Patriarchs, Prostitutes and the Public Nature of Faith

This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

For more information on our church, please visit Grandparkway.org.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

If you're our guest today, we're preaching through the book of James, and we've got up to chapter 2, verse 14.

If you didn't bring a Bible with you, there should be one on your row.

I'm on page 1012.

Page 1012.

And I want to talk to you this morning about patriarchs, prostitutes, and the public nature of faith.

Patriarchs, prostitutes, and the public nature of faith.

And uh somebody asked me one time, a little kid asked me here, I won't embarrass because he's in the service.

He came up to me and said, Where do you get the titles from your sermons?

Uh and I said, From the Bible.

And so if you think this, like, where'd you get this?

Just listen to what the Bible says this morning.

I'll start reading in James chapter 2, verse 14.

James 2:14

The Bible says this, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?

For brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body.

What good is that?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that God is one, you do well.

Even the demons believe and shudder.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Time out.

Look at me for a second.

When you were a kid and your parents were driving down the road, did they ever look at the backseat and say, You want me to pull this car over?

That's what James says right here.

James is like, You want me to pull this car over?

You want me to smack you right in the mouth?

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that if faith apart from works is useless?

I don't want to do this, but you're gonna make me.

Verse 21.

Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.

And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

He was called a friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith, apart from works, is dead.

The text basically falls out in two parts this morning, and that's how I want to divide it out, and I want to make two points and kind of unpack them.

And the first one this morning that I want us to not miss is that faith, there's a faith that is not faith.

The first part of this section, James talks about this faith, quote unquote, that it's not faith.

And this false faith is based on two things.

Number one, profession, and number two, orthodoxy or belief.

It's the person that kind of professes one thing, and then the person says, Well, I believe this.

Now, but before we get into those, let me just draw your attention to the latter part of verse 14.

James asks a question that you have to look, you have to look at these questions through the lens, uh, I mean, these statements through the lens of this question.

He says, after he says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says, by the way, key phrase there, if someone says.

That's the profession part.

Just because you say something doesn't mean it's true.

Like, for example, everyone in Texas is a Christian.

Just ask them.

They'll tell you, I watched the Republican debate, didn't I?

Come on, dude.

I know that Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll.

I'm in, right?

Not necessarily.

But here's the thing we've got to we've got to get down.

Look at the last part of verse 14.

He says, he says he has faith but does not have works.

Can that faith save him?

That's a reference to the judgment, okay?

At the end.

Both of these have to be seen through this piercing question.

Can that faith save him?

Translation, at the end of this, will you be able to stand before God with no fear of judgment whatsoever, and every assurance of eternity in heaven and the reward for a life that's been well lived?

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive what is due him for the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil.

And so the question about faith is not what you say or what you prefer, but can your what you call faith, can it prepare you to stand before God on judgment day with no fear whatsoever, with absolute certainty.

See, that's what Paul says, that there's, I mean, excuse me, James says there's a faith that's not really faith, and he describes it there in verses 14 to 19.

Let's just look at verse 15.

He gives an example.

He says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says faith is not founded or defined or real because you say it.

If someone says he has faith, profession, but but does not have works, can that faith save him?

And then James gives a practical example in verse 15.

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, which by the way, I don't want to get too technical, but in the Greek, this is in the middle voice, that go in peace, be warmed and filled, which means it's passive.

When you're like, that doesn't help me anymore.

You might as well say middle voice again.

It's kind of like he's being sarcastic.

It's like you roll down your window and talk to a homeless guy at a red light, you're like, hey man, get yourself something hot to eat.

Get a couple hot meals today and a blanket because there's a cold flank coming through, okay?

See ya.

The guy behind you ought to get out, come up there, and open hands, slap you.

The Bible says that's the way they talk to these people, this brother or sister, because they don't really mean it.

They're basically saying, hey, take responsibility for doing something about your situation.

Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them things needed for the body.

What good is that?

