Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): It's been said we're saved by faith and faith alone, but saving faith is never alone. Here's Pastor James.

James Kaddis: The idea here is if God has placed a faith in you, if you are a person who says I'm a believer and the spirit of God lives inside of me, there are going to be actions that follow that. You're going to be motivated to a different type of living. The things that you do are going to be a reflection of the work that God is doing inside of your heart. You're going to be moved to it.

Guest (Male): If you say you have faith and believe in God, that's great. But today on Light on the Hill, we'll discover that our actions demonstrate if faith is real or not. If you claim to have faith, but your works do not accompany that, your faith is useless and dead. We've heard it said, put your money where your mouth is. But if you can't do that, then your words become meaningless and a real change needs to happen. Here's Pastor James Kaddis with more from James chapter two.

James Kaddis: Yea, verse 18, 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. Let me read that again cuz it's a powerful statement. Listen to what he says here. This is very very important. 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. Think about that. He's making it very clear for anybody that doesn't understand. He's saying don't get it twisted.

My demonstration of the faith that I already have is provided to you in the action that I take. The faith that already exists in me is being actively demonstrated every day by the life that I live. And if the life that you live every day is not one that 's reflective of the kind of faith that the Lord is talking about here, then you probably don't have that faith. You You're probably not living that life because the reality of it is if the spirit of God is living inside of you, then you're going to listen to his voice in living that out.

It's that simple. It's amazing when you think about this. Look at this verse 19. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. That's a pretty heavy statement. Great, you believe there's God. Guess what? So do the devils. Demons believe that and they tremble at the name of the Lord. So far so good. You believe they believe. You're in the company of demons. You have a lot in common at this point. But look what he goes on to say because this is where it becomes really interesting. But wilt thou, oh vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect? It's a great question that he's asking. Think about this verse 23. Look at what James says. And if this sounds confusing to you, I'm going to make it to where it's not in just a second. Look what he says in verse 23. 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.

Guys, we went over this in Hebrews. Hebrews told us about this. Hebrews gave us something that we did not have to make an assumption concerning because the Bible told us that this is exactly what was going on through Abraham's mind. The Bible gives us the story of Abraham. God tells Abraham, listen, take up your only son and sacrifice him. Now, of course, he didn't have an only son, right? We know that Ishmael was the son that was born to a woman, an Egyptian woman actually. That's by the way a very interesting story. That was a function of a failure to trust God, right?

And he was not the chosen child. But it was interesting that God kept his promise still and gave them their son through Sarah even though Sarah doubted and in some cases it was very obvious that everybody around doubted. It It's like how in the world can this happen? Yet God kept his promise. And what's really funny is when Isaac was born, Isaac being that promised child knowing full well Abraham knew it would be through Isaac that the nation would grow. It would be through Isaac that his seed would multiply. It would be through Isaac his son that so much would happen.

And yet he tells Abraham to take Isaac up to the hill, believed by the way to be the same place where Christ was crucified, believe it or not, very interesting. Takes him up to that hill and says sacrifice your son. Look, I have two girls and I have a precious little boy. I cannot go to bed at night without very strangely and weirdly hovering over his little crib thing. Forgot what they call that thing. Just hovering over there and making sure his chest is rising and falling, making sure he's okay. I still to this day do it with my children, my my two older girls.

I'm telling you this right now about my only son. I 'm not sacrificing him for anything, not for anything. There's no way. You want to know how they will have been able to get to my son if somebody came into our house? You'll know how if I'm dead. That's how it'll happen as if I'm dead. Because I can promise you that I would not sacrifice my little man for anything, not one thing. Can you imagine the overwhelming emotion that Abraham was feeling looking upon his son every day, watching him grow to be the young man that he was?

It was actually believed that Isaac in the time that Abraham was going to sacrifice him would have been very close to the same age as Jesus when he was crucified on the cross. Interesting, by the way. They take him up the hill. Abraham, while he's taking him up the hill, knows he's going to tie him to that altar and kill him because God said to do it. Now, you stop and you look at the story and if you examine the story void of the commentary that was provided in the book of Hebrews, you would think Abraham's a nut job.

