Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / James 2:14-26 - Well Done is Better Than Well Said

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James 2:14-26 - Well Done is Better Than Well Said · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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Good morning, Calvary Chapel. Hey, man, what a blessed time it
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is to be here and have church community and church family.
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It's always wonderful to see everybody.
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We want to thank everybody that's coming here for the first
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time. We want to just say thank you
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for choosing to worship with us this morning.
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And we thank those of you who have been coming.
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We always, we always appreciate having you come back.
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The Lord is faithful and we thank you for your, your
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goodness, his goodness toward us.
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Just two reminders I want to give you.
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First of all, we do have those Connect cars.
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I thought there was one out front.
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I don't have one in my pocket either.
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But those connect cars, they look like little business cards.
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If you don't have them, please grab some before you leave and
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use those cars to invite people to come and worship with us to
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experience the Calvary Chapel family.
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And of course, the other thing is, you know, just like the
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women's retreat, we encouraged women to sign up for those
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retreats. It's a very good way to get to
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know the women here at Calvary Chapel Church and no more and
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more of a personal basis and of course, to go through the word
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together. And also men, I want to
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encourage you to sign up as well.
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If finances is a problem for that men's retreat, please just
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let us know. We don't want cost to be a
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reason why you don't come to this retreat.
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So please let us know if cost is a reason.
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So we want to encourage you to to sign up.
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OK, let's turn in our Bibles to the book of James.
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We're still continuing through the the book of James and we are
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now in the 2nd chapter and we're going to be looking at verses
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20, I'm sorry, verses 14 to verses 20 to verse 26, Book of
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James chapter 2, verses 14 through 26.
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And while we're doing that, we do want to welcome those who
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were listening on the radio and those who were listening by way
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of Grace MF Grace FM online or those who are listening by way
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of the YouTube or any other platform that you're using this
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morning to listen to Calvary Chapel.
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We thank you for joining us this morning.
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And as always, I always want to send an extended welcome and
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thank you to those of you who are listening behind prison
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walls. We thank you for being able to
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just TuneIn with us and we pray that you'll be blessed.
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Why don't we pray and then let's go.
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Just go into the word, Amen. Is that OK?
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Father, we do thank you for this blessed day that you have given
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unto us, Lord, We thank you, Lord, that it's another day that
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we have the opportunity to sit under Your word, another day
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that we have an opportunity to commune with you and to
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fellowship with You and to worship you.
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We thank You, Lord, that we have this time that we can actually
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hear from You what a privilege it is to be able to hear from
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the Creator of both heaven and earth, the One who created all
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things. As believers, we have the
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opportunity to actually hear from Your Word, Lord, this word
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of love and truth that You give to us.
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And not only that, Lord, but You give us your Holy Spirit to help
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us to understand it. Now, Lord, I'm asking you to
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please speak through me this morning.
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Let it not be my ideas, my opinions, my thoughts, but let
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it be Your truth. I pray for Your anointing to
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just be upon me and everyone that's here Lord, that You would
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cause us to be able to see and understand Your truth.
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Lord, it's the ministry of the Holy Spirit that does that in
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US. Father, if You don't do this, we
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won't get anything out of this time.
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So stand in my body Lord, and think with my mind and speak
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with my lips of clay. Cause us to leave here today,
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Lord, knowing something more about you, something that will
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have impact on the way that we live the rest of our lives.
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May we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
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today. And if there's someone here,
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Lord, that doesn't know you, I pray that today would be the
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last day that they would not have eternal salvation, but they
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would put their faith in Jesus Christ, the author and the
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finisher of our faith. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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So we're in this book of James. And we did warn last week that
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this book should come with a a warning about the things that
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you hear. James is a loving, righteous
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man. But the one thing that you will
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get when you read the book of James is that you will get
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practical teaching. You will get a direct word.
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He loves you, but he's not going to sugarcoat anything.
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And as we go through these scriptures, you will hear that
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and see that and sense that. Now in chapter 1, back in
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chapter 1, he talked about the fact that you will have to not
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only be a, a hearer of the Word, but to be a doer of the Word of
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God. He admonishes us on that.
