Chapter 1, verses 21 through 27. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Father, we say amen to this scripture. It is our desire to have our lives more and more conformed to it by your supernatural grace. We pray that you would enable us to do so. I pray for your anointing upon me as I preach your word. May I be faithful, and may we all be faithful hearers. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, James is one of the first books that I memorized as a child. I don't remember now if it was the first or the second book that I memorized. And because it is super easy to memorize, I highly recommend that children begin with this book. I mean, there's other good books to begin with as well. And yes, children, young children can memorize entire books of the Bible. I think our expectations many times are too low. Our entire class, first grade, started memorizing books of the Bible. I think by the time I was 10 years old, I and all of our classmates had memorized five books of the Bible plus over 100 individual scriptures. You spend half an hour every day memorizing, it's astonishing how much you can get down. And I think this is a marvelous book to memorize because it is so incredibly practical. I feel a little bit sad that I won't be able to cover very much of the practical things that are in this book, but it teaches you things like how to gain wisdom step by step from God rather than wisdom from the world. This book teaches you how to rejoice when everything is going wrong around you and you're facing persecution. It teaches what practical Christianity looks like, how to improve your relationships within the body of Christ, you know, within the church, what agape love should look like, why it is that self-help techniques for taming your tongue aren't good enough. We really need the supernatural taming work of the Holy Spirit to tame our tongues. It teaches us how to crucify our pride. much easier to talk about than it is to actually do. How to engage in spiritual warfare. How to not be overwhelmed by the rich people who control things in America and the deep state. I mean, there's something very equivalent there. I'm not to get frustrated with that. It teaches us about healing and prayer and other issues we simply will not have time to get into. In fact, it's such a practical book that quite a number of teachers have called this book Faith with Work Boots. I like that. Faith with work boots. I think that summarizes the book rather well. It shows the difference between fake faith and God given faith. And this morning, I want to show how every point in this kiastically structured book reinforces that central theme. And I'm going to skip over all of the other introductory material that I had prepared, dive straight into the book. Verse one says, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. Now the word scattered abroad is diaspora. It was used very, very commonly to refer to the exile, you know, in Babylon, the diaspora of the Jews. But it's used in Acts chapter eight to describe the 100% Jewish church at that time being scattered to the four winds because of Saul's persecution. And so here was a whole bunch of Christians, Jewish Christians, who did not have a homeland. They were kicked out of the only place they knew. They were a Christian Jewish diaspora. And contrary to the teachers of British Israelism and the identity movement, there are no lost 10 tribes of Israel. 10 tribes of Israel, all 12 tribes returned with Ezra. All 12 tribes are mentioned as right here. All 12 tribes were mentioned in Acts chapter 2 as being a part of that revelation. It says in 80-70, all 12 tribes have people being saved. The early church was the new Israel. It was 100% composed of Jews, and then Gentiles were grafted into Israel. And so it's not replacement theology. The church is and always has been Israel, okay? So that's what that's about. But this reference to scattering immediately introduces the trials that these persecuted believers were going through. And James says basically, hey, don't be surprised by that. The moment you become a believer, you switch sides, and you're gonna have Satan and all of his pawns ganging up on you. Why? Because they're your enemies. Don't be surprised when you get all kinds of opposition. Every Christian has a formidable adversary. So let me read beginning at verse two. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Why? Why would you count it all joy? Well, there are many, many reasons we can count it all joy. He outlines some of them, but in light of the central theme of this book, it proves you are a Christian. It proves that Satan hates you. You don't want Satan to love you. You're in a different camp than Satan, right? So he says, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." So how do we handle trials? And my verse-by-verse exposition of James that I gave a few years ago, it's up on the web, details some of the step-by-step process that James lays out. We're not going to have the time to get into much of those details today, because what I want to do today is I want to focus on the big picture. But very briefly, just as Jesus called his disciples to rejoice in the midst of persecution, James calls them to live the same impossible life in the spirit, a supernatural life that looks at life totally different than unbelievers would look at life, and lays hold of the supernatural. In this case, it would be supernatural joy. We're not talking about what we can engender in ourselves, supernatural