By Faith Alone

Praise God. Good morning everybody.

I'm so happy to be here. I'm so encouraged to be here.

And like I said, I'm I'm so happy that I look around and I

see faces I don't recognize, which is a blessing to me.

And I'm just encouraged because I know that things are happening

in this church and this body and it's growing and the community

is growing and it won't be much longer while you guys will be

out of here and it's something better.

So praise God for that. I'm also encouraged because as

we were singing in the 1st song this morning, I heard the the

Apostles Creed in that song. And that's one thing that all of

us, all Christians can agree on, right?

That's the one thing that defines us as Christians.

We believe in God the Father, right?

The Son, the Holy Spirit that he died and he rose again.

That unifies all Christians. All professing Christians

believe in those things. Anybody who doesn't profess

those things is not a Christian. So that's one thing we can agree

agree upon. That being said, today we're

going to talk about some of the things that we don't agree upon

as Christians or with our brothers and sisters and how we

can kind of find grace in those areas and also like what it

means to be live in faith, right?

You know, God's faith for us. So we're going to touch on a

couple different things and we're going to all wrap it up

together at the end of it. So just bear with me as I go

through because it might seem like what is he talking about?

But trust me because as we go through the stages, it's going

to make sense. OK, so First things first.

I was talking to my wife the other day and we were in the, I

think we were in the car and I was saying, man, you know, I

love this time of year and I also hate this time of year.

And she's like, why do you say that?

And I said, man, this time of year is, is great because, you

know, I, we obviously enjoy the holidays and things of that

nature. But then of course you get the

people who chime in and pop up and anybody who follows me on

any of my social media, they laugh because they know where

I'm getting or I'm going with this, right.

So you see all these people chiming in on this is that, and

that is this and this is wrong and you shouldn't do this and

you shouldn't do that. And it's like as soon as October

1st hits, you know, you hear the people saying real Christians

don't celebrate Halloween. You know, real Christians, you

know, they don't do this, They don't have that, they don't have

that. And I'm like, man, this is some

of these people you don't hear from all year round, right?

They don't talk about anything. And then they don't, they pop up

around Halloween saying that this is Satan's birthday and

this and that. And then you roll into you roll

into Thanksgiving, right? And then it's, you know, all

this is a Pagan holiday that was taken from this.

And then look, let me let me stop all that right here, right?

And all for those of you that know me, I'm a big church

history buff. And let's be clear, Halloween is

not a satanic holiday. It wasn't started by Satanist or

paganist. It was a Christian holiday.

And All Hallows Eve means the eve of All Saints Day.

So Hallows means holy, which means St.

So it was just the day before they recognized the day of All

Hallows Day was the day that they had for Saints.

They recognize martyrs, people who died in the faith.

So the eve before it, they would go ahead and, you know, fast and

pray so that they could be prepared for the next day, which

they spent in church remembering the Christians that had died in

the faith. Why?

Because they set the groundwork for those of us that are

Christians, right? There was a time when Christians

were persecuted and they were killed for their faith.

And a lot of those people died so that we can worship here and

have freedom to worship here. And so when the, when the

Puritans came from England and they came over here, that's what

they did. They said freedom, right?

And that that goes into Thanksgiving.

What is Thanksgiving? It was started by Christians,

Puritans who came over here after they broke away from the

Church of England and they came here and they wanted to

celebrate what we got crops this year.

We're so thankful that we can live here and grow crops and eat

and, and we're just going to have a time where we just give

thanks to the Lord, right? And obviously Christmas, the

word Christ is in the day. So obviously this is a Christian

holiday, and I say all that to say even further than that, all

days belong to the Lord. We need to stop giving things to

the world that belong to us. We need to stop saying this

belongs to Satan or no, no, no, Satan is not an omniscient

being. He's not all powerful.

He's not everywhere. He's not doing any of these

things. Now, do people do things that's

wrong? Absolutely.

Do I paint, put blood on the side of my doors and ghouls and

goblets? No, I don't do that.

But why don't we? We should take these days back.

You know, a few years ago, we, we, we put a table out in front

of the house and on Halloween and we put candy and, you know,

the girls dressed up, but we gave out tracks and we gave out

Bibles and we gave out, you know, Christian magazines.

I, I couldn't think of a better time to do that.

People are coming to my house. They coming to my doorstep.

This is the easiest. This is this is set up for us

perfectly. They come to my door and I say,

do you know about Jesus? That's right.

Do you know about our Lord, the Savior, Jesus Christ, right.

It's it's it's the best opportunity.

Instead we, you know, I grew up, you know, firing brimstone.

So I was like, lock the doors, turn off the lights.

That's true. I mean it remember shaking

because she was raised the same way too.

Well, I didn't go to school that day.

My mom didn't send me to school. We stayed in the house.

We turned off all the lights and we made believe like nobody was

home because my mom didn't want anybody knocking on the door.

Nobody. We don't do none of that

Halloween. We don't want none of that here.

And you know, thankfully, you know, God and his omnicious and

his wisdom has enlightened us to say, well, obviously this is an

opportunity for us to preach the gospel to somebody and you know,

take the gospel. So all those things I say God is

in control instead of us hiding and you know, fearfully and

judging other people. You know, I don't really, I

don't practice Halloween, but I don't judge those that do.

