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00:00:01 uh today's cture reading will be taken from the book of James chap 2: 14- 26 and I'm using the NV version what good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no Deeds can such Faith save them if one of you says to them go in peace keep warm and wellfed but does nothing about their physical needs what good is it in the same way Faith by itself if is not accompanied by action is dead but someone will say you have faith I have Deeds show me your faith without deeds and I'll will show you my
00:00:39 faith with my Deeds you believe that there is one God good even the demons believe that and Sh you foolish person do you want evidence that faith without Deeds is useless was not our Father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar you see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did and the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's
00:01:13 friend you see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone in the same way was not even Rahab The Prostitute considered rightous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without Deeds is dead this is the word of the Lord all right good morning church ah it's announcement one more uh week before the Supper Club comes on if you got non-Christian friends to invite we're on the next
00:02:01 Saturday right after badminton now just because you feel you're young doesn't mean you can play badminton I remember heart Minister who dropped date Mr Chan isn't it uh who was trying to be young and then he he was playing badminton anyway that's besides the point um July 15 uh right after badminton come by uh we have French cuisine with Chef Kelvin and K and I've already shown you so many of these pictures so I just here to remind you that's all okay um can I have my slides okay just to remind you next week
00:02:41 we have uh uh we're taking a break from James for a we bit and uh Elder Arnold will come and regil you with Tales from Exodus uh series is continuing then we have a uh guest speaker Patrick Bley uh from the men's fellowship he going to be a very exciting guest speaker from overseas then after that marimo guy and then we'll go back to the James series again okay so today we're going to be looking at Faith versus works we come to that crucial passage in James chapter 2 let's start with the word of prayer
00:03:16 father Lord we ask that you humble us now because understanding Faith requires humility because it goes against the very reign of our nature we ask for Jesus sake amen so we're continuing our journey to the Book of James and today uh we are looking at are we saved by faith or by works three points as usual um faith without works is dead faith is never just intellectual emotional and faith is authenticated by works first of all faith without works is dead now the context of the church to which James is
00:04:00 writing is basically deception and it is replicated all the time and he says do not be deceived my beloved Brothers every good gifts come from God because they were deceived they thought God would tempt them uh to to go astray uh James chapter 1 be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving ourselves so they were thought if they had Bible they could quote theology they were a Christian or they were close to God and they didn't have to do the word so it is these are very common deceptions if
00:04:30 anyone thinks it's religious and does not Bridal his tongue but deceives his heart so therefore if you think you are in Christ and yet you don't control your tongue maybe you're deceiving yourself so Faith uh and deception is a big thing even the ashers over there very few uh Bible passages talk about ashers here ashers who are basically very very uh courteous and and and honoring to people who are rich so rich people get to sit in front right here like Mary uh all right and poor people sit at the back
00:05:05 there like Israel you know mean so different people were treated differently so you can see these are the the church is somewhat below that level you cut the surface under that veneer of respectability there's something going on wrong there's gossip and slander in in James chapter 4 and then there's worldly wisdom dividing them where there selfish ambition and jealousy and this is not uncommon in church uh there were rich people who were actually oppressing poor people if you read chapter 5 they were divided on
00:05:43 sociological lines and this is a reality in many churches all over the world and we are no different in fact if you look at the randan genocide almost 20 years ago in 1994 there was a uh publication I was reading called faith and Reconciliation a study of Christian forgiveness in the post genocide Rwanda by Brin mu published uh 2010 and they look at the role of the church in this genocide in fact if you look at the genocide most of the population of Rwanda were actually Christian Pentecostal Adventist and
00:06:20 Catholic and actually when the when when the Christians came in the country the the the people were already divided the tots were the elite in govern government and in power and hutus are poor Village folk sound familiar right and what they did was they maintained the fault lines of these two sociological classes they deepened The Divide and later on it exploded into a terrible genocide that took 800,000 lives in fact there was a there's a story told of one of the priests who drove the bulldozer and
00:06:58 knocked down the entire church with the people inside and and and this study he looked through all those horrible things and say how can a church do this where was their faith people would would come for a prayer meeting and a service they would get on their knees and get up in the evening and kill and butcher their neighbors morning go for prayer meeting let's not deter you from our prayer meeting right how does that occur why does that occur well let's look at the passage what good is it my brothers if
