The Debbie Taylor Williams Podcast

Debbie Taylor Williams: When we think of it in terms of faith, that word "dead" is very significant. Some people think that what Paul taught about Christianity and what James teaches are two different things, but they really aren't, as we'll look at.

James wasn't saying we are saved by our works, was he? He was saying our works are a demonstration that we are saved. As a matter of fact, James warns specifically about a head knowledge of Jesus, agreeing about who Jesus is. You've looked at that, how even the demons did, but not having a changed heart.

The Bible many times throughout the scripture talks about the heart. The mind, yes, but not just the mind, the heart, and the importance of the heart being submitted to the Lord. When we have that heart that is submitted, it is under God's ways, rules, laws, and authority. Then it translates truly into us having changed actions, changed works, and changed behavior.

As you've talked about, in this last point that James brings up, that head knowledge of who Jesus really is is no different than demons. I don't want to be put on that same category, on that same level of having a faith like demons, do you?

Guest (Male): Absolutely not.

Debbie Taylor Williams: We don't want that for our loved ones. We don't want that for the cashier that we casually know who wears a cross. We want it to be more than that. We've looked at how demons are addressed in the Bible and how, in different scriptures that you've looked at, they do acknowledge Jesus.

I want to look specifically at different facets of how demons believe in Jesus. Mentally, in Luke 4:34, they mentally acknowledge Jesus as God's Son. In Mark 5:7, they verbally even profess with their mouths that God is the most high God. Even though demons are Satan's angels, they still profess with their mouths that God is the most high God, and they profess that Jesus has power over them.

We have to be careful. We have to take the total of the scripture, not just one line. If you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord," that is part of it. But the other part of that passage in Romans is "and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead." So, it goes on talking about a heart change toward what we intellectually know.

In Mark 3:11 and 5:7, demons physically bow. We might think, "Oh my goodness, have you seen how devout that person is? They bow when they are praying." Well, so do the demons. They physically bow before Jesus.

What about the person who actually goes to a service and they tremble when they hear the word being preached? They tremble in God's presence. So do demons. They tremble, the scripture tells us. Mark 8:29, they intellectually even know that judgment and eternal fire await them. They beg Jesus not to send them there before the appointed time.

Guest (Male): Which there is an appointed time.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And demons know this. They have that knowledge. So, we really have to think, what is the difference between a demon and me? Why do I get to go to heaven and demons will be separated for all eternity? What about that for our loved ones, our family, our friends?

Here is the difference. In Luke 9:23, we see that demons don't repent. They don't repent of their sins. They don't confess Jesus as their Lord. If you want to look in your Bibles in Acts 2:38, Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Repent means you're going this way and you turn around. You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. You have a transformation. The Holy Spirit is the gift given to you. That same Holy Spirit that caused the deep conviction that you had crossed the line, that you were a sinner, that you had put Jesus on the cross, then becomes the very Spirit that instead of convicting you that you are going to hell because of your sins, He becomes a gift to you.

He becomes your equipper. He becomes your joy. He becomes your peace because He has changed your heart. He still functions in a way to convict us when we, as Christians, cross the line, but that is as a loving parent will call their children to account.

This message in James 2 is very important because Paul and James say the same thing. Paul warns about outward religiosity. He warns about head knowledge but no heart change. He was the one in Philippians 3 that said, "Of all the Pharisees, I was the Pharisee of Pharisees. I was the most religious, I was the most devout." Then he said, at some point, he came to know Christ. That means intimately. He had a relationship with Him.

Paul warns against not having repentance of sin, with Jesus not being Lord of one's life. He repeatedly says in passages such as Ephesians 5:18, "Be filled with the Spirit," which means continually filled with the Holy Spirit. He talks about the importance of rather than not doing works, the works that God's prepared for you.

As you've looked at the scripture in Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul talks about how we are justified by faith in order to do the good works that God prepared beforehand for you to walk in them. Now, as we look at this word "prepared," which we find in the scripture, it is important for us to understand something because this is where James is going.

If you recall, Moses, when he was being called by God to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land, God says to him that he is to take them to a place, the Promised Land, that He has prepared. God said He prepared the Promised Land for the Jews to enter into. You know the story of what happened. Some of them looked and they saw the giants. Ten of the spies did and they said, "Oh, we can't go in there." But God had already said, "I have gone ahead of you. I prepared the land for you and you will live there."

