Faith and Works

In this new life we have in Christ; is living by faith enough, or do we ever need to do something? There are two drastically different, but equally wrong answers to this question.

One says, "All you need to do is sit there and have faith."
The other says, "Forget trusting in God, everything you'll ever get will come from your own effort."

Neither of these is right. Why? Because you'll never find faith without work - and you'll never be effective in your work without faith.

You Can't Have One Without The Other

When we were saved, it was by grace through faith - correct? We weren't saved by works, by our own effort, or by trying to get saved. No, it was an incredible gift of God's grace that you received through faith. This is crucial to understand, because now that you're in this new life, you must still live by faith.

Habakkuk 2:2 says this very clearly, "But the just shall live by his faith." This passage is quoted three times in the New Testament! (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38) Clearly, God's making a point here: You can't depend on your works to live any more, you must live by believing what God said!

Hebrews 6:1 tells us the same thing: "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God..."

Do you see that? Anytime you work to try to get something from God, that work is dead - that is useless, empty, and meaningless. Why? Because God isn't impressed by what you do. He won't bless you any more for working harder, and He won't bless you any less when you fail to work. No, this kind of "works-based" mentality is something that we must repent of...turning to faith toward God!

Works without faith are dead.

There you go! Doesn't that mean we don't have to do anything ever again? Do we have any part to play in receiving God's promises? Did God really intend for us to sit on our butt and "only believe"? Not at all! If that's the way you define faith, then you've missed the whole point!

James 2:17 "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
Works without faith may be dead - but so is faith without works!

This verse in James is not claiming that you have to do something to keep your faith alive. We know that faith comes by hearing, not doing. As long as you keep your eyes and ears in the Word, your faith will continue to remain strong. No, this verse is telling us that faith doesn't come by itself! True faith always has a corresponding action.

Faith Produces Action

Hebrews 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 know this story: Abraham finally received the son God promised. After watching the boy grow and become a young man, God put Abraham to the test. We commonly think that God was testing Abraham's loyalty in this story - whether Abraham would give everything to God or hold something back. But that is not what was being tested here...this was a trial of Abraham's faith.

You see, Abraham received Isaac by faith. God had promised that Abraham would have a son, name him Isaac, and become a great nation through him. But when God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as an offering, the young man hadn't had any children yet! Do you see the complication here?

On the one hand, God promised a great nation through Isaac.

On the other hand, God commanded Abraham to end Isaac's life before he had any kids.

How could this be?

Without faith, Abraham wouldn't have acted on this command. If he didn't believe in God's power and promise concerning Isaac, he never would offered up his son. But because of Abraham's faith, he came to this conclusion: "God promised me a nation through Isaac. Isaac hasn't had any kids yet, but I was just told to offer him as a sacrifice. God doesn't lie, so He must be planning on raising Isaac from the dead!" So in this trial, Abraham's faith spurred him into action!

Friends, this is what faith does for us today! Faith isn't passively believing what God said...it's an active force that will simultaneously get you moving and move obstacles out of your way! Look at Hebrews 11, and you'll see every hero in Scripture was someone who acted in faith.
Abel offered his sacrifice in faith.
Noah built the ark by faith.
Abraham and Sarah conceived a child by faith.

Moses' parent hid him by faith (in fact, verse 23 specifically tells us they were not acting in fear).

Moses forsook Egypt by faith.

The Israelites walked through the Red Sea by faith.
All of the great miracles of old were worked by faith.
Some great saints suffered and were persecuted by faith (not because they were trapped by suffering).

All of the great men and women in the Bible did great things because they believed what God said! Their faith came first, but that faith always produced actions. This is still how it is with us. You can never truly do great things for the kingdom - not even simple obedience - without faith!

Done By Faith

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him..."

Don't fool yourself. Faith and obedience are not two separate issues. If you try to obey God on your own effort...without faith...you will not please Him! When you do this, you step back into "dead works" and need to repent! Only faith can please God.

In fact, Romans 14:23 tells us "whatever is not from faith is sin." It is a sin in the eyes of God to divorce your obedience from faith. You'll  never be able to obey God and fulfill His calling on your life unless you do it by faith.

Faith in what? If faith is believing what God said, then how is it possible to do something in faith? What exactly are you believing?

1 - Believe that God gave the command. That's an obvious first step, but not one to be overlooked. If the Bible says gives a command, then you'd better be absolutely convinced that it came straight from God's mouth!

2 - Believe that His mercy covers the times when you didn't obey the command. We all have those times in our life when we deliberately disobeyed what God said. To pretend that you've never disobeyed God on purpose is to call Him a liar (1 John 1:10). But we must remember that He is faithful to completely wash away those sins - when we turn to Him in repent!

3 - Believe that His command carries the power to obey. This is how to truly do things in faith, by believing that you don't have to do it in your own strength! Take a look through Scripture and see for yourself; God has never given a promise without also giving the power to obey it:
God telling Moses to go forward, through the Red Sea
God telling Joshua to take the promise land
Jesus commanding Lazarus to rise up from the dead
Jesus calling Peter out on the water
Jesus commanding the paralytic to "Rise and Walk"

Peter and John commanding the crippled man to do the same thing

Every time the command was given, the power to obey was given as well!

This is where I want to leave you today: Inside the commands of God - in their very words - is all the power you need to obey! All you need to do is to take the command by faith, and then act on it!

Everything we do must be done by faith!