Actions Are Louder Than My Mouth?

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 24:48-51

"And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:18&19

"Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." James 2:18


Remember the adage, "Actions speak louder than words"? I think at some point we have all heard this phrase. How many of us actually believe this to be true though? It appears the Bible harmonizes with this phrase, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was derived from the Biblical stance on this topic. This is a very important issue! If what the Bible says is right, there is nothing more important than allowing the Holy Spirit to sanctify me, so within me is produced genuine, heart-felt action, which translates into perseverance! Let's take a look at what it appears God is saying through these verses.

The context of the first verse above is the disciples coming to Jesus, and asking Him what the signs of the end times would be. Now it is important to note that the audience was the disciples. Now notice in this parable that it begins with, "if that evil servant shall say in HIS HEART, "My lord delayeth His coming". Now notice with me a few things, first, the wicked servant acknowledges his lord and says he is delaying in coming. Second, it says he said all of this in his heart. Now after he said this in his heart, the word proceeds to explain what the manifestation's of his heart were, "And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken".
Note a few things...this servant believed his lord commissioned him, he believed he was the servant of his master, in fact, even Jesus acknowledges this in calling him "a wicked SERVANT". This servant clearly had a depth of knowledge of his master, it doesn't say the servant barely knew him. And also, notice Jesus did not say he was a false servant, or not really a servant, Jesus acknowledged him not only as a servant, but a WICKED SERVANT.

Now let's take a look at what the servant said in his heart. This is a very sobering thought, the word does not say the servant said out of his mouth "My Master delays His coming" it says he said this in his heart. Now we see this servants actions really did speak louder than words. You see, when we sin and give place to the devil, we are saying IN OUR HEARTS, "OUR MASTER DELAYETH HIS COMING" or more commonly, "He'll forgive me, His grace is sufficient!". We may not say this out loud, why? Because we know the Bible answers to things, we know better than to let on to someone what we are feeling! Our hearts say it all, and the manifestation of our hearts are found in our actions.

Now for the last part of this verse. "The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth". Notice Jesus says "the lord of that servant will come on a day when he looketh not for him". So what this tell me is that in order to stay "awake" spiritually and to be watchful, is to be active and fervent in my love for Him and His people, a.k.a. persevere unto the end. Some of you may think that in order to reach someone, you have to go do what they do even if it is sinful, and this couldn't be farther from the truth. It is Satanic deceit! Think of the cleverness, it is actually the opposite of love! If they come to Christ with false pretenses you could have done more harm than good. If you get drunk (as this wicked servant did or anything else ungodly) in front of people, using this as an excuse to win people, something is seriously wrong in your heart and you need to turn your laughter into mourning and your joy to gloom (See devotional entitled, "Joy and Gloom"). I used to do this, I would preach when I was drunk because I used to think that I was saved and perfectly fine. But if my Master would have came...oh my goodness, I am so thankful that God chose to grant me repentance from all of those terrible acts of hate. People need to see a breath of fresh air, they need to see people take stands in love and the Spirits power, not folding to the enemies terms! They want to see that being saved goes beyond theory and theological debate and see that it is actually more than powerful enough to change their mess of a life! Remember, in the last days people will have a form of godliness but WILL DENY THE POWER THEREOF (2 Timothy 3:5)! I didn't write that folks, it's in the Bible. Are we getting tired of having a form of godliness, but denying its power by how we live?! Why would we get to participate in the great coming of the Lord if we are not living lives conducive to leading other people to Him?

Lastly, in Hebrews 3:18&19 it reads, "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief". The context is the exodus out of Egypt. What is scary here is that this further illustrates the point made in Jesus' parable. Remember how the wicked servants actions is how he "said things" in his heart? He said in his heart that his master was delaying in coming. In this passage of scripture it correlates disobedience with unbelief. See, it says, "but to those who were DISOBEDIENT? SO WE SEE THAT THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO ENTER BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF". Remember, this group of people saw God's mighty hand redeeming them, and they still chose to TEST HIM. Just as we, the people of God, have been bought with a price, we have seen His magnificent power, and to deny it by how we live our lives is to be unbelieving. Why do you think Paul would say we have these wonderful promises if WE CONTINUE IN THE FAITH! The author of Hebrews says "While we have a promise of entering His rest, see that none of you come short of it." I know there is a belief in "perseverance of the true saints", well make sure you are the elect by fearing God! Make your calling and election SURE! Don't assume you stand lest you fall! Constantly be aware and fight!

In my opinion, that I believe to be Biblically founded, there are two types of belief. One type, is just to merely believe Jesus is the Christ without a change of action or conduct (i.e. no repentance). But we must remember repentance is a prerequisite for the forgiveness of sins. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder (James 2). James 2:19&20 "You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?"

The second type of belief is an active belief, its a God-fearing belief manifested in my actions and how I treat other people. APPROPRIATION! "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."

Brothers and Sisters, I am not writing this to be hateful. It may seem like I hammer alot on this concept of works apart from faith is dead, and this is because of the tempo of our Christian culture. People are tired of hearing a gospel preached without the change. Jesus said narrow (straight) is the gate and narrow is the way and few thereof that find it. What that verse tells me is that there are alot more deceived people than there are not. There will be many in that day that says LORD! Haven't we served you and done great works for You? And Jesus will say to them "Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never intimately knew you!" No matter how many times you preach Him to someone, or how many praise songs you sing, or how many times you have "prayed the prayer", if you are a worker of lawlessness, you will not be ok. See, if we are constant workers of iniquity we will not be participating in that day. Now people can say, "But I prayed the prayer, I believe in eternal security!" This is not meant to debate eternal security, but if you think about it, both parties kind of believe the same thing. The Calvinists (people who believe in eternal security) say if a person lives in a wicked manner, they need to question whether they were truly born again. So both parties agree that BY WHAT A PERSONS CONDUCT LOOKS LIKE determines whether they are o.k. or not, so the end result is the same for the one who believes in eternal security and the one that does not. The end result is the same, just the mechanics on being in that state are where we differ. Let's not lose heart in doing what is right! For in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart and grow weary! Keep fighting your sin, He will never leave you or forsake you! He has not allowed a temptation beyond bear! Love you all!