I'll see you in the next video.
Thank you for watching.
Take that off mute.
I am a little bit concerned that my sermon is going to be super, super long.
Okay, so I'm going to have a stopwatch to help me.
And we're going to get into the singing straight away. We won't delay too much longer.
So let's turn to hymn number 167. Let's start with 167.
And we'll sing All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name. 167. You can stay seated as well.
167. All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name.
Bring forth the royal diet and crown Him all of all.
The chosen soul of His grace be ransomed from the fall.
Hail Him who is saved by His grace and crown Him Lord of all.
The chosen soul of His grace be ransomed from the fall.
Hail Him who is saved by His grace and crown Him Lord of all.
Able to deliver thee.
Hail Him who is saved by His grace and crown Him Lord of all.
And brother Caleb's coming up for the reading.
James chapter two.
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons.
For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment,
and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and say unto him, sit down here in a good place and say to the poor,
stand down there or sit here under my footstool.
Are ye not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Hearken my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before their judgment seats?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy nine by the which ye are called?
If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, and if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
What doth it profit, my brethren, that a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto him,
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? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
Thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seeest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, for he was called the friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way?
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for this scripture, Lord.
And I pray that you fill, Pastor Kevin, with your Holy Spirit as he preaches your word this afternoon.
And I pray that you open up your hearts to receive your word. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Alright, James chapter 2, the favourite chapter of false prophets.
The favourite chapter of false brethren.
It's amazing to me how many people, when you talk about salvation as to how to go to heaven,
how many people actually turn to James chapter 2 and try to tell you,
well believe it is not enough, faith is not enough, you've got to have the works.
Because the Bible says here in James chapter 2 verse 21,
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
So the title for the sermon this afternoon, brethren, is Abraham Justified by Works.
Abraham Justified by Works.
Now was Abraham justified by works? It says so.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works?
So what we need to understand, what is this speaking about?
Verse number 22,
Seest thou how faith have wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
So what works was made perfect?
Verse number 23,
The scripture was fulfilled with faith. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
For he was called the friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Again, what works did he do? Sorry, it was verse number 1.
It says,
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
So we see, you know, James chapter 2,
Look, let's not excuse what the Bible is saying.
The Bible is saying that Abraham was justified by works when he offered up Isaac as a sacrifice, his son.
That's a very famous story in the Bible.
And you know what?
False prophets, they love James chapter 2, don't they?
They love it.
They always turn to James chapter 2 and try to show you that faith is not enough.
You must have the works.
And look, it's not even just false prophets that get confused with James chapter 2.
You know, I would say the book of James, in my opinion, maybe you agree, I don't know,
I would say the book of James is maybe the most difficult or at least the second most difficult book of the New Testament.
Some people might argue the book of Revelation is the most difficult book,
but I would say, because I feel like I know Revelation quite well,
I would say James chapter 2 is probably one of the more challenging ones.
Alright?
Now, we're talking about Abraham here.
Abraham justified by works.
Obviously, Abraham is a very famous Bible character.
He's one of the most famous Bible characters that you read about.
Okay?
And, sorry, let me just turn there.
Okay, so, and his story is found in the Old Testament.
A lot of him is mentioned in the New Testament.
The epistles mention Abraham.
Jesus mentions Abraham.
Abraham is mentioned throughout your whole Bible.
Okay?
Now, one thing I want you to realise is when you get to James chapter 2,
I'm at the book of James right now.
Alright?
Actually, let me go to James chapter 2.
It's across the page.
Let me go there.
Let me just show you what that looks like on the Bible.
Okay?
There's only this much left and a lot of that are just dead pages and not much actually.
Okay?
There's only that much left.
There was a lot of Bible that came out before James chapter 2.
There was a lot written about Abraham before James chapter 2 is what I'm trying to say.
Okay?
And when people jump straight to James chapter 2, let me show you that salvation is by works.
Even Abraham was justified by works.
Man, you missed a lot of Bible to begin with.
Alright?
So, I want to give you the explanation of what that's speaking about.
And what we need to do is start all the way in the book of Genesis.
So, please, turn to the book of Genesis.
There's a lot of scriptures today.
Is that afternoon?
I've got, let me press my stopwatch right now.
There it is.
Okay.
Because I've been preaching too many sermons over an hour.
And I'm going to try to keep this within an hour.
Alright?
There's a lot of scriptures.
If you can't turn to all the scriptures, just stick to Genesis.
Alright?
We've got a lot of Genesis to go through.
But what I want to start with is let's just have a look at Abraham's life.
Okay?
From the very first time that we meet him until the time that he dies.
Now, look, I'm not going to pull out every important story of his life.
But just some of the major things that took place in his life.
Okay?
So, let's go to Genesis chapter 11.
Let's start there in Genesis 11, please.
Genesis 11, verse number 26.
This is the first time that we're introduced to Abraham.
And we know him at the very beginning as Abram.
You may recall that later, God changed his name to Abraham.
But he's Abram.
So, in Genesis 11, 26, it says,
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, so there he is, Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
So, we have actually Abraham's father's name there, Terah.
Okay?
Verse number 27.
Now, these are the generations of Terah.
Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
And Haran begat Lot.
And Haran died before his father Terah, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
Okay?
So, this is important.
This is the location that we first find Abraham and his family, in the Ur of the Chaldees.
Okay?
Now, this is also, if you look at, you know, just look up, you know, maps and things like
that, this is known as Mesopotamia, or Upper Mesopotamia.
That's important for you to remember.
The Ur of the Chaldees is part of Mesopotamia.
That's important for us as we go later in this sermon.
Alright?
So, this is where we begin.
This family begins right here.
Then it says in verse number 29.
And Abram and Nahor took them wives.
The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, which becomes Sarah.
Obviously, another very famous Bible character.
And the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and
the father of Ishkah.
But Sarai was barren, she had no child.
And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai, his
daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from the Ur of the
Chaldees, so they leave in Mesopotamia, to go into the land of Canaan.
So, they're on their way to Canaan, which is the promised land that God gave Abraham.
But notice this, before they go to the land of Canaan, it says, and they came unto Haran
and dwelt there.
And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
So, I want you to know the story.
They've come out of Mesopotamia, Ur of the Chaldees, they're on their way to the promised
land, they're on their way to the land of Canaan, but they stop by Haran, and they go,
well, Haran's a nice place to live, let's stay here.
