The word that James uses here for foolish or senseless in some translations is literally the word for empty. And we've come to love Pastor James in his direct manner and in his colorful language. And none of us wants to be known as an empty head when it comes to how Abraham was justified by works. I can almost hear Pastor James speaking to me saying, Mitch, A lot of folks there that day when you were covering this passage and after they were done, they still had empty heads. Well, I don't want to hear that. You don't want to hear that. And so I've got this wonderful excuse. for trying to take something of God's truth and making it unmistakably plain and trying to push that into your head because according to Pastor James, this is fairly critical and fairly important. Well, this morning, imagine with me that we are up on a mountain viewing a battle that's going on down in the valley below. And on one hand, We've got General Paul and his armies over here. And on the other hand, we've got General James and his army over here. But these two armies are facing one another. And at first it appears that General Paul and General James with their armies are going to be facing off one another. However, on closer examination, we find that there are two other armies in the valleys. General Paul is not going to be fighting against General James after all. But there's another enemy in that valley. And it's the enemy of works righteousness. And General James is not going after General Paul, but he's going after another enemy, the enemy of a barren faith, of a dead faith that is not producing fruit. So Pastor James and the Apostle Paul are dealing with two very different airs. Pastor James opposes a barren faith. James requires a living faith that produces gospel works. And the Apostle Paul opposes works righteousness as the basis of our acceptance with God. Paul forbids even the subtle addition of legal works to our faith alone in Christ alone. Pastor James is dealing with the question, how do I show my living faith to my fellow man? And Pastor Paul or the Apostle Paul is dealing with how am I accepted by God into heaven? So Paul wants you to not be coming up to the gate of heaven with your wheelbarrow of supposed good works that will supposedly win God's favor. It will not happen. That person is rejecting the merits of Christ and therefore could not be received into heaven. And Pastor James wants to make sure that you do have gospel works, gospel fruit to go along with your living faith. Well, let's come then to the handout sheet and to the exposition proper as we look this morning, first of all, at Roman numeral one, the apparent contradiction. The apparent contradiction between Paul and James. First of all, A, the evidence of this apparent contradiction. Well, just think of what we have heard from James, what we've already read. James 2 in verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? And we could turn and read together, but I'm going to read a couple of verses for you from Romans 4 and verse 2. For if Abraham our father was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Romans 4 verse 4. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. So on the one hand, we've got Paul telling us that Abraham was not justified by works. And then on the other hand, we've got James saying that Abraham was justified by works. And then James has got the nerve to say, now don't be empty-headed when it comes to this matter. There's a way of thinking through this and getting it right. Secondly, B, having seen the evidence, We'll see, secondly, be the danger of this apparent contradiction. What if there is a contradiction in our book that is supposedly from God? Well, listen to Robert Johnstone. Now, believing as we do that the Bible is the word of God, that though the subordinate human authorship was various, yet the whole is the utterance of one divine spirit. It necessarily follows that we cannot suppose any statements in it to be really contradictory of each other. The existence of such would plainly unsettle the whole basis of our faith. And yet, in God's revelation of himself in the scriptures, There are some difficulties that we have to work at. You're not just going to read through Romans 4 once and James 2 once and say, whoop, I got it. Here's a quick little easy explanation. No. There's going to be some work involved. There's going to be some digging to find the truth that is there in the scripture. And it's interesting, isn't it? Whether God is revealing himself in the scriptures or God is revealing himself in what he does in the world, there are some things about God that are hard to understand. But we can, and we must. So let's jump in and see how it is that these two generals are not fighting one another, but they're fighting different enemies. And may God grant that we would have a restored sense of all scripture is breathed out by God. May we have a renewed sense that yes, there are some things that have come from our beloved brother Paul, and we might add our beloved brother Pastor James. that as he, Paul does in all his letters, when he speaks of them in these matters, there are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and the unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. I think we've been sufficiently warned, haven't we? Pastor James doesn't want us to be empty-headed. The Apostle Peter doesn't want us to be ignorant, unstable, or twisting the Scriptures. So our work is set before us. The resolution of this apparent contradiction, though it looks like these generals may be facing their armies off against one another, no. The one is focusing on that dangerous air of works righteousness