Faith and Works, Part 3

Previously in this series on faith and works, we've seen that we must not trust in sight as the basis for our faith. That's the first thing we have to come to grips with. We have to learn to move beyond trusting the five senses that we as humans depend on so much. We have to quit demanding signs from our invisible God and some proof of His invisible kingdom and promises, and the needing of physical miracles and personal miracles in order to develop a trust in this God and in His plan. Second, we must develop unshakable faith in an unseen God and His promises, and then begin to rely on Him as our light. We rely on Him as our sight because we as humans do not know how to walk or where to walk. And really trust Him through the darkness. Trust Him through the valley of the shadow of death as we proceed on into life and proceed on into the end times, so that we will fear no evil, for He is there as our shepherd, as our guide. Now, that is not enough. Faith, without works, the Bible says, is not fitting for salvation. We have to come to that point and then be able to go on and become like God, to convert, to change into godly people, into godly children. Remember that scripture that faith, no matter how strong it may be, without the works of godliness, is dead. Today, let's take a look at Faith Syme's twin, we might say, Good Works. And we'll see that one is not exclusive of the other. In fact, one cannot exist without the other. The title of the sermon today is, Faith and Good Works Part 3, Zealous for Good Works. Miracles are stunning. Absolute stop you in your tracks, stunning, because, I would say, they're reaching in from a different dimension into the spirit world. It's actually an adjustment or something that is not according to the laws of physics, normally. And we're stunned by that, when we see that. Something that doesn't normally happen. What? The sun's moving back a few degrees? The sun's moving forward? That doesn't happen. Some man's face is glowing? That doesn't happen. A bush burns, but it doesn't burn up. This is not according to the laws that we know. There's a God that is light in the day, and a pillar of cloud by day that's going ahead. These things are very encouraging. Bodies that are having an issue, a person who can't walk and suddenly just stands up and walks away. Very dramatic, very stunning. Spirit world impacts on the physical dimension.

It's nice to have these demonstrations, as it were, that there is a spiritual dimension. These are used many times in the Bible, like the angel appearing to Abraham. That's pretty nice, pretty exciting. Some of the other things I just mentioned, about the ten plagues in Egypt. Things that just don't normally happen, happen. Ten different times. Walking into a furnace and just hanging out for a while. Just walking around and talking, you know, and a furnace so hot that the people outside are getting killed. You know, something's boldly unique about that situation. In the New Covenant period, we saw dramatic healings, cloven tongues of fire, as it were. People speaking in foreign languages. Things that were coming out of people's mouths that were very, very different. Interpretation and all. And we think about that in the Bible, and we think, oh, I would like to continue those things. I'm comfortable with those expressions of an invisible world, an invisible God, an invisible power. That would give me encouragement. Kind of a continual, ongoing, yep, I'm in the right church, yep, this is it, there really is a God. We would like that. However, Paul talked about the gifts of healing, the gifts of speaking in tongues, gifts of interpreting for those who didn't understand the foreign languages. These are miracles. These were reassuring to the faithless every week at church, wherever they happened. They were kind of common in the early part of the church. Would you feel better coming to church each week if I were speaking in, I don't know, some other tongue, some dialect of an Asian tongue up in Mongolia, perhaps? And somebody over here, who had never been to Mongolia, is translating in English. Would that be, yeah, yeah, it's still working for me. This is really the right, it'd be kind of comforting, wouldn't it? However, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 22 and learn something about the maturing relationship between true Christians and physical miracles, what we might call signs or spiritual gifts that were used so that individuals could believe in a new church, a new concept, a new Messiah, and a Messiah concept of a new covenant that they'd never heard about before. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 22, Paul says, therefore tongues are for a sign, but not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.

