We'll are reading this morning is taken from James chapter 2 It's on page one thousand twelve in the black few Bibles in front of you James chapter two I'll begin with the 14th verse on page one zero one two James chapter two verses 14 to 26 What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works Can that faith save him if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them go in peace Be warned and filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that? So also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead But someone will say you have faith and I have works show me your faith apart from your works And I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one you do well Even the demons believe and shudder Do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless?
Was not Abraham our father? Justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and was counted to him as righteousness And he was called a friend of God You see that a person is justified by words and not by faith alone And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute Justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way for his the body apart from the spirit is dead So also faith apart from works is dead. Well, let's pray and ask God to help us Let's pray Almighty God creator of all that is and merciful father of those that love and trust in your son our dear Lord Jesus Christ Would you enliven our minds and open our hearts so that we might see and know by the power of your Holy Spirit? What true and saving faith is so that we may respond in loving trust to you alone to the glory of your Great and your awesome name.
Amen. Amen. Well an alien hands adjective and alien hands Adjective, you know what an alien hands adjective is it's what you have if you buy fake pearls with a counterfeit money That you got by selling faux leather and artificial flowers You see most adjectives give you information about the noun a big dog a blue diamond a beautiful smile These adjectives big blue and beautiful tell you something about the dog the car or the smile But an artificial dog faux diamonds a fake smile These adjectives tell you that dog that you think is a dog isn't really a dog the diamonds you think are diamonds aren't really diamonds and the smile You think is genuine a gesture of friendship is actually Instancier most adjectives tell you what something is an alien and adjectives tells you what something isn't Counterfeit money isn't money Artificial flowers art flowers so to in the passage before us we have faith and then we have no works faith Faith is saving faith, but faith the part from works. No works faith.
It's not faith at all. It's counterfeit It's dead Consider the question that we have before us in James chapter 2 verse 14 James asks if someone says he has faith but doesn't have works Can that faith save him and James answers this question in verses 15 to 26 and a summary of the answer is no No faith without works is not saving faith. It is verse 17 and again in verse 26 Dead just as an undone deed is no deed at all a no works faith is no faith at all It's dead Well to see why we need to understand the precise nature of James's question if we don't get his question right We won't get his answer right either Second we need to work through the four examples that James gives to answer his question I count four they are in verses 15 and 16 a brother or sister in need then we have demons believing in verse 19 We have Abraham in verses 21 to 23 and last of all in verse 25. We have the prostitute Rahab So after considering our four examples by way of closing We'll examine the various ways we should respond to the passage before us But first let's consider the nature of the question the nature of James's question verse 14 What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him notice the question of this passage is about a kind of faith a certain kind of faith Faith without works and James is asking is this particular kind of faith genuine is no works faith a saving faith Notice that it's not question about who does the work of salvation Nor is it a question about how we get salvation? These are two altogether different questions and James has already addressed them in chapter 1 about who does the work of salvation? James is clear God God the Father brought us forth of his own will out of a sinful life And James describes that in chapter 1 verses 14 to 16 and he did it to save our souls chapter 1 verse 21 James is clear God does the work of our redemption So we don't do that that work we don't accomplish our own redemption instead We must receive the word of truth James chapter 1 verse 18 We must have faith James chapter 2 verse 1 in a person in our Lord Jesus Christ whom James calls the Lord of glory And James is his message is Jesus's own Jesus right at the start of the gospel of mark and mark chapter 1 says the time is fulfilled in the kingdom of God is at hand Repent and believe in the gospel that is in the good news of the redemption that he is accomplishing and James's message is Paul's message to Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 1 the Christians are those who hear the word of truth the gospel of their salvation and believe in Jesus So the question before us and James chapter 2 cannot be about how we get salvation About this question Jesus is clear and Paul is clear and James is equally clear. Who does the work?
God does the work. What must we do? We must repent and believe So lie then does James in chapter 2 verse 14 ask this question the question of no works faith of faith without works Well, I think it's because James is concerned about self-deception in the church in chapter 1 verse 16 He says do not be deceived my beloved brothers in chapter 1 verse 22 He says but be doers of the word and not here is only deceiving yourselves Self-deception is always dangerous But self-deception about the gospel is more than merely discomforting or embarrassing Self-deception about the gospel is damning if you lie to yourself in your horse about your heart to God It leads to hell. So self-deception is very dangerous, but it's also at least it seems clear from James's own concern Very possible.
