Is Faith Without Works Dead - Creflo Dollar
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00:00:00I've got some instructions from the Lord right before we get
00:00:04into the Word.
00:00:06We're gonna go ahead and receive our offering right now because
00:00:14I'm expecting the glory to hit any day now, right?
00:00:17So, but I wanna show you something.
00:00:21The Lord really dealt with me about this, and I had to, I
00:00:24think I had to repent.
00:00:25I had to change my thinking about some things.
00:00:29In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, and in 2 Corinthians 9, but 2
00:00:33Corinthians chapter 8, the apostle Paul is writing here in
00:00:38this whole chapter here, verse 6 and verse 7, he says,
00:00:43And so much that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so
00:00:48he would also finish in you the same grace also.
00:00:53Now, verse 7 says this, Therefore, as you abound in
00:00:57everything, all right, that word abound means increase.
00:01:02Therefore, as you abound in everything, you increase in
00:01:06faith, you abound and increase in utterance, you're abounding
00:01:12and you're increasing in knowledge, you're abounding in
00:01:16all diligence, you're abounding and increasing in your love to
00:01:22us, he said, See that you abound and increase in this grace also.
00:01:33And I went back and I'm like, What grace are you talking
00:01:37about?
00:01:38He's talking about the grace of giving.
00:01:41Praying with us, much entreating that we would receive the gift
00:01:44and take upon us the fellowship of ministering to the saints.
00:01:49And this they did, not as we hope, but first they gave
00:01:53theirselves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God.
00:01:58There is a increasing in the grace of giving.
00:02:06People still to this day cringe when you talk about giving where
00:02:13the church is concerned.
00:02:15So, I'm gonna begin to take offering up before I preach so I
00:02:18can start sharing a Scripture to start teaching you so you can
00:02:23start having authority over the financial realm.
00:02:27We wanna have authority over devils and we ain't got
00:02:29authority over our bills, right?
00:02:35And there are lots of Scriptures in here that teach us about
00:02:41giving.
00:02:42Now, let me share the first one.
00:02:44This will be the first one for this time.
00:02:46I'm gonna go to 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and I'm gonna read
00:02:51verse 6 and just see what it says.
00:02:55And then I want you to just ask yourself,
00:02:57do we tear this out of the Bible and just act like it's not there
00:03:00like we did for years with grace?
00:03:04Verse 1, remember this, a farmer who plants only a few seeds will
00:03:11get a small crop.
00:03:13We're now comparing our giving into the kingdom of God with
00:03:19farmers who plant seeds in the ground.
00:03:24Remember this, a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get
00:03:27a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a
00:03:32generous crop.
00:03:34You must each decide in your heart how much to give.
00:03:39I mean, what am I supposed to do,
00:03:40tear that out of the Bible like it ain't in there?
00:03:43You must decide how much to give.
00:03:46And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure.
00:03:51Two things he says, if you're gonna be a giver,
00:03:55you need to make sure you're not giving reluctantly or grudgingly
00:03:59or giving but don't wanna do it, giving but your heart's not in
00:04:06giving, and then that's the second thing.
00:04:07Second thing is don't ever give in response to pressure.
00:04:12The Lord in this opinion says if you don't give,
00:04:14you're gonna go to hell.
00:04:15If you don't give, you ain't gonna get blessed.
00:04:17Keep that money in your pocket, because he says don't ever give
00:04:20in response to pressure because he wants it out of your heart
00:04:24because you want it to give it, and we want the harvest in your
00:04:28life to show up, but it's not gonna show up giving
00:04:30reluctantly, and it's not gonna show up giving under pressure
00:04:34because you're afraid that what somebody said,
00:04:36that God ain't gonna bless you.
00:04:37I gotta tell you this, you blessed already.
00:04:39You blessed.
00:04:40You're blessed to have an opportunity to hear what you're
00:04:42hearing right now, to be able to take authority
00:04:45over the financial realm.
00:04:47Something's getting ready to happen in that realm,
00:04:49and if you'll get yourself in position, I believe, anyway.
00:04:53For God loves a person who gives how?
00:04:58Cheerfully, all right, and God will generously.
00:05:01Now, here's the part I want you to get.
00:05:03God will generously provide all of your needs,
00:05:05so he's trying to get you to sow that way so you can harvest
00:05:10that way, all right?
00:05:11Then you will always have everything you need.
00:05:15Well, I'm interested in that, and you're gonna have plenty
00:05:18left over to share with others.
00:05:20Now, this I'm really interested in because we're feeding people
00:05:24like we've never fed them before.
00:05:27There's a situation where the governor may not renew something
00:05:30where school kids are concerned, and they're not gonna get that
00:05:35extra meal that they need.
00:05:37Well, I've talked to my staff, and we are volunteering to
00:05:41wherever they leave off, World Changes is gonna pick up,
00:05:46all right, because we can feed you.
00:05:49We can feed you, and I believe there'll be enough money there
00:05:53for us to feed the whole neighborhood if we have to.
00:05:55We can feed you.
00:05:57You should've seen what happened the other day.
00:05:59We had one of the largest crowds we had the other week,
00:06:03and we've been feeding people since COVID.
00:06:09We've been feeding.
00:06:10We have fed, how many tons, Ken, have we?
00:06:16Yeah, literally, right?
00:06:18You're saying how much?
00:06:21Billions of tons of food that we've given folks, and it's all
00:06:25because people love to give cheerfully.
00:06:30And you will always have everything you need and plenty
00:06:33left over so we can share with others.
00:06:36Are you, see, the giving is not just you in church, but are you
00:06:41ready to be a blessing when you go eat at a restaurant, and the
00:06:46waitress show up, and the Lord speak to your heart to give a
00:06:50little extra to her?
00:06:53Verse 9, as the Scripture says,
00:06:55Verse 10,
00:07:19Sounds to me like we've been missing out on stuff when we
00:07:24kind of ignore our giving.
