Life Discovery Series

Are We Almost There? - Faith, Works And Legalism

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim Reinking

Home

Series Code: LDS

Program Code: LDS000025


00:33 My wife and I had several gospel singing groups
00:37 through the years beginning with Maranatha Singers
00:39 and then at seminary Voices of Praise
00:42 and then Abundant Life Singers back in the 90s
00:46 and I just love harmony and instrumentation
00:51 and it really is like the harmonies
00:53 that the love of Jesus ought to set forth in our hearts
00:56 and minds, isn't it.
00:58 And tippling our groups we would have nine
01:01 and ten singers stretched out here
01:02 kind of they were with mikes
01:04 and instrumentation and our first album
01:09 we released with Chapel Records
01:11 was the album Worship His Majesty.
01:13 I still love the music on some on that album.
01:17 And then the second release with did back in 94'
01:20 "I Go to the Rock."
01:22 And music is a lot of fun, music is a beautiful thing
01:28 and you know we're gonna spend a lot of time in heaven
01:31 doing a lot of singing and praising.
01:33 We truly are, aren't we?
01:36 Well, here you are Sabbath morning
01:38 and we're going to get right into the Word of God
01:40 this morning but you will remember
01:43 this is number three in the series
01:46 the Revival series that we are doing on Sabbath mornings
01:49 during the course of the Life Discoveries Series.
01:52 And the first three Sabbaths
01:54 have been uniquely designed for you
01:56 and beginning with next Sabbath
01:59 as we invite our guest from the community
02:01 that have been coming.
02:02 You will remember that last week in our Revival
02:06 we were looking at the wonderful beautiful subject of Jesus.
02:09 Jesus in His righteousness,
02:12 Jesus in His imputed righteousness
02:14 that is when we accept Jesus Christ by faith,
02:18 His perfect life becomes ours.
02:20 And God accepts us as if we have never sinned.
02:25 I tell you it doesn't get any better than that.
02:28 We call that justification and we call that being accounted
02:33 or considered righteous.
02:35 And we also looked at the fact
02:37 that the Bible teaches that His righteousness,
02:40 His life, His very life is in imparted to us
02:43 in the process of the relationship
02:46 as through the months and years
02:48 of our relationship in Jesus Christ
02:50 we are becoming like Him.
02:54 We're becoming like the one that we loved,
02:56 the one that abides in us and we abide in Him.
03:00 It is transformational
03:02 the relationship in Jesus Christ.
03:06 And by the way I mentioned something the other night
03:09 I'd like to mention this morning.
03:10 When it comes to the Bible
03:13 and relates to this whole thing of Righteousness by Faith
03:16 when it comes to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy
03:19 there are two major things
03:21 that we have always see if we take a good look at it.
03:23 Number one, we are going to see
03:25 that the standard is high.
03:27 The standard of God's righteousness is perfect.
03:31 God demands absolute perfection of us
03:35 and how do we measure up
03:37 to that expectation on God's part,
03:39 that perfection.
03:40 What's the answer?
03:42 Through the righteousness of Jesus, right.
03:46 It means the perfect requirements
03:49 that we find in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy
03:51 and by the way some people never get
03:53 beyond their requirements.
03:55 They just kind of cringe and they just kind of melt
03:57 because how can anybody ever measure up to it,
04:00 nobody apart from Jesus Christ
04:02 ever can measure up to the things
04:03 that God requires of us.
04:06 But that which He requires of us,
04:09 he makes provision for us through Jesus Christ
04:12 and that's the other great thing.
04:14 The great power the love
04:16 and grace that is ours in Jesus Christ.
04:20 And so as we study the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy
04:23 as we see these two things,
04:26 we must keep them in sharp focus.
04:29 Yes, high standard but His love, His love is all sufficient.
04:34 Jesus said it, My grace is sufficient for you.
04:37 Where sin abounds grace does much more abounds,
04:41 the standard is so high, it is.
04:43 And it is impossible for us to ever measure up
04:46 other sides apart from Jesus Christ.
04:49 Can you say amen to that? Amen.
04:51 And then I am gonna take you to a text as we get
04:54 and it's a continuation of our study here
04:57 on Righteousness by Faith that we began last week.
05:00 And the computer is been a little bit slow
05:02 but its Romans 3:28 where Paul says we are,
05:06 "Justified by faith apart from the works of the law."
05:11 That is through our obedience,
05:13 our attempt our feeble attempt that would be
05:16 because we have been deeply effected by sin
05:19 our feeble attempt again to keep the law.
05:23 And so we are justified,
05:25 we are saved apart from the words of the law.
05:29 And the scriptures are certainly clear
05:31 that our salvation is dependent on our faith
05:35 not on our works or our obedience.
05:39 However, there is a relationship between faith and obedience,
05:43 absolutely there is a relationship.
05:45 In fact, Paul in writing his second letter to Timothy,
05:48 its in Timothy Chapter 3,
05:51 he is speaking of the end times
05:53 when he makes his observation that there will be many
05:55 who would have the form of godliness
05:59 but they would deny the power thereof.
06:03 And now my friend, the privilege that we have in Jesus Christ
06:06 is not to just make a confession of Jesus.
06:09 Not just to have the doctrines,
06:12 do you know have that understanding
06:13 proper understanding that doctrines
06:15 and teachings my friend, its much more than that.
06:18 It is experiencing the power that is ours in Jesus Christ
06:23 through His love and grace
06:25 and through the power of His word.
06:28 And my friend, there is no power apart from Jesus
06:33 and His word, word and the grace
06:35 that is freely offered to each one of us.
