Join Dr. J. Vernon McGee as he unpacks the profound lessons from the Epistle of James, focusing on the essence of being doers of the Word. Learn how managing your tongue and temper can significantly enhance your walk with God. This episode serves as a reminder of the spiritual growth that comes with actively engaging with and applying the Word in everyday life.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 03 :
Think before you speak. Well, that’s easier said than done, right? Welcome to Through the Bible, where Dr. J. Vernon McGee tells us that God purposely gave us two ears and one mouth. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’m glad that you’re here for another great study in God’s Word. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the practical lessons that we’re learning. Help us to hear the message that you have for each of us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Amen. Turn in your Bibles to James chapter 1 so we can listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee on Through the Bible.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, friends, we’re back here today at the 19th verse of the Crystal of James. And I want to move now a little bit faster, maybe not much, but just a little bit faster than we’ve been going. He says here, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Now, again, may I say this is a very important section that we have come to here. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. That means, and he’s talking now to a child of God, swift to hear what? Well, the Word of God, of course. Be swift to hear, begotten by the Word of God, which you’re not through. You’re going to grow by the Word of God. And you’ve got a Word that’s living, quick and powerful, sharper. than any two-edged sword. And the natural man out there, the unsaved man, he understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They’re foolishness unto him. Why? They’re spiritually discerned. Now, you, a child of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God, who wants to be your teacher, you have the Word of God, the Creator of this universe, and the Redeemer of lost sinners. He wants to talk to you, wants to say something to you. And the point is, be quick, be alert. I sometimes look at a church congregation, and you know what I feel like doing? I feel like jumping up and saying, wake up, you know, the place is on fire. Get a little movement, a little alertness there. Oh, how today we need to be alert. Be quick, he says, swift to hear, and now slow to speak. You see, God gave us two ears and one mouth. And there must be a very definite reason for that, because there’s a danger of us talking too much. Now, I’m going to say something that I know is not very popular today. In fact, I say a whole lot of things that are not very popular, as many of you know. A friend of mine calls me his Listerine, and I ask him why. Well, he says, I hear you twice every day. I don’t like it. What you say, but I listen to you twice every day. Listerine’s got an ad that commercially goes something like that. I hate it, but I use it twice every day. Well, that’s his statement. And so we make quite a few. Now, there are those that say, oh, the minute you’re saved, you’re to begin to witness. No, I don’t think you’re quite ready to witness. Somebody says he got saved last night, and we’re going to listen to his testimony today, especially. If he’s a prominent person, if he’s a rich man, or if he’s been a gangster, or if he is in the entertainment business, or if he’s an outstanding politician, they always try to get him to come in and give his testimony. And that’s the reason I don’t like to hear these singers give a little talk before they get to their song. They can sing. I don’t mind them singing. But actually, I’ve many times just bowed my head in embarrassment at some of the things they’d say. This sweet little girl had a lovely voice. She gets up and says, I’ve just been saved two months. And oh, I tell you, I cringed when she said that. And I had a right to because what she said was as contrary to the Word of God as anything possibly be. God says, you be quick to hear, but you be slow to speak. Nobody says, well, aren’t we to witness? Yes, but be very careful how you witness. Better make sure about your life first. The story’s told about Socrates. A young man is brought to him to enter his school. You know, Socrates was a schoolteacher and a philosopher. And a young man came and introduced Socrates. And before Socrates could say a word, the young man started talking. He talked for about, well, I suppose, 10 minutes. according to the sundial of that day. And Socrates, finally, when the young man finished, he said to him, I’ll take you as a student, but I’m going to charge you double. And the young man said, well, why are you going to charge me double? Well, he says, first, I’m going to have to teach you how to hold your tongue, then how to use it. Quick to hear, but slow to speak. And then do you notice what else he says? And be slow to wrath, that is to anger. Don’t argue religion, lose your temper. It’s nice to be a fundamentalist, but don’t start fighting everybody in sight that disagrees with you on every little jot and tittle of theology. After all, you don’t have all the truth. The scripture says, be slow to wrath. Don’t get angry. Jonathan Edwards, he was the