Elder Mark Rowell and Elder Mark Richards | Primitive Baptist Association 2026 - Saturday Afternoon 08/01/2026

Eat so much and treasure the memories that I have among you, with you, and here as well.

It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God.

I like having the thoughts on my mind that have been rolling through my mind in the past week.

And I really, really like it when if I'm asked to preach that those thoughts are permeating and flow.

I really like that position.

However, the position I'm in this afternoon is one of faithful fear.

Because during the prayer, the thoughts that I had on my mind completely left me.

And another thought entered that I haven't thought about in a long time.

So I need your prayers.

The book of Genesis in the twenty-fourth chapter.

Abraham calls his servant in.

Abraham's nearing his death, and his desire is to seek a wife for his son Isaac.

And he tells this servant where not to go.

And he tells him where to go.

And um in verse 11 it says, and he made his camels to kneel down.

This is the servant.

He made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water, and he said, So listen to this servant's prayer.

Oh, oh Lord God of my master Abraham.

I pray thee.

I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham.

Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water, and let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down my pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink, and she shall she she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also.

Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac, and thereby shall I know that thou hast.

Wow.

What a prayer.

I would imagine this servant had a little bit of fear in him from his master Abraham, right?

He wanted to find the right woman that he might take back to be a spouse to his master Isaac.

So he was very careful in his prayer.

I don't believe this is a prayer of tempting God.

I don't believe this is a prayer of binding God.

But I believe it's a prayer of someone who was seeking after the right woman.

And he did not want to make any mistake.

Guess what?

God answers his prayer.

It says, and it came to pass before he had done speaking.

He prayed that prayer.

He needed to pray that prayer.

And God's already saying, I got this taken care of.

That behold, Rebekah came out, who was, I better put my glasses on for this.

He went where Abraham told him to go.

But he didn't go of his own accord, thinking that by his actions or his actions alone, that he would find the one that he needed to find.

But he went where he needed to go.

And then when he got there, he did what he needed to do.

He prayed.

And he prayed in humble prayer.

And he put some specifics in that prayer.

Right?

He didn't generalize anything.

I mean, this was a good servant of Abraham.

And he put specifics in there that he would be aware and be made known of the one that was right for Isaac.

And it describes Rebecca in verse 16 as a damsel very fair.

In verse 17, the servant ran to meet her and said, Now that's interesting too.

I mean, you think, here's this woman, she's out here to get water, she doesn't know what's going on, and here comes this guy running at her.

That'd get you in trouble today, right?

But he wasn't waiting.

He ran to he ran before she could get away.

And he said, I pray thee, drink, um, drink a little water.

Uh dr uh, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.

And she said, Drink, my Lord.

And she hastened and let down her pitcher on her hand and gave him drink.

And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.

I mean, prayer asked, in the middle of the prayer being asked, the answers comes, the answers here, and the answer is so clear that even I could have figured out that the Lord was answering that prayer.

I mean, clarity unmeasured in the answer to this prayer.

And so the man, uh it says in verse 21, and the man wondering at her held his peace to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

And when it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, and the man took the golden earrings and the shekel weight and two bracelets on her hands, and said, Whose daughter art thou?

Tell me, I pray thee, is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?

She says, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milkah, which she bare unto Nahor.

She said, Moreover, unto him, we have both straw and provender enough and room to lodge in.

So now the Lord's going above and beyond.

Right?

He's going above and beyond.

Now, verse 27.

Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth.

I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren.

Brother Mason Tillory's sermon this afternoon got all over me.

And I suppose that that's why during Brother Mosley's prayer that this verse came to my mind.

The miracles of God in our life, I believe, with regard to how we should live our lives in this world, happen when we are in the way.

And I don't mean in the way as in somebody's way.

I mean to be in the way.

In the right way, in the right place, with the right attitude, with the right humility.

Because this servant says, I came to where I needed to be, and God answered my prayer.

So just for a little bit.

Brother Mason also opened this door in the book of Ruth.

So this servant was in the way.

He went where he should have gone.

He did what he should have done.

And God responded in a way that was favorable for that servant.

So I submit to you that we need to be where we should be.

We need to do what we should do, and we need to wait for God to respond in kind to us.

Now, let me get this out of the way.

God responded to his prayer before he was done praying.

Have you ever had that experience?

Boy, I have.

I've had experiences in the middle of prayer that I find the answer that I'm seeking, Brother Mike.

That could be either one of you.

The prayer, the answer to my prayer that I'm seeking happens in the immediacy of the prayer before I can utter the words, Amen.

That's happened to me in my life.

And I'm sure that you've had that same experience in your life.

Sometimes the prayer I pray, I don't realize the answer.

I believe the answer is given immediately, but I don't realize the answer until I get myself out of the way and find myself in the way.

Right?

Now the servant had it right.

