Faith without works is dead: Works of faith always follow after righteousness by faith.

Have you ever had to sit and listen to church sermons with the theme: "Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac and you cannot even sacrifice blah blah blah. I sowed my car and got a jet. What is your own Isaac today? Give it to God and He will bless you! Etc." Christ is usually absent from such equations.

As believers in Christ, having the Lord Jesus Christ as our Righteousness and Strength, works of faith always follow after our being set right with God because we believe, just like Abraham. We don't have to try to do them by our own strength (we have none) any more than Abraham and Sarah had to strive to conceive and give birth to Isaac. Human effort did not produce Isaac. Christ does it all so we can't boast about it.

Galatians 3:10 says "But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”"

Those who try to obey the law and do good things to "prove their faith" and be justified have to obey ALL the commands. No one can. Romans 3:20 says: "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands..."A branch can try to bear fruit by itself all it wants but it cannot by itself bear fruit. We bear much fruit because we abide in Christ the True Vine. He does it all.

Those who try to twist "faith without works is dead" to entrap believers into doing works of the law to prove their faith (and thus come under the curse according to Galatians 3:10) will never tell you about Abraham's walk before the Lord and how he got to do the work of faith of offering Isaac that is used as an example today. About 40 years passed between this time and when God declared him righteous. God was dealing with Abraham all those years, but some "men of God" will condemn a child for not growing a beard like his father on the day he is born (born-again.)

See how believers get to do "faith works" in the account of the life of Abraham who was justified (declared righteous) by the Lord long before Isaac was born. At least 4 decades passed between this time of his being declared righteous and when he did the faith work of offering a grown Isaac on the altar at Mt. Moriah.

See why the Lord declared him righteous in Genesis 15:6 - "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." See the MSG: "And he believed! Believed God! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.”"

Between the time that Abraham was called by the Lord and when he offered Isaac (work of faith,) Abraham lied that Sarah was not his wife (twice) to save his own life - once to a Pharaoh in Egypt before the Lord changed his name and Sarah’s (Genesis 12) and the Lord plagued Pharaoh's house because of Sarai.

The second time was after the Lord declared him righteous, in a place called Gerar (Genesis 20.) And look what happened to Abimelech of Gerar after he took Sarah, a picture of grace (Galatians 4,) in Genesis 20:-

"3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”

4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”

6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

To the world, it would seem like the Lord rebuked the wrong man here! The world would expect the harsh reprimand to be directed at Abraham since he deceived Abimelech. But notice what the Lord said of him in verse 7-

"Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live."

Abraham, the same man who tried to save his own neck by lying and was still sustaining the lie at the time of this dream, the Lord described him as "a prophet" that will pray for Abimelech to live! Even with his lie, Abraham prayed for Abimelech and God answered, but false teachers will tell you that God will not answer you unless you do certain things in order to get right with Him.

God hates sin. Lying is a sin. Many in the church today would say to Abraham had they been present at the time: "Where is your faith?" or "And you call yourself a child of God yet you lied." But Abraham never lost his status of justification/righteousness before God because he did nothing to earn it to begin with, as you and I in Christ can never lose our right-standing that Christ died for us to have.

In fact, the Lord was a terror to those who put fear in Abraham! What do we see here? God's goodness shown to us even in our multitude of failures and many messes makes us trust in Him/transforms us so much that we can't but let go of our fears and common sense and rely wholly on Him for our salvation: It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. See Romans 2:4 - "Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?"

See the NIRV: "Do you disrespect God’s great kindness and favor? Do you disrespect God when He is patient with you? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is meant to turn you away from your sins?"

Bear in mind that repentance towards God is not beating your breast, doing restitution and promising God that you will not sin again, a promise that no man can keep. This is a Judas kind of repentance. It leads to death. See the Parable of the Lost Sheep for the definition of repentance towards God. The sheep repented, but notice that the sheep did nothing but allow itself to be carried by the Shepherd after it got lost. In this parable, we see that repentance towards God involves consenting to be saved and carried home by our Saviour Jesus. It is a gift.

