I do ask your prayers for me
this morning. Lisping, stammering tongue. That's what I feel like this
morning. My mind doesn't feel like it's functioning on all
cylinders. So I do ask the Lord's grace. Every time I come before you,
anyone preaching the gospel, I don't want to be by myself.
I don't want to stand here by myself. If he doesn't come and
help me, It's not going to be any benefit to you. Pray for
me for you. Pray for me for your sakes. Let the gospel be delivered clearly
and plainly as it is intended. I don't want to muddy the waters.
I do desire that it be clear and plain. Take your Bibles and
turn with me to Romans chapter 4, two places. Romans chapter 4. Verses 1 and 2, and then you'll
take your Bibles over to James chapter 2. James chapter 2 and
verse 21. We'll be looking at both of these
this morning. You good? Lift it up some? Okay. Alright, you're welcome. I've entitled this message, Justified
Without Works. and justified by works. We do this simply because these
two passages state both. Look at this in chapter 4 of
Romans, verse 2. He said, For if Abraham were
justified by works, he have whereof the glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture,
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. If you go over to James and look
at this, James chapter 2 and verse 21, it says, Was not Abraham
our father justified by works when he had offered his son Isaac
upon the altar? Now by way of introduction, we've
been studying through the book of Romans now for quite a while,
and by way of introduction I want to testify that Paul had been
speaking in Romans 4 about this doctrine of justification by
faith. Justification by faith. He plainly
sets forth this doctrine by first of all declaring the depravity
of man. All the way from chapter 1, verse
18, all the way to chapter 3 and verse 19, the apostle declares
this, everybody's guilty. For the scripture hath said that
there is none righteous, listen, no not one. There's none that
understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. They are all
together unprofitable. And in verse 19 of chapter 3,
he gives the conclusion. Look at that with me if you will. He says, In verse 19 he said, Now we know
that whatsoever thing the law saith, it saith to them that
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. And then he tells us where we're
justified. If we're not justified by the
law, then how can we be justified? He tells us the scripture has
declared this. Verse 21, but now the righteousness
of God without the law, without works. is manifest, witnessed
by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God.
Now how is the righteousness of God obtained? Look, by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Unto all and upon all them that
believe, there is no difference for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Where does justification
come from? It comes from two things. The
obedience of Christ and the death of Christ. This is what justifies
us before God. Not our obedience to the law.
Now is that plain? That's just clear. The scriptures
are very clear, if you just let them speak, they'll speak for
themselves. They're clear. But now then,
to whom is this justification given? Listen, verse 22 again. Unto all and upon all them that
what? Believe. So how does justification come
to the sinner? Through faith. Through faith. Look again at in Romans 3 in
verse 26 to declare I say again at this time his righteousness
that he might be just and a justifier of who him which believeth in
Jesus. This is a doctor of justification
by faith. And then Paul in in these next
verses 27 through verse 31 he gives us three things that are
manifestly true about justification by faith. First of all there
is no boasting. There is no boasting in justification
by faith. Why? Because even the faith that
we have is a gift of God. Our brother spoke on the gift.
If thou knowest the gift. This is the gift. His son is
the gift. And this is what his son has
done. He has justified his people. By His obedience, He has justified
His people by His blood. And in the power and grace of
the Spirit, He comes and gives us both life and faith. The faith that we now have is
a gift. And it's a gift, or they say
it's the gift that keeps on giving. Because we still believe, right? This morning, do you believe?
If you believe, where's that come from? Did God wind you up
and then let you go on your own? No. The faith that you have is
still a gift of God. Paul says that in Ephesians,
for by grace you are saved through faith. And that. What's that? Faith. It's not of yourselves. It is
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should what? Boast.
There's no boasting. So therefore, he says in verse
20, where is boasting? It's excluded. By what law? Works? No. Works
only promote boasting. What excludes boasting? Faith. Faith excludes boasting. Then
he says, the second thing that justification by faith proves
is this, that we're all saved the same way. He said, is he
a God of the Jews only? No, he's a God of the Gentiles
also. Why? There's only one God. There's only one God and there's
only one way God justifies. Look at that. He justifies in
verse 30, the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision
through faith. How does he justify? Through faith, by faith. That's
it. We're all saved the same way.