and it's good he does so because nobody who believes in works righteousness is going to get to heaven. And General James is dealing with that dead and barren faith and it's a good thing that he does. Because there are multitudes that have been deceived in thinking that if they embrace something of a creed, if they embrace something of a past decision, that that will be enough to get them into heaven. But James has just told us in our text from last week, that that kind of faith is useless, particularly in the day of judgment. Roman numeral two, the Roman numeral two, the two uses, the two meanings of justification in the New Testament. Professor Murray in his commentary on Romans writes in an appendix on justification, And I'll summarize that he says there are two senses of justification in the New Testament. And now quoting, we are restricted to the forensic and demonstrative meanings of justification. Forensic means to declare to be righteous. to declare a sinner to be righteous. And that's what General Paul's got going on. To talk to sinners, convince them that they're condemned apart from Christ, but our God is the God who justifies the ungodly. who declares the ungodly to be righteous based on the doing and dying of Jesus Christ. Hopefully we've all got that. But demonstrative means to show someone as righteous. There's got to be enough of a change in your life, James is saying, to validate there's fruit hanging in your apple tree. There's got to be clumps of grapes that are hanging on your branch because you are joined to the living sap of Jesus Christ. So two different meanings, A, Forensic justification, that of the courtroom, the initial saving justification in Paul, the larger catechism rights of the Westminster creed. Justification is an act of God's free grace to sinners in which he pardons all their sins and accepts and accounts their persons as righteous in his sight. That's the essence of this kind of forensic justification. But it goes on. Not for anything worked in them or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ. There's the basis of that justification. Not us, but all on Jesus. And then finally, God's method by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. Some of you have heard me speak of the gospel deal. And the gospel deal is when we come with all of our sin and all of our good works and we leave it at the foot of the cross, we give that stuff to Jesus and Jesus gives us his perfect righteousness. That's his principle of imputation. Something goes to Jesus and something of Jesus goes to us. Now, But is this ever talked about in the Bible? Well, let's turn to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, if you're looking at the Pew Bible, it's page 1042. Luke 18, it's the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. I think we're familiar with it. Two men went up into the temple to pray, that's verse 10. The Pharisee commended himself as he prayed almost to himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, this is verse 11, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. And I do this, and I do the other, and now in verse 13, but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but be depressed, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus concludes, here's his punchline to the parable. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. Now, what kind of justification is it? Is it the one where God takes a sinner and he declares that sinner to be righteous based on the work of Jesus Christ? And you say, well, yes, that's the one. The guy's a sinner and he knows it. It's not God showing that that man is righteous. He's not righteous. None of you turn with me to Romans. Romans chapter 3, a few passages here. It's page 1118 in the Pew Bible. Romans 3 and verse 21. I'll begin reading as you're still turning. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. Verse 22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Verse 28 summarizes, for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. So which is this? Is this a justification that shows the individual is righteous? No. Not quite. We're all sinners and fallen short of the glory of God. This is a righteousness where God, judicially, in a forensic courtroom sense, says, you are righteous based on the doing and dying of my son, Jesus Christ. We have it again, Romans 5 verse 1. Since we have been justified by faith, we know which one that is. Galatians 2 and verse 16. You need not turn there, but if you care to, in the Pew Bible, it's 1155. Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one will be justified. No one is going to be shown righteous, that sense of justification. So he's talking about sinners who need to believe in Jesus Christ, and God takes their sin, moves it over to Jesus, takes his righteousness, and declares them to be righteous because they have faith in Jesus Christ. It is to declare a sinner righteous. Now, is there any other meaning of justify in the Bible? Well, James must think so. So come with me to be demonstrative justification, the justification that demonstrates what you are. or the later proving justification in James. Turn with me, first of all, to Matthew. Matthew 12 and verse 33. We're doing something here of a Bible survey. Yes, we're looking at more passages. But remember, I gotta get something into your head. I don't want to be accused of producing empty heads. So here we go. Matthew 12 and verse 33. We've seen Jesus. used the term justification as declaring a sinner righteous. The tax collector was a sinner, he pled with God for mercy, and he went down to his house declared righteous. Now Jesus uses it in a different way. Matthew 12 and verse 33, page 971 in the Pew Bible. