Faith and Works
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
We’re going to begin this morning by reading James 2:14-26. (Read it).
This morning, I want to look at the topic - “Faith and Works.”
By the reading, it’s pretty clear that … FAITH ALONE … is not enough, right?
Let’s expound on that a bit more.
Absolutely Essential Faith:
Absolutely Essential Faith:
The Bible is absolutely clear that faith is absolutely essential.
Heb. 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Heb. 11:1 - It is through faith that we have hope!
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 Cor. 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Eph. 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Gal. 2:16 similarly says:
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Where must we put all of our faith? That is, Who must we have faith IN?
1 Cor. 2:5 says
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Gal. 3:26 says
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Another word for “faith” in the general most basic sense is “belief.”
So let’s look at that for a minute too:
John 3:16 - often called “the golden verse of the Bible” — You’ve probably got it memorized!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:36 - is not quite as familiar to most, but still important!
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
ABIDES on him! (That is, remains on him — What some people don’t realize is that God’s wrath already awaits all of those who have reached the age of accountability but haven’t obeyed the Gospel — That wrath REMAINS on him until He comes to an obedient faith in Christ, including obeying the gospel!)
John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Going back to the beginning of John in John 1:12 for a moment, John has this to say about Christ:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
John 20:30-31 toward the end of the book, John says this:
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Rom. 10:9-10 (speaking to Christians who had already done this, it’s important to note) … (Because there are some other things that had to be done to become a Christian, too).
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.
And then a couple more:
Acts 16:31
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
(And if you keep reading, you’ll read the REST of what the Philippian jailor was told to do to be saved) …
Finally, Rom. 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So it is abundantly clear then, that BELIEF, that is FAITH, is of absolute necessity for one to be a Christian and to go to heaven!
… HOWEVER … Let’s talk about …
What Most People Don’t Understand About Faith:
What Most People Don’t Understand About Faith:
And that is that faith alone is not enough! (We saw that in the introduction of this sermon when we looked at James 2:14-26)!
Faith alone not enough!
What most people don’t understand about faith … is that an obedient faith is the “umbrella” under which falls everything else that is required of us!
Paul talks about the OBEDIENCE OF FAITH at the opening of his great book on the faith in Romans 1:5 and at the END of that book in Romans 16:26!
Romans 1:17 Paul writes, “For in IT (the Gospel/the faith) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by FAITH!’”
Quoting from Habakkuk 2:4!
Righteousness and standing justified before God is revealed from faith to faith BY faith; that is, by the Gospel!
Whether one was saved in the O.T., or in the N.T., still he was saved by His faith in God, and by the blood of Jesus Christ!
His faith by which he is saved, he ENACTS that faith through his obedience to God! (Which is exactly how Hebrews chapter 11 describes the faithful … by obedience!)
His faith, then; that is, the SAVED’S faith, is the “umbrella under which his OBEDIENCE falls” — and most people don’t understand that about faith!
I want you to listen to the words of Paul about the righteousness that was imputed to Abraham (Rom. 4:9) — We’re actually going to read Rom. 4:19-25 about Abraham (Read in Bible).
Are you FULLY CONVINCED (v. 21) that God will do what He said He will do?
You are? That’s called “faith!”
And if you truly ARE fully convinced, you truly HAVE faith, then that will prompt you to ACT on that faith, to LIVE by faith, as again the Bible says, “The just shall LIVE by faith!”
Again, faith is the umbrella under which falls doing the rest of what God told us to do!
If one properly understands that, then he will have no problem at all understanding that there are other things in the plan of salvation that must be obeyed aside from belief only — Namely, repentance, confession, and baptism!
I want to pause an ask a thought question at this point:
Do you remember the rich young ruler? (Matt. 19:16ff)
He lacked what?
You’ll remember he asked Jesus: “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
(You’ll remember Jesus asking him, “Why do you call Me good?” That is, are you recognizing my Deity?!)
But you’ll also recall that Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, and Jesus starts listing the commandments for Him).
The rich young ruler says to Jesus, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
Of course we remember that Jesus told him, Go and sell all that you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow Me!)
The rich young ruler went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
.... In other words, what did the rich young ruler NOT have?!
FAITH!
Had he had it, he would have known that all of his earthly possessions are temporary anyways, and that his treasure should have been in heaven!
Is it not sometimes the case that earthly possessions are the things that are keeping many people from the faith today as well?!
Well, let’s not shift gears to talk about this, lastly — We’ve talked about how faith is absolutely essential, but now we will talk about …
Absolutely Essential Good Works:
Absolutely Essential Good Works:
Are we saved by earning salvation through good works? (No!)
But a man who refuses to live by faith, which includes a lifestyle in accordance with doing God’s work, will not be saved!
We’re not talking about works of merit — but works of obedience, something that many people miss when it comes to this subject!
Why? Because, going back to James 2 where we started, a man shows his FAITH … BY his works!
A man who has faith in God is going to follow through with doing as God said!
Heb. 10:39 talks about saving faith, and it says:
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
I want you to go with me to Titus 3:5-6
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
This is similar to Eph. 2:8-9 that we read earlier (“For by grace that you have been saved by faith.”).
And Gal. 2:16 we said teaches the same.
So “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us ...”
Translation — We don’t EARN salvation!
And yet, in the very same book and even the same chapter, we are told:
Christians are “to be ready for every good work” (Titus 3:1).
“Those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8).
“And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14).
Side note — What did Jesus say He would do to the unfruitful? (John 15:6 - “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”)
He said before that in v. 5 - “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing!”
So we have to abide in Christ, and bear fruit, or we’re only fit for the fire!
Back to Titus, 2:14 says: (Jesus) “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works!”
Is Paul telling Titus to save himself through meritorious good works? Works based salvation? (No!)
But that said, does God require us to be working for Him? (Yes!)
Matt. 5:16 couldn’t be clearer …
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Again, James 2:18 - “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” (False dichotomy) Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith BY my works!”
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
I hope that this sermon has made sense.
I know that it is a lot to wrap our minds around, but it’s important!
How can we be saved?
By faith? — Absolutely!
… But what does that mean?!
Well faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).
You are all the sons of God THROUGH faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26).
A person who has faith in God — is FULLY CONVINCED of God — will:
Repent of his sins (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19).
Confess his faith in Christ (Matt. 10:32-33; Rom. 10:9-10; Acts 8:37).
And will be baptized into Christ to have his sins washed away (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:1-7; 1 Pet. 3:21 and many more).
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:26-27)!
Col. 2:12
buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Have you done that today?
And are you walking your daily Christian walk according to the work of God?