He's a kook. How in the world is he going to go up there and do this to the son of promise? My goodness, the definition of that man's name is laughter because the thought of him being born was an impossibility and there was laughter that came as a result. How in the world is he going to sacrifice the one son that he knows is going to be the promise? I would never do it. I I'd be looking at God and I'd be saying, you know, I got to tell you Lord, you I think I think you meant Ishmael, right?

I'll gladly take him up right now. I I'll tie him up and I'll put him on the back of a donkey. I mean, I don't know if I can even do that. How in the world? The Bible tells us how. The Bible actually told us what was going through Abraham's mind. The Bible tells us that Abraham trusted and believed in the promise of God so much that the way he looked at it was, okay God, I'll kill him, no problem. I'll put the knife right in his chest. But you know what? It's your problem and you're going to have to resurrect him from the dead because you promised me.

You gave me your word that he was going to be the one. And look, I do not know about you guys, but that is an amazing reflection of a heart of faith that is parallel to nobody. Because I don't know about you, if your faith is that real that you would literally sacrifice your son, you would really be willing to act upon it. It's a real faith. You'll never be able to accuse Abraham of being somebody who didn't trust in God. And what he's pointing out here is really important. He's saying that the actions of Abraham demonstrated a faith that was real.

And the imputation of righteousness was a reflection of the fact that the man had a faith that drove him to action even if the action was scary and didn't make sense. The imputation of righteousness upon Abraham was a reflection of the faith that he had in his heart that God would do what he said he would do. Think about how powerful of a statement that is. So this becomes a much bigger issue here because this is no longer me giving you a motivating speech saying well you need to get to work because faith without works is dead and you need to get to work.

No, this is a speech that is serious. This is a life altering conversation that you should be having with yourself and that I continue to have with myself every day and that's this. Is my faith in God so real that I am willing to put everything on the line to do what he's called me to do? If I'm not, then what's going on with my faith? And the question that I continue to ask myself is when was the last time I had faith in God and he failed me? And the answer to that question is never.

I've never seen God fail me. I've never seen him fail me ever. There's never been a time in my life ever, not once, not one single moment where I put faith in God and God did not come through. Because that's the God that we worship. That's the God that we love. That's the God that we serve. Learning to put our faith and trust in God is something that often times is accompanied with a movement to action. And if the faith that you have developed in your heart does not move you to action and the reality of it is your faith is founded in something that's broken.

Now, I don't want you to get it twisted. I don't want you to get this big stuff because there are some people that have legitimate and genuine real and sincere faith, but have not been moved to action because they've they've not been taught to move to action, right? They have not been given the demonstration, the active demonstration on what it means to trust in God. You see, I have an easy time demonstrating to you that I can trust in God even though the world says no. I have a very easy time making decisions not only for the church, but for my family because it was taught to me.

It was demonstrated to me by my father and by my mother. It wasn't just in the stories that they gave me. It was in the fact that I watched them every day putting it all out on the line for the Lord. I watched them every day do things based on God speaking to them and not necessarily about what they could physically do or not do. You guys think the interest rates are really high right now? You think it's really hard to buy a house at a 6 or 7% interest rate? Imagine buying a home at an 18 and 1/2% interest rate when you can't even afford the beginning of a down payment.

And imagine being a 5-year-old kid who doesn't understand any of that where none of that makes sense. You don't know the difference between 3%, 5%, 8%, 1%, or 100%. Yet you watch your mother and father say we are doing this because the Lord told us to and we don't have the money, but God is going to give it to us because we believe he's going to open the door. And watching God every single time my mom and my dad said God told them, watching God demonstrate that faithfully, literally I learned it by watching my parents.

I learning I learned it by seeing the example and the demonstration that was given. I remember there were so many people that told me I was a nut job when I told them that God had told me to marry Nicole after only talking to her for like two minutes. Like literally I would say probably that 6 minutes into a total of a 5-minute conversation, I told her let's get married. God told me and I think he told you. That sounds crazy. I remember telling tons of people, even people in my family, that very thing and them going whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, who is she?

Why whoa whoa whoa whoa. I remembered walking into the office with my dad sitting in the chair and telling my dad at a nowhere while he was looking at a picture of a woman he never seen before, the picture of my future wife. Telling my dad God told me to marry her and watching my dad cry like a little baby. His only words to me when I told him that was I wish mama was here to see this. Those were his only words. He cried profusely. He didn't say are you crazy? He didn't say what are you thinking?