00:07:36 someone says he has Faith but does not have Works can that Faith save him if a brother sister is poorly clothed and lacking daily food and one of you says to go in peace be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body what good is it so also Faith by S if it does not have works is dead this is a clarification if you have a different Bible the problem here my my arrow is gone can we fix my arrow is supposed to go to can Faith save him whenever my computer does this the church computer doesn't agree all right
00:08:11 so the the King James version says can Faith save him that is a problem that's why I use the ESV the ESV translates it properly because in the Greek there's an article before the faith and the article means it should be actually read can that Faith save him if you read it that way then you don't have much of a problem because what James is referring to the kind of faith that doesn't have works you see what I mean all right it's that Faith now if you look at reformed tradition we come from Martin Luther we
00:08:48 all believes in the five solar solar Dale only in God the scripture or Christ Alone grace alone and faith alone this is the central tenant of Evangelical Church all over the world but the trouble is that you go to church what we profess and what we actually believe in our gut is a little bit different they did a survey in the US with Bara George Barna does most of research and they found out that salvation by works is actually believed by 52% of the population in the 2020 svey they say I Believe In Christ but I also believe in
00:09:26 Salvation by works in fact they ask the Evangel IAL pastors 30% of them actually says you saved by faith and works as well which is totally contradictory to their Evangelical Tradition now if you go to the Catholic Church you are saved by faith and good works right and they take that theology mainly from James all right here's the Catholic uh Canon 24 if anyone says that Justice or righteousness received is not preserved and also so not increase before God true good works but those works are merely the fruits and signs of
00:10:07 justification obtained but not the cause of increase let him be antima which is cursed so which he says righteousness is increased by Good Works not by Christ alone uh someone if anyone says that after the reception of the just Grace of justification the guilt is so remitted that the depth of Eternal punch so blotted out to every repentant sinner that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be discharged out either in this world or in the Purgatory before the Gates of Heaven can be opened let
00:10:40 him be an which means justification does not remove all guilt that's the position of the Catholic Church on the other hand some of the Evangelical Church have gone so far that they say all you need to do is sign a decision card right I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior on the 25th of January 2010 and you nail it on the altar in your house and that's good enough you don't have to do anything to live a righteous life again something wrong here is a very famous uh uh uh Christian author of a song the
00:11:19 awesome God I don't know whether he heard it and he's so confused he says you guys are all into the Born Again thing which is great we do need to be born again since Jesus said that to a guy called Nicodemus but if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God I have to tell you you have to sell everything you have to give it to the poor because Jesus said it to one guy too I guess that is why God invented highlighters so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the the rest wow is that the way we
00:11:48 approach our faith so today is a little bit of a difficult passage I'm going to go into I don't want us to to to go into our different Corners I'm Evangelical so I believe in faith and faith alone I am Catholic therefore I believe in faith and works I want you to look at the passage to see whether the passage is correctly interpreted so that you could decide because after this seron you may want to say I'm going to join the next Catholic church around the road you have to be convinced in your heart because
00:12:15 it's a matter of your life so here is Paul versus James as it were uh and that's the famous passage in Romans versus the one in James James says you see a person is Justified justification by work not by faith alone totally contrary to Evangelical tradition totally contrary to Martin Luther correct Romans Paul says for behold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law huh hello they are same Bible it doesn't matter which Bible you read is the same all right uh was not Abraham Our Father
00:12:52 justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar Romans uh four Paul writes Abraham believed God it was counted to him as righteousness now to the one who works his wages are not counted as a gift but as is due but to the one who does not work but who believes in him who justifies ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness who is correct let me give you the answer there are two different Epistles they are written by two different authors they're different coming to the same topic but from
00:13:28 different angle angles and they different dealing with different issues in the church itself now let me go down to the idea of semantics words words are either univocal equivocal or analogical to put it very very simply some univocal means if you use a word it's got one meaning all the time like First Baptist Church Supper Club only one you cannot use it's copyright tasty breakfast tasty dessert whatever it is tasty means the same equivocal which is more common is two or more meanings given to a word bar bark of a