00:07:27And we got a generation coming up right now.
00:07:29I mean, I love my Gen Z generation, but Gen Z, like,
00:07:33man, I'm trying to get my bag.
00:07:35I ain't trying to take nothing out of my bag, but God knows
00:07:39about your bag, and if you'll learn how to take authority over
00:07:42the financial realm, you can dominate that realm through
00:07:47spiritual principles without being dominated by that realm.
00:07:51And so, we'll finish the rest of it later.
00:07:53If you need an offering envelope, let's go ahead and
00:07:56give, and here's another thing that I hope you understand and
00:07:59notice, Taffi and I are givers.
00:08:03I ain't never gonna ask you to give, and we don't do the same
00:08:07thing.
00:08:09As you give today, I want you to place these things in your
00:08:13heart that I am going to operate as a individual with authority
00:08:21over this worldly financial realm.
00:08:24I believe God cares for me.
00:08:26I believe God will take care of me, and therefore, I give.
00:08:30So, that's about, what, three or four or five minutes, and that's
00:08:34what it'll be like, just a little time to teach you just
00:08:37bit by bit by bit so that we don't have a generation of world
00:08:42changers walking out of here and living life being dominated by
00:08:48what goes on in the financial things of the earth, but we
00:08:52dominate those things.
00:08:53So, Dow Jones going up in Dow.
00:08:55Somebody say, Dow who?
00:08:56Don't worry about no Dow Jones.
00:08:59You just be concerned about what you sow, amen?
00:09:03And God will take care of you.
00:09:04Hold your offerings up.
00:09:05Let's declare over them right now.
00:09:06Father, I thank you in Jesus' name that we get this wonderful
00:09:10opportunity to give.
00:09:12We give out of a cheerful heart.
00:09:14We give out of a heart that trusts you to take care of us.
00:09:18We sow this like a farmer and that we may receive a harvest
00:09:22from it, but Lord, we don't give grudgingly.
00:09:25We don't give reluctantly.
00:09:26We don't give out of pressure.
00:09:27We give because we want to, and we praise you for it now in
00:09:30Jesus' name, and everybody that agrees, say it.
00:09:33Amen.
00:09:35Let's just go ahead and receive this offering this morning, and
00:09:40as you're doing that, open your Bibles up to the book of James,
00:09:51as we promised, James chapter 2.
00:09:55Well, hey, we're going to sing a song while we're giving?
00:09:59It don't take that long, just you give, and we already done.
00:10:04We sung a song just a few minutes ago, all right?
00:10:07Now, and you heard me say that I might have to repent.
00:10:18Part of it was like, you know, I don't want to make no big deal
00:10:23out of giving, and God said, you need to make a big deal out of
00:10:27giving because there's some people in there that don't know
00:10:29the deal about giving, and I repent it, and so that's what
00:10:33we're going to do until he tells us to do something else.
00:10:37Praise God.
00:10:38All right, could y'all stand up just for a moment?
00:10:42Just for a big moment.
00:10:47I want you to put your hands over your ears.
00:10:51It's a symbolic representation, and I want you to say out loud,
00:10:55Heavenly Father, anoint my ears to hear.
00:11:02I will hear and understand what you will speak to my life today,
00:11:09and I'll never be the same again in Jesus' name.
00:11:14Come on, give it up for the Lord because he's worthy of it,
00:11:16amen, amen.
00:11:19You can be seated.
00:11:23The book of James chapter 2, beginning at verse 14, and today
00:11:34we're going to answer the question,
00:11:37is faith without works dead?
00:11:44Is faith without works dead?
00:11:49Well, where'd that come from?
00:11:51Because what I'm talking about is most of us came up with the
00:11:55understanding of, I gotta have faith, but I gotta get some work
00:12:01to go with it, and so somebody says,
00:12:05have faith that God can give you 20-20 vision, and then,
00:12:10you know, you say, well, I gotta add some action to it,
00:12:13so I take my glasses off, or somebody says,
00:12:17have faith that, you know, God's gonna give you a new car,
00:12:25so you go and rent a car and lie all day about it's your car.
00:12:34And some of you are probably aware of some other really
00:12:37weird things that have taken place in people's lives trying
00:12:41to add actions to faith because we believe that faith is dead
00:12:50and incomplete if we don't add action to it.
00:12:54In other words, in order for faith to produce something,
00:12:57we got to add action to it, but I am now challenging that and
00:13:02say, is that really the truth?
00:13:06Is that really how that works?
00:13:08And what we got it from, we got it from the book of James
00:13:12chapter 2, which actually says, faith without works is dead.
00:13:17And so, without digging into it any longer, we just said,
00:13:20okay, so faith without works is dead.
00:13:22Do you remember the pressure you put on yourself?
00:13:25I have faith that God can do it, and then somebody says,
00:13:28yeah, but you don't have no work, so your faith is dead.
00:13:32And so, we kept trying to figure out how to add something to
00:13:36something that was already perfect.
00:13:39You remember?
00:13:41Mm, are y'all ready for this?
00:13:43Now, in order for us to clear this up, we got to do some
00:13:46reading, all right?
00:13:50Right, let's do some reading.
00:13:52All right, let's start at verse 14, King James.
00:13:55All right, you'll see where it came from.
00:13:56He says, what does it profit?
00:13:58Here's James now.
00:13:58What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he
00:14:02hath faith and have not works?
00:14:07And faith save him.
00:14:11If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and
00:14:17one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and
00:14:22filled.
00:14:23Now, how many of you know just something ain't right?
00:14:26Somebody comes to you, and here's your response, because
00:14:30you say you have faith.
00:14:32Depart in peace, and be ye filled.
00:14:34Now, if you were the people that they were telling to depart
00:14:38in peace and be ye filled, wouldn't you probably cuss them?
