I have so very much to be thankful for. As I reflect upon where God has brought me from and where He's brought me to, I recognize that it's all a work of His Amazing Grace. One of my favorite studies in the Word of God, concerns His Grace.
We often refer to His Grace in only elementary terms – “The Unmerited Favor Of God” or "The Unearned Goodness Of God". By no means do I disagree with that, as I use that definition quite often myself, as we are usually focusing on salvation when we speak of Grace. However, Grace is far more than merely a Saving Agent.
We often think of just the Redemptive Properties of God's Grace, but Grace goes beyond this point of conversion. Grace also has Enabling or Empowering Properties as well.
Grace is what enables me to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have several physical afflictions and disease, some of which you are not even aware, which cause me a lot of pain and there are many days that my physical body, because of pain, is really not up to preaching and ministering, but Grace enables me to do it in spite of adversity.
I am by nature a rather shy sort of person. Most people have a hard time believing that, but when I was a few years younger, I would not have been able to stand in front of a church and speak. Sing? Perhaps yes, but speak? Absolutely not, because I would have been too nervous and shy, but the Holy Spirit, as a work of His Grace has enabled me and empowered me to do what God has called me to do, even though by nature I would not normally do what I do.
And the prayer for our lives, should be, “Lord, grant me the Empowering Grace to fulfill every purpose in my life in which you have ordained for , that through my own strength and power, I would be helpless and unable to do otherwise.”
Grace is much more than just forgiveness and mercy, but it is also the supernatural means by which God empowers you and I to do things that we could not otherwise do of ourselves.
It takes Grace to be a good Pastor…
It takes Grace to be a good Teacher…
It takes Grace to be a good Wife, Mother, Husband or Father…
God grants you specific Grace for the specific task that He knows you must face. Not everyone has been given the same Grace that you’ve been given, because not everyone will need the same grace that you’ll need. Not everyone is going to go through the same things that you’ll go through. Not everyone is going to have to deal with the same problems that you have. Some people have been given the Grace to raise a disabled child. Not everyone has been enabled to do that. That’s a special Grace for a special task. And each one of us have different callings and different tasks in our lives and God gives each of us the Grace to deal with whatever has come into our lives to deal with.
The Grace that you’ve been given for your life, is perhaps somewhat different than what He’s given to me, that’s one reason that we can’t compare ourselves to one another.
When you see someone dealing with a particular situation differently than you would, don’t tell them, “I wouldn’t be doing it that way!”, because you don’t know what God’s plan is in their life and God may be wanting them to deal with something differently than you would deal with it and if so, then God has given them the Grace to do it a certain way and you don’t understand because you’ve not had that same empowering Grace for that particular situation!
You may see someone else in another bad situation and say, “Well, I wouldn’t put up with that!”… And the reality is, you probably wouldn’t put up with that, because you haven’t been given the Grace for that particular situation, but had God ordained you to step into that particular situation, then He would have given you the Grace for it, but He hasn’t, so don’t judge those who are there, by telling them how you’d do it!
I love to study the book of Romans where Paul really deals with our sin problem and the answer for it, because in that book, he really takes the burden off of my human will power and lays it on the Enabling Power of God’s Grace.
In the 7th Chapter of Romans, Paul in essence says, “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me… I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. I know nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature! O Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death!?”
He’s basically saying, “I know that my redeemer must come from outside of me, because I lack the power within MYSELF to save MYSELF from MYSELF!”
Now the New-Agers and the Humanists and the Oprah Winfrey’s and the Shirley McClain’s and many Word of Faith Preachers among others will tell you differently. They’ll tell you that you are basically a little god yourself and you have the power deep within you to redeem yourself and to fix yourself… THAT’S PSYCHO MUMBO JUMBO GARGAGE!
Acts 4:12
“Neither is there salvation in any other! For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
JESUS CHRIST AND HIS FINISHED WORK AT CALVARY IS STILL MAN’S ONLY HOPE OF REDEMPTION!
And somewhere along the way you must come to a place to where you have given up on yourself delivering yourself or helping yourself, by yourself, so that you can experience the power of God’s Grace to enable you to do what you could not do alone. It’s the Grace of God that enables you to do things that you’re not able to do in your own strength.