third president of Princeton and probably was one of America’s greatest thinkers and also preachers. But he had a daughter that had an uncontrollable temper. And one day, a young man, a very fine young man at the school who had been going with her, fell in love with her. And he came to Jonathan Edwards, which was the custom in that day. Apparently, it’s fallen by the wayside now. And he asked for her hand. And Jonathan Edwards says to him, you can’t have her. And the young man says, but I love her. And Jonathan Edwards says, you can’t have her. And the young man says, but she loves me. And again, Edwards said to the young man, says, you can’t have her. And the young man says, well, why can’t I have her? He says, because she’s not worthy of you. Well, he says, she’s a Christian, isn’t she? And he says, yes, she’s a Christian. But the grace of God can live with some people with whom no one else could ever live. May I say to you, there are a lot of unworthy Christians today with an uncontrollable temper. And that, may I say, spoils their testimony probably as much as anything in this life. He goes on to say, “…for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” That’s the reason we shouldn’t argue religion. I’ve never found yet anybody that agrees with me 100% or that I agree with them 100%. But that’s no reason for me to fall out with him. Someone came in here the other Sunday morning. I was in here at the study. I came down to make a tape, by the way. And the fellow said to me, he says, well, aren’t you in church this morning? I said, no. Well, he said, what are you doing? I was running a tape of mine through and listening, actually, to it as it came over the radio. We have a Sunday morning program. And I said to him, I said, you know, I’m listening to the only man that I agree with 100%. And therefore, the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. I don’t care. You may feel like you’re a defender of the faith and all that sort of thing. But my friend, the wrath of man Just does not work the righteousness of God. And don’t kid yourself that you are angry for his sake, because he’s not angry. He’s in the saving business today. Now, verse 21, he says, Now, wherefore, put away all filthiness. and overflowing of wickedness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, and the word here should be the implanted word of God, which is able to save your souls. That is, you are to receive the Word of God. And that is the important thing that he’s emphasizing here. And to put away, do you notice what he says here? Put away all filthiness. That’s of the flesh. And this is the better translation, the abundance of wickedness. And receive the implanted Word. And the Word of God is a preventative against the sins of the flesh. I think it’s the greatest preventative. The old Scotch preacher says, sin will keep you from the Bible, or the Bible will keep you from sin. And he certainly was accurate in that. It’s able to save your souls. Now, he’s speaking to those that have been saved, you see. He’s talking to those. You receive the implanted word. It’s been planted in your heart. It has already brought salvation to you. But you’ve got a life to live as a Christian. And that is the salvation that he’s talking about here. I have been saved. I am being saved. I shall be saved. Salvation is in three tenses. And later on, we go into that in another epistle. Now, verse 22, he says, “…but be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Now, a great many people, if there’s anything they remember from the epistle of James, this is it. This is a very familiar verse to a great many people. Now, you and I live in a day when we have many translations of the Bible, and they’re multiplying every day. Every year, two or three new ones come out. And these new translations, personally, I haven’t found one yet that I feel is really adequate to take the place of the authorized. I do think it needs improving in certain places, but I still use it, as you well know. But we today do need a new translation. Now, that may seem strange coming from me, and it should be different from Tyndall’s or the authorized or the American Standard or any of these new translations. And it must be superior to the modern effort. And you want to know something that may shock you? Did you know that any Christian that’s listening to me today can make this new translation? You could make a new translation of the Bible. Well, somebody says, you don’t know me. I’m not capable. I’m not familiar with the original language. And I know nothing about the handling of manuscripts. And so… In spite of your limitation, my friend, we may have, and we may have many limitations, but it’s still possible to make the best translation of Scripture that’s ever been made. And you know what the name of the translation is? It’s known as the doer’s translation. Be ye doers of the Word. And that’s a good translation, by the way, a doer’s translation. And we now have come to the real pragmatism of James Paul put, I think, the same thought in just a little different phraseology when over in 2 Corinthians, and you will recall over there in the third chapter, I think it is, yes, in verse 2, “…ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all, forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ.” ministered to us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And the world