00:14:45Because you said you're a Christian.
00:14:48You said you're born again.
00:14:52Notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are
00:14:56needful to the body, what doeth it profit?
00:15:01Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
00:15:12Wow, and just, we just kind of took that and created something.
00:15:21Next verse, yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith.
00:15:26For an example, someone may say, Thou hast faith, and I have
00:15:30works.
00:15:31He says, Show me thy faith without thy works, and I'll show
00:15:35you my faith by my works.
00:15:39Thou believeth that there is one God, thou does well.
00:15:42He says, The devil's also believed and trembled.
00:15:48But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
00:15:53There it is again.
00:15:55Pastor Paul, how are you going to refute this?
00:15:58There it is again.
00:16:03Was not Abraham our father justified by works?
00:16:07Now, that's weird because everywhere in the Bible,
00:16:09especially Romans chapter 3 and 28 and Romans 4, it says
00:16:14Abraham was justified by faith.
00:16:16But he says, Was not Abraham our father justified by works?
00:16:20Now, either we don't understand the context of what he's
00:16:22preaching from, or he's just out of order.
00:16:25Verse 24, When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar,
00:16:30seeth thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works
00:16:37was faith made perfect.
00:16:41And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed
00:16:45God, and it was imputed, or charged unto him for
00:16:50righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
00:16:54You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by
00:16:59faith, so that leads you to think, well, a man's going to be
00:17:02justified by what?
00:17:03You got to do something.
00:17:06Next verse, Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified
00:17:11by works when she had received the messengers and had sent
00:17:15them out another way?
00:17:18For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith
00:17:24without works is dead also.
00:17:26There it is again.
00:17:29Y'all ready?
00:17:32All right, so James point, and a lot of this I'm going to try to
00:17:38hit right there, so let's get on this bus and go for this ride.
00:17:41James point throughout this section has been that works flow
00:17:46naturally from saving faith.
00:17:53Read the whole chapter.
00:17:54James is like, works flow naturally.
00:17:58If you have experienced saving faith, then doing good works
00:18:05flows because of the saving faith.
00:18:10Now, his teaching compliments that of Paul.
00:18:14It doesn't contradict Paul.
00:18:16It complements Paul.
00:18:18Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10.
00:18:23So, the whole point that James is making in saying all of this
00:18:26is those of you who say you are saved by faith and you've
00:18:30experienced and you have saving faith, something should flow
00:18:34from you naturally, because you say something should come out of
00:18:38you.
00:18:39Good works should come out of you naturally.
00:18:42Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10, watch this.
00:18:46Some of y'all getting it already.
00:18:48For by grace are you what?
00:18:52And you got it how?
00:18:54And that faith, not of yourself, it is the gift of God, watch
00:18:59this, not of works, lest any man should boast.
00:19:05For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, and
00:19:08we've been created unto good works.
00:19:10Notice by grace we're saved so we can do good works.
00:19:14Notice by grace we're saved and out of the saved comes good
00:19:17works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in
00:19:20them.
00:19:21So, his teaching compliments that of Paul in Ephesians 2,
00:19:25where Paul is clear that we are saved through faith by God's
00:19:30grace and ends up inevitably doing good works that God has
00:19:37planned for us all along.
00:19:39James is coming from the perspective of Paul saying,
00:19:44those of you who have been saved by grace, then you are saved to
00:19:51allow good works to flow out of you.
00:19:54But you can't say you're saved and somebody is naked and
00:19:58somebody is hungry and nothing flows out of you except your
00:20:03opinion.
00:20:03Are you following me now?
00:20:10Look at Romans 4, 1 through 5.
00:20:15Romans 4, 1 through 5, and in fact, look at Romans 4,
00:20:24Romans 3, 38, and then we'll go down there.
00:20:27Romans 3 and 30, no, 30, Romans 3 and 30, he says,
00:20:32seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by
00:20:42faith and uncircumcision through faith, oh, I'm sorry,
00:20:47verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by what?
00:20:53Faith without the deeds of the law, all right?
00:20:55Man's justified by faith.
00:20:57Now, look at verse, look at Romans 4, 1 through 5.
00:21:02What shall we say then that Abraham, our father,
00:21:05as pertaining to the flesh is found?
00:21:07For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory
00:21:11but not before God.
00:21:14For what saith the Scripture?
00:21:15Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him
00:21:17for righteousness.
00:21:19Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace,
00:21:23but of debt.
00:21:24Now look at this, at verse 5, but to him that worketh not,
00:21:28but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
00:21:32but faith is counted for righteousness.
00:21:33Now, let's read the same thing in the NLT.
00:21:37So, basically he's saying, if you became justified by your
00:21:40works, God doesn't get the glory.
00:21:42You get the glory because your works is responsible for this.
00:21:45And he said it's no longer a gift, it's no longer a gift,
00:21:49but it is now something that you earn.
00:21:52It's a debt that needs to be paid to you.
00:21:54So, Abraham was humanly speaking the founder
00:21:56of our Jewish nation.
00:21:58What did he discover about being made right with God?
00:22:02Verse, he says, if his good deeds had made him acceptable
00:22:07to God, he would have had something to boast about,
00:22:10but that was not God's way.
00:22:12So, your good deeds are not acceptable before God.
00:22:17You're saved and good deeds flow from you, but you don't add good
00:22:23deeds in order to be right with God.
00:22:30See, what we've been doing is adding good deeds to try to get
00:22:34faith to work.
00:22:36He says, faith is already fine.
00:22:39If you'll just, if you'll believe that Jesus believes
00:22:42that you're saved, amen, then out of your faith,
00:22:47out of your saving faith, good works flow.
00:22:50But we've always seen it, add the good works to your faith,
00:22:53or your faith won't work.
00:22:54So, if we're talking about being justified, we believe you've got
00:22:58to add works to faith in order to be justified.