And that's where they stay until Abraham's father passes away.
Alright?
So far, there's no conversation between God and Abraham.
It seems like just a family decision to let, you know, let's go to Canaan, but we stop
by Haran, we like it, let's live here for a period of time, then Terah, Abraham's father
passes away.
Alright, let's go to chapter 12, Genesis chapter 12 verse number 1.
What takes place now?
It says, now, the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make
of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be
a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and
in thee shall, this is important as also, in thee shall all families, that's all nations,
all people, all families of the earth be blessed.
So Abram departed, where's he departing from now?
From Haran, right?
He's departing from Haran.
Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, look at this,
and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
So now we get an age for Abraham.
When he leaves Haran to go to Canaan, which is where they originally were going to go,
he's now seventy-five years old.
This is the earliest like age that we get of him.
Now the point being is this, he was seventy-five when he left Haran, so when he left the Ur
of the Chaldees, he would have been younger, okay?
We don't know how much younger.
Let's just be very conservative and let's just say they lived in Haran for five years.
I don't know, could have been twenty years, we don't know.
Let's just be conservative, let's say five years.
So we could say potentially, you know, when Abraham and his family left the Ur of the
Chaldees, he may have been about seventy years old, but we don't really know, okay?
But I just want to throw that out there because this comes to, this is something that we need
to understand later as we get through this Bible study, alright?
Now, so we're getting some key points.
Now he's leaving Haran, he's going into the land of promise, the land of Canaan.
It says there in verse number five, Genesis 12 five, and Abram took Sarai his wife and
Lot his brother's son and all the substance that they had gathered and the souls that
they had gotten in Haran and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan and into the
land of Canaan they came.
So they finally make it, alright?
They had this stop in Haran, we don't know exactly how long, let's say five years,
just for our mathematical calculations.
We will say Abraham was at least seventy years old when he left, you know, the Ur of the
Chaldees, Mesopotamia.
Why is that so important?
What does this have to do with being justified by works?
Well, it's all going to make sense soon, okay?
I promise at the end of this we're all going to wrap it up nice and tight, okay?
But let's go to Genesis 14 now.
Let's go to the next important part of Abraham's life.
Because the question is, well, was Abraham saved?
Is Abraham saved at this point in life?
Because James chapter two says that he was justified by his works when he offered up
Isaac his son.
So hold on, so think about that.
For the false prophets that say this is how you get saved by works, what are they saying?
Abraham was not saved until he offered up Isaac his son.
It's the only way to make that talk about salvation.
Now, let me give you a quick clue.
James chapter two is not teaching how to go to heaven.
It's not teaching that at all, okay?
And this is where a lot of people make mistakes.
Even Christians make mistakes.
You know, this is what some Christians say.
Well, it sounds like it says that you got saved by works.
Therefore, this must have been a different dispensation, a different age, and maybe Abraham
in his time had to be saved by works, but we're saved by faith.
It's not talking about salvation of the soul.
This is not teaching us how to go to heaven in James chapter two, okay?
Otherwise, you must conclude he got saved when he offered up Isaac his son as a sacrifice.
Alright, now was Abraham already saved though?
That's the question.
Let's understand.
Was he already saved or was he not yet saved?
Well, notice Genesis 14.
Genesis 14 verse 17.
I mean, God's already told Abraham you're going to be blessed.
All families of the earth are going to be blessed because of you.
I think common sense should tell you by now, this guy's definitely saved.
How can God even say these words without an unbeliever?
I mean, just common sense as you read your Bible, it should tell you the fact that God
has blessed him so greatly that he's already saved.
But anyway, for confirmation, Genesis 14 verse 17.
I won't go into the whole story, but Abraham went to war, delivered his nephew Lot from
some kings, and then he meets Melchizedek, who was a great high priest in those days.
In Genesis 14 verse 17, it says, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him, that's to meet
Abraham, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with
him in the valley of Sava, which is the king's dale, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought
forth bread and wine, this is like the Lord's supper, and he was the priest of the most
high God, and blessed him.
Now this priest of the most high God blesses Abraham, or Abraham, look what it says, and
said, blessed be Abram of the most high God.
That's weird words to say about someone that is not saved.
That you're of the most high God.
Abraham's already saved, obviously.
He must already be saved at this point.
I mean, I'm gonna, you know, definitely confirm all this for you soon, alright.
And then it says, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the most high God, which
have delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he gave him tithes of all.
Even Abraham's already offering up tithes.
He's given his 10% to the high priest, okay.
I mean, you know, you gotta be kind of ridiculous to say, well he's not saved yet.
I mean, he's definitely saved, okay.
But anyway, let's keep going, let's keep going.
Let's go to Genesis 15.
What's another important story of Abraham?
Genesis 15, verse number 1.
God comes and speaks to Abraham again here, it says, after these things, the word of the
Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, fear not Abram.
Now, are these words that God will say to a believer or an unbeliever?
He says, fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.
God says, Abraham, I'm your reward.
Yeah, you know, when we go to heaven, we're rewarded to be in the presence of God.
That's gotta be a believer.
Because if you die in your sins without Christ, yeah, you are gonna face God, but you're gonna
face God's wrath in hellfire.
That doesn't sound like a great reward to me.
Alright, I mean, again, you know, what God says about Abraham should confirm to us that
he's already saved.
So, let's keep going there, verse number 2.
And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me?
Seeing I go childless.
We know, you know, they struggled having children.
And the steward of my house is this Eliza of Damascus.
And Abram said, behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine
heir.
And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir.
But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven and tell the stars,
if thou be able to number them, and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Look at verse number 6, very famous verse.
And he believed God, sorry, and he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for
righteousness.
That's a very famous verse.
Okay, he believed the Lord, and he was counted unto him for righteousness.
What did he believe?
God said, Abraham, look, you're going to have a child.
In fact, you'll see your descendants are going to be so great, like the stars.
He says, I believe God.
I believe it.
And this was counted to him for righteousness.
Now, let me explain this very quickly to you.
All the promises in the Bible that God has for you, if you believe it, okay, if you believe
it, it is counted unto you for righteousness.
You see, the only way that you can take on board the promises of God and count them for
yourself is not through the old man, it's through the new man.
The old man is not righteous before God.
The new man which is saved, that is righteous before God.