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And then he tells us in in the beginning of chapter 2, he says,
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listen, don't take the Lord Jesus Christ, the faith of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not take that with
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partiality. If we are followers of the Lord
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Jesus Christ, we don't show favoritism, we don't show
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partiality toward anybody. We don't show it from the rich
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or to the poor. We don't show it for black or
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for white. We don't show it for anybody.
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We are all one in Christ Jesus and then now he and he tells us
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at the end of of that section that in verse chapter 2 verse
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12, he says so speak and so do as those who will be judged by
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the law of liberty. That means the law of love.
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Then he says for this judgment for judgment is without mercy to
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those who have shown no mercy. So James is demolishing us to
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not only do the Word of God, and not only and not only do we do
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it without showing partiality, but also that we do it through
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the law of liberty, which is love.
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To love the Lord thy God with all our hearts and all our minds
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and all our strength, and to love our neighbors as the same.
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And then Jesus Christ tells us that this is how all people, all
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men will know that you are my disciples if you have loved one
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for another. So it's not the religious things
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that we do, but it's the love which is motivated by the Holy
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Spirit. And we're going to talk a little
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bit more about that in a minute. So then when he says to us that
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judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy,
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mercy triumphs over judgment. And that's at the end of that
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section of, of of Scripture that back in verse 13.
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But now we go to verse 14 and he now talks to us directly about
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the kind of faith that is a saving faith versus what he
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calls a dead faith. This is a very direct passage
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here. And so when we listen to this, I
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want us to listen to this not in a condemning way.
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You know, don't think that anything that we're saying here
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is to condemn. But James is saying these things
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out of love. He doesn't want us to be
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deceived. And there are many, there are
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many people who are deceived in terms of their faith.
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They they know the many people who who believe that they are
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saved and are not. And James is saying that this is
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how we can know whether your faith is a saving faith or if
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you just say that you believe. So let's just jump into in verse
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14, James says, what does it profit, my brethren?
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If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can faith
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save him? Whoa.
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He starts off right out of the gate, hitting us right between
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the eyes and saying, OK, we need to look at what kind of faith do
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we have? As I'm studying through this and
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he's I'm examining me just as we should be examining our self as
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we go through this. What kind of faith do we have?
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James says, if you know, what does it profit?
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In other words, he's saying to us, what good does it do?
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What good is it if you say you have faith but you do not have
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works? Now here we can look at this and
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say, well, there's a lot of men who used to have a problem with
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this Scripture. I mean, Martin Luther had a
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problem with this because in Martin Luther's eyes, and it was
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definitely out of his misunderstanding of where James
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was going. And then later they aligned.
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But initially, Martin Luther felt that this shouldn't even be
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in the Bible because it's not by works that we are saved, but
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it's by faith we are saved. And he is right.
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The Bible definitely tells us that we're we're saved by grace
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through faith, and that not of our own.
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It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
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boast. But but what James is saying is,
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but that faith should have works.
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That faith should have works. So he says here can faith save
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him? And what he is saying is, can
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that faith save him? What faith, The faith that he
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just talked about, the faith that does not have works, Is
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that a saving faith? Is that a faith that we should
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have in Jesus Christ that we say we have this faith, but we
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really don't? There's nothing in our lives
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that indicate that we really do believe, that there's no
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evidence of faith anywhere in our lives that we could still
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walk in disobedience or walk in in our own flesh and do what we
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want to do, but yet say that we have faith.
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Oh, James is hitting us all right between the eyes and
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saying, let's examine our faith. Let's examine our faith.
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Can that faith save you? It's basically what he is saying
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here. So then he goes on to to verse
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15 and he gives an example. He says if a brother or sister
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is naked and destitute of daily food.
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Notice he didn't say if a brother or sister can't afford
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to make the payment on his Lexus or if a brother or sister just
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bought a new Cadillac and they're down, they're behind in
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their payments or brother or sister have a oceanfront
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apartment and they can't make that mortgage.
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He ain't saying that. He ain't saying that.
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He said if a brother or sister is destitute, they're naked and
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destitute. They don't have the basic things
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of life. Jesus talks about the basic
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things of life. He said, listen, you know, don't
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even worry about what you should put on or what you should eat or
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what you should drink. And he uses and and and, and
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part of that's because he uses the body to help with that.