00:23:01No, you're justified by faith, and then from that,
00:23:04good works flow.
00:23:08You follow me?
00:23:11For the Scripture tell us Abraham believed God,
00:23:13and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.
00:23:18When people work, their wages are not a gift.
00:23:22When you get your paycheck, is that a gift?
00:23:25You work for that, didn't you?
00:23:27And if you don't get it, you saw a calling, what's up?
00:23:30Somebody what?
00:23:31Oh, me, all right?
00:23:34So, when people work, their wages are not a gift,
00:23:36but something that they have earned.
00:23:39Verse 5, but people are counted as righteous not because of
00:23:43their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.
00:23:54All right?
00:23:55So, James states clearly in the form of a question that Abraham
00:24:06was justified by works.
00:24:09What was he talking about?
00:24:11Abraham was justified by works when he obeyed God's command to
00:24:15sacrifice Isaac.
00:24:18What was he talking about?
00:24:19Go back to James so you can see this.
00:24:20I want you to see every bit of this.
00:24:27James chapter 2 and verse 21, he says,
00:24:30"'Was not Abraham our father justified by works?'
00:24:33I just read to you that Abraham was justified by faith."
00:24:36So, what did he mean here when he said,
00:24:39you just look at Abraham, he was justified by works when he had
00:24:42offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar.
00:24:44And he says he was justified by work at that particular time.
00:24:48Works, he was using works as a synonym of fruit or evidence.
00:24:55What he said was Abraham was justified or there was evidence
00:25:15of his salvation, fruit or works came up.
00:25:22What was the fruit of the works?
00:25:24Did you see Abraham doing what he did?
00:25:27That demonstrated saving faith.
00:25:30Abraham so trusted in God that to do what he did came out of
00:25:39him.
00:25:41He didn't add the work.
00:25:45It was his faith in God that moved him to do what he did with
00:25:49his son.
00:25:50It was something that was already in him.
00:25:52Wow.
00:25:53The context is crucial here, folks.
00:25:58Listen to this.
00:25:59James' words leading up to verse 21 have been about how works
00:26:05demonstrate saving faith.
00:26:08Paul used the term justify to describe the formal process by
00:26:13which God declared a person righteous.
00:26:16He used that word justify.
00:26:17This is clear from the context of his other words that James
00:26:22spoke.
00:26:23James, in this passage, has been describing the difference
00:26:26between a living faith and a dead faith.
00:26:29James is using the term justify to refer to proof.
00:26:35Let me read it to you this way.
00:26:36"'For was not Abraham our father?
00:26:41Did he not have evidence by his work or proof by his works?
00:26:46Proof by his work, fruit by his work, evidence by his work
00:26:51when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar?'
00:26:55He wasn't talking about he had to add works or something.
00:26:58He was saying, look at the fruit that came out as a result of
00:27:03what he did, and James calls that work.
00:27:09James, again, is using this term to refer to proof in the eyes
00:27:14of people.
00:27:15Paul and James are not contradicting each other.
00:27:17They are speaking two different things.
00:27:19James is pointing to Abraham's faith as the motivating power
00:27:24behind his work.
00:27:26James will also show that it was Abraham's belief that allowed
00:27:31him to be counted as righteous.
00:27:33His works were evidence of the faith that he had in God.
00:27:39His works were the evidence.
00:27:41His work was the fruit.
00:27:44His faith was there and his work came as a result of his faith
00:27:48being there.
00:27:49His faith was there and the fruit came as a result of it.
00:27:52The proof of his saving faith was his work, glory to God.
00:27:57And the proof that you and I have been saved by grace is what
00:28:01comes out of us, good works.
00:28:04See, you're moved to do something good.
00:28:06That's the fruit that comes out of you being saved.
00:28:09You move to do something to help somebody.
00:28:11That's the fruit that comes out of you from being saved.
00:28:13You're moved to give.
00:28:15You're moved to help.
00:28:17You're moved to comfort.
00:28:19You're moved to do all of those things because that's the faith
00:28:21that abides on the inside of you.
00:28:23So, it is works.
00:28:25Good works are coming out of people who are born again.
00:28:28And what he is saying is if these good works, if we ain't
00:28:32got no proof that you really saved by grace, then your faith
00:28:37is dead faith.
00:28:39Your faith is dead faith.
00:28:45Dead faith is you saying that you have faith, but there's no
00:28:50proof of it.
00:28:55Dead faith is you saying you've experienced saving faith and
00:28:58you're born again, but there's no fruit.
00:29:02There's no fruit.
00:29:03There's no love.
00:29:04There's no peace.
00:29:06There's no joy.
00:29:08How you gonna say you saved and look at somebody naked and it
00:29:12don't bother you by telling them, go and be ye clothed?
00:29:19He said, your faith is dead.
00:29:22Why?
00:29:23Because it ain't got no, what do you call an apple tree that
00:29:26don't ever produce no apples?
00:29:28It's a dead tree.
00:29:31What do you call a Christian who never has proof of his
00:29:34Christianity?
00:29:35He's got dead faith.
00:29:50So, James was saying, faith without proof, faith without
00:29:57fruit, faith with no evidence is dead.
00:30:06Because that faith you have, it will produce.
00:30:12It'll produce wisdom.
00:30:14It'll produce what to do.
00:30:17Yeah, you're always talking about what do you do?
00:30:19Faith will, if you got saving faith, it comes from you.
00:30:23The doing comes from you.
00:30:25The doing is not needed for faith to work.
00:30:28Faith produces the doing.
00:30:30Faith produces the wisdom.
00:30:32Faith produces the burning in you to wanna go and save the
00:30:36lost, wanna go and feed folks, wanna go and do this and do
00:30:40that.
00:30:41You have to question yourself, Christians, if you are a
00:30:43Christian and ain't nothing came out of you yet.