For some of you, myself included, It was the Grace of God that enabled you to stop smoking! It’s the Grace of God that took the craving for alcohol from some of your lives! Not everybody needs the specific Grace that it takes to be delivered from Alcoholism, so they can’t relate to what I’m talking about, but if you’ve been delivered from the bottle yourself, then you know that it was something that you were not able to do on your own, but God’s Grace enabled you to do what you couldn’t simply do by human will power alone!
When you see somebody who’s bound by drugs or any sort of addiction and they’re able to lay that stronghold down and live a life free from the daily struggle of that bondage, you must understand and realize that what you’re seeing is nothing less than a divine picture of God’s Marvelous Grace in action. Because it’s Grace that enables and empowers you to be able to do those things!
A number of years ago, after God had delivered me from drug addiction, I was told by a neurologist and a psychiatrist both that I would always have trouble speaking and gathering my thoughts together and communicating with people, due to the amount of damage that my brain had suffered following the massive overdose that I had and I recognize this morning, that I am not the greatest preacher or teacher, but God had a divine calling upon my life to do what I do and He enables me to fulfill that calling and His Grace defies the prognosis of those physicians who told me that I’d never be able to do it.
If anything ever comes across my two lips that helps you in anyway, shape or form, don’t you dare give me the slightest glory, but you give God all of the praise, because it’s only by His Enabling Grace that I am able to even convey a thought and preach and teach His Holy Word.
Whatever God calls you to… And whatever God gifts you with… He will also grant you the Grace to properly fulfill it and carry it out… He will grant you the Grace to properly handle every gift that He’s entrusted to you.
Trust Him and recognize that if God be for you, who can be against you! His Grace will be sufficient for you always!
Whatever station you may find yourself in during this Thanksgiving Season, give God the praise and thanksgiving for the enabling Grace that He's placed in your life! Happy Thanksgiving!
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
God said, “My Grace is Sufficient for you!”
In other words, in all situations, regardless of circumstances, my grace will be enough to sustain you and see you through.
No matter the trial or opposition facing the Apostle Paul, God’s Grace was enough to see him through, yet Paul still had to choose to keep on pressing on by God’s Grace. Had he decided at anytime to accept defeat and throw in the towel on what God had called him to do, it would not have negated God’s Grace and favor upon him, it would have simply meant that Paul gave up and quit, not God. God’s Grace was enough… His Grace was sufficient, but Paul had to keep walking in it no matter what the circumstance was.
It’s the same in your life today. God’s Grace is enough to see you through any circumstance or trial of life, but it’s up to you as to whether or not you choose to walk in it. God has a plan and a purpose and a work for each of us and He will supply all the Grace necessary to fulfill that purpose completely, but that does not mean that you will not face opposition… That does not mean that you’re not going to possibly fall at times… That does not mean that you’re never going to suffer set-backs… That does not mean that you’re not going to have some serious disappointments and struggles along the way… But it does mean that He will give you all the Grace, Favor and Strength to make it through whatever comes your way, yet you’ve still got to make up your mind to walk in that Grace and trust Him completely and should you fall along the way, get up again and press on! His Grace is sufficient for you, but you’ve got to have your mind made up to keep on pressing forward no matter what may try to stand between you and what God has called you to!
If you ever get around people who have accomplished great things within the Kingdom of God, you will find that those accomplishments and those achievements did not come without a price. If you look at the great men of God in the Bible, it’s easy to see that those men did not just haphazardly achieve what they achieved in their ministries, but they persevered and they fought and they were persistent and they lost some things along the way in order to fulfill the call of God upon their lives.
If God has called you to do a work, you can sit around and speak words of faith about it all day long and you can speak all the positive words of affirmation that you want to and you can even believe in your heart that it’s going to be great and yet not achieve one solitary thing for the Kingdom of God.
You can pray, “Father, I know that you’ve got a work for me to do. Lord, I know it’s gonna be miraculous! I believe with all of my heart that lives are gonna be touched and souls are gonna be saved through this anointed ministry that you’ve called me to! By faith I proclaim it all right now! LORD MAKE IT HAPPEN!”
