Good morning and welcome in everybody. 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.
One year, Andrew and I were walking down a trail deep out in the woods, when all of a sudden he tripped over something. Because we worked out there almost every day, we wanted to keep the trail clear from obstructions, so he looked around to try to find what he had fell over. Lo and behold it was a huge moose antler! I think it was roughly 3 ft long. He decided that it would be great to have the other one, then we could put them up in the house somewhere. But no matter how hard we searched for the other, we couldn’t find it. We only had the one. Some people have claimed that sometimes they can be right next to each other, but at other times, they can be as far as a half a mile apart, or even further I suppose, depending on if somebody else already found the other one!
This reminds me of the Christian Life
If you’re going to go through the effort of putting up a nice moose mount on the wall of your hunting shack, you really need to have both of them. They are two things that go together, like peanut butter and jelly, cookies and milk, a husband and a wife, or faith and works. You are going to need them both, if you truly desire to enter into eternal life. Without both of them, the Christian walk is incomplete.
James 2:14-26 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 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.
First of all, there are numerous people who teach that it is by faith alone that we inherit eternal life, but this concept is a false teaching according to the Apostle James. The word alone, is actually defined in the dictionary as being by itself. It’s like having just one deer antler, and missing the other. It’s incomplete.
The beloved James was one of the original Apostles, chosen by Christ Jesus, so we need to take great heed to what he teaches. If faith is alone, without any works to accompany it, then it’s really not faith at all. It’s just professing faith, but not living by the faith that you profess. It’s claiming to believe in Jesus, but having no desire to become sanctified or transformed. It’s claiming to believe in God, but there is no evidence of a changed life, or doing His will. It’s just words, and words by themselves cannot save you, neither can faith without works. It doesn’t even matter how much of the scriptures you know. It doesn’t matter how much head knowledge you may have, Salvation has to do with becoming a doer of God’s Word. Without that kind of faith, people are going to miss out on paradise.
James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
We must go on unto perfection, but that won’t happen until you repent, turn from your sins, and focus on doing the will of God from the heart. Unless repentance happens, people will certainly perish. In order to inherit eternal life we must become overcomers of the sinful nature and this will only happen when you choose to do the will of God and submit to his purpose. Even if a person claims to love God, the evidence of true love for Him is keeping His commandments, and abiding in the truth. If they don’t become obedient, they are only lying to themselves.
The Apostle is teaching us that faith is something that you can see, evidenced by works of love and obedience in a person’s life. People might claim with their lips that they believe in God, but the devils do too. What sets a Christian apart from them, is repentance, conversion and transformation.
Romans 10:8-10 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
This passage also teaches that the Christian life is more than just confession. It is about believing in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead. If you really possess that kind of faith, your life is going to go through a life altering change, just as the lives of the Apostles did. You willl turn from darkness to light. You will turn from disobedience to obedience. You will turn from doing your own will to the will of God. You will turn from rebellion to submission. You will abandon dead works for good works. If your faith doesn’t result in these kinds of activities, then it truly is dead.
Abraham was justified by works of faithful obedience when he did the will of God, by taking his son to the altar. Noah was justified by faith when he built the ark to save his family from the deluge. God’s grace was working in the life of the Apostle Paul, and he was justified by works, evidenced by his writings in the New testament. Obedience results in perfection. How can you become perfected if you continue to live in sin everyday? How can you become perfected if you continue to resist the will of God each week.? That’s not perfection, it’s only disobedience and a refusal to submit to the truth of scripture. This kind of Faith won’t save you and that’s why faith without works is dead.
The process of getting a moose mount on our wall never came to fruition because we missing one of them. It just sat out in the shed, all by itself, alone and incomplete. The only way we can go on onto perfection, is by possessing faith and works together. I’m not talking about works of the law,…I’m talking about works of obedience and love towards the will and purpose of God. You’ve got to have them both, and I remember that each time I think about …..
…..Our Moose Shed.
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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