And then he uses this little word in verse 17, so also.

When he asks the question, what good is that?

He says, So also faith by itself.

Think the same way about faith, a faith that is not accompanied by works.

Ask the same question, what good is that?

If it does not have works, and so also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

First thing James tells us is that your faith is not defined by your profession.

You cannot just say, hey, if I say I have faith, that didn't make you a Christian.

Second thing he says is your orthodoxy or your belief.

Look at verse 18.

But someone will say, You have faith and I have works.

And by the way, the someone in this passage is James.

He's talking about himself in verse 18.

And he says, But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works.

You believe that God is one, you do well.

Now remember who James is writing to?

He starts off chapter one and says to the twelve tribes scattered abroad because of the dispersion.

James is writing to the Jews.

Remember that?

Jewish believers, people that have come to faith.

You say, Well, how do you know that?

It's borne out all through this little epistle, and this is one of the strongest examples.

Verse 19, he says, You believe God is one, you do well.

Even the demons believe, and they shudder.

You believe that God is one, you say, Well, what do you mean it?

What do you mean?

They appeal to what they believe.

These people are saying, Hey, listen, we don't have to give any demonstration of our faith.

We believe that God is one.

He says, You believe that God is one?

So what?

You want a cookie?

It's the Shema.

Don't turn there, but just write down if you're taking notes.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4.

Deuteronomy 6:4

Every Orthodox Jew would begin his mourning and most of his prayers with this phrase, which says this, and it's taken from Deuteronomy 6, 4.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

It's one of the strongest statements about monotheism that we mono one.

Theism, God.

We believe in one God.

It's based on this.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God.

The Lord is one.

The Jewish people love to say that.

They love to stand and kind of recite that.

But look at the next verse.

After you state your belief, which is not enough, he says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.

Does that sound familiar at all?

Remember when the disciples asked Jesus, what's the greatest commandment?

Jesus said, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love your neighbors yourself.

See, faith is not just a noun.

It's not just standing up and announcing what you believe.

Oh, I've read all the books at the bookstore.

I know every word to every Chris Tomlin song, and I love KSBJ.

Big deal.

See, that's just you saying what you believe.

Let me just make a statement, and I don't want to be controversial here, but I want to be biblical.

You can believe a lot of things that are true and never be a Christian.

Uh-oh.

Did you feel that?

God, say that again.

I will.

You can believe a lot of things that are true and never be a Christian.

Believing something doesn't make you a believer.

Oh, now I really mothered the water, haven't I?

Great, my kids are gonna come on and ask questions.

The greatest example is the Jews.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, the Lord is one God.

That'd be a cell phone.

Nobody stare, the person is furiously digging in their purse to get it.

You know what everyone's thinking right now?

Thank you, Lord, that's not me.

Listen, Tara Smith wore Saints' jersey to the first service.

I had her stand up at his example of faith.

So that a cell phone goes off, that ain't no big deal.

Relax, okay?

He says, hey, it's not just what you can't just say if a man says, and you can't just say, oh, oh, we we we we believe our God is one.

See, everyone's great when Christianity is a noun.

It's just what you believe.

It's my orthodoxy, it's my belief structure.

When it has to become a verb, and he says, You shall love the Lord your God.

When you have to put feet on your faith, when it goes from just being faith to being demonstrated, the word James uses his works, that's when a lot of people, that's when this faith finds, it turns out not to be faith at all, because it's based on their profession or their orthodoxy.

The second thing we see in the passage today, and this is where I want to camp out, is that there's a faith that is obvious.

There's a faith that is obvious.

Now there's four things I want you to understand before we read verses 20 to 26.

Number one, we have to understand what James means when he says justified by faith.

Number two, we have to understand what James means when he says justified by works.

Justified by works, because he says that, and you're like, okay, now I'm confused.

Number three, you have to understand the centrality of Abraham to the Jewish faith.

The centrality of Abraham.

I graduated high school in 1982.