He found himself to be in the way first.

Then he prayed his prayer.

Then while he's praying, God answers his prayer.

And then God goes above and beyond in the answer to his prayer in that lodging place.

And then find out who this woman is.

And you all know that he tells her who his master is.

She comes with him.

She sees Isaac afar off and she says, Who is this?

He says, That's my master.

She lights off the camel and runs to him.

And for the first time since Sarah's death, he found comfort in this world.

All because the servant was in the way.

Now, all right.

How do we get in the way?

And I know Isaiah, the Lord calls out to Israel in Isaiah chapter 6, stand ye in the way and see and ask for the old paths and walk therein.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Wherein is the good way, ye shall find rest under your souls.

That's a beautiful desire that God words through Jeremiah.

Stand ye in the way, see, ask.

Sounds like what that servant did.

He went in the way.

He saw, he asked.

He stayed there.

He walked there.

And then God says, Wherein is the good one?

And when you do all of that, he says, and you'll find rest unto your souls.

Don't be like Israel.

Don't respond the way Israel responded.

We will not walk there and they wanted to go their own way.

I'm telling you what, when I when Mark wants to go his own way, Brother Jeff, 100% of the time, it's the wrong way.

I'm walking out of the way to go the way that I think I want to go, to do what I think I want to do.

I walk out of the way, and it's not a good way.

I don't find rest under my souls.

It's not the way that God ordained.

It's not the way that God provided.

It's a way that is not God's way, and there's nothing but toil, tribulation, and misery outside of the way.

Outside of the way.

You would think at my age that I would have come to the realization that I need to stop thinking I've got a better way to do things in my life than God's way, because at my age, it's just the same as it was when I was a child.

I don't have a better way.

But God's way is always the right way.

Every time.

He will not lead one little of one of his little children astray ever.

He will not do it.

He will not lead you astray.

If you go astray, you're doing of your own accord and of your own mind and your own decision.

But I've got good news for you, even in that case.

When you're out of the way, he's still there.

He's still right there.

He's with you all the way, no matter what the way is, but there is a blessed benefit to being in the way like that servant.

Not only will God, and I believe God answers prayers when you're not in the way, but I think we are oftentimes of our own selves blinded in those answers that we don't see what God is saying because we are out of the way.

But when we're in the way and God answers our prayer, we find the answers to our prayer right in front of us while we stand in the way.

Don't be like Israel.

There's not a better way.

There's not a better way.

I mean, even Jesus Christ said in chapter 14 of the Gospel of John, I am the way.

He doesn't say a way.

He doesn't say one of the ways.

He says, I am the way, the truth and the life.

I'm it.

I'm it.

And I, being in the way, was led to the house of my master's brethren.

Brother Tillery talked about Naomi.

Let me just throw this out there with Ruth.

Ruth was a Moabitist.

Naomi was an Israelite.

Ruth's homeland was Moab.

Naomi's was Israel.

Naomi went back, like we heard.

Ruth went back with her.

After much arguing, after much angst and anxiety from Naomi, Ruth went back with her.

I would suppose that at some point, and whether it was after she met Naomi in a limelech, whether it was after she married Naomi's son, I don't know.

But I would suppose that by this point, as they began their journey, that Ruth was a born-again child of God.

Amen.

And guess where she was going?

She was going to the way.

Remember what she said to Naomi in chapter 1, verse 16, 17?

Remember when Naomi just, she was just beside herself thinking, why are you following me?

Go back.

Go back to your people.

Go back to your kindred.

Go back to your home.

Go back to your gods.

I mean, I get Naomi.

I understand that.

Plus, Naomi's in a bad way herself, right?

Because she walked out of the way with her husband, and she found the toil, the tribulation, the great sorrow when she was out of the way.

But Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee.

Ruth says, stop asking me to leave.

Ruth says, You can keep talking if you want to.

I am no longer listening to what you say.

That's the mindset of Ruth.

Well, that's the first time that she got Naomi to stop talking, by the way, right?

Withersoever thou goest, will I go.

Withersoever thou lodgest, I will lodge.

How do you know she was born again?

Thy people shall be my people.

That's a pretty good indicator there, but I got one better indicator.

And thy God, my God.

Something happened to that Moabite woman.

I don't know when, but I know at this point Ruth is a born-again child of God.

Following after by faith.

Going to a strange land of people that really didn't care for anybody from Moab.

But she was, her face was set to go.

Where thou diest will I die, and there shall I be buried.

The Lord do so to me, if aught but death part thee from me.

And so Naomi, she left off from speaking.

And I've always said, I don't know if this is true or not, I believe it was from that point until they got to Bethlehem, it was a silent, sad trip.

In chapter 2, we learn about Boaz in verse 1, almost as if a narrator is telling us.

Ruth doesn't know anything about Boaz.

