What a great post.James 2:20 "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"
"Faith without works is dead", it is a dead faith. To put it another way, your faith as well as yourself are a fake. Many people today say that works are not necessary when you are a Christian. God is very natural in every thing that He does, and anything that will not work God does away with. When it is no longer of use, it returns back to its original elements. Rust or oxidation returns steel back to iron, oxygen and the elements that it was made of. Plants that die are decomposed to their original elements, and in faith, when the faith does not produce the natural order that it is intended to produce, it returns to what it was at the start. The natural order of any faith in Jesus Christ is to produce the works that your faith is suppose to produce. God gives each of us some form of gifts that He expects us to use and strengthen our faith. When we do not use those gifts, our faith dies, and returns to what we were before receiving the faith.
In the case of the handicapped, they have a very special gift, and their testimony means far more than someone that is old and without works. When the unbeliever sees someone handicapped that is a believer and has faith and works, it goes a long way in turning them to Christ. In Revelation 14:13 we are told exactly what we can take with us when we leave this life in our flesh bodies.
Revelation 14:13 "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforeth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them' "
Your works are the only thing that you take with you, for your works are already written in the book. It is what your eternal garment that you will be wearing for all eternity is made of. John was doing the writing as the Holy Spirit of Jesus is doing the talking, and telling John exactly what to write. Your labors are what you do in the flesh, not the spirit, it is what you do while in your flesh body. Your labors are your works and those things that you do for Christ and each of them follow you to heaven when you die, or at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your works are what shows the quality of man or woman, boy or girl that you are.
Don't let some reverend or teacher rob you of those blessings that God has for you both now and in the eternity by telling you that works just don't count. They do count and they are the only thing that counts. They are what all of eternity is based upon, with regards to your rewards, your inheritance, your position and what you will be wearing throughout eternity. Let's go toRevelation 19:6-9 and see how our works are treated at the coming of the Lord, at the "marriage of the Lamb" to his bride [all the believers].
Revelation 19:6 "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."
This wedding takes place after the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to set up His thousand year Millennium kingdom right here on earth. Each person that has by faith accepted Jesus as their Savior through their repentance in Jesus name, goes to make up the voice of a great multitude that is spoken of here.
Revelation 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready."
Those of the elect that did not yield to Satan and his system when he came to the earth, but remained true to the seventh trumpet and the return of Jesus Christ, are the only ones that will enter into marriage supper of the Lamb, from our generation. Except for those that have died and passed on, of course. These are the ones that are making themselves ready for the supper.
Revelation 19:8 "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."
Friend, your righteous acts are the works that you have done while living in your flesh body here on earth, and at this time those acts are the only thing that will go to make up the fine linen that you will be wearing in the Millennium and in the eternity. Those works are the only thing that covers you at the marriage supper of the Lamb, that is where the rewards are given out, and where you are assign your inheritance.
Do you get the picture? Your faith is needed to get you into the supper, but to attend the supper you need to be properly dressed. It is your works that decide what you will be wearing to the supper. James then is saying that if your works are dead, so is your faith also, for it takes one to obtain the other. You are not saved by your works, but by your belief and faith in Jesus Christ, it is your works that tests whether your faith is genuine. Your works is the guard at the door to check to see if your ticket qualified you to enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb, who is Jesus Christ. To see if you are a true man or woman of God, or just a cheap fake and counterfeit. There is no place setting at the supper table for those that think they can sneak in by some other means.
Revelation 19:9 "And he saith unto me, "Write, 'Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.' "
When your faith is checked out by your works, and those works are found to be true and genuine, God will truly bless you with His riches, as you become joint-heirs with Christ in that heavenly kingdom. Today it is common to hear that, "your works just don't matter." These are also the ones that tell you not to read the book of Revelation, and that the book of Revelation is not to be understood. They are the same old boys that think they can con the man at the door controlling the entering into the "marriage supper of the Lamb", and come up by some other way. They are the ones for you to mark well in anything that they say, and their words must be tested by the Word of God before being accepted, and there they will be found to be "hay and stubble, to be burned in the fire".
James is a very direct book and it gets said what must be said, especially to those that have blinded themselves to the book of Revelation.
James 2:21 "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?"
Our Lord Jesus Christ hadn't walked the earth during the time of Abraham, and the faith teachers had not been born yet. Abraham was judged by the works and acts that he did by God, and God found Abraham to be righteous through those righteous acts. He had the faith to believe that God said what He meant, and Abraham acted on those words. Abraham was to old to have a child, and God comes along and gives Abraham and Sarah the ability to give birth to Isaac, which was a miracle birth. Sarah's womb was years past bearing age, for she is one hundred years old at the time of Isaac's birth. Isaac was a miracle child.
God had promised Abraham that "the seed of Isaac would be as the stars in the heavens and the sands of the sea", and Abraham believed God. Then when God asked Abraham to kill his son on an altar as a sacrifice to Him, Abraham was willing to do it, for Abraham trusted God, and knew that somehow God would raise Isaac from the dead if necessary to keep His Word. It was God's Word that was at stake, and Abraham did not question how God would do what He said that He would do. What mattered to Abraham was that he obey exactly as God instructed him to do. That is what is called "works", it is complete obedience to God's Word. Abraham knew that God would not lie, and that God was in control and would hold his hand with the blade in it, if that is what God desired.
This is works and putting your faith into action. This is why Abraham's works are counted as faith. This is stated again in Hebrews 11:8; "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he wit out, not knowing whither he went."
Hebrews 11:9 "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;"
God asked Abraham to do something, and He did it without question.
Wish I could give you five likes!
If someone doesn't understand the above, I don't think they'll understand anything.
