It is good to be back with you and it's been good to attend LIFF. You guys are always encouraging to me and I thank you for that. And I'm with you, Chris. Snow is fine, but ice, I just don't like ice. So thank you guys for making the effort to come out when it's so icy. I feel kind of like that when I, you know, I have to go down and get my mail at the end of the driveway and the first part's slow. So I'm kind of going, I'm sure anybody on the highway, look at that old lady trying to get her mail. I told Chrissy, I always try to remember to put my cell phone in my pocket in case I wipe out and break something. Be calling Chrissy and say, your mother's on the driveway. Well, we're taking on today James chapter 2 verses 21 through 26. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there. If you want to just listen as I read it, that's fine too. It says, was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Let's pray. Father, I just thank you so much for your word. I thank you for the instruction that it gives us. Most of all, I thank you that it reveals you and your heart and your desire for us to know you. And I just pray, Lord, that you would be honored and glorified this morning. Lord, help us to think through these things as individuals and as a body of believers. And may we just not be hearers of the word, but help us to be doers as well. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Today's scripture is a perfect example of why you need the whole of scripture to get your theology right. I hope all of you were here last time to hear Christi talk, because she really set the stage for this. And if you were here, you know that salvation is by faith in Christ alone. It's not something that you can work for. And that is why I say to you that you need the whole of scripture, because you can make the Bible say pretty much anything you want it to say if you just take out a phrase and let it stand by itself. For example, in verse 24 here, you could take out that phrase, a person is justified by what he does. And if you leave that and make that, base your whole theology on that one statement, you would say, well, you have to work for salvation. But that's not what the whole of scriptures is saying. People usually compare James with Paul. And many think that they were at odds with one another in what they wrote in the Bible. But I submit to you that they were two men filled with the Holy Spirit of God that were on the same page. They were just saying different things to different people. Many picture James and Paul standing face to face with their swords drawn, and Paul hollering, it's by faith, and James saying, it's by works. But in reality, they were standing back to back. And they were just coming at people from a different direction. Paul argued for the priority of faith, and James argued for the proof of faith. And that makes sense when you look at these two men. Who was Paul? Well, in Philippians chapter 3, verses 4 through 6, he tells us about himself. He wrote Philippians, and he says, if anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law, a Pharisee, As for zeal, persecuting the church. As for legalistic righteousness, flawless. In other words, if it had been by works, he had it down. All you have to do back then is say you're a Pharisee and you know exactly what they're about. They are about following the law to the letter and never departing from that. In fact, they added laws to God's law. They were so zealous for the law. And Paul was passionate for what he believed in. And that's why he was so against the church, because they were talking about faith in this Jesus Christ. But then all of a sudden, he met Christ on the road to Damascus. And he had to face the fact that, I was wrong. For all these years, what I believed in was wrong. And he had to eat some humble pie. But then so did James. James was a working man. Probably he was a carpenter like his father. Men back then followed in what their father did if they were working men. In fact, in Mark chapter 6, verse 3, it's talking about, and Fred just mentioned this Sunday too, The people are talking about Jesus, and they say in verse 3, isn't this the carpenter? In other words, Jesus was the son of Joseph, so he just did what his father did. So James was probably doing the same thing. And then it says, isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? It mentions James first, so that probably means that he was probably the oldest brother, the half-brother of Jesus. We know that the Holy Spirit was Jesus' father, Mary the mother. But then Mary and Joseph had other children. And James was probably the oldest of those. So he very well could have been just a year or two younger than Jesus. And talk about a hard act to follow. Can you imagine what that would have been like growing up? And James did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. I'm sure Mary would have told her children the story. I'm sure Joseph. told it, but James just would not believe. Maybe it was the competition with a brother or what, I don't know. Someday I'll ask him. But he did not believe who Jesus was, that Jesus was the Son of God. But he would have saw what Jesus did. In Acts 10.38 it tells us that Jesus went about doing good, and James would have seen that. But not until his meeting with Jesus after Jesus was resurrected did he really come to believe that his half-brother, Jesus, was the Son of God. That's told to us in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 7. In this 1 Corinthians 15, it tells the names of many people that Jesus met after he was resurrected and the groups of people. And then it just says, and he appeared to James. Can you imagine what that was like? I