I would suppose Naomi hadn't said anything about Boaz.

Naomi knows who Boaz is when Ruth tells her when she comes back, and she says, Where is Thalgleen today?

And she said, In a field of a man named Boaz.

And what does Naomi say?

Oh, he is a near kinsman.

But in chapter 2, Ruth heads out.

And it says, Her hat was a light on a field of a man named Boaz.

In verse 1, it says, Now Boaz was a near kinsman.

And lo and behold, in verse 2, or maybe verse 3, Ruth just happens to land on his feet.

Yeah, you won't have that, will you?

I won't have that.

In fact, it was a little hard to say.

And I being in the way.

Was led to the house of my master's brethren.

I think Ruth was in the way.

And when she went and she, I don't think Ruth knew whose field it was when she stopped and started gleaning.

And that's why I think the hat is there.

Ruth is walking along and she says, This looks like a field good enough for me to glean in.

So I'm going to start doing what Naomi taught me to do.

Because we've got to eat.

And she starts gleaning.

And she gleans all morning, and then Boaz comes up.

And Boaz stops.

And they say they they greet him and he stops his field hands.

I say, Oh, he goes over to the field manager and says, Whose damsel is this?

I don't recognize her.

And I would suppose that man shrug his shoulders and said, Ah, that's Ruth.

She's that Moabite woman that came back with Naomi.

And then it clicked with Boaz.

Just who that was.

And you would say, Well, he heard all the water well gossip, right?

He he picked up Naomi's back, and she brought this Moabite woman with her.

And apparently she was married to one of her sons, and she refused to stay, so she came back with her.

And now we've got Naomi over here in the house with his Moabite woman.

We don't know what's going on.

I could just hear it.

Man, I could just hear it.

But Boaz says something that clues us in that he wasn't being moved by gossip, but he was being moved by something far greater when he said, It happened.

She says, when he tells her everything, he said, You stand fast by my maidens, you don't lay your eyes on another field, uh, you don't go anywhere else.

Uh when it's time to eat, you come and you eat what's at the table, you don't worry about fixing anything for yourself.

When you're thirsty, don't draw up water.

Uh drink from the water that's already been drawn.

I mean, just, just all of this.

And then he says, well, he actually he turns from her and he's uh well, actually, I got ahead of myself.

Then she says, How, or why have I found grace in my sign?

Then Boaz makes this statement.

This ain't gossip.

It hath fully been showed me.

How?

It couldn't have been the gossip.

That's not the full story.

In fact, probably a lot of that's the wrong story.

How is it fully shown?

I believe God fully showed Boaz everything that Ruth had done, not just since they'd been back to Bethlehem, but even down in Moab, taking care of her mother-in-law after her husband died.

And then taking care of her mother-in-law after her own husband died.

Boaz says, It's been fully shown me.

I'm telling you.

I being in the way.

I'm going to try to get this to make sense here, real quick.

It hath fully been shown me all that thou hast done for thy mother-in-law, how thou hast left the land of thy father and thy mother, how thou came into a strange land.

It's all that this has been shown me.

He said, The Lord recompense thee, and a full reward be given thee by the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

I mean, God showed Boaz everything he needed to know about Ruth.

Even down to the inner workings of her faith in the God of Israel, that Boaz knew you are in a position now of trusting the God of Israel, and you've left all your other gods behind.

There's only one that could have showed Boaz all that, and that was the Lord.

And I gotta get the sheep, right?

And she goes back, he turns to his servant, he says, Let her glean, even among the sheep.

And reproach her not.

You let her take whatever she wants.

Brothers and sisters, that's being in the way.

That's being in the way.

So the servant was in the way.

He's at the right place.

Ruth was in the way.

She was at the right place.

Jesus Christ is the way.

And I'll say this if you look at the, if you look, go back to the prodigal son that Brother Mason preached about in his sermon, that he was in the way.

He went out of the way.

And while he was out of the way, I would suppose that his prayers, and I would suppose even his father's prayer, had an effect on him because it said he came to himself.

And what did he do when he came to himself?

He got back in the way.

And guess what happened when he got back in the way?

He was led to the house of his master or his father.

But how did he go back?

I'm not worthy to be called a son.

My father's servants have everything that they need.

I'm not worthy.

I'll go back and just say I'm going to be a servant.

I'm telling you, we need to be standing in the way.

We need to find the way and stay there.

Because when you find the way and stay there, you will be led to the house of your master's brethren.

When you find the way and stay there, your hat will be the light on the field of your boys.

When you find the way, even when you're out of the way, you go back to the way.

Because then you'll find the house of your father exactly the way it was when you left.

There's something good about being in the way.

When we're in the way, we see the promises of God unfold in our lives.

When we're in the way, we hear the answer to our prayers.

I don't know how many conversations this afternoon during lunch we had about prayer and what that means and what that does and what it does to God, what it does for us, what it does to us.