06:39 Indeed God's word indicates
06:41 that there going to be many last days
06:43 before the coming of Jesus
06:44 who are going to have an empty form of Christianity,
06:48 whose wives are a denial of His saving power.
06:52 In fact, Jesus spoke of it Himself in Matthew Chapter 7
06:56 and looking at verse 21
06:58 where He said "Not everyone who says to Me,
07:00 'Lord, Lord,'
07:01 will enter the kingdom of heaven,
07:03 but he who does the will of My Father
07:05 who is in heaven will enter."
07:08 Now I just read almost 3:28 where it says by the words
07:12 you know by the words of the law
07:13 no one is going to justified
07:15 or saved and yet Jesus said it here.
07:17 Not everybody who says Lord, Lord,
07:19 not every one who makes a profession of Me
07:23 is going to be in the kingdom of heaven.
07:25 But he who does now that word "does" how we understand
07:31 how we do is essential to understanding of faith
07:36 and our relationship to Jesus Christ.
07:38 Would you not say absolutely essential
07:42 "But he who does the will of My Father
07:44 who is in heaven will enter."
07:46 And my friend, the gospel is proactive.
07:51 It is powerful.
07:53 It is not experience passively
07:55 in the Christian believer's heart.
07:58 It is not a passive experience,
08:00 its dynamic, it's also subtle, often it's subtle.
08:07 And so again you know Jesus talks about a profession,
08:10 a empty profession without a living,
08:13 living powerful experience in Jesus Christ.
08:18 And I think its pulled together,
08:21 its pulled together in the epistle of James
08:23 the letter written by James.
08:25 So I invite you to take your Bibles
08:26 and turn with me to James Chapter 2,
08:28 the New Testament page 178, 178
08:33 as we look at James 2, James 2
08:38 and beginning with let's see I think its verse 14.
08:43 Let me get there myself. Yes it is.
08:45 James Chapter 2 and looking at verse 14.
08:47 You will remember, this is this fascinating
08:50 and for some probably
08:52 this course on the relationship between faith and works,
08:59 and again you see the connection
09:00 if you were with us last night a last,
09:03 last Saturday morning as we looked at the imputed
09:06 and the imparted righteousness of Jesus.
09:09 I just wanted to look at that a little bit more deeper
09:13 so that it's a little clearer to us.
09:16 In James 2:14, James says, "What use is it, my brethren,
09:22 if someone says he has faith but he has no works?"
09:27 What use is it and what is James trying to get out?
09:32 What's the point that he is trying to get at here?
09:36 "What use is it, my brethren,
09:37 if someone says he has faith but he has no works?"
09:41 I think that the very least, we understand
09:46 as we begin to look at this passage of scripture
09:48 that James is making a, is establishing
09:52 or speaking of a relationship between faith and works.
09:59 And the question what use is it,
10:01 I think directly you know James is getting at the point
10:05 that faith without works is useless.
10:10 Faith and there's leaders
10:11 who are doing the right thing is useless.
10:15 And then he asks the question
10:16 further can that faith save him?
10:19 What kind of faith? Faith that doesn't work.
10:23 Faith that doesn't work, can it save an individual
10:26 and what's the obvious answer that James is getting?
10:28 That faith will not save anybody
10:31 because it's a denial of the power
10:33 that is our work in us by the means of faith, right.
10:40 There is a power that is that work at us.
10:41 And on and again immediately
10:43 sometimes it is very subtle
10:45 but nevertheless, it is powerful as we take a look at,
10:50 at faith and how it works within us.
10:52 Let's move on to verses 15 and 16.
10:55 James 2:15, 16.
10:59 where he says "If a brother or sister is without clothing
11:02 and in need of daily food and one of you says to them,
11:06 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,'
11:09 and yet you do not give them
11:10 what is necessary for their body,
11:12 what use is that?"
11:14 It is just fascinating to me in the world of theology
11:17 when we talk about faith and works
11:19 we really do get just very philosophical
11:22 and very technical and all the rest of it.
11:25 But when you look out
11:26 what James is talking about here,
11:27 when he talks about this illustration
11:30 in verses 15 and 16,
11:31 he is talking about something that is very practical.
11:35 And every time I read this verse,
11:37 I think about couple of people that in my community
11:41 stand on the corner of Sprague and Pines,
11:45 in tattered cloths with a little cardboards sign
11:50 begging for money, and for food.
11:54 And if my wife and I are in the car
11:57 and we're passing somebody with one of those cars--
11:58 you probably don't have this in Court Wallace do you?
12:00 You are a more, you do,
12:04 you wouldn't not in Court Wallace.
12:06 This is, this is a, educated
12:08 I mean this is a high class city isn't it.
12:12 That's what they're told but anyway
12:14 and so my wife and I are in this conversation
12:18 and I am saying to myself
12:20 is it that you're gonna use it for drugs,
12:22 is it you're gonna use it for alcohol, for his smokes.
12:26 And my wife is saying,
12:28 I don't know what is he gonna use it for
12:30 but if he or she is really in need
12:33 I am gonna them five bucks or whatever.
12:36 And that's the tenderness of my-- my wife's heart.
12:40 And I am working on it,
12:42 you know I am working on it.
12:44 The other day I came across a woman that,
12:47 that was you know, she was outside Wal-Mart
12:51 there in Spokane Valley and I went into the parking lot.
12:55 I went right by her
12:57 and she said single mother in need.
13:00 Young woman and I went in there,
13:02 she was all my mind the whole time
13:03 I was in there picking up a few things
13:05 and I came out and I decided that
13:06 I am gonna do something for that woman.
13:08 You know, what if there was my,
13:10 my daughter and what if there was my son?