But let's let's find a common ground there and say, you know

what, how can we love on somebody?

How can we use this as an opportunity?

Same thing with Thanksgiving. How can we use this opportunity?

You know, some, some people, I've seen the people where

they're like, oh, Friendsgiving outside of the regular

Thanksgiving where they take a day where they invite their

friends, maybe who from the area who don't have family and get

together and say, Hey, come to my house and let's share the

love of Christ with one another. Praise God, Amen.

That's the that's the things that we should be doing as

Christians, promoting those those things.

And remember, God is in control. All days belong to the Lord.

He has control over all days. He is a mighty God.

He's king. And that's who we worship.

So anything that's against us, we don't have to fearful, be

fearful or worry about any listening because our God is in

control. Amen.

And what's what better than that?

And what's even better than that is that this week something

happens. We can remember something even

better for those of us that are Protestants, right?

Which everyone here is a Protestant, right?

Yeah. Everybody's like, I don't know,

maybe, but yeah, we're all Protestants, right?

Meaning we're not, we're not Catholic, right?

Or Roman Catholic or Oriental Catholic or Coptics or anything

like that. And something this week happens

even greater than that. And what is that?

It's Reformation Day, which is what?

The day that Martin Luther posted in his 95 thesis on the

door of Wittenberg, right? I know I'm getting a little

nerdy, but trust me, this is important, right?

This is important for us to understand because what did he,

what is this the purpose of that?

That was the day that the church proper, I would say I'm sorry to

any of my Catholic friends out there, The church proper broke

away and reformed back to the church the way it was supposed

to be. So who was Martin Luther?

Martin Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 15 O 7.

Now he came to reject several teachings and practices with the

Roman Catholic Church. How did that happen?

He started reading his Bible. That is the truth.

He read his Bible and he was like, wait a minute, some of the

stuff that they're teaching isn't right.

So that's that's key to remember, read your Bibles

because not everybody that preaches and teaches something

is teaching something right. And for thousands, 1000 years,

right, I would say, give or take, things were going in the

wrong direction. And people started saying, wait

a minute, I don't think that's right.

I don't think that's biblical. And it took for not only him,

but certain men to be like, wait a minute, we've gone too far.

And So what did it look like in in the teaching of the Catholic

Church? There's a thing called

indulgences. And in particular, he disputed

the view of indulgences. That's where he drew the line

and he was like, all right, enough is enough.

I've seen too much and I know that this is going the wrong

way. And I'm we got to draw the line.

This is not biblical. And the teaching of indulgences

in the Catholic Church, it comes from the word indulgence.

Yeah. Which means to permit is a way

to reduce the amount of punishment one has to under

undergo for a forgiven sins. The Catechism of the Catholic

Church describes an indulgence as a remission before God of the

temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been

forgiven, with which faithful Christian who is duly disposed

gains under certain prescribed conditions.

That's all a bunch of wordy stuff to say.

If you paid money, you got a free ticket to heaven.

That's what it was. That's what indulgences are.

And it might not necessarily be for you.

You can say, because, you know, they believe in purgatory and

praying for people that have died.

So you could say, oh, I don't know if you know, if my grandma

made it to heaven, Well, give me $200.00 and I'll and you're

good. Your grandma's going to get to

heaven. And so, OK, cool, here's your

$200.00. So what happened was somebody

started coming into the town where Martin Luther was and

started teaching indulgences and people started practicing this.

And he was, he had his own, his own church.

And when people come to the church, they'd like, Nah, I'm

good. I don't need to repent or do

confession or any of that. I'm good.

I bought some indulgences. And that's right.

That's what happened. And he was like, wait a minute,

enough is enough. And then he was like, that's it,

I'm done. And we can laugh at that, right?

And we can laugh at that and say that's ridiculous.

Who would think that That's true.

But if you just think back in your own memory, think of a

commercial, you might have heard one time about getting some holy

water. And if you drink this holy water

and if you pour this holy water on yourself, $2500 is coming

your way. And I'm not making that up.

That's actually a real commercial.

What's another one that I saw the holy for $500, you get some

oil that was olive oil that's from Israel, and you can bless

your family. That's all.

That's all real. You can look that up on YouTube.

What's another one that I saw? The only oil, the water.

Oh, the prayer shawl. If you really want to get

connected from Christ, $700.00 for a gift of $700.00, you can

get your prayer shawl from Israel and you'll be connected

more deeper on a spiritual level than you've ever been connected

before. And we're talking about

Protestants doing that. We're not talking about Roman

Catholics. We're talking about Protestants

who are sending their money for these things.

So we can laugh and say that's silly.

They're buying their ways into heaven.

But we might know somebody. I know somebody who bought one

of those prayer shawls. So, you know, you might know

somebody who's out there spending $700.00 and saying,

hey, I got my vial of holy water.

We're good, we're good. That new job is coming.

So. And why does that happen?

Because they strayed from the word of God.

So on October 31st of 1517, Luther nailed his 95 thesis to

the door of the church in Wittenberg.

Luther Crane. Luther claimed that the

repentance required by Christ in order for sins to be forgiven

involves inner spiritual repentance rather than merely

external Sacramento confession. He argued that indulgences LED

Christians to avoid true repentance and sorrow for sin,

believing that they could forego it by obtaining an indulgence.

