OBEDIENT TO THE FAITH

OBEDIENT TO THE FAITH

James 2:20-24   But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?²² Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?²³ 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.²⁴ Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Romans 3:28   Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

It sounds like Paul and James was contradicting one another, but this is not the case.
Faith works out of corresponding cooperative action. Not action born out of ourselves, but of faith and belief through expectation.
 What we believe in so much gives birth to the action… when we say “I believe” I am the righteousness of God, that alone will start to give birth to the right action.
If you want healing, prosperity or deliverance, believe it until it starts giving birth to everything you are believing for.
Believing by faith gives birth to the action that James is speaking of. If you want Gods reaction, add your faith and action.
I have so much faith in this congregation until I believe your going to start believing this, you are going to catch yourself doing and saying things you have never said and done before…
You will be saying it because you believe it, and it will give birth to an action in your life.

Romans 12:3   For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

So what is the measure of faith in you? It is the same measure God used to raise Jesus from the dead.

Mathew 17:20   And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

At the time of being born again, the full measure of faith is invested in you…
You can not build the measure by self effort; your faith is built on trusting Gods inspired word.
The word “if” is the key in this verse. “If” you have even a little faith you can move mountains. Nothing is impossible for the believer.
Under the law people did not have the options that we have under the new covenant of Grace.

Duet 28:1-3   And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:² And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.³ Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

Under the Law in order for them to be blessed they had to keep all the laws, all 600 of them, no one could keep all the law…
If you failed in one law you failed in all the law, only Jesus could keep all the law.

 Deut 28:15-17   But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:¹⁶ Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.¹⁷ Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

Under the law, if you kept the law you got the blessing, if you didn’t keep the law you got the curse.
Everything was based upon you obeying the commandments of the law.
Under the covenant of grace, all the blessings are made available to all. Under the law it was all dependant upon them keeping the law…
Don’t keep going back trying to get something from God that has already been given freely.
Obedience to the faith is obedience to receive what grace has made available…
Let’s say you go to the doctor and he tells you something is very wrong with you.
The first thing people do is they go back to performance. They say I am going to start praying two hours a day and fast for a week.
Read the bible; look at what you are doing. You have gone back to the law, be good… get good.
You are making what Jesus did at the cross void. You should have responded, saying with your mouth, I receive my healing that has been provided for me by faith in Christ Jesus.
So many times we go back to the law, trying to do something to deserve the blessings. We are trying to make something happen by our actions.
Don’t come to church just to get God to do something for you. Come to church to praise Him for what has already been done.
Obedience to faith is responding in faith by receiving what Jesus has already done.
Sometimes Christians keep responding as if they are still living under the law.
The new covenant of grace is not about what you deserve. If it was we would all get to go to hell.
But because God sent his Son to be our savior we have been justified, sanctified and we are heirs to his great kingdom.

Be obedient to the faith and Gods favor will be on your life.