13:12 And they were truly down and out,
13:15 hungry, didn't know where to go,
13:17 didn't know what to do
13:18 and so I came by opened my window and gave her $5.
13:23 I mean that was a pittance wasn't it.
13:26 So when we talk about faith and works
13:27 we can be so very theological
13:29 but James is so very practical
13:32 and he is talking about
13:33 you can have all the faith of the world.
13:35 You can pat somebody on the back that really is in need and say
13:38 "you know, be a good courage,
13:40 go in peace, be warned, be warmed, be feel up.
13:47 And then she don't give them anything.
13:50 That wouldn't be true of us will it?
13:53 No, faith is so practical.
13:56 Genuine faith, genuine faith
14:00 cannot be disassociated from the life is what we find.
14:05 You can't disassociate from the life.
14:08 Genuine faith will always reveal itself
14:10 in loving concern for others.
14:14 I'll tell you there have been battles
14:15 that have been fought over in the Christian church
14:18 and in the Seventh-day Adventist church,
14:19 battles fought over this matter of faith
14:22 and some of the coldest
14:23 and some of the most cruel things
14:25 have been done and said over this matter of faith.
14:30 And what constitutes faith,
14:32 you know what I am talking about don't you
14:35 for hitting that,
14:36 you know the very basis of the law is love.
14:40 We didn't have this battles but it's about love.
14:44 Faith is about love, it's about His loving us,
14:48 us loving Him, and us loving others.
14:52 Because of Him faith really cannot be genuine without it.
14:58 In fact in 1 John 3:17-19 and it says
15:04 "But whoever has the world's goods,
15:07 and beholds his brother in need
15:09 and closes his heart against him,
15:12 how does the love of God abide in him?
15:15 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue,
15:19 but in deed and truth."
15:21 You know, my generation,
15:24 you know or my let me begin with my parents generation.
15:27 I knew my parents loved me
15:29 but I never heard those words
15:30 until I was well-- well, into my adult years.
15:34 My parent's generation just did not utter those words often.
15:41 But my generations
15:43 some of you are part of my generation
15:45 my wife and I are very expressive.
15:48 We, verbalize our love often to our sons.
15:52 We have done that since they were little kids.
15:54 And I still will often put my arms around David
15:58 who is 27 and I'll say" David, I love you."
16:01 And you know what he'll tell me
16:02 "I love you too dad."
16:04 And I will grab my arms around Kevin
16:07 he got out the door before I could do that
16:09 on Thursday night,
16:10 they came over for dinner we had a family dinner together
16:13 and he was headed out and I am not gonna see him
16:15 for at least ten to ten days, two weeks.
16:19 And I was regretting that
16:21 I didn't rush out there to the car
16:23 and put my arms around Kevin and say
16:25 "Kevin, I love you, I love you."
16:29 It's good to verbalize ones love and affection
16:34 and we need to verbalize our love and affection
16:37 for one another within a certain context that's just fine.
16:40 But my friend, actions do speak louder than words.
16:44 We got to back up what we say with our lips
16:46 with what we do, love in action.
16:50 And that's what he is talking about here.
16:52 Love in action.
16:54 Anyway I had privilege of,
16:55 privilege of being in Kenya about six, seven years,
16:58 down there in south western Kenya
17:00 not far from the beside country.
17:03 And it was a fascinating experience.
17:05 I remember on one Sabbath morning
17:07 we had 25,000 people on the football field.
17:10 You know it's a soccer field over there.
17:13 Football field that they gathered together
17:15 in a congregation largest group I had ever preached to
17:19 and I will tell you they were workers.
17:21 We had some pastors and lay workers
17:24 and let me tell you
17:25 they have wonderful choirs in Kenya.
17:29 They are witnessing choirs,
17:31 they are not just you know and they I could--
17:34 I gonna bring in clips one night I have them on my computer.
17:36 Actually it's some of the wonderful choirs
17:39 and how they come in singing.
17:41 But they would come into a village,
17:43 they will go into a town and they will go to the homes
17:46 and they are witnessing.
17:49 And then they will sing,
17:51 you know, they were singing the meetings.
17:52 That's the kind of, you know, I love that.
17:55 [ Singing in foreign language ]
19:00 So in the process of being down in Kenya
19:02 we discovered 50% of that population
19:05 some two million in that part of Kenya
19:07 were gonna die because of AIDS.
19:09 It's just rampant and through the pastor's wife,
19:14 who also was the pastor Silvia,
19:15 that's Silvia bending over there.
19:18 Through Silvia I discovered that
19:20 she had established a ministry with 300 widows
19:24 whose husbands all had died of AIDS
19:26 and everyone last, every last one them had AIDS.
19:30 And they were living primitively,
19:33 they were living in what we would typically think
19:35 of as an African hut with a dirt floor
19:39 and we were in an elevation and it got cold
19:43 they didn't have one blanket.
19:45 The Quite Hour had given us $500.
19:48 James Zechariah said "Hey, somebody gave us some money
19:51 here take this money and use it for something good."
19:54 And so among the things that we did was
19:57 we bought them all blankets, 300 blankets.
20:01 We were-- buy out of Kisii town
20:04 which is a small, it's a city actually.
20:06 Silvia is telling me we have enough blankets for each one
20:11 which is really need here.
20:17 Thank you very much. Okay.
20:21 And we were able to give them to each one of those women
20:24 we were able to buy seven Chinese
20:26 finely made Chinese sewing machines.
20:31 And we got material and thread
20:34 and because they were just so poor
20:37 and we found they were several
20:38 that already were sew mistress but they didn't have the tools.
20:41 We provided it,
20:42 and then we provided somebody to teach them
20:44 how to sew and then we made arrangements to rent a shop
20:50 where they could sell the clothing they have made
20:55 because this was a big item in that culture, clothing.