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If someone doesn't have it, he uses the body to help with that
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when the world just happened. OK, so he, he, he says here that
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if you don't have the basic things in life, if you don't
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have the food and, and someone doesn't have clothing, you know,
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Jesus himself said in Matthew, he says, don't worry about those
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things. And then in first Timothy, Paul
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says having food and clothing, what these we should be content.
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But then I also love what Paul says over and I'm I'm sorry,
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what first John says in 3/17. He says, but whoever has the
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world's goods, and this is him lining up with James in terms of
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saying to just say that we are that we believe and not have
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works is useless. But John says this, but whoever
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has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up
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his heart from him. That means you see a brother
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have need and you just cut your heart off from that person or
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that sister. You just cut your heart off from
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them. You just allow yourself to be
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cold and callous when you see that they have need and even
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says here you see that they have need and shuts up your heart
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from him. How does that love abide?
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I mean, how does that how does the love of God abide in him?
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If you have the resources and you have the the ability to help
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this person and you see they have need, but you close your
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heart off from that person. John says how, how can the love
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of God abide in you? How is the Holy Spirit active in
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you? The Holy Spirit, which is the
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spirit of truth and it's and it's love, love is shed abroad
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in our hearts about the Holy Spirit.
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How can that happen? And I cut my heart off from you
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who need clothes and food. He said that should not be.
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And this is part of what James is saying back here in verse 15.
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He says if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily
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food, and one of you says depart in peace, be warmed and filled,
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but do not give him the things which are needed for the body.
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What does it profit? What does that profit?
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So when he says depart in peace, that was actually a very common
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Jewish a blessing at one time. It just simply means, you know,
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depart in peace. That means be well, be parted,
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you know, depart and be well, be good.
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But is it more Christ like to sound pious and holy or to obey
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and do acts of compassion and love?
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You see, we are never more like Jesus Christ then when we show
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His love and compassion and His mercy.
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That was the ministry that He had walking the earth.
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He constantly showed compassion. He would see a need in the
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Bible. How many times did we read in
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the Word that He would see a need?
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Or He would see people and He would see them suffering or see
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them struggling and the Word was saying and He had compassion on
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them and He met the need. We're never more like Jesus than
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when we have compassion and we show compassion and love.
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Depart in peace. But that sounds really pious on
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it sounds really godly, you know, depart in peace, be warm
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and be fed. You know, I mean, it sounds
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really holy. We look just by doing all that,
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but that does nothing for the need of the person who doesn't
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have food or doesn't have clothing.
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So he says, what does it profit? What does it profit?
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Verse 17 says thus also faith by itself.
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If it does not have works, it's dead.
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So he's already identified the first type of faith.
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He says it's a dead faith. And a dead faith is that faith
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that does not have works. It's dead.
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It does not have life. It can't give life.
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It can't help with life. If it's a dead faith, it's just
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something I'm saying, but there's no life to it.
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And then he gives. He goes on to verse 18 and he
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talks about it almost like he's this, he's this person who's
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being challenged by someone who wants to put their value on just
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the faith. And they're, and, and basically
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they're trying to say that all you're doing is putting your
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value on your works, which he is not.
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But he's, but it says here in verse 18, but someone will say
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you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your
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works. And I will show you my faith by
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my works. But the way that this is
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actually read is this way. How can you show me your faith
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if you don't have works? That's your only ways to be
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read. How can you show me your faith
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if it does? If you don't have works, how can
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you communicate to the world that you believe if there's
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nothing in your life that's an obedience to Jesus Christ?
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It's an obedience to His Word. No evidence at all that you are
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truly following the one and only Jesus Christ, his word.
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How can you do that? How how does that happen?
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But how can you show me your faith if you don't have works?
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That's basically what James is asking.
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And then he says, I will show you my faith because I will
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demonstrate my faith by my works.
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Shouldn't our faith be substance and evidence of our of our
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lives? We know that when you look in
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the book of Hebrews Chapter 11 verse one, it says now faith is
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the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
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seen. That's just taken for granted
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that your faith is a faith that has action.
