay, if you just wanna be a hearer of God's word, here's what's gonna happen to you. This is what's gonna happen to you. This is the result of you just hearing. It says, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer. We'll just work on that first part. So it's assumed to be true. It's assumed that you're doing this. The action's already going on. anyone, believer in this case, and another one of my favorite words, a me, the state in which something continuously exists, present tense, indicative, active. You're a hearer of the word and not a doer. So this is a person that is bought into just hearing and not doing. This is a believer just based on the verb tense. It's a believer.

He's identified as a hearer, and it's very similar construction, this is a To the verb he's identified as a here and not a doer He's hearing continuously, so that's a good he had some good things. He's hearing God's Word. That's wonderful But he's continually hearing God's Word, but he's continually not doing God's Word Okay Well part of it here we're gonna see it's gonna say he doesn't Hang in there so to speak right it's gonna say we're gonna have an example right he's gonna say here's what it's like Let's just keep that thought in mind. He's like a man who looks at himself as his natural face in a mirror. So this is the person that's only a hearer. So he gives a reasoning. And this is false reasoning. The person that reasons, it's good enough for me to just take it in.

Oh, that's really wonderful. I'm sharing God's word with my family members. And many times I'll get, oh, that sounds really good, Roger. That's a really good thing you're saying. But I can tell they're not doing it, not taking it in. They're not believing it. So that's really good. In my mind, that's a sign of not taking in God's word. That sounds really good. Christ was a really good man. You missed the point. OK.

So now he's going to give a like. It's a like expression. He's like, to resemble, present tense meaning. So James uses like, he gave a comparison back in verse six. It's like one who doubts, he's like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. So in this case he's gonna say it's like this man who's gonna look in the mirror, and when he looks in the mirror he's gonna do something. Does he keep looking in the mirror? No, unfortunately he doesn't. And that's the problem, I think actually that may answer Bonnie's question there, hopefully, we'll see. Okay, here's his illustration, it's a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror.

Looks here, and this is a cool word, and this is not, there seems to be, and I didn't pick it up in listening, some have said this is a casual look, but boy, the word, the original word here, kataneo, is not a casual look. He's really looking, so that's a good thing. The action of the mind in apprehending certain facts about things, considering things. So he's really looking. in the mirror, in God's word, if you will. Okay, so let's just kind of continue on with that.

It's a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror, so the same cat, uh-oh, literally, this is actually from McCauley, I missed this here, to put your mind on it, to fix your mind on it. So you're looking at God's word, you're fixing your mind on his word, and he's got, so here's some positive things. He's gotten a true picture of what he looks like in the mirror. Because in the mirror is God's word, right?

In context. So he's gotten a true picture because he's really looking at it intently, putting his mind to it, fixing his mind on it. He's not condemned for looking. James is not saying he wants him to go beyond looking is what he's after. He does get a true look at himself. The next verse, so here's the issue that James has. It's good to look. It's good to be looking to God's word intently. But there's something else you need to do or not do. For once he has looked at himself, so he observed himself.

This is the same word, look again. I'm really zipping through this. Slow down for some questions here. I'm so excited about this, I'm just racing through this. So he's observing himself or looking at himself. So the illustration continues. He observes himself in the mirror. So observe, this is the same word translated look earlier. It refers to this intense look, and it's a point in time. It's an aristence, this careful observation at a point in time, and it's a fact. So he's looking God's word.

It's a fact. So then there are two things. Two things happened here. First, he's gone away. So he's been looking intently at God's word. So he's gone away, or he set off, departed. And this happens to be a perfect tense. So what it means is that a past completed action, he looked intently at God's word, but he didn't stay there. He left. He set off. He departed. And actually, with a perfect tense, it's even more disappointing. He is currently departed from observing himself in the mirror.

So that's kind of what James is about here. He wants us to be in God's word, if you will. And when we depart from God's word, that's what he's warning about. The second part of that, so when he departs from God's word, what happens? And he immediately forgot what he was like. He was seeing what he was like, right?