And back about 1981, 1982, a really popular phrase was some of you remember it, when somebody would say something kind of smart, elic or sarcastic, you'd look at him and say, Your mama.

You remember that?

That was like the big thing.

Now you say that, people are like, what are you talking about?

What's my mom have to do with this?

But back then, that was the ultimate put down.

Your mama.

Oh, you don't talk about my mama.

When you bring up Abraham to a Jew, it's like saying to somebody, Your mama.

That's fighting words.

And I remember it was kind of a humorous thing everybody did, but I remember going on the parking lot one night, and somebody said to this guy, Gary, who none of us knew his mom almost just got to the hospital where she almost died.

And so he's a little sensitive to the whole mama thing.

And a guy said, Your mama, and he hopped off the tailgate and whoop bam! Don't ever say my mama again.

And we were all like, I'll drink to that.

Don't ever say his mom ever again.

When you bring up Abraham to a Jew, you better know what you're talking about because you're not talking about their mama.

You're talking about the dad.

You're talking about the father of their faith.

The nation of Israel did not come into being in 1948.

The nation of Israel started when Abraham believed God.

And it was credited to him as righteousness.

By the way, since we're on Israel, let me just kind of bring this up.

Join me in praying that we always have a president in the White House who has the sense enough to stand with Israel.

I don't know if you've watched the news lately or anything, but the Bible talks about how, and if you just watch the news, you'll see how real and practical and truthful the Bible is.

The Bible talks about in the end times that the nations are going to gather against Israel.

There's an organization called the UN.

Have you heard of it?

And this week at the UN, Mahmoud Abus or Abbas or whatever, he got up and they gave him a one-minute standing ovation.

He's the president.

He wants Palestine to be its own, have its own state, and have statehood and its own standing with nothing.

They don't want to have peace talks with Israel.

They want to go to the UN, the United Nations.

And I just watched the TV and just chuckling, and I just said out loud.

It's just like you said it was going to be God, the nations are going to stand against Israel.

The United Nations.

They all stood and gave a one-minute standing ovation to a man that's committed to just demolishing Israel off the map.

Be careful, America.

If you turn to the end, that's the way it's going to shake out.

That's just the way it's going to be.

And we as a country, we don't endorse political agendas or anything, but I unapologetically tell you that we as a nation better stand with Israel.

And by the way, it's easy right now to stand with Israel.

You're like, oh, that's really difficult.

No, no, no.

It's only going to get harder to stand with Israel.

You're going to see in the coming ages and coming years who really is an ally of Israel.

But anyway, when we talk about the central the centrality of Abraham, what I mean is just, let me just show you a verse from Matthew.

You don't have to turn there.

Just Matthew chapter 3, about verse 7 to 10.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

This is John the Baptist.

John the Baptist is baptized, and look what happens.

He says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come into his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come?

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Now leave it up there for a second.

What is John the Baptist saying?

He's saying, You can't come out here because they saw everyone doing that.

It's kind of like along with 1980s, your mama was a thing called a pet rock.

Anybody remember that?

Yeah.

And so the Pharisees and the Sadducees got up that day and there was the religion factor and they said, Hey, John the Baptist is baptized.

And so they ran up there and said, We're going to go out here and be baptized.

And John said, Let me tell you something.

You can't come out here and act like you have faith.

You go demonstrate some works.

You go bring forth fruit and keep him with repentance.

And he goes on to say this.

He says, Bear fruit and keep him with repentance, and do not presume to say to yourself, We have Abraham as our father.

Why would he say that?

Because that was every Jew's response.

Have you ever tried to share Christ with a Jew these days?

They'll look at you so condescending, they're like, I'm a Jew.

And I just smile and go, that's why I'm talking to you.

And they're like, oh, oh.

He says, do not even presume to say, Save me, this, save me the party line.

We have Abraham as our father.

For I tell you, God is able to from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

He says, even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, and every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Look at those words, folks.