He didn't say any of that. He just cried and said I wish your mother was here to see this. You want to know why? I 'll tell you why. Because my dad was in the middle East serving in a place where you die for sharing your faith. He got in a terrible car accident and the man that was in the car with him abandoned him to die who was supposedly a Christian who by the way years later tried to make money off the condition of my father, complete crook and a thief. A Muslim man found my dad left to die in that car accident.

My dad being unconscious after the car accident woke up in a Christian missionary hospital where my mom was the nurse. He opened his eyes and looked at her and knew immediately. Didn't know her, didn't know her name, didn't know her background, didn't know anything. He just knew you're the woman God's called me to marry and he said that to my mom. He may have beat me on the 5-minute record. And my mom looked at him and said well God's got my number two and treated him harshly until a week later she said God told me and then they ended up getting married 8 months later or whatever.

You want to know why my dad didn't freak out and my dad didn't go nuts and my dad didn't say what are you thinking and all that stuff and instead he cried with joy wishing that mom were there for that moment because he lived it. And in him living it, he taught me how to live it. That's the point. People ask me all the time, well James, why is it that when you teach you're so loud you're like whoa, why are you doing that? It's a communication tactic. Come on. No, come on. I'm that way because I 'm living the things that I 'm telling you guys.

What he's basically communicating is the fact that literally Abraham put his son on the line willing to allow his son to die at his own hand because he knew it would be God's problem and God would have to resurrect him from the dead. God did that. By the way, isn't it such an amazing, powerful, beautiful reflection of what God the Father eventually did to God the son knowing that God the son would resurrect from the dead as well? Understand the picture, the parallel of Christ being put on the cross and exactly what had happened. Guys, none of this is a mistake.

By the way, do you understand why I have a particular hatred and a disdain for the word reckless love in a worship song? None of this was reckless. Every last bit of it was completely calculated and it was the condition of particular calculation in every context of faith and trust that conditioned these children to learn to do the same thing which is exactly why we see generations of faithful people loving and serving God and being used by God in a great way because their faith is what literally motivated their works. Why do you think I am so aggressively opposed to the evil that they are doing in elementary schools right now?

Because the very call that God has placed upon our lives to teach our children to love God and to condition a response of faith within within them as they observe our very responses should be the very same thing. Yea, in reality the enemy is using that very same tool to condition young people because they're seeing it in their wicked parents to carry on the attributable characteristics that are openly demonic and they will destroy the society in which they live. This is the call that God has placed upon us. Faith without works is dead. By the way, it's interesting.

Most pastors, a lot of most, a lot of pastors that I hear teaching this don't teach this correctly. And the last time that I actually heard somebody put this in appropriate context happened to be a man who wasn't even a pastor alone. And in some cases, a man that I kind of disagree with in some areas, but he's still a warrior and a rock star for the Lord and a fighter, Eric Metaxas of all people. It's like you're not even a theologian. Now, he's a stinking smart man and he's brilliant, right? And he's a friend, a friend of mine that I'm proud to have as a friend.

But to hear him say it in that context, it's like why is it that he's not a pastor? And he's out there trying to convince pastors of the correct interpretation of the passage. Here's what I look at. I will never be able to expect people in the body of Christ here to act on the trust of God if I have not demonstrated it myself, right? I love being able to tell people when they tell me impossible or never happen. I love it when they tell me impossible. I love it when they say good luck, it will never happen, you're nuts.

I love it when they tell me that because when I'm convinced that God is speaking, I love nothing more than to tell them you're wrong and God is going to prove you wrong. And then when God does prove them wrong, I sit there and I laugh. And I enjoy every minute of it. I literally I don't I can't even find the word. I'm overjoyed in watching God bring the victory. Because every single one of those haters and naysayers guess correctly stated that I cannot do it on my own, but God is the one who did it.

And it is so awesome when you see God come through like that. Isn't it? It's just great. And to the point, this is kind of funny, to the point when I got sick for the first time, I actually came out of it much feeling much better than I had than I had probably in in 5 years, maybe maybe longer because it forced me to sleep. I slept more in those 2 weeks than I probably slept in the last 5 months. Felt so good, right? But that's the faithfulness of God. You trust God to do what God has called you to do and God will get you through every aspect of what it is you choose to obey him in.