mean, sometimes I wonder. I know one lady told me in one of my Bible studies, man, your imagination goes everywhere. But don't you wonder what it was like? Did Jesus tap him on the shoulder and James turned around, there's Jesus? Or just appear to him all of a sudden and say, James, I really am the son of God. Now believe in me. And he did. So he had to change his mind, too, about who Jesus was. And I'd just like to say here that I know some of you sitting here are like Paul and James. That what you grew up believing, all of a sudden you were confronted with the truth of the word of God. And you had to make that decision. Is that right? Or have what I believed in, is that right? And you've embraced the truth. And God bless you for that. That is not always easy. But there may be some of you here today that are still struggling in the midst of that. You know what the Bible teaches about salvation in Christ? Man, it goes against everything that you've been taught your whole life, and you're still in the midst of that struggle. Tell us about that, tell me about it. I left note cards on the table for you to tell me anything that you want to through this talk, just if you want prayer for something. And if this is one thing that you're struggling with, just say, you can say if you want to meet with somebody, me or somebody else, to talk through it, or just say, would you just pray for me? I'm just struggling through this. I'm really not quite sure yet which one to embrace, what I've heard all my life, or whether this other truth. So if you want to do that, you can leave those note cards and I'll collect them afterwards. Or you can tell me Nancy Brown is not your color or whatever you want to, I don't care. Just say anything you want to on the note cards, but please put your name on it because if you want prayer, I won't know who I'm praying for. But you know it's a serious issue, it really is, and it's something that you have to come to grips with. Don't leave that battle going too long. But I know, I know it's a struggle because it's hard to leave that system that you've grown up with your whole life. Well, finally, in James and Paul, we see that they agreed with each other because they both taught what the other emphasized in their letters. All you have to do is read through Paul's letters and you will see that there's many commands there. He talks about things that we should be doing as believers through our faith. And we'll talk more about one verse, especially later. But what about James? Did he ever embrace the fact? Did he ever say, you know, it is by faith? Actually, he did. In Acts chapter 15, there's a chapter where the council was meeting. And basically, in a nutshell, what they were debating about was what to do with these Gentiles that were coming to the Lord. They've accepted Christ by faith, but now what do we do? Do they have to be circumcised to be part of the church? Do they have to do these works of the law? And James speaks up. And I can't read all that he wrote. But in verse 19, this is James saying, he said, it is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. In other words, he is agreeing. They came to God through faith. Let's not put on the burden of the law on them. Let's not make them be circumcised. Let's not do all that stuff. It is by faith. So James embraced that. So don't ever think that he didn't, that he thought you had to add something. Now, true to James' form, he does say later, you know, and tell them to do this. You know, there should be an outworking of that faith, proof of their faith. But he is emphasizing that it is by grace alone. Well, back to James chapter 2. He uses two illustrations here for his argument that there should be proof of the faith that we have. He uses Abraham, the beloved patriarch, and he uses Rahab, the redeemed prostitute. Now both Paul, in Romans chapter 4 verse 3, and James here in verse 23, quote Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. And that is the chapter where God first comes to Abraham and gives him the Abrahamic covenant. In other words, he's making a covenant with Abraham. And he says, you look up at the stars, Abraham. Try to count them if you can. That's how many your descendants are going to be. And verse 6 just simply says, and Abraham still was Abram at this point. It says, Abram believed the Lord, and he, God, counted it to him as righteousness. No works. Nothing that he had to do. God just told him, this is what's going to happen. Abraham believed and God said, you are righteous because you believe me. It was his faith in God. And James talks then about how Abraham's works were proof of that faith. And he uses the story that's in Genesis chapter 22. Now, that is only seven chapters past Genesis 15. But it's also 40 to 50 years later in Abraham's life, and a lot has gone on in between those two things. God had promised him and Sarah a son. It just didn't happen. It didn't happen. It didn't happen. And he had to wait and wait and wait. And finally, he and Sarah got restless and said, OK, apparently it's not going to happen. So Sarah gave him Hagar, her handmaiden. He had a son called Ishmael by her. But God told him, no, that is not the son of the promise. Isaac is your son of promise. So Isaac is born in Genesis chapter 22. It says sometimes later God tested Abraham. He said to him Abraham Here I am he replied Then God said take your son your only son the only son of the promise Isaac whom you love and go to the region of Moriah Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains. I will tell you about and I just can't imagine what that was like for Abraham if you go to his shoes. And it's always interesting to me, if you look, if you read through Genesis, through