00:30:48The Bible says, we are the branch, he is the vine.
00:30:52What kind of tree we got when the branch ain't never given?
00:31:00That's what James was saying.
00:31:02The whole book of James, James was sitting up there and was
00:31:04first of all talking about how we show favoritism to the rich
00:31:11and don't pay no attention to the poor.
00:31:13So, Pastor James, James the pastor, he concerned about how
00:31:17y'all going around here talking about how you all saved,
00:31:21sanctified, come on outside and tie my tie and ain't no evidence,
00:31:27no proof, no fruit.
00:31:32Okay, now, let's read verse 14 through 26 again in the message.
00:31:47So, now you know what James is saying.
00:31:49Now, read it and let's read it in the message.
00:31:52My God, all right, and that's just foundation.
00:31:57I'm gonna tear this, ain't nothing up here to tear up,
00:32:00I'm gonna wreck, I gotta get somebody out here to wreck,
00:32:04get a trash can or something.
00:32:09Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if
00:32:15you learn all the right words but never do anything?
00:32:22Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really
00:32:28has it?
00:32:31For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and
00:32:36half-starved and say,
00:32:38good morning, friend, be clothed in Christ.
00:32:44Be filled with the Holy Spirit and walk off without providing
00:32:51so much as a coat or a cup of soup.
00:32:54What does that get you?
00:32:57Isn't it obvious that God talk without God acts is outrageous
00:33:04nonsense?
00:33:12And that's what it's turned into.
00:33:15At one time, we got so spiritual,
00:33:17it was outrageous nonsense.
00:33:19I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying,
00:33:25sounds good, you take care of the faith department and I'll
00:33:31handle the works department.
00:33:33He said, not so fast.
00:33:35You can no more show me your works apart from your faith
00:33:40than I can show you my faith apart from my works.
00:33:45Faith and works, works and faith,
00:33:50they fit together, hand in a glove.
00:33:56Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God,
00:34:01but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done
00:34:06something wonderful?
00:34:10That's just great.
00:34:13Demons do that, but what good does it do them?
00:34:21Use your heads.
00:34:23Use your heads.
00:34:25Oh, I gotta stop right there.
00:34:27Don't be afraid to think.
00:34:30Don't sit up there and bite off anything somebody throw at you.
00:34:34Just because they said that, you know,
00:34:37they've been saying it for four decades,
00:34:39don't mean you ought to bite off of it.
00:34:41My God, that's what I did.
00:34:42I bit off of it.
00:34:43Don't just, don't be afraid to think.
00:34:46Don't be afraid to look back and say, wait a minute,
00:34:48I know this person came to me and prophesied that this going to happen,
00:34:50but don't you be afraid to think.
00:34:52Don't you buy everything somebody come up to you and prophesy.
00:34:55Now, you pray, you hear from God, you talk to him, you read your word.
00:35:00Don't be sitting up there.
00:35:05Think.
00:35:08Use your heads.
00:35:11Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end
00:35:18up with a corpse on your hand?
00:35:25Wasn't our ancestor Abraham made right with God by works?
00:35:29You see, we see what he's saying now, right?
00:35:32It was Abraham who knew God, who was right with God,
00:35:36and from him came that obedience to do what God told him to do.
00:35:44When he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar,
00:35:47isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners,
00:35:52that faith expresses itself in works?
00:35:56Did you see that?
00:35:57Faith expresses itself in works.
00:36:01Isn't that the works are works of faith?
00:36:05The full meaning of believe in the Scripture sentence.
00:36:10Abraham believed God and was set right with God includes his action.
00:36:18When he believed and he had faith in God,
00:36:20it include everything that was going to come out from that.
00:36:24It's that weave of believing and acting that got Abraham named God's friend.
00:36:32Is it not evidence that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith,
00:36:39but by faith fruitful in works?
00:36:48The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot.
00:36:52Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape that
00:36:58seamless unity of believing and doing what counted with God?
00:37:04The very moment you separate body and spirit,
00:37:08you end up with a corpse.
00:37:12Isn't that right?
00:37:14As soon as your spirit leave your body, you end up with a corpse.
00:37:18You separate faith and works and you get the same thing, a corpse.
00:37:25Dead faith, dead faith.
00:37:30You get a corpse.
00:37:32Dead faith.
00:37:38So, as the body without the spirit is dead,
00:37:42so is the faith without good works coming from it.
00:37:51Man, this has got to set you free.
00:37:54Good works coming from it.
00:38:00So, James 2 makes the case that how one acts,
00:38:04their works are a sign of the kind of faith they possess.
00:38:09So-called faith, which doesn't lead a person to participate in
00:38:15good works is not a saving faith.
00:38:19It is a dead thing.
00:38:23It is pointless and meaningless to believe or to wish a poverty
00:38:27stricken person to be well if such an opinion leads to no
00:38:30action.
00:38:33In exactly the same way, James insists that this is not enough
00:38:39to mentally agree about certain facts of God.
00:38:44If what a person believes about God does not lead them to act
00:38:49accordingly, then their faith is not saving faith.
00:38:55It is merely opinion.
00:38:58And James never says that faith is not essential for salvation.
00:39:02He didn't say that.
00:39:04He never claims works are required to obtain or to keep
00:39:09salvation.
00:39:10He never said that.
00:39:11He is, however, crystal clear that truly saving faith cannot
00:39:18be separated from the evidence of good works,
00:39:22from the evidence of fruits of good works.
00:39:26So, you were saved by grace to bring forth good works.
00:39:33He saved you for good works.
00:39:36You understand that?
00:39:38He saved you for good works.
00:39:39If we don't do it, who you think gonna do it?
00:39:43We were saved to go into the clubs and get involved in human
00:39:48trafficking and doing everything we can do in prestige ministry
00:39:52to get these girls off the pole and get them away from their
00:39:55pimps and to house them.