Why? Because it's a reflection of the faith that we have. If we trust God, then we know God will provide. If we trust God, then we know that God will be the one that will do the work that God wants to do. He's faithful that way, guys. Look what it goes on to say. You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Likewise also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

In other words, think about it. And this is the illustration that he's giving, right? You could look in in those days you could look at Rahab and you could say she's a whore. Seriously, like I'm not being funny. She's a harlot. She's a wicked woman. She sells her body. She's not a good person. So the very thought that any Jew would have in that context when they go to attack the city is why in the world would I spare her life? She's a wicked woman like the rest of them. There is no proof of her righteousness.

People don't change. I have no proof that she's a changed woman. Except what James is saying is her actions proved, justified the perspective that they had on whether or not she was changed. Her actions were a reflection of a heart change. Why? Because her actions demonstrated the fact that she trusted in God so much that she was willing to put her life on the line to hide those spies. Think about that for a moment, folks. The whole idea of Rahab being justified by her works is a simple picture of the fact that her works demonstrated that condition of her heart.

She didn't need to make a case anymore. She was doing exactly what God wanted her to do. And God used her. And by the way, I'm not saying this because I'm making an assumption concerning that issue. I'm saying it because the Bible tells us that that's what happened. Right? The New Testament authors even expound upon it. Folks, the brilliance in such assertions here are remarkable and cannot be thrown away. The idea here is if God has placed a faith in you, if you are a person who says I'm a believer and the spirit of God lives inside of me, there are going to be actions that follow that.

You're going to be motivated to a different type of living. The things that you do are going to be a reflection of the work that God is doing inside of your heart. You're going to be moved to it.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to the weekend edition of Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis and part of our study in the book of James. Listen to this study and more at lightonthehillradio.com. Again, that's lightonthehillradio.com. Pastor James's teachings are also available through the Light on the Hill app and at oneplace.com. Listen to us wherever you get your podcasts to. We'd love to hear from you. It's encouraging to hear what God is doing in our listeners' lives and it's an opportunity to thank the Lord. There's a place to contact us at the website lightonthehillradio.com. If this is a ministry you would like to support, there's a place to make a secure donation at lightonthehillradio.com or you can give through the Light on the Hill app.

Throughout the week you can watch our live shows and short videos, many of which relate to Bible prophecy and help you to see current events through a biblical worldview. Look for those at jameskaddis.com. With these concluding thoughts, here's Pastor James. I'm just making myself very clear here. If you are in a place right now as a believer filled with the spirit of God, where you are beginning to develop a conviction about an action that you know God wants you to take, listen to me. Allow that work to manifest because what that work will be is a reflection of the faith that God has already given you.

And what you will find happens as a result of that is God will breathe new life in a particular area that you may have thought was beginning to die. And what you see coming forth from that will be something that will radically radically change the world around you, including your own, especially your own. So allow the faith that God has given you to radically begin to change your life and the lives of the people around you. And I can make you this promise. I'll give you the promise my mom gave me many many years ago when I was a little boy.

The same promise my dad gave me and the one that I still hear in my head on a regular basis, you will never be able to outgive God. And I will tell you something my mom used to tell me from the time I was a little boy as early as I can remember it. Honey, God never failed us. When we came to America from Egypt, we had nothing. And you know what? God never failed us. God always provided for us. God always gave to us. And we are where we are because what God has done.

Always trust him. And I can tell you now with a whole heart being a man who has seen my mother and father in their prime and watching God use them in a mighty way, watching them both finish their race as well. I can reflect back on all of that time and simply say this God is so good. And the faithfulness that my dad and my mother continued to show in their relationship with God was a tremendous demonstration to me. And when my mom and dad used to say all the time that God has never forsaken them and God has always provided and God has never failed them, I can say that with a whole heart.

Uh, even in the times where I thought I was forsaken, God was actually giving me extra attention because he's faithful and he's good. And I promise you he will do the same for you if not already. Amen. More from the epistle of James is coming up next weekend on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. This listener supported program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

Guest (Female): I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.