00:14:12 tree bar of a dog analogical partly the same and partly different God is good right grapes are good but is God goodness the same as the grapes goodness same word used right but it's not the same it's analogical so that's why we get into a lot of trouble which I got in trouble last week with Mary because I asked her and asked all do you all love money and if you say you don't love money means you're lying well I thought she was lying and so now I apologize to her I didn't mean that she was lying but you must understand when
00:14:49 we use the word do you love money it's an analogical use of a word as well as equivocal because you either love money or you're in love with money you're enslaved to it so it's very Nuance isn't it okay if you so what's happening here is James is talking about the fruit of your faith true spirituality Paul is talking about the root of your faith he's opposing Jews at a time who want salvation through the works of the law and so James is talking the faith that you can see Paul is talking the faith God can
00:15:30 see two different use the word nut you can mean what yeah obvious equivocal use of the word it could use either way you know so thing the Chinese are better Chinese cheesing you know you don't have this problem with that all right analogical use of the word God is angry man is angry oh my goodness if you I mean I had a big problem with that because I had a very difficult relationship with my father and he's always angry if I don't get a and when I became a Christian I'm thinking God is the same way and so
00:16:04 therefore I had to perform to his specs otherwise he gets angry but the way God is angry is not the same as the way my father is angry so the word angry is the same it's an analogical use of the word all right so it's not the same now I let's go into the Dynamics of the passage itself there are equivocal use of three main Words which is crucial to interpretation of James one justify two faith and three works okay so let's say justify Paul uses justify to mean made right in the eyes of God James use of
00:16:44 justify means proven right in the eyes of your neighbor your friends demonstrating or vindicating a claim let me illustrate all right so Romans 4 If Abraham was justified by works he has something to boast about but not before God so Paul's passage is about justification before God made right before God status before God you look at James James says if someone will say you have faith I have Works show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith with my works so James is all about
00:17:23 showing demonstrating Faith by your works well else Paul talking about before God that's why who uses the word justify verse 24 you see a person is justified by works and not by faith alone you see the word you see he talking to people it's on the horizontal level um Jes that's Matthew uses the same word the son of man came eating and drinking and they say look at him a glutton and a drunker a friend of tax collectors and siners yet wisdom is just ified by her Deeds which means wisdom is proven correct or demonstrated correct
00:18:04 so here when you use the word justification Paul uses it to mean a vertical relationship where man's status before God where else when James uses the word justify it means man's relationship to the world right what about the word faith well when Paul uses pisst which is a genuine saving faith in God right James uses the word faith to mean a professing faith in the eyes of men I ask you do you have faith yes I have faith that's how James uses it Paul uses it to mean faith in God in terms of what
00:18:44 God can see verse uh chapter 4:5 and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness so it's before God James says what good is it my brothers if someone says he has Faith but does not have Works can that Faith save him so as far as James confer talking about faith is he says say say only like M the Chinese will say say only all right not real Faith Now 1 Corinthians 15 1-2 I would remind you this Paul Brothers of the Gospel I preach to you which you receive which
00:19:27 you stand by which you are being saved if if you hold heart fast to the word I preach to you unless you believe in vain is there such a thing as believing in vain I thought you believe means you believe isn't it we're talking about fake Faith all right profess Faith you say you believe but you could believe in vain if you don't hold fast to the word authentic faith will hold fast to the word so therefore faith when Paul uses the word faith in Romans he means saving Faith man's relationship with God when
00:19:57 James uses the word it's professing Faith man's relationship or demonstration to the world lastly works when Paul uses the word Works he means the works of the law that will basically ingratiate you or make you righteous before God and earn you a place in heaven when James uses the word Works he uses his evidence of Faith to go faith in God but demonstrated towards man Romans 3 for for by The Works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight whose sight God's sight since through the law comes the knowledge of sin so
00:20:38 therefore you can't work and be righteous enough to please God because God says you are to be perfect as I am perfect can you be perfect doesn't make sense James says do you do you want to be shown you foolish person that Faith apart from works is useless so therefore this is a faith that is demonstrable demonstrable of a person having the works are demonstrable evidence of Faith so therefore when Paul uses the work works it's works of the law to gain salvation when James uses works that provide evidence of faith is terms of
00:21:15 what other people can see this is a nice cartoon probably written by a Catholic Sola faith alone I mean you sit on your engine alone it doesn't work he's trying to tell the evangelicals it doesn't work right when we say faith alone we don't mean this okay that you sit on the engine it doesn't work okay uh this is a false illustration now Paul says for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this not your own doing it is the gift of God not the results of work so that no one may boast Paul is very clear