In God's word. I mean, that's the whole wonderful thing. What Christ is like, but we also see what we're like. We see the person that we are. Immediately or straight away at once. But he forgets or neglects. He does not stay with it. So why is a person only look? He doesn't stay with God's Word. He does not stay with the mirror long enough. Or the old phrase that Out of sight, out of mind.

Okay. All right. So, actually I'm down for my... Any... You guys want any questions? Go ahead. I'm just going here full steam ahead. Go ahead, Bob. Interrupting the issues. What's the process of doing? I mean, in a sense... So, you know, James... It sounds pretty legal almost. It does sound legal. I'm not denying that. And I did a word search on spirit and James does bring us into the Holy Spirit love life in chapter two.

But there's a lot of disconnect. You just wonder why it's not brought up here. Well, I think what you're asking is what people have kind of scratched your head. Why doesn't he bring in how you do the doing? He kind of leaves that He doesn't address that.

So then if you're a legal beagle, some people say, well, OK, I get my list out. But really, looking at the structure here, it's just amazing. It's amazing that these last two points on this chart here, if a person leaves God's word, if he goes away from it, he forgets it. And we know.

If you depart from, that's an Old Testament thing, don't depart from my word, but think about the Christian life. If we depart from time with our Savior, with his word, that's not gonna help us in our Christian life. It's gonna have a negative effect. Not that the Lord isn't still living his life in us, but his way of communicating to us is decreased, right? And that's what James seems to be about. Very practical, he's about, well if you depart from my word, this is what's going to happen to you. You're going to forget. Forget who you are. Roger? Sure, go ahead Roy.

Just a thought here to help us maybe is to ask the question, what do we see in the word of God? What is God revealing? Absolutely. The Holy Spirit is taking the things of Christ and giving them to us. If we understand that, and I think James understood it very well, is that a man who listens to what God has to say about himself, but forgets it and walks away from it, he's like this man that looks at what is really real, and forgets all about it. He creates whatever he wants instead of what he just saw. Right.

So Roger, just quickly, James 2.26, the body without the spirit is dead. Amen. So faith without works is dead also. So that relates the two.

And James 4.5, Do you think that the scripture says, in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously? So I mean, the idea, he doesn't ignore it. No. I'm wondering why God didn't allow him to connect it to you. Connect the dots. OK, go ahead. I'm sorry, Bob. Go ahead. It's Kathy. Yeah, I know. Oh, OK.

There's an interesting comment here in the Scofield Bible related to what you were just talking about. Tradition fixes the martyrdom of James in the year 62, but his epistle shows no trace of the larger revelations concerning the church and the distinctive doctrines of grace made through the apostle Paul, nor even of the discussions concerning the relation of Gentile converts to the law of Moses. Okay. I just thought that was interesting and relevant. Okay.

Well, I think this is, you know, the second or third time we've taught this James here, at least I've been involved in, and the more I've gone back to James, the more I've seen, actually this time through, I actually see more of, he understood from what he's written here, he understood about our relationship to God and how we are to live the Christian life. But he didn't explicitly talk about it. He talked about being doers. And to be a doer, Christ, as a Christian, he has to be living his life through you.

It can't happen any other way. If you try to do it yourself, you're going back under the law. So it has to happen that way. So he's expressing that, I think, in a different way. Go ahead. Just a thought here that may help us all understand James' thinking.

He himself says, don't be deceived. Everything that is good comes from God. And this be come or be being made is the very expression of that. When we look at God's word, it is his work that God reveals to us. in his word. Don't be deceived that you can do it. A doer of God's word is one who really believes that God is living his life through us. That's what he wants us to not be deceived about. Yeah, that's excellent. That's good points.