And the last thing justification proves is this, we've established
the law. One thing those who seek to be
under the law have never done and never will do is establish
the law. They're never finished, are they? Always working and
never finished. We finished. God has set, this
law has been satisfied. That's what he tells us in verse
31. Do we make void the law through faith? No, God forbid, we establish
it. Justification by faith establishes
the law. It honors law in this, that my
representative has already honored it in my stead. And by the grace
and power of the Spirit, he has given me a nature that has already
honored it. We establish the law. And then
the apostle will go now into our text, and he uses Abraham
as proof positive that we are justified by faith. He uses Abraham and he says this,
if Abraham were justified by works, if that were true, he
just proved it wasn't. Now if that was true, then he'd
have where of the glory. That boasting thing would not
be excluded. He would have somewhat to brag.
And listen, if Abraham were justified by his works, I'll tell you this,
he'd better than all of us. His works were better than all
of ours. But notice this. Not before God. Now he might
be better than you and me. And we might say, Abraham, you're
a great man. You're a lot better than I am.
But he can't say that before God. God would not justify him
by his works. And so what sayeth the scripture?
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
And so as we preach this that we are not under the law, I want
you to understand when you declare the doctrine as it's stated like
that in the scripture, you are going to be opposed. You're going
to be opposed. And there are things that people
would always try to bring up and throw in your face. And this
text in James, Some have experienced, said that
the passage in James is somewhat difficult. Well, if you seek to preach the
gospel as it is declared, there's always going to be a workmonger
come along and quote James chapter two and verse 21. Well, you say
James was justified without works, but I mean, you say that Abraham
was justified without works. Well, James says he was justified
by his works. How do you reconcile those two? James does say this. Was not
Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his
son Isaac? Now one thing I know is this,
that both of these men were inspired by God and both of what these
men say are absolutely true. The workmonger will always pick
a side. He likes the side of James. So
what he's testifying is this, is Paul was wrong. When he confronts
you with James, he's saying that somehow Paul was not right. And then when you're confronted
with that, the idea is that somehow James might be mistaken. No,
both of them were right. Both of them are absolutely inspired
of the Holy Spirit. But if you would just look at
the simple context of both men, there would be no difficulty.
There'd be no difficulty. And that's what I want to do
this morning. I want to show you that there's no controversy
here. None whatsoever. If you just be honest with the
text and stop trying to pit one apostle against the other, both
of them are inspired by the Spirit of God and both of them are correct. And so in order to understand
this, we must see the purpose of both men are different. The difference in their epistles,
they have different intentions, different purpose. The apostle
Paul was speaking of justifying, being justified before God, while the apostle James was speaking of God's justification
being manifest by faith. Paul was speaking of justification
of Abraham's person, while James was speaking of the justification
of Abraham's faith. Paul was declaring, was dealing
with self-righteous men who desired to be under the works of the
law, while James was speaking to those who only made assent
to the gospel, but had no real evidence of genuine faith. Therefore, today, I want us again,
I'm going to look at both of these things. We're going to
look at first, that all believers are justified by faith without
works. All believers are justified by faith without works. That
we who are blessed by the grace of God have the righteousness
of Christ imputed to us, our sins forgiven us through the
grace of God apart from works. And then I will show from the
text of James, it is complementary and not contradictory. That all
that have been justified by faith without works that their faith
will be manifest and proven as they walk before God in obedience. So first of all, Abraham, Abraham
and every believer were not justified by works. We're justified by
God. Justified by God. Look at that
again in Romans. For if Abraham were justified
by works, he have whereof to glory, but not before God. For what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. First of all, Abraham was not
justified by his works because he was a sinner. You remember He was 70 years
as a pagan. 70 years he spent in pagan idolatry. Abraham, like all of us, was
born dead in trespasses and sins. So Paul says, if he were justified
by works, he'd have wherewith to glory. But he's not. Therefore,
he has no wherewith to glory before God. He said, if it were
possible, yeah, he'd have something to glory about. Have any one
of us ever offered our children to God on command? I'll tell you this, we're often
not even faithful to attend the worship of God, much less offer
anything of substantial value. But Abraham's hope was not in
his offering of his son. Abraham's hope was in Christ. And so then there was Abraham,
a pagan, and it was by the grace of God that God came to him.
Remember, we just read that there's none that seeketh after God.
Abraham wasn't looking for God, was he? He wasn't trying to search
out God. God came to Abraham. For no other
reason in Abraham except that he would come to Abraham. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. And Abraham was an object of that. And so
he came to Abraham. And what's the first thing God
did when he came to Abraham? He preached the gospel to him.