00:39:57And it takes money to do it, but we were saved to do that.
00:40:00You can't sleep when God got that kind of fruit coming
00:40:03out of you.
00:40:08Genuine saving faith in God leads to good
00:40:14and loving actions.
00:40:19Good works don't lead to faith.
00:40:21Faith leads to good actions, good work, good action.
00:40:26Now, I wanna make these two statements.
00:40:28If you can jot this down, it's gonna require you to meditate on
00:40:31this, but works are to faith what breath is to the body.
00:40:42Works are to faith as breath is to the body.
00:40:47And what's that?
00:40:48A sign of life.
00:40:51A sign of life.
00:40:54Here's the second one.
00:40:56A faith without works or proof.
00:41:01A faith without works or proof.
00:41:03A faith without proof.
00:41:04A faith without fruit.
00:41:06A faith without works is like a body without breath.
00:41:12A faith without proof is like a body without breath, dead.
00:41:21So, James was just simply saying, if you saying you got
00:41:25this saving faith and we can't see no fruit and no proof,
00:41:31your faith must be dead, versus what we've been trained
00:41:37in all our lives.
00:41:41Oh, God, I got faith, but I gotta go and get some works
00:41:46to add to faith.
00:41:49And we're not even talking about good works.
00:41:51We're talking about we got to do something or we got
00:41:55to perform in order to get this faith to work.
00:42:00That's not correct.
00:42:01I don't believe it is.
00:42:02This is what I believe, okay?
00:42:05You know, this is what I believe.
00:42:07For everybody who's ready to debate about it, this is what I
00:42:09believe, and Jesus will get us all straight when we get there.
00:42:14But for right now, R-A-T, quick as a rat, for right now, I'm
00:42:19gonna trust that I have God, it's God's faith in you.
00:42:25Now, you need to understand, this is the first thing you
00:42:29need to understand, the faith you have is not your faith.
00:42:40The faith you have is God's faith, because there's only one
00:42:46faith, and God got the perfect faith.
00:42:52You have the faith of Jesus Christ.
00:42:54God says in what, Galatians 2.20?
00:42:57We live, look at 2.20 in Galatians 2.20, we live by the
00:43:04faith of the Son of God.
00:43:10I live by the faith of the Son of God.
00:43:14He says, my old self has been crucified with Christ.
00:43:16It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
00:43:20Christ lives in me.
00:43:21Christ lives in me.
00:43:23Christ lives in me.
00:43:25Christ lives in me.
00:43:26Oh, Christ lives in me.
00:43:29All right, I got, I just, I saw something there.
00:43:30Christ lives in me.
00:43:32Christ lives in me.
00:43:35I say, I say, Christ lives in me.
00:43:38Yeah, but brother, we're talking about faith lives in you.
00:43:41No, he said, Christ lives in me.
00:43:43Oh, Christ lives in me.
00:43:46Say, Christ lives in me.
00:43:48The day he got born again, Christ lives in me.
00:43:50Go to your place right there and go to Galatians 3,
00:43:54verse 23 and 25.
00:44:01Do it, do it in the King James.
00:44:02I want to do it in a familiar verse only, and then I'll go to
00:44:05the end of it when I tell you.
00:44:07But before faith came, we were kept under the law.
00:44:14Shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
00:44:19Well, who was it that came?
00:44:23Christ came.
00:44:26Before faith came, Christ came.
00:44:27Look at verse 25.
00:44:29Before Christ came, he says, but after faith is come.
00:44:35Who has came and who has come?
00:44:37Jesus.
00:44:39We are no longer under the schoolmaster or under the law.
00:44:43Here we go, I'm finna say it out loud.
00:44:45Faith is a person.
00:44:47His name is Jesus.
00:44:52Faith is a person.
00:44:54Faith is a person.
00:44:55His name is Jesus.
00:44:57Faith is a person.
00:44:59His name is Jesus.
00:45:00The day you got born again, Jesus came in.
00:45:03Faith came in.
00:45:04Glory to God.
00:45:06When Jesus came, he came perfect.
00:45:08When that faith came in you, it's perfect.
00:45:10You cannot separate the Christ from the faith.
00:45:14Go back to Galatians chapter 220.
00:45:16Oh, y'all gotta hear what I'm saying.
00:45:17I didn't mean to go here, but you gotta catch this.
00:45:19I'll finish it a little bit later.
00:45:20I'll get it straight for you.
00:45:21He says, I am crucified with Christ.
00:45:23Nevertheless, I live.
00:45:24Yet not I, but Christ, faith, Christ, faith, Christ, faith,
00:45:31liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh,
00:45:35I live by the faith of the Son of God.
00:45:39It's his faith.
00:45:41I live by his faith.
00:45:43I live by his faith because it's him.
00:45:53We keep trying to make it our faith so we can do what we want
00:45:56to do with it.
00:45:58We keep making it our faith so we can do what we want to do
00:46:02with it, but the fact of the matter is his faith and
00:46:06everything that has been needed to be done is already done.
00:46:09When he showed up, when he got off that cross,
00:46:12it was finished.
00:46:13It's finished.
00:46:14It's not something that's gotta be done or something that's
00:46:17gotta be fixed or something that's gotta be renovated.
00:46:20When the faith of Jesus came on the inside of you,
00:46:22it came in perfect.
00:46:23It came in complete.
00:46:25It came in finished.
00:46:26It came in done.
00:46:28Finished, completed, done, and I live by something that's
00:46:49already finished, completed, and done.
00:46:52I live in the dimension of the finished, the completed.
00:46:59The done.
00:47:01I don't live trying to get it done, trying to work it out,
00:47:06trying to figure it out.
00:47:10I live in the realm of done.
00:47:13I live in the realm of finished.
00:47:15I live in the realm of the faith finder.
00:47:22He's the author and the finisher of faith.
