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I. THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO MAY BE SAID TO BE HEARERS ONLY.

1. The inattentive hearer (Hebrews 2:1; Deuteronomy 32:46). He who never intends being a doer of what he hears will probably little regard what he hears.

2. The inconsiderate hearer, that never ponders what he hears, nor compares one thing with another.

3. The injudicious shearer, that never makes any judgment upon what he hears, whether it be true or false; all things come alike to him.

4. The unapprehensive hearer, who hears all his days, but is never the wiser (2 Timothy 3:7). No light comes into him.

5. The stupid, unaffected hearer that is as a rock and a stone under the Word. Nothing enters or gets within.

6. The prejudiced, disaffected hearers, who hear with dislike, especially those things which relate to practice; they cannot endure such things as relate to the heart.

7. The fantastical, voluptuous hearers, that hear only to please their fancy; flashes of wit are what they come to hear.

8. The notional hearers, who only aim merely to please their fancy; they come to learn some kind of novelty.

9. Those talkative persons, who only come to hear that they may furnish themselves with notions for the sake of discourse.

10. The censorious and critical hearers; who come not as doers of the law, but as judges.

11. The malicious hearers that .come on purpose to seek an advantage against those they come to hear.

12. The raging, exasperated hearers; such were Stephen's at his last sermon.

II. WHAT IT IS TO BE A DOER OF THE WORD.

1. It doth suppose a fixed design that this shall be my course (Psalm 119:106, 112).

2. It carries with it a serious applying of our minds to understand what is the mind and will of God which is held forth to us in His Word.

3. It implies the use of our judgment in hearing the Word, in order to distinguish what is human and what is Divine.

4. It requires reverence to be used in hearing: so to hear as that we may be doers requires a revere, dial attendance upon it. Considering it as a revelation come from heaven.

5. To be a doer of the Word supposes that we believe it; or that our hearing of it is mingled with faith. The Word of God worketh effectually in thrum that believe (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 4:2; Hebrews 11:1; Romans 1:16).

6. It requires love. It is said of some that they received not the love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10; Psalm 119:97, 105; Jeremiah 15:16).

7. It requires subjection: a compliance of the heart with it. "Receive with meekness" (verse. 21). The gracious soul is always ready to say, "Good is the Word .of the Lord."

8. It requires a previous transformation of the heart by it. The Word can never be done by the hearer, but from a vital principle.

9. It requires also a faithful remembrance of it (vers. 23, 24).

10. There must be an actual application of all such rules in the Word to present cases as they occur (Psalm 119:11).

III. THE SELF-DECEPTION OF THOSE WHO ARE HEARERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT DOERS OF IT.

1. Wherein they are deceived.

(1) They are deceived in their work. They commonly think they have done well; find no fault with themselves that they have been hearers only.

(2) As to their reward they are also deceived; their labour is lost.

2. The grossness of this deception.

(1) They are deceived in a plain case. It is the plainest thing in the world that the gospel is sent for a practical end.

(2) It is a self-deception. They are said to deceive themselves: they impose on themselves. It is soul-deception: "Deceiving your own souls."APPLICATION:

1. In the very hearing of the Word there is danger of self-deception.

2. The whole business of the gospel hath a reference to practice.

3. If ye would be doers of the Word, "Be swift to hear: faith cometh by hearing."

4. It is of the greatest consequence to add doing to hearing (Matthew 7:24-27).

(T. Hannam.)

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KJV: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

WEB: But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.