joy. And every point in this chiasm will be I'm moving toward the center where James will ask, where is the evidence of your faith? Where is the evidence that you are saved and indwelt by the Spirit? That's the theme of the whole book. Do you have a counterfeit faith or do you have a God-given faith, a true faith? Do you grumble over trials? Or does God's Spirit lift you above those and enable you to see a life through His eyes? Now, we have a parallel set of verses on trials, patience, and prayer, chapter 5, verses 7 through 20. And so basically in these two sections, God is calling us to walk in the Spirit, pray for wisdom, and how we can live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him. And every one of these points shows us how to demonstrate we are truly justified Christians walking in the Spirit. There are a lot of other practical things that each section teaches as well, but I'm just going to be focusing on the big picture of James' overarching argument. The two B sections contrast the false Jewish idea that the rich are blessed by God, and if you don't have riches, it's evidence that you don't have faith. This was sort of the ancient name-it-and-claim-it version of the modern people who think, oh, you didn't get healed? Well, it's your fault. It's not the pastor's fault. You don't have wealth? Well, you obviously don't have very much faith. If you would sow 10 grand into my ministry, God would multiply that. You'd be really, really rich. No, James says, you are foolish taking this Jewish idea that because you're rich, you're blessed by God, and therefore you are saved. No, that's a bad, bad idea. He says, look at what the rich do. These rich people, they abuse the poor. They're engaged in all kinds of tyrannical evils. And so he says that is not evidence at all. Both Jesus and James say that believers must show true evidence of their salvation in God's favor, and it's the same in the Sermon on the Mount as it is here. It's evidence that God's grace is present. I should point out that Many commentators point out that James not only heavily borrows from the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, that's why it's almost called a wisdom book, But it borrows very heavily from the Sermon on the Mount in almost every section of the book of James. And that's one of several reasons why I believe that James was written after AD 40. Matthew was written in AD 40. I believe James was written in AD 45. I won't get into all of that introductory material. Anyway, in the first chapter and a half, James will introduce every theme that he will expand upon in the rest of the book. And people as early ago as 100 years have recognized this chiastic structure where it's not a balanced one because he introduces all the themes and then he expands in more detail on every one of those themes going in reverse order. Now, in terms of the B sections, what I've just outlined is shown in a brief way in the first B section. Chapter 1, verse 9 says, I mean, really, why would a poor person glory in his exaltation if he's still a poor person? because he's got a different set of eyes. I mean, what billionaire would glory in his humiliation that he's brought down equal to you and me and that he's not any better than any of the rest of us? Well, it's a billionaire who's become a Christian whose eyes have been opened to recognize he is utterly dependent upon the Lord, that he has nothing over any other person that God did not give him. But if you can't glory in all circumstances, then you need God's grace. The second B section gives more information on how to be able to glory in things others cannot glory in, beginning at chapter 4, verse 6. But he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And then verse 10 echoes the same paradox. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. exalts those who have true humility, and He humbles those who lack true humility. And the verses in between speak of the power that we have in spiritual warfare if we're humble. Why would we have power when we're humble? It's because when we're humble, we have access to the Holy Spirit and all of His resources. And so He goes through step by step. When you're humble, then God's grace works through you to cause you to quit judging others. Verses 11 through 12. A very difficult thing to do. And yet God's spirit enables us to do that regularly. We can trust God with the future, verses 13 through 17. Another very difficult thing to do. If you are a worrywart, this has been my sin in the past, being a worrywart, and God saying through James, you're not adequately embracing the supernatural grace of God to deal with those worries. You need to be able to handle those in a way unbelievers cannot. We, by the Spirit, have a totally different perspective of the billionaires who control You know, power brokers in America and the economics, chapter 5, verses 1 through 6. We no longer envy them, see them as enviable people. No, we pity them. We know they're coming under God's judgment. So the basic point is God's grace causes us to even look at life differently than unbelievers. Now, let me just compare the two sides. Both B sections of the chiasm liken life to something that vanishes quickly. Those who are truly saved don't focus on life, they focus on God. Both B sections point out the true end of the unbelieving rich. Both point to the need to humble ourselves before God. Both point to the need to receive grace, to handle our trials. They have a lot of other practical lessons as well, but