00:47:24The American translation says he's the faith founder.
00:47:27He's the faith founder.
00:47:31Hebrews 12 and 2, he says he's the author and the finisher
00:47:34of your faith.
00:47:35The Greek says he's the faith founder and finisher.
00:47:43So, if you go to God and say,
00:47:44God, and you're born again and you've received this faith,
00:47:48that's the measure he gave, and he received this faith.
00:47:53You say, God, make me righteous.
00:47:54You know what he's gonna say?
00:47:56Righteous, finished.
00:47:59God, redeem me.
00:48:00Redeemed, finished.
00:48:03God, heal me.
00:48:05Healed, finished.
00:48:08God, prosper me.
00:48:09Prospered, finished.
00:48:11In other words, it's his world and you're living in it.
00:48:15You understand?
00:48:16Hey, he's not trying to do what he's already done.
00:48:24He's not trying to do what he's already done.
00:48:27He's already done it.
00:48:28It's finished.
00:48:29Ain't nothing you can ask him for that he won't respond in
00:48:34the realm of the finished, finished.
00:48:38Finished.
00:48:39What you gotta ask him?
00:48:40Finished.
00:48:41His response is finished.
00:48:43His response is not, okay, let's see what we can do.
00:48:46His response is finished.
00:48:47He said, I already did all I'm gonna do.
00:48:50Now, what do you do?
00:48:53Now, what do we do?
00:48:55Oh, b-b-b-b-b-shabba.
00:48:57Now, how do we live this life of faith?
00:49:00Oh, help me, Jesus.
00:49:02Oh, glory.
00:49:03Now, how do we live this life of faith?
00:49:07Two things, two things, every time you wake up every morning,
00:49:16number one, realize it's finished.
00:49:22Whatever you're asking for, whatever you need,
00:49:24realize this is done.
00:49:27Second thing, you gotta rest in the finished.
00:49:43Y'all gotta, y'all gotta hear what I'm saying.
00:49:45You gotta rest in the finished.
00:49:47You can't rest in, I don't see it yet, what I need to do.
00:49:50You gotta rest in the done.
00:49:51You gotta rest in the completed.
00:49:53You gotta rest in the finished.
00:49:58The Bible says, labor to enter into the rest.
00:50:06You know what we've been doing?
00:50:07We've been laboring to get healed,
00:50:09laboring to prosper, laboring to, oh God, oh God,
00:50:14oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God.
00:50:16And you keep seeing yourself without it,
00:50:18instead of abiding in the realm of the finished.
00:50:20You gotta see yourself finished.
00:50:22All week, since Wednesday, all week.
00:50:24How many of y'all here Wednesday night?
00:50:26We'd like the Lord to have mercy.
00:50:28All week, I wake up several times a day saying,
00:50:31I live in the dimension of the finished.
00:50:37What am I doing?
00:50:38I'm renewing my mind.
00:50:39I'm getting away from what we got to do to get it to it's
00:50:43purpose, what we've been gotten, and I live this life by the
00:50:46faith of the Son of God.
00:50:48I'm not living this life by my faith.
00:50:51I'm living my life by his faith, which is perfect,
00:50:54which is flawless, which is finished,
00:50:56which is completed, which is done.
00:50:58So, I only have two things to do.
00:51:01Whoo, Taffi, if I hadn't overworked yesterday and did
00:51:10all that walking, I would get ready to run, girl.
00:51:12I would get ready to run.
00:51:14I ain't gonna do it though, baby.
00:51:16It ain't necessary because it's finished.
00:51:18Hey!
00:51:19Hey!
00:51:20Whoo!
00:51:21I abide in the realm of the finished, the done, the complete.
00:51:43Now, it's still hurting, but it's finished.
00:51:50Light's still off, but it's finished.
00:51:53Still hurting, but it's finished.
00:51:56They found a third tumor, but it's finished.
00:51:58Ah, glory to God.
00:52:02Ain't nothing in the natural scene to change,
00:52:04but it's finished, and if you'll hold on in the finished
00:52:08until you can find rest in the finished,
00:52:11you start singing to laborers to stay in the finished.
00:52:14You start praying in tongues to labor to stay in the finished.
00:52:18You come to church to labor to stay in the finished.
00:52:21You meditate on the Word to labor to stay in the finished.
00:52:24If you can stay in the finished, what you could not see,
00:52:30you are about to see because his faith is finished.
00:52:37Hey!
00:52:38Hey!
00:52:40Whoo!
00:52:49I live in the realm of the finished.
00:52:55Come on, say it with me.
00:52:56I live in the realm of the finished.
00:53:03It is done.
00:53:06It is finished.
00:53:15Jesus, Jesus, sit down, I ain't through yet.
00:53:18Jesus didn't hang on a cross, go through all that
00:53:22to say it is finished so you can use it
00:53:24as a nice Easter message.
00:53:26We must labor to rest.
00:53:43We got to find rest, and the Bible says be careful
00:53:48that you don't end up doing like they did before
00:53:53and not resting.
00:53:54When you rest, you cease from your labor.
00:53:57When you rest, you cease from your work.
00:53:59When you rest, you cease from your performance,
00:54:02and you're still performing, you're still laboring.
00:54:06You go to church bragging about your labor.
00:54:08Oh, yeah, but it's finished.
00:54:10No, don't do that because he said the work
00:54:14represents unbelief.
00:54:19Yeah, you want to see that?
00:54:22Hebrews 4, hold your place at Genesis 2.20.
00:54:25I ain't done yet.
00:54:26I got 17 more minutes, I'm right on time,
00:54:30because football season started Friday,
00:54:31so you know we're going to be right on time.
00:54:36Good Lord.
00:54:38They ain't got no game today yet, but I'm practicing.
00:54:50Look at verse 11.
00:54:53Chapter 4, Hebrews 4 and 11.