That's what they were for. We should have matured on, he's saying, beyond these things as far as them being any value to us. Physical signs should have been replaced by faith. These are signs for unbelievers. But going on, he says, but prophesying, and if you look up the Greek word here, it means in the Greek, speaking with inspiration from God. That's one of its meanings. In other words, speaking in spiritual things, spiritual terms, speaking about the kingdom of God, about the gospel of God, understanding something that is divine, rather than just the physical ability to talk in a foreign language, this is a greater gift. It's not for unbelievers, he says, but for those who believe. They've moved up in faith. They're now learning, and the words are edification. They're building of the godly individual. In verse 1, here's what we're to pursue. Pursue love, agape love, God's kind of love, a miraculous kind of experience that takes place in a mind when God's spirit begins to interact with us. Pursue that and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may, here's that word again, prophesy or speak with inspiration from God. Why is he saying this to the Corinthian church? This is not to Timothy or Titus. This is to the church. You desire the best, which is being able to speak, have words that come out inspired by God about spiritual things. Especially that you may prophesy. Verse 3, he who speaks inspired by God speaks edification, which is growth, spiritual growth, and exhortation and comfort to men. This is a type of a good work. This is a deed that edifies, that builds up, that constructs. Now, God tells us that there are better things than just the physical, and those physical things in time diminished in the church. The need for speaking in tongues went away. A lot of the miraculous healings went away because the individuals didn't need them, just as you and I should not need them today, to have belief and trust in God, his plan, and to be able to obey him. Here, he is speaking to the church at Corinth about inspired teaching. Now, what's Paul talking about here? There are official teachers in the church, and then there are unofficial teachers in the church. I think if we go over to Romans 10 and verse 17, we can look at the fact that there are official teachers in the church. Romans 10 and verse 17 don't get any idea that I'm some kind of congregation-less or we're a priesthood of all believers or some nonsense like that. Ephesians 4 says that Christ put some in his church where he wanted them.

One of those things was the ministry for the edification, the proper teaching, so that false doctrine didn't blow around. Here in Romans, we're looking at something similar in verse 17 of Romans 10. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. How does this initial faith and hearing come? Well, there's an official way we find, if we back up to verse 14, how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Now who should be a preacher? Well, next verse. How shall they preach unless they are sent? So God ordains positions and responsibilities within his church, and that's fine. That's the official way. Let's remember Paul is not talking just about the official way. Desire a gift of being able to teach inspired by God. Stop and think for a minute. Remember 1 Corinthians 7 where it says, if you have an unbelieving mate, don't leave that mate. How do you know that you may not save them or be part of the saving of that person? By your life, by your words, by your example, that unbeliever may be called. Same with children. It mentions there that they are sanctified. Remember over in Timothy, Paul is writing to Timothy, but he's remembering Lois your grandmother, Eunice your mother, and how you, Timothy, were taught from childhood, the Holy Scriptures. There's a lot of teaching that you and I can do, inspired teaching, that is a much greater gift, spiritually, than just some physical thing like, saying, rise and walk, or, hey, I'm speaking in Latin or something. The words that come out of our church members' mouths and the example that they have set represent a huge percentage of the number of members that have come into the church through the years. Now, we're always focused on the preaching of the gospel, and that's good. The gospel needs to be preached. But when you go back and count the percentage of members who are baptized and in the church today, and you figure where they came from, first contacts, the ones that encouraged them, the ones that sort of took them by the hand, as it were, that talked with them, that showed them. Well, let me show you some things here. Let me show you some things there. Kind of like a Priscilla, a woman's name first, an Aquila, who sort of took Saul, or took, I'm sorry, it wasn't Saul, it was Apollos, and taught him a little bit more. As we help and encourage and are part of the body, God can use us to bring and help and help be part of the saving that God is doing through individuals. It's part of our being members of the church. Didn't Jesus Christ say that we are all to be lights to the world? All salt? This isn't just for the official. We are all part of the teaching. And that teaching is something that we are to grow up in. In 1 Peter 3 and verse 15, here Peter is talking, again, not to the ministry, but to the church at large. 1 Peter 3, beginning in verse 15. 2 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, in other words, you grow, you and God have a holy relationship, and always be ready, it says to give a defense, King James version says, give an answer to everyone who asks you for a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. We are to be lights, living examples, and ready to speak under inspiration.

And when I say under inspiration, if God is living in you and His Holy Spirit is in you, you are ready for a good work and should be ready for a good work. Again, there are those who, as Paul told Timothy as a minister, you as a minister need to be able to rightly divide the word of truth. And the ministry has that responsibility as set out there in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 through 15. But all of us are to be growing and to speaking words, to be speaking words that are uplifting to one another and encouraging to one another. So we move from the state of a strong belief and a trust in God to doing.