So, Dr. verse 24, what's your explanation for what kind of person he was? I mean, does that relate to the new man he is in Christ Jesus? Or is the fact that when you look in a mirror, the kind of man that he was, was living in the flesh entirely? Well, in the context it says, for once he has looked at himself. So the previous verse back said, let's just go back a bit here. Back in 23 it says, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, He is like a man who looks in his natural face in a mirror.

So he is getting the correct view of himself, right? If he's looking at God's Word, he is getting the correct view of himself. But it seems like if he forgets what he is like, God's Word told him what he's like, right? So I would take that, the last part of that, to say that he has forgotten what God's Word said he is like.

Well, in a sense, I would think maybe it's the opposite interpretation. You know, if you keep looking at the mirror, what kind of man I was, was one that I wasn't a doer. I mean, I don't know. Well, I know. And the thing is, he has that mixed in there. But if you take the positive aspect, I know, I hear what you're saying. He's looking at reality in the world. Exactly. He's looking at what's true.

And what is true is that God is now alive in us. And that we were sinners, but we're now alive in Christ. And the deception is, I can do it, just tell me what to do, I'll do it. The law of liberty says, no, we're freed from that. Okay? What we were is not who we are now. But, you know, you could interpret it positively in the opposite way, too. I'm looking in the mirror, but I forgot all about that. And that's kind of where I once was.

Well, I think, yeah, it seems like positionally, I like the idea, you know, you've been so well, you look what God's word describes him exactly as he is. Right. He was a sinner and he was saved by grace and Christ lives in him. So if he's truly looking at God's word, That's what he's forgetting. It was his past tense, isn't it? Don't look at it as past.

Look at it as factual. What is true? The aorist tense is a factual emphasis. Not so much on time as the condition of reality. That makes a big difference. Yeah, it is. And that's the main verb here. One of the things that we find in the Word of God is both aspects of what we were and what we are.

And it is the contrast of the two that we live in when we're focused on the Lord, is that we're no longer who we were, But we are now who we are by His making, by His doing. If we forget that, what do we fall back to? We've looked at the truth and we've walked away from it. What are we left with? We're left with what is not from God.

He's not a doer anymore. He's not letting Christ live through him. Let the continued be argumentative here. Why is it is, for what kind of man he is? What kind of man he is is reality. We can deceive ourselves so easily, I think is what James is really emphasizing here. He wants us to not be deceived. Well, what James is going to do here, he's going to, you know, when we finish up this verse, he's going to immediately go to where we should be, right?

So if you look at James 1.25, let's just do that for a second. Because this is where he wants us to be. So he wants us to be an effectual doer, right?

And this is just what Roy's talking about here. So I think the thing is, I've chopped these verses up into small sections. We spread them over weeks, but in some ways, we should teach 25 along with this, and I'm, that's gonna be, Andrew's gonna do that next week, so, anyway, so let's just read 25 here. Roger?

Sure, go ahead. I'm thinking of the first that says, and such were some of you. Okay, okay. And that's past tense, but it doesn't mean that they're perfect now, conditionally. Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay. You know, another verse that I'm thinking, sorry to interrupt you here.

I think in 2 Corinthians 3.18, it mentions the mirror as well. The mirror being, beholding the glory of the Lord. And I don't know if that kind of can relate into that. You bet. Into the mirror. Yeah, it is. And that's exactly right. That's good. That's good.

But actually 25 is really, this is where we should not be. We should not be walking away from God's word and forgetting what the word is told us we're like. But what he wants us to do is 20 and 25. But the one, this is 125 in James, but the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. So that kind of wraps up the whole, ties in this part with this verse. I chopped them in two. As I was starting, I said, boy, actually, I'm not giving the whole picture. I'm just going to stop right here, and I can see it's not. Go ahead, Jim.

Isn't all this based on love? The person who looks in a mirror and just turns away and forgets about it, he doesn't have a real sincere love for God's Word. But the person who does look into the mirror and isn't forgetful and actually remembers things, he has, that seems to be the person who really has a love for this, for what God's word has, you know? So it seems to all be based on love.