20:59 And so you see it's just doing practical things
21:04 to meet the needs of others.
21:05 We could be so caught up in our minds
21:07 doing our own thing going on our own way
21:09 that we just kind of blinders on its
21:11 as if we were just unconscious that people have needs.
21:15 And my friend, there is needs right here in the fellowship.
21:19 There are needs and some of you have will never speak of,
21:21 something you just want to hold close to you.
21:24 But nevertheless, we all have needs
21:27 and that's part of the reason why we have fellowship,
21:31 is in love to support and to encourage others
21:35 and to meet the needs of individuals.
21:39 So what would you do if you had somebody
21:40 in your, in your congregation
21:43 who is going through the awful financial situation
21:46 the housing market who is on the verge
21:47 of losing their house.
21:49 We have this going on in my home church
21:52 and you know not due to anything
21:54 that they had done foolishly would we seek
22:00 to help somebody out in that situation.
22:04 What are the limits?
22:05 You know, everybody is on their own,
22:08 everybody has got to take care of their own needs work it out.
22:12 Well, I think there is something more
22:14 that we can do but you see practical faith in Jesus
22:17 always reaches out to touch the lives of others.
22:20 If our lives have been touched by His love,
22:24 His love will touch the lives of others through us.
22:27 We become the instruments, we become the channels.
22:30 In James Chapter 2 and moving on to verse 17,
22:34 James 2:17 he says "Even so faith,
22:38 if it has no works, is dead being by itself."
22:43 Now think of the import of this statement.
22:47 "Faith without works is dead."
22:52 And so I examine my own heart
22:54 what's the condition of my spiritual life,
22:56 what's the condition of my relationship to Jesus
22:58 and all that I profess is my faith is the genuine
23:02 or could it be possible to have dead faith?
23:06 You know that's, you know just believing that.
23:10 You know not really experiencing
23:14 and its all about experiencing, isn't it, it's experiential.
23:18 And so I ask you this morning
23:20 how is your faith in Jesus this morning?
23:22 Is it thriving, is it growing, is it affecting your life,
23:26 is it affecting my life with the spirit of His love
23:30 and with His grace?
23:32 Does my life bear testimony
23:34 to the genuineness of my profession of Jesus?
23:38 Does it?
23:40 You know, nobody else can answer that for us.
23:43 And then I am gonna take you on James 2
23:46 and looking at verse 18 where he says
23:48 "But someone may well say, 'You have faith
23:52 and I have works show me your faith without the works,
23:55 and I will show you my faith by my works.'"
23:59 So now we begin to see a correlation
24:01 that is my life will bear a testimony
24:06 to who possesses the heart.
24:10 If self is in throne it will be seen
24:16 in what I do and what I say.
24:19 If Christ is in throne it will,
24:24 you know, the life will give testimony of His presence.
24:28 Will it not in some ways?
24:30 Now I am not perfect,
24:32 you know you're not perfect we sometimes will stumble,
24:35 sometimes we may lose it.
24:37 May be we'll get a little impatient
24:39 or may be a little bit irritable on some mornings
24:42 but we are talking about the tendency of our experience
24:46 in Jesus will reveal itself in our lives.
24:49 This is a growing experience
24:52 and if I would say as how many of you have attained
24:54 you have reached the fullness
24:55 what it means to be just like Jesus
24:59 under every circumstance of the life
25:01 and every situation of life.
25:03 And you know what this hand goes down
25:06 along with the rest of you.
25:08 You know because we are growing
25:11 but that's the beauty of what we have studied last night.
25:13 Where He is in the good times?
25:15 Where He is when things are going wrong in our lives?
25:20 That's the confidence and the assurance
25:22 that we have in Jesus Christ.
25:25 My oldest son David was three months old when we,
25:28 we started this work three months old.
25:31 And we are in the Dakotas for two years
25:34 and then we were in Montana for another two years.
25:36 We are in Montana we just finished a series of meetings.
25:39 We were even renting a home in Montana
25:42 which meant we were living fulltime on the road
25:44 in a 40-foot fifth wheel trailer
25:46 which has its challenges of itself
25:49 where you get cabin fever on occasion
25:51 and so we are to finish this series of meetings.
25:53 And we are pulling the trailer
25:55 heading back to Bozeman, Montana,
25:57 to get a about nine day break
26:01 before the next series of meetings.
26:03 We pulled into a service station
26:04 because I had a 1979, Ford truck,
26:08 460 horse, 4 barrel carburetor
26:13 and that thing just sucked up the fuel, let me tell you.
26:17 So we often had to stop you
26:18 even though I have two fuel tanks in it.
26:21 And so I was feeling inept and I went in to pay up
26:23 and David I don't know what's about kids
26:25 but if there is toys anywhere in the store they just
26:29 and it's almost like they make a beeline to it.
26:31 And he had found this rack with these plastic
26:35 you know, these, these plastic packages
26:39 with very simple toys in it.
26:41 And he had found this train set and he looked at me,
26:46 3-years old, and he is saying
26:47 "daddy can you buy that for me."
26:50 And so I looked at it
26:51 and then we just like couple of box
26:52 I bought it for him
26:54 and we were just not very far from the hotel,
26:58 where we gonna stay in the motel
26:59 we are going to stay for that night.
27:00 He could hardly wait until we got settle in there.
27:03 We had to bring in the suitcases and all rest of it.
27:06 They get settled in there
27:07 so you know his daddy could help him
27:10 put together the toy train.
27:12 And so finally, I mean, he was so anxious.
27:15 We sat at that roundtable and we laid up the oval track.
27:19 It was very simple.