And don’t that little prayer sound so nice and sincere!
But the truth is, you can pray prayers of faith about what God’s called you to do all day long, but if your faith does not produce some works, then the Bible declares in the book of James that your faith is Dead and there’s not one thing that’s going to happen. You might as well be playing tidily-winks somewhere, because the Bible says that “Faith without works is dead.” In other words, Faith that does not produce works is Dead Faith!
It not only takes real faith to be successful in the Kingdom, but it also takes real work. And real living faith will always produce proper corresponding works! I’ve never seen a farmer harvest a crop without first working and preparing the field and sowing the seed.
Some people would say, “Well, now I just don’t know Preacher. That would be a farmer of great faith to just pray and believe God for a bumper crop without ever working in his field. He’d really have to trust God to do that!”
No! That’s not trusting God! That’s just being lazy and foolish! There’s still a law of the harvest! There’s still a law of sowing and reaping! If you don’t sow anything, I don’t care how great your faith is, you’re not going to reap anything. God will provide us with everything that we need in order to do what He’s called us to do, but He expects us to stand up and utilize the tools and gifts and opportunities that He’s given us to work with in order to bring that to fruition.
I remember some 27 years or so ago, after I got out of my last full body cast, I was sent to physical rehab for sometime in order to learn to walk again. And it was painful and it seemed like an eternity before I was even able to take little baby steps. And it was so frustrating, because walking, which I had once taken for granted now seemed like a nearly impossible feat. But I remember attempting to walk between the parallel bars and doing the strengthening exercises and I remember falling many, many times. And it would be so frustrating and discouraging to find myself on the ground at 15 years old simply because I’d lost my balance or I’d stumbled on something, but the key was to always get back up and try again. If I would have given up after the fall, I wouldn’t be able to walk today.
And it’s the same exact principle in our Christian walk. The whole theme of Christianity is about rising again.
Micah 7:8 says, “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; For when I fall, I will arise!”
And the fall can be painful and the fall can be frustrating. And the fact today is that somewhere in your Christian walk you will find that you have fallen, whether it be into sin, or discouragement or apathy or fear or whatever. You will fall somewhere along the way. But it really matters not what has tripped you and caused you to fall. The only thing that’s going to really count is that when you fall, you don’t stay down, but you rise up again and you press on. Because you will never live a life of victory if you don’t learn to get up and go again! God will grant you the Grace and Strength, if you’ll but trust Him and walk therein!
Now, there are some people who take pride in never struggling. They take pride in the fact that they never seem to fall. They brag about the fact that they never run across a stumbling block. And it is true that there are some people who just don’t seem to have very many major situations in their walk with God, but the reason is usually because they are not walking. They’re just standing around in one spot and watching everybody else, never moving forward into the dimension that God is wanting to use them in.
And there’s no question about it… There is some level of safety in standing still… In standing dormant… In never taking a step of faith… There’s nothing gained, but there’s nothing seemingly lost.
It’s sort of like when I was learning to walk again. I could have chosen to just stay in my wheel chair or on crutches, because when I was there, I felt safe. I never fell when I was in the chair. But my desire to walk again was far greater than my fear of falling.
And thus it is today in my walk with God. Yes, I could become a recluse and not be involved in the work of God… I could retire into a safe place where I do not run the risk of failure or opposition or tremendous struggle… But my desire to fulfill the call and purpose of God on my life far exceeds my fear of failure.
Christianity is not a call to be a spectator. The Bible plainly says, to not just be hearers of the Word, but Doers. That implies action. God has not called us into His marvelous Light and into His Grace just stand around and be spectators. But we are to be workers for in the Kingdom of God. I want to be busy working for my Lord, even if it comes with the risk of struggle. I know that I’ll be alright, because if God be for me, who can be against me!
Every successful person that we read of in the Bible, had failures, some to greater degrees than others.
David in the Old Testament was a scoundrel. He was a lying, cheating, adulterous, murderer! David failed God miserably, many times over, yet the Bible called him a man after God’s own heart. He had God’s favor on him in spite of his failures. And one of the key to David’s success was his willingness to repent and to rise up again when he fell.