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So basically your faith that you have is the substance of you
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believing in something that you can't see, but it's evidence to
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the one who doesn't believe. How do you know that there's a
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faith that there's a God? I'm evidence because I believe
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and he's working through me. He's working through you.
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You demonstrate the power of God, You know, So we, we are, we
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are substance and evidence. And James said we need to have
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evidence. Of our faith show me your faith
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buy your works and I'll show you my faith without your works and
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I'll show you my faith buy my works.
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So then in verse 19 he gets a little bit more intense.
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He says you believe that there is one God you do well but even
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demons believe and tremble. Wait a minute, James, are you
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saying that I that if I have a saying faith and no evidence to
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my faith, that my faith is no different than the demons?
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Yes, that's what he is saying. That's what he is saying.
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Why can he? How can he say that?
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Because demons believe as simple as that demons believe, they
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know that there is a God. There's no demons that are
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atheists. They know there's a God, all of
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them. They know there's a God.
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Let's look at a couple examples of when they actually called him
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out and said that he was God. They knew that he was God.
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And Mark chapter one, verse 23, when when when Jesus went into
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the synagogue and he was teaching and preaching the word
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of God, speaking about the Kingdom.
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And it was a man there who had an unclean spirit.
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The Bible says, and the man said, I know who you are, holy
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one of God. He understood that a lot of the
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Pharisees didn't even get that the spiritual elite, they didn't
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even understand it. And then again in Luke Luke 8
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verse 28, when he landed on the in the country of the Gadarenes,
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the Bible says that there was a man that was possessed with many
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demons who came in and and fell at his feet.
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And when Jesus called him out, he spoke and he said, what have
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I to do with you, Jesus, son of the Most High God?
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So demons believe they know that there is a God, but the problem
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is, is that they don't submit. They don't fear him, they don't
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submit to him, They don't they're not obedient to him.
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They don't have evidence of their faith.
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And James is saying, people who say they have faith and no
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evidence is no different than the demons faith.
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It's no, it's no different than the demons faith.
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Even demons have faith that there is a God and they even
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know the Son of God. But there's no love, no
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submission, no trust, no or obedience, only hatred,
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rebellion and disobedience. You know what?
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Sometimes that's me too. That's us sometimes, isn't it?
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Sometimes we can be disobedient. Sometimes we can be hatred,
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hate, hateful. Sometimes we don't submit to
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what the word of God says. That could be me too.
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So what's the difference? The difference is it's not our
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lifestyle. The difference is it's not the
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way we are categorized. We sin.
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We fall short of God's glory and sometimes in doing that we are
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disobedient. We don't submit and sometimes we
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can be rebellious against the Word.
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That's just truth because there is no no one who's perfect.
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There was only one and that was Jesus.
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The the rest of us need his grace.
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But if our lifestyle has not changed once we profess Jesus
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Christ and we're the same as we were before we profess Jesus
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Christ, that's a problem. That's just saying we have faith
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with no evidence. Listen, there's no way that we
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can have an encounter with Jesus and not have change and not be
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changed. There's no way.
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It's impossible. It's almost like if I ran into
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you today and I saw you for the first time and I said, Jan, how
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you doing? Jan says, Louis, how you doing?
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I said, you know what, Janet, this has been a really
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interesting day. I was walking out of the church
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today and I was walking across W Pittsburgh St.
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E Pittsburgh St. and a great big tractor trailer came down the
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street and ran over me. And Janet's sitting there
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looking at me like, OK, well, where's the evidence of that
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encounter? I don't see no lacerations.
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I don't see no broken bones. You're talking, you're not
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laying up in the hospital somewhere.
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You can't have, I cannot have an encounter with a tractor trailer
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and there not be evidence. Would you agree with that, Jan?
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Amen. So that is, I mean, listen, if I
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said I ran into three pit bulls out there and I fought them all,
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and I told you that you want to be looking for bites, you're
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going to be looking for bones and everything, you're going to
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be looking for all kind of stuff.
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But you don't see any of that. You don't see no evidence that I
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had that encounter, then chances are you probably would start
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thinking, I'm not sure you did have that encounter.