27:21 And put the engine on the track
27:24 and then a couple of cars and then the caboose
27:25 that was meant to be pulled around the track.
27:28 But you see when we put it on the track
27:30 and we begin to pull it, it always derailed.
27:33 We put it on and it again it would derail, it kept derailing.
27:37 And that was frustrating.
27:38 It was frustrating for me
27:39 because he was looking forward to it.
27:42 It was frustrating to him
27:43 because he was looking forward to it.
27:46 And it was, it was frustrating.
27:52 And you know what we ended up,
27:53 what we ended up doing with it?
27:55 We tossed it. It didn't work.
27:59 It wasn't any good.
28:01 And so we just, we ended up throwing it away.
28:06 Faith, genuine faith does work,
28:09 it does work.
28:11 That's what we find as we study the Word of God.
28:15 Galatians 2:20 as we--
28:18 probably what the Bible teaches about this matter of faith,
28:22 Galatians 2 and here it is
28:24 one of my favorite passages of scripture
28:26 where he says, "I have been crucified with Christ
28:30 and it is no longer I who live, but Christ."
28:35 Christ what? "Christ lives in me."
28:39 And that happens by faith.
28:42 "Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh
28:45 I live by faith in the Son of God,
28:48 who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
28:52 Oh, my friend, if indeed by faith Christ is living in you
28:55 and He is living in me
28:59 His life cannot be hidden within.
29:02 If Christ is living in you and me
29:04 His life will be manifested through us.
29:09 He will be manifested through us.
29:12 And I don't know about you but I pray about this everyday.
29:16 I just pray Lord Jesus I take of myself as a lump of clay.
29:19 I just saw that in Romania several years, some years ago
29:23 a potter with clay I've never seen that before.
29:26 And it's left the impression on me ever since.
29:28 And I just see myself as a clay
29:31 I was praying that about this morning.
29:33 Oh Jesus, like You where a potter would
29:36 put his hands to clay
29:37 put Your hands to this heart and to this mind.
29:42 Mold me and fashion me into Your likeness
29:47 because I think all of us are in this together
29:49 we want to have the Spirit of Jesus.
29:54 Not just the profession of it
29:56 we want the genuine article of the Spirit of Jesus
30:00 to become more like Jesus.
30:02 His tenderness, His compassion, His gentleness
30:07 and how we relate to others
30:09 beginning in our home
30:10 that's the first place where it begins.
30:13 Beginning in my marriage, beginning with my children,
30:17 beginning with my friends, includes some of my friends,
30:20 including the fellowship with the great diversity
30:23 that is usually present among most churches,
30:27 learning of lot not just those who are just like me,
30:30 but those who may be are not like me
30:32 in temperament or whatever.
30:35 It's about loving and accepting and caring
30:38 for and caring for those who are outside of the walls.
30:42 I assume that's part of the reason
30:43 why you wanted to do a series of meetings more than you--
30:46 the fact that he has money sitting in the bank account
30:48 you need to do something with it.
30:51 There are people out there
30:52 you have, you care about them.
30:56 You want to reach them.
30:57 You want to do it effectively.
30:59 I know that you want to do this effectively
31:02 as you possibly can.
31:03 On Colossians 1:27
31:06 where Paul says "To whom God willed
31:08 to make known what is the riches
31:10 of the glory of this mystery."
31:12 And my friend, it is mysterious
31:16 this spiritual process because it you know
31:19 at this process of becoming like Jesus,
31:21 the Holy Spirit working in our hearts.
31:25 "The riches of the glory of this mystery,
31:27 which is Christ in you,
31:31 the hope of glory."
31:35 It's a thing of beauty.
31:38 It's powerful.
31:39 And my friend, if Christ is in us
31:42 He will be in what we do.
31:45 Jesus will be in what we say.
31:48 He will, won't He?
31:50 Again we can't just disassociate a genuine faith from the life.
31:57 And that's why the imputed
31:58 and important righteousness of Jesus
32:00 is vital to understand and to experience
32:03 this process of becoming like him
32:07 which is again something wonderful,
32:10 something that is great.
32:11 Taking you on,
32:12 because I have little more I want to share with you.
32:16 I want to take you to John 15:5
32:22 and you know this text well
32:23 where Jesus said "Abide in Me and I in you."
32:26 And again my friend, if Jesus is abiding in the heart
32:30 the life will give the evidence of His presence.
32:34 It will, there is a correlation
32:36 and my friend, if what we profess
32:39 is disassociated from our lives
32:42 what we do out there.
32:44 How we are living how we are interacting.
32:47 If it's not to direct us--
32:48 if there is disassociation
32:51 then my friend, something has gone wrong.
32:55 There's an integration that takes place by faith
33:00 in our relationship to Jesus
33:02 and integration between what we profess
33:05 and what we live.
33:08 And that's part of the problem
33:09 with extremeness of that we have seen
33:11 in this whole subject of Righteousness by Faith
33:13 because some have been
33:14 so legalistic in this whole thing of the faith
33:17 and so legalistic over this whole thing
33:19 of Righteousness by Faith.
33:21 This whole thing, this whole idea works
33:24 and what we do and how we live
33:26 comes under suspicion.
33:29 It almost seems to have a taint of legalism
33:32 to suggest that we do matters.
33:36 But it does matter because it is reflective
33:40 of what is in the heart or better yet.
33:43 Who is in the heart?
33:47 And there will be disharmony,
33:51 there will be disharmony between the two.
33:53 And Steps to Christ, page 57,
33:55 we have this statement it says "While we cannot"
33:57 look at this its right there in the Bible
34:00 it's certainly biblical.