Abraham's life, he had a lot of dialogue back and forth with God. He often asked God questions. Why are you doing this? You know, talking things through. In this very serious matter of go and sacrifice your son as a burnt offering, it doesn't ask any questions. No response. It just says in verse 3, early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey and took off. And it took them three days to get to that place. I wonder if he got any sleep. You know, I just... God had assured him that the promise was through Isaac. It just doesn't make sense. And the burning? The burning. And you know, we... Look back at the story, and we know that God stopped him. But Abraham didn't know that. In fact, God knew Abraham's heart. So God would have known that if in Abraham's heart he was thinking, well, I'll go through the motions here, but I know God won't have him sacrificed. I mean, I'll put up the knife, but I'm sure he's going to stop me. Because then he really wouldn't have been willing to go through with it. He was just going through the motions. But God saw his heart. And God said, since you were willing to give me your only son, So he was going to go through with it. What was Abraham thinking? Well, Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter in the New Testament, gives us an idea of what Abraham was thinking of. In Hebrews chapter 11, starting with verse 17, it talks about this time in Abraham's life, and it says, by faith, Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. And here's the clue in verse 19. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. Isn't that something? You know, in this time in history, there had never ever been anybody that had been raised from the dead and from ashes. That makes it even more difficult than when you just see a body there. But his faith led to his works, his obedience. He didn't ask any questions of God, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, by this time he believed, that God sent the promise was through Isaac. And God says to sacrifice him. Makes no sense to me, but I'm going to obey. God must be going to be able to raise him from the dead. And sometimes I wonder, you know, when God gave him the promise of Isaac and it was so many years later, I wonder if Abraham in his mind thought, I wonder if I'll ever see Isaac again. I know God will do it, but it was so many years. Will I see it happen? I don't know. I just know God's promised it. And may I encourage you here too, it encourages me that his faith was a work in progress. He didn't just automatically get to that point. In between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22 is Genesis 17, where God tells Abraham again that he is going to have a son, and it's through him that the promise is given. And in verses 17 and 18, it says, when God told Abraham that, it says he laughed. And he said, oh, that Ishmael would walk before you. In other words, it just hasn't happened. You know, can't it be through Ishmael? And God says, no. No, it's through Isaac. So you know, sometimes we doubt in our journeys, but God is faithful to his promises. I knew this would happen. Ladies, sometimes there's things that go on in your life that you just can't see why it has to be so. But claim those promises. Just believe them by faith. They are true, and they are right. And even though you claim Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work together for good, and you're saying, I just can't see it right at this moment, God. He is true, and he is true to his promises. I don't know why I put on makeup this morning. Well, I'm not going to go too far off on that rabbit trail, or I'll be in real trouble. But believe his promises. Trust them by faith, even when they don't make sense to you, just like it didn't to Abraham. It makes no sense. But his faith worked out in what he did with obedience. Quickly on to Rahab. We're not going to spend a lot of time there, because we just don't have the time. But her story is in Joshua chapter 2. She lived in the city of Jericho. And God was going to destroy that city. It was when the Israelites were in taking over the land. And two spies went in to see what it was like. And the king found out that there were spies there. And so Rahab hid them. And her faith is displayed in what she says to them. It says in verse 8, before the spies lay down for the night, she went up to the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you this land. It wasn't say, you know, I really I really think maybe your God is the God. I'm really not sure, but she goes, I know. And then verse 11, later on, she says, the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. She believed, and her belief led to action. I had to laugh at one commentary I read. He said, you know, she just didn't hem and haw and say, well, good luck to you guys and stand over in the corner and sing the doxology. You know, she put her faith into action. She did something for them. And God rewarded that. In fact, she is mentioned, too, in Hebrews 11 in the Hall of Faith as being of faith in verse 31. And she's also mentioned in Matthew chapter 1, verse 5. Rahab eventually married one of those Israelites' men. And she became the great-great-grandmother of David. who was in the line of Jesus. What a testament to a redeemed prostitute that it is by grace, and God gave her so much grace. I found a quote by Max Lucado in my studies, which was this. It's not that works save the Christian, but that works mark the Christian. Let me say that again because I think it says it so well. I wish I was good with words like some of these people. They make so much sense. But he said, it's not that works save the Christian, but that works mark the