Not Of Works
I.
You don’t receive from
God through works, you receive from Him through faith-Ephesians 2:8-9
A. Salvation or anything
else you receive from God doesn’t come by working, it come by believing
II.
Grace and free gifts has
been God’s plan from the beginning
A. Genesis 1,2-In the
beginning Adam earned nothing from God; everything was free
1.
1:28-He
created man in His image and gave man his faith, love, joy, etc
2.
1:28-He
gave man the blessing that makes rich
3.
1:28-He
gave man dominion over all the Earth
4.
1:29-He
gave man every seed and ever tree
5.
2:8-He
gave man the Garden
6.
2:16-He
gave man every tree of the garden (Freely)
7.
2:22-He
gave man a wife
B. When Adam sinned he was
forced to work for what you used to be free
1.
He’s
sweating because He’s working
2.
Sweat,
working, and earning came after Adam sinned; it was part of the curse
3.
After
Adam sinned he had to earn provision; before he sinned he received provision
C. Jesus came to remove the
work and sweat from life
1.
Everything
that you’d ever need Jesus paid for through the shedding of his blood-Ephesians
1:7
a. Jesus literally bought
you out of the curse with his blood-Galatians 3:13
2.
Jesus
worked for it, earned it, paid for it so you wouldn’t have to
a. When you come into the
Kingdom of God everything is free once again-Romans 8:32, 1 Corinthians 2:12
b. You don’t have to work
for it because your brother already worked for it
1)
Luke
12:32-It’s your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom
2)
Romans
8:17, 1 John 4:17-You’re a joint-heir with Jesus
3.
Jesus
came teaching a toil-free system-Matthew 6:28
D. When you come into the
Kingdom of God everything is free
1.
The
world’s system is a labor-based system, while the Kingdom of God is a
grace-based system; In the world’s system everything is earned, in the Kingdom
of God everything is received
a. If everything is free in
the Kingdom, then we need to become proficient at receiving it, not working for
it
2.
Luke
15:12-32
a. 25-Notice the older
brother is working
b. 29-He starts listing His
works
c. 31-Son everything I have
is yours, just take what you need
3.
Romans
3:24-You didn’t work for your salvation, the Holy Spirit, or your healing, so
what makes you think you have to earn your money, your house or your food?
E. Exodus 16:11-The children
of Israel were receiving toil-free provision; they aren’t working for it or
earning it
1.
They
are simply just gathering in what God provided
III.
No works just believing;
To receive from God we have to only believe (We got to get this revelation)
A. Jairus-Luke 8:50-Only
believe
1.
Jairus
didn’t pay for this or earn it, He just received it with His faith
B. Woman with the issue of
blood-Mark 5:34
1.
She
didn’t pay for this or earn it, she just gathered it in with her faith
C. Peter-Luke 5:1-10
1.
Peter
was working and his work got him nothing
2.
5-When
Peter started believing, he received abundance and there was no toil with it
IV.
Works vs. Faith
A. Faith is not works-When
you are in faith you are not working to earn something you are believing to
receive something
1.
Works
is not faith-When you are in works you are not believing to receive something,
you’re relying on your works
B. Faith is work
1.
Faith
is doing and faith without doing is dead-James 2:17
a. If you have to do
something to receive it, is it still grace? (EX: Free Car)
b. Did you do something to get saved, to get filled with Holy Spirit, to get healed?
Does that mean it wasn’t grace?
c. Works that flow out of
faith in God implement faith and bring it to it’s full expression; Works apart
from faith do nothing (John 15:5)
2.
We
have to labor (exert oneself, endeavor, & give diligence) to enter rest-Heb 4:3,11
a. 1 Timothy 6:12-It’s the
fight of faith and the fight is to get to the place of rest with an adversary
out there who is using everything he can to get you to not believe
b. You have to meditate the
Word, cast down thoughts, speak the Word, encourage yourself in the Lord, be
thankful, & act like u have it not to earn something from God, but to stay
in faith
c. People get the idea that
if I did these things then somehow I’ve earned it, but that’s turning faith
into works and what you work for God can’t give you by grace
3.
I
do the things necessary to stay in faith understanding that if I do God will be
gracious to me, but my motive for staying is faith is because faith is right
a. The just/right live by
faith-Galatians 3:11
1)
It’s
right to ignore your body and believe your healed; It’s right to ignore your
finances and believe your rich; It’s right to believe you’re strong when you
feel weak; It’s right that when I desire something to believe I receive it
b. Faith is not “works of
the law” that you do to earn the promise; faith is the labor & fight you
engage b/c it’s right to believe God & it’s necessary to receive grace
1)
I’m
not working I’m believing because it’s right
4.
Psalm
84:11-God will not withhold grace from those who walk by faith
a. God’s will is that the
upright have grace the upright walk by faith
b. When you’ll swear 2 your
own hurt & change not there’s grace for you (Ps 15:4)
c. You stand your ground
& stay in faith b/c it’s right; the Lord will not withhold grace from you
C. We got to be very
cautious to not rely on what we are doing, but we need to be relying on the One
who said to do it
1.
I
have faith in what I do because I have faith in one who told me to do what I’m
doing
a. Mark 11:23-I believe
doing this will move the mountain because of the who told me it would
b. It’s not working is to
call the one who told me to do it a liar
2.
One
of the main deception of the enemy is that he wants you to work for things that
are free
a. What you begin to work
for cannot be given to you by grace-Romans 4:4,11:6
b. You got to be cautious in
your walk of faith, to not veer over to the place where you’re into works