Beloved, it is biblically impossible to have faith and not have works.

You cannot be saved by your works, but you can't be saved without them.

And what John the Baptist was saying to these people who trotted out there and said, Hey, we want to get us one of those religious pet rocks.

We want to have an experience.

He said, No, no, no.

You go bring forth some fruit and keep him with repentance.

And then we'll talk about this.

What is he saying?

Remember, I told you there's four things that you gotta understand.

The fourth one is basically this imputed righteousness will manifest practical righteousness.

Any idea what that means?

I just want to say the word imputed.

I haven't got to say that since seminary.

Imputed righteousness always, always, always will manifest practical righteousness.

Just let that hang in the air, okay?

We'll get back to that.

But the first two of the first two I want to go back and touch on when it says justified by faith, it's real simple.

You'll see that phrase that has to do with our standing before God.

When James talks about being justified by faith, that's your standing before God.

Justified by works, that you're standing before men.

Now, let me say something.

Students, listen very carefully.

I don't want you to get this wrong.

But let me say something that I mean.

Hypocrisy is helpful at this point.

How many of you at some point in your life have acted like a hypocrite?

Can I see your hand?

Put your hands down.

What I mean when I say hypocrisy is helpful because you're in good company.

If you've ever been called a hypocrite, then you can understand this really what can be a controversial section of the Bible.

It doesn't have to be.

When people call you a hypocrite, they're saying your life does not prove.

You're not demonstrating that you've been made righteous by God because righteousness is not coming out of you.

And by the way, Abraham had episodes in his life where his works did not justify him before men.

He was imputed righteousness.

For those of you who haven't read the Old Testament lately, Abraham was, God made a promise to him in Genesis 12, I'll make you the father of many nations.

You and Sarah are going to conceive.

And Sarah was old when God made that promise and they laughed, and so they kept trying to get pregnant.

They went to fertility doctors, they couldn't get pregnant.

They prayed they didn't get pregnant.

They gave extra money to the church they didn't get pregnant.

They got mad at the church, they didn't get pregnant.

They tried everything they didn't get pregnant.

They went to baby showers and she cried on the way home and said, I'm just going to drink.

I don't care.

And finally, one day, Sarah said, I feel bad.

How about Hagar, my handmaid?

Our maid that kind of cleans the place around here.

She's our servant.

And so Abraham, this great man of faith, committed adultery and slept with a woman that wasn't his wife.

And they gave birth to a boy, and his name was Ishmael.

And the descendants of Ishmael are the Arabs.

Remember earlier we talked about Israel?

See, a faithless deed doesn't produce a faithful people.

And so because they acted out of faith, Abraham, the great father of the Jewish faith.

And they realized, wait a minute, we can believe God.

Abraham and Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son.

His name was Isaac.

Keep that in mind.

James chapter 2, verse 20.

James 2:20

Let's read the Bible.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, what faith apart that faith apart from works is useless?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works?

Translation?

Made right before men?

Was he he demonstrated before everybody that he really was a man of faith?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works, or filled up, demonstrated to the fullness of a reality by his works.

And the scripture, verse 23, says, was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.

Now let me stop right there.

Go back to verse 21.

He says, When not Abraham our father justified by his works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar.

The Bible talks about this in Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Just remember that, chapter 22.

22.

Don't think of any other number, think of 22 right now.

Genesis chapter 2 tells the story.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

God said, Take your son, Isaac, the son of promise, take your son, your only son Isaac.

You ever read the New Testament about a father that gave his only son?

Take your son, your only son Isaac, and offer him up on the mountain which I will show you.

So Abraham gets up, and he and the servant they pack the donkey with the wood and everything, and all the way Isaac is saying, Dad, where's the sacrifice?

Where's the sacrifice?

Abraham turns to the servant and says, You stay here.

He sees the mountain in the distance, you stay here.

I and the boy will go and worship and come back to you.