And I know in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, but without faith is impossible to please him.

Hebrews 11:6

For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I'm telling you what, we need to be diligently seeking after God, and the way we do that is to find the way that he is.

And that way it is Jesus Christ Himself.

And there is no other way.

Now, Naomi, again, born again, she was finding the way.

The house of my master's brethren, that servant, found the way.

I mean, we could go through so many examples in the Old Testament, but for time's sake, let's move to the New Testament.

And I will tell you this the prime example of everything that we do that is God honoring in our life is found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He is example prime.

Maybe I should say he is the only example.

But I know the apostle Paul says, You follow me as long as I'm following Christ, so I understand that.

But even Paul fashioned his example after the example that Jesus Christ laid forth.

Brother Mark, how do I find the way?

I've got good news.

You're in it right now.

You're in it right now.

This is the way.

There's no other way.

Oh, Brother Mark, are you talking about finding the way to heaven?

Absolutely not.

I'm not talking about finding the way to heaven.

We don't need to find the way to heaven.

Because the Lord's already paved the way to heaven by his sacrifice on Calvary.

And every one of his children will be there, whether they find the way here or not.

They'll be there.

Every single one.

You know why?

Because the Lord came to the house of his master's brother.

The Lord did what we could not do.

The Lord provided for us what we couldn't, I that what I even I couldn't even provide for myself, much less for anyone else.

The Lord, in fact, Paul puts it this way in Galatians chapter 4.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law.

You talk about right place, right time?

You know, we talk about, man, I was at the right place at the right time.

Something great happened.

I was at the right place at the right time.

Let me tell you this: the Lord was at the right place at the right time.

And because he was, we are blessed in this life to be like that servant and realize I'm in the way.

I've been found to be in the way.

And you know what it did?

It drew him to the house of his master's brethren.

Jesus Christ.

He came to this low ground of sin and sorrow and he gave himself.

He shed his blood.

He laid down his life for every child of grace.

And he didn't do it ten minutes before he was supposed to.

He didn't do it ten minutes after he's supposed to.

He did it at the exact time that it needed to occur.

And he did it perfectly without issue.

He did it.

He didn't come a day before he should have come.

He wasn't born of the Virgin Mary a day earlier.

He didn't come a week later than he should have.

When the fullness of the time was come.

And he did everything that was required of him.

In utter perfection, even to laying down his life for the people of God.

Not the fourth day, not five minutes before 6 p.m.

No.

On the third day he rose.

He rose and was glorified with the glory that he had with the Father from before the foundation of the world.

He ascended 40 days later, not 41, not 39, 40 days later.

You see how precise everything.

You say, well, Brother Mark, yeah, looking back, you can tell exactly what it was.

I don't care if you're looking back or looking forward.

That was precision that God had put in place for Jesus Christ.

And when he ascended on that 40th day into heaven, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

But he did something.

He did everything he did was great.

I mean, even the angel told Mary, he shall be great.

He shall be great.

Of his kingdom there shall be everything he did was great.

He purposefully established his church.

And the Song of Solomon tells us what that church is.

It is none other than the bride of Christ.

And Solomon tells us that there's a banner flowing above us in this place.

He brought me to his banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

You talk about a banner that, I mean, you can I just see the banner unfurling, the banner of love, unfurling above the bride of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, that's the house of our master's brethren.

That is the way.

And when God blesses us to enter into the house of our master's brethren, we realize that his banner over us is nothing but love.

I mean, go read the second chapter of the Song of Solomon.

Read about the love that showed from bridegroom to bride and bride back to bridegroom.

Go read about that and see it's the house of the master's brethren.

And that's where we find ourselves today.

In the house of our master's brethren.

There is no place that this world can offer me.

And I would think it would be true for you as well.

There is no place that this world can offer me that would come even one iota near or close to the house of my master's brethren.

There's no other place that I can find in the tribulations and toils of life a peace that passeth understanding, except in the house of my master's brethren.

There's no other place that I can come in, and as the song said, bathe my soul in seeds of heavenly rest than in the house of my master's brethren.

There's no other place in this world where I can sing the anthem, hear my best friends, my kindred dwell, their God, my Savior, reigns, except in the house of my master's brethren.

I want to go glean in the field of my boaz.

I want to go to the well that is drawn, that everlasting water, that water where we drink and we thirst no more.

I want to be at the place where God would have me to be in my service to him.

Do I go astray?

I absolutely go astray.

You're not looking at a perfect man far from it.

You're looking at a sinful man.

I've gone astray, and I hate to say this, unfortunately, I'll go astray in the future because of my sinful nature.

But I know this: when I come to myself, I'm going to be looking, Brother Jeff, for that way that I might find myself to be in the house of my master's brethren, where I can see my bridegroom, or I can behold through an eye of faith his smiling face, where I can uh reach forth and take hold of him as uh uh as Ruth did today.