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Same way with us, if we say that we had an encounter with Jesus,
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there's no way we're walking away from that without change.
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There's no way. No way we can't.
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How can the spirit of the living God live in US and it not change
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us? That would almost mean that we
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are serving a powerless God and we don't.
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We serve a powerful God, a God who is all powerful.
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I've done that before. I've had said a said faith
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before dead faith. I have, I had, you know, I had,
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I had said that I believed and I really didn't.
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One time in my life, I got so tired.
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I went to a church and I got so tired.
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This guy bugging me about coming up and giving my life to Christ.
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I just came up and just said a prayer and walked away.
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And there was nothing different about me.
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Nothing. Nothing.
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I left her the same way I came, a Sinner looking for more sin.
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There was nothing that changed in me.
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But when I finally had an encounter with Jesus, it was
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different. It was different when I had a
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true encounter with Jesus. It was different.
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And I'm sure all of you can say the same thing, that when you
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truly had an encounter with Jesus, your life was different,
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Not perfect, but different, different.
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I couldn't sin and get away with it and have nothing in my heart.
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I was convicted. Whereas before I didn't care if
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I was in a conversation with somebody and I offended them, I
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walk away with that conversation now and I and I would be
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convicted. The Holy Spirit would convict me
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and tell me that you know you was wrong.
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You know you shouldn't have said that, and you shouldn't have
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said it the way you said it. You know that you need to go and
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make that right. The Holy Spirit will do that in
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us. But there was a time of my life
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when that didn't happen. If you got offended, you were
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just offended. So what?
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So we cannot have an encounter with God and not change.
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That's the point I'm trying to make here.
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And this is exactly what James is saying.
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You believe that there is one God, you do well, but even the
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demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, O
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foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
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James is saying, I like the way he said it in the NIVI, like the
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way it reads in the NIV. And in the NIV he says, you
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foolish person, which basically means you empty hearted, empty
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minded person. Do you want evidence that faith
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without works is dead? And actually instead of the word
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dead, it uses the word useless? Do you want evidence of that?
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And then as we drop down, he gives us evidence beginning with
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Abraham, verse 21. He says, was not Abraham our
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father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the
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altar? Do you see that Faith was
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working together with his works and by works Faith was made
29:43
perfect. So what he's saying here, James
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is saying, I'm going to give you an example of one who he's
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actually going to give us 2 examples. 1 is going to be
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Abraham. The other is going to be the
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harlot Rahab. We'll get to her in a second.
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But Abraham said, but he gets to Abraham and he uses him as an
30:02
example of someone whose faith was justified by his works.
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How was that so? Well, we know that back in
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Romans chapter 4, Paul referred to Abraham when he was talk
30:18
about justification by faith, meaning that you are justified,
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you are declared righteous by your faith.
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And that was also he, he and he took that from Genesis chapter
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15 where Abraham had an encounter with God and, and God
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told Abraham and gave him all these promises.
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He said, listen, this is back in Genesis chapter 15 round verse
30:45
6. You can read it.
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He says, listen, you are going to have a child from your own
30:52
loins. And not only that, but you are
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going to have descendants that's going to number so large that
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the stars, it'll be like the stars.
31:03
The number of stars, you won't even be able to count them.
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You're going to have that many. And the Bible says that Abraham
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believed God and it was accounted to him for
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righteousness. So he was justified by his
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faith, meaning declared righteous by his faith.
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But that's not what James is saying here.
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James looked at chapter 22 in Genesis where it was the story
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that came where he actually was told that he has to he has to
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sacrifice Isaac, his love, the only son that he had that came
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from his loins. He had to sacrificing.
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And the Bible says that he obeyed and he went to put Isaac
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on the altar. He didn't sacrifice him.
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God didn't allow that, but he put him on the altar.
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And when he put him on the altar, what he said back in
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chapter 15 was fulfilled. It was justified that he
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believed God and he obeyed God in chapter 22, and this is what
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James is saying. His faith was completed when he
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obeyed God. He showed when he gave a
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demonstration, he gave evidence that he believed.
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That was in chapter Genesis, chapter 22.