That's good. Do we really love God, or do we just keep Him by our side as a friend, you know? Yeah, do we say, okay, I got my five minutes, I read the Bible for five minutes today. Yeah. That's it, okay. I've done my duty, let's get on with life, you know? Yeah, let's see here.

I'm going to talk to Bob about this. I came across this chemist who's a believer. A neat guy, a Jewish believer. You saw him on YouTube. I thought about you, Bob. This guy is just on fire for the Lord. He's maybe a little bit younger than you, but he's a chemist.

And he's decided to take on the evolution. evolutionary thing and he just, of course, he's getting all kinds of flack. But anyway, it's really neat. He's on fire for God's work. He just loves God's work. He says, I read it every morning. It's just neat. And he's a Jewish believer. He came to the Lord at 18 as a Jewish guy. Really neat testimony.

I'm kind of off the track there. Anyway, okay, there's actually one last chart. Maybe this is kind of, see what you think about this. Actually, and this is from Macaulay, so I'll stand behind it, but this is, anyway. So this man, and many have said this, verse 24, is the forgetful hearer. That describes the forgetful hearer. The next week, Andrew's gonna tell us about the unforgettable hearer, the person that listens, okay? So this guy is the forgetful hearer we've been talking about.

So the principle is, that which is not put into practice will soon be forgotten. Interesting, interesting. And it kind of goes along with the whole thing about God wants us to be in a relationship with him. And his word is how we get that relationship. So if we don't put it into practice, we don't remember it. If we don't believe it, we don't do it.

Anyway, part of learning is doing. Forgetting, this is good. Forgetting is not a memory issue. It's a practice issue. And think about that. Man, that is really, you know, You know, I find I don't need a memorizer. I know Jim's a great memorizer, and I'm not a great memorizer.

But I find the more time I put in God's Word, I remember it. What a concept. What a concept. I spend time in God's Word, and I remember it. Hey, that's pretty darn good. Repetition is the key to memorization. Exactly. OK. Now lastly, once you hear it, You're going to forget it unless you put it into practice. That seems legal to me. I know what you're saying. I understand. I understand. Like I'm intending to practice Swordsword today. Well, okay. Margaret will tell me how many times I fail. Yes. All right. This is me. This is me. This is James. And this is, go ahead, Roy.

It may help to understand that our concept of God is always growing. We have a little bit of the understanding of Him, and we grow as He gives us something to believe, and then He tests it in us. Do you really believe this? So, you should have written this chart. Yeah, right. Yeah, well, in my mind, the practice, I think this is, so what's the practice, what's the doing?

What is a Christian to be doing, right? He's to be, first of all, he hears God's word and he does it by believing it. That, to my mind, that's what doing is about. If you don't believe it, you're just, you know, and Mike's always talking about that, right? We'll have a passage and it will say something about God and about you, and you'll say, but do you really believe that? And many times we do not. And so believing what God has said is, in my mind, doing.

This is for me to live as Christ, right? I mean, so that's a spirit-led life that creates, you know, God's Word being put into action. So the doing part, in my mind, is, you know, we get a chance sometimes to physically do things. We get to love our brothers, you know, many ways. But many times God asks us just to believe what he says. And to my mind, that's doing, believing is doing.

That's my, and that makes it gracious, right? Because that's the one thing that's non-meritorious. We don't get credit. God doesn't give you, well, okay, you know, Bob, you get extra credit because you believe this, and Roger, you didn't believe that, so you get a negative credit. No. Anyway, okay.

Well, let's pray. We thank you, Father. for this day, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the discussions, Lord. We thank you for how you do cause us to think and cause us to exercise our minds. And you desire that we think about and be involved in your word constantly, Lord. And we thank you that you've given us your word. We pray that we would be doers of your word, believing what you've said. In Christ's name, amen.