thematically, they're helping to point us to the heart of the chiasm, which is, where's the evidence that you're truly justified? It's in acting by grace in all of these practical areas of life. So here's one of the things I want to point out. The center of this book is not about how we get saved. Okay, it's quite the opposite. The whole book is asking us to show that we have been saved, that we have faith, and how do we show it? By a transformed life. The two C sections deal with lust, excusing sin, anger, fighting, impatience, and trusting in ourselves. And if those things persist in us in our Christian walk, he's basically questioning and wanting us to question, am I really experiencing God's grace on a day-by-day basis? In contrast, James powerfully presses home the character of a true Christian who, number one, finds blessing in the midst of trials, two, endures temptation, three, trusts God rather than trusting himself, gives God the credit for every good thing in his life. treats God as faithful and trustworthy, gives evidence of a new nature, is swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. I mean, those are the evidences of a supernatural work of God's grace in us. None of those things are things that pagans can produce. And James makes it clear, if you lack those things, then you do not have evidence of being saved. All saved people begin to exhibit, at least in some small degree, some change, they experience some of the supernatural in their lives. The second C section gives much the same contrast, but since John Mays did such a wonderful job of preaching on that last week, I'll hurry on. I'm just giving the big picture flow to show how every section is building logically toward the center of the chiasm. And by the way, the reason I'm doing this, this will help you to see that the Roman Catholic interpretation and The Auburn Avenue interpretation of the center part does not fit the context at all. Our interpretation of the center needs to take into consideration the whole context. 2D sections are contrasting right and wrong approaches to the wisdom of God and to the scriptures. And both sections show what true, genuine Christianity looks like versus the counterfeit. Let me just read both sections, starting at chapter 1, verse 21. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. So there's this contrast between the genuine and the counterfeit. The whole book ties together on that theme. The second D section starts in chapter 3, verses 13 through 18. Who is wise in understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exists, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. So people can claim to have wisdom, but James says that the evidence that our wisdom is really a gift from God is that it changes you. If you persist in having envy, self-seeking, boasting, lying, sensuality, confusion, then it is evidence, James says, at a minimum, your wisdom is only an earthly wisdom, but at worst, it could be a demonic wisdom. But if you have a wisdom accompanied by purity, peaceableness, gentleness, willingness to yield, mercy, lack of hypocrisy, and other fruits, then it is evidence you're indwelt by the Spirit because only the Holy Spirit could produce those kinds of things within you. And by the way, both of those sections, I think, beautifully illustrate the difference between the Hebrew, the biblical Hebrew, and the Greek concept of wisdom. The Hebrew concept of wisdom is transformational. It changes you. The Greek idea of wisdom, you're just filling your head with a whole bunch of facts. Totally different approaches to wisdom. So just as the Sermon on the Mount was forcing people to recognize the difference between flesh-wrought Phariseeism and spirit-wrought Christianity, James is doing the same thing throughout the book. Now obviously I'm skipping over a ton of applications and I'm simply focusing on the big picture because what I want to show toward the end of this sermon is that the Reformed interpretation of justification passage, which is at the heart of the chiasm, makes far, far, far more sense than the Auburn Avenue interpretation. The two E sections address ungodly division in the church. Now this too shows that something is wrong with our faith. As chapter 2, verse 1 words it, my brethren do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with partiality. If you've got genuine faith, then favoritism should eventually dissipate from your life. Why? Because faith looks to the Lord of glory, and looking at the Lord of glory, you are humbled, and you no longer see yourself as anything of significance above others. So it vaporizes this idea of favoritism. Now, back to the big picture, the first E section. shows that the division came through partiality. The second E section shows division that comes as a result of a tongue that is set on fire by hell rather than being sanctified by the Spirit. Did you know that your tongues, Christians' tongues, can be set on fire by Satan, by demons? They can. We've gotta be aware of these things. Both sections are rich in instruction, but the only thing I wanna highlight is that both sections say that our conduct and our speech give, here's the word, evidence of the supernatural grace of God at work in us, or give evidence it's not at work in us. The whole book from start to finish is dealing with the evidences that we have saving faith. Though we are saved by faith alone, that faith always results in a change. It is a faith that works. It's not enough to claim to be justified. If