The great Apostle Paul, had more struggles, hardships and setbacks put in his way than many of us combined. I mean, this guy had all sorts of excuses and many, many opportunities to just accept defeat and throw in the towel and quit, but He had a relentless tenacity and he refused to give up. He knew that God’s Grace was sufficient and even though he had failures and obstacles in his way, he said in Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Sometimes we do not understand why things go certain ways in our lives, but we must learn to trust God in spite of circumstance and press on regardless and we can make it, because His Grace will be sufficient!
I want to encourage you to keep your eyes upon Jesus and trust Him in all things. Regardless of your situations, His Grace will be enough to see you through, just don’t give up! My very favorite scripture in all of the Bible is Proverbs 3:5 & 6, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding; but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”
Trust Him completely, without wavering and without reservation! His Grace will enable you and you will make it through any situation that life may send your way.
Below is poem that was given to me 6 or 7 years ago when I was still traveling and ministering out. I've shared the words of this writing countless times while preaching, as it is so true and gripping. As someone who personally fell into the grip of this horrible chemical some 11 or 12 years ago, I understand just how real this is. I can also testify to you that there is no power on earth to truly deliver you and set you free from the stronghold that Crystal Meth can have on you, except Christ Jesus! The Bible says that He came to set the captive free and I can tell you firsthand, He can!
Ms. Crystal Meth
Written by: Samantha Reynolds
If my glamorous lifestyle
Is appealing to you. . .
Tying in with my previous thought, “Salvation Of Faith or Salvation Of Works”, I now want to look at “Living Faith Bears Evidence”.
HEBREWS 11:1
11 NOW Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
What we’re “hoping for” is that which we don’t yet have or perhaps is not yet known to our natural senses, yet it is referred to here as a substance, which is something that you can hold on to. Substance is tangible… It is real… And so the Faith which we hold right now is our substance of that which we’re hoping for and it’s the evidence of things not yet seen in the natural… There are things that we’re desiring that we cannot yet see in the natural… Yet, he says that our Faith is the evidence of those things and evidence is so powerful and convincing that you can carry it into a Court of Law and win a case with it… It’s Proof Positive!!!
And so Faith is a simple one-syllable word that can change your life and situation right now, if you can but understand that your Faith is both Evidence and Substance of that which you’ve not yet laid your eyes upon… It’s not yet a reality in the natural, but it’s as real as real can get in your spirit, because your Faith says so! To the outside world, they can’t see it, but in your spirit by Faith you just know, that you know, that you know, that God has already provided the answer. You can’t see it, taste it, touch it, hear it, or smell it in the natural, but in your spirit it’s just as real as the nose on your face because Faith is both your Substance and your Evidence! Some may even tell you that you’re crazy, but when Faith comes alive inside of you, don’t worry about what others think. It’s now a deal between your Faith and God. Hold tight to your Faith and don’t let it go, regardless of what outward circumstance says in the natural. Keep on Trusting.
Now looking back to a scripture that we looked at in my previous post ~
JAMES 2:17 (My Words In Parenthesis For Emphasis and Clarification)
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead, being alone. (Living Faith will always produce proper Works. If Faith doesn’t produce proper Works, then it’s declared ‘Dead’)
Again we know that Faith is the SUBSTANCE of those things that we’re hoping for and it’s also the EVIDENCE of those things that we cannot yet see. We know that Faith is so very important in each of our lives, but as important as it is, Faith without corresponding Works, is declared Dead!
Now, Faith could really be considered a verb, because Living Faith implies action. Anytime there is Real Living Faith birthed in your heart, there will also be a corresponding Action that goes along with it as proof or evidence of it’s Life.
Somebody says, “Oh, I’ve got great Faith”, but can I tell you that if you’ve truly got great Faith, the evidence or the proof of that Faith will not be found in how much you boast about it, but the evidence will be made known by the action that it produces.