So they were like, I'm not going to church.

I just paid that guy $500. I'm good.

And then he started to realize that this was something that was

happening and he said, wait a minute, what else are they

teaching that's wrong? And he posted 95 reasons why the

church needed to be reformed on the door.

And, and contrary to to popular belief, when we say reformed,

he's not saying that he wanted to make a new church.

He wanted to reform the church. So he wanted to get it properly

Catholic, as he would say, right, which is what back to the

ways of, of Acts, right, The church in Acts.

And that's what we're going to look at today.

Some of the things that he's saying and why it's important

for us like he's to live our lives by not only through faith

alone, through grace alone, through Christ alone for the

glory of God alone, through Jesus alone, right?

That's what that's the Protestants.

Those are our main things, right?

But we're going to focus on the faith alone aspect of it.

Luther once said, the moment you begin to have faith, you learn

that all things in you are all together blameworthy, sinful and

damnable. When you have learned this, you

will know that you need Christ who suffered and rose again for

you, so that if you believe in him, you may through faith

become a Newman insofar as your sins are forgiven and you are

justified by the merits of another, namely of Christ alone.

So let's see what what the Scriptures say about what what

Luther says. So I want you to follow with me

and we're going to start in Romans and just follow along.

Some of this stuff is going to be in Romans.

So we're going to start in Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and

Romans 1:16

17, Romans chapter one verse 16 through 17.

Then we're going to jump to Romans chapter 3 and Romans

Romans 3 · chapter mention Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 and we're going to continue from there because I

want you again, I can't tell you guys, Hey, read your scriptures.

Don't just follow what somebody tells you.

And then I just tell you a bunch of stuff and you guys don't

follow the scriptures with me, right?

I'd be a hypocrite. So follow along with me as I

read them. Romans chapter one verse 16

through 17 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is

the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

Jew 1st and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of

God is revealed. For from faith.

For faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

So should the righteous live by works or by faith.

The scriptures teach us that the righteous live by faith, by

faith in whom? Our faith in Christ.

So right away, right from Romans chapter one, we get the example

of what Paul is teaching us is what?

It's not by your works, but it's by your faith in Christ.

Jesus did the works. What could you bring to the

table that's greater than Jesus? What could you bring to the

table that Jesus greater than what Jesus did for us?

Absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing.

And we have to trust in him. We have to trust that his work

is finished and it's complete in US and and through him.

Romans chapter 3 verse 21 through 30, Romans 3 verse 21

Romans 3:21–30 Romans 3:21–30

through 30 it says, but now apart from the law, the

righteous of righteousness of God has been manifested being

witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness

of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe

So what the law of the prophets is completed through what

through Christ and our faith is in him.

So it through our faith in Christ.

All of that isn't completed, for there is no distinction, for all

have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified

as a gift by His grace to the redemption which is in Jesus

Christ, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in

His blood through faith. So there we go again through

faith. His sacrifice was given to us

for us through faith. This was to demonstrate His

righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed

over the sins previously committed for the demonstration,

I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He

would be just and the justified of the one who has faith in

Jesus. So how are we justified?

Through our faith in Jesus? Where then is boasting?

It is excluded. By what kind of law of works?

No, but by a law of faith, for we maintain that a man is

justified by faith apart from the works of law.

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles

also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since

indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the

uncircumcised through faith is 1.

So Paul is calling to an account what not only the prophets and

the law, but he's saying, well how will the the Gentiles be

justified? Because if the Romans are

clinging to their law, and if the Romans are saying no, this

is how the Jews do it, how are the Gentiles justified?

Because they don't have those same laws, they don't have the

same things. And he's saying, no, it's

through faith in Jesus Christ which actually completes the

prophecy, completes the law. So he's reminding them it's not

because of the things you do. It's not because of the

traditions you have. It's not.

But by the way you do it, it's through faith in Jesus Christ

because he completed all that. All those things were a

foreshadowing. They were pointing to who?

They were pointing to who to Christ, so that even the

Gentiles who didn't have those prophecies at the time, even

those Gentiles who didn't have the law at the time, can be

justified through Christ, which he talks about in the law, in

the prophecies that even many nations will come, right?

And so he's fulfilling that through Christ and through our

faith in him, which is a gift of God through his grace.

Through his grace we are gifted the faith in Jesus Christ.

So it's nothing you can do, no kind of tradition, no kind of

thing you can do. And all this stuff that we have

is beautiful. I think it's beautiful when I

look at a Roman Catholic Church and I see all the paintings on

the wall and I see how big it is and I see, I see the beauty in

that. And I'm like, wow, that's

beautiful. But I also see the beauty in a

YMCA where there's people who come together and just love and

worship God and love each other the way that God has called us

to do. I see the beauty in that.

I think that's beautiful. So you can see the range of

God's grace and all those things.

So I'm just thankful that God, you know, grafted us in as

Gentiles, right? That he gave us an opportunity

through his grace. And we have to remember and

believe that his promises are true and forever.

Amen. Romans chapter 5, verse one

Romans 5 · chapter mention

through 2. Romans 5, verse one through 2.

Therefore, having been justified by faith.

So you see, we're building on this, Paul is building on it.

So we already understand that we've been, we are justified

through faith. So therefore, having been

justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our

introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we

exalt in hope of the glory of God.

