Ron Dunn Podcast - How To Complete Your Faith

Episode Date: August 23, 2017

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. Now we open the Bible to the book of James, chapter 2. The book of James, chapter 2, and I'm going to begin reading with verse 14 and read through verse 26. James, the second chapter, beginning with the 14th verse and reading through the end of the chapter, verse 26.

What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not worked? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit, even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone? 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. Thou believest that there is one God,

thou doest well. The demons also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O 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? 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. You see then how that by work a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by work 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 work is dead also. Now let me read again two verses, verses 22 and 23, speaking of Abraham.

Seest thou how faith walked with his works, and by faith, by works, was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. A key word is the word imputed, which means to credit somebody's account. That's what faith is. That's what faith does. Faith is the standard of exchange in the kingdom of God. Faith is our spending money as God's children. Faith is the coin of the realm. And the Bible in this verse and in Galatians 4 and Romans 4 makes it very clear that I can bring my faith to God and God will take that faith and will exchange it for whatever commodity is needed at that time in my life. That God takes my faith and with that faith then credits my account with something else.

For instance, Abraham needed righteousness. He needed a right standing before God. He needed to be able to stand in the presence of God and know that everything between he and his creator was right. Now, how was Abraham to have this credited to his account? When God looked up his account, he didn't see any righteousness there. He saw nothing that would cause Abraham to have a right relationship with him. How was Abraham then to have that credited to his account?

Well, on a certain day, Abraham believed God. Abraham brought his faith to God, and God took that faith and exchanged it for righteousness and put down on his account righteousness credited to the account of Abraham. That's what faith is. And if a person knows how to believe God, he can come to God with whatever need he has, spiritual, material, financial, emotional, and put that faith to God, and God will exchange that faith for that commodity that he needs and will credit his account to that thing. You find this in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11.

That's a precious chapter, but where it really begins to sail is beginning in verse 32, when the fellow's running out of time and running out of paper, and he doesn't have the time nor the space to list everything that faith accomplished, and so he just takes everything that he can think of and piles it on top. In verse 32 he says, What shall I more say, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets. Now, guess this. Who through faith subdued kingdoms. Here was a fellow one day that needed to subdue a kingdom. And he said, Lord, I don't have anything with which to subdue a kingdom. I don't have any money to buy a kingdom. And he said, Lord, all I have is faith. And the Lord said, that's exactly what I'll sell

your subdued kingdom for. And this fellow brought to God his faith, and God credited his account with a subdued kingdom. Now, that's paraphrased translation. You have to use your imagination here. Notice he says that they wrought righteousness. Abraham, they obtained promises. Here's a fellow that had a promise. There was a promise he needed to obtain. Now, you know, there's a difference in having the promise in the book and in having it in your heart, obtaining it. And a fellow said one day, there's a promise that God has made,

and I need to obtain that, but I don't have the buying power. I just want to spend cash, and I don't have the buying power to obtain a promise. He said, Lord, all I have is faith. God said, that's what I'm selling it for today. You can obtain any promise in the book for the price of faith. And this fellow brought faith to God, and God exchanged that for an obtained promise. What promise would you like to obtain today? God has a special on today, going for a special price that any promise in this book can be obtained for the price of believing. And he goes on and says, stop the mouths of lions. I guess he's talking about Daniel.

Daniel said, Lord, I need some lion muscles. And all of this came on me so quick, I didn't have time to stop by the pet store and buy any muzzles for these lions and if you don't give me some lion muzzles I'm going to vanish in just a moment and Lord all I have is which to buy muzzles for these lions of faith

and God said you have to use your imagination God said that's exactly what I'll sell you a lion muzzle for and Daniel brought his faith and exchanged that faith for You have to use your imagination. God said, that's exactly what I'll sell you a lion muzzle for. And Daniel brought his faith and exchanged that faith for a lion muzzle. That's what he said. He stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire.

I suppose that's the three Hebrew children. How were they able to quench the violence of fire? With faith. Escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong. Wax, bally and fight. Turn to fight the armies of aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again.

Now get this, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. They could have had deliverance. They had the price of deliverance. Faith, but they didn't want to accept it. They were willing to die. Why? That they might obtain a better resurrection. Now that's what faith is. That's the marvelous coin of the realm

that God has placed in the hand, in the life of the simplest believer. And he says, whatever you need from me in my treasure house, whatever you need, you can move into heaven's treasure house with unlimited buying power with faith. Abraham believed God, and God credited that faith to Abraham for righteousness.