00:54:55Let us labor, therefore, to enter into the rest,
00:54:59lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
00:55:05The guy that doesn't work to stay at rest and enter
00:55:08into the rest, he falls back into unbelief.
00:55:12Isn't that the truth, though?
00:55:14Isn't that the truth?
00:55:15The circumstances hadn't changed.
00:55:17The money ain't came in yet.
00:55:19The situation hadn't been resolved,
00:55:21and all of those things are designed to get you
00:55:25out of the rest.
00:55:27Don't you see?
00:55:28Don't you see that life has been charged to try
00:55:31to keep you out of rest?
00:55:34Haven't you had those days when you said,
00:55:36I'm going to stay in the rest, and it looked like all kinds
00:55:38of crazy stuff started happening.
00:55:40That's the devil saying, no, I can't afford to let you
00:55:42stay at rest, because when you're at rest,
00:55:44then you're going to see God's best,
00:55:46and I don't want you to see God's best.
00:55:48I need you to labor.
00:55:49I need you to work for it.
00:55:50See, you're still feeling religious,
00:55:52because you're working for it.
00:55:54And he said, I'm done.
00:55:59Yes, Jesus.
00:56:02Can you see why the glory is about to increase
00:56:06in your house?
00:56:07Glory, or the manifestation of the promises?
00:56:10Your fight is to stay at rest, and it's a labor,
00:56:15because you're going to be constantly challenged.
00:56:17So, you got to find ways to labor to stay at rest.
00:56:23Sing that song of yours.
00:56:25Put that, your Christian radio station on.
00:56:28Pray, I like this one, pray in the Holy Ghost.
00:56:30The neuroscientists are discovering there's something
00:56:34going on with the brain when people start speaking in tongues.
00:56:39They say stuff going on in the brain that don't ever go off in
00:56:44the brain, they don't ever see it,
00:56:46except for people who speak in tongues
00:56:49and pray in the Holy Ghost.
00:56:51They're bushaka.
00:56:52I think when you're praying in tongues,
00:56:56you're praying in the finished.
00:56:58You ain't begging, and you're praying in the finished.
00:57:05So, what do you do when tempted to labor?
00:57:09What do you do when tempted to add work to try to justify your
00:57:15faith, instead of faith giving birth and flowing from you in
00:57:22good works?
00:57:24Yeah, yeah, I know it.
00:57:27I sat down, I'm like, oh, God, how come I didn't see that?
00:57:30He said, it wasn't time.
00:57:33You had to understand it this way in order to be as passionate
00:57:37as you are right now today.
00:57:40You wouldn't have even recognized the conflict,
00:57:45just like the law.
00:57:46If it were not for the law of Moses,
00:57:49we'd have never known our need for a Savior.
00:57:53So, the Bible says to, not to exalt it,
00:57:57but to honor it in a sense, you know,
00:58:00because without it, we would have never known Jesus Christ.
00:58:04Are you listening to me?
00:58:08Ephesians 2.10, let's read that one more time.
00:58:11In 1 Corinthians 15, 58, all in the King James.
00:58:15In Hebrews 6 and 10, believers, people who are saved,
00:58:20produce the fruit of good works.
00:58:22For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
00:58:25unto good works.
00:58:26Look at that, we were created in Christ,
00:58:28so we can produce what?
00:58:29Good works.
00:58:30Good works flow out of us.
00:58:331 Corinthians 15 and 58.
00:58:361 Corinthians 15 and 58, he says,
00:58:39Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, yes,
00:58:44unmovable, always abounding and increasing
00:58:47in the work of the Lord.
00:58:49The work of the Lord comes out of your faith,
00:58:51out of who you are, for as much as you know that your labor
00:58:55is not in vain when it's in the Lord.
00:59:00So, your love is giving birth to good works.
00:59:04Your saving faith is giving birth to good works.
00:59:07Hebrews chapter 6 and 10, in the King James and then in NLT,
00:59:13he says, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work
00:59:18and your labor of love.
00:59:19See, that's the, this is the work that's flowing out of you,
00:59:23all right, which you have showed towards his name,
00:59:26in that you have ministered to the saints and you do minister.
00:59:29Look at this in the NLT.
00:59:31Hebrews chapter 10, he says, For God is not unjust.
00:59:34He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you
00:59:38have shown your love to him by caring for other believers.
00:59:41Let me tell you something, the only work that God receives from
00:59:46us is work that was born and came from the love
00:59:51that we have for him.
00:59:52It's born out of love.
00:59:54It's born out of love.
00:59:55It's born out of love, man.
00:59:57I'm telling you, I'm just so excited about where we're going.
01:00:05So, God's purpose in saving man was in order that he may
01:00:08perform good works.
01:00:10Love for God is the condition for good works and service.
01:00:16Now, let me close with this.
01:00:19We are not given saving faith by good works,
01:00:24but with the purpose that we do good works.
01:00:30We're given saving faith with the purpose
01:00:32that we do good works.
01:00:33The works that we are not saved by,
01:00:39these very same works we are saved for.
01:00:43We're not saved by these good works.
01:00:45We're saved for these good works.
01:00:49So, good works are never the cause of salvation,
01:00:54but ought to be the fruit from salvation.
01:00:59Never the cause.
01:01:01Good works don't cause you to get saved.
01:01:03None of you got saved because of your good works, okay?
01:01:08Good works is the fruit of salvation.
01:01:14Now, let me say one more thing, and we're gonna pray and see
01:01:18what happened here.
01:01:19Let me see.
01:01:21Grace is not an excuse for bad behavior.
01:01:30Grace is a solution for bad behavior.
01:01:36Not an excuse, but a solution for bad behavior.
01:01:41Now, next week, it keeps going.
01:01:47It keeps going.
01:01:49We're involved in some things that I think will take you just
01:01:53to the next level.
01:01:55Father, we thank you for our time here this morning.