So you're going to see the same thing spoken about grace and

faith, God's grace and he gave us faith, right?

And we are have what now? We have peace with God.

I implore you Christians that are here that are struggling

with their position with in the eyes of God, you should have

peace in your hearts that you have been saved by his blood.

And you should understand that even though you may falter, even

though that you may fall short. We all wretched men, but God is

good and he's poured his grace upon us and he's given us

forgiveness, right? And so that we can trust in that

promise and that should give us peace in our hearts.

We should have peace in our hearts that God has forgiven us.

There's nothing you can do. Yes, you fall, yes, you make

mistakes, yes, you fall short, but there's not like if you do

101 good acts that now you're going to be righteous in the

eyes of God again. There's what could you do?

What could you do that could equal our Lord and Savior being

crucified on the cross? Absolutely nothing.

There's nothing you could do that would equal that.

And, and what I'm going to get to today is that our works are a

byproduct of our faith, not because we had we do our works,

we have faith. It's backwards and our, our, our

Roman Catholic friends, they, they're, they got it backwards.

And you'll see that right? You'll see that in a little bit.

But just I, I want to implore those of you among here that are

struggling in their walk. And I know because I've, I've

been there. I've been there where I

struggle, where I feel like I'm not holy enough, I'm not

righteous enough, I'm not doing enough, I'm not good enough.

How could God love me? Trust me, God loves you and he

died on the cross for you and those and those those moments of

guilt, those moments of of repentance lead me to believe

that you are a true born again Christian and that should put

you at peace. You should have peace in your

heart that you say, you know what?

I'm never going to be good enough.

But Jesus is, and we need to hold on and cling on to that

promise that Jesus Christ is good enough for us.

His promises are true, right? He's good enough.

He's powerful enough to wipe our sins away and make us white.

Romans chapter 5, verse 8 through 11.

Romans 5:8–11

But God demonstrates, I'm sorry, 5 or 8 through 11, but God

demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were yet

sinners. So just exactly what I was

saying earlier, right? While we were still Sinner,

Christ died for us much more than having now been justified

by his blood. We shall be saved from the wrath

of God through him. For if while we were enemies, we

were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more,

having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And not only this, but we also exalt in God through our Lord

Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the

reconciliation. Not only do we have peace, we

have reconciliation with God. We have been reconciled to God

the Father, and through Jesus Christ and his death on the

cross, that's his promise to us. And we need to hold on to that,

that we have been reconciled. And while we were enemies of

God, while we were enemies of God, while our hearts were far

from him, while we were hardened to who God was, he reached out

from the deaths of, of, of our, of our darkness and he rescued

us and he changed our hearts from our heart of stone to a

heart of flesh. And that's something that we

need to remember constantly, constantly because man's nature

in nature is man's nature is just to be like, how can I do

this? How can I do this?

How can I be more holy? How can I reconcile myself to

God instead of waiting on God to reconcile us to him, How can I

reconcile myself to God? And what that leads to is a

bunch of bad doctrine. And and that's what we see today

in the churches, right? Just a bunch of bad doctrine,

all kinds of strange things that people are teaching.

Why? Because they're trying to force

people into reconciling with God instead of saying, you know

what, we can trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

So faith is a gift from God. It is not a work.

It is the power to change a man or a woman, the best and worst

of us all. This leads to a fundamental

change in a person, which produces what?

Through the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, right?

So as we are, we're Christians, we're changed, we are indwelled

with the Holy Spirit. And this is what produces the

fruit of the Spirit. So Galatians chapter 5, verse 16

Galatians 5:16–26

through 26. And this is something that we

teach the children all the time, you know, in all our, our

children's Bible studies, we teach this.

And sometimes as adults, we need to hear this more often.

And, and, and we need to remember what the fruit of the

Spirit is. And we need to live it

constantly because it's easy for us to forget these things.

So I'm Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 through 26 says, but I say,

Galatians 5:16–26

walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the

flesh. For the flesh sets his desire

against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

For these are in opposition to one another.

So that you may not do the things that you please, but if

you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality,

impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife,

jealousy, outbursts of anger, dispute, dissensions, factions

envying, drunkenness, carousings, and things like

these. Of which I forewarn you, just as

I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will

not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is

what Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I'll stop there for self-control against such things.

There is no law now. Those who belong to Christ Jesus

have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying

one another. So what is this saying here?

There's a fundamental change in a person, right?

And when we're talking about this kind of change, this is a,

a divine change that occurs in a person because naturally,

naturally some of us embody those those naturally I'm apart

from the Spirit, apart from Jesus.

Some of us embody those those fleshly deeds, right?

Some of us are prone to immorality.

Some of us are prone to sensuality and idolatry.

Some of us are prone to sorcery, strife, jealousy, drunkenness,

carousing and all those kinds of things.

Some of us naturally are flesh apart from Christ are drawn to

those things, right? That's what happens.

That's some of us are naturally inclined to that, whereas Jesus

is. Paul is telling us through the

Scripture what as a Christian, you are supposed to do the

opposite things of that. Now, how does that happen of our

own accord? No, through the Holy Spirit

that's within us, right. So there's a fundamental change

that happens. This is divine.

It's not natural. It's not, it's it's outside of

your nature that it happens. So you start to what?