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What a blessing that is that our faith is fulfilled by our works.
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He, James, never said that we obtain salvation by works.
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He never once said that. But he does say that the
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salvation that we have through faith should produce works in
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our life. That's what he is saying.
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So he goes on here and he says down in in 23, he says, and the
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Scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God and it
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was accounted to him for righteousness.
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Yeah, faith is, you know, faith in Jesus Christ is, is
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righteousness apart from the law, separate from the law.
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And then it says, and he was called the friend of God.
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Now this is the verse that we're getting to now.
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This is the verse that really caused the big stir, the biggest
33:34
stir, he said. You see then verse 24, you see
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then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.
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That was a very bold statement because everyone at that
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particular time understood that. Wait a minute, faith, you know,
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a man is justified by works and not faith alone.
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And of course, Martin, you know, Martin Luther was thinking or
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wait a minute, I read Romans chapter 3, verse 20 and I'm
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going to read that for you. It says therefore by the deeds
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of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight.
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For by the law is the knowledge of sin.
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And then I'm going to read verse 22 for you.
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Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to
34:29
all and on all who believe. And then in verse 28, he says,
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therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart
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from the deeds of the law. And then Paul also double S down
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on that back over here in Galatians chapter 2, verse 16,
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he says, knowing that a man is justified by the works of the
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law. I'm sorry knowing that a man is
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not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus
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Christ. Even we have believed in Christ
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Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by
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the works of the law for by the works of the law, no flesh shall
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be justified. So Martin Luther is saying,
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look, I read that. So when you try to tell me here
35:20
that you see then that a man I'm back in James now chapter 2
35:24
verse 24. So when you try to tell me that
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you see then that a man is justified by works and not by
35:31
faith only I got a problem with that.
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But what Martin, what what Martin Luther didn't understand
35:38
is that the word justified in this case does not mean declared
35:43
righteous. That's not the way James is
35:46
using it here. Here James is saying that you
35:52
are proven righteous. You are shown to be righteous,
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meaning justified. Your, your, your faith is
36:01
justified. It is shown to be righteous.
36:03
It's proven to be righteous. So the the faith that actually
36:10
declared you righteous in the sight of God, that faith, OK, is
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justified by your works. It's proved to be righteous.
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What a blessing that is. It doesn't take away from our
36:31
faith to to do works of righteousness.
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It justifies our faith. So those two are working
36:40
together. I mean, people try to make it
36:43
seem like they were like at odds with each other with swords, you
36:47
know, like they were sword fighting.
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Now it's justification by faith. And, and, and then James said,
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no, it's justification by your works.
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That's not what was going on. They were actually fighting two
36:59
different enemies. One was fighting this way.
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Let's just say Paul was fighting this way and he was fighting
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against those Judaizers who was trying to say that you need to
37:10
have the deeds of the law in order to be saved.
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So he's fighting with them. And you can't just do it by
37:17
faith. And Paul saying, no, it's by
37:19
faith that we are saved apart from the deeds of the law.
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And then this way, James is fighting with a whole different
37:26
group of people. And James is saying that,
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listen, you know, these people are saying, listen, you know,
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you, you know, it's, it's not just your deeds.
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You know, it's, it's once you get saved, you don't have to
37:37
worry about doing no good deeds. You don't have to be obedient to
37:41
the word of God. You're covered by grace.
37:43
You can live any way you want to live because you have said that
37:47
you have faith. So they were fighting two
37:51
different enemies, but they run the same team.
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Let us not get caught up in that.
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Let's have a lot of Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and in our
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lives to produce good works, good works.
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You see the rest of Ephesians 28 and 9, which begins with we are
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saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, but
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it's a gift of God lest any man should boast.
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The rest of that in verse 10 says, for you are God's
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workmanship created unto Christ Jesus for good works which he
38:47
prepared beforehand, that you walk in them, that you walk in
38:55
them. That's the faith that we have in
39:00
Christ Jesus. And then verse 25 says likewise
39:05
praise and worship team, you can come forward.
39:08
He says likewise, was not Rahab the harlot?
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And this is the second example. Was not Rahab the harlot also
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justified by works when she received the messengers and sent
39:21
them out another way? This is a very intriguing story.