This is the land of Israel today that we hear about, that we see on the map. God did that. God prepared that place in order for them to enter into it. In the same way that He had a place prepared for Israel, in the same way, 1 Corinthians 2:9 says that God has prepared a kingdom.

I want us to look at that in Matthew 25:34. Jesus is speaking and He says, "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the earth.'" God prepared for the nation of Israel a place here on earth, and the majority of them refused to go in out of fear and lack of faith.

God has prepared a kingdom for us to live in eternally. As we look at this, that word "prepared" is very important because He also, as we are told in Matthew 25:41, says to those on His left when He is describing what judgment will be, "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels."

There are two places that God has prepared, just like He prepared the land that we physically see in Israel as the Promised Land. He's prepared a promised land for Christians, for believers in heaven. He has prepared a place for those who reject Him, for the devil and his angels in hell.

It is very important that you and I do more than sit back and hope that somebody gets saved. It's important that you and I are active as God called the Israelites to be, to enter into the Promised Land. Even though there would be giants to face, even though that would mean that they followed His leading, you and I are to follow God's leading. We are to stand against the enemy, but we are to obey Him, and that is evidenced in what we actually do in the good works that we do.

As we look at this passage again, we see faith is seen by actions. We've looked at how Abraham believed God in Genesis 15:6, and his actions proved his faith. I love that you just re-read the passage in Genesis 22 where Abraham was told by God to take Isaac, to do the impossible, to do something he didn't want to do, to do something that was counter to his natural propensity and disposition.

The reason that James pulls this out from the Old Testament is to say, "I know that God is going to call you to do things that are counter to your personality." God is going to call you to do things that are counter to what is normal for you. God is going to call you to do things that you don't necessarily want to do. As a matter of fact, you may despise having to do it in a sense.

He may call you to forgive someone you don't want to forgive. He may call you to do a certain work for Him you don't want to do. He may call you to open your mouth and speak to a waitress or a friend and invite them when you don't want to. He's an illustration, a real person who lived, who was called by God to do something that was not natural, that was sacrificial.

We need to mature in our understanding to know that there is more at stake than our comfort. There is more at stake than our preferences, our likes, and the works that God calls us to do, so that it's evident that we're His. Oftentimes and very likely, they may be counter to what we would naturally do.

We have to be careful because one of the enemy's schemes is to make us think, "Well, I don't want to," or "I don't feel like it." How many of you have ever not done something, maybe even come to Bible study, because "I don't feel like it, I'm kind of tired, I think I'll stay home, I don't really want to tonight"? We are such pushovers, aren't we? Such pushovers. And this isn't even something huge, like sacrificing your own flesh and blood long-awaited child.

Rahab, yes, she had heard the warnings about God being with this newly born nation. She had heard it and she did believe in her heart, but she didn't just go hide her head under the pillow. We see her faith in action. She took steps, she took measures.

We hear James echoing Jesus, as he has in other verses and other passages, in for instance as when Jesus said, and we're recorded in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' but you don't do what I say? Come on. Why do you call Him Lord but don't do what He says? Why do I call Him Lord but at times don't do what He says?"

He catches us. He calls us to accountability. Why? Because He loves us. He loves us. That's why He wants us to stop. He wants us to think. Are we calling Him Lord? Are we singing praise songs to Him? Are we attending church functions? Are we doing what He tells us to do?

One of the applications of if we are doing or not doing what the Lord calls us to do has to do with how we treat other people, as we have looked at. Of course, in this first part where he says in verse 14, "What use is it if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without food or clothing or in need and one of you says, 'Go in peace...'"

Doesn't that look ridiculous? Doesn't that sound ridiculous to us? But friends, sometimes we may actually do that. That may actually happen in some form or some fashion.

This is important that we pay attention. Our bottom line that we get to as we study all of this is "I am not a Christian because I do good works. I do good works because I am a Christian." Faith is visible. We repeatedly see this. We see this principle, this teaching, that goes throughout the scripture that we're studying. God has prepared.

Say that word with me. Prepared. That means He's paired you for that work. He has gone before and prepared good works for you to do, just as He prepared the Promised Land for Israel, just as He has prepared the kingdom for believers, just as He has prepared the eternal fire for the devil and his angels.