That new man is covered, it's been cleansed, it stands before the righteousness of Jesus
Christ.
You know, we talk about, and look, this passage gets taken, and we did read about it in James
chapter 2.
This passage is also taken in some other passages in the New Testament to speak of salvation.
But this is not when Abraham got saved.
Now, this is what you need to understand, and I know you understand this well, but just
for the story, I want you to get this into your mind, that we're saved by faith, but
then we are to walk in faith.
When you got saved, you heard the promises of God, that his son died in our place, rose
again from the dead, and it is by faith that we trust in Jesus Christ and gives us salvation.
We believe that promise from God, eternal life in Christ alone.
That's salvation.
But you know, the rest of the Bible is the exact same way.
Whatever God promises, you say, God, I believe it.
Lord, I believe you.
What are you doing?
You're exercising faith again in the Lord Jesus Christ, in what God has to say in his
Word.
It's the same.
You know, the same way that you put your faith on Christ to be saved.
It's the same way when you read your Bible every day, you put your faith in his Word.
Yes, Lord, I believe this.
Yes, I trust these promises to be true.
Yes, Lord, I believe that if I come before you and confess my sins that I'll be forgiven.
Yes, Lord, I believe that if I come and pray to you, Lord, that you're going to answer
my prayer.
You know, the Lord delights in that faith.
We are to not just be saved by faith, but we are to live a life of faith, trusting the
promises of God every day of our life.
And that's what Abraham has done in this situation.
God says, no, actually, you are going to have a son out of your own vows.
And Abraham says, all right, Lord, I believe it.
And the Lord is pleased.
It's a righteous act of Abraham to trust in the promises of God.
All right?
Now, let's go to Genesis 16, verse number 1.
Now, even though we can have a time of faith, we can have times of doubts.
And then Abraham has a time of doubt.
You know, he and Sarah, they don't believe.
You know, they think they're too old.
And we know the story that Abraham takes Hagar, you know, and has a child with her,
which becomes Ishmael.
But look at Genesis 16, verse number 1.
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bear him no children, and she hadn't handmade an Egyptian whose
name was Hagar.
And Sarai said unto Abram, behold now, the Lord have restrained me from bearing.
I pray thee, go in unto my maid.
It may be that I may obtain children by her, and Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, who made the Egyptian, after Abram had, look at this,
dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
So how old was Abraham at this point when he took Hagar for himself?
Well, if he was 75 years when he left Haran, now he's been in the land of Canaan for 10 years,
how old would Abraham be?
Anyone.
Huh?
85, yeah.
About 85.
In fact, he's 86.
Because if you look at Genesis 16, just drop down to verse number 16 in the same chapter.
Genesis 16, 16.
It says that Abram was four school and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
Well, that makes more sense because it takes at least nine months for a child to be brought
off, you know?
So, yeah, now Abram's 86.
I mean, the math matches up.
He's 86 years old now, and he's had Ishmael.
He's not had Isaac yet.
He's not been able to offer up Isaac on the altar yet.
Okay?
Oh, James chapter 2 is how you get saved.
Well, man, we've got chapters of the Bible of an unsaved man, really.
I mean, the Lord's blessing him, the Lord's promising great things, he believes the Lord
and he's counting unto him for righteousness, and he's, what, he's not saved yet?
Because James chapter 2 says he gets justified when he offered Isaac on the altar.
Do you see how James chapter 2 about how to go to heaven, be saved in that manner, starts
to fall apart?
We just know the story of Abraham.
We just start to know it.
Let's read it, you know?
Well, let's keep going there.
Let's go to Genesis 17.
Genesis 17, verse number 7.
Let's keep going.
Genesis 17, verse number 7.
God says to Abraham, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed
after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy
seed after thee.
And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger
or the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.
And God said unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant before, sorry, therefore, thou
and thy seed after thee in their generations.
This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee, every
man child among you shall be circumcised.
So now God teaches Abraham about circumcision.
He goes, this is the covenant, this is the promise that, you know, this land will belong
to you and your seed for all generations.
It's an everlasting covenant.
It's the sign of circumcision.
Now I won't go into the details of what circumcision is, all right?
But it's cutting away of a piece of flesh from your body, okay?
It actually has a meaning, it has a purpose, all right?
Now, look at, if you drop down to verse number 24, we have another age of Abraham here.
Verse number 24, it says, and Abraham was 90 years old and nine, 90 and nine, 99.
So we've fast-forwarded a little bit now, right?
Ninety years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
And Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old.
Would that make sense?
Eighty-six when Ishmael was born, 13 more years, that would bring him to 99 years old, okay?
So again, the math all works out here in the Bible.
Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
In the self same day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael, his son.
Now keep your finger there and please go to Romans chapter 4.
Please go to Romans chapter 4.
Isaac is still not yet born.
Isaac is still far from being offered on the altar, okay?
I mean, look, he's circumcised.
Now, let's go to Romans 4 because the New Testament, I want you to remember this in your mind, in your hearts.
We don't need commentaries of men to understand the Bible.
Now, I'm not completely against commentaries, I'll be honest with you.
I think they can be helpful at times but the very first commentary that you should go to
when you want to understand especially the Old Testament is you go to the New Testament.
The New Testament writers are commentators of the Old Testament and it's not just the opinion of men.
Again, they have been moved by the Holy Ghost.
God himself is the commentator from the New Testament shining light on the Old Testament, all right?
Romans chapter 4 verse number 8. Romans chapter 4 verse number 8.
The Bible says, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Isn't that a blessing?
When God no longer holds your sins against you, when does that happen?
When you're saved.
When you accept that Christ took your sins upon his own body.
When he was judged and he was cursed, you know, instead of you being cursed by God and judged by God,
he took it for you and you accept that truth.
Brethren, this is beautiful. No longer will God impute sin upon you.
This is of course salvation.
Look at verse number 9.
Now, this is so important, pay attention.
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only.
Is this only for the circumcised?
Okay.
Or upon the uncircumcision.
Also, now if you know your Bibles, the circumcision refers to the Jews, the uncircumcision refers to the Gentiles, okay?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
Hey, we read about that in Genesis 15.
Look at verse number 10.
How was it then reckoned?
When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision?
Now let's stop there for a minute.
The question's been asked, hold on.
When was Abraham saved exactly?
When was sin no longer imputed upon him?