For Example: When the National Hurricane Center predicts a hurricane’s landfall along the Gulf Coast, you immediately begin seeing people boarding up windows and packing up and evacuating, because even though they see no evidence in the natural as of yet, their Faith in what they’ve heard becomes their reality and their actions correspond with what they believe. Their Faith is alive and their corresponding works were the evidence of that Living Faith. By the same token, if they would have heard that same news and said with their mouth that they believed it was true, yet never did anything in response to it, then obviously they didn’t truly believe it. They professed Faith, but there was no corresponding, therefore, it’s obvious that their Faith is Dead!
And thus it is always with Faith. If you truly believe something, your actions will bear it out and if you don’t act on what you say you believe, then it will cause one to question whether or not your Faith is really Living or not. Because Dead Faith always produces nothing, but Living Faith will always bear corresponding fruit or evidence!
Now we understand that scripture clearly bears out that Salvation is not of ourselves, but it is a product solely of the Grace of God (His unearned Favor or Goodness) through Faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ on our behalf and that will always be followed by Good Works.
When someone says, “I’ve been saved”, yet you don’t begin to witness any type of change in their lifestyle and they don’t begin to move even slightly toward the character of Jesus Christ and they’re still cussing and shacking up and cheating and lying and loving every minute of it, with not even a desire for change… Then they’re Not Saved!!! I didn’t say “If you make a mistake, you’re not saved”. But If you’re just living and practicing and loving sin and there’s no change that begins to come into your life, then you are suffering from a condition that many religious, church folk are suffering from and that condition is simply known as – Lost! You say, “Yes, but I’ve got faith”, Well, It’s Dead Faith, because if you had real Living Faith and it was more than merely a profession with your lips, then it would begin to produce some works of change in your life.
Living Faith will always bring something out of you. It will cause you to begin to take on the nature of whatever it is that you are believing and that’s why it’s so important to know the Truth of God’s Word and believe it with all of your heart…
The Bible says to “Buy The Truth and Sell It Not!”
In other words, we need to buy into the Truth of God’s Word with all that we have and never exchange it for anything else, because anything other than the Truth is a Lie. We need to know His Word and believe it.
Now, I believe that most everyone who attends church around the world, week after week, believes in God. I don’t doubt that for a second. People who come to Abundant Grace of Petal, whether regularly or not, surely believe in God or else, they wouldn’t even come, but just as I stated in my previous post ~ You could walk into probably any Crack House and ask most anybody, “Do You Believe In God?” And most would reply, “Well, of course I do!” Many may even say, “Yes, I’m a Christian Born and raised!” They profess faith with their mouth, but there’s no evidence of that profession in their lives.
There are 3 types of Faith that we need to acknowledge and I’ve heard my wonderful Pastor, Bishop Charles Hanchey teach in great depth on these 3 before, but I want to just briefly touch on them here.
1 – DEMONIC FAITH
James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God, you do well. The demons also believe and tremble.”
Satan himself, is a believer in God and he too is a believer in Christ Jesus and he even has a fearful emotional response in accordance to his belief which causes him to tremble. And so you can have Demonic Faith and respond with great emotion, yet it still not be Saving Faith or Living Faith. That’s the kind of Faith that many folks in the world have and said to say, even some in church. They simply believe that God exists, but they don’t truly believe what the Gospel says and how it pertains to them.
2 - DEAD FAITH
Again in James, the Bible says that Faith without Works is DEAD and so there’s DEAD FAITH and sad to say, but that’s where many, many Church folks live today…
It’s a Faith that says, “I go to church… I give my tithe… Perhaps, I sing and play music and even function in leadership…” But that’s all there is to their Faith. They’re just religious. They’re basically good people, yet there’s never any growth or progress made spiritually. There’s never any change taking place in their life. They’re unmoved by the anointing of Holy Spirit in a service. They have a form of Godliness, but deny the power thereof to have any effect on their life or in their heart. The only difference between them now and prior to their ‘profession’ is that now they do some religious stuff, yet they have no real relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore the Holy Spirit has no way of working in their life. They’re full of Dead Faith.
3 - LIVING FAITH
Galatians 3:11 "For no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident: for The Just shall live by Faith!"
Living Faith is a Faith that births new life in your inward man and begins bringing forth change in the way that you live your life. It doesn’t just say the right things, but it produces action. It produces fruit. Living Faith produces Evidence and it literally draws from the Character of Jesus Christ Himself.