Homie when she claimed to her uh mother-in-law.

She refused to let her go.

Just like Mary when Jesus Christ came out of that grave on the third day.

I believe fellow has free and took hold of him and had no intentions of letting him go.

That's where I want to be in this life, because I can find all of that and more in the house of my master's brethren.

And the house of my master's brethren is where my prayer where I can find the answer to my prayers.

Oh, and even while I'm praying, even while they're coming forth out of my mouth, I can find the answer to my prayer.

I believe I found the answer in the Bible, but the Bible was praying that beautiful humble prayer, and my mind shifted in what I thought I would try to preach on, to what I'm trying to preach on right now.

I believe this is because I was in the house of my master's brethren, standing in the way and praying for the Lord.

Lord, you direct me and not me.

You give me uh uh the direction that I need.

Uh I don't want to rely on Mark.

I don't rely on Mark.

I tell you, I have employees that work for me, and you can talk to Carol about this.

Uh I get done with my work day and dealing with all that, and she's and she says, we need to make a decision about this, and I'm like, honey, you just need to make that decision.

I'm tired of making decisions.

I'm telling you what, in life, I'm tired of making decisions.

Now I'm not talking about fatalism, but I'm talking about being at the right place.

I'm talking about being in the house of my master's brethren and casting all my cares on him.

Why?

Because he careth for me.

Why?

Because he is my master.

And you.

You you are you are my master's brethren.

You are my best friends and my kindred.

I understand Ruth's mindset, even though she had not been there.

Why would I want to go anywhere else when I felt my Boaz's field, and I'm bleeding, even among the sheaves, and I find the handfuls of purpose that are purposed for me, and I find the answer to my prayer.

How foolish of me to think there's anywhere else that I want to be.

This is where I want to be until I depart from this cruel world and I go see my master face to face.

Oh my goodness.

The Lord has blessed us immensely.

Stand in the way, stay there.

With every fiber of your being, pray God keeps you there always.

And trust in Him.

There's no better place that you can find in this world.

Truly thankful for that that's gone before.

Um whether he he knows it or not, whether he did it on purpose or by accident, or the Lord did it.

Um there are some handfuls of purpose here still for me to grab hold of, and I'm thankful for it.

Um I suppose I'll get to this, but I want to share with you, as he shared that during that prayer, something crystallized for him.

Um I had something on my mind that um didn't radically change my mind, but it was cemented when uh Brother Mark took the subject of the way, and then he asked a, I think, a very, very important question.

And he said, How do we get in the way?

And at that moment I thought this sermon, his sermon could go two different directions.

It could go the old Baptist way, that we're in the way because of the grace of God, or it could go the old Baptist way, that we must labor to be in that way.

Um I think one of the most important things that you can do in this world, one of the most meaningful things that you can do, one of the most honorable things you can do, and one of the most right things that you can do is to believe God.

That's that's being in the way.

Right?

There's a way to believe God.

And I could take an old Baptist route and say the only way we can believe God is because God has been so gracious to us.

Or I could go the old Baptist way and say that believing in God is a labor in which we should press into.

Those two are not in opposition at all.

They're actually very well aligned.

And the the situation of that is a beautiful situation.

But it it aligns with this problem that I've had, not a problem that Paul had, not a problem that James had, a problem I thought Paul and James had about justification by faith and works.

And Brother Mark, there was a time I thought, when Paul and James got to heaven, they were going to have to have a discussion and work it out.

No conflict whatsoever between what Paul tells us about justification by faith without works, and what James tells us that there is a justification by works and not by faith only.

If James had said there's a justification, we know that justification is by works and not by faith, I think they would be having the conversation.

But what's beautifully true about this is what is true about how you are in the way.

You are in the way by the grace of God.

And you are in the way by your labor.

And that's okay.

It's okay that it takes your labor and that it takes the grace of God, because your labors, the labors by which you enter into the way and press into the way, are labors that are blessed by the grace of God.

You cannot do that labor without the grace of God.

And God isn't wringing his hands hoping that you'll do a labor so that he can get you or that you can get you where he would desire for you to be.

But in 1942, Simon and Schuster started a book franchise called the Golden Little Book.

Or the Little Golden Book.

I don't know which is it which is it?

The Little Golden Book.

Have you ever seen a little golden book?

Even you young people, have you found like in your grandparents' closet these old little golden books?

Um I have found some of my little golden books.

And what was remarkable about what Simon Schuster did is they were franchising before franchising was cool.

Because that publisher, they started with books like the little pokey, the little pokey, whatever he was, the little red hen, like old classics.

And then pretty soon they had Disney and Marvel and Star Wars and DC, and there's not all the way up to Paw Patrol, you you can't find a a franchise that isn't embodied in the little golden book.

