April 11, 2004
Hi Folks!
The “works” here in James 2 is talking about our corresponding
actions of obedience to the Word of God. I don’t know about you but
I want my faith to be alive and not dead! I would hate to appear before the
Lord Jesus Christ on Judgment day and have all my works burned up! I want
to make sure that I am doing God’s will when Jesus comes.
James 1:25 says “he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
I have been talking about the faith walk over the last several weeks. As we have witnessed through the Word nothing is accomplished in God’s kingdom except through faith. We saw last week that the very foundation for every faith endeavor must be love; otherwise our faith will not work. This week I want to show you that true faith requires corresponding actions of obedience to the Word. The Bible says that if we do the Word we will be blessed in what we do. If we say we believe what the Word says but don’t obey it, our faith is DEAD! There is no room for compromise in the kingdom of God. The “big talkers” will be here one minute and gone the next. Only the “big doers” will be blessed in what they do. When the storms of life come the “hearers only” will be blown away, but the “doers of the Word” will remain standing and strong (see Mathew 7:24-27).
We see this very thing happening to the children of Israel after God instructed them to go in and posses the promised land. They got themselves into all sorts of trouble because they did not believe what God had promised. Only Joshua and Caleb remained faithful to believe God’s instructions through Moses. The Word says in Hebrews 4:12-13 beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily while it is called “today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. They were not walking by faith and it was evident by their unbelief. Their unbelief caused them to forfeit receiving their inheritance from God. Unbelief according to the scriptures does not just mean “to not believe”, it also means “to disobey”. Look at these verses in Hebrews.
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief Hebrews 3:1.
Those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience Hebrews 4:6.
Unbelief and disobedience are synonymous. To believe is to obey. To disobey is to not believe. Jesus said, “why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do the things which I say?” My friend you might as well face it, if you are not obeying the Master then you are not in faith at all! Faith is a moving active force and it will obey. The faith walk is a lifestyle that needs to be developed in your life. It needs to be walked out because it doesn’t just happen automatically. It takes time and effort but the results are worth it, for the doer of the work will be blessed in what he does. Now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 28:1-2
Let me show you how the Lord instructed Joshua to walk in Moses shoes after he died. I believe the principle is the same for us today because the Lord’s ways are unchanging.
This book of the law (the Word of God) shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success Joshua 1:8.
You see here, we can literally make our way prosperous by doing the Word. If we will give our attention to the Word by thinking about it and putting voice to it day and night, we will eventually see and understand what we are to do. God has made it simple for us if we will but meditate on His Word and then go ahead and do it.
Also in Deuteronomy 30:9-14 you will clearly notice this principle. The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if you turn to the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul. For this commandment which I command you today, it is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
Praise God!! We can do this and it is not too difficult for we have been shown the way!
Dear people, I want you to know that I love you and care about you, therefore I will not be afraid to tell you the truth. Before closing lets look at these wonderful promises the Master gave to His obedient children.
He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me, and
he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest
myself to him… If anyone loves Me he will keep My Word, and my Father
will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John
14:21, 23
David
Dear people. We hope these Pastor's Heart messages have been a blessing to you. Please feel welcome to email us at any time with feedback. Any questions you might ask we will endeavour to answer if we can. email@livingwordfellowship.com.au
To subscribe or unsubcribe please email us, email@livingwordfellowship.com.au
Previous Pastor's Heart messages
can be viewed on our website
www.livingwordfellowship.com.au
Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say,
“You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without
your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there
is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do
you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?... For
as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
James 2:17-20, 26