Faith and Works: The Path to Justification

he says by works Abraham was watch this justified by Faith by works wait a minute that's an odd term the Bible talks about justification by faith Paul talks about that all the time you're justified by faith just by by faith alone you justify by faith apart from works because he's talking about going to heaven now we have a whole different use of the word justification in James 2. he says as a second justification by works the justification by faith has to do with eternal destiny the justification by works has to do with God's intervention in history in your life in our lives in our circumstances in our prayers answered in the power given in the victory over in the deliverances in the in the circumstances of life that has to come because you declared righteous by your work not by your belief system [00:29:24]

he says that his faith was perfected the word perfected means matured it developed his faith grew you don't grow Faith by looking for faith you grow Faith by doing the work because by his work his faith was perfected it matured he had a bigger view of God he had a bigger view of of of of of God's power purpose intervention it all grew if you want more faith do more work that is not just busy work but the application of biblical truth in life's decisions that is called obedience in scripture when the work is tied to the faith then the faith grows [00:87:18]

in the Olympics you have high jumpers they can jump about eight feet springing off the ground but you also have Pole vaulters pole vaulters can go 18 feet High jumpers about eight feet pole vaulters 18 feet that's because a pole vaulter has a pole and when they run and they put the pole in the Box the pole bends and the pole Springs them higher than they could ever jump on their own work is your Pole says you can only go so far with faith alone but when you grab the work and attach it to the faith the work propels your faith to a higher level than it existed previously [00:140:76]

so he says and Abraham was called a friend of God now I know we like to sing the song I Am A Friend Of God that's a lioness song a lot of God's children are not friends of God to be a friend of God speaks of an intimacy that has been developed because of the growth of faith and your experience of God intervening in your circumstances if God is Not intervening his presence is not being manifested it's because the intimacy is not there but when the intimacy is there two things happen God in the Old Testament called Abraham his friend but then people saw all that God was doing in Abraham and they said he must be a friend of God [00:197:45]

has anybody ever called you a friend to God because they saw what God was doing in you and through you that benefited you and from you benefited others too because the hookup is so tight and so close that it becomes visible in history not just academic in the head it is a relationship that is obvious so a lot of Christians aren't God's friends some of you some some of you and some of us have kids and they're not our friends their child but we're not close to them we don't we don't have that kind of connection to them [00:256:74]

so he says no Abraham passed the test and he got a deeper experience in history of God's reality in his life because his faith produced work he then goes to a female illustration in the same way was not Rahab the Harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way he says was not Rahab the Harlot justified by works when she received the spies and turned him out another way okay so you all remember the biblical story Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho okay [00:300:54]

so in the Book of Joshua God tells Joshua go to this Pagan City and he's going to judge it so they sent in a couple of spies to spy out the land Rahab lived in the red light district wherever you see rahab's not name in the New Testament her occupation is always attached to it when the spies came they thought the red light district would be a good place not to be detected Christians would have had a hard problem with them spies but they go to the red light district figuring this remember Rahab The Madam of the house decides she tells them I have heard about your God and I heard what he's been doing and I believe in your God she had a belief system so she took them in by faith [00:347:10]

the authorities discovered that the spies were at rahab's crib they discovered that the spies were at her house or at least the thought was that they are there and came knocking on rahab's door Rahab we heard that the spies are here from Israel is that true she said absolutely not she lied now parenthesis because I know what you're saying does that mean it's okay to lie sometimes [00:415:74]