Also, as beautiful as Sarah was, Abimelech could not touch her. See the word of the Lord to Abimelech concerning Sarah: "For I also withheld you from sinning against Me;" Sarah here is a picture of grace. The world can never defile you when you are under Grace:) See Romans 6:14.

Before Abraham was going to offer Isaac also, he helped himself get an heir through Hagar, even after the Lord had promised him an heir. The result was Ishmael who was born "according to the flesh." See this in Galatians 4-

"21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic."

Walking according to the flesh is simply trying to bear fruit to God by human effort but many interpret this as sinning. There might be fruit, but like Ishmael, it is never according to God's will. This is the result of the effort of those who try to get right with God by doing works the law and doing good things to "prove their faith" because they do not understand the verse "faith without works is dead." There is no inheritance of the promise here.

In Christ, we are like Isaac, children of the promise, born not through human effort (according to the flesh) but born according to the Spirit; we are not trying to become or remain children of God by obeying the law but, because we are children of God, we get to live a life of moral excellence that goes beyond the demands of the law, yet not us but Christ in us.

See Galatians 4 - "28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now."

You'll find that the biggest persecutors of the gospel of Grace (the only gospel there is) are those who desire to be under the law of Moses because it gives them something to boast about.

Many of those who are using "faith without works is dead" as an excuse for believers to go back to depending on the Ten Commandments for godliness and doing good things in order to prove their faith and be “Set-Right-with-God” would have condemned Abraham in the times when he slept with Hagar to produce Ishmael according to the flesh and when he lied about Sarah to save his own neck, but the Lord was transforming Abraham into the man of faith that we know him to be today, working in Abraham both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Abraham was justified before God, but not by works. Works can never justify anyone before God. He was justified by faith, because he believed God. He has nothing to boast about here. See Romans 4:

"1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”"

Whatever works Abraham did, they did not justify him (make him righteous) in God's sight. He was justified (made righteous) because he believed God. Romans 3:20 says: "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

A man cannot be justified by works in the sight of God. Now the verses that many misinterpret: James 2:

20 "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only."

Justification by works is justification before man, not before God. The one who is made righteous by believing Jesus cannot but produce faith works that man will see and justify him by. Abraham walked with God for several years and made mistakes, but the Lord always saw him as righteous because this righteousness is a gift. He had failed so many times but God never gave up on him. God saved him and brought him out of every test and trial, even where he failed - 1 Corinthians 10:13 in action:

"We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

And we see the result of Abraham's being “Set-Right-with-God” and God's faithfulness in his life in his willingness to offer Isaac at Mt. Moriah. These are works of faith, not works of the law. We do them not to get right with God or make it to heaven but because "it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me." Like Abraham, in Christ, we stand justified before God not because of our works but because we believe in Jesus Christ.

Believers, faith without works is dead. But what works are you doing? Are they works of the law that are done by human effort to get right with God and which lead to death (Romans 7:5) or works of faith done through the power of Christ in believers? The law is not of faith. You know the difference between works of law and works of the faith because you are unable to take credit for or boast about faith works. Christ does it all. See Ephesians 2:8-9:

"God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."

Be wary of "men of God" who boast about how their law-keeping, various fasts, good works, dowdy clothes and religious tithe payment are what make God bless them/heaven-bound. These ones take credit and boast in their own effort (ability to obey the law) and not in Christ. This is not grace (undeserved, unmerited, unearned favour.) There is no Jesus saving in their equation. They are their own saviour. Believers, let's not be found here.

The law is not of faith. When you go to Christ in faith aka empty of all "menstrual rag" works of the law and good deeds done to prove your faith or get right with God, looking to Him alone for salvation from whatever bugs you, He constantly fills you up to overflowing with the abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness so much that with what is constantly spilling over, you can't help but live right and "produce a harvest of good deeds for God." (Romans 7:4) These are works of faith.

Christ does it all. His righteousness is a gift to be received (Romans 5:17) and not a product of good works or law-keeping. With God's gift of righteousness, we get to live right and do faith works.

Also see Romans 3: 26"...and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

Believing Jesus is to believe that God has made you righteous forever, not because you obeyed the law but because of Christ's obedience, "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19.