Last week, we had a potluck luncheon after our Sunday school class, my husband and I did, and we ended up having 87 people RSVP that they were coming. We've hosted 70 before for church functions, but when it hit 80 and then got to 85 and 87, my eyes got big and I kind of got this, "Lord, that's going to be hard. I'm not sure how I can do that."

But He told me, "Yes, you will, and you're committed and we'll get this done." And He directed me how to get things to where we could do that for that many people. I prepared before people got there. I got it ready. God has, think about it, prepared good works for you to walk in. He's thought about it. He's gone ahead before you were even born. What would be the right good works for you to walk in? You are walking in a good work that God prepared for you. It does take some work, it takes time, doesn't it? But they're prepared.

Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favorite verses because after it tells us that we were saved by grace through faith, it tells us that we were created to walk in, to walk out the good works that God prepared for us to do. It's so exciting when we take this to heart.

Now, on your listening guide, you find there are some blanks, and one of the first blanks that you'll fill in is that word "personal." God prepared good works for you. Do you hear that? Those works are personal. He had certain works for Moses, certain works for Peter, different works for different people. So what He calls you to do will be different than what He calls somebody else to do.

Our second point is that the good works are work. Would you agree? In Colossians 3:23, another one of my favorite verses, because it's a reminder and a call to me, it's a standard to live by when I am working for the Lord, when I am preparing a lesson to teach, when I am preparing my home for His saints to come and gather in, and visitors who are not a part of our class that were invited and that came.

It was work preparing for that many people. It was work afterwards, but the point of it was what God intended to happen at that fellowship. So do not shy away from God's calling for you because you know it's going to be work. Instead, Jesus tells us through His parables of the servants and different parables He gives us that when we do the work that He has called us to do, we have the opportunity to enter into His joy. I had joy through that process, even though it was work.

The third thing that we see about these good works that God's prepared for you to do is it is God who is at work in you. Friends, that's just so fun to think about. God is at work while He is calling you to particular works for His kingdom. God is the one who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Just say that to yourself: God is working in me.

God is working in you tonight. God is working. So if you think, "Oh, I'm not prone to want to do work," well, God is working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

We need to understand that it's okay from the time of Genesis that we read. God was at work. What day did He rest on? The seventh day. It says He rested from His work. Jesus worked, didn't He? He traveled, He spoke, He fed. He did all of that. He worked on the cross, suffering, until He said, "It is finished, it is complete." So it's okay to work.

As a matter of fact, whereas our society and generation put a high priority on retirement, on not working, on vacation, yes, all those things are good. Jesus rested, He fell asleep in the boat. God created us to sleep, to rest. We are to enter His rest spiritually, but we are also to rest as He teaches us. We don't need to work seven days a week. At the same time, we don't need to shy away from work.

Now, how can I know what works to do? Because here we have all this emphasis on works, and we are told faith was working with works as a result of works, faith was perfected, verse 22. Verse 24, you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. Verse 26, for just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

"What works, Lord, am I to do?" Have you ever wondered that? Yes, we can wonder that, and especially at different transitions or seasons of our life. We can say, "Lord, what work is it You want me to do?"

It may be a season of your life your work is to befriend someone, or your work may be to raise a child, or mentor a person, or caregive to a loved one, or it may be taking a position of service physically at the church. Our work all looks different.

But this word "abide," which is the most important thing that Jesus tells us in John 15, that we have to abide in Him and Him in us in order for fruit to be born out of the things that we do, out of the work that we do, this word abide basically is saying, hang out with Jesus. You don't just show up and meet Him at church and then separate your ways at church like you might a friend that you see at church. "I see Susan at church, but we don't have the opportunity or haven't been hanging out." Well, God wants to do more than see us at church. He wants to hang out with us all throughout the whole week, from the time we wake up.

Did you ever have a little toddler and they just want to be with you the whole time wherever you went? Well, Jesus invites us. He wants to have that kind of a close relationship. How do we do that? We devour the Bible. We devour this scripture. Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Well, how do I taste the Lord? I taste Him in here. This is a recipe for heaven. This is a recipe for eternal life. This is a recipe for joy. This is a recipe for how to manage relationships. Devour the Bible, abide with Him.

Pray about everything, Philippians 4:6 tells us. Pray about everything. I don't understand why so many times I have women come up to me and they say, "Oh, well, I don't feel like I should pray about this." They're women who have been in church for a long time and I'll be at a conference or speaking engagement and they'll say, "Well, I don't want to bother God." And I'm just like, really? Do you think God can't handle your prayer request? That indicates such a minuscule understanding of the unfathomable God.