This comes from the first part of a 3 night study that I did several months ago during our Mid-Week Service. I’ve just noted some of my thoughts from that first part of the study. I may share more on this a little later…
The dynamics of Salvation… The workings of Salvation… The plan of Salvation… It’s so very important to understand and comprehend to the best of our ability as believers. There has been a debate ongoing for some 2,000 years as to how we are saved, by Faith or by Works. I believe the scripture is clear on this topic and in this brief overview, I would like to clarify.
There are some folks who believe that your Works are the most important part of your life as a child of God, yet there’s another group who believes that Faith is the most important part of your life…
Let’s look to the Word of God to find the basis of the controversy and then attempt gain proper perspective and clarification on the matters.
Saved By Faith
Romans 3:21-28(My Words in Parenthesis for Emphasis and Clarification)
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, (Referring to the Righteousness of God being imputed to us by faith in the Finished Work of Christ Jesus)to all and on all who believe. (Believing is the requirement) For there is no difference;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,he's saying
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation (An atonement or a Substitute) by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? (A legalistic doctrine of works will always produce boasting)It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (We are justified ONLY by faith in the Substitutionary Finished Work for us by Christ Jesus and NEVER through the works that we commit or omit).
A brief Definition of Justified ~ “No Prosecution Pending”.
So the Apostle Paul clearly states here that we are not justified by our works, but we’re justified freely and completely simply by Faith. And that wonderful news!
Now, let’s look at the other side of the coin…
Saved By Works
James 2:14 (My Words in Parenthesis for emphasis and clarification)
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (Keep this in context. Remember what type of faith James is speaking of here).
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (Speaking of ‘Lip Service’ Faith which helps no one.)
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead, being alone. (Again, Living Faith will produce proper Works. If Faith doesn’t produce proper Works, then it’s declared ‘Dead’)
18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! (Simply believing in God is not Living Faith or rather Saving Faith. Hundreds of Millions believe in God, just as the demons do, but their Faith does not have the Finished Work of Christ Jesus as the object of their Faith for Salvation)
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? (Again, Faith that does not produce proper Works is declared ‘Dead Faith’)
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? (This scripture has been taken out of context and often times used as a standalone scripture to build a Legalistic Works Based Salvation. That is False! It must be kept in it’s proper context with verse 22)
22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? (He’s clearly stating that his works were simply the Proof of his Faith. The focus is not on the works, but on Faith producing Works)
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (This is another passage that has been misused and taken out of context many times. It must be kept in the proper context and flow of the entire passage. James is simply clarifying what he’s already stated in the text which is that Living Faith in the Finished Work of Christ Jesus is what Justifies an individual and that Justification will be proven by proper Works. If a person has a Faith which produces nothing, they are deceiving themselves)
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? (One more beautiful picture of Faith that produced proper Works)
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (Remember, Dynamic, Living, Saving Faith in the Finished Work of Christ Jesus will always produce proper works and victory in a life. However, simply having a lip service faith or a confession which produces no life or good works according to the Word of God, will condemn you.)
Now, the bottom line is that you either believe that you are saved by the Grace of God through Faith in the Finished Work of Christ Jesus on your behalf or you’re saved based upon your own works and performance. There’s no alternative. You’ll either believe one or the other, but not both.
There are many who claim to believe in Salvation by Grace through Faith, yet they also attach some form of Works, Rules, Law, Etc. to it, thereby making it a doctrine of Salvation by Works which is Faith in us and not in Christ.
It is in our human nature to believe that we must do something in order to be saved. We have trouble accepting the fact that there is absolutely nothing that we can do to save ourselves. For if we could, then Christ died in vain. The truth is, He died for us and completed the work in our behalf that we could never complete ourselves. Our works are all in vain and useless when it comes to Salvation.
Still, most of us have heard since we were toddlers things like, “If you’ll be a good boy, you’ll go to heaven” or “If you want Jesus to love you, you’re gonna have to be good”. And from a very early age, we build a perception that somehow our goodness plays a role in our acceptance with God. Therefore, it makes perfect since from that viewpoint that we can only be saved if we’re good enough.