He preached the gospel to him. So I can identify with Abraham's
sinful nature, can't you? Every believer does. Every believer
knows that we're sinners and we cannot be justified by our
works. We have no room to boast in ourselves. Now how did that happen? God
came and preached the gospel to us. He sent a man and by that
man the Spirit of God preached the gospel just like he did Abraham. He came to that 70-year-old pagan
and he preached it. Go to Galatians 3. Look over
at Galatians 3. Look at verse 8. And the Scriptures,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, what
did he do? Preached before the gospel to Abraham. And what's
the gospel he preached? shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed. What did he mean by that? In
Christ, in the seed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. So what message did God preach
to Abraham? Christ. Christ. And what was the result of that
message? Abraham believed. He believed. Hebrews 11 it tells us he believed
and left her of the Chaldees To go into a place which he should
after would receive for an inheritance. He obeyed and went out not knowing
where he went God said in Abraham In thee shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed in thy seed You know
what Abraham did he said he said a told Abraham now leave your
people Was Abraham's leaving not a manifestation
of that faith? What if Abraham stood there and
didn't go anywhere and said, Yeah, I have faith. I believe
in the seed. Well, didn't God tell you to
go out? Yeah, but that's not necessary. I'm justified by faith. It's okay. No. His faith was manifest in this.
He went. He went. The whole faith of Abraham
was by the power of the spirit through the preaching of the
gospel. And so it is with every one of us. Do you not identify
with Abraham? I was a pagan. God preached to
me the gospel. God, by the power of the spirit,
gave me faith to believe in Christ. When Christ called you, did you
not come? Did you not come? He said, come
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, and be
blessed. That alone has no power. Nobody will come. If I'm calling
you, nobody's going to come. But if Christ calls you, there's
power in His call. There's power. That was witnessed
by Abraham. That's witnessed by us, isn't
it? He said, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. And so, even this morning, we
are still coming to Christ. We are still believing on Christ.
I'm still trusting Christ for everything. If I am justified
before God, it is because of the faith of Jesus Christ. Nothing else. Nothing else. The
faith of Jesus Christ. The offering of Christ. And so
by faith we went to Christ just like Abraham did. We believed. And I say this often. I believe. Lord help thou mine belief. And you know what he does? He
does. I believe, help thou mine belief.
And thirdly, what was the object of Abraham's faith? As I told
you, it was the seed. Abraham believed God, the scripture
says. He didn't have a general faith
in God. That's not what it was. It was
a very specific faith. It was in the seed, in the promise
of one to come. Isn't this the same faith of
Adam and Eve? The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent, how by the bruising of his heel.
And he gave a picture of that offering of that innocent animal
to cover their nakedness. What a gospel message that was.
And you know what they did? They believed in the seed. When
she got her first child, she thought that was it. I've gotten
a man of the Lord. She thought that was it. It wasn't
it. But she was expecting the Lord to give them Christ. And
that's what Abraham was looking for. He was looking to Christ. And so in our text there, when
it says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for
righteousness, this was back in Genesis chapter 15. Genesis
chapter 15. Look over there. Look over at
Genesis 15. Genesis 15, this is after you come back from the
battle of the kings, and it says that, And after these things,
the word of the Lord came to him. Who is that? It wasn't a voice from heaven.
The word of the Lord. John tells us who that is. It
is Christ. Christ came to him. And look
what Christ said to him in a vision. He said, don't be afraid. Why
should he not be afraid? I am thy shield. Here's the promise. Here's the promise of the seed.
I am thy shield, thy refuge, thy protection. Against what? The wrath of God. I am thy shield. To you who are believers in Christ,
who is your shield? When you stand before God, who's
going to stand between you and God? The shield. Isn't that a blessing? It's astounding. My mediator, my high priest,
he stands between us. He's my shield. I like to think
of the ark, the ark and Noah in the ark. What a wonderful
picture of our salvation. You see, Noah didn't escape the
flood. He endured it in the ark. How are you going to escape the
justice of God? In the ark, in Christ. I am thy
shield. This is the promise of the seed.
And I am thy exceeding great reward. Oh, consider what David
says about this reward. He said, Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now wait a second. How could
God not charge me with sin? He charged His Son with my sin. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, and God punished my sin in Him. Just like the ark endured the
flood, Christ endured the wrath of God for us. And by this, what does God say?