34:02 It says "While we cannot do anything
34:04 to change our hearts or to bring ourselves
34:06 into harmony with God."
34:08 And all of us because of our own experience
34:11 with sin would say, amen.
34:14 I can't do it, you can't do it.
34:16 It can't change-- may want something better,
34:18 may long for something better,
34:20 so it says in Roman 7.
34:21 I may have the desire to do what is right.
34:23 But the doing is not present within me.
34:27 It's not because we're soul in the bondage to sin.
34:30 Okay so "While we cannot do anything to change our hearts
34:33 or to bring ourselves into harmony with God
34:36 while we must not trust at all to ourselves
34:39 or our good works."
34:41 We must not, we cannot, we dare not.
34:47 "Our lives" it goes on to say "will reveal."
34:49 Our lives will reveal this,
34:52 "Whether the grace of God is dwelling within us."
34:59 See there is this, this thing about grace
35:02 that often is overlooked.
35:03 Grace is the American favor of God grace is
35:06 but grace also it involves the power of God.
35:11 That's often overlooked
35:12 when we come under grace the power that's transforming.
35:16 2 Corinthians 12
35:17 where Jesus said to Paul "My grace is sufficient for you,
35:21 for my strength is made perfected in weakness."
35:25 And there we see the correlation
35:26 between grace and the perfecting of His power
35:29 and strength within us.
35:31 And this is the privilege we have.
35:33 You know, I have been talking about the fact
35:35 that we need to,
35:37 you know, we can have
35:38 this first love experience with Jesus.
35:43 That vibrant love in Jesus that some of us
35:46 you know may be we've got in a little bit
35:49 this is like a couple of just been living together too long.
35:54 You know, may be they're sleeping in two different rooms.
35:57 And I heard of this couple they couldn't afford the divorce
36:02 so he occupied the main floor well,
36:04 she occupied and it was a really nice house
36:06 she occupied the lower level that was hers,
36:09 that was her too and the two were never to meet.
36:13 You know, they had the same household address
36:18 that to the casual observer they seem to be married
36:22 and all that but they weren't really.
36:24 They were going through the motions of it.
36:27 And my friend, if we have been
36:29 going through the motions of it
36:32 then we have not been experiencing the tremendous joy
36:37 and the tremendous power
36:39 that comes from a vibrant relationship in Jesus.
36:43 And it's a growth thing
36:45 and my friend, just the trust the Lord to do it.
36:47 You can't manufacture it I can't manufacture it
36:50 but it comes as we yield to give ourselves
36:52 to the one that we love.
36:53 As we yield ourselves
36:55 then we begin to experience in a deeper level
36:59 what I am talking about this morning.
37:03 Okay, and then I must take you
37:07 on to Selected Messages, book 1, page 397
37:11 "Genuine faith will be manifested in good works
37:17 for good works are the fruits of faith."
37:21 And I think all of us would agree with that.
37:23 "As God works" now there is a reason
37:26 why I am sharing with you.
37:27 Now notice the dynamic
37:28 the spiritual dynamic that's taking place.
37:30 "As God works in the heart,
37:33 and man surrenders his will to God."
37:35 That's all yielding to Him.
37:37 "And cooperates with God."
37:39 That's our part isn't it--
37:41 that's really all that we could do.
37:43 Yield ourselves and to cooperate with God.
37:46 "He works out."
37:48 That is man, women
37:50 and we're using in generic sense.
37:52 "He works out in the life" by faith
37:56 "where God works in by the Holy Spirit,
38:00 and there is harmony between the purpose of the heart
38:03 and the practice of the life."
38:05 And so that's our part by faith
38:08 we are working out by the grace of Jesus,
38:11 by the grace of Jesus,
38:12 we are working out of our lives
38:14 that which God is working into our lives.
38:20 It's a beautiful statement.
38:22 And really it puts it so well.
38:23 Spurgeon it this way
38:24 "Faith and obedience are bound up
38:26 in the same bundle.
38:27 He that obeys God trusts God
38:30 and he that trusts God obeys God.
38:32 He that is without faith is without works
38:35 and he that is without works is without faith."
38:39 Well he really got hold of that one, didn't he?
38:43 You see in the world of theology
38:45 when we talk about faith of works,
38:47 we want to break things down, faith is here, works is here.
38:51 We talk about one or the other
38:53 and sometimes we talk about them together
38:55 but in reality they are in separable.
39:02 Without faith works are legalism.
39:07 Faith without works, well we have read it dead,
39:12 its impractical, it's just a profession.
39:18 In fact, this from the Interpreters
39:20 One-Volume Commentary, page 920, I love this one.
39:24 Where it says "Faith and works are two sides
39:27 of the same reality."
39:29 The same reality.
39:31 "Faith is the inner side of the action,
39:34 works are the outward expression of faith."
39:39 So they are not separate,
39:41 one is the inner side and one is the outer expression of it,
39:46 you see that.
39:48 And so one will follow the other,
39:51 that is works will follow the faith is what we find.
39:55 Take a look at James 2:19.
40:00 James 2:19, and as we continue on here
40:04 where James says "You believe that God is one.
40:08 You do well, the devils also believe, and shudder."
40:12 Do the devils really believe?
40:13 Do the demons, do those fallen angels really believe?
40:15 Of course they do. They once inhabited heaven.
40:19 They once stood in the presence of God.
40:21 They once were singing those praise before God
40:23 the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.
40:27 But then they rebelled, they rebelled.
40:31 Yes, they believed that their works--
40:35 we know something about their works don't we.
40:37 Their works, their testimony that it is not really faith.
40:44 So we really should talk about that for a moment.
40:46 It's not just believing, believing at least a doctrines
40:52 though the teachings are important
40:53 because they are relevant to who Jesus is.