Christian. I was thinking of this, and I was thinking of an illustration of what we have in Christ, a new nature. And I just thought of this story. Maybe it won't make sense to you as an illustration, but it does in my mind, so there you go. That's all that counts. I'm the one speaking. But years ago, my son Jeremy, he was, many, many years ago, when he was a camper at Twin Lakes Bible Camp with the church kids. So he would have been fourth to sixth grade. I forget which year it was. He was there. Don Van Hartog happened to be the speaker that week. And we always picked up the campers. They met at the church when they came back, and parents picked up their kids. So I was there to pick up Jeremy. And as soon as that caravan came, Don traveled back with him. He was seeing his grandmother, Katie. He just came over to me immediately when the cars came up. And he said, Nancy, I have to tell you what happened at camp. He goes, I heard that Jeremy had found a nest of baby rabbits and that he tortured and killed them. And immediately what popped into my mind was, not Jeremy. Not Jeremy. And I'm not one of those moms that never believed anything, that their kids could never do anything wrong. Believe me, I would have believed a lot of things about Jeremy. But not that. I knew his nature. He loved animals, especially baby animals. I just did not believe that he would have killed, tortured especially, these rabbits. So anyway, Don went on to share how He got a hold of Jeremy. He really raked him over the coals. And he said, Jeremy kept saying, I didn't do it. But Don said, there were witnesses. They said, Jeremy did it. And he said, I sent him to his hot cabin. There was no air conditioning back in those days. No swim time, no game time, no afternoon free time at all. You're in your cabin. So Jeremy went to his cabin. Don said, it wasn't until about suppertime that I heard that there was another Jeremy in camp. I didn't know there was another Jeremy in camp. And it was that Jeremy that had done it, not your Jeremy. And he goes, of course, I asked Jeremy's forgiveness. I've apologized to him. And I want to tell you how sorry I am. And I said, that's fine. We all make mistakes. And no problem, Don, between us. No problem at all. It was kind of funny on the way home. I said, I just said to Jeremy, so I hear there was an episode with some rabbits at camp. And he goes, he rolls his eyes and he goes, oh, mom, it was awful. And I'm thinking of his one, you know, afternoon free that got taken away from him. And he goes, every time Don saw me, he would say how sorry he was and how he wanted me to forgive me. He goes, he got to the point, I just saw him coming out and say, I forgive you. You know, but sometimes with people, we just know by their nature some things that they would and would not do. Gals, for us who have genuinely accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have a new nature, and it should come out in our lives. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation. The old has passed, the new has come. We have a new nature. The Holy Spirit resides in us if we are believers in Christ. Ephesians 1, 13 and 14 tells us that, and many other scriptures too. He's in us. Because of our new nature, we need to walk in consistency with that new nature by letting our faith result in works. It just should be that way. So an obvious question and a very good question is what works do we do? I want to emphasize a little bit Ephesians chapter 2. Christy talked us a little bit last time. The verse that we often forget about right after verses 8 and 9. 8 and 9 are those wonderful verses that show that it's not by works. Paul says, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. But then he goes on to verse 10, which shows that he's in agreement with James. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Now, I'm going to read that again. And I'm going to put my name in there, but I want you, as I read it, for you in your mind, to put your name in there. For Nancy is God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for Nancy to do. Are you doing those works? See if we really believe this verse, and we do because it's scripture. We can't leave the work to everyone else. He has works especially assigned for you. And that's kind of a sobering truth, ladies, when you stop and think about it, but it's true from scripture. And I could go through We don't have time for, and maybe you'll discuss a little bit, a to-do list. Maybe some things, and I think it's so neat that Heidi is presenting what she is going to present later because it can go along with that. Some practical things we can do. You'll talk about that, and many of you are moms. You know, that is a priority in your work right now that God has assigned you to do, to raise those kids for the glory of God. My pet peeve, ladies, is sometimes we as Christians just want them saved and that's it. There's so much more. You've got to raise them to be disciples of Christ. Go much further than just salvation. It's so worth it. That's a huge work, but we're not going to go through a to-do list that we don't have time for. But there are a couple of things on the priority list that I think, if you do these, the works will fall into place. The first one is to spend time with Jesus and fall in love with Him. You know, Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. God wants you more than He wants what you do. And if we love Him, and if He has first place in our lives, the works will manifest themselves, they will show themselves. And the second thing that you need to do is to pray. You know, we read this verse and it strikes me, have you ever asked God, after reading a verse like this, okay God, show me? Would