I was intending to finish last week’s lesson, but this thought kept interrupting my study. So, maybe I’ll finish last week's, next week.
I am amazed at the number of people who talk of their love for Jesus and yet, use every excuse known to man to get out of their Christian duties. Jesus said in John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” What he was saying was, “The proof is in the doing.” It is our duty to serve the Master and to fulfill his commands. If we are not willing to do that, there is not much to our Christianity, because, Christianity is a life of sacrifice and service. Luke 17:10 “So likewise ye, when ye have done all these things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” And then James reemphasizes that truth in James 2:14-20 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 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? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” This has nothing to do with a works salvation but is clearly emphasizing that our faith produces the works, or deeds that identify us as a Christian. Obedience is tested by action! Do we claim Christ as our Savior? Then our actions should line up with our talk and prove our words.
Talk is cheap, but action puts proof to our words, as again we look at the Scripture for our proof: James 1:22-25 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
If you don’t put into practice what you have seen and heard, in and from the Word, it won’t be long until you have forgotten what God’s Word has said.
What are you doing that God’s Word says, “don’t do it?” What are you not doing that His Word says, “do it?” Hear what the Scripture has to say in James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” And then finally, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, other than the Lord Jesus, said in Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” What you do will not save you, but will identify you as a Christian. “By their fruits, ye shall know them.”