 |
| JAMES LESSON #43 I want to show you �love� in the Word of God � where He shows you that if you don�t have love you�re not born again. I John 3:10-18 The word �practice� is in the present tense in the Greek. It means �habitually.� Present tense does not mean that it is always true. It�s habitual. It doesn�t mean that you will never fail. He�s not saying that all these things have to be present in your life always. He�s leading us through the process of maturing. Love is in the �present tense� here � Meaning, to �keep on loving.� What did Cain do? If you went back to Genesis chapter 4 you would see that Cain talked to God � offered sacrifices to God. His faith was not real because he would not offer God the kind of sacrifices that God wanted. His faith was not real because he killed his brother. Love is in truth if it�s in deed. Love is a �work� word. It�s �active.� I John 4:19-5:2 Verse 1: Isn�t saying love Jesus- It�s saying love �your brother.� After verse 2: this takes us to the second �work of faith-� OBEDIENCE.� If I say that I �love� God, what am I going to do? I am going to �obey.� If you want to know if your faith is real � one of the �works� you will see evidenced in your life will be �obedience� � not in �word� but in �deed.� James 2:18 � can you �show� your faith without the works? No. On the day of judgment, how is the reality of your faith going to be seen? By the reality of the way that you live. At the end of James 2:22, -as a result of the �works� he got saved? No- faith was perfected � brought to completion. Read on through verse 24 Turn to Romans 1. I want to see what the Bible has to say about �obedience and love.� Read Romans 1:5 and Romans 16: 25-26 This is a difficult passage to read. Paul didn�t know what periods were. He�s talking about the gospel here (death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ) He�s saying that the �work� that true faith produces is �obedience.� Turn to Genesis 15 - In Genesis 12 God promises Abraham and Sarai that they are going to have a child and that through that child all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He promises him a �son.� In Genesis 15 Abraham comes up with another way to get a son. READ verse 1-6 (he has Ishmael) God tells Abraham that his idea is not the plan � that he has another plan � one that will bring a �seed� from a �barren� Abraham and Sarai and multiply it as the stars are multiplied in the heavens. Abraham has a choice here � to believe God or to continue working it out his own way. What did Abraham do in verse 6? He BELIEVED God. How was Abraham justified? Remember that �justified� means, defended before God - Galatians tells us � Romans tells us- that this is the day that Abraham got saved. How was he justified? By believing God � that one day one would come from his body that would be �the seed.� That �seed� God was speaking about was Jesus Christ. If you trace the genealogy of Jesus Christ humanly speaking through the line of Mary it passed through David and back to Abraham. How do we know that Abraham is truly �born again?� James is going to show us so we SEE the reality of his profession. How do you see the reality of his profession? Genesis chapter 22:1-18 Verse 1- What does the believer do in a testing situation? He �perseveres� � endures- sticks it out. He doesn�t abandon God in the middle of a test. Verse 2- Now wait a minute � If something happens to Isaac � Abraham doesn�t have an �heir� � and God promised in Genesis 15 that Isaac is his heir � not Ishmael. Now he�s about to take the only one through whom the Christ is going to come�and kill him. Now THAT makes sense right? This is one of those, �trust His heart not His hand� moments- Verse 12- I KNOW THAT YOU FEAR GOD- why? His WORK proved it- because what was Abraham doing? He was �obeying� God. Verse 18 There is the �obedience of faith� � It wasn�t a mere �profession� � it was an �obedience� of faith- Turn to Hebrews 11:17 This is called the �faith� chapter. Read through verse 19. WHEN HE WAS TESTED: He believed that God was going to resurrect Isaac because God had made the promise earlier of an heir that would unfold as a nation. FROM WHICH HE RECEIVED HIM BACK AS A TYPE: (type: a story, and illustration, or a parable) � because as soon as he was ready to plunge in the knife � Isaac was dead in that sense. So in a sense, he received him back from the dead. It�s an �obedience of faith�- Acts 5:32 Obedience and the gospel go together. How do I get the Holy Spirit �inside� me? By belief. He connects �belief and obedience� together. They are synonymous. I am not saying that you are always to be sinless if you are born again. I�m saying that if your faith is real, �works and obedience� will show it. There WILL be times where you will blow it � where your reactions will NOT show the �works of faith� � because you�re human. Romans 2:5-11 We are talking about a HABIT OF LIFE here..Look at verse 6- not FAITH � DEEDS � why? Because your deeds