You know, when was he saved and forgiven of his sins?
Was it when he was circumcised or was it before he was circumcised, when he was uncircumcised?
Isaac's not born yet.
Isaac's not in the altar yet.
Okay, what's the answer?
When was Abraham saved?
Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision.
I mean that would make perfect sense so far what we're reading through Genesis.
Before Abraham was circumcised in the flesh, he was already saved.
Sin was already not imputed upon him.
He was already made righteous with God.
Long before he was offering up Isaac as a sacrifice.
Okay.
Look at verse number 11.
It says,
and he received the sign of circumcision.
A seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet been uncircumcised.
You see, circumcision was just a seal, a picture that he was already justified.
He was already saved by the Lord God.
Alright.
It says that he might be the father of all them that believe.
Abraham is not just the father of a physical nation.
He's the father of all them that believe.
Remember the promise that all families of the earth shall be blessed?
All the families that would be Jews and Gentiles.
That would be Aussies and Filipinos and Czech republicans.
I don't think that's the right term.
And Chileans and New Zealanders and whatever else you are brethren.
Okay.
All families are blessed.
If you believe, you're blessed with faithful Abraham.
Okay.
It says, what am I up to brethren?
Romans 4.
I think it's finished 11, yeah.
At the end of it, it says, though they be not circumcised, that's the Gentiles,
that righteousness might be imputed upon them also.
The same righteousness that saved Abraham, the same righteousness that saves an uncircumcised Gentile.
You know.
Abraham was saved uncircumcised.
Okay.
And so this is, we already, look, we've already proven, without a shadow of a doubt,
many different ways, that James chapter 2 is not talking about how to be saved to go to heaven.
That's not what it's teaching.
Because Isaac's not even been offered yet.
Long before that even happens.
The Bible says even before he was circumcised, Abraham was already saved.
Verse number 12.
And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only,
but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had been yet uncircumcised.
Okay, so let's understand that.
And the father of circumcision, that's the Jews, the father of the Jews, to them,
to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who walk also in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham.
In other words, if you are physically circumcised, but you don't have the faith of our father Abraham,
then he's not your father.
Okay?
You see, this is not just a very physical issue.
This is a spiritual understanding.
That we that are of faith, that have also believed, of course the gospel message,
are children of faithful Abraham.
Whether you're a Jew, whether you're a Gentile, it doesn't matter.
Race is not important in that sense.
Okay?
Verse number 13.
For the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law.
It wasn't by the law.
It wasn't by the works of the law.
It wasn't by the deeds of the law.
No, not by the law.
It says, but through the righteousness of faith.
Reverend, that's how we receive.
We become heirs of this world.
We get to rule and reign with Christ when he comes back.
By faith.
Not by the law.
Not by keeping the commandments.
Not by doing the works.
That saves nobody.
Circumcision is part of those works.
You see that?
I mean, crystal clear.
James chapter 2 cannot be talking about how a man gets saved.
So next time, and so far, look, I've got other scriptures to go.
But, okay, we're doing alright with time.
Alright.
Next time, someone tries to convince you that James chapter 2 says you have to have works to be saved.
Or, you know, you've got to have the works to prove that you're saved.
You know that person knows nothing.
They could very well be a false prophet or a very confused Christian.
I accept that Christians can get confused by James chapter 2.
As I said, I think it's one of the more difficult books of the New Testament.
I understand, okay.
But it blows my mind that when people talk about salvation, that should be brothers of Christ,
why don't they just turn to John 3.16?
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in Him,
shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Right?
I mean, that's simple, straightforward.
Right?
John 1.12, for as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name.
Believe in His name.
So what must I do to be saved?
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
I mean, look, these scriptures are so easy.
They're so clear.
I've got a hundred verses that teach that salvation is by faith alone.
Oh, let's go to James chapter 2.
See Abraham.
Listen, there's something wrong with those people.
And look, James chapter 2 is a beautiful chapter.
Don't get me wrong, James is a great book.
He's a great book.
But we need to understand it in the right context.
It's not how you get saved.
Doing works.
You'd be in complete contradiction to the rest of the Bible.
It's not about how to be saved and go to heaven.
James chapter 2.
Alright, now, let's, let's go, in fact, let's just, because I've got a bit of time.
Let's go back to Romans chapter 2.
The fact that it was not circumcision or after circumcision that Abraham got saved.
No, he was saved when he was uncircumcised.
Brings to light this other truth just a few chapters before in Romans 2.28.
Which says, Romans 2.28.
For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly.
Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
So this is a Jew.
This is a, this is a people of God.
Look, they've got the hat.
They've got the outfit.
And look that they're praying to that wall in Jerusalem.
Look, they're circumcised.
No, no, no.
He's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
That's not what makes him a Jew.
Verse number 29.
But he is a Jew which is one inwardly.
Look at this.
And circumcision is that of the heart.
In the spirit and not in the letter.
That's not in the law, the law of circumcision.
Whose praise is not of man but of God.
What do we learn?
That the moment you trust Christ, that you believe on him,
you get circumcised in the heart.
Remember the physical circumcision.
It's a putting away of the flesh.
When we believe, we know this flesh cannot be saved.
This, sorry, this flesh cannot save itself.
This flesh cannot do enough works of righteousness to be saved.
So we put away the flesh and go, no, we can't do it by our own flesh.
And we believe and trust the promises of God.
That it's through Jesus Christ alone.
So yes, Lord, I believe that.
And you don't get physically out, you know, it's not an outward circumcision.
It's one that takes place in the heart.
So what do we learn?
With Abraham, the physical circumcision was a sign, an outward sign,
that the circumcision of the heart had already taken place.
Okay.
There's no point of being outwardly circumcised as a Jew today
when they've not been inwardly circumcised by believing on Jesus.
Okay.
Who is, Abraham is the father of all them that believe.
If a Jew today in Israel does not believe on Jesus,
Abraham is not their father.
And they're not circumcised in the heart.
Okay.
I'm not against Jews.
Jews need to be saved.
Just like everybody else.
Jesus Christ came to the lost tribes of Israel first.
Amen.
Jews need to be saved in the same way that we've been saved
by accepting what Christ has done for us.
Okay.
Now, let's go back to Genesis.
Let's keep going in this story.
Genesis 21, please.
Genesis 21, verse number 1.