00:21:49 you cannot be saved by works absolutely you have to be saved by faith right so what good is it my brothers if someone says he has Faith does not have works can that Faith save him if a brother is poorly clothed and lacking influence it so what is he talking about James is talking about the that kind of faith that doesn't have works okay works are evidence of an authentic Faith so let's summarize and Paul says we hold that one is justified by faith apart from Works James says you see the person is
00:22:21 justified by works not by faith alone Justified means pronounced righteous by Paul in the sight of God justified by James means proven righteous in the sight of others when Paul uses the word to show how unbelievers can become a Christian James is showing how believer should live as a Christian the emphasis by Paul is a root of Salvation James passage talks about the fruit of Salvation Paul talks about faith in terms of inward disposition James talk about outward action that comes from the inward disposition Paul talks about the
00:22:56 demonstration of God's part with human participation James talk demonstrates a human part with God's help as it were so if a brother poorly clothed and lacking in Daily food and one of you says to them go in peace have be warm and filled without giving them things needed for the body what good is that so Faith by itself if it does not have works is dead so what he's saying is that you've got faith evidence by works or faith without works it doesn't exist it it is not existing at all what happens is the
00:23:34 place of Works what is works works show the authenticity of your faith it's a nature and characteristic of n of genuine Faith Works is not a supplement to the faith that means Faith plus works that's not what it says faith is like the invisible calories you you can't see calories can you when you when you eat your burger or your Cho or your hen me all you can do is see the effects suddenly wow 100 PB you know after my Chaka I remember having my hwan me at Sunway Pyramid in the face of my life and I was desperately obsessed with
00:24:16 my weight I went at one pocket me I went home I weighed myself 1 kilogram extra I'm not lying it's absolutely 1 kilogram from one plate of chocat after no h eny after that no more pyramid how can me so so faith is something like you can't see uh the the calories but you can see the effects all right so be doers of the word and not only hearers deceiving yourself anyone hear of the word and not doer he's like a man who looks intently at his face in a mirror this is a few verses later on faith that
00:24:50 works faith that doesn't work is the one that you look in the mirror and you see a big fat pimple in your nose and you run out you don't put any makeup on you don't care it has no effect on your life that is not faith that works if you have faith and I work show me your faith apart from your works I will show you my faith by my works so there's a professed faith and there's a professed Faith that's authenticated by works and the professed faith that not authenticated by works is a a fake Faith so faith
00:25:22 without works is dead secondly faith is never just intellectual or emotional you believe that God is one one God you do well better than a lot of people in the world believe in multiplicity of gods right even the demons believe and shudder do you want to be shown you foolish person that Faith apart from works is useless I mean some of you say oh I I'm a good Christian I believe in God yeah everybody I mean even the devil believes in God right believe means have faith that there is a God but there's an
00:25:55 emotional response to that belief okay but that doesn't save them Fallen Angels understand more than you and me about Theology and the nature of God they have an emotional response God so powerful that they're shivering and shuddering whenever you mention the word of God they know that but they're not Christian they're more aware of God's power and Beauty than we who are basically ignorant you can see this chap hiding in the corner there he goes to church to pray a lot like Rwandan Christians and pray every day he stands
00:26:35 next to the top priest in Russia Cardinal Patrick Krill had a sign of the cross on his head he gets up the next day and starts bombing people and killing people all right you you can have an emotional intellectual understanding of who God is like he has he really believes he's a Christian but that's not good enough in under Reformation tradition for the past 500 years we've understood Faith to comprise of three components and I remind you knowledge ascent and trust it has three components inside now this is the famous plane
00:27:17 anybody remember this 737 Max it had two accidents one in Lion Air and one in Ethiopia okay now 3 737 Max is coming back on board they're going to be start using it I don't know whe they started using or going to use it how many of you would get back on a 737 Max put your hands up no you're not good a flyer huh nobody can fly well before you get on to the 737 Max you have to answer three questions number one knowledge what was the cause of the error why did they crash and what have they done is the
00:28:07 cause commensurate with the action is that a recertification process number two asent you understand all that is actually caused by software error they say the engine was too forward it causes the plane to stall now you understand that the all the dungu pilots have now been trained is it well right it's not their fault there was no software uh and there's no training process and once you understand all that you got knowledge understanding the last part is what trust isn't it you got to get on the plane that's the last part fa
00:28:47 through faith you can't say I understand I have knowledge but I'm not going to get in the plane if you don't get in the plane means you don't have faith it's as simple as that right so I don't care if you get on the plane and as it takes off when you're flying off to Australia or England you're hanging on with your fingernails and you're totally Pat or you're sitting in the plane and singing Hallelujah wonderful I think this is great 737 Max is great I don't really care what emotion you have as
