Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a study series entitled Truth for Life, which is a study of bibliology or the doctrine of the scriptures. Today's sermon will be preached by School of Religion Professor Dr. Brian Trainor.
Turn, if you will, in your Bibles to James chapter 1. I first met Mark, actually, my sophomore year. He was an incoming freshman.
Actually, he was moving in directly across the hall from me on the second floor of Brokenshire. I distinctly remember actually helping him move boxes up the steps and into his room. Soon we found ourselves, even within that first couple of days, out on the soccer pitch. I was a striker.
He was a center mid. And so we quickly built chemistry. And from that chemistry, I convinced him during rush to join our society. For three years together, we played soccer.
But not just played soccer. He was a ministry major and with a goal toward missions. So we talked. We talked often. Eventually, he got engaged to Mary. Mary was a nursing major.
Wonderful girl. And I was so happy when they announced their engagement. He graduated and got married within weeks after graduation. And I distinctly remember watching him come through his freshman year all the way to graduation and then walk down the aisle for marriage. And there was just something from a friend's perspective, I was just proud.
Proud of what God seemingly was doing in his life and proud of the next steps that he was taking. About six weeks after he was married, a police officer arrived at his door and arrested him for multiple violent and vile assaults on women that had taken place through the course of the last four years. Within months, he was on trial, found guilty, and then incarcerated. I was stunned. I was stunned because Mark was not just a distant acquaintance. He was a friend. He was a society brother. He was a teammate.
He was a fellow minister of the Gospel. Mary, as you can imagine, was paralyzed. You can only contemplate what she was thinking as far as her heart was concerned. And among many of the questions that she asked, I remember one memorable, simple observation. She simply said this, Mark and I sat in the same chapel every day for four years, hearing the exact same messages. How could he hear so much and yet never change?
How is that even possible? Mary's question is a simple one, and at the same time, it's actually a very profound one. It's really the question that we're going to address in the chapel today.
Negatively, the question is this. How can we hear so many biblical truths and yet never change? For a chapel today, we're actually going to twist that question from the negative to the positive.
Let me phrase it positively for us this morning as really our theme as we continue. How can we make sure that the Word of God is transforming our lives every time that we hear it? The question there is not a question of information, it's a question of application.
Information never transforms a life. The biblical text must be applied for it to have value. And obviously that is a truth that is not a uniquely biblical truth. That's really the language of education now.
Within the last couple of years, certainly at Bob Jones, you've heard a lot about EXP's or experiential learning programs. And really all that is is the recognition is that truth must move from the classroom into the marketplace. It has to go from head to heart to hands. And that truth is not fully learned actually until it is experienced within the life. So Mary's question for Mark and really for all of us today is simply this. How can we ensure that the Word of God is transforming our life every single time we hear it? And thus our theme today is how to grow in transformative scriptural application.
Now thankfully that is a question that is not a new question. That is a question that actually was bound and formed within the minds of the early believers. And thus we turn to the book of James.
James was chronologically the very first book that is written in the New Testament. And what we find is that James is actually addressing this question. How do we respond practically from an applicational perspective to God's Word? We're going to read James chapter 1 verses 21 through 25, but even as we do so, I want to make sure that our focus is where James' focus is. His focus is not necessarily on the quantity of the Word.
It's not necessarily on the quality of the presentation. His focus is primarily in the heart response and in the life response of the listener. And thus you will see this entire section framed around the concept, not merely of hearing, but of doing. Follow with me in James chapter 1, picking it up in verse 21. It says, Wherefore, lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like a man, beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the Word, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seems to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but he deceives his own heart, and the man's religion is in vain.
What I want us to follow this morning is simply this. James provides for us, I believe, three steps toward a transformative application of the Word within our lives. Now, obviously, even as we read, we note that James' instruction really hinges upon a mirror application.