You start to grow love, you start to have joy, you start to

have peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control. And I'll be the first to admit

that I struggle with a lot of those things.

I'll be the first to admit that. But when I get there in those

positions, I have to lean on the Holy Spirit and say Holy Spirit,

I am struggling with doing this. My flesh is telling me to do the

opposite. But I want to do what you want

me to do. And so like even to the point of

giving sometimes, right, naturally my inclination is

like, Nah, I'm, I'm good. You know, I don't really want, I

got a bill to pay, you know, But you know, then I have to say,

what would Christ want me to do? What is the right thing to do in

that situation? You know, my wife has come to me

and said, you know, hey, Alex, somebody asked me for this and I

don't know, should I, should I give it?

And my natural inclination, man, we're good.

We're good. But then I say, well, what does

the Scripture say? And we're going to see that in a

second. But Scripture, what does the

Scripture say? OK, somebody asks for me, you

should give it. It doesn't give a caveat.

It doesn't. And that's what we do, right?

As humans, we add additional caveats.

But I would give, but I would give, but I would, but, but I

want her. I want her to a sermon where

somebody says when it says take up, you know, your brother's

cross, you know, doesn't mean when you, when it's easiest for

you, it doesn't mean when it's easiest for you.

In fact, taking up the cross is probably at a time where it's

hard for you to. And it doesn't, again, it

doesn't give a caveat. It doesn't say take up your

brother's cross and suffer with him when you're good, when you

have the ability to, when you have the option to no, it says

take up your brother's cross. So if your brother comes to you

and says, I need help with this cross, this burden, you're

supposed to say I've got my own burdens.

But yes, brother, let me help you with that.

That's what we're supposed to do.

See, it's easy when we have and we can, but it's not so easy

when we don't have and we still have to.

But that's what Christ calls us to do.

See, there's no, no amount of of, of indulgences you could buy

to be like, Oh no, I bought my indulgences.

I can't help my brother. I'm good.

That's what Luther was warning US against, that we were going

to focus on what we can do and our, our ability and our

traditions and go against what scripture has called us to do.

So a natural byproduct of this is good.

Worse, Christ was selfless. God the Father was selfless.

Therefore, we begin to take on some of those attributes as his

adopted children in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 to the 47, Acts

Acts 2:42 Acts 2:42

chapter 2 verse 42 to the 47. We're going to see a little bit

of this right now and I'm going to, I'm going to prove to you

guys through the Scripture that what I'm talking about is

biblical. They were continually devoting

themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to

the breaking of bread and to the prayer.

Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs

were taking place through the apostles and all those who had

believed were together and had all things in common.

And they began selling their property and possessions and

were sharing them with all as anyone might have need.

Now, again, what you didn't see there is saying they had a

bunch. So they just sold it.

They just gave what they had. What you see there is they had

and they sold what they had to take care of others day by day,

continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from

house to house. They were taking their meals

together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God

and having favor with all people.

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day, those who

were being saved, not just because they were professing

Christians, but they were living Christians.

They were living out their Christianity.

And the number of those that were being at it was day by day,

they were gaining people for Christ, not because of anything

that they were doing. They were just living like

Christ told them to. They were just exemplifying what

Christ would have done. You know what, here we have a

bunch of foreigners who have come into our land, right?

The the Hellenistic Jews that were from other regions, they're

here and they've accepted Christ.

They're our brothers and sisters in Christ, right?

And we have to take we have to take care of them because

they're our brothers and sisters in Christ.

What did Jesus say when they said, Hey, your mother and your

brothers are out there waiting for you.

What did he say? He said, who is my mother?

Who are my brothers? He then pointed to his apostles

and said, these are my brothers, these are my mother.

So what is that telling us? That's how we should live.

That's how we should be. When we talking about brothers

in Christ, it's much deeper than just Yeah, he's a Christian too.

It's much deeper than that. It's much deeper than that.

It's much deeper than. Oh, this guy.

Yeah, he's a Christian. That's my buddy.

No, it's much deeper than that. How would you treat your

brother? How would you treat your mother?

That's how you should be treating brothers and sisters in

Christ. We should be sacrificial for

those. And yes, it's difficult.

It's hard. I'm not saying it's easy,

neither. It wasn't easy back then.

Imagine having to sell your house to take care of a

stranger. But that's what happened.

That's what happened. That's showing the love of God.

That is the fruit of the Spirit. This is love.

These people need something. And I have the ability.

And even if I don't have the ability, I'm going to find a way

to help these people because that is not a work.

That is something that you're doing through faith.

This is a byproduct of our faith.

A byproduct of our faith is what our works.

It's the opposite. It's the opposite.

It's not we're doing works because we're trying to gain

favor. No, a byproduct of faith is

saying, you know what? What would Jesus do, right?

I hate to bring up that old 90s mantra, but it's true.

What would Jesus do, right? Matthew chapter.

Let's look at his own words. Matthew chapter 5 verse 40

Matthew 5:40–42

through 42. Matthew chapter 5 verse 40

Matthew 5:40–42

through 42, If anyone, if anyone wants to sue you and take your

shirt, let him have your coat. Also, whoever forces you to go

one mile, go with him too. Give to him who asks of you and

do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

That's Jesus, that's Jesus saying that.