But if you find some little golden books, and Brother Brian, surely this isn't true for you, but I've found some of my little golden books, and Brother Mark, when I opened them up, do you know what I found?

A red crayon scrap.

Have you ever found a little golden book?

And someone, probably you, had colored in it?

Okay.

It happened, right?

Um, but there's something strange about that, as heartwarming as it might be, it might bring back some memories.

Little golden books weren't designed to be colored in.

And a matter of fact, I don't think anybody ever gave anybody a little golden book and a box of crayons.

That would be ill-advised.

Because a storybook has a story and it's got full color illustrations, and that was what was beautiful about little golden books.

This nice hard cover, and you open it up, and there is this beautifully told story with beautiful full color picture that didn't need no help from a red crayon.

But there's a difference between a storybook and a coloring book.

And if if you find a storybook and it's got some coloring in it, something went the way it ain't supposed to go.

But imagine if you got a coloring book and you it was given to you and you open it up, and all the pictures were already colored.

That kind of defeats the purpose of a coloring book.

And if you gave somebody a coloring book, that's when you'd give them some crayons too, and say, This is a coloring book.

It's designed to color in.

Now the reason why this came to my mind is there's some things that God has done that are like a coloring, that are like a storybook, where he has shown you something about him and about you that he doesn't need your help, and he didn't give it to you to finish it and to color it and to make it better.

There's some things that God has given you to know, and it's a blessing to know, but beyond knowing them and believing them, there isn't anything that the Lord gave it to you in hopes that you could finish it or improve it or make it better.

But God has also, in times and in ways, given us coloring books where He said, Here's the picture, and I've done the heavy lifting.

I like the shape is there, you can already see what it is, but I'm gonna give you the faculties, the crayons, and the wherewithal where you can color the picture yourself.

And when you find a coloring book that's got red crayon in it, no problem.

That's how a coloring book works.

And if you got a coloring book that was already colored in, that would be kind of strange.

That's how you know that at UT they're not using their library as much as at AM, because if you look at books at UT, hardly any of them have been colored in yet.

Okay?

But when you consider the faculty of faith whereby God has given you the ability to do something with something that He has given, you realize He can give you a storybook with it fully colored, and at that moment you just appreciate the beauty of it, the stories told.

And there is a work and a labor and an activity in believing God that God is willing for you to do, and it pleases Him for you to do.

And so it's inappropriate for me to color in a storybook, but it's quite reasonable for me to color in a coloring book.

And when I look at this relationship of this justification by faith, and when when we um the two verses that would seem to uh cause some conflict if we don't appreciate them, is Romans chapter 3, verse 28, which says, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Romans 3:28

Okay, and then we get to James chapter 3 and verse 24, and it says, Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

James 3 · chapter mention

Okay.

So the reason why I think I thought that these two would have had a problem is something that I read in Romans chapter 11 that I misread, and I'm willing to confess it.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

I misunderstood it.

Because what we find in Romans chapter 11 in verse 5, it says, even so at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

And if by grace, then it is, then is it no more of works.

Otherwise, grace is no more grace.

But if it be of works, then it is, then is it no more grace.

Otherwise, work is no more work.

And I would submit to you that as a old Baptist philosophy, this is one that was communicated to me, and I appreciated the sense of it.

This says grace is one thing, and works is something else, and they do not overlap.

This is saying, if if grace is grace, it's grace, and if you put works in, it's no longer grace.

And works is works, and if you throw grace in there, then all of a sudden it's no longer of works.

But what Paul writes here, he didn't say faith is faith and works is works, and they don't overlap.

He said, Grace is grace and works is works.

So in my recovering engineer mind, okay, in the in the framework of a Venn diagram where you take two circles, and there can be things that are true in this circle and things that are true in this circle, and there's some things where those circles overlap, and where they overlap, it's true for both circles.

So what Paul has told us though is that grace and works, there's this dividing line.

So in the universe of things, it's either by grace or it's by works, and there's no overlap.

And if he was if he had said faith and works, then we would have a problem in the book of James.

But that's not what he said, that's what I thought he said.

And the reason why I thought he said that is because in this conversation of works and deeds of the law and law and liberty and faith, a lot of those things get discussed and described in close proximity to each other.

My impression certainly in reading in the Apostle Paul is that faith is by grace.

Does that sound right?

Does that sound primitive Baptist to you?

Does that sound old Baptist?

That faith is by grace?

It certainly is.

And in Romans chapter 4, there was a promise that was by faith or of faith that it might be by grace.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

So it was designed to be of faith that it might be by grace, which means faith sure feels like it's sitting in the grace side of the world.

Right?

And then when I get over to the book of James, that's where all of a sudden it feels like something's moved or shifted underfoot.

And now what we find in the book of James, James says, What profit, what doth it profit?