Now, the only thing wrong with all that I've said is that it doesn't work for a great many of us. Now, the only thing wrong with all that I've said is that it doesn't work, or great many of us. And one of the most frustrating, disillusioning, and discouraging things that happens in the life of a believer is to realize the power and the potential of faith, to realize that all man has to do is to bring his believing to God, and God can translate that into whatever is needed in his life. And so the fellow follows the formula, pushes all the right buttons,

turns all the right knobs, pulls all the right levers, and he comes up short, and it doesn't work, and it doesn't happen. I'd be interested to know this morning, has this failed in your life ever? Have you ever come to God and you've had his word on something? You've known that this was the will of God and you've brought that promise to God, but yet God has not exchanged your faith

for what you needed? I think that's been the experience of all of us. But you know, there's a little verse there that so many of us have overlooked, and it's that 22nd verse. He says, Seeest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works, now get this,

was faith made perfect? Did you know that no one of us this morning has perfect faith? But rather that faith that we have must be made perfect. The word perfect means to bring to completion or to arrive at its goal. As a matter of fact, I believe it is the Beck translation that translates it this way, that when faith arrives at its goal, you see, a lot of our faith never arrives at its goal. It never does what it was sent out to do. Now, Abraham's goal was a righteous standing before God, and his faith reached the goal

and accomplished what it was sent out to do. Many of us have faith, but it never reaches its goal. It never brings to completion. It never obtains the thing that we want to obtain with it. And one of the greatest teachings in all the Word of God is this teaching right here, that your faith and my faith must be perfected that it must be completed in order for it to arrive at its goal and to accomplish what God intended it to accomplish now I want to

share with you this morning the biblical teaching in this passage of how you can complete your faith and how your faith can arrive at its intended goal and perhaps you've been believing God today for something and maybe you've been believing him for a long time but it has never arrived at its goal and you have had one disappointment after another all right how then is faith made perfect? It's so clear in that 22nd verse. Seest thou how faith broke with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? How, if my faith completed, what do I do that makes my faith reach its goal and accomplish

its purpose? It is made perfect, it is completed by works. By works. Now, don't let that throw you. You say, I thought faith and works were like oil and water. You couldn't mix them. In a sense, that's true, and in a sense, that is not true. Some people came to Jesus one day and they said,

tell us what we have to do to work the works of God. Jesus said, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. Hebrews chapter 4 says, he that has entered into rest, and the word rest is a synonym for belief, he that is entered into the land of belief has ceased from his own works. He hasn't ceased from working. He's ceased from his own works.

But he does the works of God. And your faith must be perfected and completed by works. By works. I went through the 11th chapter of Hebrews again, and I noticed that every time one of these heroes of faith is mentioned, it mentions something they, what, did. Look at verse 4, Hebrews 11.

Just listen as I read it. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. By faith, it doesn't say by faith he sat down and did nothing. Faith is not an emotion. Faith is not passive. Faith is not sitting around with your arms folded saying, all right, God, it's all up to you. You do it. Now, it is all up to him, and he does do it, but not with you sitting around with your hands folded. By faith, Abel offered up. He did something. Look at verse 7. By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen, is yet moved with fear. He was moved. He didn't just sit there. He was moved. Prepared an ark. By faith, Abraham went out, not knowing whether he went. By faith, he sojourned. Through faith,

Sarah received strength, and on and on. Every time they had faith, that faith was perfected by works. Now, there are two kinds of works that are necessary for completing our faith is completed by cooperating works, by works that cooperate with our faith. These works are not opposite, contrary to faith, but they are the issue of faith. They are the result of faith. What is faith? Faith is acting upon the Word of God.

Faith is acting upon the Word of God. And if you can ever understand that, you will know exactly what I'm talking about this morning. That with faith, there must be a work that cooperates with that faith. Phillips translates it like this, so you see that his works were partners with his faith. I like that. There was a partnership, and faith was the main partner, and out of that faith grew a work. You know, faith is something that many of us do not understand. In the book of Hebrews, in the third chapter, the apostle is talking about Israel's failure to enter into victory. And he says in verse 18 of that third chapter that they who did not enter in,

they did not enter in because they were disobedient. Now, in the English translation, it's translated they did not believe, but the Greek word is they did not obey. And in the very next verse, the 19th verse, he says, so then you see that they did not obey. And in the very next verse, 19th verse, he says, so then you see that they could not enter in because of unbelief, and there it is the word of unbelief. You see, in verse 18, he says they couldn't enter in because they didn't obey. In verse 19, he says they didn't enter in because they didn't believe. Well, now, why didn't he

make up his mind? Which was it? They didn't believe or they didn't obey. It was both. Because faith is obedience. And I've said it before, and I've said it again at this point, that you only believe as much of this Bible as you are obeying. And if I were to ask each one of you individually this morning, do you believe this book? You'd say, amen, praise the Lord. I believe it from kibber to kibber.

I believe from Genesis to Revelation. I even believe the binding is inspired because it says Holy Bible. I believe that book all the way through. But I have something to say to you that you only believe as much as you're obeying. And that part of this book which you are not obeying, you don't believe.