And again, we know he's talking to believers because later on in

the New Testament, right, it talks about he's talking to,

he's talking how we should treat believers and non believers

because and we know in the, in the, in the New Testament later

on, it talks about brothers in Christ shouldn't sue each other,

right? So when he's talking about if

anyone wants to sue you, he's talking about how we should

treat non believers. So he takes it even further.

How should you take take non believers?

If a non believer wants to wants your shirt, you shouldn't just

give them your shirt. You can give them your coat too.

If they if somebody, if a brother asked you to walk a mile

with them, you shouldn't say, Oh yeah, I'm good.

Let's just go for a mile. Let's go to let's go.

What is he teaching us is to go beyond what the expectation is

set. It's beyond what we think.

It's what God has called us to do.

So if God has called us to go beyond for those in the world

and go beyond for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on giving away

my clothes. So, you know, if somebody says,

Hey, I need your shirt, I'm like, yeah, you can have the

shirt, but now my coat too. But that's what God calls us to

do. It's just, it's, it's not.

And again, this is not a man centered way of thinking.

This is a divine way of thinking.

It's beyond us. This is something that comes

through the Holy Spirit. And if we're struggling with

that, we need to pray to God and saying, how can I get closer to

you, Holy Spirit, help me to make those decisions where I

where I'm more selfless for those around me, where I can,

where I can focus on, on what you have for me, my calling, for

those around me. And it's difficult.

It's not easy, but this is what God has called us to do.

And again, this is a byproduct of our faith.

So we believe in Christ. We're changed and we're

fundamentally changed. And this happens so that when

people see us, they say there is a fundamental change in Natalie.

There is a fundamental change in Miriam.

I see it, I see it. What is it about them?

There's something different. I need that, that peace that

they have, that joy that they have.

I need it. And we see it in the Church of

Acts, right? When they sold all their

belongings and people were like what?

They sold their homes to take care of strangers.

Why would they do that? I need to hear about this.

And he was adding to their group daily, daily.

We it's lost on us a society, especially in Western culture,

because we're so money driven and we're so success driven and

we're. So how can I have the next best

thing? What's the next best technology?

What's the next fanciest car? How can I get those things,

which that's what we fund. That's how we are raised in

America. You know, those of us that are a

little older, you know, the Reaganomics, you know, how can

we, how can we get these things? How can we fix these things when

we need to trust in Christ and we need to trust that Jesus is

going to lead us down the path that we need to go to.

We can trust in him. So why are we bringing this up?

Why is this all all together? What's this all over the place,

right? No, it's not because I, you

know, when we're thinking about again, our, our Catholic friends

would say, you need to do, in order to be saved, you need to

confess, you need to give, you need to do this.

How could you be made righteous with that?

And, and, and of course, you know, they teach that works like

indulgences are necessary and complementary for salvation,

that they go hand in hand. But those of us that are

Protestant, we don't believe that because that's not what the

Bible teaches. And of course, when you start

bringing this up, they will obviously head to James and hit

you with the obvious verse that says faith without works is

dead. That's always the first verse

they're going to say when you when you say, no, wait a minute,

no, Bible doesn't teach. James says faith without works

is dead. So where are your works?

Right? That's what they're going to

tell you. And no Protestant would disagree

that faith without works is dead.

What we disagree upon is that God needs our works in order for

us to have faith. Instead, we would we would

argue, as you know, I've been making the case that works are a

byproduct of our God-given faith.

And so let's look at James chapter 2 verses 14 through 26.

James 2:14–26

James, Chapter 2, verse 14 through 26.

James 2:14–26

Amen. It says, What use is it, my

brethren, if if someone says he has faith, but he has no works,

can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is

without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says

to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do

not give them what is necessary for their body, what uses that?

Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself.

But someone may well say, you have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my

faith by my works. You believe that God is 1.

You do well. The demons also believe that and

shudder. But are you willing to

recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is

useless? Was not Abraham our father,

justified by works when he offered up Isaac, his son on the

altar? You see that faith was working

with his works and as a result of the works faith was perfected

and the Scripture was fulfilled which says And Abraham believed

God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was

called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified

by works and not by faith alone. In the same way was not Rahab

the harlot also justified by works when she received the

messenger and sent them out by another way for you?

For just as the body without the Spirit is dead, so also faith

without works is dead, says James chapter 2, verse 14

James 2:14–26

through 26. So what is so a Catholic person

might tell, see, and you'll go, oh man, that's kind of good

argument. Like maybe he got me.

But I would argue that they don't because what is what is

James making an argument for? Is James making an argument that

is just works alone that bring you to faith?

No, he's trying to tell you that it's together, that through your

faith begin the works. So as a Christian, I should see

good works in you. I should see the works that that

come out of that, not because you're obligated, but because

the Holy Spirit is moving in you and the fruit of the Spirit, as

we talked about before, is pouring out of you.

And as the fruit of the Spirit is pouring out of you, you start

to grow in your love, your kindness, your selflessness for

others. And that reflects in how you

treat other people. So it's not a matter of you need

to do this to get this. This is you're doing it because

you have something. And what is that?

You have the Holy Spirit and because the Holy Spirit is

indwelling in you, this is pouring out of you this

selflessness and this love. So verse 14 through 16, James

goes back to Jesus's words in which he said if someone asks

you, like we read earlier or a brother in the faith that you

should give it. See, he's saying a person who

wouldn't give it is practicing a different faith.

