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In other words, if you don’t have works, you don’t have faith. Now we’ll see that as we go along. Now notice, here’s a kind of belief coupled with disobedience: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well…” A lot of people say, “I believe in God.” The truth is, God expects every human on earth to believe that He is Creator. You have done nothing if you say, “I believe in God.” Maybe you’ve taken a step away from atheism. But notice: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils [demons] also believe, and tremble.” Why do they tremble? Because they were disobedient and sinned and were cast down. So here is a kind of empty belief that results in death, not the kind of belief that results in conversion.

Verse 20: “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” Now he talks about Abraham here. And the key is this – there are two instances that are being referred to. The one we covered in John 4 relates to Genesis 15 where God said, “Count the number of stars,” which he couldn’t; he believed God, that was imputed to him for righteousness. This account that James is talking about when God said, “Abraham, you take your son, your only beloved son, and you take him to one of the mountains I will show you, and you offer him for a burnt offering there.” And he believed God, he obeyed God; he took Isaac, he took the wood, he took the coals for the fire, he took a couple of other men to help them go to one of the mountains of Moriah; and there he offered Isaac for the burnt offering. Of course, God provided the ram as a substitutionary sacrifice.

So where it requires works [faith], you believe God, and [where] it requires works, you do what God says. So God told Abraham to “take your son…” He believed Him. And James says: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought [or that is, working together] with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” (James 2:17-22, KJV). So if you believe and don’t have the works and obedience to God which show that belief, you only have half the formula.

Now then, if you only have half of it, how are you ever going to get the whole? Here’s an example: if you have one half of water, which is oxygen, and the other half of water which is hydrogen, separate, you have gases which go off into the atmosphere. And both of them are very flammable. You put them together and have H2O, you have water. Now you’ve got the whole thing, and that puts out fire. So can you imagine that, that God is so absolutely magnificent and profound that He can take two flammable materials, combine them together and have one that puts out fire – water? So likewise, if you don’t have faith and works, your faith is dead. If you have works and have no faith, your works are dead. You have to have both.

Now let’s come back here to John 14, and we will jump ahead to one verse and we will see that when we come to again as we go through this words of the covenant. Now notice this. And again, as we go through, go ahead and circle the “if’s” because the conditions are upon us: “ ‘If you love Me...’ ” Now we know God unconditionally has loved the world, “For God so loved the world…” He’s already shown and expressed His love. Now Jesus says: “ ‘If you love Me, keep the commandments [and I’ve given the correct translation in the Greek] – namely, My commandments’ ” (John 14:15, FV). So if you love God you are going to keep His commandments. The two go hand in hand.

Now since we’re here in John 14 let’s come back to verse 3 where He said: “ ‘…so that where I am, you may be also. And where I am going you know, and the way you know.’ Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going; how then can we know the way?’ ” Then He gives them the answer. And this is one of the very basic, absolute, fundamental belief verses in the whole Bible. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me’ ” (John 14:3-6, FV). And that’s why all other religions hate true Christianity because they must give up theirs in order to get to God.

Now it’s very profound when He says, “I am the way.” There is no other way. This whole thing, which is comforting to the world, “Well, there are many ways to God. We’re all just traveling different paths.” Well no. “The way” can actually also mean the road, the path. He is the way, and the truth. There’s no such thing as truth of Hinduism, or the truth of Mohammadism. We can say it this way – what they call “the truth” of what they believe is only the apparent reality of what they have created. It is not the truth because it rejects Christ. And so in the covenant that we have with God and the words that He spoke of the New Covenant for us, we understand that we are to live the way of God, Christ is the truth, and He is the life. There is no other way. You can’t come around some other way. There are not many doors, there are not many ways, there is one way.

Now let’s see what Jesus said about this in John 10. He makes it very clear. And again, we see over and over again why God does not want to have a hierarchy imposed upon His people. Now let’s notice, John 10. This is a very importance section of Scripture here. Let’s begin right in verse 1: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” If you go any other way, come in through other door it’s a thief and a robber. “But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice...” Now how do you hear the voice of God? How do you hear the voice of Christ? By knowing the Scriptures, by understanding what He is saying. So if someone else comes along and says, “Thus saith the Lord,” and you know the Lord did not “thus saith,” then you know that’s not the voice of Christ. That’s why anyone who is going to be teaching has to teach the Word of God. Any other teaching then is another voice. And we could all take comfort in the fact that none of us created the Word of God. God did. It’s His Word. We hear His voice.