00:29:25 long as you bought the ticket you enter the plane that's called faith isn't it that is Faith and what your entering of the plane means the last component called Faith so what is Faith what is works works is actually action taken based on what we believe we are and I like Tim Keller's uh uh illustration what it is we are so radically sinful hopelessly poor and in Deb we really believe we are like that and on the other hand we're so radically exalted because the king of Heaven came down on Earth To Die For Us
00:30:10 these two facts are so far apart that it's very very difficult for us to believe and take it together do you know that on any given day you either believe you're radically exalted you're such a great fellow and you forget that you're radically and sometimes when you any given day you work on a bad day you'll think you're so hopelessly sinful you kept singing again that God will never save you but you cannot hold these two facts together you know and in fact 51% of a uh uh the American population of
00:30:47 Christians actually be admitted to being self-righteous like Pharisees why because they take one dimension that they're so radically excited that Christ died for them is great they forgot that their siners you see I mean it's a very difficult concept to understand faith is actually instrumental cause it just because your faith doesn't give you Merit all right but you to do something it's like the covid uh uh pandemic that happened some time ago and and you found out the data shows that if you're unvaccinated you
00:31:18 got 27 times more likely to have serious illness you can say I have faced in the covid vaccine but unless you have an injection there you will not actually benefit from that so perhaps you read religion uh James also says religion is pure and undefiled before God the father is this to visit offering and widows in the Affliction and keep yourself from unstain from the world oh oh James says this right it must be true right so therefore you go and you can take pictures of selfie in front of poor kids
00:31:49 and you give them $1 or maybe your your company will give lots of money uh for corporate uh uh uh reputation to help people as well all right is that faith is that Faith you could do the same things out of Faith or because of other works it's very tricky you know when you're standing there and giving money to the poor you could do give it because of your love for Christ because you recognize you are just as poor and giving to these poor people is actually ministering to Christ because you see Christ's face in their hands or you
00:32:27 could do it because you want to look good before God and you want to get up in the morning and says I'm a real Christian it's very hard toil isn't it right or you could have shuddering emotion instead of the devil's uh being scared of God you could say wow I I come to church you know under Lim lays hand on my hand on my head and suddenly I got convulsions and I'm so happy and is that is that Faith they may not necessarily be faith shuddering emotion does not necessarily indicate Faith all right it
00:33:02 could be like a mirror I want God but God is on my terms lastly faith is authenticated by works it's never just intellectual or evidence Abraham and Rahab now you you cannot take two people more different in the entire Bible Abraham was not Abraham Our Father Justice ified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar you'll see that that Faith was active along with his works his faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled Abraham believed God it was counted to him as righteousness
00:33:40 after he was called a friend of God now let's look at this very carefully Genesis 15:6 Abraham believed God it was counted to him as righteousness right the moment he believed God looked at him say this fellow is righteous Genesis 22: 12 how many chapters later on do not lay hands on the boy or do anything for him for now I know you fear God seeing that you have not already had 30 years earlier in Genesis 15:6 and God calls him a friend the true Faith want's friendship with God false faith is like the devil they see God is
00:34:19 very powerful and they're shuddering all right true faith has love he saw the grace and love of God it's like Peter's reaction to Jesus when before he actually knew Jesus and he Jesus performed the miracle he says depart from me for a sinful man after the resurrection when he saw Jesus he ran towards Jesus the relationship has actually changed so when he was climbing up the mountain to give up his son if Abraham was shuddering like the demons he would say is a holy and just God I owe him the debt of sin so therefore I'm
00:34:55 going to offer my firstborn son he's willing to go he climbing up he's saying I can do this I can do this and after I do this God will be so pleased with me I would have become righteous or God is a merciful gracious and loving God I'm able to go because he's able to provide I don't know what's going to happen but I trust God and that's how I'm climbing the mountain difference between faith and works the second person he brings up is Rahab you see a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the same
00:35:32 way was not Rahab The Prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and send them out another by another way for as the body apart from the spirit is dead so also Faith apart from works is dead now you you can't have a more different person than Rahab because see Abraham was a man and in those days men status much much higher than women here he quotes woman Abraham was the Jew Jew father of all the Jews father of Faith Rahab was a Canaanite destined for destruction came from a horrible