But then there’s the other side who says, “Wait a minute now! You’re not saved based upon your works and your performance, but you’re saved by faith apart from your works!” But, here’s what it all boils down too; Either we’re gonna believe God’s Word as it stands or not! As for me, I’m gonna believe His Word!
Now some would say, “Yes, but James and Paul are contradicting one another”. Hear me, there are no contradictions in God’s Word, whatsoever! If you find something in the Bible that appears to be a contradiction, trust me, His Word isn’t wrong, it’s just that you’re understanding isn’t clear. And so, we need to seek clarification and revelation of His Word.
One thing that we must understand is that you cannot build an entire doctrinal stance based upon just one scripture. There are some denominations and ministries which do that, but remember scripture always interprets scripture.
2 Corinthians 13:1 says, “By the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established.”
And so if there’s a major doctrinal text in the Bible, it’s not something that God’s going to say just once, but His Word will continually bear that Truth out. When you take something out of context, it can seem one way, but in reality it was meant an entirely different way.
Also remember that not everything in the Bible was written to you. It’s all meant for your edification and the building of your faith, but it’s not written directly to, nor about you. There are some things which were written directly to the Jewish people and not to us and just like reading someone else’s mail, you can read something in the Bible written strictly concerning the Jewish people and try to apply it to you and come away completely confused. So recognize that it’s not all concerning you directly.
So when we view these 2 passages of scripture, written by two great men of God, one being the Apostle Paul who is the writer of the majority of our New Testament and the other being James, a Pastor in Jerusalem, we must understand that they are writing from 2 entirely different perspectives.
Paul is writing a Doctrinal Epistle or A Doctrinal Truth and he proclaims this exact same truth several times over throughout his other Epistles.
James, on the other hand, is a Pastor who is writing concerning practical Christianity for people who are Saved.
Paul tells us plainly, that we are justified completely by Faith and Faith alone and of course, we realize that the faith of which he is speaking is a Dynamic Faith or a Living Faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. He’s telling us in essence, that we are saved based upon the Finished Work of Jesus and not our own Works, regardless of how wonderful they may be. In God’s sight, they are as filthy rags!
It is impossible to do anything to earn or merit your own salvation. You can’t cry hard enough. You can’t tithe long enough. You can’t be baptized by a certain formula. You can’t think pure enough. You can’t walk straight enough. You can’t dress modest enough. It is impossible to DO anything to obtain your own salvation. PERIOD!
However, If truly are saved, the Fruit or the Evidence of your salvation is that works will follow. Salvation produces Works, but Works do Not produce Salvation!
We don’t know that people in the church have been saved because they’re doing good works. However, we do know that if they really are saved good works will begin to follow…
Now there are some folks who believe that just because they’re saved, they now don’t have to do one blessed thing, and the truth of it is, you don’t HAVE to, but AFTER you’re saved, you should WANT to. And honestly, if after you’re born again, your desires don’t begin to change and you don’t have a desire to live righteously and to do good works, then that causes me to question your new birth!
One problem within the ‘Church-World’ today, is that it has been propagated by many ministries and across many pulpits for far too long that if someone repeats a sinner’s prayer, that they suddenly got saved. They’ve been told, that if they’ll just repeat some words that a preacher or someone else tells them to say, that they’re saved.
That is NOT Scriptural and it’s caused many to believe that they’re saved when in actuality not one thing genuinely happened in their life.
Romans 10:9&10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Now, it did not say “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”
It didn’t say that at all!
It said, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus AND believe in YOUR HEART that God raise Him from the Dead, you shall be saved.”
You can speak words with your mouth all you want to. You can repeat some Sinner’s Prayer. You can confess Jesus all day long, but believing it in your head won’t save you. People say all the time, “Well if you’ll just believe in Jesus, you’ll be saved”. NO YOU WON’T! The Devil believes in Jesus and that joker sure isn’t saved!
Listen, you can walk into just about any Crack House or whatever and ask people, “Do you believe in Jesus?” And most will reply in all sincerity, “Well of course I do!” And many may even go onto say, “Yes, I’m a Christian!” They sincerely believe it in their head, but there’s a difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge and what you believe in your head will not produce life! But when you get that down on the inside of your heart and it gets into your inward man, it will produce new life in you and you will never be the same again! You will be a changed individual!