“...And he calleth his own sheep by name...” And God has a new name that He is going to give you at the resurrection. The thing that we need to understand in our faith and our hope and our love toward God is that He knows us, He loves us, He’s called us, He’s chosen us. Calls them all by name: “...and leadeth them out.” So you are to be led by the Holy Spirit of God. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:1-5, KJV). And that’s what happens when churches split. When they’re infiltrated by a stranger and start speaking strange doctrines you say, “I’m out of here.” That’s how God keeps His church pure. Just always remember this: correction always begins with God’s own people. And if God destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and corrects His own church, in our day He has destroyed the Worldwide Church of God, taken away the campuses, the colleges, everything that it owns because it didn’t obey His voice. That’s how profound it is to obey the voice of God. So all the words that we have, all the words that we have learned, everything that we study, we are accountable for to believe, to understand, to act upon, and our relationship with God and each other. They will flee.

Now he says here…it talks about the hireling that flees when the wolf comes, and so forth. Let’s come down to verse 14: “I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep” (verses 14-15). So any time you get discouraged, any time you get down, any time that you worry, any time that you begin to waver in faith (like Peter when he was out there on the water, Christ had to rescue him), remember this – God loves you, God has called you, God cannot lie, God will hear you. He has promised so, if you come to Him in repentance and yieldedness to God.

And when you’re dealing with things that you don’t understand, or things that are coming upon you that are too much for you to bear, you tell God, “I just don’t understand. Help me to understand. Help me to realize, help me to grasp what You want me to learn.” And sometimes that answer won’t come right away. Sometimes it will come later and then it will dawn on you that God has answered that prayer. And God will because He knows you. He has laid His life down for you. So if you get clear down to the bottom of the valley of the shadow of death that you have to walk through, remember this: Christ laid His life down for you, individually and particularly. And God the Father imputes that sacrifice of Jesus Christ to you for the forgiveness of your sins. And consider this: it was not just a man who died – it was God Who became flesh, the Creator Who made you, died for you, to give you eternal life. Now brethren, there can’t be anything greater in anyone’s life than to know that kind of love that God has for you. That’s why when He makes the covenant here He makes it this way.

Now He continues on, verse 16: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might [and it should read ‘receive it back again’] take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power [authority] to lay it down, and I have power [authority] to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (verses 16-18). So what He’s talking about here is this – He is talking about the agreement that He and Christ had. They had a covenant with each other before Christ came in the flesh. And that covenant is expressed right here, that He had authority to lay His life down and authority to receive it back. And this commandment He received from His Father. So when we are brought into this New Covenant of God it brings us into a new standing. It brings us into a new relationship. That’s why Christ said on the Passover night, when He said of the bread, “Take and eat this. This is My body which is broken for you…” and, “Drink of the wine; this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for the remission of the sins of many.”

Now let’s come back to John 14 where we’ve been reading here. So that’s why verse 6 is such a profound verse: “…I am the way, and the life, and the truth, and no one comes to the Father except through Me.” And no one goes to Jesus unless the Father calls them. It works both ways. Let’s see that. Let’s come to John 6. When God truly begins to deal in someone’s life… Now as I mentioned this morning, and it is true, once you come to the knowledge of some truth you must act upon it. Otherwise you will lose it. Because unless you act upon it, it’s of no value. But if you act upon that truth, believe that truth, accept that truth and understand that truth, then God will add more. And then it’s a building process from there. He will add more; He will add more; He will add more. And as He does that, you have to understand that God is the one Who is dealing with you. And of course, He deals through your mind, which He created and gave to you. He deals with the Spirit to lead you.

Now let’s come to John 6:44. So we have, not only can no one come to the Father except through Christ, we also have this: no one can come to Christ except the Father draw him. So it’s a joint decision by both, isn’t it? Now that is a very humbling thought indeed, isn’t it? Now if you have an opportunity to watch any videos or anything showing the universe, I want you to look at those and to understand that God the Father and Jesus Christ, Who have created the universe and everything that there is, and in Their special plan has called you. He didn’t call the mighty, He didn’t call the rich. He didn’t call the intelligent, and He didn’t call the leaders of the world. Because God doesn’t do things the way men do. And we’re the most unlikely group of people to rule the world that you’d ever want to look at. But you see, we’re not going to rule the world as we are. We’re going to rule the world as spirit beings, with a spirit body and a spirit mind.