today is not reading the Bible, but they’re reading you and me. That’s the best translation. And the question in the little poem is, what is the gospel according to you? Now, you have here in verse 22 what I like to think of as the demands of the Word. And then in verses 23 to 24, the danger of the word. And then in verse 25, the design of the word. And in other words, we have here that which is substantive, that which really gets down to where we live today. Now, here we have the imperatives or the demands of the word in verse 22. Be ye doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own self. Now, there’s an element about the Word of God that actually makes it different from any other book. Now, there are many differences, but here is one we’ve not mentioned before. Now, there are many books today that you can read for the information that you can get from them. You can gain knowledge and intellectual stimulation and spiritual inspiration and amusement and entertainment. But the Word of God is different. And this is probably the reason that it’s not as popular. It demands action. Be ye doers of the word, not hearers only. It requires attention. The Lord Jesus says, if any man will do his will, he’ll know whether the doctrine is true or not. And so this book demands action. Place to the Lord and see whether it’s good. Now, you can read history. It asks nothing of the students. You can read literature. There are no imperatives, no declarations, no exclamation. Oh, you may say it has a lesson, but that probably wasn’t in the mind of the author. You can read science. It makes no demands on you whatsoever. You can read a cookbook, and it gives you a recipe. Betty Crocker’s got a good cookbook, but she doesn’t say you have to cook. There’s no demand made there that you cook up a batch of biscuits. or make a fudge cake. Now, the word of God is a command. It’s a trumpet. It’s an appeal for action. He that believeth on the Son hath lie. He that believeth not hath not lie, but the wrath of God abideth in him. And the Lord Jesus Christ, repent was his first message. The second, come unto me. And third, believe. And today, the Word of God demands belief. Now, all advertising today is high pressure being used on radio and TV and billboards and in newspapers and magazines. They use the hard sell. And we are not only brainwashed today by the news on TV and radio, but we’re being brainwashed even by advertising. Madison Avenue is throwing everything at the consumers. You are to buy a certain make of car, and you’re told how wonderful it is this year over last year, and all they did was make their steering wheel a little smaller than they made it last year. That’s just about the difference. And you’re told if you don’t use this deodorant, well, you’ll lose your job. But the Word of God says you’re going to die in your sin if you don’t turn to Him. And you talk about high pressure, that’s high pressure. God says, now is the accepted time. Today, if you’ll hear his voice. I think the greatest failure of the church in recent years is at this point in this area here. After the war, and I go back now to World War II, the Western world came out of the bomb shelters and went to church. Fear of the bomb, but not fear of God. Church membership and attendance soared to new heights. I’m very thankful I had a ministry during that period. I saw a full church. It was, to me, a glorious, wonderful thing. But at that same time, lawlessness and immorality increased by a hundredfold. Drunkenness, divorce, juvenile delinquency all escalated. And there was a total breakdown of separation. What had happened? May I say to you, we were getting the Word of God out in the passive voice and the subjunctive mood, and it’s given in the imperative mood. We forgot that a leather-bound Bible needs some shoe leather to go with it. We’re memorizing Scripture, but it’s also not only memorization, it should be mobile. It should move. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. Why? Well, you’re going to deceive yourself if you don’t put it in action. You see, the imperative here is really for a born-again child of God. God is not asking the unsaved here to do anything except one thing, and that’s actually not doing something. They came to him and says, What shall we do that we might inherit eternal life? He says, Do what? Why, this is the will of God that you believe on him whom we have sent. Doing in God’s book for the unsaved is believing on Christ. God is not asking the unsaved here that are listening today to do anything at all, except just trust Christ. Now, hearing, though, will lead to doings. not to rote and ritual and habitual action. It’s not drab or monotonous. It’s not routine. Why, the intent of the Word is to produce creative action, make a productive performance, exciting living, and a thrilling experience. And if we are motivated by the inner desire and we are enjoying spirit-filled living, well, you and I can go out on the golf course and enjoy playing golf. We can enjoy a Bible study equally as well. And in fact, it’d be a thrill to us. Don’t be hearers only. There’s a difference between a student and an auditor. I’m going to have to break off fire today.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ve got more from Dr. McGee next time. If you’d like to be in touch, call 1-800-65-BIBLE or visit ttb.org. Now here’s Dr. McGee to close us.