So his argument is not that faith.

You need faith alone or works alone.

He's arguing that if someone comes up to you, a brother in

Christ, and asks you for some food and you say no, you're

practicing a different faith. He's making it clear that your

faith is not in Christ because if you had Christ and if you

were indwelled with the Holy Spirit, you would take up your

brother's cross, as we talked about earlier, and you would

say, hey, I've only got 2 loaves of bread.

I guess we're eating half and half, right?

Because that is what a true Christian looks like.

That's what he's arguing, that this person's faith is different

because there were people teaching and preaching, but not

living. And it's easy for us to teach

and preach and say, I know you're getting plenty of head

knowledge on the Scripture and say, well, this is what the

doctrine says and this is what the Scripture says, and this is

what this says. And I know this to be true and

this famous preacher said this, but are we living that?

Are we living that when we go out, are we being selfless to

others? Are we being selfless with our

family? Or can our family members say

that we live as Christians? To those of us who spend the

most time with us and closed doors, can they say this person

exemplifies a Christian? You know, people can say

whatever they want about my dad, but I live with my dad for 20

years, right? And I can tell you that he's a

man of God. Do I agree with everything he

says? Always no.

But I know that when I was when I was a teenager and I get home

at 5:00 in the morning, my dad was on his knees praying.

I never saw him raise a hand to my mother.

I never saw him even say a bad word to my mother.

So when when anybody could say, oh, your dad, this and this.

And I'm like, let me stop you right there because the proof is

in the pudding. On the opposite end, right on

the opposite end. How sad is it when I hear

children of pastors who say he was abusive to my mother, he was

abusive to me. So are people going to come when

your children get older, when they grow up and they say, I'm

going to tell you what type of man my man, my father really

was. I'm going to tell you what what

woman of God my mother really was.

I don't want, I don't want to live like that.

I don't want to have to have that fear that one day and it's

happened. There's a famous, famous

preacher recently who four of his kids, four of his adult

children separately, have made statements separately saying

that he was abusive to them and their mother.

This guy has a huge church with a huge following.

And and I'm just like, what a blow to the body of Christ.

What a blow to the body of Christ because everything he's

done in the name of God is nobody's going to listen to him

anymore. Nobody's going to care whether

it was true or not. Nobody's going to care because

the byproduct of his spirituality was abuse and

neglect. And that's all people are going

to see. He, he was emboding, emboding,

according to James, a different type of faith because he wasn't

giving. That's not loving.

You go home and you preach a sermon and then you beat your

wife. That's not loving.

That's not loving. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's

ridiculous that there are people that profess to be Christians

and that's how they live their life.

I'm not saying that we all fall all fall short.

We all fall short, but pastors, teachers were held to a

different standard and we have to embody what God has called us

to do. I can't stand up here and say

this is what God has called me to do and then go home and be a

hypocrite. I'm, I'm just hard, harder than

somebody else because of that. So that's why I say continue to

be in your words. It doesn't matter if it's me,

John Michael, anybody else, Let's make sure it matches up

with the scripture. What scripture says is true.

And, and, and I know that John Michael will say the same thing.

He would say, go home and read your scriptures to find out if

what I'm saying is true. Verse 20 through 26, he mentions

this is interesting. He mentions Abraham and Rahab

and how they were justified by their works.

And this again, it's reconciling what we see in Hebrews.

So if we turn, if we, if you guys don't have to turn this,

I'll just read it. But if you want to take notes

and read it later, it's fine. Hebrews Chapter 11, which we

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

know as the hall of faith, right?

And Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 17 through 19, it says by faith

Hebrews 11:17–19

Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac and he who had

received the promises was offering up his only begotten

son. It was he to whom it was said,

and Isaac, your descendants shall be called.

He considered that God is able to raise people even from the

dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

So it's saying what in Hebrews that Abraham had faith and he

knew that when God gave him the promise of descendants and he

said go up and sacrifice your son, he trusted in God and

through his faith he went up there, which is what the work

right? He went up there and he had the

knife ready to do it and he was prepared because he knew no

matter how it turned out that God's promise was going to be

fulfilled. He had faith in God's word that

it would come back true. So you see in James he's saying,

no, Abraham did the work right by, but Hebrews is saying he did

the work because of his faith. So what?

It's a faith because it's a work because of the byproduct of his

faith. So we see that when James is

talking, he's trying to reconcile this Hebrews, right?

So he would know that the reader knows about the story in

Hebrews. So what he's telling people is

just don't rest on the fact that you claim to be a Christian.

Just don't say, oh, I have faith, I'm good.

Which happens a lot, believe it or not.

Well, I'm a Christian. I was, I was baptized.

I've heard that a lot. I was baptized and they rest on

that. You know, I was baptized.

I'm good. And he said, no, no, no, no.

It's not just that he was reconciled by his faith and that

that the work came out of his faith.

And he mentions Rahab also, and also in Hebrews in that same

chapter, it mentions Rahab by faith in verse 311131.

By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who

were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

So that's what by faith. So James is mentioning 2 people

and who also get mentioned in Rome in Hebrews Chapter 11 in

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

the Hall of Faith and saying what you guys, there was a work

that was produced. She believed and she did.