The Bible says,
And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said,
and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age,
at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him,
whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old,
as God had commanded him.
Look at verse number 5.
And Abraham was a hundred years old
when his son Isaac was born unto him.
So a year later, after the circumcision, okay,
Isaac is born.
So Ishmael is 14 years older than Isaac.
All right?
All right.
Next passage, Genesis 22, please.
Genesis 22.
Now, let's get to the topic at hand.
James chapter 2.
Offering up Isaac as a sacrifice.
We read about this in Genesis 22.
Genesis 22, verse number 1.
So we know Abraham was a hundred years old
when Isaac was born.
All right?
So this, obviously a few years later,
it says in verse number 1,
It came to pass, after these things,
that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him,
Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am.
And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah,
and offer him there a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning,
and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men
with him, and Isaac his son,
and claved the wood for the burnt offering,
and rose up, and went unto the place
of which God had told him.
Now, we don't know exactly how old Abraham was
when this took place.
We don't know exactly, all right?
But we have some clues.
Isaac is strong enough to have the wood
of the offering put upon his shoulders.
So he's not a little toddler.
He can carry his weight.
You see that?
He's grown to some extent, okay?
Let's keep going there, verse number four.
Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes
and saw the place afar off,
and Abraham said unto his young men,
Abide ye here with the ass,
and I and the lad, that's Isaac,
the lad will go yonder and worship,
and come again to you.
What is a lad?
Well, you know, most dictionaries would say
that a lad is not an adult yet.
He's a young man.
He's not an adult.
He's a young man.
Again, it's hard to really know
because we don't have the exact age here,
but a lad you would say would be a teenager, roughly.
Maybe 12 to 17 years old, roughly.
You know, something along those lines.
You'd say that's a young lad, okay?
He's not a little child.
He's not an adult.
He's somewhere in the middle there, all right?
We'll call that teenage years.
All right.
Now, let's keep the math simple.
You know, realistically, let's say Isaac was 15 years old,
just to keep it easy, okay?
So when Isaac was born from Abraham,
Abraham was 100 years old,
and now he's going to offer up Isaac,
how old is Abraham?
Roughly about 115 years old, if that makes sense so far.
I hope that's kind of making sense to you.
Okay, if he was 13, if he was 17,
look, a few years aren't going to make
a big difference in this one, all right?
Just to keep the math simple.
115 years old, roughly,
when Abraham offered up Isaac as a sacrifice.
All right.
Now, you guys know the story.
Obviously, he did not end up sacrificing Isaac.
The Lord stopped him.
God saw that Abraham's heart was true toward God,
and, you know, Isaac, of course, lives.
All right.
Let's fast-forward to the next chapter, Genesis 23.
And these aren't so important,
but I just want to give you just some final years
to Abraham's life here.
Genesis 23, verse number one.
It says,
And Sarah was 107 and 20 years old.
These were the years of the life of Sarah.
And Sarah died in Kerjath Abba,
the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan,
and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed.
Sorry, wrong verse.
Sorry, wrong passage there.
All right, so,
Sarah was 127 years old when she passed away.
How old was Abraham?
How old was Abraham when Sarah passed away?
Well, we don't really know in this passage
how much older Abraham was to Sarah, okay?
But, and this is the passage I was reading by mistake.
In Genesis 17, 17, we learn something.
It says,
In Genesis 17, 17,
then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed
and said in his heart,
Shall a child be born unto him that is 100 years old?
So Sarah's laughing.
You know, can Abraham really have a son at 100 years old?
And then she says,
And shall Sarah,
sorry, this is Abraham laughing.
And shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear?
So we learn when Abraham was 100,
Sarah was 90.
So Abraham is 10 years older than Sarah, okay?
So when Sarah passes away at 127 years old,
how old is Abraham at this point?
137 years old.
All right?
Okay, one more chapter.
Genesis 25 verse seven.
Well, one more chapter in Genesis here.
Genesis 25 verse seven.
How old was Abraham when he passed on?
Genesis 25 verse seven.
And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life
which he lived.
And 100, free school, and 15 years.
So how old was he when he passed away?
We've got 100, free school, that's 60, and 15.
So 60 plus 15 is 75, plus 100.
He was 175 years old when he passes away.
All right?
So he lived a long life, okay?
We've seen all the major aspects of his life
from the time that he left the Ur of the Chaldees,
Mesopotamia, to Haran, to the land of Canaan,
all right, to the promises that God made.
You know, there's other things that we could look at,
but just that's enough for the story of Abraham,
for us to get a good picture and then take that story
which is found in the book of Genesis,
which is found in the first book of the Bible.
I mean, look, if you can't get Genesis,
you're not gonna get James, right?
Look, the book of Genesis is the book of beginnings,
not just because he has the creation story,
but because all the fundamental doctrines
are found there first,
and everything else is built upon Genesis.
You gotta get Genesis right to get James right, okay?
You gotta get Genesis right to get anything else right,
really, okay?
I mean, and this is why preachers at Genesis,
sorry, James chapter two is how to get saved,
you gotta have the works,
you gotta prove yourself by your works
that you're truly saved.
You know, they don't even get Genesis.
They don't even get the very first book of the Bible.
Okay, so don't listen to these people.
Don't listen to them, all right?
Should I listen to you, Pastor Kevin?
Only if I'm preaching the truth, all right?
Only if I'm preaching the truth.
All right, now, when was Abraham saved?
We know that he was definitely saved
before he was circumcised, but when was he exactly saved?
Well, let me just quickly say, we don't know exactly.
I can't tell you he was this age when he was saved.
But I can tell you in the timeline
that we've gone through when he was saved.
So, please go to Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11, which is the chapter of faith, all right?
And while you're turning to Hebrews 11, verse eight,
I'm going to read once again to you
from James chapter two, 21.
The false prophets say you gotta add works to be saved
again, we'll take the passage.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he had offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?
So, they're saying Abraham was saved
when he was 115 years old.
The false prophets are saying that, okay?
All right, Hebrews 11, verse eight.
The Bible says, by faith, Abraham.
Let's stop there for a moment.
Before we read what's next,
is Abraham saved?
Of course he is.
By faith, Abraham.
The whole chapter is about great men of God
that did great things for God by faith.
By faith, Abraham.
When he was called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance
obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went.
He was saved even before he went to the land of Canaan.