I will remember their sins no more. Therefore, by faith, God
imputes righteousness, imputes righteousness to us. And so this
is the promise of Christ to us. As he promised Abraham, so it
is ours. And Abraham begins to talk about this. He said, I ain't
got no seed. You promise me a seed? And all I got is Eliezer in my
house and he's, is he going to be my heir? God said, no, no. He said, behold, the word of
the Lord came to him saying, this shall not be thine heir,
but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall
be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look
now toward heaven and tell the number of stars, if thou be able
to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. And what happened? What's the
result of his message here? Abraham believed God. And it
was counted to him righteousness. And so behold, the object of
Abraham's faith is the object of our faith. The object of our
faith. Back over there in Galatians,
it says the gospel was preached to Abraham, so then they which
be of faith. What? We're blessed with faith
for Abraham. Whatever God promised Abraham,
He promised you. He promised you. And what's the
fulfillment of this? The fulfillment of this was in
verse 13 of Galatians when he said, Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law. This is the fulfillment of that
promise. I am thy shield. I am thy exceeding great reward.
When Christ came, the seed came, he did accomplish what he promised. Justification. Justification
for all that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith. Now, has this covenant been changed
by the law? That's what Paul is going to
deal with in Galatians 3 again. Is this covenant changed? You
witnessed the covenant. You hear the covenant. God gave
him a son, just like he promised, and out of that son came Christ.
And Christ did accomplish those things. Now then, when Abraham
received the covenant, Paul's going to argue this. Did the
law change the covenant? Look there in Galatians 3 with
me real fast. He's going to use that covenant of a man. He said,
you two men make a covenant. Can one man just arbitrarily
change it in the middle? Is that just? No, it's not just. How much more than the covenant
of promise given to Abraham? He said, Now to Abraham and to
his seed were the promise made. He saith not unto seeds as many,
but of one, and his seed, Christ. This I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before God in Christ, that the law which
was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that
it should make the promise of none effect. The law did not
change the promise. The law has a purpose, and I
was gonna preach on that this morning, I changed it, but the
law has a purpose, and it has one purpose, so that you are
exposed. That's all the law can do. The
law was given for the transgression. It was never intended to save,
justify, or make us perfect. And so then we who believe on
God Christ, we who believe Christ was raised from the dead, what
does that mean? It means this, we believe God's satisfied. I believe God's completely satisfied
with Christ's offering. I believe this with all my soul
that nothing of the elect is required except that offering. That offering was sufficient
for all his people. And God raised him from the dead
to prove it. Sat him on the throne. I like
that in Revelation, don't you? When he said, and he took the
book. Nobody can even look at the book, but the son of God
took it by right. It was his. He had earned it. And so then,
as Abraham was justified by faith without works, so are we. Remaining
time, let's see what James says about this. Now go back and I
want to look at James and see how this does not contradict
but rather complement. James says this, was not Abraham
our father justified by works? Now if that's what you want to
do, you want to pull that scripture right out of its context and
throw it in somebody's face, go right ahead. But that's not,
he's not talking about Abraham's justification of Abraham's person
before God. He's talking about, he's showing
forth the complete view of faith. James here is speaking not on
the same subject as Paul. Go back to chapter one and get
a sense, I want you to get a sense of what James is speaking about.
James is talking about the evidence of faith. How many times do you
want to know, you that believe? How many times do you quote Newton?
"'Tis a point I long to know." Often it causes anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? If I am, why this dull and lifeless
frame? Could hardly they be worse that
never knew his name? We often feel this way. We feel
downcast. We want to know. A true believer
is not going to take this. We must believe. And this faith,
we know this, if it's genuine faith, it won't cease. This is
what Abraham's talking about. Look at James, what James is
talking about. James chapter 1. Look at verse
2. He says, My brother encountered all joy when you fall into divers
temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh
patience. Right there off the bat, what
is he talking about? He's talking about the trial of your faith. He's not talking about the justification
by faith. He's talking about justification
of your faith. What does all true faith do?
It endures. What if your faith doesn't endure?
It wasn't real. That's what James is telling
you. If your faith don't endure, it's not of God. It's just an
illusion. So the book of James is exposing
pretenders. That's what he's doing. He's
exposing those who say they believe. Isn't it easy to say that? Can
anybody say that? Yes, anybody can say that. What James is showing this, he
said, just saying it is not, doesn't make it real. That's
our generation, isn't it? Name it and claim it. You say
it and it is. You are what you think. If you're
just positive, then it'll all be okay. James is exposing those who are
pretenders. And I want you to know this.