And he goes and he stacks the wood, and the whole time, Dad, where's the where's the where's the where's the ram?

Where's the sacrifice?

And he lays his son upon the altar and he raises the knife, and behind him he hears something, and it's a ram caught in the thicket.

In that moment, he realized, you know what?

God means what he says, and God's gonna do what he says he's going to do.

And all this takes place in Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

And James comes along and he's trying to help us understand the nature and the relationship of faith and works.

And James says, you can't be saved by your works, but you can't be saved without them.

And Abraham's a great example.

Was not Abraham, our father, justified?

Did not, was he not made just or demonstrated to be just before men by his works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

That's Genesis 22.

Look at the next verse.

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works, and the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.

That takes place in Genesis 15, verse 6.

Genesis 15:6

Now the other episode took place in Genesis what?

22.

See, Abraham in Genesis 15 6, it was imputed to him.

It was put inside of him, he was made right with God.

He believed God, and it was credited to Him his righteousness.

But six chapters, seven chapters later, he had to demonstrate by this great act of faith to everybody around.

Why?

Because there were moments in his life where he wasn't faithful.

There were moments in his life he acted like a hypocrite, and not just Hagar twice.

He denied that his wife was even his wife.

He said, She's my sister.

Great man of faith.

What is the Bible saying to us today?

He says, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

Look at verse 24.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Volumes, look at me, beloved, volumes of books have been written about that one verse.

And some denominations say, hey, you better do good deeds.

You can't get into heaven if you don't.

And they get so off that tangent that they don't even need Christ.

They don't even need imputed righteousness.

They don't need this gift from God to make them right with God.

Because they misunderstand verse 24.

What James is saying.

If you take it all in context and the whole thing, not just one sentence out of it, he says, you see that a person is justified by works.

In other words, remember what that means, justified by works?

Justified by works has to do with our standing before man.

You see, a person is justified.

His faith is validated before everybody by what he does, and not by just saying, I have faith, but I don't give a rip about the person in my congregation that doesn't have food or clothes.

Oh, I believe God's one.

Well, big deal.

What do you want?

A cookie?

The demons in hell believe that, and they go one better than you.

They shudder at the thought of that.

Their orthodoxy exceeds yours.

And then he, just for bonus, he throws in verse 25, and in the same way.

Mark those five words in your Bible, please.

And in the same way.

He said, I don't write in my Bible.

Come on, it tastes like chicken.

You should.

And in the same way, was not Rahab, you say, Why do you want us to write in the Bible?

Because most of us in this room relate more to Rahab than we do Abraham.

And in the same way, was not also Rahab the prostitute justified when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

What is the Bible saying?

Remember Rahab?

We won't turn there.

I think it's in Joshua chapter 2.

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

They spies come into the land to scope out the city.

And what did Rahab do?

She was a prostitute, is what she did.

And most of us in this room, I'm going to say it again, relate more to Rahab than we do to Abraham.

Because we have pimped ourselves out to some things that we're ashamed of, have we not?

I couldn't hear you.

Oh, just making sure you're still there.

We roll up in here and talk about our monotheistic theology and our doctrines and our this, that, and the other, and our isms and ologies.

And you're justified before God.

Imputed righteousness.

But if it doesn't flesh itself out in your life, your faith is dead.

It's not faith at all, it's just religious tradition.

Rahab, they came to her and she hit him in her house.

And you can read sometime what she said.

She has a great confession of faith.

She said, When we heard about your God and how he's wiped out all this King Og and Sihon, this king of the Amorites, our hearts and our confidence melted within us.

I know that your God is right, and I know that what he does is true.

What is that?

That's her saying, I believe.

I believe.

See, God doesn't put it up on the high shelf where no one can get to it.

You haven't met anybody for whom faith is not available to them.

And the Bible says she believed.

That's why I had you mark those four words in the same way.

And in the same way.

Five words.

Was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

She hid them basically in her house behind a stack of juniper or some spice, behind a stack of wood.