SHOW your faith. Verse 7 � those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality � WHAT WILL THEY GET? Eternal life. -verse 8 truth is not just something you hear � it�s something you DO � OBEY- If I am just a hearer it will not save me. I have to be a doer. If I am truly saved works are the absolute result of faith. �you can�t restrain them � they�re there. -verse 10 is he saying that you are being saved by works? No - because all the way through Romans he�s showing that a man is not justified by �works,� he�s justified by �faith. BUT � he�s pointing out that you can�t have one without the other. One produces the other. Turn to Matthew 25:31-46 I want to look at �Love� in action � and �obedience� � in that you love �the brethren� � those in Christ. After verse 40: is he saying that you are saved by your works? No � because during this time, this is at the end days � the Jews are going to be persecuted by the antichrist and everyone who has not taken the mark of the beast will be put to death. These people have not taken the mark of the beast. They have ministered to Jews that are in need. Why did they do that? Because they believed God. True belief results in OBEDIENCE � and true faith results in LOVE. Read on- Verse 43-46 I am not made righteous by my good deeds. The Bible is very clear on that. I am made righteous by my faith. But FAITH � truth faith � produces righteousness. Turn to Hebrews 3:18 � watch the parallel � Unbelief and disobedience are the same. James 2:25 This is the example James gives on trusting or acting on what is not seen. If you know about Rahab, (in Joshua chapter 2) you know that Rahab had heard about God. Rahab had heard about the Red Sea experience, God, and the Jewish deliverance from Egypt. Rahab had heard � and she believed that this God had told her to hide the two spies at the risking of her life � and that the spies would come back and protect her when God destroyed Jericho. So she 1) HEARD 2) BELIEVED and 3) TRUSTED in something she had not seen. Hebrews 11:1 READ --What was Rahab hoping for? DELIVERANCE. She knew that God was going to destroy Jericho because that�s what the spies told her. Rahab SHOWED the reality of the fact that she believed through the �Work� of hiding the two spies. I John 5:2-4 True faith overcomes the world. It�s the �Works� that overcome the world. It�s the �works� that keep me from temptation. It�s the �obedience of faith� that makes me walk and not yield. It�s the �love of God,� and the �obedience of faith� that causes me to do good to my brother. It�s trusting and ACTING on what God says rather than on what the world says that enables me to overcome the world. What overcomes the world? My faith � and what does my faith produce if it is genuine � �Works� - �Love and obedience�- Ephesians 2:8-9 You are not saved because: you loved your brother, or you persevered in a trial, or you went to church � you are saved �by faith and grace� ALONE - TRUE FAITH does not leave a man living in sin � caught. It does not leave a man struggling in disobedience. It does not leave a man the way he was. IT CHANGES A MAN. -verse 10 Where are we created? In Christ Jesus. HOW are we created? By grace and faith alone. Not by works, baptism or church membership � by faith and faith alone. We are created FOR WHAT? GOOD WORKS � and we are able to walk in them because we have a true faith � a genuine faith. James talks about having a true faith � So �speak and so act� � Works are inevitable when your faith is real. The work of �love� � and the work of �obedience� � the work of �acting and trusting� in what God has said � even when you haven�t seen it. Question: Take a look at your life : - would someone describe you as a �lover� of others - - how do you define �love� � is it duty? Is it obligation? Is it loyalty? - Or�is it a response to �being loved?� Which, if given, would change another person�s life? Why? - To think about until tomorrow: is love that comes from �duty,� �obligation,� and/or �loyalty� �conditional? If it is..is it love? Is love given as a �response to being loved� �conditional? - What about obedience? Are you obedient because �you�re supposed to be� � or because you�re so in love that you�d rather die than disgrace God with your behavior? Is obedience that�s �effective obedience� something that comes from �duty, obligation, and loyalty?� � or is �effective, life changing obedience� something that comes as a response to humility? - As Manning states: The heart of humility lies in undivided attention to God- No longer concerned with �appearing� to be good (obedience out of duty, obligation, and loyalty) � we can move freely in the mystery of who we are (children of God) aware of the sovereignty of God and of our absolute insufficiency and yet moved by a spirit of radical self- acceptance without..without..without.. - Self concern. Obedience becomes something we desire � Why? More tomorrow- Loving you- yes..I�m back! Robin �copyright 2001 |
|