It's a real possibility So now we can understand given the context of James the nature of his question when he asks what good is it my brothers? If someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him James is dealing with someone who says he has faith James is careful to distinguish between the person's claim Pay out have faith and his own judgment about the matter. We do this all the time She says she studied for the test. He says he knows the way it's a little rock This four letter word says allows us to remain noncommittal about a claim that another person is making So James says let's consider someone who claims to have faith, but not the deeds that accompany such faith More pointedly this person doesn't even think that genuine faith requires any outward activity Whatsoever key things verse 14 that someone can have faith without works And he thinks verse 18 that someone can have works without faith.
He can have one or the other, but you don't need both Well, what should we think can there be an amicable divorce between faith and works between your heart and your deeds? James says no Absolutely not your deeds must match your heart your faith must show forth in works Fruitless faith is not saving faith, but dead useless and dead again. No works faith is dead verse 17 It's useless to save verse 20 and finally verse 26 It's dead and James uses four examples to show that genuine faith always expresses itself in works To see what his examples show negatively how a no works faith is no faith at all and to an example His example show positively how saving faith is accompanied by works Well, let's consider the two negative examples first because they come first in our text the first example is a calloused reaction To a fellow Christian suffering this is in James chapter 2 verses 15 to 16 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them go in peace Be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that?
Well, what good is that James's answer is clear? No good at all It's no good to the brother or sister who's hungry or needs clothing and it's no help to the calloused person either Such faith cannot save you it is verse 17 dead faith must be more than mere well-wishing That's what the first example shows us saving faith is more than mere well-wishing But it's also verse 19 more than mere historical knowledge James writes in chapter 2 verse 19 You believe that God is what you do well even the demons believe and shutter Demons of course do not have saving faith and their faith about God makes them shutter what they know about God Makes them afraid for the coming judgment and such faith James makes clear in verse 20 is useless It's not saving faith being able to identify the son of God in the crowd is not saving faith after all the demons did that Knowing a collection of historical facts is not saving faith demons know that too Well, we don't want the faith of unhelpful well-wishers and shuddling demons We want a better faith than that so we can turn to the two positive examples that James gives us Abraham and Rahab because they show us what genuine faith is like first consider Abraham and James chapter 2 verses 21 to 24 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled It says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness And he was called a friend of God you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone Notice that James is not talking about what Abraham is doing But James is characterizing the kind of faith Abraham has and this faith is verse 22 an active faith in contrast to the Calist well-wishers of verses 15 to 16 who say go in peace be warmed and filled it's also an Obedient trusting faith in contrast to the demons in verse 19 who believe but who were terrified Abraham's faith is active and obedient Because he's willing verse 21 to sacrifice his son Isaac well We know the story it's found in Genesis chapter 22 God appears to Abraham and tells him to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering and Abraham commanded by the Lord rises early in the Morning the text is clear and takes Isaac's Mariah to sacrifice him but just as Abraham is about to do so the angel of the Lord stays Abraham's hand and God provides a ram and Abraham takes that ram and sacrifices the ram as a burned offering instead of his own son and that's the story to which James is eluding But knowing the chronology of the life of Abraham is very important here Because if you don't know the chronology of Abraham's life You will be misled about James's message the scripture to which James refers in James chapter 2 verse 23 The Abraham believe God and it was counted to him as righteousness is not found in Genesis chapter 22 where Abraham's willing obedience to offer his son Isaac is described It is instead found in Genesis chapter 15 indeed What Abraham is declared righteous in Genesis chapter 15 is some 30 years before his obedience described in Genesis chapter 22 The declaration of righteousness is not in response to Abraham's obedience of Genesis 22 But to his faith of Genesis 15 indeed Isaac is not yet even born in Genesis 15 He had no son to sacrifice But that's why James can say in verse 23 of James chapter 2 that this scripture was fulfilled The Lord declares Abraham righteous on account of his faith and then some 30 years later Abraham shows that God's pronouncement recorded in scripture was entirely correct God's statement about Abraham was fulfilled in Genesis 15 The Lord said here is a man who loves me and is trusting me and the 30 years later in Genesis 22 We see Abraham's faith and God flow out in faithful obedience So me or a cent the fruitless faith unaccompanied by works cannot save you But it's not because you need to put a little extra work on top of your faith in order to get to heaven No, not at all But you do have to have the right kind of faith to be received into heaven and to be called a friend of God And that's why James can say that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone in verse 24 He's thinking of the person who claims to have faith in verse 14 But he has nothing to show for it well faith unaccompanied by works is not saving faith But give faith that gives for that flowers out into acts of obedience like Abraham's faith showing obedience some 30 years after he's To be righteous that faith is saving faith. Well, that's Abraham We have one last example and that's Rahab in chapter 2 verse 25 If you remember the story of Rahab It's from Joshua chapter 2 spies of sent to an enemy city by Joshua who has assumed leadership of Israel after the death of Moses And the king of this city the king of Jericho Understandably annoyed by the presence of spies in his city has a massive manhunt to find the spies But Rahab keeps the spies hidden and saves their lives by James chapter 2 verse 25 Receiving the messengers and sending them out by another way. Well, why does she do this?