Not only just speaking, you can't speak of that which you don't, of that which you aren't. It's not about knowing. You really can't speak to that which you are not. It's a powerful concept. You can learn something and speak about it, but you're no authority. You can only speak to that which you are. And we are to become the light. We are to become the salt. We are to become godly in the genuine sense. And we might think, well, but wait a minute here. I just really want to have faith in God. I just want to trust God. I just want to believe in God. Well, let's go over to James chapter 2 and verse 19. James chapter 2 and verse 19, before we move on up, as it were, to faith and good works as opposed to faith alone. Let's see what faith will buy us. Faith by itself. James chapter 2 and verse 19 and 20. See, we're trying to believe in an unknown god. Can you pull that one off? Can you really do it? Can you really believe? I say it in an invisible god, not an unknown god, but an invisible god. James 2.19. You believe that there is one god. Okay, you've reached it and now you believe. Is that good enough? He goes on. Good for you. Even the demons believe and tremble. See how far that gets us? Okay, now you believe something that's real. The demons can see God, so they believe. You can't see Him, but you believe. We've made it up that high. Whether or not we believe there's a god has no bearing on whether a god exists. Right? But going on, verse 20. But do you want to know, O foolish man, that such faith without works is dead? That's not good enough for salvation. God does exist, but we have to move far beyond just that realization. In chapter 2 and verse 17, just backing up a little bit. And thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, it's dead. Remember, the demons believe that they don't have any good works, do they? They don't obey a god. It's kind of like it says in Titus 1 and verse 16. And this could happen to you and me very easily. They profess to know God. Don't we all profess that? Yes, we know God. But in works, they deny Him. Ah. That's really what Jesus said is going to happen when He returns. And people will say, Oh, we believed in you! And we're knocking on the door that's now closed. Let us in. And He says, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness. The law is about love, agape love, works, good works, you who are loveless. You've got the faith, but you don't have the works. Depart from Me. You'll have to say. Here in Titus 1.16, they profess to know God, but in works, they deny Him being an abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. They're disqualified from good works because they don't have and haven't developed that godly mindset. Remember, you cannot do. You cannot speak to that which you are not. Now, the reason why faith and good works are inseparable is because they are both byproducts of the Spirit of God.

You know, when you look in Galatians 5, 22, and 23, what do you see? Agape love is a result of the Holy Spirit, God living in you, followed by joy, followed by a peace, a joining, followed by a long suffering with individuals that would try to get you to be selfish, and a gentleness, and goodness, and faith. You can't sort of pick and choose. You can't say, well, the Holy Spirit will give you this. The Holy Spirit will give you that. It doesn't work that way. And so in Titus 3 and verse 8, it says, this is a faithful saying, and these things I want to affirm constantly. This is not a one-time thing. I want to affirm this constantly over and over and over, that those who have believed in God, faith, should be careful to maintain good works. Now that, if you stop and analyze it, is a miracle. Think about that. How can you be zealous for good works, living God's truth, if you don't believe in God? How can you believe in a God that doesn't exist? And if you believe in a God that doesn't exist, how can you not then be propelled to be like that God? The two actually are the same thing, and both are a miracle. An absolute miracle. The miracle of God living in us. The miracle of the Holy Spirit being combined with the Spirit of Man. Nobody can have faith and good works on their own. It's impossible. It's humanly impossible. It's humanly impossible even to think about the things of God, to understand them. Their foolishness to the carnal mind. And that itself is a higher level miracle and an absolute miracle of believing in God and maintaining good works.

Jesus defined faith as one of the weightier matters of the law. You see how that goes? Faith? You think it's faith in the law? Faith in the law you can't separate out. Faith and loving God and loving your fellow man, which summarizes the law, go together. And that's the weightier matter of that process, of that mindset. We have to believe God. We have to trust Him explicitly, and we have to follow Him. You know, if faith is gone, then you doubt God's way. You can't have obedience if you don't trust. If you don't have faith, you would begin to doubt. You say, I don't know about God, so I don't know about His way. We have to be careful about being distracted from belief and trust. With faith, God's faith, it's possible to be solid as a rock and are doing the works of God and being like God. David, a man after God's own heart, set us a very good example of this in Psalm 119, verses 157 through 166. Psalm 119, let's read this passage beginning in verse 157.