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I love reading this story. Now first of all, we know that
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Abraham was considered the father of the Jews.
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Abraham was a righteous man and, and, and he was justified by his
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works. Rahab, on the other hand, was a
39:44
harlot from a Pagan nation, but yet they both were considered to
39:50
be justified by their faith. So if you look back into the
39:54
story, if we were to look at this story and and just quickly
39:58
summarize it, we know that Joshua was now taking the place
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who have now taken the place of Moses.
40:04
And they were going through the Canaanite lands and they were
40:07
getting, they were basically getting out the evil or the
40:10
Pagan people who have filled up. The sins of of those nations,
40:15
they have filled up those sins and God was now purging them and
40:19
he was using the armies of Israel in order to do that.
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So they came to Jericho, this little town and, and, and, and
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they, and, and they were coming to spy it out.
40:29
Joshua was sent 2 spies out to spy it out and they came to
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Rahab who was a harlot who had a house on the wall, which means
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that she must have been doing very well.
40:40
And so so they had this house on the wall and that's where they
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came. And Rahab understood because she
40:47
said, you know what? I heard about you and I heard
40:51
about your God. I know what you did to the other
40:55
people on the other side of Jordan and to their kings and
40:58
how God gave you that land. I heard about that.
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I heard about how to the Lord split the Red Sea and let you
41:07
walk over on dry land. He said, and she also said, and
41:11
I know that the Lord has delivered this land into your
41:16
hands. I know it.
41:18
But the only thing I'm asking she said, I know that your God
41:23
is God when she said that we can read it right here back in
41:29
Joshua chapter 2 right here in verse 11, she said and soon as
41:37
we heard these things, our hearts melted.
41:40
Neither did there remain any any more courage in anyone because
41:44
of you for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on
41:50
the earth beneath. So she declared her faith and
41:56
her show of faith is when she hid those spies on the roof.
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She and she risked her life to do that because had they found
42:05
out that those spies were there and she was helping them, she
42:07
would have been dead and everybody in her family would
42:09
have been dead. But instead she risked her life
42:12
and hid those spies and had an agreement with them.
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Look, when you come back to take this land, please spare me and
42:20
my family. And they said you and your
42:23
family will be spared, but you have to put a red, a red
42:28
scarlet, get a red scarlet, a ribbon and tie it on your door.
42:32
And I promise you, anybody that's inside that house will
42:36
not suffer. Not even one hair on their heads
42:40
will be heard. And she did that and she
42:43
received salvation. Now she is actually in the
42:45
genealogy of Jesus because not only was she faithful
42:53
pronouncing her faith, but she demonstrated her faith by
42:56
risking her life for the righteous Lord have mercy.
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So you know. And so in doing that she
43:05
received salvation. She received that salvation.
43:11
So then in verse 26 it says for as the body without the Spirit
43:14
is dead, so faith without works is dead.
43:18
Also, James is saying here that you're just like the body.
43:25
The body is nothing without the spirit.
43:28
It's the spirit that brings life to the body.
43:33
It's the way that they communicate to the world is
43:35
through the spirit. In the same way, if you just
43:40
have faith and no works, then you just have dead faith because
43:47
your works give life to your faith.
43:53
It's the works that communicate to a dying world who Jesus is.
43:59
It's your works. When they see you walking in
44:02
obedience to a God that they can't see, it gives testimony
44:08
and brings glory to God. What an awesome thing.
44:14
What an awesome thing. Let us be a church that will
44:18
allow the Holy Spirit to work in US in such a way that we will be
44:24
that light and salt to a dying world and that we will
44:31
demonstrate true saving faith through good works.
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Let's prepare for thank you, brother here.
44:52
Nope, there's none there. Thank you, brother.
44:57
Let's prepare for communion. And I want us to keep in mind
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here as we do this that we serve Christ Jesus who actually came
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into this world and he demonstrated good works the
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entire time that he walked this earth.
45:25
He demonstrated, He actually demonstrated the word of God
45:30
before the people. He walked that out.