By faith, God says get out of your land,
go to the land of Canaan.
He says, yes Lord, I'll do that.
The man's already saved.
Before he offers up Isaac, before he's circumcised,
before he even gets to the land of Canaan,
he's already saved.
All right, now remember the story.
They left the Ur of Chaldees, Mesopotamia,
on the way to the land of Canaan.
That should ring a few bells.
Why on the way to Canaan?
They stopped by Haran and they lived there
for a period of time.
And you saw that it was Terah, Abraham's father,
that is leading that trip.
Now, a passage that a lot of people kind of miss
in their Bible reading.
Let's go to Acts 7.
And then when Terah, Abraham's father, passes,
then God says to Abraham, hey, come on,
let's go to the land of Canaan.
Okay.
Well, you might think that's when Abraham,
well, he must have been saved around
when he stayed in Haran,
because that's when he eventually went to Canaan.
No.
He was saved even before that.
Okay.
In Acts 7, verse number 1.
Acts 7, verse number 1.
Because we know that he was already saved
when God calls him out of the land
to go to the land of Canaan,
as we saw in Hebrews 11.
Well, in Acts 7, verse number 1,
it says, then said the high priest,
are these things so?
And he said, men, brethren, and fathers,
hearken, hey, hearken, listen, pay attention.
The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham
when he was in Mesopotamia
before he dwelt in Charan.
Charan is Haran.
You see that?
In Mesopotamia, in the Ur of the Chaldees,
is when God appeared to Abraham.
Verse number 3.
And said unto him, get thee out of thy country
and from thy kindred, and come into the land
which I will show thee, and came, sorry,
then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans
and dwelt in Charan, and from thence,
when his father was dead,
he removed him into this land wherein ye now dwell.
So, Genesis captures the story of the family
leaving the Ur of the Chaldeans, Mesopotamia,
going to Haran.
Now, we get, then God's speaking to Abraham
saying, all right, get out of Haran
after your father's died.
All right, he's honoring his father.
All right, but now it's time.
You're on your own two feet now, Abraham.
Go into the land of Canaan.
But God already caught Abraham
when he was in the Ur of the Chaldees,
when he was in Mesopotamia.
That's why they were initially on the way to Canaan.
Now, Abraham should have just listened to God
and done what God said,
but you see that Terah took control of the journey
and when they stopped at Haran,
they decided to dwell there.
So, Abraham was saved.
And let's say, we use the example, very conservative.
Let's say they lived in Haran for five years.
I don't know.
Abraham was already saved when he was 70 years old.
70 years old when he was already saved.
Okay, because by faith, he did these things.
All right, let's say 70 years old.
Okay, I can't be exact.
Well, these false prophets want to teach you
that Abraham was saved when he offered up Isaac
or the works, come on, the works have to be included.
And how old was he when he offered up Isaac?
About 115 years old.
That's a big gap there, right?
70, I mean, what is that exactly?
45 years.
45 years from the time the Bible says he got saved
to the time they're saying he got saved 45 years later.
James chapter two is not how to be saved and go to heaven.
Okay, that's the simple answer.
All right, I hope I've proven to you in many, many passages.
The Bible is consistent.
It's a beautiful puzzle piece.
It all matches up.
Once you figure it all out, it's perfect.
You know, if we struggle to understand,
it's not the Bible's fault, it's our fault.
We just need a little patience.
We need the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
You know, we just need to be patient.
Sometimes God will reveal things to us later in life.
You know, it's part of growing and learning
and gaining knowledge.
Now, please go to Romans chapter four again.
Romans chapter four verse number one.
And I better hurry up.
Romans four verse number one.
It says, what shall we say then that Abraham our father
as pertaining to the flesh have found?
For if Abraham were justified by works,
if he was justified by works,
he have whereof to glory, but not before God.
You see, if works saved us, you know what would happen?
We would glory about ourselves.
Look how good I am.
I made it to heaven.
Hey, what do you think someone has to do to go to heaven?
You gotta be a good person.
I think, yeah, I think I'll make it to heaven
because I'm a good person.
What are they boasting in?
What are they glorying themselves?
That's not salvation, brethren.
All right, it's not salvation.
We glory before God.
Yeah, if it was by works, men would glory about themselves.
But if it's not by works,
then we can glory about the Lord, all right?
Verse number three, Romans four three.
For what saved the scripture?
Now, this is the tricky part.
What we're about to read comes from Genesis 15
when Abraham was already saved,
but God promised Abraham
that he would have a son of his own vows,
and then this scripture is captured for us in Genesis.
But it says here, the apostle takes that lesson
that Abraham had faith in the promises of God
and takes that same principle and applies it to salvation
because it's exactly how we get saved,
by putting our faith on God's promises of Jesus Christ, okay?
It says there in verse number three,
for what saved the scripture?
Abraham believed God,
and he was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward,
not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Look at this.
But to him that worketh not
for the one that has no works,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
Brethren, it's not faith and works.
It's work not, work is, salvation is not by works.
It's faith upon him that justifieth the ungodly,
faith on Jesus Christ.
Then your faith is counted for righteousness.
Then you truly are a child of Abraham in that sense, okay?
Do you see how the Bible's crystal clear?
There's no confusing.
There should be no confusion on the matter.
And again, all these scriptures I'm showing you so far
are well before James chapter two.
Now, go with me to Galatians three.
Actually, you know what?
Go to Acts chapter three.
And while you turn to Acts chapter three,
this is another passage that some people don't really
capture in their minds when they read it, okay?
Because I think it's beautiful.
I think what we're about to read is beautiful,
but I can see how people can easily miss it, okay?
Now, before we read Acts chapter three,
I'm going to read to you from Galatians three.
Galatians three verse six says,
even as Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
See how that verse gets used over and over again
from Genesis 15?
Anyway, know ye therefore that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham.
By faith, not by flesh.
By faith that makes us the children of Abraham.
Verse number eight, and the scripture,
for seeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preach, look at this.
This is so important.
Preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed,
so that they which are of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham.
The Bible says that God preached the gospel to Abraham.
And how was that gospel worded to Abraham?
Through these words, saying,
in thee shall all nations be blessed.
All nations, including Australia.
There are Australians in this room right now
that are blessed with faithful Abraham
because you've trusted Christ.
That's the gospel.
Now, you say, hold on, isn't that about the land?
