Goodmorning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to share something with you.
For many years, Andrew and I have been involved in hauling scrap iron and recycling other non-ferrous metal, such as copper, aluminum etc. We’ve cut up some pretty big items, everything from semi trailers, trailer houses, farm equipment, and other heavy machinery. I have a good cutting torch that requires oxygen mixed with propane to cut through the iron quickly. From what I’ve been told, steel generally will melt around $2,500°. When the flame is tweaked just right, my torch cuts at about 5,000°. If you eventually run out of oxygen, you can no longer cut with the torch. You have to have oxygen in the mix for it to produce a super hot flame.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
You can own a cutting torch, but in order for it to work properly, you must have oxygen mixed with the propane. You can profess to have faith in Jesus, but in order to light the torch inside of our hearts, our lives must be mixed with the oxygen of works, which gives the breath that is needed to ignight the burning flame of faith.
James 2:17-26 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Works are so important in a Christian Life, that without the manifestation of them, faith is dead, just like a torch without oxygen. For any of us to be alive physically, we must have oxygen. When you go fishing, and put your catch on the bottom of the boat, they eventually die because they need the oxygen that’s in the water. When a scuba diver dives into the ocean, they too need a tank of oxygen because without it they cannot survive. Our faith is very similar because you need works in order to survive and enter someday into the kingdom of heaven. Faith without works is dead. It cannot survive without them. Works have to be combined with our faith in order for our faith to be complete.
………..Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Have you ever been alone before? Have you ever walked on a dirt road all by yourself? Have you ever come home after school and the house was completely empty because nobody else was there? Have you ever gone fishing on a lake but you couldn’t see another boat anywhere on the water? Alone means all by itself. It was just you. Just by professing to have faith in Jesus, by itself, is not enough to attain heaven. It’s like an animal that you might find in the woods, but it’s no longer breathing and completely inactive. It may look like a deer, but the truth is it’s dead. It’s no longer alive.
……..Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
How can I possibly see your new car if you don’t show it to me? How can I possibly see the batch of cookies that you made if you don’t show them to me? How can I possibly see your perfect report card if you don’t show it to me? Faith is something that others can see, by the actions and the works that you are involved with. Genuine faith will have the evidence of works to back it up.
……..Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Just claiming that you believe in God is not enough, because the devils do the same. What sets you apart from others, is possessing works that others can see. They are the proof of faith, because without them, faith is lifeless and dead.
………….Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Scriptures teach us that we are justified by faith, (Rom 5:1), but one must understand what real faith truly is. It must possess works in order to be justified. We are saved by grace through faith, (Eph 2:8) but again, you must understand what real faith is. Faith must possess works, otherwise it says dead as a piece of scrap iron. We are justified by our faithful works of obedience, loyalty, and love towards His name, otherwise real faith does not exist. You can claim Christianity, but miss out on paradise because you choose not to do His will.
Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Real faith results in becoming a doer of God’s Word.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Faith will produce results of some sort, results that people can visually see.
………..Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
How can you show somebody your faith, if you don’t have any evidence to back it up? Where are the activities that show what you believe? Noah believed in God so much that he spent a lot of his life building a giant ship to save his family from the flood. He was justified by works, because without that ark, they would have all perished. Think about the people screaming to want to get on the ark when the flood came, but it was too late and the door was shut. It will be the same at judgement day. People will be screaming to get in, but they will be denied entrance, because the faith that they professed while they were here upon the Earth, wasn’t faith at all. It wasn’t a sincere faith that led to obedience to Christ. It was a dead faith that wasn’t fueled with the oxygen of works, because of which, the flame of faith never truly lit, just like my…….
……..My Cutting Torch
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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