James is not a book that you take to look around the room
and see who has real faith. You read James and then you look
at Greg and you go, hmm, I wonder if Greg's patient. I wonder if
Greg's slow to speak and slow to anger. No, no, no. This book
is to be internalized. Do I have faith? Is my faith like this? And so, look at verse 5 of James
chapter 1. He says, If any man lack wisdom,
let him ask of God that giveth liberty to all men, and abradeth
not. And it shall be given him, let
him ask in faith, not wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave tossed, driven by the wind. Let that man not think
he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man
is unstable in all his ways. What is he talking about? He's
saying true faith never turns back. True faith never turns back.
James uses this phrase twice in this book, the perfect law
of liberty. He's not talking about the law of Moses. He's
talking about the gospel. Anyone who looks into the law
of liberty, asking for wisdom. Now, isn't Christ our wisdom?
How many times did Paul manifest that, that Christ is the wisdom
of God? Any man lack wisdom? You want to know how God can
be just and justify the ungodly? You ask of God and he'll show
you Christ. He'll show you wisdom. Oh, but
if you're a double-minded man trying to seek that wisdom by
your works, don't let any man think he's going to be heard
of God. He's not. And look at this, he exposes
the nature of true faith in verse 12. Look at that. Blessed is
the man that endureth temptation. For when he has tried, he shall
receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him. You have a man who professes
to believe and he doesn't endure. Is that man going to receive
a crown of life? What if that man believes for
a while and he turns back? Is he going to receive a crown
of life? No. Why? His faith was not real. But everyone whose faith is real,
this is always going to be the case. They will endure to the
end. He that endureth to the end.
Now what the Lord said? He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. In verse 17 through verse 27,
he talks about the gift of God. It's the gift of God. He said,
for every good and perfect gift coming from above, and coming
down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness
nor shadow of turning. Then he explains this. He says,
of his own will begot us with the word of truth, as we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So James is saying this. The
good gift is what? Salvation, isn't it? Justification
by faith of his own will begat he us. That's exactly what Paul
was saying, that we are saved by grace, by the power of the
work of the Holy Spirit, by the will of God. But then he turns
around and says, this is necessary if it is real. If your faith
is real, he said, let it be. He said, beloved, look at that
in verse 19, beloved brethren, Let a man be swift to hear, slow
to speak, and slow to wrath. Now, let me ask you this, isn't
that just becoming of faith? Isn't that reasonable? You that believe, isn't it reasonable
for us to just be ready to hear the gospel? Ready to hear from
God? Isn't it just becoming humility,
what he's saying, slow to speak? Isn't that humility? Bowing before
the Word of God, slow to anger. These things are becoming of
the grace of God, becoming of true faith. And God gives us
these great exhortations to all who are born again of the Spirit. And so in verses 20 through 2
through 25, believers are not only hearers, He said, Be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if any be a hearer
of the word, and not a doer, that man is like beholding his
natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But
whosoever looketh into the gospel, and continueth therein, the perfect
law of liberty, the gospel, He being not a forgetful here,
but a doer of the work, that man shall be blessed in his deeds."
What is a doer of the gospel? Isn't that not faith? Continually
living by faith. That's what the apostle is going
to tell you. Again, we just went over this in Galatians 3, the
same chapter where he talked about justification without works.
He's saying this, we who live, live by faith. We walk by faith. We look into the perfect law
of liberty. We look into the offering of Christ. We look into
the things of of grace. And how do we how does that move
us? It moves us to love, doesn't
it? It moves us to love. And so he
tells us then in chapter two, what is he going to get at? Faith
without works is dead. Faith without works is dead.
That if your faith does not work, If it is not motivated by the
love of Christ, by the suffering of Christ, by
the offering of Christ, to do those things which becometh the
gospel. What are those things? Love, mercy, compassion. Listen, against such there is
no law. You know, you can't have too
much mercy. You can't have too much compassion. Why? Because my love and compassion
would never compare to his. Would it? Could I out love him? Could I show more mercy than
he showed to me? No. And so then what motivates the
believer is what? It is the love of Christ that
constraineth us, isn't it? This is what James is talking
about, that faith does work. It's motivated, but not to be
justified before God, but rather because we are justified before
God. Isn't that what Paul says in
Romans 12, chapter 1? I beseech you, therefore, brethren. Why? By the mercies of God. Now
what? Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holding it acceptable unto God, which is just what?