Because believing isn't sitting around having an intellectual opinion about something. Believing is acting, doing something about it. It is being a doer of the Word. And Jesus says a man that hears the Word and doesn't do anything about it is a fool. And James says he is self-deceived. You see, you deceive yourself. You think you believe it, but you don't believe it. You know, there's a very disturbing verse over in John chapter 14.

I think I'll just read it. No use me being the only one disturbed about it. Let you get in on it. In John chapter 14, there's a very disturbing verse. It's verse 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them. Now, we all have his commandments, but keeping them is something else. He that hath my commandments and keeps them, obeys them.

He it is that loveth me. Well, I thought love was sentimental gooeyness and sitting around with a pious smile on our face and lifting up our hands and saying how I love Jesus. That's not love. That may be an expression of love. You what love is love is obedience and I tell you something if you are not being obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ and the commandments of this book you don't love him no matter what you say and you only believe as

much of this book today as you are obeying. And if there's any commandment here that you're not obeying, you just don't believe it. You don't have faith. Now, when was Abraham's faith credited to his account for righteousness?

Notice in that second chapter, it says in verse 21, Was not Abraham our father justified by works? When was he justified? When did God write down in his account justified? When he offered up Isaac. Not before. He wasn't justified when he was riding on those donkeys to the place of execution.

He wasn't justified when he left those dockies and told those servants, the lad and I will come again. That didn't justify him. He was believing, but his faith hadn't reached its goal. God hadn't put it down on his account. He was not even justified as he was walking up the mountain with Isaac bringing up the firewood. Now, he was believing God, but God had not yet taken that faith and exchanged it for righteousness. It had not yet been credited to his account. When was it?

When Abraham's works cooperated with what he believed. You see, many of us deny what we believe by what we do. Instead of our works confirming our faith, they contradict our faith. This morning I was talking about the keys to financial freedom. We've been talking about it the last two Sundays in this special Sunday school class. And you know, there are a great many of us that believe that God is able to take care of us financially and that he will meet our needs.

But when the offering plate is passed and you just put in a dime, that work of yours has contradicted what you believe. That work has not cooperated with your faith. And so first of all, there is a work that issues from that faith that will cooperate with it. I hear people sit around and say, Man, I believe God's going to save so many souls this week in this revival. And they say, I believe in God for that. and they sit down and they don't do a thing about it.

And I want you to know that's not the way to win people to Jesus, just sitting around believing God's going to do it. You know, one of the basic laws of Scripture is you can't have a harvest unless you sow. And if a man really believes that God is going to save some people, you see, that inspires him and encourages him to go out and witness. Why? Because now he has assurance his witnessing is not going to be fruitful. But his works have to cooperate with what he believes.

All right, now not only must there be cooperating works, and this is very important, there must be corresponding works. Now, by that, well, Phillips translates it like this. His faith had corresponding actions. Three times Phillips translates it like that. His faith had corresponding actions. Now, what do I mean by that? In other words, the work that

you do must be relevant to what you're believing. Now, he uses an illustration here of a fellow walking along, and he sees somebody that needs clothes and needs food. Now, he believes that he can speak the word of faith, and God will clothe him, and God will feed him. And so he says, God bless you, be you you warmed and filled he spoke a word of faith if he were to put in our language of today he'd say friend just trust god just believe god and god will provide but he himself does nothing about it now he believes that this man is going to be warmed and filled or he wouldn't have said that he really it. But he hasn't worked. Well, he heard the first point of the sermon. He said, okay, works need to cooperate with faith. So he goes out here and starts chopping

down trees. And I come up to him. I said, what are you doing? He said, I'm warming that fellow over there that's cold, and I'm feeding him who's hungry, and I'm clothing him who's naked. I said, is that right? He said, that's right. How are you doing that? He said, I'm chopping down trees. I'm working. Faith without works is dead. I have faith that he's going to be warmed and clothed and fed, and so now I'm working.

I'm chopping down trees. I tell you something, he can chop down trees all day long, but that fellow's not going to be warmed and fed and clothed. See, his works must correspond to his faith. Now listen, with every act of faith faith there is a corresponding act of work all right what is the corresponding act that this fellow ought to do that corresponds with his faith all right he believes that this fellow is going to be closed what's the work he ought to do he ought to clothing that's. He ought to take out of his own pocket and give to this man what he needs.

And when he does that, God takes that man's faith and he credits it to this man for abundance and whatever this man gives away, God will give it back to him in abundance. Because his faith has had not only a cooperating work, it has had a corresponding work. And every belief has with it a corresponding work.