This is verse 14 of chapter 2.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him?

And Brother Ron, I'll tell you, I I had answered this question before.

Yes, of course it can.

That's not James' answer, right?

It's a rhetorical question where he wants the reader to understand that his answer to that is no.

Faith cannot save him.

Now, is James saying that faith by the grace of God can't save his people?

Of course not.

That's not what James is saying.

But what I understand, Brother Ron, is in this world where there are some things that are specifically by grace, and some things that are specifically by works, and you cannot mix grace and works, faith as a circle, sits right over that dividing line.

Which means there's some aspects of faith that are by grace, and there's some aspects of faith that are by works.

And once you see that, you realize James and Paul, they're fine with each other because Paul isn't saying the circle is only in grace, like faith can only be by grace.

He's just saying faith is by grace.

There is part of that faith circle that is rooted and established in grace.

And Paul would say amen, and even James would say, gotta agree with that.

And then James is saying that circle that defines what faith is, there's also part of it that is rooted in a labor or an effort or in a work.

And that's okay, right?

Because we're not mixing faith or grace and works.

We're saying faith is by grace and faith is by works.

And specifically, what we realize is that we have faith by grace, and we're able to use faith in work.

Amen.

And in the book of James, as the Apostle Paul continues, he says, If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?

And what do you think would be the profit?

To that person, very little.

Right?

To you, maybe I did the right thing, I prayed for them, right?

But this says, What doth it profit?

Even so, and so the apostle James is assuming here that the person has answered the question, it's so blatantly obvious, right?

If somebody needs something and you don't give it to them, what doth it profit?

Even so, in the same way, James says, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.

Now, I don't like the sound of that.

I don't like the sound of it.

And it's a problem I had with James, I had to figure out.

Right?

The reason I don't like it isn't because it's not the truth.

The reason I don't like it is it scares me because it has more to do with my work than with God's grace.

I'm very comfortable with things that are because of God's grace.

I'm very comfortable with how right he is, how righteous he is, how sovereign he is, how good he is, how he's never surprised, he's never failed.

That's not been the problem in my walk of faith.

My problem has been on my side of the equation.

That part whereby, if anything could be subject to me doing something, and I'm not even gonna get to doing it right.

Let's just start with doing it.

There's some things that require my action that I haven't done.

And by virtue of not having done them, they don't get done.

There's some things that I've started and didn't finish.

Some of those things I started and didn't finish is because I started them, Sister Heather, so badly.

Like, I started on them and I made such a mess of it.

I'm like, I think I'm done with this project.

So one of the threats of this can be when I don't do as I should do.

And you remember what Brother Mark said, right?

We should be in the way and we should do.

There's some things that we ought to do, and I'm so thankful that his sermon this afternoon was the old Baptist path and the old Baptist path, right?

That we're in the way because of the grace of God, but that doesn't mean we fold our arms and say, Well, I'm passively in, I've got this, you know, passive faith that God has given me, and there's nothing to do with it.

Because you've been given faith that you could color that color page.

And it it's it's pleasing to the Lord for us to exercise the faith that he's given us.

And as I said before, it's it is the most important thing you can do in this life is believe God.

Believe him.

And you can't believe him if he didn't give you the faculties by which to believe him.

So he gets the honor, praise, and the glory.

He gets the glory for you having faith, Brother Bill.

But there is no besmirching on him if you don't use that faith.

If we use the faith that God has given us, if we believe him, if we trust him, if we press in, that is a credit unto us that's a glory unto God.

And the way that that credit is described in the New Testament is it is accounted unto you for righteousness.

It's right to believe.

It's right to color in a color book.

That's why it's there.

That's why it was made.

That's what crayons are for.

Not to draw, not to color in a storybook.

Your faith was not given to you to help God do what He and He alone could do and did do.

Your faith is your crayon for your color page.

This is for you to believe right here and right now.

And he still is the one who's given it unto us.

He's the one that's given us those faculties whereby we could see what he's given us, and that we could express ourselves in it, and that we could labor in it.

It says, 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.

Now, the apostle James here, I don't think he's just saying, Um, let's have a contest, and you show me yours without, and I'll show you mine with.

I think he's saying, You're gonna have a very difficult challenge to show me your faith without works.

And you know why?

Because faith is a fruit of the Spirit given by God into your inward man.

And it's deep in you to where you couldn't put it and you can't take it.

It's inaccessible to you, except that God, having put it there, you can draw upon it, and by a work that is righteous.

And there's a lot that falls in that category, but I'm just gonna put it in the big envelope of believe God.

And you know, but take it a little further, believe him and do what he says.

Right?

If he says, read his word, read his word.

If he says, pray to him, pray to him.

If he says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, do those things.

And by doing those things, you do not create faith, and you do not insert faith, and you do not establish faith.