And the king said, Are they here?

And she said, No.

No, they're not.

And she said, Y'all go this way, because I know that your God is right, and what he said is going to come to pass.

She had faith to believe that.

And she demonstrated that by saying, Hey, you know what?

These are my works.

Y'all go back and tell her, but by the way, this is free Bible trivia for all you Bible trivia nerds.

She's David's great-great-great-grandmother, something like that.

If you read the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 2, Rahab's in there.

You got a prostitute in the wood pile.

You come from a good place, people.

Three things I want you to think about, and we're done.

Three summary thoughts.

Number one, how we live proves who we are.

Don't look at me.

Don't think I'm a Christian because I'm a preacher.

That sounds crazy, doesn't it?

You're like, aren't you supposed to be?

How we live proves who we are.

That's what James 2 tells us.

Second summary thought is that we're designed for demonstration.

We are designed for demonstration.

You say, well, that's cute.

No, that's the Bible.

Don't turn there, but just write down Ephesians 2, verses 8 to 10.

Ephesians 2:8–10

I'll put it up on the screen for you.

Ephesians 2, 8 to 10.

This is where this comes from.

He says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

Now stop right there.

Now last week some of y'all got mad at me.

And you say, How do you know?

Because I just know.

Because I felt it.

My spleen kind of quivered.

Remember last week we were talking about the doctrine of election and how James says that that's the standard, the way God chose us, is a standard by which we deal with other people, be they rich or poor?

And I said that was unconditional.

God chose you, and it had nothing to do with you because it wasn't your idea, and some of you are like, that makes you a, makes me a Biblicist.

I believe the Bible.

Now, does not believe in certain parts of the Bible that offend your preferences, does that make you a Baptist?

Because if it does, you're in deep weeds.

To quote that great theologian Ricky Ricardo, you got some splaining to do.

Here's why I believe the Bible.

Here's why I say the things I say.

I don't want to shock you.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing.

Help me.

Help me.

I'm Jerry Maguire.

Help me.

Help you.

Help me.

How do you get that it's your own doing?

How do you think, well, God looked into the future and he saw I was going to choose him?

That's your doing.

Are you kidding me?

You should find the people that taught you that and hit them.

But it's so much easier to hit me.

And I can take it.

I'm a big boy.

But we can't take this out of the Bible.

And this is not your doing.

It is the gift of God.

Be careful.

Look at me.

I'm meddling now.

Be careful that you don't rob God of the glory of giving you the one gift that only God can give you.

I use this word purposely.

Shame on you.

It's not of your own doing.

It is a gift of God.

And it gets better.

Keep going.

Not a result of works, so that no one can boast.

Some of us we choose the theology we choose because deep inside we just want to boast.

We want to say, yea, me.

Not a result of work, so no one may boast.

Well then what is it?

For his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

That's what I mean and why I say to you this morning as we close that we're designed for demonstration.

God created me when I would come to faith in Christ.

He knew that before the very foundation of the world.

And when he revealed himself to me, it was imputed to me as righteousness.

I'm created by God to do good deeds, to do the right thing.

For example, this past uh Thursday on my day off when I wasn't writing things to my church, my wife and I went to have lunch.

And so we're back out of our driveway.

And you ever see a dog in your neighborhood, and you think, that dog, that dog lives off the land.

That dog is like the town dog, he's gonna survive.

And then you see some little yip dog with 14 collars on it, you think that dog's gonna get beat up at recess.

That dog ain't gonna make it until the sun goes down in this neighborhood.

I looked over and it's one of those dogs, and he was just looking all around and I'm out, I'm out, I'm out.

I knew immediately that dog doesn't belong to anybody on either side of the street.

So I got out, I just walked over and the dog ran to me.

I picked it up, and it was a Yorkie.

If I'd known how expensive those dogs were, I might have kept it.

I didn't know back then.

My wife said that was a that was a pure that was a full-blooded Yorkie.