40:56 It's a content to the relationship,
40:58 the teachings are content to the relationship.
41:01 That is more than just the intellectual belief
41:04 it is an engagement of the heart with Jesus Christ.
41:09 It's not just believing intellectual
41:11 it's an engagement of the heart with Jesus Christ.
41:14 It is being connected to Jesus Christ.
41:17 It is faith and other word for faith is love.
41:20 It is a commitment of love.
41:22 A commitment of love on God's part to us
41:25 and a response of love in commitment to Him.
41:30 So there is faith has love and it has commitment.
41:35 I asked you, was it the last weekend
41:37 any of you know something about a committed
41:40 or in a committed relationship?
41:43 Well, you know something the dynamics
41:45 just on a human side of it.
41:47 But that really is just a reflection
41:50 of the deeper experience that we have the privilege
41:54 of knowing in Jesus Christ.
41:55 Verse 20, "But are you willing to recognize,
41:58 you foolish fellow, that faith without works is" is what?
42:05 Verse 20, right? "Is useless?"
42:08 Its dead and then it fascinates me
42:10 as you continue on.
42:12 As he is talking about fathom words
42:14 that he refers to an Old Testament
42:16 illustration of what he is talking about.
42:18 Take a look at verse 22.
42:20 "You see" he says you see, that-- well just a minute.
42:26 Verse 21, I was in 22, verse 21.
42:29 "Was not Abraham our father justified by works
42:33 when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?"
42:37 Just a minute does that bother anybody,
42:39 justified by works?
42:40 We just read in Romans 3:28
42:43 and there is a reason why I began with that text.
42:46 That no one is justified by the words of the law
42:49 but here it saying and it's in the New Testament
42:52 that Abraham was justified by his works.
42:58 That's problematic and he is talking about
43:02 when he offered up his son on the altar.
43:05 So it's referring to Old Testament story
43:07 that most of us probably are familiar with.
43:09 You know that story don't you?
43:12 You know Abraham,
43:13 I mean, he was required of bring himself
43:15 of everything that he knew
43:16 from the culture and the society.
43:17 There Mesopotamia and God says,
43:20 I am going to take you to if I way place
43:21 I am gonna give it to you and your inhabitants
43:24 and by the way that's gonna be like
43:25 the sands on a seashore.
43:28 Look at up in the heavens they're gonna be
43:30 like the stars unnumbered you are descendant.
43:33 Nations are gonna come forth from you.
43:36 And you're going to have a son.
43:38 He was the son of promise.
43:44 Years begin to click by one by one.
43:47 Decades began to go by no son.
43:51 They're getting older, you know the story
43:53 and, and you know finally Sara said
43:56 "you know want to take my handmade
43:59 and you would have a son and it would be fulfilled."
44:04 And so Ishmael was born and that God said no
44:08 he has not any part of the inheritance
44:11 that I'm promised.
44:13 It was hard but Ishmael had to leave.
44:16 You know so they tried a couple of different ways
44:18 to try to fulfill that which God had promised.
44:21 By the way that's legalism.
44:25 That was legalistic
44:26 because they were not depending upon God
44:28 to fulfill what he said he would do.
44:32 Okay, so Abraham knew-- so after many years--
44:37 I mean they're hundred what a 100-years old.
44:40 They are told Sarah is going to conceive
44:43 and you're gonna have a son about a year from now.
44:46 And Sarah is in her tent just laughing herself to that almost,
44:52 how could it be.
44:54 She says "our bodies are dead. And we are old it just can't be.
45:00 In my old age I am gonna be a mother.
45:03 It just won't happen." But it did happen.
45:06 And let me tell you they treasure that boy of promise.
45:10 They loved him. Didn't they?
45:12 They just loved him.
45:14 Isaac, they waited so long and God had fulfilled his word
45:19 as He had promised, all of their hopes
45:22 where the present and the future were wrapped up
45:24 in that boy that they loved.
45:28 So I move forward about some 20-years
45:30 or whatever it was from that point forward
45:32 and Abraham has his dream in his path.
45:35 And God comes to him and says
45:36 "I want you to take the son of yours.
45:39 I want to see if you really do love me.
45:41 And I want you to take him
45:42 and I want you to sacrifice him."
45:46 Now remember,
45:47 Abraham had the sentiment relationship with God
45:50 and he knew when God was speaking
45:52 He could have said "oh this could be God
45:55 but did I eat last night."
45:57 And so case introgression, what it is.
46:00 Then no, no how do we know.
46:01 Now here is the question
46:03 how do we know that Abraham had faith?
46:06 Well, we know from the biblical record
46:07 he didn't sleep in the next morning
46:08 he got up extra early
46:10 that's how we know that he had faith.
46:12 How do we know that Abraham had faith?
46:15 He went over stood one of his servants
46:17 he said "We'll be called sacrifice prepared the animals,
46:21 prepare we have got a journey to take."
46:23 He was instructed that he was to go to Mt. Moriah
46:25 that was gonna be ending up to be
46:27 a three days journey as it played out.
46:30 How do we know that Abraham had faith?
46:34 Abraham can you imagine this went over to where his son
46:39 was yet sleeping.
46:41 And he stirred him, he said "Isaac, wake up.
46:46 God has called us to sacrifice."
46:50 How do we know that Abraham had faith?
46:53 For the next three days can you imagine
46:55 what was on Abraham's heart?
46:57 For the next three days
47:00 they were traveling through the wilderness.
47:02 Every step was a step of faith.
47:07 How do we know that Abraham had faith?