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good person out of the good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. Verse 36, I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Our focus is going to be on 36 and 37. But I read these other verses because the context is about knowing whether a man is good or evil. How do I know that this is an apple tree? Well, if there are apples on it. How do I know that this is a grapevine? By seeing that there are grapes on it. And how do I know if this man or that woman, that they are good or evil? And Jesus says, just listen to them. It'll come out. As plainly as there's fruit on the tree, there will be evidence that comes out in the words. That's underscored. Verse 33, verse 34, evil men speak evil words. Verse 35, good men bring good deeds out of the good treasure. It's like down in that heart, that treasure, that's where their words, that's where their thoughts, that's where their actions come from. Latter part of 35, men bring bad deeds out of their evil treasure. That's the evil man. So now let's come to verse 36. The occasion that Jesus is talking about is what? Well, explicitly it's the day of judgment. The judgment is going to include everyone's words. One will be shown righteous, by his or her good words. And one will be condemned by his or her bad words. Now this is plainly not forensic, not declarative justification. This is not the justification of the tax collector and the Pharisee. where Jesus says the tax collector, the sinner, is going to be declared righteous. Of course we know, based on the doing and dying of Jesus. But now Jesus says we're not looking at some other person, we're looking inside the individual to demonstrate whether or not it's right for God to allow this person to come into heaven. So Jesus, in Luke 18, used justify in the sense of to declare a sinner righteous based on his faith in Christ. Now, in Matthew 12, 33 and following, he uses justify in the sense, I'm simply showing you what's on the inside. I'm showing you, is it an evil man? Is it a good man? Now, Perhaps it will help for me to talk about the thief on the cross. The thief on the cross, where's he going to get any words? They're going to help justify him to show that it's right for God to let him into heaven. I mean, here's a guy. who all of his life has been a criminal. So we expect the preponderance of his words over, what is he, 30 years old, is that what we'll agree on? So in his 30 years, 98.9% of his words have been evil. But, but, One of the criminals were hanged, railed at Jesus, saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other thief rebuked him, saying, do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. So that one thief hanging on the cross in misery is addressing another that is on the cross and asking him for help. I see you being crucified. but I'm seeing more than a crucified man. I'm seeing a king coming in his kingdom. I think Jesus has got enough to work with in the day of judgment. Here's this guy all of his life like this, and then at the point of his conversion, there is a real faith, there is a living faith, there is a working faith, and it comes out of him. You need to be quiet over there. You need to be thinking about the hell to which you are going. And my crucified friend, I need you to help me when you come in your kingdom. Now there are other passages. I'm just going to mention them now. We've seen these two pivotal passages. The one of Jesus talking about justification that declares a sinner righteous, Luke 18. The Pharisee and the tax collector. Then Jesus has taken us to the day of judgment, Matthew 12, 36 and 37, and we're seeing a justification that shows that the individual is righteous. It's not a matter of God taking all of the words of the thief from the cross, putting all the bad ones over here, and putting his few good ones over here, and God is saying, see, it's right for me to let him into heaven because these, no. It's not works righteousness. And sometimes we think of judgment and we think of, well, God's gonna hold this against me. If you're a believer in Christ, you're gonna have an experience similar to the thief on the cross. That is, you're going to get into heaven on the full merits of Jesus Christ and not your own. But nonetheless, there needs to be a reality there. Luke 7, verse 29. Luke 7, verse 29. When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just. They justified God. Well, is that forensic? Is that what they're saying? You know what? We follow John the Baptist, and we really love hearing from you, Jesus, that John was a prophet. Amen, we've been baptized by him, we believe it. And you're saying that he is the messenger from God that has gone, that's right. And they declare God just, they justify God. Now they're not saying, we think God should be declared just, we need to make God the sinner to be righteous. No, that would be horrible. What they're simply saying is, look at what God has done. and we are showing him to be right. We are showing him to be righteous. It's used in the same way in Luke 7 and verse 35. Jesus has been confronting the Pharisees and he ends the discussion with, yet wisdom is justified by all our children. And saying, you're gonna see that wisdom is right, by looking at the children that have come out of wisdom. See the fruit, see the works, see the children of wisdom, and wisdom will be shown to be righteous. We've got it in Luke chapter 10 in verse 25. The lawyer says, What shall I do to inherit life? And Jesus tells him, love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second commandment