00:36:05 horrible culture not only that in that culture she was a prostitute the worst and all she did was just hear about God Abraham heard directly from God God spoke to him he was a father of Israel you can't have two people more different in terms of credential it's like putting someone that pH versus a Kindergarten kid right and so but the thing that is common to both of them is faith not social status that's why James mentions it Hebrews says by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had received
00:36:47 the promises was an act offering up his only son James says his only credential that God recognizes what faith Rahab by faith The Prostitute did not perish with those who were disob because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies faith is that equalizer that every man stands on equal plane before God you tell me the the thief who was hung next to Jesus Christ he recognized who Jesus was he recognized his sin and he say Jesus Remember Me When it comes when you come into your kingdom you tell me this
00:37:29 thief what good work did he do you can't do anything you stuck you're stuck at the cross there there's no good work right so what did he have pure faith if you say you're justified by works hey hello you got to climb down from the cross I go do community service then maybe I'll I'll give you salvation right the thief on the cross is the par excellent example you saved by faith what about a woman in Luke seven who was a prostitute and she was so uh ashamed and repented of her sin she came before
00:38:03 Jesus she wept she cleaned his feet with her her hair and Jesus said to her your faith has saved you go in peace one single act and Jesus can see all the way in the future she knows that this is genuine Faith what about the tax collector with the Pharisees Pharisees stood in front and said you know I I I give Tiding all the time you know so on my speed do is bt76 you know the tax collector of different story he just came and he fell before God and and just you know confess that he wasn't worthy and Jesus said I
00:38:41 tell you this man went home to his house Justified rather than the other for the for everyone who exalts himself will be humble and the one who humbles himself will be exalted and what about the rich young man which Rich Mar was talking about who came to Jesus Christ and said Jesus I've done the ten command I've done this I've done this you know know and Jesus said to him sell everything that you have and follow me and the rich man couldn't do it you know why you couldn't do it because a rich man
00:39:17 thought salvation is by works I did this I did that that I only one more thing to check off and that one was a bridge too far and Jesus understood that the rich man young man understood that he thought salvation was by works what must I do and Jesus told him sell everything because he knew that he was enslaved to his Goods faith is just putting everything aside and trusting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior Matthew 5 the Beatitudes who are those who are blessed in the kingdom of God poor in spirit
00:39:57 those who mourn those who are Meek those who hunger and thirst for righteousness you see it's a recognition of what they lack not what they had whenever you approach your friends or approach yourself is always what you have but actually the when when God looks at you he sees your attitude that you understand what you lack not what you have and that's the on who are blessed Grace Like Water always flows down to the lowest level so body apart from Spirit is dead Faith apart from works is dead you know who is a better president
00:40:35 the tale of two presidents profiles of Faith Ashraf gani president of Afghanistan vmir zalinski both of them had the entire country threatened by military action one by Taliban one by Russia when Ash gani saw the Taliban was coming he got his money got on the helicopter and flew to Du or quat or somewhere profiles en courage true president the other one was Time person of the year even the non-Christian recognize when they ask him for a helicopter ride out he says the fight is here I don't need a ride I need
00:41:15 ammunition and this might be the last time you see me alive you see what you do depends on what you believe and he believed in this country and he stayed behind same thing happened to Putin the other day there was a mutiny the first thing he did he took airplane and fly off somewhere which doesn't show you very much faith in his administration so finally let me end the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church actually came for a joint declaration in 1999 and this is what the Lutheran Church said we confess that good works a
00:41:53 Christian Life lived in faith hope and love follow justification and are its fruits when the Justified live in Christ and act in Grace they receive they bring forth the biblical terms good fruit all right so fruit good works are the fruit of justification the Catholics Catholics affirm the meritorious character of Good Works they wish to say that according to biblical witness a reward in heaven is Promised for those these works the intention is to emphasize the responsibility of a person for their
00:42:23 actions and not to contest the character of those works as GI far less to deny that justification always remains the unmerited gift of Grace so therefore they have come to believe that is justification by faith by grace all right you cannot earn your way to God so faith without works is dead faith is never intellectual emotional faith is authenticated by works that's the theoretical part the hard part is true faith in our own lives which is the real challenge Paul says therefore my beloved as you've always
00:43:03 obeyed so now not only in my presence but much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to Will and to work for his good pleasure you know works and Faith are so subtle imagine you've got a computer and you've got an operating system in your computer computer it could be windows 24 or Max or Mac OS Sierra and whatever you do is interpreted whatever you type is interpreted or based on your operating system you can have a fallen view or