He tells us pray about everything. So for you to decide that whatever is going on in your heart or your mind or your need is not something you should bother God with, well, you have made a judgment against what He has told us to do.

The second thing that we can know what good works is, Hebrews 5:13-14 tells us very instructively, train your senses. Train your senses. That word "discern" means distinguish between. Have you ever thought, "Is this God or is this just me?" Have you ever thought, "Is this God or is this the devil?" Well, the scripture tells you, train your senses.

Offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God. "God, I don't want to be on the throne of my life. God, just take my body. Lord Jesus, I just want You to live through me. Holy Spirit, I want Your thoughts, I want Your mindset, I want Your emotions. Here is my body, Lord, take me, live through me." And then when some thought comes up and you don't know if that's Him or not, you prayerfully examine it in light of the scripture. Is it in line with His word? Do you sense Him as you felt Him call you to salvation? Do you sense Him leading you in that way? If you do, pay attention to your thoughts. Pay attention to your thoughts.

Right now, we cannot see God and we don't hear Him audibly, but He is able to be seen in heaven and He is audible to our spirits. And so you practice, you go ahead and do that commitment that you feel like the Lord is leading you to do, and if that is the right thing, then you know that was the Lord's voice.

Thirdly, obey Christ's voice. Which when we don't, then we learn from it. Obey Christ's voice. Do what He places on your mind and heart in accordance with His word and will. It is so clear through our study of James 2 that faith without works is of what use? It's dead, it's useless. He repeats: faith with works is useful, alive, perfected, and alive.

We see that God changes a person's heart. That's where we started, that it is more than intellectual belief like the demons have. In Deuteronomy 30:6, it was prophesied that the Lord your God will circumcise your heart so that you may live. The Jews were circumcised in their flesh, so that marked them as a distinct nation. But God prophesied one day you will be circumcised, you will be set apart, you will be made distinct by what happens in your heart.

Paul affirmed this in Romans 2:29 by saying circumcision, a change, an alteration of your heart, like there was an alteration physically of a man when he was circumcised. An alteration of your heart is that which is of the heart by the Spirit. Have you been circumcised in your heart? Have you had a change of heart? Have you asked the Holy Spirit to cut out that rebelliousness against Him so that you would have a heart that was opened to Him?

Now, I'm looking at a room full of women that I know have professed Christ, but I wanted to show you this because you are now going out and you are sharing Christ with others. This is an illustration you may want to use. In my garden, I have these three raised beds. One has no seed in it and you can see there it is barren. Now, the second one in the middle is an example of a Christian who has Christ's seed but is not being watered, is not being filled with the Spirit. Is that second raised bed with wilted lettuce leaves something to be picked and used with other people? No. You don't want me to pick one of those wilted leaves and offer it to you. No, not at all.

If that's us, we have nothing to offer to God, we have nothing to offer another person because we're defeated. We're not vibrant. We're not alive, passionate for the Lord. We can't feed somebody else. We can't do the good works He has called us to do. We're not being, looking, speaking as we are created. But that third raised garden bed, that lettuce, that can be picked, that can be washed, just as we need to be washed of our daily sin, and that can be offered to other people.

God wants us to be that third raised bed. He wants us to be the lettuce leaves, the people, the daughters that He can send, that He can pick to go speak to that person, do that particular work. That's who we want to be. Is that who you want to be? Absolutely. If so, Hebrews 3:7-8 and additional passages in Hebrews in quoting the Old Testament says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart."

Has God in any way spoken to you through the scriptures as you've studied them, as you've shared, as you've heard them tonight? If so, don't harden your heart. Instead, have a responsive heart that becomes enlarged, has a greater capacity to even hear Him more and understand Him more. In James 2, the case for Christ and obeying Him and following Him is very well spoken.

Read aloud with me how James has described—I've gone through and I've pulled up ways that James refers to God. Will you read on the overhead with me? James, the case for Christ: He is the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, the royal King who gives the royal law, the Judge. He is one God. Demons shudder before Him. He is the one who justifies. He is a friend of those who believe and obey. So the question is as we close, how will you respond to Jesus today? Let's pray.

Father, You speak to us through Your word. Now may we not walk away and turn our backs. May we respond face to face to You. In Jesus' name, Amen.