is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10 and verse 28 in the introduction to the parable of the Good Samaritan. And the lawyer said to him, you have answered correctly. Jesus says, you have answered correctly to him, do this and you will live. But he desiring to justify himself, what way? Is he admitting that he's a sinner? Not quite. Is he talking about God making a declaration that he, the sinner, is righteous based on the doing and dying of Jesus Christ? No, that doesn't seem to have penetrated his thick and dead skull. He's wanting to narrow down who it is he has to love. Instead of loving my neighbor, maybe there's one person I almost love, other than myself. and it will at least be less damning to me. And therefore, wishing to justify himself, he limits it down. Luke 16 and verse 14, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. You're trying to show yourself as righteous, but that's really going to be hard in the day of judgment because God knows what's inside of you. You've actually got it two places in Romans, Romans three and verse four, that you may be justified in your words. And it's Paul talking about God as he is quoting Psalm 51 in verse four, that you may be justified in your words. The righteous God does not need an alien righteousness like we do. He simply needs what he has done to be opened up to show him to be righteous. Well, the apparent contradiction, the two uses or the two meanings of justify in the New Testament. And now quickly, let's come to Roman numeral three, the two justifications from the two periods in Abraham's life. And here, first of all, A, the initial saving justification from Abraham at about age, 85 years of age. This is recorded in James 2, 23. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And you'll remember from our reading that it comes at a time when he's childless. He doesn't have Ishmael and he doesn't have Isaac. And if we turn to Genesis 16 and verse 16, and Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. So it's before he's 86. Some say between 80 and 85, let's take 85. It's this reference in James 15 that Paul is jumping up and down on, saying that God justified him with an alien righteousness. He had faith and that's all he had. And God declared him righteous. Well, how do you know that Abraham wasn't really a perfect man? Well, after he's converted, We've got Genesis 16, and that's the chapter about carnal policy, where he takes the handmaiden. I rest my case. He needed an outside righteousness to be applied to him. Oh, there's so much more that could be said. But God declares Abraham, the sinner, to be righteous, and imputes a righteousness to Abraham based on his simple faith. Secondly B, the later proving justification from Abraham at about 110 years of age. Verse 21 of James 2. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? Well, how old's Abraham now? Well, Isaac is born when he's 100, Genesis 21.5 if you need it. The next marker that we get of age is Sarah dying in Genesis 23, one, and she was 127 years old. That makes Abraham to be 137, and it makes Isaac to be 37. So if he's 10 years old, the boy is 10 years old, he's gotta be big enough that he can talk to his dad saying, Where's the sacrifice? And he's got to be big enough that the wood gets strapped on him and Abraham carries the knife in the fire. I'm saying 10 years old. But I can't fault that the majority of scholars would say, well, he must be 20 to 25 years old. The point is, Genesis 15 is when Abraham is about 85. The earliest that we've got, Genesis 22, is when he's 110. 25 years different. Could be as many as 40. It's the early incident that Paul uses to say he needed a righteousness outside of himself. It was 25 to 40 years later that James is focusing on. And he's saying, Abraham, the father of the faithful, don't you see? He had a faith that was working. And someone could say, well, James, couldn't you have been a little plainer on this? And he's gonna come right back at you. You empty head. Don't you know the story of Abraham? Don't you read your Old Testament? Don't you know that there is this significant period of time between these two events in Abraham's life? So thirdly, see, Paul and James depend on two different justifications in Abraham. declared to be righteous in a legal or forensic sense, justified by faith at age 85. And so, well, Paul, why do you do this? And he could say, because my Savior Jesus did it in Luke 18. And then we come to James and we see little number two there. James says Abraham at 110 years was shown to be righteous. The little number one, if I didn't give that to you, is declared to be righteous. And you ask James, well James, why do you talk about this kind of just being justified by works? And he can say because My older half-brother, who is the Son of God and the Lord of glory, talked about justification by works in Matthew 12, verse 36 and 37. And there it is, Roman numeral four. What are we gonna say in a practical way? The practical lessons from the apparent contradiction of Paul and James. First of all, A. May God slay any doubts in your heart about God's special book. We've started out by admitting that it kind of looks like General Paul's army and General James' army are going to face off. We got really nervous. We know that's really, really important. Then as we study the battlefield, we've seen that there are these two enemies, two different enemies, that each of them is going out. Neither of the enemy will get you to heaven, so we're glad that General Paul has knocked out the one and General James has knocked out the other. As we look at the passages more carefully, we see that Paul is speaking of