Believe and Do

Announcer:

This is Today With Derek Prince. The internationally recognized Bible teacher and author presents to you Keys to Successful Living.

Derek Prince continues his series this week on ‘Laying the Foundation’ with a new theme ‘Faith and Works,’ and how they operate in our lives. Today Derek lays the groundwork for this topic by presenting the factual content of the Gospel and the righteousness that is ours by exercising our faith in believing them. Let’s listen now as he continues to teach at this New Zealand conference. At the end of the broadcast listen for our address and this week’s special offer.

Derek Prince:

Now I’m going to continue with the theme that I started on in our previous session; that is, examining the six great foundation doctrines of the Christian faith which are listed in Hebrews 6:1 and 2. I’ll just recapitulate them. Repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. In our previous session I dealt with the theme ‘Through Repentance to Faith.’ I dealt with repentance and I began to deal with faith. I want to go on this evening dealing with faith and the theme is ‘Faith and Works,’ two simple words that are used very commonly in the New Testament and yet it is truly amazing how many of God’s people do not have a clear understanding of the relationship between faith and works.

Let me say that by faith we mean simply that which we believe, by works we mean simply that which we do. What is the correct relationship between what we believe and what we do? I want to begin by just briefly stating the gospel. So many of us use the phrase ‘the gospel’ and we talk about it as if it’s something that we absolutely know clearly what we mean. In actual fact, I think a lot of people speak about the gospel and they’re not aware of what the gospel actually is. It’s stated very clearly by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1–5,

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you which also you received and in which you stand. But which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain.”

And then Paul goes on to state the gospel. And the gospel is stated in three simple historical facts, it’s not complicated.

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.”

So the gospel consists of three simple historical facts: Christ died for our sins, He was buried and He was raised again the third day. And where those statements are not made, the gospel is not preached, there’s a great deal of so-called gospel preaching which never actually contains the gospel. Those are the three vital facts that we need to lay hold of: Christ died for our sins, He was buried and He was raised again the third day.

And the first attesting authority is not the eyewitnesses who saw Him after He was raised but the Scriptures. That’s the ultimate authority. Paul says twice ‘according to the Scriptures.’ Then he goes on to list various people who were witnesses of His resurrection. But bear in mind the final authority in all matters of faith is the scriptures.

Now, Paul goes on to explain that if we will receive these simple facts by faith, without works, without what we do, righteousness will be imputed to us. We will be reckoned righteous. It is very important to see that Paul says it’s not by what we do but it’s by what we believe. It’s not by works but it’s by faith. He goes on in Romans chapter 4 to discuss the lesson that we can learn from Abraham for it says that Abraham had righteousness imputed to him by faith. Paul then begins to discuss the lesson that we learn from this. He says in Romans chapter 4:

“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”

If you work for somebody and receive your wages, that’s not grace, that’s something that’s owed to you. But he says that’s not how we achieve righteousness. It’s not by our works, it’s not something we’ve earned. And then he goes on with a most amazing statement, and I tell people if you’ve never been surprised by what you read in the Bible you’ve never really read the Bible, because it contains the most surprising statements. Paul goes on to say in Romans 4:5:

“But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”

So, if you want your faith to be counted to you for righteousness, what’s the first thing you have to do? Stop working. ‘To him who does not work.’ As long as you think you can earn it by what you do, you will not receive it. This is the hardest thing for religious people. We’re so used to the idea we’ve got to do something to earn God’s favor. Favor cannot be earned. Grace cannot be earned. By definition they cannot be earned. And so, the first thing you have to do if you want to be reckoned righteous by God is stop trying. Do not work. That’s a startling statement to many people but then the Bible is a startling book. Much more startling than most of us realize.

What is the real relationship between faith and works? It’s not that works are not important, it’s the order in which we come. Ruth and I quoted a passage from Ephesians chapter 2 which I will go back to. Ephesians 2:8–10:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God . . .”

We can’t even boast about the fact that we had faith because we only had faith because God gave it to us. It is not something we can produce from ourselves.

“And then it says:
/4 . . . not of works, lest anyone should boast . . .”

And many places where it speaks about people who believe they’ve been made righteous by their works, Paul says, ‘No, lest they should boast.’ You see a religion of works fosters human pride. And pride is the great basic sin. So, God has ordained a way of being made righteous which does not foster our pride.

If you consider the people who have rather complicated religions, and I don’t want to name any of them because I don’t want to appear to attack anything, but basically the more difficult their religion is the prouder they are. They’re doing something really hard and difficult: fasting, sacrificing and so on. This fosters pride. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So God has devised a way of being found righteous with Him that does not foster our pride.

I don’t know whether you’ve ever noticed but basically let’s talk about Christians. Christians who are very legalistic, very insistent on rules, are often not very loving people, have you ever noticed that? If you went to them for love you might not get much. Actually, legalism and love are more or less opposites. And so, we have to be on our guard continually against anything that nurtures pride. And religion basically does nurture pride. If it’s religion without the grace of God it nurtures our pride.

But, there is a place for works. They’re not unimportant, it’s just to get them in the right order. Ephesians chapter 2:10 says it as clearly as anything I know.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

So when God has created us anew in Christ, and the Bible says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, then God has appropriate works prepared for that new creation. But the old carnal nature cannot walk in the good works which God has prepared. So you have to be created anew by faith before you can walk in the good works. Then the good works become extremely important. But you have to get the order right. First of all, the new creation through faith; then the good works which God has prepared for us.

I don’t know whether you’ve realized, you really don’t need to work out what you should do for God, if you’ve become a new creature in Christ, because God has got it already worked out. What you have to do is find out the works that God had prepared for you beforehand. Don’t try and make your own plan for your life, find out what God’s plan is. Many times it’s very different from what we would expect.

Let me give you a brief example from my own experience. I was an only child, I had no brothers or sisters. I grew up in boarding schools from age nine to age twenty-five. I hardly met girls except I had a few girlfriends. Basically, girls were a mysterious entity that I didn’t know how to relate to. But when God called me, I married a lady who had a children’s home and the same day I married her I became adoptive father to eight girls. You see, you would not have thought that was the appropriate thing for Derek Prince. If I’d planned my own life that would never have come into it. But it was the good works which God prepared for me to walk in. I find satisfaction, though I’ve failed many times, in knowing that basically I have walked in the good works which God prepared for me.

Announcer:

Tomorrow Derek Prince will continue his theme ‘Faith and Works,’ by explaining the difference between faith and works and the relationship between them in our lives.

This week’s message is available on audiocassette No. RC4163 and also on video. Our special offer this week is Derek Prince’s book Faith to Live By, which explains what faith is, how we can live in faith and how it can grow stronger.

To receive your copy of ‘Faith and Works’ write today and include a contribution of $5.00 for audiocassette RC4163 or $14.95 for the video teaching. Include a gift of $5.00 or more for the book Faith To Live By.

Derek Prince also welcomes your letters and prayer requests. Our mailing address is Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. That’s Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. In Canada write to Derek Prince Ministries, Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1. The Canadian address again is Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1, and please give us the call letters of this station when you write.

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