Daily Bread 11-26-16
James 2:18-20
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: she me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
ref. - Matt 8:29 - And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou hither to come and torment us before the time.
Gal. 5:6 - For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
When a man say that he has given his heart to the Lord, there must be a change. Many discern this scripture as, "You have to start doing stuff for the Church." This could no be any further from the truth. What it truly means is that if Christ has forgiven us, and his Spirit entered us, and we believe it, then there will be a change. There will be things that are clearly evident to all men. Not a shave and a haircut, or just a cleaning up of language, but a change in the way that we live and act. Many used to think that by their works they could be justified. So they would do good for awhile and clean it up, but the sin would return and they would end up before the priest time after time, finding out what physical work they could do to make up for their sin. But the sin would never leave them. You see, if a man truly believes that the Holy Ghost has entered his soul then he must believe that he is possessed by a clean Spirit, a perfect Spirit. One that would not allow the same sin back in and one that would have the power to bridle the tongue and harness the members of his body. Have you ever heard the "Don't judge me" crowd? They want to remain in sin and continue to do evil while still claiming the name of Christ. Well, the first time we hear of this is through a set of demons who tell Jesus, Why are you here? It is not time for us to be judged yet. But Christ, showing them his power over them cast them into a herd of swine where they ran off a cliff into the sea. But if you look at any of the examples of good Godly men in the Bible, you see men who not only had faith, but were transformed into men of God also by their actions and deeds. So, today, O man, if you say that you have faith but there has been no inner change or outer change in your life, I ask you to see what your faith is in. If it is in Christ you will have become a new man and if you have faith you will have works, but if you have works without faith, you are dead. Go to your knees and pray to God to give you something that will change your life for good!! Ask for a true salvation in Jesus Christ and repent of your sins!! Time is short, time to get after it while we still can!!!! Have a great day!!!