00:43:44 redeem view whatever you do you could be there going to first light Children's Home and you could be giving money to the girls giving tution to the girls same action but different operating system it's so subtle you could be powered by self or powered by the spirit you could do it because of your own image or your ego or you could do it because what God has done for you you're responding to his grace you could do it because you want to please others the girls there or pastor Raymond to have a good view of you or you do it to please
00:44:18 God you could do it to promote yourself such a great Christian leader so you're you're you're there at the first light children's home or you could do it simply because you want to serve you could be driven by fear or you could be driven by faith you see how subtle it is and often our motives are actually mixed I would be the first one to tell you as a Christian leader for much of my life I have got mixed motives there are times is D driven by a fallen view there are times is driven by a redeemed view where
00:44:49 I have to confess my sin before God I struggle with this all the time when you give money B p76 is because you're guilty made too much money last week Under Pressure because you saw you know uh you know Richard you know retired some put money in the box and some more you still working you didn't put any money or you want to maintain your image is your philanthropist or do you work because the more work I serve the Lord maybe I want to do this and uh in AV or maybe I want to sing up here I because I feel
00:45:30 good I'm doing something and God will be pleased with me and look favorably me all all the easiest is rituals you see if you do something it's something we love rituals whether it's confession confirmation communion baptism prayers beads candles or even attend church if I'm attending church it means I'm close to God I'm going to heaven yeah that's right irrespective whether you got faith or not you see how tricky it is you could go to church because you love Christ and you're just reciprocating his
00:46:10 sacrifice and you see the future is in his kingdom and you need to encourage other people to good works and love or you could go there because you're trying to maintain your status it's so easy with rituals that's why I don't like it rituals I hate rituals because rituals blind your eyes it makes you feel oh I'm more you know if I put a couple of handles here and put some some some incense z z z z z you feel Holier right yeah but your heart could be so far from God that that incense I put on you maybe I I I I put my saliva one two
00:46:45 three on your head oh I'm more holy that's a disaster that's a disaster because these rituals are in place of true faith and you cannot see true Faith you don't know what you're doing already your operating system is mixed up isn't it or or perhaps you have a sin you have committed and I've committed sins that 30 40 years ago which even now when I think about those sins I cringe and I try to punish myself because God can forgive me but I cannot forgive myself and you're thinking I can't stand in the in the presence of God if we come
00:47:24 today why because of what I did those years ago then you're operating by works you're not by faith or you reading the Bible why you read Bible W because no choice keep on talking about GMA you're not going to go every Wednesday maybe I'll do that just to please God and the rest of the time I'm on my own I watch Netflix why do you do it or you compare yourself with so many other people this is a gentleman who's a uh gay for much of his life his man is his name is bewi cook and uh he was a very talented set designer in Hollywood where
00:48:07 he did sets for Beyonce and all the rest I mean he's really in demand a shooting star climbing up and and one day he was sitting by and he really breached the Pinnacle of his career and was sitting uh in a cafe and he saw a young group of young people doing Bible study in the cafe I mean funny people doing Bible study Cafe and said what are you reading a Bible and he was interested and they talked to him about for an hour and he would as a as a gay man the last person you want to see are Christians right
00:48:41 because they tell you you're wrong they asked them about their faith and they say what about me homosexual they said it's a sin it's a sin it's very you know and instead of reacting to that he's he come to a place of his life where he reached the top of his career he's looking for something else and then uh they said why don't you just come to church they got no they got no Supper Club so you just come to normal service so I came to normal service and when the preacher preached the words somehow resonated in his heart
00:49:17 and it was the guy preached for an hour and and Becket cook was saying please pre some more it just really connected with him and uh he came to know Christ but he actually said if the same sermon was preached 5 years earlier I would have rejected it I would be hateful I would throw something at the Christians but was his time it was his time and he wrote a book called a gay man called change of affection a journey of a of a gay man's incredible story of redemption he wrote this book his life turned
00:49:50 around and and he wrote these words I had a three-month period of no work which was unusual so I had all the time to spend with God to pray to read the Bible I couldn't stop reading the Bible every time I listen to sermon or read the Bible I'd end up in tears oh my gosh this is true I can't believe I know God and know the meaning of life finally nobody told him he went to Talbert Bible College and he goes around now speaking about Christ and he's a and his homosexual tendencies do you know that they never went away it was still