Many are my persecutors and my enemies. You think of the challenges that are coming ahead, the challenges in your current life, the prophecies for the end time that Jesus gave and John in Revelation, Jesus gave John.

When you think about those things, just think of these words of David. When you think of any problem, just imagine David going through them. Many are my persecutors and my enemies, yet I do not turn from your testimonies. I don't turn. Riveted, tight. I see the treacherous and I am disgusted because they do not keep your word. Good works are in God's word, and David just keeps plugging along no matter what comes. Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, O Lord, according to your loving-kindness, faith in God, and active good works. The entirety of your word is truth, and every one of your judgments endures forever. Princes persecute me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of your word. And he keeps doing it. I rejoice at your word as one who finds great treasure. I hate and abhor lying, but I love your law. Good works towards God and fellow man. He just keeps on going with this. Seven times a day, I praise you because of your righteous judgments, and great peace have those who love your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. Lord, I hope for your salvation, and I do your commandments. That's faith, and there's works, good works. And they can be very, very strong through any situation.

God wants you to move up to that type of spiritual relationship, being at one with Him and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, a solid, secure, dramatic miracle that is visible to others.

Now, I want you to notice something. As we go along from initial faith, which often is assisted by a miracle, we've moved not away from miracles, but we've moved to you becoming the miracle.

Let's see how this works in Scripture. We are to become a miracle from God that others can witness and that will assist the unbelievers in coming to know Him. In Titus 2, verse 12-14, you'll find where the title of the sermon came from. Titus 2, beginning in verse 12. In verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. Godly.

Verse 13, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people who are zealous for good works. This is our calling. This is what we're here for. You and I were called. You and I have been given a Savior who gave His life for us, which we appreciate every year at Passover, especially, that He can purify us as special people who are zealous for good works. Good works are physical demonstrations of godliness, a physical representation of a family that cannot be seen and a kingdom that is yet to come. How is this possible that you and I can become the miracle of faith that God needs in this world?

Well, the faithless are given something to see. Remember where we all started?

God often, quite often, causes something, something in an unbeliever's life, to happen that's unusual to where that individual comes to believe that there is a god, and that there is a kingdom, that there is a way, that there's a difference. And you and I can become that. You can become that miracle for someone else. The result, Jesus defines in Matthew 5 and verse 16, the result of having zealousness for good works, not just good works, but I mean a passion for good works. I want to live, I want to act, I want to be the miracle, I want to be the visible light. That impossible thing for humanity that no one believes is possible. God, through me, can be that, that visible sign of his family.

So in Matthew 5 and verse 16, the one who said, I am the light of the world now says, let your light so shine before men. Notice that they may see your good works. Your good works. Isn't this interesting? Yes, humans need to see in order to begin to believe. And what are they going to see? Your good works. And what are we told that Christ called us to be zealous for good works? Now, when they see your good works, what happens? Reading on. And glorify your Father in heaven. He's invisible.

They can glorify and come to have faith and belief in a Father in heaven by you and me having good works that they can see.

If God is living in you, and God is transforming you, then you are a living miracle and a necessary part of the work of God. That's what Jesus is saying. That's what the Bible is telling us. That's part of our calling. That's why we're here. Otherwise, we wouldn't be needed.

Now, that's a challenging goal, isn't it? Because I don't know about you, but I'm human. And I'm physical. And sometimes we're like Peter's, say, oh, Lord, help my unbelief. As we're sort of the water's up to the knees and we're kind of going down at times. That's when we need to stir up the spirit. That's when we need to fast more. We need to get on our knees. We need to focus tightly. We are physical, but we are in the process of transformation.

We are being transformed into something that is uncarnal human nature-like. And it should be very, very bright in contrast to the world around us. In order to progress, we have to live our faith. You have to live your faith. I have to live my faith without any doubt. Fully convinced, assured, confident, positive, optimistic, and absolutely following God, doing what he says, no matter what the consequences may look like. You know, you come right up to the door and then it opens. You go right in the prison and the gates open. Whatever it is, God will see us through, according to his will. But we must follow and obey and trust God resolutely. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 4, verses 6-18.