But know one understands this: “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him...” What compels you to want to understand Word of God? God the Father. Who gives you that desire? And why doesn’t someone else down the street, or your neighbor next door to you, or, yea, even your husband or your wife may not have that same desire? Because there is a special spiritual something that has taken place. There is a special action of God the Father, the Sovereign ruler of the universe, has done something in your life. He has begun to draw you. And He says: “...and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God.”

Now how is it that you understand anything of the Word of God? You’re taught of God the Father through the Spirit. You can read the words, but why do those words have the impression upon you that they do not, say, on someone who God is not dealing with? Because they are not being taught of God. Now there need to be teachers in the church, but what should they do? They should teach the words of God so that you are what? You are taught of God. That’s why when you read and study the Bible and you go along and all of a sudden you know, you have a spiritual understanding and a spiritual connection with the words of God, what is said and whatever you are reading or studying, and you get a tremendous value out of it, that is the Father teaching you through His word. Now that’s something. “Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me” (John 6:44-45, KJV). That’s quite a spiritual operation. Then He calls you into covenant. Isn’t that something?

Let’s come back here to John 14, and see if we can make little progress here. John 14:7 (FV): “ ‘If you had known Me...’ ” Now they were with Him three and half years and they still didn’t know Christ. Of course He’s talking to Thomas here, isn’t He? “Doubting” Thomas. “ ‘If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. But from this time forward, you know Him and have seen Him.’ Phillip said to Him...” Now Phillip was one of the first ones to see Christ, because Philip was one of the disciples of John. So the apostle Phillip said to Him: “ ‘Lord, show us the Father, and that will be sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long a time, and you have not known Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; why then do you say, “Show us the Father?” ’ ”

Now we’ve got a very interesting little four page article called 90 Facts About God. So if you don’t have it you can write for it. Because as I mentioned, the very first thing they try and do when they have false prophets and false doctrines is they change the nature of God. And to believe in God the Father Who has bodily form is anathema to Christians in this world. But when you read the Bible you find God has a head, He has a face, He has eyes, He has a nose, He has a mouth, He has hands, He has feet, He has a body. And if you’ve seen Christ – now was Christ there in a body? Did He have a body? Yes, He did. He looked just like His Father. So, “If you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father.”

Now besides, have you ever – I did a sermon, “Is Your God a Glob?” when they began to change the doctrine within the Worldwide Church of God, where it says, “Well, God doesn’t need ears, and God doesn’t need hands, and God doesn’t need a nose. God is everywhere and in everything.” Well that’s pantheism, “God is in everything.” That’s not the way God is. God is a personal being. You can’t have love with a glob, can you? Now if you’ve got a great big huge pillow at home, just grab it and see if you can have a relationship with it. No you can’t. It’s just a glob. We’re made in the image of God so that we can become like He is. That’s the whole plan and the whole purpose. So when He said, “If you’ve see Me you’ve seen the Father.” Then He goes on to say: “ ‘…Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from My own self; but the Father Himself, Who dwells in Me, does the works’ ” (John 14:7-10, FV). And these are the kind of works that we need to have that are inspired of God.

Let’s see how Jesus fulfilled the will of God. Let’s come back to John 5:19 here for just a minute: “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” Jesus did the will of God the way God wanted the will of God done. Now that also sets us an example of how we need to fulfill the will of God, correct? Yes. “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel” (John 5:19-20 KJV). Then He talks about the resurrection.

Now come down here to verse 30: “I can of Mine own self do nothing...” That didn’t mean He was not capable of doing something. Every human being is capable of doing something on their own, aren’t they? Yes. But this means that He did nothing from Himself. In other words, whatever He did, did not come from Him as a human being, but it was inspired and motivated and according to the commandments of God. So He says, “...as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.” And the will of the Father is that we enter into the kingdom of God. That’s how Jesus did it.

So when He said, “I don’t speak of My own; I don’t speak My own words, but it’s the Father Who dwells in Me, He does the works.” Come over here to John 12. Let’s pick it up here beginning in verse 42: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on Him...” Now then here comes a little bit of politics mixed in with belief: “...but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue [they didn’t want to lose their standing]: for their loved the praise of men more than the praise [love] of God.” Now there are a lot of people that are that way. That’s why we have a very unique thing with those who are truly converted and have the Spirit of God. Number one, they must stand on their own two feet before God alone. Number two, when we assemble together and love each other it’s because we love God the Father first. And that being the relationship that we have with God the Father and Jesus Christ, then we ought to love one another even that much more when we come together. That’s why God does not like politics within His church.

