WHO Sees Our Internal Motivation of What We Do & Don’t Do?
“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
(The Letter of James 2: 24 NASB)
Since Almighty God—the Giver of Biological Life—
- Gifts us with our next breath, then WHO has the authority to take away our next breath?
Since Jehovah God—the Giver of Eternal Life—
- Gifts us with His Salvation through His Son Jesus, then WHO sees us when we lie about the way we who believe in HIM are called to do His will?
“work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
(The Letter of Paul to the Philippians 2: 12b-13 NASB)
for it is God who is at work in you,
both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
There are many passages within the Holy Scripture about the “works” we do and how we can judge another person’s faith ‘by the “works” we see him do for God’s kingdom.’
TRULY, THIS IS THE TRUTH OF GOD!
Now, it is true that many so-called religions say that one’s “works” will get them to heaven, that they will work hard here on earth, hoping that if they live a ‘good-enough’ life & ‘do enough’ while they live, then Almighty Jehovah God will welcome them into Paradise.
TRULY, THIS IS A FALLACY—INCORRECT—A LIE WE TELL OURSELVES—PURE HERESY!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith;
(The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 2: 8-10 NASB)
and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works,
so that no one may boast.
For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand
so that we would walk in them.”
As a student of God’s Word, it brings us such comfort to see evidence found within the pages of the Bible where God’s children demonstrated how they were led by God to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling; . . .”
A first powerful evidence we have is found within the father of nations—Abraham.
- Abram had disobeyed God years earlier ‘with the conception of another son, Ishmael’—
BUT GOD USED HIM IN A MIGHTY WAY!
- God instructed his child Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac upon the altar.
- Abraham did not understand why God would ask him to do such a thing; nevertheless, Abraham did it anyway.
“Then they came to the place of which God had told him;
(Genesis 22: 9-10 NASB)
and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood,
and bound his son Isaac
and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.”
We know & most often focus upon what occurs next.
- The angel of the LORD calls out & stops Abraham from actually slaying his son Isaac.
- God provides the sacrificial lamb.
- The angel of the LORD then assures Abraham that his seed would become as numerous as the stars in the night sky and the sand upon the seashore.
We see God’s provision.
However, what we often fail to recognize, to focus upon, is how Abraham displayed—
OBEDIENCE TO THE WORK GOD CALLED ABRAHAM TO DO!
“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
(Genesis 22: 18 NASB)
When we are led by God’s Holy Spirit to do His work—
WHO Sees Our Internal Motivation of What We Do & Don’t Do?
Another powerful evidence we have is found within the woman—Rahab.
- Rahab was known throughout the city as the ‘woman of the night, as a harlot.’—
BUT GOD USED HER IN A MIGHTY WAY!
- God instructed his servant Joshua to send two spies into the walled city of Jericho.
- Rahab, the one known for her harlotry, hid the two spies sent by Joshua.
- Rahab did not realize at first that she was housing two enemies to her people, those who lived inside the walled city of Jericho.
“So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets;
(The Book of Joshua 6: 20-24 NASB)
and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet,
the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat,
so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead,
and they took the city.
They utterly destroyed everything in the city,
both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey,
with the edge of the sword.
Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land,
“Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.”
So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had;
they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel.
They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it.
Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron,
they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.”
- Rahab did not understand why she was chosen to serve Jehovah God in such a way; nevertheless, Rahab did it anyway.
We see God’s provision.
However, what we often fail to recognize, to focus upon, is how Rahab displayed—
OBEDIENCE TO THE WORK GOD CALLED RAHAB TO DO!
“However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all that she had,
(The Book of Joshua 6: 25 NASB)
Joshua spared;
and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day,
for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”
When we are led by God’s Holy Spirit to do His work—
WHO Sees Our Internal Motivation of What We Do & Don’t Do?
It can EASILY be said that—
- both Abraham (formerly known as Abram) &
- Rahab (whose name is listed in the lineage of Jesus) were both—
REAL INDIVIDUALS, SINFUL INDIVIDUALS—JUST LIKE US—
BUT GOD USED THEM BOTH TO SHOW THEIR FAITH & THEIR WORKS!
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
(The Letter of James 2: 21-25 NASB)
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 messengers and sent them out by another way?”
Almighty Jehovah God calls us to ‘Live Out’ the gift of our salvation.
We can judge another person’s faith ‘by the “works” we see him do for God’s kingdom,’ by the “fruit” we see him bear.
Today, may we each ask ourselves these two pressing questions—
- Does my response to the ‘works’ God’s Holy Spirit leads me to do & my obedience to the Father’s will REVEAL to the world how God has transformed me through His Gift of His Salvation?
- WHO Sees Our Internal Motivation of What We Do & Don’t Do?
“For just as the body without the spirit is dead,
(The Letter of James 2: 26 NASB)
so also faith without works is dead.”