This exhortation was given at King’s Cross Church (Moscow, ID) on January 22, AD 2023.

You have all you need to obey God today. If you have been born again and own a Bible – you have all the information you need to walk in His ways today.

James tells us in his Epistle that we have received the implanted Word of God which is able to save our souls. But then he gives this warning: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

In an age where access to the Word and biblical resources abound, this temptation to hear the Word but not do the Word is very real.

One way of doing this is when you are reminded of a particular ongoing sin in your life or an area where you know you are falling short—and you deceive yourself into thinking that if you just had one more conversation with a friend, or read just one more book, or listened to just one more sermon or lecture on that topic—then you’d finally have what you needed to obey.

But the problem with this is that your fundamental issue is not a lack of knowledge. It’s a lack of faith and of simple obedience.

You see, this desire to hear the Word again and again appears to be a humble eagerness to grow in understanding and faithfulness. But without then doing the Word, this is actually a prideful method of avoiding action. It is a pseudo-pious act of procrastination.

Many want to imagine that life is filled with a series of “aha” moments, where they hear something and then faithfulness suddenly appears and everything falls into place. And while those moments do occur, they are not regular nor are they promised.

But the Good News is that you don’t need to wait for a magic moment of revelation. That moment has already occurred.

It was when the Lord gave you His Spirit and removed your hard heart of stone and gave you a heart of flesh – enabling you to walk according to His ways. The Lord has graciously given all that you need in His Word for life and godliness. His Spirit is within you, His grace is upon you, and the Father withholds no good gift from His children.

So with a heart of gratitude and trust, hear the Word. But don’t stop there. Let the Word move through your ears and settle down in your heart. And then in faith watch it flow out – adorning all that you say and do, to the glory of God.