Now notice, Jesus made it even more clear, verse 44: “Jesus cried [that means He spoke out loud] and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me.” So your true belief, you believe in Christ, that’s in the Father. “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me [again, there it is “into”] should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” So isn’t that a profound judgment? Those who come along and reject the words of Christ, those are the very words that are going to judge them. Likewise, if you believe the words of God, and you love God, and you have faith in God, then the very words that God has spoken that He gives you eternal life will come to pass. Tremendous thing.

Now again, verse 49: “For I have not spoken of Myself: but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak” (John 12:42-44, 49, KJV). So the bottom line is this: if anyone rejects Jesus Christ, they’re rejecting God the Father.

Now let’s come back here to John 14:11. Now there’s another way that He told the apostles to believe. He says: “ ‘Believe Me...’ ” Now look, we’ve got verse 1, we have it twice; verse 10 once; verse 11 twice; verse 12, again. So you might want to circle those and draw those all together there. “ ‘Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves.’ ” All the works that He did – the healings, the raising from the dead, the preaching of the Gospel, the feeding of the 4,000, the feeding of the 5,000 and all of that. And He’s talking to His apostles that very night. And these words are recorded so that we can have them as the words of the New Covenant by which then we live. And He says: “ ‘Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me shall also do the works that I do; and greater works than these shall he do, because I am going to the Father’ ” (John 14:11-12, FV).

Now let’s look and see some of the greater works that were being done after He ascended to the Father and they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Let’s come to Acts 5. Here’s a summary of it. And we have never seen the demonstration like this with an outpouring of the Spirit of God. And remember that it was to the Jew first, because God promised. Acts 5:12, “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. And the rest durst [dared] no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)” They literally turned Jerusalem upside down. And if you think that Paul caused a riot every time he went into a synagogue, they totally destroyed the power base of the scribes and Pharisees and priests, and everything.

“Insomuch [now notice this] that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them [and that is, be healed]. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.” Now notice the reaction: “Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,)...” and ran out and were baptized and believed! “...And they were filled with indignation.” Because there were losing their power base. They were losing their authority. “…And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.”

And I always like this one. This is a great section here: “But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.” So they opened the door and they weren’t there. “But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told, saying, [Now we know] the prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within.”

“Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.” So right when they were thinking on this here comes one running in breathlessly and said: “...Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people” (Acts 5:12-25, KJV). So they did greater works, didn’t they? Yes, they did. And I tell you, brethren, those greater works will return to the church at the end again when God is ready and determined to do them. Now one thing, let me tell you, you don’t have to worry about persecution coming upon you. It’s going to come. Be ready. How it will come, we don’t know. When it will come, we don’t know. But we should not do as others do and play politics if it comes. We do need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But when it comes to stand for Jesus and the truth, that we are to do regardless of the cost. And we will see that all little later.

Let’s come back to John 14 and bring it down to verse 15 where we were, and then we’ll end it there. Let’s read verse 12 again: “ ‘Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me shall also do the works that I do; and greater works than these shall he do, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you shall ask in My name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’ ” Now we’ll cover that again next time, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” You can just put right in the margin there, it must be according to the will of God. So that’s something we can claim. That’s a promise we can claim. God said He would; of course, it needs to be according to His will.

Not every prayer we pray is an automatic “yes.” Many of them are “no.” Some of them are “yes, but...” However, when you go back and you really examine it you will find that all the prayers that you really pray and have prayed in faith – now some of our prayers are our own self and kind of in vanity and things like that, because that’s the way we are as human beings. Those things enter into it. But what we really ask in faith, you go back and see; all those prayers were answered, weren’t they? The very prayer that you prayed the first time that there was heresy that you came across and said, “Oh God, what will I do?” That prayer has been answered over and over again, and you are here this day. That’s part of the answer of that prayer.

So we will close by just saying, God has called you, God loves you, God cares for you, watches over you; you stand in the grace of God; He answers your prayers, and wants to give you eternal life. And that’s what the covenant is all about.

Passover Preparation  # 1

Scriptural References

1. Genesis 15:4-6, 8-10, 12-18

2. Exodus 12:40-41

3. Romans 4:17-25

4. Romans 5:1-5

5. John 14:1-3

6. John 5:39-47

7. John 3:16

8. John 5:17-18

9. John 6:26-29

10. Matthew 7:21-23

11. John 2:23-25

12. James 2:17-22

13. John 14:15

14. John 14:3-6

15. John 10:1-5, 14-18

16. John 6:44-45

17. John 14:7-10

18. John 5:19-20, 30

19. John 12:42-44, 49

20. John 14:11-12

21. Acts 5:12-25

22. John 14:12-13

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