2. JOHN 11:43-44
When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him…”

3. JAMES 4:17
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

4. MATTHEW 12:50
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

5. LUKE 11:27-28
As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

6. JOHN 13:17
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

7. Weirsbe
Too many Christians mark their Bibles, but their Bibles never mark them!

8. ACTS 19:8-10
And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

9. Spurgeon
I fear we have many such in all congregations; admiring hearers, affectionate hearers, attached hearers, but all the while unblest hearers, because they are not doers of the word.

10. Moffatt
A teacher or preacher may give an eloquent address on the gospel, or explain ably some O.T. prophecy about Christ, but when the sermon is done, it is not done; something remains to be done by the hearers in life, and if they content themselves with sentimental admiration or with enjoying the emotional or mental treat, they need not imagine that this is religion.

11. JAMES 1:23-25
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 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.

12. PSALM 1:2
…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

13. PSALM 119:45
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

14. JOHN 8:31-32
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

15. Cowper To see the Law by Christ fulfilled,
To hear His pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child
And duty into choice.

16. Hearing + Doing = Blessing

17. JAMES 1:26-27
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit [look after, care for] orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

18. ISAIAH 29:13
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”

19. MATTHEW 15:8-9
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

20. COLOSSIANS 2:23
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

21. 2 TIMOTHY 3:5
…having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

22. Calvin
…they who are free from grosser sins, and even bear the outward show of sanctity, will often exalt themselves by detracting others under the pretense of zeal, while their real motive is love of evil-speaking.

23. Calvin
James does not define generally what religion is, but reminds us that religion without the things he mentions is nothing.

24. EXODUS 22:22
You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

25. DEUTERONOMY 14:29
And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

26. PSALM 68:5
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

27. Good news cannot be separated from good deeds.

28. Luther
The world does not need a definition of religion as much as it needs a demonstration.

29. Weirsbe
Too many Christians mark their Bibles, but their Bibles never mark them!

30. Barclay
James does well to remind us that what is heard in the holy place must be lived in the market place--or there is no point in hearing at all.

31. Begg
It’s possible to be charmed by the Bible being taught but not changed by the Bible being taught.