being justified by faith when looking at Abraham at age 85, and General James is looking at Abraham as justified by works, some 25 or 40 years later. And if you're a Christian, isn't it reasonable to believe that if you have a true and living faith, that somewhere along the line, well, maybe four decades, two and a half decades into your Christianity, there's gonna be some fruit. May God flush doubts against his word out of your system. Please know that every word is breathed out by God, the God who cannot lie. Please don't ignore the Bible as some insignificant religious myth. Here we are in the space of minutes that we've had this morning, and we've taken one of the larger potential contradictions, and I hope that you can see that the scripture can pretty well stand up and defend itself. Base your faith and your life on that special word of God. Hear James, therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. B, may God slay any cherished thoughts of works righteousness. Paul is so plain. Galatians 2 verse 16, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law. He's talking about our need as sinners not to be shown to be righteous. But in the initial saving kind of justification, we need to believe in Jesus and his complete works, and God does the gospel deal. Our sins to Jesus, Jesus' righteousness to us. James is not opposed to that. Our chapter begins With my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And he's the one who has just said, walk away from your sins and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Let's just, God helps us get rid of all of work's righteousness. Let's see that Paul is slaying it, and we need to slay it too. There is a robe that God gives me that is the robe of Jesus' righteousness, and there is not one stitch in that robe that I contributed. Thirdly, C, may God slay any cherished thoughts of easy believism. Some cling to a decision of the past. And they got to cling to that because they don't have anything else. 30 years ago, I made a decision to believe in Jesus and I haven't been to church in 20 years, but that's all right. I'm right with God. I believe everything that the Bible teaches. I believe in creation. I believe in the virgin birth. I believe in the miracles of Jesus. I believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. So I'm good. No, you're not. The demons also believe and tremble. They believe that God is one. They have a confession of faith. See that James is speaking to you. James is speaking to all of us. If we are true believers in the Lord Jesus, the tree is going to have apples on it. The branches are going to be producing grapes. Now, sometimes in our lives, the grapes, you're going to look at them and they're going to be so small, you're going to wonder if they're even grapes. Pastor Martin, you saw a hard, nubby little fruit. It's fruit nonetheless. It's fruit. King Jesus, who is the judge of all in the final day, will look at your branches and will look for fruit. We're going to see the thief on the cross there. And it's very easy to imagine Jesus standing up and saying, and by his words, he will be shown to be righteous. because he rebuked the other thief, warned him of the judgment that he is under. And at the end, this marvelous confession of faith, looking to a crucified man, believing that he's coming in his kingdom. What a change. And that's all God is looking for. I just need enough to show there's been this radical transformation that has come. So if you're here this morning, understand that there is a place for justification by faith. We're all sinners. And we need God, as we believe in Jesus, to give us Christ's righteousness. And by that, we have access to heaven. We've seen just a couple weeks ago that the 10-sided glass of the moral law, one defect on one side in one of the commandments and the glass, it's useless. At the beginning of your walk with God, you don't need to be shown that you're righteous. You need to be shown that you're a sinner. and you need the righteousness of Jesus to be spoken over you, to be declared about you, to be imputed and given to you. Make the great gospel swap, I plead with you. All of your sins to Christ, all of his righteousness to you. But then know, there will be a change. If you only live a matter of hours after your true conversion, like the thief on the cross, Jesus will have stuff to work with in the day of judgment. Your words will show that you are righteous. Let's pray. Father, take your Holy Word, write it on our hearts. No doubt there is a whole spectrum of need in this room. Those who are under the sound of my voice, some of us need the gospel deal. We need to be honest about our sin. We need to go to you and we need to receive from you the perfect righteousness that Jesus won in our behalf. Father, others of us need to know that holiness is not optional for the Christian. It's absolutely essential. Father, you make it plain it's not the basis of you accepting us and receiving us into heaven. But you make it rather plain that faith needs to be real. Faith needs to be living. And faith, though invisible, will be able to show that faith by the good works that you accomplish in us. Spirit of God, come. and turn us away from being those who demonstrate the works of the flesh and Spirit of God, come produce in us love, love that shows regard to the law of liberty and all the other fruit that you are producing in true believers. And Father, use all this to the end that we will each one of us have a well-grounded assurance that we are in a state of grace and we are on the way to heaven. We pray this in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen. Let's come in