Faith in fullest expression

James 2:20-22

“You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that  his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” NIV

We are still on giving the exercise of your faith its fullest expression, and it is by sacrifice. From our text, you can see that it says so of Abraham, but let us see two more examples in Scripture.

Luke 19:8-9

“And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, “This day is

salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.” KJV

Zacchaeus  was seeking the Lord, but he was someone very notorious in the neighborhood. Finally, he got to the place where the Lord mat him and came to his house. But, his sins still caught up with him because the people were not going to allow him forget easily. Then Zacchaeus stood and made the pronouncement above. Immediately, he made the declaration, Jesus announced, “ This day has salvation come into this house.” I like the way the Living Bible translation puts the verse 9:  

“Jesus told him, "This shows that salvation has come to this home today.”

What was it that showed that salvation has come into Zacchaeus’ household? The sacrifice he did when he made the declaration to give away the stuff he gave away.

Hebrews 2:10

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” KJV

This is talking about God. To have many sons and daughters today, God’s faith for that had its supreme expression when He sacrificed His Son Jesus Christ. Remember that before then God had been speaking about the coming of the Messiah, that is, He had been confessing it. So also, you too go and do likewise.