Isn't that about kingdoms and authority?
Isn't that what the blessing of the nations are?
That's what I've heard preached,
but that's not what the Bible teaches.
If you could please go, you're there actually already,
in Acts chapter three, verse 25.
Acts chapter three, verse number 25.
Acts chapter three, verse 25 says,
ye are the children of the prophets,
and of the covenant which God made with our fathers,
saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
That's the gospel message
that was preached by God to Abraham, right?
That all the families, all the nations will be blessed.
Say, what does that mean?
Well, look at the next verse.
Verse number 26.
Unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus,
sent him to bless you
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
That's the blessing.
The blessing is that God has turned
our iniquities away from us.
They've been put on Jesus and then he rose from the dead,
which is the gospel message, amen?
The death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus.
That's how all nations are blessed,
because we all have an opportunity to trust Christ,
to believe the gospel available to every nation, every race,
circumcised, uncircumcised.
Do you see?
The gospel message was there all along
from the very beginning to Abraham.
Abraham believed God, because yeah, I believe that.
You know?
Now, so how much did Abraham know?
And granted, that's a tough question.
How much did Abraham know?
Well, let's keep going there.
In James, sorry, in Hebrews 11.
Let's go to Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11.
We're doing all right with time.
We're doing all right.
Hebrews 11, please.
Hebrews 11, verse 17.
We just saw that Hebrews 11 is the chapter of faith,
great men of faith.
All right?
Now, before I read Hebrews 11,
I'm going to read again James chapter two, verse 21 to you.
Okay?
Because I want you to now put all of this together.
I want you to be able to answer it,
if you don't know already.
Okay?
James 2, 21 says,
Was not Abraham our father justified by works?
When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar.
Okay, works?
Son being sacrificed, 115 years old roughly.
All right.
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,
and by works was faith made perfect?
So God wants our faith to be made perfect.
The word perfect means to be completed.
You see, God wants to save us.
Amen.
But he wants us to go from faith to faith.
God wants us to do works.
The perfection or the completion
that God wants to develop in our lives
is not just to be saved and that's it,
but then to do great things for him.
That's our faith being added to the next level,
which is some level of works.
But that's not how you get saved, brethren.
You have to be saved first
to be able to do great works for God.
That's something that can come later
should you follow the steps of Christ.
Live after the commandments of God.
Sebastian, stop.
All right.
Now, Hebrews 11, verse 17, please.
Hebrews 11, 17.
It says,
By faith Abraham,
when he was tried, offered up Isaac.
So by faith, God says sacrifice your son.
Abraham says, I believe this.
What do you believe exactly, Abraham?
You're going to kill your son?
Well, let's go.
And he that had received the promises
offered up his only begotten son,
of whom it was said that in Isaac
shall thy seed be called.
Verse number 19, please don't miss it.
Accounting that God was able to raise him up
even from the dead.
From whence also he received him in a figure.
What did Abraham believe?
Remember the gospel was preached unto Abraham?
What was the gospel?
That Christ be risen from the dead?
That our sins be taken away from us?
Abraham said, all right,
God wants me to sacrifice Isaac.
Well, I believe he's going to raise from the dead.
I'm willing to do this.
Because he won't be dead for too long,
he's going to come back to life
because he knew the gospel message.
All right?
And again, what did it say there?
At the end of verse 19,
from whence also he received him in a figure.
Abraham knew this whole process
of sacrificing my son
is just a figure of the gospel
that I've already been preached to,
that I've already believed.
What is his works?
His works is an expression of his faith.
His faith was in the resurrected savior.
So he goes, well, my son's a figure of that.
I believe that if I kill my son, sacrifice my son,
he'll be risen from the dead.
Do you see that his works
is associated with where his faith was placed
on the gospel message?
Now, did he know the name of Jesus?
I don't believe he did.
Okay, there are obviously things
the Old Testament saints did not know.
Did he understand that he'd be crucified on a cross?
No.
Okay.
Again, there are certain revelations that God gave,
but salvation has always been the same,
by grace through faith.
Okay?
And the only way to have your sins taken away from you
is through Jesus Christ.
Regardless of time,
God is outside of time.
The Bible says Christ,
the land slain from the foundation of the earth,
foundation of the world, sorry.
You know what?
Abraham was saved by the blood of Christ.
Adam was saved by the blood of Christ.
Right?
Peter was saved by the blood of Christ.
I've been saved by the blood of Christ.
You've been saved by the blood of Christ.
It's the same for all people,
regardless of what time period you live in,
whether it's before the crucifixion
or if it's after the crucifixion.
Okay?
Christ has paid the sins of all of mankind.
Now, Genesis 22.
Go to Genesis 22, please.
I said, we're going to go back to Genesis, I'm sorry.
Genesis 22, I forgot about this one.
You say, that sounds a little hard for me to believe
that he was expecting Isaac to be raised from,
I mean, you just read it there.
That should be enough proof to prove to you
that he was expecting that to happen.
Okay, if you open up Isaac.
But let's go back to Genesis 22.
And by the way, this is only found in the King James Bible.
Okay?
Genesis 22, verse number six.
It says, and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering
and laid it on Isaac his son.
And he took the fire in his hand and a knife
and they went both of them together.
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said,
my father, and he said, here am I, my son.
And he said, behold the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Now look at verse number eight, it's powerful.
And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering.
So they went both of them together.
What?
How much did Abraham know?
He was expecting a resurrection from the dead.
He knew there would be a lamb of God.
He says God will provide himself a lamb.
Look, Abraham knew a lot more about the gospel
than we sometimes give credit for.
What was his salvation, what was he basing his faith on?
On a lamb, God's sacrifice.
God will sacrifice himself.
God will be the lamb.
God will rise from the dead.
See, salvation's always been the same, brethren.
Always been the same.
But Christians sometimes hard, James chapter two.
Well, read Genesis first.
You know, read Acts, read Romans, right?
Read these past, they're there before James chapter two
for a reason.
So when you get to James chapter two, you're not all confused.
You know exactly what's happening.
You see, Abraham's faith was in this lamb to be slain,
to be risen from the dead, and then by his works
he was able to demonstrate the faith that he had
on that very same principle,
expecting that his son would rise from the dead
because my son must be a figure, a picture, a shadow
of this sacrifice of God.
That's it.
