Good morning 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 tell you a little story.
When I was a young child, I grew up on a lake. Down on the beach, we kept a small rowboat, that we occasionally used on a calm evening in the summer. When we wanted to use it, we would grab the oars from the garage and take them down to the lake, placing them into the oarlocks and pushing off into the bay. If you’ve ever been in a rowboat, more than likely you understand that in order to get across the lake, you need to be pulling on both of the oars together, and at the same time. If you are only pulling on one, you are going to find out quickly that you will only go around in circles, and you will not get anywhere.
This reminds me of the Christian life.
Grace and faith are like two oars on a rowboat. One is the God’s free gift of forgiveness, and the other is faithful works of obedience towards Christ. They must both function together If you want to get all the way home to heaven, otherwise you will only go around in circles.
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
The only way that anybody could be in heaven some day is because of what Jesus did for us at the cross. We are unprofitable servants only doing what is our duty to do. Salvation is by God’s grace, but it is through the corridor of faith. You need to possess them both. Faith means to believe in something with all of your heart. If you believe that you’re going to shoot a deer opening weekend, faith is what causes a hunter to put on his hunting clothes and walk out to his deer stand. If you believe that you are going to catch a fish, faith is what causes a fisherman to cast his line into the lake, and begin trolling. If you believe you are going to get tomatoes in the fall, faith is what causes you to plant your garden in the spring. Faith is believing that something is going to happen in the future, and it results in an action. Without actions, your faith is dead.
If you believe that you will be going on a trip this weekend, faith is what causes you to pack your duffel bag. If you believe it’s going to snow overnight, faith is what causes you to go purchase a snow shovel. If you believe in God’s coming kingdom, faith is what causes you to do numerous things. It will cause you to repent, to convert, to become sanctified, to do the will of God, to transform, to turn from sin, to preach God’s Word, to obey and to become a doer of God’s Word. If things such as these don’t manifest themselves in your life, then faith really is not-existent. God grants us a free gift of grace, but without faith, you will only find yourself going in circles. We have the riches of God’s grace available to us through the precious blood of Christ, but without faith, one’s life cannot undergo the much needed change that is required to attain eternal life in the future. Many people claim to believe in Jesus, but to truly believe something, will result in actions. We have to mortify the sinful deeds of the flesh, and that can only happen when we truly believe in God with our hearts. Sanctification can only take place through belief of the truth. Without this type of life-changing faith, we are not going to be able to become pleasing unto God.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Have you ever walked down a sandy beach and seen someones footprints in the sand? You didn’t actually see the person, but they left evidence that they were there. Have you ever gone into the bathroom, and found a dripping wet towel hanging from the shower door? You didn’t actually see anybody come out, but there was evidence that they were there. Someone who is walking in faith towards God will have evidence too. It will be displayed In their life and their activities towards God. This is what the beloved Apostle James was trying to explain to the church.
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.
God’s grace and our faith, acting inside of sincere hearts, will have a cause and effect reaction. Vinegar by itself does nothing, but when you add baking soda, a reaction takes place. Works are a by-product of genuine faith. They are the evidence of the unseen things of God working in your heart. So you see, we are saved by God’s grace, but if works of faith and obedience towards God never manifest themselves, the Christian life will come to a grinding halt. This is because someone didn’t believe in God enough, to do His will. Just as works prove that one truly believes in God, the lack of works prove that one really doesn’t. That might sound overly simplistic, but it’s true. If you never went down into the basement when the tornado sirens went off, did you honestly believe that there was one on its way? We are justified by faith, but if Noah had never built the Ark, how would His family ever have been saved? Certain religious people of Jesus day we’re doing works only to be seen by men, but what I am speaking about today, is doing works towards God that are led by the grace of God through a faithful and obedient heart.
It’s more than saying I believe in God, because those by themselves are just words. It’s not by faith alone that we are justified, it’s not just by saying I believe. That is just lip service Christianity. True faith requires cooperation with, and submission to the will of God. If faith doesn’t result in repentance and obedience to God,…… If it doesn’t develop a love for the truth and a desire to depart from iniquity,….. If it doesn’t show the evidence of purification, ceasing from sin, and loving the brethren,..,..then the thing that you possess is not faith. All it is is someone whose feet are beating the air, and their boat is going in circles, because they were too too lazy to put the other oar in…..
……..The Oarlock
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching tlkjbc, or by going to hipcast, buzzsprout or amazon, or by going to our blog at tlkjbc.com, or I suppose, you can find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 