Here's a fellow that wants to quit smoking. Now, he believes that God can keep him, can deliver him from smoking. I'm just using this as an illustration. And he believes that God can deliver him from this. And so he sits back there and he says, I believe God, I believe God, but he doesn't tell anybody about it, doesn't say anything, doesn't do anything about it. He just believes in God. And he goes home and takes out that package of pell mills and sticks them in the desk drawer, doesn't throw them away, just in case, you know, he might backslide. And so after a few days, he just can't take any more breaks out in a cold sweat

and has DTs and withdrawal pains. Well, he hasn't told anybody about what he did, and so he can go back to smoking. Nobody knows. Now, what's wrong with his faith? His faith did not have any works that cooperated with it and corresponded to it. But I've seen men who

smoke for 20 and 30 years, three packs a day, four packs a day, walk down in a service and say, Pastor, people, God has delivered me from nicotine. Take out that pack of cigarettes, put it down there, here they are, I'm not smoking anymore. God has delivered me. Faith is the victory. If I believe I have victory, I have victory. I believe. Now, what's he done? He has believed and his work has been perfected. Rather, his faith has been perfected by his work.

Here's a woman that has a lost husband. And she says, I believe God is going to save this lost husband. Now, that's her faith. Now, what is her corresponding act? You find it in 1 Peter chapter 3. Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word,

they can without a word be won while they behold the chaste conversation of the wife. Here is a wife who says, I believe God's going to save my husband. I'm believing, I'm believing, I'm believing. But she fails to do two things. Number one, she fails to submit to him as God has commanded her.

Number two, she fails to live before him a pure and holy life. Therefore, her faith is not made perfect. She can sit up here and believe God until kingdom come, and he'll never be saved because her faith will not reach its goal until there's a corresponding and a cooperating work. Here's a man who believes God can save him. He's lost. He needs God to do a miracle of salvation in his life.

He can stand back there this morning during the invitation and believe all he wants to, but he'll never be saved until that believing issues in a word, and he acts upon it, and he has a corresponding word, which is to publicly confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You see, it says, if thou shalt confess, do something. See?

With thy mouth, Jesus is Lord, and at the same time, believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made, something is done unto salvation. So here is a person who says, I believe God can save me. Now, there must be a corresponding act. What is that? God can save me. Now, there must be a corresponding act. What is that? You publicly move out and you publicly confess

Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ saves. On and on we go. I just use some of these illustrations to try to perhaps show you exactly what James is talking about, that with every belief there is a corresponding act. Now, I want to give a different invitation first this morning.

Now, I've prayed that the Holy Spirit would this morning show us, show you've prayed about, something you're praying about, something you're believing God for, but that faith has been frustrated and has failed and has not reached its goal. And the Holy Spirit is saying to you this morning, there is an act of obedience that you have not done. And that faith will not be credited to your account for what you need until you have a corresponding act of obedience. For some who are struggling with financial difficulties, the act of obedience may be to start tithing, as we talked about this morning.

For some, it may be to start giving to those who are in need, and as God directs. To some, it may be to stop charging, as we talked about in the early service, to step out on faith and say, Lord, what I do not receive, I do not require, and you'll provide the cash to buy. Act of faith. It may be that your husband is lost.

It may be that you want to claim that promise, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And you want the assurance that when he is old, he won't depart from the faith. Well, there's a corresponding work. Train him up in the way he should go. What is the act of obedience that God is speaking to you about right now?

Now, this is an invitation. When we stand to sing in a moment, you may be lost, never been saved. You want to be saved. You believe God can save you. There's an act of obedience you're going to have to perform before God will save you. It's not works as opposed to faith. It's a work that issues out of that faith. You believe it so much you're going to do something about it.

And you'll act on that faith. We stand and sing in a moment. You just slip out where you're standing, come right here to the front and say, Preacher, I'm lost. I want to be saved this morning. And you can be before you leave this building. There'll be someone here to pray with you and counsel with you.

Maybe a Christian, member of this church or visitor. You say, Lord, you've shown me this morning what I need to do to complete my faith. There's an act of obedience. You don't have to speak to me unless you just want to. You just come and kneel here at this altar as God so leads you, and you say, Lord, I'm going to, you just come and kneel here at this altar, as God so leads you, and you say, Lord, I'm going to obey you. As soon as I get out of this building,

and as soon as it's humanly possible, I'm going to obey you. But right now, I'm going to obey you. Maybe that God wants you to unite with the fellowship of this church. If that's his will, we want you to simply be obedient. You come. Whatever decision God wants you to make. If nobody comes, that's just fine. If a bunch of people come, that's just fine. The invitation is

God. And nobody is drawn unless the Father draws them. And nobody is convicted unless the Holy Spirit convicts them. It's all up to God now, because we have done our work and have cooperated. And now if God so chooses in this service to do a work in your life, you will have to cooperate with him now. Now let's pray together. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated Thank you.