SPEAKER 01 :
You are beginning to see, I’m sure, why this epistle has not been as popular as some other epistles and some other books in the Bible. Certainly, as I said at the beginning, the epistle of James is the answer to all of these how-to books. That is, how to do this and how to do that and how to live. Actually, I understand now there’s a book on the market on how to grow old. Well, it’s written by a young man and I have a notion he doesn’t know anything about arthritis. And until he knows something about arthritis by experience, I really don’t think that he’s in a position to write a book on how to grow old. You see, the grave danger is today in talking and speaking on subjects and themes that we are not equipped to speak on at all. We are told how to do this and how to do that, and all these how-to books today are very popular. But you notice they don’t use the Epistle of James very much, because James said, let’s stop all of our talking and let’s start doing something. Let’s start, when we do say something, let it be something that is from the Word of God, and bring the Word of God into prominence again. In other words, give it first place in our hearts and in our lives. And then he has said something else. that we should not be given to wrath. And I’d like to say a word about that because at the present moment, we are seeing today the church divided, especially our conservative and fundamental people are being divided by young men today who are making attack on not only liberalism, but they are making attack upon our conservative positions. on many things, they feel like they are an authority in certain fields, that they are the ones that now are able to speak with authority, that in the past we have not had the true light, but right now the light is really breaking. Now, I grant that as we study the Word of God, many great truths break upon our hearts and our lives that are wonderful. But it’s been my experience that they don’t break upon you when you’re a young person, that you’re actually a beginner then, and you may not be in a position to to be a critic of everyone else. It may be that you do not have all of the truth yourself. And one of the things that is certainly lacking today in the ministry is humility. We seem to have that in short supply today. Somehow or another, something’s happened to it because it’s certainly been rationed out today, and we see so little of it. We need to recognize, and I heard Dr. Laman Strauss make this statement to a group of preachers. He says, we are not celebrities. We are just servants of the living God. And I think that’s a great statement today. If we are going to heal those that are standing for the Word of God, we need to recognize that none of us are an authority in every field on the Word of God, that actually there are others that are as wise as we are. In fact, they may be wiser than we are. I remember I came along as a young preacher One of the greatest delights I had was listening to older men. I never shall forget, I was invited as a young preacher when the late Dr. John Brown was still alive. He used to have a summer meeting over in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. People came from everywhere to that meeting, and he invited me to be the speaker there. And Homie Rodeheaver was the song leader, the one who had been with Billy Sunday. And every day for lunch, Dr. Brown would take us around to different places in that area. There are great fish places over there to eat. And I tell you, they have wonderful fish. And there’s also other wonderful places to go to in that area. And so every day, and then we’d sit around after we had lunch, and I’d listen to these two men tell what to them was the good old days. In fact, what we were going through then is to me today the good old days. And I never shall forget sitting and listening to those men and the experiences that they had and the wisdom that they had. And one of the things that came to my heart and my life at that particular time was, I said, Oh Lord, help me to get the wisdom that these men have and help me to keep my mouth shut until I get to that place. Well, I’m not sure I’ve got to that place yet, but I do find myself giving a little bit more advice today than I did formerly, and I do feel a little embarrassed by doing it. I’m not sure that any of us today are in a position to be the last word on any subject in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is still the great teacher of the Word of God. So, Let’s remember that James said, let us be quick to hear, but slow to answer. And for goodness sakes, let’s don’t fall out with each other because you don’t cross your T like I crossed mine. Now, until next time, may the Lord richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 03 :
Through the Bible exists to take God’s whole word to the whole world. And we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God’s word go today?