47:11 Son and father climb to the heights of Mt. Moriah
47:16 and there Abraham lays his son upon the altar
47:21 and after those good byes,
47:25 he raises his hand with a knife
47:30 and only then the God step in
47:34 and He said "do not harm the child
47:37 for now I know that you love Me."
47:40 Right?
47:42 Now I know that you have faith in Me.
47:44 And now did He know it.
47:46 His actions showed it right.
47:50 And by the way now-- this was not just a task
47:54 this was to be a Revelation to Abraham
47:57 and to Isaac was there a sacrifice on that occasion.
48:01 What did they find over in the thicket
48:03 caught in the thicket, a ram?
48:07 And they sacrificed that ram.
48:09 What did the ram prefigure or symbolize?
48:13 The sacrifice of Jesus.
48:15 And so there was a substitution that was provided
48:19 on the top of the heights of that mountain
48:22 which gave Abraham and Isaac deeper insights
48:25 into the substitution that God would offer
48:29 on their behalf or their salvation.
48:32 And by the way we would know
48:35 this mountain by a different name.
48:37 I am gonna bring it up here.
48:41 Gonna bring it up here because Mt. Moriah is Mt. Zion.
48:49 And the mount somewhere else it says
48:50 under the dome of rock there is a rock there
48:53 under the dome of the rock is the very place
48:56 where this story took place with Abraham and Isaac.
49:00 Think of it.
49:02 At the very place that God would give up
49:06 His son for the life of the world is the place
49:10 that He brought Abraham to offer up his son.
49:16 And I say it in doing so in acting out his faith
49:21 he gained a greater insight into God's love
49:25 and the plan of salvation.
49:27 He knew what it was gonna cost
49:29 God the Father to give up His only Son
49:34 in a way that He would never have known
49:37 if He had not had experienced it
49:40 when He had been called to give up His own Son.
49:44 In Old Testament story of faith
49:46 and how faith works and my friend,
49:49 we too will be blessed as by faith
49:53 we are willing to act
49:55 in accordance with the will of God we will.
50:02 James 2:22
50:04 we finish up with these last two verses,
50:07 "You see that faith was working with his works,
50:12 and as a result of the works, faith was perfected."
50:15 My friend, when you're being tried
50:17 and you're not sure that you can hold on
50:19 that you can you know persevere through in faith
50:23 just keep praying, just keep trusting God
50:26 just keep paying on by faith.
50:29 And let me tell you,
50:30 you will come out the other side strengthened
50:32 in you faith in Jesus.
50:35 You'll have the deeper experience in Him than you had.
50:38 If you just simply just threw up your hands and say
50:41 "you know, works so matter anyway.
50:44 Its all legalism."
50:45 No it's not necessarily,
50:48 its opportunities for us to grow in faith.
50:54 You know, I have this in life experiences
50:57 and I you know may be shouldn't refer to in publicly
50:59 but my family was wrenched apart,
51:01 my birth family over this issue of money.
51:05 One family member who taught to they ought to get it all.
51:09 And had sued my dad's estate after his death
51:13 to get out his money and sued my mother for her money
51:16 and went after my sister and I, over money.
51:23 That was pretty tough, it was hard.
51:27 You know, have somebody in the family with such hate
51:31 and you know just I just have never seen especially in family
51:35 that it should be such hate and such determination
51:38 to destroy with such intensive anger.
51:42 And you know I have been around in the world.
51:45 I have been around in people.
51:46 I just had never seen something
51:47 as intensive and as venomous.
51:52 And as I showed you other night
51:54 that the other one thing I could do,
51:56 I put on my mirror
51:58 in my master bathroom several texts.
52:01 They've posted by the way on the website.
52:06 A several texts and often I would read those texts
52:09 and I would say "well, Jesus,
52:11 I am gonna trust You no matter what."
52:15 It took about two years unravel the whole thing
52:18 but by His grace it was.
52:21 And my friend, having gone through hard times
52:25 trusting in Jesus strengthens our faith
52:29 for the future, it does.
52:31 Alas and did my Savior bleed
52:39 And did my Sovereign die?
52:46 Would He devote that sacred head
52:53 For such a worm as I?
53:05 Was it for crimes that I have done
53:13 He groaned upon the tree?
53:20 Amazing pity!
53:24 Grace unknown!
53:28 And love beyond degree!
53:35 At the cross, at the cross
53:39 Where I first saw the light
53:42 And the burden of my heart rolled away
53:50 It was there by faith
53:54 I received my sight
53:58 And now I am happy all the day
54:09 But drops of grief can never repay
54:17 The debt of love I owe
54:25 Here, Lord,
54:27 I give myself away
54:33 It is all that I can do
54:40 At the cross, at the cross
54:43 Where I first saw the light
54:47 And the burden of my heart rolled away
54:54 It was there by faith
54:59 I received my sight
55:06 And now
55:09 I am happy all the day
55:26 Let's pray.
55:28 Father in heaven, how grateful we are
55:31 that You are who You are and who You say that You are.
55:36 That You are God
55:38 the all powerful one omnipotent, almighty.
55:43 Ruler, sovereign of this universe
55:47 but You are also as You are declared
55:49 You are a God of love,
55:51 of compassion, of mercy and gentleness.
55:56 And this morning we are humbled
55:59 that You would consider us of any importance
56:05 that You would love us, that You would value us,
56:09 that You would seek us that we would matter.
56:13 And Lord, we just want to respond
56:15 and give our very selves to You.
56:17 We invite You to come into our hearts
56:19 to abide in us to posses us to live out Your life in us.
56:25 Oh Lord Jesus,
56:26 fuel us to the fullness of the measure
56:28 of the glory that is Yours
56:31 is our prayer in Jesus name, Amen.


Home

Revised 2014-12-17