Doers of The Word

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This program is called 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s broadcast is called Doers of The Word.  Let’s turn to James chapter 1, verses 21-27, Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Be you doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. What James is saying here is that our faith must be worked out in real time in order for us to be justified by faith; in order for us to have works of faith. Let’s turn to James 2:12-26, So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. At every opportunity, as God leads you by His Spirit, don’t forget to show mercy. Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 3:13-18, Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Let’s turn to Gen 22:1-18, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you." So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. This place that God told Abraham to go was Mount Moriah. It’s the exact same place where the first Temple was built. It’s the place where David made an offering, when the plague came because he had numbered Israel, and God answered by fire, and David said, This is the House of The Lord. And that is where the First Temple was built, and the Second Temple. And also Mount Moriah is the same formation where Jesus was crucified. God provided for Himself a Lamb. It is so amazing to me, that Abraham said these words, way back then, so amazing. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide, or Jehovah-jireh; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided." Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— that blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your Seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." And we know from the Scriptures, his Seed, that God was referring to is  none other than God’s Son Jesus Christ. God provided a Lamb.

Let’s turn to Rom 4:1-25, What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS ARE FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS ARE COVERED; BLESSED IS THE MAN TO WHOM THE LORD SHALL NOT IMPUTE SIN." I would like to pause here and turn to Psalm 32, which is what the Apostle Paul was quoting from, and read a little bit further in Psalm 32.  It is very important that we understand this, because there is a lot of deceit and misappropriation of these scriptures in the church today. Let’s start in verse 1: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.   For this cause, verse 6,  everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him.  You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. We see here that David was convicted of His sin; that he turned to the Lord in repentance and faith and confessed his sin, and therefore it was not imputed to him. Verse 13-25 of Romans 4: For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, "I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS") in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE." And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,  and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore "IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us to whom it shall be imputed; who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. 

Abraham believed God, and he obeyed God, so the works that he did were brought forth by God and worked out in real time through Abraham’s faith and love of God. He loved God; he built altars and worshipped Him every place he went. He obeyed God because he loved Him, and he believed Him. He trusted that God would raise Issac from the dead in order to fulfil His promise: Heb 11:17-19, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED," concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. We are justified by believing God; believing His Word and obeying Him to do the works that He leads us to do. We are not justified by doing things we think are good works, which our Lord Jesus did not lead us to do. God told Abraham to offer his son. We are not justified or made righteous by keeping any form of law. We are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His sacrifice for our sins, and in His resurrection from the dead; justified, just as though we never sinned; crucified with Christ, buried with Him and risen with Him to walk in the Holy Spirit; yielding to Him, to be led by Him, every day and every night, to do the will of the Father, bringing forth fruit that remains to His Glory. Whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, whether we speak or work, whatever He gives us to do, we do all to the Glory of God. Whether we live or die, therefore, we are the Lord’s.

As it says in Rom 4:12, we must walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, doing the works of faith that God gives us, as we love Him and seek to obey Him, as we love our brothers and sisters and minister to their needs, showing mercy, compassion, and kindness. For the promise was not through the law, or self-righteousness, but through the righteousness of faith, love , and obedience. Verse 16; therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; John 3:16: God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever lives and believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God so loved the world that He gave His Son; that is the grace and love of God, that whoever lives and believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life! Hallelujah!