And the mirror application is very simple for us to understand. He's actually contrasting two individuals. One who looks at the mirror, and they look at the mirror and they see their natural face. But then they quickly turn away from that, and there is a forgetfulness of what they've seen, and thus no transformation of life. That is set in contrast to the individual who looks into the mirror, and the second time the analogy is used, the mirror is defined as the perfect law of liberty. That's a term that James is actually going to use to define the Scriptures. So the second individual looks into the Scriptures, recognizes who he is, recognizes what they are, meaning the Scriptures, and then his life goes through a transformative process. He goes into the idea of hearing, to that of doing. And instructive in this is the Jewish mindset that there really should be no distinction between hearing, being, and doing. From a Jewish perspective, and James is speaking to a Jewish audience, the expectation, and you can go back and you can look at the Mosaic Law as it relates to this, that you hear, you become, and then you do. And those three things are the mark of anyone that is responding properly to the Word of God. Now let's go back and walk through James' three simple instructions on how to make sure that the Word of God is transforming our life.
Instruction number one is simply this. Own the ugly. Own the ugly. The first response that James notes is the individual who looks at his natural face in the mirror and he turns away. In other words, he does not see what he should see. So the question has to be asked, what should we see when we look into the mirror and see our natural face? Well, James actually says we should see two things. Two things that we should see. Number one is in verse 21.
Let's go back and look at it. It says, therefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. What James is doing is he's actually choosing two of the most powerful words that he can to describe someone who is absolutely filthy dirty with sin and someone who has an abundance of wickedness. This concept of filthy here speaks of an individual who is wearing something that is absolutely disgusting. It's actually used only one other time in the New Testament. That one other time that individual is told, take off your garments. And really, James is pulling that very theme.
We are dressed in that which is filthy. And he speaks of that which is external to us. But then the second term that he uses is a superfluity of naughtiness. In other translations, naughtiness is defined as rampant wickedness or an abundance of evil.
I want you to note something just quickly here. He is speaking to believers. Many times when we think of an abundance of evil, immediately we think, well, James is speaking to unbelievers, but he's not. What James is saying is this, is that when we view ourselves in the mirror, when we see our natural face in the mirror, what we should see is an abundance of wickedness and an external clothing of absolute filthiness. And James simply says that we cannot receive the implanted word until that is recognized and put away. That's the first thing we see when we look in the mirror. The second thing we see is not only moral filthiness and desperate wickedness, but the second thing we see is actually in verse 24.
Verse 24, he says this, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. The second thing we see when we see our natural face is just this reality, that we are naturally forgetful. We look and then we turn, all right, within the context of our family, we're going through a transition within our home right now. And the transition we're going through is that my mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
We've seen it coming through the course of the last year, but it has grown to the point where within the last month we have moved her into a memory care center. It's not unusual now when I speak with my mother for her to say, now, who are you? She used to recognize my voice instantly when I called. Now she'll stop and she'll begin to ask questions to see if she can discover my identity. In the midst of a conversation, we're suddenly going down one path and I can just see it in her eyes that it's gone. When that happens in conversation with my mother, at this stage in her life, I fully expect it.
I fully expect it because she's being diagnosed with a disease. Now what James is saying here is this, is that every single one of us has the same disease as it relates to our reception of God's Word. And the disease that we have is that we are quickly forgetful, both of who we are and of what God's Word says.
Now, we don't have to take long to practically apply this. How many times in the course of chapel have you sensed that the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart about a particular issue? And after chapel is over, you make your way to lunch, you make your way to class, and within a matter of moments, you have forgotten what the Spirit said. And it is not that you're purposely trying to forget it. The challenge is, is that you're not intentionally trying to remember it. And since you're not intentionally trying to remember it, your natural state is, it just, it dissipates, it vanishes. So what James is saying is this, James is saying that if you're going to allow the Word to have a transformative effect in your life, you have to own the ugly. And the ugly is that you are filled with wickedness, covered with naughtiness and dirt and filth, and that you quickly forget things. Now what does this look like?