your life shows no sanctification, it's unlikely you were justified or saved in the first place. Any interpretation of the central section that speaks of works as a means of getting saved rather than an evidence of an already accomplished salvation is failing to take the context of the whole book into consideration. Now I want to spend the remainder of our time giving what I consider to be the true interpretation of James 2, 14 through 26, which is the heart of the chiasm. And I want to start by having you look at the diagram that I made on page three of your outlines, bottom right-hand side of page three. This chart helps you to visualize what's wrong about some of the false views on justification. Now, overlaying that diagram, you'll see a large diagonal orange line that divides the chart into two parts. To the right of that line is forensic justification. Forensics deals with legal court matters, right? So it's forensic justification, which is being declared righteous in a court of law. Paul, James, and Jesus are equally clear that the unrighteous are declared to be righteous because of our union with Christ by faith alone. Our works do not factor into that part of the diagram that's to the right, where we're 100% righteous, not because of what we've done, but because Jesus's righteousness has been imputed to us. The moment you introduce works into that right side of the equation, you have a false gospel according to Galatians. There are no works in that forensic justification other than the works of Christ. Now, the green arrow, if you look at the green arrow going in a circle, the green arrow shows that the faith that unites you to Jesus and forensically justifies you is a living faith. and that living faith always results in the works that are on the left side of that orange line. Now, works can obviously be done by the flesh or by the spirit, and if they're done by the flesh, they're not of any good significance. The only works that the Sermon on the Mount or that James is interested in is works wrought by the spirit, and the only way they can be wrought by the spirit is if by faith we're claiming them, right? So it's a genuine faith. So those genuine works prove, here's some words that James uses, demonstrate or show that we have true faith. We call this demonstrative justification. Those works don't save us. Those works demonstrate we are already saved. Those who are forensically justified, as the green arrow shows, always, without exception, begin to have a change in their lifestyle, begin to showcase works done by the Spirit. And because those works demonstrate that we are saved, and they demonstrate we have a genuine faith, it's called demonstrative justification by theologians. Okay, one more thing in the picture I want to point out. Unlike what might be implied by the orange line, I almost didn't put the orange line in there, but I think it has explanatory power. Unlike what might be implied by the orange line, the picture is one whole that cannot be divided up. You can distinguish between forensic justification and demonstrative justification, but you cannot separate them. One follows the other inevitably. Now there is a a false teaching out there called the carnal Christian theory that says that the whole part of the diagram to the left is optional. They say you can be forensically justified and have zero works to the left of that line and you're fine. You got a ticket to heaven and you don't need to have demonstrative justification. That is an absolutely false doctrine. They artificially divide that picture, and it's not just James that fights against that. Paul does, and Titus, and other books. Now, enough on that picture, but I do think that that picture is very helpful in giving an overview of what James 2, 14 through 26 is talking about. What I wanna do right now is read that entire passage. James 2, beginning at verse 14. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? In the Greek, there is a that in front of faith. If a brother or a sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what is a prophet? Thus 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 without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. and he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Now Roman Catholics and at least some Auburn Avenue teachers have at least two things in common. They deny this distinction between forensic justification and demonstrative justification. So forensic is before God. And the demonstrative is before men. We're justified before men. We demonstrate the reality of our Christianity before men. They say, no, no, no, that's not a legitimate distinction. The second thing that they share in common is that you can lose your justification. You can lose your salvation. Now, they wouldn't word it quite like this, but really their theology amounts to justification by perseverance not justification by faith. They say you can lose your justification. So they say you start off justified. If you backslide and you're no longer engaging in good works, you lose your justification. We hold a different view. We say Well, that demonstrates you didn't have a genuine faith in the first place. You weren't saved in the first place. It is a different approach. But anyway, they don't see two different kinds of justification. They see a continuum of the same justification. By the way, it's very similar to the five-point Arminian Wesleyan view that confuses sanctification and justification. Now, of course, both Roman Catholics on the