August 11, 2019
Text: James 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
2:23 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.
2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Definition of Reality: the state or quality of being real. the resemblance to what is real. a real thing or fact.
Faith is real, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1.
After years of Abraham believing God, James points to Abraham's deeds to show the reality of his faith. After years of believing God, of living from faith to faith, Abraham can believe God in his life's greatest act and his faith was made perfect, his faith had reached its intended goal. In Abraham's lifetime of believing God, of experiencing The LORD's faithfulness, in all his life of ups and downs; Abraham took his son in obedience to God and offered him.
As we turn and read the account in Genesis 22 I want you to pay close attention to the language, the wording used
22:2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, ( Abraham had many sons but only one by promise) whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Gen 22:3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
Gen 22:4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
Gen 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
Gen 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Gen 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. He did provide a ram for the burnt offering but He also provided Himself as the Lamb of God, Titus 2: 11-14
Gen 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
Gen 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Gen 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
Gen 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Gen 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Gen 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
Gen 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
Gen 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: The angel of the LORD identifies Himself as the LORD and so the angel of The LORD must be Christ speaking.
Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
That son, Isaac was a promised son and through this son, all the blessing were to come. See Genesis 17-18. (The Prophecy of Christ and the Love of the Father for us is great in these scriptures but I want to stay with the point James is making). Abraham did not take the blessing and love the blessing more than the LORD. It is in our obedience we show our love to the LORD.
Abraham is called the friend of God because he obeyed Him!
You should understand that James has already identified himself, to whom he is writing as those who have been born again, James 1:1-2, 1:18. And God's Word has instructed us as born again people to study, to know the Word of God. (2Ti 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Faith is already perfect as verses imperfection; therefore, faith is flawless. Perfect means "mature". Faith has an intended purpose and that is to please God. So, we are to grow in our faith, from faith to faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please God"
Both Paul and James work from the position of the riches that are in Christ Jesus for every believer and therefore you should strive to live a life unto the LORD. See Romans 12:1-2 i.e. Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Live to make your life holy and acceptable to the LORD.
Faith in the promise of God ( a resting faith in His power and faithfulness), God has settled the matter in Christ fully and completely I John 5:9-13, i.e. V 10 "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." John 3:16, John 6:47 and many more verses;
There is two judgment that you should rightly divide or understand: The G.W.T which is for the unsaved and the JSOC which is for the saved of the church age.
Eternal life is a present possession, He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And the life that we are living now is that Eternal Life that goes into eternity. Gal. 2:20. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. And that is the same life we give an account for at the Judgment Seat of Christ (JSOC). We are living that life now in the flesh but in eternity in our new body. But now we are being purified and conformed to His image. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will receive an evaluation from our Saviour, 2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad
James says in 2:14-16 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? It does not profit the needy and what has the brother or sister profited?
I don't think according to the context the word "save" is speaking of being saved from hell. He is speaking to the saved as loving one another. We should be acting as the Good Samaritan and if not what have we profited? Nothing! We have sinned.
Paul said in 1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Gal_5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Love for Christ and love for one another.
If we have faith without works what have we profited? If we have faith without works, we are not useful to the LORD. We were created/saved for good works, Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Our faith is to reach the same end as Abraham. "Perfect in Christ Jesus". See Ephesians 4:13-15
Jesus said, John 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
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