Let me suggest that this looks somewhat like this. I don't know if any of you follow this particular story. It actually happened last week. The man that you're seeing was defined as the dirtiest man in the world. He died last week at the age of 94. Let me read actually the story. It says this, Amal Haji, who did not wash for more than half a century, died on Sunday in the village of Dajjha in the southern province of Fars, and as in Iran. Villagers say that Haji's leather-like skin hasn't touched soap and water for more than 65 years.
Haji, covered in soot, and living in a cinder block shack, would eat roadkill and smoke a pipe filled with animal excrement. And then the last line of the story is this, he was single. That last line, when the author put that in, when the journalist put that in, that's like a duh moment at that point.
Hasn't washed for 65 years. Now the story itself is interesting to me, because of the uniqueness of it. But as I read the story, what was more interesting to me was not the initial picture, but a second picture that I found. And the second picture I found was actually Haji looking at himself in a mirror.
And immediately as I viewed this picture, a question formed in my mind, and the question was simply this. What do you think he saw? What did he see when he looked at himself in the mirror?
Alright, clearly he saw the dirt. But can I suggest that he was probably accustomed to that? After 65 years, he may have even found it appealing at some level.
And certainly he was accustomed to it and comfortable with it enough that viewing himself in the mirror produced absolutely no change. From his perspective, he was doing what he wanted to do. He was eating roadkill. He was smoking animal excrement.
He lived to 94. What's the problem? And yet at the same time, I trust that most of us would look at that picture and hear the story and simply say, there is a problem. And there's a significant problem. Here's our question. What's the point of contact between Haji and us?
Let's make this really practical. How often do we come to chapel, we go to D group, we walk into a Bible class, we go to church, and there's absolutely no internal sense of need? We look at ourselves in the mirror and we go, you know what? Pretty good. I'm not morally filthy. I look at the people around me.
I look as good as they do, both from an external perspective and even from an internal perspective. Filled with wickedness? Not hardly. That's for unsaved souls. That's not me. We come to chapel, we go to church, we go to Bible class, and there is no internal owning of our own ugliness. When's the last time we came to chapel and said, God, I am so morally repugnant in your sight that I desperately need a shower from your word today.
I need to be cleansed. When's the last time you had an Isaiah 6 moment when you saw the Lord high and lifted up and you fell on your face and you said, woe is me. And please understand, in Isaiah 6, Isaiah had already been in ministry for a number of years.
But he was, his heart was exposed and when his heart was exposed, he was ready for a transformation. What's the first step in moving from who we are to having a transformative experience, a transformative application of God's word within our life? And the first step is simply this, we have to own our own ugliness.
Every single time the word is opened, we should see ourselves as God sees us. We cannot look in the mirror and simply say, it's not bad. It is bad.
It's real bad from God's perspective. Thankfully, James doesn't leave us there. Alright, first step is we own the ugliness. The second step is simply this, we behold the beauty. We behold the beauty.
James does not leave us without hope. What he does is he provides three truths about the word of God that provide hope for us in the transformation. The very first element of this is actually found in verse 21.
Let's go back and look at the text. He says this, wherefore it lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and now catch what he says, and receive with meekness the engrafted word. First truth about the text is simply this, is that the word is implanted in us. Now exactly what was James thinking of, and I have a feeling that James is going back to the Old Testament, specifically into New Covenant promises, and James was considering Jeremiah 31. In Jeremiah 31, there's a promise made to Israel about the future of Israel, and it's simply this, is that God would take their heart of stone away from them, and he would put a heart of flesh within them, and he would write his word in their heart, and they would know God, and they would worship God. And as New Testament believers, that's an element of the New Covenant that we can now enjoy. We have the salvific blessing of having a new word within our heart. The law is not external to us, it is internal to us. Not only do we have the New Covenant blessing of Jeremiah 31, but we also have the very author of Scripture within us.