you show me the works that you have for me to do? So simple, but we don't think about doing it. Ask Him to show you what He would have you do, and He will show you. You know, and maybe there's specific times in your life, you know, I can remember specifically really pleading with God for this after my last one went off to college. You know, I had the empty nest. The kids were gone. My life was different. You know, what do you have for me now, God? My life has changed a bit. Do you have something more for me? And He showed me. He opened doors. And now I'm in that same situation. I'm a new widow. I have a new phase in my life. So I'm asking God, okay, just show me. And I know He will. I love the prayer. In fact, I memorized this one. Sometimes I find prayers in scripture that people pray, and I put them on my memory list, and I pray them for myself, for my kids, their spouses, my grandkids especially. But there's a prayer that Paul says in Colossians 1, verses 9 through 12. that just fits so much with this talk. If you really listen to it, you'll see where he talks about knowing his will and the fruit and the works and everything, but I'll read them to you. I can recite, but I'm always afraid when I recite in front of people, I'm going to go blank, which very easily happens. But he says, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way. Bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the kingdom in the saints." What a beautiful prayer. So Paul prayed for people that they would have fruit in their good works. They would know the will of God. And we need to do that too. I really want to share this next story, but I knew it would bring tears. Because it takes me back to those last few days with Cecil. They were hard days, but they were precious days. And obviously, when you know that you don't have long with someone, you talk about a lot of things. Now, don't you guys cry. You're going to make me cry more. But I'll never forget one conversation we had. He didn't say, I wish I'd have bought more farmland. Because, you know, farmers never have enough land. I wish I'd have bought that tractor. He didn't say, I wish we'd have gotten to travel there. We talked about it, but we never got to go. Cecil said, I wish I had done more for the Lord. Because when we come to the end of our life, that's all that matters. And I thought, believe me, I lived with my husband. I saw his life, and I thought, wow, if he's thinking that, What does it say about me? I wish I had done more for the Lord. But we know that that's what we're presenting. And it showed me, too, how much my husband loved his Lord, because when you really love someone, there's never enough you can do for them. I wish we had time to go into, you know, how we are rewarded for our works and somehow I don't know how they follow us to heaven. So don't worry about, sometimes I think too, people think, oh, look what Bill Graham's going to get, he has so many rewards. You know, God's not going to compare us. Ephesians 2.10 says he has works for you to do. And that's all he will judge you for if you've done the works that he had for you. He's not comparing you to somebody else across from you at the table here or anybody else. Am I doing the works that God has for me? You know, God is so good. In my devotions this year, Chris Tigreen, by far and away my favorite devotional writer. Last year I tried somebody different, but I had to go back to him. This is my fourth time with him. In fact, I've talked to him so much that mom was kind of interested in my sister. So I got my two sisters and mom the same devotional book I'm doing for Christmas. Just an idea, because it's kind of fun to be going through the same things. We send emails and say, boy, this really hit me today. So maybe you have a daughter, yeah? Chris Tigreen. He has, yeah, he has many. This one is God With Us. I've done Worship the King, At His Feet. There's one more, I can't put my finger on it, but you'll find him. He's amazing. But of course, God in His Providence. Just last week, January 20th, his emphasis, his verse of emphasis was Ephesians 2.10. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. And I can't read it all. But I just wanted to read these three little sentences. We have a holy calling. To walk in the works that he has prepared for us. Live with a sense of sacredness. And I thought, man, Lord, if I would just do that. To live with a sense of sacredness. What an amazing thought. And we do every day of our lives. You know, as you get up in the morning and take care of those kids and do all those mundane things of life, you're doing a sacred calling. You know, there were many times when Cecil was so sick, I told the Lord sometimes, I wish it was me. Makes so much sense for me to go instead of him. He knows how to run this farm and stuff. You know, Cecil's works were done. He got to go to his reward. God's left me here. So apparently my works are not done. He'll take me when they're done. And that's the same for all of you. You are here. If you are a believer in Christ, you have a sacred calling. You have holy works that need to be done. Let's pray that our faith manifests itself through our works. Let's pray. Father, it's a sobering and humbling thought to think that we have a holy calling. And every day that we live is that way because the Holy Spirit is in us. I just pray, Lord, that we would begin to get a grasp on that. Thank you for wanting to use us. Thank you for your Holy Spirit in us. And Lord, I pray That just like Abraham, we would grow in our faith, that we would manifest you in our works, and that we would be obedient to everything that you have for us. I just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.