Faith Without Works is Dead

By Odon Bulamba (summary only - 15th Nov, 2002)

James 2:17

When you feel tired or weak ask God for His grace to comfort you, call upon God to give you strength and know that every prayer is done by faith. This is how Christian life works in spirit.

When you make an appointment with someone you go by faith to meet them because you don’t know what will happen, you could have an accident on the way but you don’t think about that, you just believe you will make it safely. You don’t know if your friend will be able to meet you ‘cos she could be sick or in hospital but you trust she will be there. Tody you came here at the right time ‘cos you had faith that the meeting will still be on.

First of all you believe that at 9am you will be at your appointment, and then second you will act upon it. So first of all you believe, second you act and third you meet the person. This is the secret to faith. To have a good faith in the Lord we must make a decision. If one of these things is missing your faith is a bit disabled. If you don’t act upon it then your faith is dead, if you lack making decisions then you have no faith. We will talk about these three things; faith without deeds is a dead faith.

Having this faith we decided to become Christians, and from the time of your conversion you decided to change your life. You also decided to leave the life you lived before to start a new life in Jesus Christ, and from this time you started believing and faith started to grow. After faith we need deeds. 1st of all you make a decision, 2nd you act upon it and the 3rd point is the result of what you want.


24Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:24-26


Everything is written about Rahab in Joshua 2. Rahab had been a prostitute for over 20 years and one day she received two men into her house thinking they were clients, but these two men were sent by God to spy on the city of Jericho in order for God’s people to find a way through it. As Rahab welcomed these two men she started talking to them and discovered they were Israelites. In Joshua 2:9 she told the men not to forget her because their God was a strong God. I don’t know who taught her about God but she knew, and after she learnt about God she believed. Rahab had faith to believe that the God of these two Israelites was powerful, and if these two men were in her city she knew something was going to happen, so Rahab chose life. This is why she told the men not to forget about her.

The men accepted her plea on the condition she was to keep quiet. When Rahab accepted the two men into her house a neighbor saw them. Rahab’s neighbor spread the word to the king so the king sent troops to arrest them. The Bible says that Rahab hid the two men on her roof; fortunately the troops didn’t find them. Once the troops left Rahab helped the men go through a window, and then they left her. But before the men left they told Rahab to leave a red ribbon by her window as a sign for them to remember. Nobody touched this red ribbon for Rahab’s faith was alive.

The red ribbon represents the blood of Jesus and every time people walk past us they must see the blood of Jesus in the same way that every time people walked past the red ribbon they knew who Rahab was. In order for people to know that the blood of Jesus exists in our lives, we need to have forgiveness, repentance, joy, peace, love. This is the result of love.

The way we react towards people shows that the antichrist is working in our lives. It is not about having a stamp on your forehead with 666 on it, but because the Holy Spirit seals you demonic power also wants to seal you. When the Bible talks about 666 it is not about receiving a stamp on your body, but it is a spiritual mark and we must understand this message.

It is impossible to grow a plant without a seed. Small deeds help make a plant grow. If our works are good then the plant of God will grow, but if they are not good and they contradict our faith, you as the plant will be burnt. We must practice good things. Good deeds increase our faith and bad deeds will kill our faith.

We must not live to please ourselves but to please others and God. Usually when we pray, we ask for things that please us but we don’t think about what will please God or others. Usually when we make decisions, it is the same.

Summary

First we must make a decision

Secondly we must act on that decision

Thirdly after making the decision and after acting on it, we will see the result. This is faith!

Faith is making a decision, acting on that decision and then waiting for the result. Amen.

If you have good works but no faith ask God for the faith because every tree must blossom both in physical and spiritual activities. It is time to go to God and ask Him to help you.

“Lord help me not to have a dead faith, I don’t want my faith to be killed because of my bad actions, transform me Lord completely so I will have good works for You and man, and that my testimony will be good where ever I go. I also want the devil to testify before You about my good works”.

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