And I think James was probably speaking of both. What's the word within us? One, it is God's word in a heart of flesh. Two, it is the author of God's word who abides within us. Friends, that gives us hope that the comforter, whom the Father will send after Christ has gone away, what will he do?
He will teach us all things whatsoever Christ has said, and he abides in us all the time. So the very first thing that James says is simply this, yes, you are ugly, you are dirty, but within you, you have the word that can make you clean. Second, he simply says this, that word is not only implanted within us, but it is powerful. It is powerful to save us. Again, look at the end of verse 21, that we have the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. That concept of able there.
It's actually the word powerful, it's the word dunamis. It has the ability to accomplish the task in which it is sent. Now, many times when we think of this idea of salvation, immediately what comes to our mind is a past event that took place in our life when we accepted Christ, when we exchange our sinfulness for Christ's righteousness. And certainly, that's that moment of justification that assures us in eternity in heaven. And many times we speak of that as salvation. But New Testament authors do not speak of salvation only as a past event. They speak of it as a past event, as a present event, and as a future event. So what James is saying is this, is that the very word that was able to regenerate your depraved heart at your past salvation is now powerful to transform your life through the totality of your Christian walk, both in the present and ultimately it will complete that transformative work in the future. So that the word of God saves us past tense, present tense, and future tense. I want you to stop and think about that for a moment. So many of us at times we look at the dirtiness of our own life and we simply say, God, I can never change.
This dirt is permanently staining my life and there's nothing that I can do about it. And what James is saying is this, he's saying the very word that saved you can now transform you and wash you. You've got to behold the beauty. The word is implanted within us. The word is powerful for us. And then finally the last thing he says is that the word is perfect in its results.
Go with me down to verse 25. Simply says this, but whosoever looks into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, being not a forgetful hearer but a doer, this man shall be blessed in his deed. As we look at that perfect law of liberty that is implanted within us, that is spoken to us by the Holy Spirit, that is powerful to transform us, that will provide for us the framework to be perfect in our actions.
Now, again, I'm not speaking of moral perfection on this side of heaven. What I'm speaking of is that we see the reflection of what we ought to be. Think for a moment. Some of us in the past, and I'll put it in a present context, if I were to take a picture of Jason Momoa and I were to hang that on my mirror every morning and I were to look at that, and I were to say, okay, I see myself, I see Jason Momoa, I want to be like that. What power would that have?
The answer is none. The best that a mirror can do is allow me to be the best form of Brian Trainer that I can possibly be. But that's it. But when we look into the perfect law of liberty, what we see is we see Christ. So when I look into the Word, I don't have to become the best version of Brian Trainer possible, I can become the best model of Christ possible.
That's the power and the perfection of the Word. Three things. Number one, we have to own our ugliness. Number two, we have to behold our beauty. And then finally, number three, and this is the easiest one, just do it. Just do it. Now, some of us stop and you say, but Ms. Trainer, you're just taking the entire way of Scripture and placing that on me right now.
That's like a yoke upon my neck. That's not what James is saying. What James is saying is this, is as you look in the mirror and you see your own ugliness, and as you look into the Word and you see its beauty, you just do exactly what the Word is asking you to do in that moment.
Just do it. For the next 15 minutes, you do exactly what the Word is instructing you to do. And then for the 15 minutes after that, you do exactly what the Word is instructing you to do.
Just allow God's Word to transform your life. Students, we've been here for about 10 weeks now. Let's imagine that you have had the Word exposed to you five times a week.
That means that you've heard the Word 50 times over the course of this semester. Simple question. Has there been a transformative effect in your life that represents 50 exposures of God's Word within your life? Has there been that change? If not now, then when? That's the question. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Brian Trainer, which is part of the study series entitled Truth for Life. Join us again tomorrow as we continue this series here on The Daily Platform.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-13 19:02:28 / 2025-01-13 19:11:46 / 9