Jesus Alone Saves

What is the Will of God? (Study of James- Part 11)

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” James 1:22-25

Few months, I’ve been fired up on preaching this one sermon, but I didn’t know how to go about it, so I made the Series, “Study of James”. I have lived a life that wasn’t Godly and yet I still called myself Christian. Looking back at my old life and my new life, I was a hypocrite heading to Hell. I talked the talk, but didn’t walk the walk. I preached thing’s I didn’t even live by. I was a false teacher. I wasn’t of God. That all changed, when I came across a-lot of verse, reading my bible. Verse’s that spoke of walking the walk, and not just talking it.

Many people throughout history of the church have tried time and time again, to take the book of James out of the bible. The reason behind it is because it says it’s not only by faith we are saved, but faith alone isn’t all we need, our deeds we need also. To show that we are saved. This Book, and the Author seem to go against the whole Good News, but matter in fact, it doesn’t. It fits right in. Jesus, Paul and James all agree that faith is not all you need to be saved.

Above in James 1:22-25, it says, “not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it”. Also it says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive your-selves. Do what it says.”

The key words are, “Do” and “Does”. Sure you might know the bible, but are you living as the bible has it for you to live by?

If you look like that world, then how are you any different from the world? We must look like Christ, to show the love of Christ. We will fail sometimes, but that’s why we read the bible and pray to God, to help us stand firm.

You’re not standing firm if you sin without thinking anything of it. You who sin and say, “It’s okay, I have faith”. Okay, even demons have faith, they know the bible is true. They saw Jesus dying on the cross. Are they going to be saved? No, why not? Answer, they have no Godly deeds to their faith. They don’t turn away from their sin. That’s what Christian’s are called to do, repent, meaning to turn away from.

Remember, I said Jesus, Paul, and James all spoke about doing and not just hearing. That they all preach living in sin as a Christian is not what we do. Here are the verses to back up this statement…

Jesus

• “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:21-24)

See how it Says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”That means there is more than just believing it or knowing it. Key word “Does”. What is the Will of God the Father? Jesus answers that with this, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice…”Key word is “practice”.

Some bibles may say, “Act on”. If you “act on” or “practice” something, are you not doing something? There is much more than faith. God wants us doing something. He gave us his word, for a reason.

Paul, whom was Saul, before he came to Christ-

• “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:1-4)

Paul says, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” People love to stop at the grace increasing part, but read more of it, says, “How can we live in it any longer?”

First says, “By no means!”then, he ask, “How can we live in it any longer?”

Why does he ask that?

• Because we are not of this world, so how can we look like this world. If you look at Paul’s life, you see him trying to be more like Christ and grow in Christ, that is why he is known be the greatest Christian to live. He did something no other Christian has done. He came out of darkness, and really lived in the light. That is an example to every Christian, to know how we are to live each minute. Yes we will fall, but we have God to help us up.

Because of all this, I study the meaning of it all, and it has got me concern on the bible’s part, so I prayed for understand. On the faith and deed’s part, God said, “Saved by Faith. Justified by what we do with that faith.”

Faith is nothing without using that faith in our daily life. What are you doing with it?