I'm like, what does that mean?

Those things are expensive.

Why'd you say something, woman?

We could have paid for this lunch right here and sold that dog on eBay.

She wanted to, but I said no.

By the way, you don't hear what your pastor's wife is like?

We're singing that song about faith that kind of had that lil to it.

She leaned over to me and said, I think I should have a beer stein hoisting it up while I sing this.

Pray for her.

She kind of, you gotta watch her.

You pray, I'll keep you posted.

Picked the dog up, had a phone number on the back of it, whooped out my cell phone, told my wife this is the number, call this phone, call the number, and Lay's like, yeah.

Basically, they live across the kind of the main road that goes through our subdivision.

We live on this end.

They live at the other end.

So we drove across there and I had the little dog in my hand.

She was, oh, dang, I did not even know that the dog was out.

I'm watching, I watched the kids with them.

I'm kind of and I said, Well, here.

She goes, Well, let me get my purse.

No, no, don't get your purse.

And out of my mouth, I said, I'm a Christian.

You don't have to pay me for doing the right thing.

God designed me to do this.

And then she said, and I thought she said shaka con because she started saying words I never heard before.

I thought it was at the skate rig in the eighth grade.

Shaka Khan, shaka con.

Let me love you, shaka con.

That's all I want to do.

And I was like, what?

Shaka.

I was like, just take the dog.

I gotta go eat, okay?

Because in that moment, she says, Are you sure?

I get my purse.

The thought went through my mind, how much reward are we talking about?

I mean, I thought it was just a little dog in my mind.

That's a pure blood yogi.

Oh, I thought that was a big reward.

Remember a couple weeks ago, I told you that doing the right thing is its own reward?

Here's why.

God designed you to do the right thing.

How are you going to rob God of the glory of his creativity and making you and I?

That's what the Bible says.

Where's workmanship?

That's a Greek word, poema.

That's where our word poem comes from.

Created in Christ Jesus for what?

For good works.

So when I do good works, it's not so that I can go to heaven.

It's because I am going to heaven.

It's because I've been made right with God.

Righteousness, God injected me with right, made me right before God, but I have to demonstrate that demonstrate that I'm right before God.

I have to demonstrate that before people.

Thirdly and finally, faith is public by nature.

You ever heard this phrase?

Well, my faith is a private matter.

Look at me.

That lie will damn you to hell.

It's impossible.

Why?

Because God created it.

It's not about personality.

It's just if you have real faith, it will express itself through your life.

It just happens.

It's just the way God created it.

It's the way God designed it.

It's not effort.

It's not anything.

It's just yeah.

That's just what it is.

That's how it happens.

Here's what I'd like us to do.

I'd like us just to think about those three phrases as we close our service this morning.

Can we do that?

And look at me.

You got Abraham over here, this patriarch of the faith.

And you got Rahab over here.

And only the kingdom of God is big enough that both of them will be in it.

So look at me.

Don't start picking up your refrigerator art yet.

I feel you're shifting on me.

I know the kickoff just happened.

Stay with me.

You got a DVR.

You should be burning in hell right now, but you got a DVR at home recording the football game.

Is God good or what?

You feel everybody start shifting?

He said in conclusion, uh-oh.

Two words a preacher should never say.

In conclusion, oh, there we go.

Get the kids.

Come on.

I wasn't the Heisman.

I'm going.

Thank you, Desmond Howard.

Be quiet.

Look at me.

You're going to meet some Abrahams this week.

And you're going to meet some Rahabs.

And everybody in between.

You need to understand the relationship of faith and works because most people think they've screwed up so much.

They're like, man, I've been prostituted myself.

There's no way you could smile and say, oh, there's a way.

There's a way.

Hold your hands out.

Your God is fullness and lushness.

And everything in between.

He's the nap that follows to fullness.

And he's the God who carries you through the drought.

Depart now and let who is inside of you, your only hope of glory, find outward expression.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.

You're dismissed.