It’s not good enough just to walk around and say, “I’m Saved!” If you’re really saved, it’ll show forth. It will produce fruit or rather evidence of the change that’s taken place in your heart and life!
You say, “Well, I didn’t think works were important!” They’re not as for as attaining Salvation, but following Salvation they are the fruit thereof. The Bible says, “You’ll know them by the fruit that they bear!” I say it oftentimes, that I’m not talking about Perfection here. Please don’t ever get into the mindset that your own expectation of yourself is perfection, because when you think like that and you make a mistake, as we all do, you’ll say, “What’s the use? I’ll never be able to serve God!” and you’ll just throw in the towel!
That’s not proper Christianity! That’s just stupidity! Everybody makes mistakes! The difference is that when you’re truly saved, you don’t WANT to make them over and over and over again! You don’t want to live the same way that you used to! You don’t want to do the things you used to do! And the Spirit now residing in you will begin producing fruit in your life that begins to cause you to look a little bit more like Jesus.
Listen, I hear people all the time and you probably do to saying things like, “Well, they know I believe in God!” But saying you believe in God don’t mean one thing. Saying it amounts to nothing unless there is some change that comes along with that.
If you say you’re saved, but you never have a desire to change, then I’ll say it bluntly – You Don’t Know Jesus! If you can still cuss and raise all kinds of Hell on Earth and hang out in barrooms all night and that don’t even bother you, then you need to get saved! Because when you truly get saved, again you’re not perfect, but there’s something dwelling within you that makes you want to change. And when you do foul up, the Holy Spirit living in you will convict you and you’ll ask God to forgive you and help you not to do that again.
Again, looking back to our text in James 2:19 & 20, “You believe there is one God. You do well! Even the demons believe – And tremble! But do you want to know O foolish man, Faith without works is dead?”
He speaking here of Dead Faith and Dead Faith is basically people who have a profession, but they have no evidence in their life. Those often become professional church goers. They’re attenders and they may even be givers, but they’re really just going through traditional motions. And all they have is a Profession of Faith. But there’s never any change in their life.
They can still go out on the weekend and party all night long…
They can cuss you out and never think twice about it…
They can sleep around all over town…
They can just keep on living just like they always have.
The only difference is, now they go to church and look the part, but there’s no real change!
And Churches of every name and denomination are full of people of Dead Faith!
It sounds good, but it don’t produce any real fruit!
We’ve got a huge tree on our property next door to the church that’s dead. It’s still standing… It still looks like a tree… But we don’t expect any production from that tree in the future because it’s dead…
And there really are many people in churches just the same… Their lives don’t produce anything because they’re not connected to the True Vine… They don’t really know Jesus and there faith is simply dead…
Then again in James 2:19 he says, “If you believe in one God, you do well. Even demons believe…”
That means that even the Devil himself has faith and again, we know that he’s not saved!
The text goes on and says that “He believes and TREMBLES”…
He believes and even becomes emotional…
And we see that same sort of faith and emotion often times played out in the lives of people in church. I’ve been around people at church who could shout on Sunday Morning. Cry and Dance around and scream like an Apache Indian on the Warpath and then live like the Devil the other 6 days of the week…
It’s not Real Saving Faith or it would produce something other than a little emotional response in church…
That’s pure Demonic Faith in action!
But the faith that God is looking for and desiring, is that Dynamic, Living Faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ on our behalf and nothing else! That’s a Faith that will change the way that you live. That’s a Faith that will put victory in your life. That’s the only Faith that God will recognize!
Through it, God will produce Good Works in your life and began forming your character into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus forgood works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Matthew 7:16 Jesus said, “You will know them by the fruit that they bear.”
Titus 2:6-7, “Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works;”
God wants there to be Good Works in the lives of His children, but they will not save you. They’ll simply be the product of your Salvation!
I’m so grateful for price that Jesus paid to purchase my salvation and give me liberty! I'm also grateful to know that I'm completely Justified simply by faith in what He's already done for me. That's truly Amazing Grace!
