Faith Does Something

"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? ... Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (Jas. 2:14,17,18-20). James was making an integral point here about real faith in Jesus Christ, that almost all of the Christian world needs to take heed to today. Modern day Christianity has taught a mystical, whimsical ‘faith’ that requires nothing of the would-be believer, and in turn produces nothing beyond human endeavor and effort. It most assuredly is NOT "the faith that was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). The faith taught in the Bible however DOES require something more than a think-so believing from the believer, and James spells it out in no uncertain terms. He goes on to give us a few examples of those who truly had faith in the living God, and he points out the glaring reality that the faith of THOSE people required some doing, and produced the desired results, which was favor with God: "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought WITH his works, and by works was faith made perfect [complete]? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God" (Jas. 2:21-23). The apostle Paul was in absolute agreement with James on this topic of faith is not faith unless and until it is coupled with deeds OF faith. In the great faith chapter, Hebrews 11, we are given even more examples of those who demonstrated true faith in God, and every single example shows that those with faith DID SOMETHING WITH their faith that produced great and miraculous results.

There are too many to list here, but I will pick up with the message toward the end of the chapter to show the point. The remainder you can read for yourself. "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens" (Heb. 11:32-34). And again I note that all of these deeds of faith were DONE BY those who HAD the faith in God to do them. There was no "take it by faith" mentality with ANYONE who wrote the scriptures, or anyone whom the scriptures were written about. To punctuate this point, we do not have a book in the Bible called, ‘The Assumptions of the Apostles,’ but we DO have one called, "The ACTS of the Apostles." It's not as though James and Paul were the only people who were privy to this evident truth as to how faith always results in someone doing something with their faith, and procuring results that otherwise could not have been obtained. There is no such thing as a non-miraculous Gospel, which is to say that there is no such thing as a Gospel apart from the supernatural power of God in the lives of those who believe: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16). "For the kingdom of God is not in word [only], but in power" (I Cor. 4:20). Anyone who truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is going to experience miraculous things in their lives through the power of God that is released to them THROUGH their faith.

It's just that simple, and there is no way around it. Anyone who CONTINUES to truly believe on Jesus, is going to CONTINUE to experience results by the power of God in their life. First and foremost, someone who believes on Jesus is going to be supernaturally baptized BY JESUS for the remission of their sins, through the power of his Spirit, even as he himself stated (Jn. 7:38,39; Jn. 16:7; Acts 1:4,5; Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 12:13). Those who continue in the true faith of Christ after receiving his Spirit, will follow him BY his Spirit in the same holiness and divine love that he walked in (Col. 2:6; Rom. 8:13,14; Eph: 5:1,2; I Jn. 2:6). That my friend is "the faith that was once delivered to the saints," pure and simple. And that is also the only true way of ‘grace’ that exists, as the apostle Paul confirmed to us: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Tit. 2:11,12). I make the point about grace because it has received the same treatment from Christianity today as faith. Grace has been turned into a mere license to continue in sin and get away with it, as though Jesus died for us to remain sinners, as in "sinners saved by grace." Nobody can live free from sin except by the real grace of God, through faith, by means of the power of the holy Ghost which we RECEIVE BY FAITH! On the flip side of that coin, there is NOBODY who is continuing in sin that is doing so by faith OR by grace! That would be, and in fact WAS classified by the writers of the Bible as follows: "Faith, if it hath not works, is DEAD, being alone." And that saying goes hand in hand with this one, which completes the point of truth being made here today: "For the wages of sin is DEATH" (Rom. 6:23). Amen.