Reasonable. Everything James is saying in
here is just reasonable, isn't it? If you're justified by faith
without works, aren't these works just reasonable? Are these hard things James is
telling us? Compassion, mercy, grace, love. No. They're the fruit of faith. They're the objects of faith.
Obedience. And so what James is then getting
to in his book here in James 2 and verse 21 is he uses Abraham
as an illustration of what true faith does. True faith obeys God. Is that
too hard to understand? True faith obeys, listen carefully,
the commandments of God. Isn't this what John tells us? See if I can find it. Look at John chapter 3 and verse
22. Tell me if this is not so you who believe that you must
obey the commandments of God. Isn't this just what you want
to do? You want to obey the commandments of God? Look at this in verse 22. He
said, Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Here the
legalist jumps up and says, Aha! I caught you again. We keep his
commandments. He's got to be talking about
the law of Moses. Read on. In case you're confused, listen,
and this is his commandment. that we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave
us commandment. He that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit which he hath given us. How did you know
Abraham believed God and it was counted in for righteousness?
By what manifest proof do you have that Abraham really believed
God? Well, when God told him to go,
he went. Doesn't that justify Abraham's
faith? Doesn't that tell you Abraham believed God? When God said this, take your
son, Your only son, the one I promised in whom the seed would come.
You take him and you go kill him. Now what if Abraham reasoned? He said, well, I believe God,
but that's extreme. Surely God didn't mean what he
said. That's not how Abraham acted. Abraham believed God and he rose
early in the morning. Apostle Paul tells us that he
was as good as dead when God commanded it. In the mind and
heart of Abraham, he was dead. Now, why would Abraham do that?
Because he believed God would raise him from the dead. God
promised that in that boy was the seed to come. And he said,
if I kill him, I know this, God promised the seed would come
from him. God will raise him from the dead.
Remember what he told those men when he went to, when he's about
to offer his son? He said, I and the lad will go
yonder and worship and what? Come again to you. Abraham believed
God. He trusted God. And the manifest
truth of that was he offered his son. See, true faith, God will testify
to true faith. He will. Now, when Abraham did
that, did Abraham look at his work and say, I know I'm justified
now? No. What did he say? He called
the place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. He praised
the Lord for his grace, for the faith that he had. He praised
the Lord that he was able to do what he did. He gave thanks
to God. You see, even in the midst of
his work, Abraham was looking at the seed. People are always, I don't have
to quit. I don't really, I've contemplated
this often when people come into the congregation and they want
to be under the law and stuff. I think they're just waiting
for a preacher to tell them what to do. They want the pastor to somehow
facilitate good works. They want to organize it, want
you to organize it, plan it out, go tell them you need a witness
at 1030, at this place, and then, you know, why? They want glory.
They want some glory for themselves. You know what I tell these people?
I said, whatsoever you find in your hands to do, do that. And this is how you
do it, with all your might, as unto the Lord. When you're done doing that,
don't put any trust in it. Don't put any trust in it. Why?
I am justified before God without my works. But I know this, that
God who worketh in us both to will and do of his good pleasure
has already ordained all the good works that we do. I mean, whatever you find in
your hands to do, whatever is virtuous, whatever is pure, whatever is
right, do that. Always doing what? Looking unto
Christ. Counting what you do as dung,
that you may be found in Christ, not having your own righteousness.
So you see, James was not contradictory. He was just telling you the other
half of faith. The other half of faith is this.
Faith works. Not to be saved, but because
it is. Because it is of God. It will
work. It will manifest itself. Now in the end of this, who gets
all the glory? God. God. So we are justified
by faith without works. And our faith is justified in
our obedience to Christ. It's witnessed, it's manifest
to be true. And so this is why God tries
your faith. Not so he will know. How many times did James say
that? We just read it. That you may know. Why? Because you'd
like to know. You want to know. that we may
know. Well let me ask you this, do
you believe in Christ? Only on Christ? Without any hope of your
works adding to His? Are you motivated to do things
for the service of God out of love for Christ? Not love for
Christ, but rather the love of Christ? Does that motivate you?
If that's so, then your faith is real. It's genuine. It's of
God. And this faith will not be a one-off. It will be continual. It'll endure. Why? Because of your good works. What
did Peter say? You are kept by the power of
God unto salvation, ready to be revealed. I pray God would
help you with this. I'm sorry it took so long. Just
pray God bless it. Brother, come.