In verse 18, of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth. This is God saving us. He does it through the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures (James 1:18 ). Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear. And as I made the case last time, the hearing is obviously connected to the word of truth, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:19-20). And you’ll see in verse 21 he picks back up this idea of the word: therefore put away all filthiness, rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word. It’s interesting. He’s speaking to my beloved brothers. We can talk to Christians this way, folks. We can say that they need to put certain things off in their life, receive the implanted word, and it’s able to save your soul (James 1:21 ).

Brethren, we are being saved. And there’s a way. God. Not us, not in our own strength. There is a way God saves, and it’s got to do with a relationship with the word. It’s able to save your souls. And how does it save your souls as you’re receiving it? And what does receiving have to do with verse 22? Not just hearing it. Be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22 ). You see, there’s deceit if you hear only. Deception, obviously, has got to do with whether or not we’re a Christian.

Now we keep reading. If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, then we’re going to get a metaphor. He’s like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he was like (James 1:23-24). Verse 25 is where I want to focus today: but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing (James 1:25 ).

You know, this idea of being a doer and not a hearer only is something that James is going to keep at. When we get into chapter two, this idea that if you really want to validate faith, it’s validated by your works. You remember he’s going to bring up Rahab; he’s going to bring up Abraham. This is where he’s headed. He’s going to keep us in this tone of doing, doing, being doers of the word.

Okay, let’s dive in. Perfect Law of Liberty. Now, most of our translations say the perfect law. Verse 25, the law of liberty. Actually, if you’ve got certain translations, they like to put in italics what is not actually in the original, you’ll see that it actually reads in the Greek, the perfect law of liberty. The law isn’t in there twice. Many of the translations add it twice just to, I think, to pull out the perfect law. And then they reiterate the law of liberty.

So what is that? What is the perfect law of liberty? Is it the same as the entire Word of God? And I would say absolutely. Consider the metaphor. Now, look, I recognize this law can be used in different ways in the Scripture. You have to take the context to figure out the scope of what the author is talking about when he talks law. And there are different. Law can be like a principle or like the law of gravity. Also, law has to do with commandment here.

Just consider the metaphor. Look at verses 22 and 23. Be doers of the word, not hearers only. Verse 23: if anyone is a hearer of the word, and then what does that do? Well, it produces this idea in James’s mind of an illustration concerning a mirror. And in verse 25, what is the mirror into which we look? Well, obviously, it’s the word that he’s been talking about, except here he calls it the perfect law, the law of liberty.

And what he’s doing is he’s stressing three aspects of this word, of this mirror into which we look. And you see what he’s stressing. He’s stressing that it’s law, it’s perfect, and there’s liberty. And so, brethren, do you recognize that whenever God expresses His will, then is the ultimate law God telling us what to do, what not to do, expressing His will to us? That’s law. God comes along and He says, here’s my son, my beloved son. And He says, hear Him (Matthew 17:5). And Paul can come along and talk about the law of Christ. Christ is speaking. Christ is the Son of God. Christ came and has spoken on behalf of His Father. He’s relating to us what God wants us to know. And it’s called the Law of Christ.

There is law here. There’s an expression of the will of God. This law is perfect. You see that word? Those who look into this perfect law, brethren, perfect eye. Are you really grabbing that? You know what that means. That this is perfect. It really does mean this, folks, that I don’t need supplements. This is sufficient. I recognize it’s not sufficient for learning calculus, but it is sufficient for the things in life that really matter: how to be right with God, how to walk with God, how to have your soul saved. That’s the idea.

Brethren, to equip the man for works that please God. To equip a man of God perfectly. This is where we get it. You don’t need additions. You don’t need addendums. You don’t need other books. Brethren, it’s. Other books can be good only as much as they rightly divide this perfect word. Mentors, counselors. Others are only as good as they come back to this word. This is perfect. Now we sing about this: the law of the Lord is perfect (Psalm 19:7). Some translations say convert or revive. There’s this idea of a restoration of refreshing.

Brethren, do you recognize? Perfect. If you will seek to conform your life to this book, the greatest that man can achieve, the greatest excellency, the greatest beauty, the greatest perfection that men can achieve in this life is going to come from being conformed to this book. You can’t get away from that. Brethren, this is really sufficient. Perfect. So don’t add to it. Don’t take away from it. Not even in your mind where you’re saying, well, I need something else. You get there. I mean, brethren, how often do you feel like I need something else? This is just not working.

But, brethren, our problem is typically not being doers of this word, not coming back and living in this word and knowing it and living it and having it characterize our life. That’s the issue. Aren’t the answers there? How to be in the will of God? It’s in this book. Extra-biblical books, extra-biblical stuff, extra-biblical people, extra-biblical whatever. The mentors that you. Brethren right here, brethren, we really have to be people who can come to the Word of God and find it to be perfect and find it to be sufficient, and recognize that we got to run there.

The law of liberty, the perfect law of liberty, brethren. But let me tell you this, I get thinking about liberty, the law of liberty. But how does Scripture speak? I’ll tell you how Scripture speaks where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17 ). We read that the law of the Spirit of life sets us free in Christ (Romans 8:2). Brethren, there’s only freedom in this law if you’re a Christian because you know what Romans said. You know what Romans eight says about the law and in the last verse, brethren, the reality is this, that God frees us from our natural hatred to His law when He saves us. So now we find delight in the very thing that we used to detest. And the thing is, you know what the psalmist said: I delight to do Your will. Oh my God, Your law is within my heart (Psalm 40:8). I mean, David speaks for us. Is the Christian not free?

This is the beauty. I want you to recognize this. The Christian is free, not free to sin. Brethren, we are free to be like Christ. We are free to do right. We are free to obey. We are free to go down the path that really beautifies men. Free indeed. If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed (John 8:36 ). And we are indeed free. And we’ve got this perfect law of liberty. It’s set before us. We’re free to love. We’re free to be pleasing to God. Free from the bondage of sin and Satan.

You know what? We’re free from following the course of this world. Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit. Get this. The spirit that is at work in the sons of who? Isn’t that amazing that people that are lost in this world are characterized as sons of disobedience? Not us, not us, not if our trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not the title for us. We’re sons of obedience. There’s a difference there. We’re sons of obedience. If we are.

Brethren, look, verse 25, the one who looks into the perfect law looks. Now, that is not a glance. That is a word that means to bend over. It’s got the idea of the person bent over to gaze into the depths. There’s an intensity. Somebody says it means to stoop sideways

. Some of the commentators actually say that this is the word that’s used when they come and they stoop to look into the empty tomb. There is an idea here of a real intensified look. And brethren, you know what Scripture says. You want wisdom. What do you do? You search for it. It’s like hidden treasure (Proverbs 2:4). Brethren, you go out there in the streets and you go walk around. You don’t find rubies scattered on the ground and diamonds scattered on the ground and gold scattered on the ground. You get it, dig for it. It’s the same thing with wisdom. That’s what Scripture tells us. It’s not just some casual glance.

Brethren, if somebody told you there’s a book over there and it is perfect, it perfectly describes what you should do and how you should live your life in order to please God. There’s a book over there that tells you the way to heaven. It tells you the wa