Why does Rahab risk her life in order to protect these men is she just a committed humanitarian? Does she is she an anti death penalty for spies activist? No on the contrary is Joshua chapter 2 makes clear She hides the spies because she believes in their God She has faith in the Lord God Almighty and in fact in Joshua chapter 2 verses 9 to 11 She tells the spies the Lord your God He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath Rahab a prostitute and a foreigner nevertheless has saving faith for the other people in Jericho they were like the demons in verse 19 who shut her who believe but who shut her because in Joshua chapter 2 Rahab tells the spies is that as soon as they heard about Israel's military victories our hearts Mounted our hearts mounted well the demons shut her and the citizens of Jericho have hearts melting with fear But Rahab has confident faith and Joshua chapter 2 verse 11 She says the Lord your God he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath that saving faith. It's confident faith It's obedient faith and Rahab's example is wonderful because it tells us that if you don't have to be a rich man From a particular race to be counted a friend of God You can be a foreign woman and God can rescue you if you change chapter 1 verse 21 Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word Which is able to save your souls or as Jesus himself says in the gospel of March after one Repent and believe in the gospel One conclusion how should we respond to what James has said?
Well, I guess it depends on on who you are and where you stand and what kind of faith you have Well wonderfully, we're not left alone to figure this one out James gives us away to evaluate where we are with God What do we do with it the time and the talent and the treasure that the Lord has given us? For some of us our time is devoted to television in video games music and sports for some of us our money We we say that we really care about helping people But what we really care about is central key to an air and indoor plumbing and I'm a man who just replaced a toilet in his house this month We make no mistake Our hearts where our treasures are it reveals our hearts our actions reveal our hearts in 2005 according to two British Newspapers Melden Reed a British subject went into an English hospital for heart surgery and the surgery went well Something extraordinary happened during his recovery as the Daily Mail puts it Things got unexpectedly crowded around the bedside of the 58 year old salesman and while his heart was on the mend three others were soon broken for first One of his wives turned up to comfort him then another Then another all within minutes of each other Reed had hoped even in the hospital to keep his double-pigamy a secret by arranging for each of his wives to visit him at different times But he lamented in a statement to the police quote Unfortunately the timing of the visits were out of sync and they all arrived at once Now Reed said I imagine I love you to each of these women And I think that if we knew the circumstances and heard him say that we'd roll our eyes shrug our shoulders and say yeah, right We'd tell him look now then you don't love these women sure you say you do but you don't really You may have some feeling for them, but what you have what you call love That isn't love Reed's story tells us that love without commitment isn't real love and James tells us that faith without deeds isn't real faith No works faith isn't really faith. It's like counterfeit money or fell leather Well when we come to die when you come to die Who'll be crowded around your bedside? Will Jesus have even a place there?
To put it another way and to keep with the hospital language if someone checked your spiritual pulse Would he or she find a heartbeat? Now James uses similar medical imagery and James chapter 2 verse 26 He writes for the body apart from the spirit is dead so also faith apart from works is dead What would you do if you came across? and apparently lifeless body You check for breathing where there's no spirit that is breath entering and exiting a person's body We know that that person is dead and if your spiritual life is empty But for a few feeble words perhaps prayer Thanksgiving or an amen at Christmas then you've given a correct assessment of your spiritual condition your faith is dead your religion is worthless No, Jesus. No change.
No change. No Jesus But there's still now hope as James himself says in James chapter 4 God opposes the proud it gives grace to the humble Submit yourselves there for to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God and he will draw near to you Cleanse your hands use sinners and pure far you purify your heart you double-minded be ratchet and worn and weep let your laughter Be turned amorn and your joy to gloom humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you Friends there is still time even just this moment to repent and believe the gospel Now that's not to say the real Christians must live perfect lives There's only one Christian who ever did that the Lord Jesus himself And there's some of us who trust in Jesus and love him dearly but have stumbled into sin Take comfort and remind yourself of James chapter 1 verse 18 God of his own will brought you forth by the word of truth He is working in you you trust in him notice that in this passage James is not criticizing Christians who are struggling in the Christian faith He's criticizing those who would say that you can have faith without having any deeds done in love for God If you have a deep sense of your own sin and wonder how God could ever possibly love you then remind yourself of what we talked about At the very beginning God is the one who does the work of salvation and your job is to receive what he offers Well, let's pray Almighty God lift up our hearts away from the sinful pleasures of this life to you alone Father Son and Holy Spirit and Saving faith in loving trust and in a hope that does not disappoint us for your great name's sake Oh, man, oh, man