You're drawing upon a faith that God has put within you.

And he's designed faith to work just that way.

There are people that believe just close enough to us that they would be a great frustration to us, and we are a great frustration to them, who believe that God has given you faith and that he elected you before the foundation of the world, and he gave you faith, and with that faculty of faith, you can save yourself.

Now that that is as offensive as any rank Armenian philosophy that you can put, right?

If God has given you something that you might do it so that you could be his, then what difference did he make?

Right?

But God has put within you faith, not so that you can believe him unto eternal justification, but he's given you faith so that right here, right now, you can believe him, step out in that faith, and act in that faith in a way that.

That honors him and pleases him.

And so what we come to is, as we said, the way that the Apostle James, and I would say the way the Apostle Paul, because they actually use the same example of Abraham.

Isn't that interesting?

This is how not contrary they were.

They're actually using the same example.

You could use Abraham as an example of how God puts you in the way, and you could use Abraham as an example of imputed righteousness when you believe God.

And they both use the same example and they both honor the same thing about this nature of faith.

So this man says, I'll show you my faith with my works, you show me your faith without your works.

Basically, the challenge is how are you going to do that?

How are you going to show faith without works?

The manifestation of faith is through works, and the work through which it's very commonly displayed is belief.

You cannot believe without faith.

You know, there's some things that would help you, like I asked you, what does it take to make ice?

You say, it takes a freezer.

Well, there's ice out on a frozen pond, so it doesn't take a freezer.

You know what it takes to make ice?

You know the number one thing it takes to make ice?

Water.

Ice is made of water.

Ice is water.

And that's how faith and belief is.

Belief is faith.

Belief is made of faith, and if you don't have faith, it doesn't matter what you have, you can't believe without the faith that God has given us.

So it says here, verse 19, thou believest that there is one God, thou dost well, the devils also believe and tremble.

But will thou, oh me, O vain man, that uh will thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

And then James turns to this example.

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

Seeest then how faith wrought with his works, and by works, faith made perfect.

Now that's true, but I'm gonna read it a different way.

That ain't gonna be true.

And by faith, works was made perfect.

You see how different that would be?

That if work is the prime mover and faith is the result, that that would be in stark contrast to what the Apostle Paul had written.

But what James says is, seeest thou how faith wrought with his works.

So faith was there by the grace of God before the works, and faith worked with the works, and by works faith was made perfect.

So faith was first, and by works it was made perfect.

It didn't say, Brother Brian, that works was there, and then by faith the work was made perfect.

And it says, and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

You can forget everything else I said, right?

And just remember what James said here.

Abraham believed God.

Why did Abraham believe God?

He was in the way.

How did he get in the way?

God put him in the way, and he labored to be in the way.

God gets credit for him being in the way, and it was imputed unto Abraham that he was righteous.

Not just that God was righteous for giving him faith, but that he was righteous for using his faith.

Right?

And you can have that righteousness imputed to you as well.

Why?

Because just like Abraham, you're in the way because God's put you in the way.

And just like Abraham, it can be imputed to you for righteousness when you believe God.

When Abraham believed God, it was right and it was good.

And it it was imputed to him for righteousness.

And the end of the sentence is, and he was called the friend of God.

Do you know it's friendly to God for you to believe him?

When you look at Abraham, God was Abraham's friend by giving him faith.

And Abraham was God's friend by using the faith that God had given him.

Is that fair?

God gets credit for your faith, and it's imputed to righteousness for you when you use that faith to trust him and believe him and walk the way that we should.

And so what this comes down to is what does it mean to be a friend of God?

If you take that friend of God, that phrase, it comes from two Greek words that the apostle Luke put together in a name of someone that he mentioned at the beginning of the book of Luke.

And I'm going to close just with this because I think it's beautifully true and aligns with what I hope I leave with you this afternoon.

Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

This also to me resonated with some of the things that Brother Mark was describing about that servant of Abraham.

Luke chapter 1 says, For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Do you know how something can be surely believed among you?

One, the thing gotta be.

God has given you something that can be believed.

Number two, he's given you the faculty by which you might believe it, which is faith.

And these are most surely believed among us.

Luke didn't say, I'm gonna share with you some wives' table uh fables.

I'm gonna share with you some things people said about him or didn't say about him, or what I thought.

He said, I'm gonna share what was most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word.

It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus.

You know what Theophilus means?

Friend of God.

That thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.

You want to be a friend of God?

Flex in the certainty with which the things that God is giving us.

Believe his word.

He gets the credit for you having faith.

You it is a pronouncement of righteousness when we labor in that faithfulness.

Um can faith be by grace?

Yes.

Can faith be by works?

Yes.

Can it be by works without having first been by faith?

No.

And Paul and James both agree about that, and I agree with them both.

God bless you.

Amen.

I'll tell you, I agree with them both.