45:34
He showed them how merciful God is, how patient God is, how
45:40
gracious our God is. He showed them how forgiving he
45:45
is and that he forgives transgressions, He forgives
45:48
iniquity, He forgives sins. Jesus demonstrated that.
45:54
He demonstrated the power of God and everything that God and
45:57
everything that God was. He, he, he said, the Bible says
46:01
that he embodied, you know, the whole, the whole, the fullness
46:04
of the Godhead was in Jesus Christ.
46:09
That means all power, all forgiveness, all patience, all,
46:12
everything that God was, it was embodied in Jesus Christ.
46:16
And he walked this earth and demonstrated that before man for
46:23
3 1/2 years. And yes, he was even obedient.
46:27
He even demonstrated obedience, the same obedience that we
46:31
should demonstrate we can do it through the power of the Holy
46:35
Spirit. Because he says, I'm going to go
46:36
back to the Father, but I'm going to send you a helper.
46:39
So we have a helper living on the inside of us to help us to
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obey the word of God. When we think about what kept
46:48
Jesus on that cross, when he gave himself, he gave his body
46:55
to be broken. He gave his blood to be shed for
46:59
our sins. But when he did that and he hung
47:03
on that cross, it wasn't nails that kept him on the cross.
47:06
Don't think that it wasn't the nails that kept Him on the
47:10
cross. He could have called 12 legions
47:12
of angels and they would have. They would have came and
47:15
destroyed everybody and brought Him down off that cross.
47:18
That's not what kept Him on that cross.
47:19
What kept Jesus on the cross was our sin and His love for us.
47:29
That's what kept Him on the cross.
47:32
What keeps you in the furnace sometimes, going through
47:36
suffering for your kids and not turning your back on them.
47:41
What keeps you from doing that? Your love for your kids.
47:47
And that's exactly what kept Jesus on the cross.
47:50
There's love for us, love that we don't even deserve, love that
47:57
we could never earn. So, Father, we pray today your
48:07
Holy Spirit will work in each and every one of us in a
48:09
powerful way that we would not only profess that we believe,
48:16
but we would actually, oh God, walk in the faith, walk in
48:24
obedience, walk showing evidence of our belief in you, our trust
48:32
in You, relying upon you, endeavoring to do what you tell
48:38
us to do. Lord, adhering to your word.
48:43
We thank you, Lord, for the sacrifice that you are to us,
48:48
that you were to us on that cross, Lord.
48:50
And we thank you even for your resurrected ministry as you
48:57
mediate for us. Lord, You were the propitiation
49:01
for our sins. You took the place of what
49:04
should have was what was meant for us.
49:08
And as you advocate for us, Lord, in the heavenlies, we
49:12
thank you, thank you Jesus. So, Lord, help us to be mindful,
49:23
to submit to your Holy Spirit, Lord, that we will walk worthy
49:27
of your calling, worthy of the ministry that you've called us
49:31
to, that we would obey you, Lord, that we would show that
49:37
there's a difference between the world and the church.
49:44
So on a night in which Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread.
49:49
And after he gave thanks, he broke it.
49:52
And he said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken
49:55
for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.
50:04
In the same manner also he took the cup, and after supper he
50:08
said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which was
50:12
shed for the sins of many. The sins of many, even the sins
50:25
of those who are still today have not come into the
50:28
sheepfold. It was even shed for them.
50:33
He said drink this and as often as you drink it, drinking in
50:38
remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
50:45
bread and drink this cup, you do show Lord's death till He come.
50:49
Amen. The altar is open.
50:52
If you would like to come up and just call on the Holy Spirit and
50:56
ask for God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, that you would have
51:02
the power, that we would all have the power to walk in the
51:06
fullness of obedience and in the fullness of the Word of God to
51:11
be evidence before this dying world.
51:18
We need it now more than ever. We need it now more than ever.
51:23
Things are stirring and we need God's power to help us to be
51:29
steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding in the work of the
51:35
Lord, because we know that the work of the Lord is not in vain.
51:42
So the author is open. If you want salvation, feel free
51:46
to come and give your heart. Give your life to Jesus Christ
51:52
today. No need to leave here not
51:54
knowing your eternity. You can know your eternity
51:57
today. I pray you will.
52:00
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.