That's all James chapter two is about.
All right?
That's all it is, and it's so easy.
Now, can you please go to Romans chapter six?
Romans chapter six, verse number three.
There is a New Testament parallel to this for us.
Our faith is on Jesus, our resurrected Savior.
He died on the cross, was buried, and rose again
three days later.
That's our faith, right?
We're saved by that faith.
We trust that.
We trust the promises of eternal life,
and we're circumcised in the heart.
We become a child of God and a child of Abraham.
All right?
But then, what is the first step that you should do
as a believer?
We'll get baptized, all right?
We're a Baptist church.
We do baptisms.
If you've not yet been baptized, speak to me.
If you're saved and you're not baptized,
we need to sort that out, okay?
Now, is baptism necessary to be saved?
Of course not.
Is baptism a work?
Absolutely it's a work, okay?
Romans chapter six, verse number three.
Look at it.
Know ye not that so many of us,
as we're baptized into Jesus Christ,
we're baptized into his death?
Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death
that like, like, right?
What was Isaac?
A like figure?
It's like.
It's a picture.
It says, for like, as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life.
So get new life Baptist church run, by the way.
Verse number five.
Look at this.
For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
So, when you get saved, I put my faith in Christ,
how can we perfect that in the next stage
of our walk for the Lord?
Get baptized.
Do that work.
You're now adding works to your faith.
And the work that you're adding when you get baptized
is that you're saying,
well, I'm getting dunked under water,
that's like death.
I've been risen out of that water,
which is like the resurrection of Christ.
That's a work.
It's an outward showing of where your faith is.
Before someone gets dunked in water,
we ask the question,
have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ?
And if they say yes in the affirmative,
then you can get baptized.
But we know it's just a like figure.
It's just a picture of what Christ did for us.
So we can do works.
We ought to do works.
When you go soul-willing,
you're preaching that very same gospel message.
You are perfecting your faith with works.
Again, your faith being that if someone trusts
the gospel message, they too can be saved.
One more passage and we're done.
Ephesians chapter two, verse number eight, please.
Ephesians two, eight.
I hope I've proven to you,
Reverend Abraham was saved long ago.
He was, by 70 years old,
this guy would have already been saved,
not when he was 115.
Now, before we read Ephesians two,
we're almost up to one hour.
All right, okay.
Think about that.
Think about that logic for a minute now.
I know there are saved brethren that will say,
well, you're right,
Abraham was not saved by works.
He was saved before that, yes.
But this proves that he was saved
when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his son.
And therefore, we only know if someone's truly saved
if they do works,
and that shows me that they're really saved.
I mean, what level of works do you have to do?
Because I mean, getting to the point
where you're willing to sacrifice your own son,
that's quite a high level of works.
I mean, what is your arbitrary level?
I mean, do you have to be willing to sacrifice your son
to prove to me that you're saved?
But people say this stuff,
like what level of work,
how much work do you have to do
to prove that you're saved?
Or is salvation based on someone's faith in Christ?
Look, if someone tells me I know I'm saved
because I've trusted Christ,
it's not by my works,
it's his death, burial, and resurrection,
he took my sins,
and I've been given everlasting life,
something that I can never lose,
then you know what?
That testimony is enough for me to say
then you are saved brother,
you are saved sister,
because there's a lot of people that do works,
there's a lot of Jehovah Witnesses that do works,
there's a lot of Jews that do the circumcision
that are not saved.
Now think about that.
Logic.
Abraham, a great man of God,
a great man of faith,
the father of faith.
If he gets saved when he's around 70,
but he only proved it to others when he was 115,
that's 45 years of trying to prove that he's saved.
Think about that logic.
Is that what the passage is teaching us?
Reverend, look, we've only been running church
for less than five years.
If that's true,
I have no idea if any of you are saved,
because we've got to go at least 45 years, all right?
And you've got to be willing
to at least sacrifice your own children, all right?
Jesus really, truly proved to me that you're saved.
That's where this logic leads.
It's stupidity.
It's false.
And you can understand why false prophets
love to use this passage
to teach their workspace salvation.
It's rubbish.
Last passage, Ephesians two verse eight.
We love this passage, don't we?
For by grace are you saved through faith
and not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God,
not of works lest any man should boast.
Once again, the glory and the flesh, no.
We're not going to boast about our salvation
because it's not by my works.
It's by what the Lord has done.
It's by his grace.
It's by Jesus.
But then don't forget verse number 10.
Once you are saved,
what is the point of James chapter two?
It says for we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works
which God have before ordained
that we should walk in them.
You know what?
Now that you are saved,
I want you to perfect,
complete your faith.
Do more.
Add some works
because that's what God has created you.
The new man, the new creature, not his flesh.
Flesh is hopeless.
We walk in the new man, the spirit of God
and that new man desires to do great works for God.
Okay?
All the works that the new man does
does it by faith.
Does it by listening to what God says.
The new man trusts the promises of our Lord.
That's all it is.
Add some works to your faith.
Not to be saved.
Not to prove that you're saved
but that you would mature and grow
and have a complete Christian life
by doing great works for God.
James chapter two is a beautiful chapter
encouraging us, motivating us
to do the great works for God.
Say, how do I do great works?
The same way you got saved.
You put your faith in the promises of God.
You say, pastor, I don't think I can be a sole winner.
God created you to be a sole winner.
You have faith in that.
Say, God, I believe that.
And you know what?
The moment you believe that,
he'll make you a sole winner.
You do great works for God the moment you believe
that you've got the new man, the new creature
that can do great things for God.
All right, brethren, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to thank you for your word.
Lord, there are so many false prophets.
Lord, so much misunderstanding of your word.
And, Lord, I thank you for the book of James.
It's such a great book, Lord,
so much encouragement to do works for you.
Lord, I pray that we would be a church
of not just saved individuals,
but, Lord, that we would seek to perfect,
to mature, to grow our faith by adding works, Lord,
not for salvation, not to prove that we're saved,
but to do great works for you, Lord,
to be used by you in a mighty way, Lord,
to further your kingdom.
And, Lord, we thank you so much
that salvation is paid full and free
by the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, brethren, please take your hymnals
and let's turn to hymn number 316.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
316, I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back, no turning back.
Will not go with me, still I will follow.
No turning back, no turning back.
Will not go behind me, but cross before me.
No turning back, no turning back.