#BibleLesson Timeless Truths. Developing a Faith that Works – How to Have Real Faith - Part A

This is the fifth post in a ten-week Developing a Faith that Works Series. There are five lessons, each divided into two parts. URLs from previous weeks are listed as part of this opening statement.

URLs.

1/28/2021 - https://mychristiancontext.blogspot.com/2021/01/biblelesson-timeless-truths-gods-keys.html

2/04/2021 - https://mychristiancontext.blogspot.com/2021/01/biblelesson-timeless-truths-gods-keys_26.html

2/11/2021 – https://mychristiancontext.blogspot.com/2021/02/biblelesson-timeless-truths-gods-keys.html

2/18/2021 - https://mychristiancontext.blogspot.com/2021/02/biblelesson-timeless-truths-gods-keys_5.html

From last week:

Be Refocused (v17)

Focus on what you want. 

When you can’t fight a feeling, REFOCUS.

If temptation begins in the mind you must refocus on other things-- God

Maybe physically remove yourself from the temptation.

Chronic worry means you’re doubting God’s goodness.

Be Reborn (v18) 1 Corinthians 10:13

You need a whole new capacity to resist.

It takes supernatural power to resist temptation.

Ask for forgiveness; you can’t’ say NO to temptation while saying YES to God.

Remember, there is never more on you than God can help you through.

TRUST GOD!

What do you want so badly that you’re willing to compromise to get it?

End of Review

 

 

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[a]? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[b] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James 2:14-26 (NIV)

 

• “Real” is the key term today.
• The passage above may very well be one of the toughest in the New Testament to understand.
• Cults misuse this passage.
• James says some things that seem, at first, to contradict what Paul says elsewhere in the New Testament.

Paul says that 

• we are saved [become a believer] by grace alone, through faith [do something], “not of works, lest any man boast.” Ephesians 2:9 (NKJV)
• He was fighting legalism by showing the internal root of faith.

James says that

• faith [becoming a believer] without works is dead. 
• Then he says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” James 2:24 (NKJV)
• “Do-nothing faith can’t save you.”
• He was fighting laxity by emphasizing the external fruit of faith.

Truth: 

• They are both right! 
• They are talking about different things.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF FAITH.

“Do-nothing faith.” 

• This is disconnected from life.
• It’s intellectual, not practiced, and not positive.

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. V19)

“Do-something faith.”

• This is deep and leads to action.

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

• This faith must be in the order of the highlighted phrases above. 1 – 2 - 3

THE RIGHT KIND OF FAITH, REAL FAITH, COMPELS YOU TO DO SOMETHING!

• Your deepest beliefs find their way into your behavior.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. (V18)

• What you say is where your heart is. 
• What you do is where your faith is.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:5

• This is faith in action.
• REAL FAITH leads to action!

 

Next week we continue How to Have Real Faith

Commit to making time each week to measure your Christian walk against the standard James presents.

Thanks to Pastor Larry Pitcher for the primary teachings in this post.

 

 

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