2 Corinthians 4, beginning in verse 6. Paul says to the church at Corinth, For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He is giving us this, something that we should be able to share with others. We have this treasure, verse 7, but we have this treasure in earth and vessels, that the excellence of the power of God, or the power may be of God and not of us.

It's not about you or me. It's a miracle because it's not about us and we can't do it. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. We are to be the representation of the God family to a physical people. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake.

You have to have strong faith as you are dying for what you believe and what you do, and you are being persecuted. You have to be resolute and you have to be that to whatever end may come, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, dropping down, verse 14, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you.

I believe he means present us to the Father with you. For all things are for your sake, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. We have a higher purpose. We have a bigger mission than our human bodies.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen anymore, remember we're people of faith now, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. He goes right on into chapter 5. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.

For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee, or as a down payment, or as earnest, so that we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body, good works or bad works, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are well known to God, and I also trust that we are well known in your consciences.

So there's where we are, and there's where this miracle resides, and is growing and working. We have to be diligent. We have to realize we have opposition. And the greatest opposer is Satan. He wants us to lose confidence in God. He wants to throw an illness. Maybe somebody died. I can't believe God let somebody die. I can't believe that thing would happen.

I can't believe God would let me lose my house. Whatever. Some distraction. He wants to destroy the family that God is building, and get the light snuffed out. Get the miracles to quit.

Let's go back to Hebrews 12. You know, Hebrews 11 is called the faith chapter. We touched on that in an earlier sermon. Let's go to the next chapter and see Paul speaking here in verse 1. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.

And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's where this faith comes from. It's a miracle. It comes from God. God, who for the joy that was set before him endured the stake or the tree, despising the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls and your lives. We have to fight this opposer. Now, if we go to the chapter before the Hebrews 11 faith chapter, chapter 10, verse 23, he says, Let us hold fast the confession or the profession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Verse 24 of Hebrews 10, And let us consider one another in order to stir up agape love and good works.

We have to be the miracle. We have to be doing the good works. And we cannot be doubting or in any way wavering.

Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, verses 18-19, that Timothy, as a preacher, as a teacher, the official teacher now, was to encourage them to do certain things. You've got to really do this, Timothy. When you're talking to your congregations and you're interacting with the people there as a minister of Jesus Christ, encourage them. 1 Timothy 6, verse 18, Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. Verse 19, Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. You see what laying hold on eternal life comes from? As a new covenant Christian, it comes from faith coupled with good works and a zeal for being godly, for being a light, for being an example. In conclusion, as we conclude this series, let's recall that you began believing in God through the five senses. Maybe somebody was teaching you through the ear. Maybe you saw some things through the eyes.

From there, we can equate Romans 1.20, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen. God put that out there in the creation so that we can believe in Him by some of the things which are clearly seen.

Being understood by the things which are made that you can perceive with your eye, ear, taste, smell, touch, even his eternal power in Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Yes, you can believe in God. You can start through the physical realm. We moved up from faith by sight into developing a faith that comes from God, and then walking in that faith, walking by faith, and then living the faith, being zealous for the good works that God is so well known for and that the family of God are typified by.

As you are led by the Holy Spirit, you become part of that living God. That living miracle, that visible representation of an invisible family that is in heaven at this time.

Faith and good works combine into bright light in a dark age, in an age of evil that's only getting worse. This enables others also to start believing. Godly faith with godly works is your gift from God. Let's conclude by reading Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 10.

Paul here talking to the church at Ephesus.

Ephesians 2 and verse 8.

For grace by grace you are being saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. It's a blessing to have the faith that God gives us through the Holy Spirit. Verse 10. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Brethren, let's grow in the faith of Christ. Let's grow in zeal for being Christ-like in an uncarnal human way of really being concerned and sacrificing and loving and helping others. Let's become zealous for God, for His kingdom, and for all that the family of God represents. In doing so, we will become part of a miracle that promotes God the Father, Jesus Christ, and their kingdom.