00:50:25 there but much diminished because all the time he was spending in the word of God sharing the gospel having his life turned around but the Tendencies are still there just like our sin it is still there but is overcome by our love for Christ you see Faith causes an internal perspective there was a British clergyman who was talking to a young man who was 17 years of age and he had fallen down the stairs uh this is Gavin re readed was telling that he a bishop at mainstone had fallen down at a young
00:51:01 age and it shattered his spine 17 years as he asked him how long have you spent in the wheelchair 13 wow Gavin asked him do you think it's fair for a young man like you could spend 13 years out of your 17 uh in wheelchair you know what he said the guy was actually the young man was actually not depressed he was not angry you know he said well God has all eternity to make it up to me because he saw his his demeanor his Joy was based on a Global Perspective that life is just this much and I've got all the Eternity for God it
00:51:45 changes you that's called faith faith act work is action taken based on what we believe we are if we believe we are radically sinful we will not not look at another person in church and look down on him because he's as sinful as you are no matter what you've done in life Abraham and Rahab are on the same field as if there's no difference at all and there is no difference so don't go around in church thinking you are better than the other guy just because you live in a bigger house you got bigger bank
00:52:22 account or you look better with a tie no and the moment you see that you're radically sinful that it took the Son of God to die for you then the way you look at other people completely changes I will to end with the story of uh this guy called Jean Claude he actually uh is a Rwandan because I started off in illustration Rwandan he actually was 11 years old when he saw his neighbors came and torture his father and cut him to pieces and kill him he saw his neighbors come and kill his auntie his uncles and many loved
00:53:05 ones right on that time and yet who's going to turn right and yet in the process of reconciliation he came to know Christ and he started a NGO called best family Rwanda to bring all the orphan kids together in Rwanda and you know what he actually ministered to and be close to the son of the actual neighbor who killed and tortured his hus the the his father how can that happen that can only happen because he had faith in what Christ has done for him 2 Corinthians 13 is a challenge to all of you to go home
00:54:00 with today it says examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith test yourself do you not realize this about yourself that Jesus is in you unless you fail to meet the test look at your life and everything that you do is it because of works or you do it because it's a natural outflow of your faith in Jesus Christ let's pray father Lord we just thank you for your word in James we want to confess before you and often we do things because it makes us look good and often we although we have accepted you
00:54:49 as Lord and Savior we often revert back to the works based salvation that works towards our ego and it looks down on other people father Lord we realize that we come before you as sinful people we confess that we're no better than our neighbors sitting next to each other we should have no hes we should no Pride we have no status as Abraham is the same as Rahab I am the same as my neighbor and we pray that this church should be bound together with this common understanding the unity of the Holy Spirit
00:55:27 and we're also again thankful that you the king of Heaven have so much love for us that you came to die for us so that we too now reciprocate to love others to give our lives for others to reciprocate your love to us we ask this for Jesus sake amen [Music] shall we all stand as we sing the closing song In Christ Alone My Hope Is found he is my light my strength my song This Cor Stone this Solid Ground firm through the fiercest Dr and storm whats of love what depths of Peace when fears are still when striving
00:56:47 SE my comforter My All In All hearing the love of Christ [Music] I Christ Alone who took our fles fullness of God in bless P this gift of love and right [Music] by the he came to till on the cross Jesus died the WRA of God was satisfied for every sin on him was here in the death of Christ I live [Music] in the ground hisid Light of the World by Darkness SL when bursting fall in Glorious Day up from the gra he R again and as he stands in victory since has lost his GP on me for I am his and he is
00:58:45 M born with the precious blood of Christ no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from Liv for to final breath Jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man can never BL me from his hand to he oh calls me home here in the power of Christ I'll stand no power of hell no scheme of man can never BL me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I'll Stand here in the power of [Music] Christ for the benediction I'm reading from Paul for whatever gain I had I counted
01:00:20 as loss for the sake of Christ indeed I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord verse 12 not that I've already obtain this or I'm already perfect but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus made me his own Brothers I don't consider that I've made it my own but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straightening on forward to what lies ahead I pressed on to the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ may God Inspire us with his words that as we
01:01:11 leave our sin behind our works behind and we strive forward forgetting what was in the past but straining on towards the goal which God has set for us in Christ Jesus let us this week go out in the commun community and live by faith we ask this for jesus' sake amen some of you who want to be prayed over who struggle with faith and works please come and come to the elders and process in front for us to pray for you