And the same thing for us. We believe, so we should we

should do and that's a byproduct of what we believe.

So is there a contradiction? Absolutely not.

James is trying to show us how naturally Christians produce

works through our faith. Our faith in Christ does not

free us from works, but from false opinions concerning works,

that is, from the foolish presumption that justification

is acquired by works. So what is it saying that James

and all these scriptures are teaching us?

What? That is?

Nothing that we can bring to the table to earn merit with God.

There's no amount of money you could pay to earn merit with

God. There's nothing.

Jesus did the work, It is completed, it is finished.

We can trust in Him, and we know that He is good.

Martin Luther once said faith is the organ by which God's special

revelation can and must be received.

We know God because God chooses to be known, and what He has

chosen to be known must be believed in order to be truly

understood. So Martin Luther understood

this. He understood that the

Scriptures have led us to understand that Jesus Christ

died on the cross for our salvation, and through him we

are reconciled, and through his reconciliation we have peace

with God. And because we have peace with

God, we have been indwelled with the Holy Spirit.

And because we're indwelled with the Holy Spirit, the fruits of

the Spirit are produced in US, which are what Lovejoy, peace,

patience, and all these things. And in turn, what does that

produce? Faithful works of Christian men

and women. Amen.

Amen. So the next time somebody says

to you, hey man, you really need to buy this thing, it's going to

get you holier to God. You going to say, no, I'm good,

brother or sister, I'm good. Actually.

Let me show you where in the Scripture we've been liberated

from that. We've been liberated from that

because that's just a constant battle.

It's a constant work. You're never going to do enough

to get righteous with God. And I'm so sad to see that there

are so many people out in the world, even professing

Christians who are still struggling with their faith

because they are trying to work towards their salvation.

And I, I'm so burdened with those people because I want them

to see just like man, there's peace, there's freedom in

Christ, there's freedom in Jesus.

You can have that, but they continue to look for worldly

things and strive for things out in the world in which they think

will make them holier and make them more righteous with God.

So I just implore the church today that trust in your faith

in God and just remember that you have peace in him.

Amen. Amen.

Let's let's pray. I don't know if you have

anything else. OK, Father God, we give you

thanks, Lord. We give you thanks, Lord, for

all that you have given us, Lord, for the for the grace and

mercy that you have poured upon us, Lord, the gift of faith that

you have bestowed on us believing Christians.

Lord, I thank you, Lord. Because we didn't deserve it,

Lord, but you gave us the ability to have faith in you and

faith in your son, Lord, that he died on the cross of Calvary for

the remission of our sins. It's a propitiation, Lord, for

us and to make us righteous in your eyes, Lord, To make us

wash, Lord, to bring us peace and joy, Lord, so that we may do

works, not because we're obligated to, but because we

want to, Lord, because we want to just exemplify to the world

who you are. We want to show the love of just

a small slither of the love that you have for us to them, Lord,

so that we may be able to draw them closer to you, Lord.

And we thank you, Lord, for all those things that you have done

for us, Lord. I pray right now, Lord, for this

body, Lord, that you would just touch their hearts and their

minds, Lord, that you would just help this word today be planted

in their minds and in their hearts.

And not only them, but me too, Lord, as I go forward, Lord, and

we go forward into this upcoming week and these upcoming months

and this holiday season, remembering the reason why we

celebrate these these, these days, Lord, not only because we

can, but because you have given us the opportunity to praise and

worship you, Lord. And let us remember on those

days, days like Thanksgiving and Christmas, Lord, that you gave

us the grace and mercy and let us use it as an opportunity to

preach to somebody who is lost. Lord, Give us all the

opportunity to preach the gospel, Lord, and just share the

word of God with somebody. Lord, I pray for this

congregation. Lord continues to grow.

Lord, that you just bring the people here that his needs,

Lord, in order to continue to grow.

Lord, I pray over my brother John Michael, Lord, that he

continue to not only bless this congregation, but all those men

that he's working with through his ministry, Lord, and all the

families that through you he's helping to save.

Lord, I ask that you to continue to strengthen him, Lord.

And when he has his moments of doubt, Lord, when he has his

moments of, of weakness, Lord, that you just remind him that he

has peace and he has joy and that you just strengthen him to

go forward and what you have called him to do.

Lord, I just continue to pray that him and his wife, Lord,

that you just lead them in your direction.

Lord, I play for Natalie as well, Lord and her family.

Lord, that as he is led to do the things of God, that you just

help her Lord to give strength in her Lord also that she may be

the, the, the support that he needs.

And also that you support her, Lord, in these times, Lord,

Because it can be difficult when you have men that are in

involved in the ministry, Lord, And the women have to take up a

lot of the the burden, Lord. And I ask that you just help her

Lord, and strengthen her and their sons, Lord, And that you

just prepare their sons, Lord, for the ministries ahead, Lord.

I pray for all the the young men in here, Lord, that are being

discipled, Lord, And all the women that are being discipled

here, Lord, that you just strengthen them, Lord, so they

can go out into the community and gain others for the glory of

God. Lord, I thank you for this

congregation, Lord. I thank you for the Salt church,

Lord. Continue to bless them and be

with them. Lord, I ask you all this, in the

name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, we pray Amen and

Amen. Amen.