Auburn Avenue would say, No, no, no, we're all about grace. Don't treat us as legalists. We believe in grace. Grace starts the process. It enables the process. It finishes the process. But then they go on to insist that we are justified by faith plus works. And so it's really a contradiction. There is no sola fide there, and that faith works is, they say, unto justification. Let me give you some hints that James himself addresses two quite different kinds of justification. Let's look first of all at verse 24. This is the verse that is so frequently misquoted by the Roman Catholics. Verse 24 says, you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Now Roman Catholics treat the word only as if it said alone, as if it were an adjective. And sadly, five of the 37 translations that I looked up also translate it as alone. Here's how they translate it. Just five, praise the Lord, most of them translate it literally. But they translate it, you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. That would contradict the Reformed, the Reformation doctrine, right? But the Greek word is clearly an adverb only, not an adjective alone. And that makes all the difference in the world. Let me quote a commentator on this to clarify the distinction. He says the Greek adverb only, monon, does not qualify or modify the word faith, since the form would then have been mones. As an adverb, however, it modifies the verb justified. and not only justified by faith. James is saying that a by faith justification is not the only kind of justification there is. There is also a by works justification. The former type is before God, the latter type is before men. And actually Reformed people have outlined at least five different kinds of justification in the Old Testament. I'm not going to go over all those distinctions. I've given you all the information you need on page three of your outlines, but let me just list four of those five because I think they relate to what I'm wanting to get into. We are justified, first of all, judicially by God alone, according to Romans 3, 26, and a bunch of other verses. Second, we are justified meritoriously by Christ alone, according to Isaiah 53, 11, Romans 3, 24, and a bunch of other scriptures. In other words, He's the only one that could merit justification. Third, we are justified immediately by faith alone, according to Romans 3, 26, and 30, and a bunch of other scriptures. And then fourth, we are justified evidentially by works alone, according to James 2, 21 through 25, 1 John 2, 14, 15, 19, and a bunch of other scriptures. Now, I say works alone, not because those works can be produced without faith. James absolutely denies that in the next verse. But here's the reason I say it's before men. Men cannot see your faith. The only thing that they can see is the works that flow from faith. So that's why I say, before men, the only thing that they can see is works. It's works alone that would justify you before them. Now, Roman Catholics are not being sensitive to the five definitions of that word. Key point is that since the word only is an adverb, not an adjective, it should be obvious there is more than one kind of justification. The grammar absolutely demands it. This is not some artificial construct simply to explain away Roman Catholic doctrine. It just flows straight from the text. Second hint, James appeals to two quite different times in Abraham's life to illustrate these two kinds of justification. Look at verse 23. This verse really could be put into any of Paul's writings, into Romans or Galatians, and it comes from exactly the same period in Abraham's life that Paul argues from when God made his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. Verse 23 says, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That's exactly what Paul says. Galatians 3.6, Paul says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So it's word for word, the same phrasing as Paul. In the Hebrew, Well, the phrase, and the scripture was fulfilled, points back to Genesis 12, because the only scripture before Genesis 15 that had that promise was Genesis chapter 12. And the Hebrew, in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the word believed is in the perfect tense, also pointing back to Genesis 12. The word accounted is a legal term that belongs to a court of law. It's the Greek word legizimai, which means to account something to your, okay, you put something into my bank account, and I cheer, yay. I didn't have it before you accounted it to me. It's the word we use for imputation. So something I didn't have is imputed to me. What is being imputed that I didn't have? Righteousness. I didn't have the righteousness. Abraham didn't have the righteousness. It was imputed to him. Now the last phrase of verse 23 doesn't indicate that Abraham earned God's friendship, it says, and he was called the friend of God. When? At the time that he was justified. And when was that? The moment that he believed. Perfect tense. God treated him as righteous even though he did not have a lick of righteousness in himself. The righteousness was imputed to him. It was Christ's righteousness credited to his account. Now, so far, so good. It's identical to Paul's theology. But in verses 21 through 22, we have an entirely different justification. And the reason we know it's entirely different is because it takes place 40 years after verse 23. If you look at your diagram, again, on the bottom of page three, you will see that James 2, 23 is on the right-hand side of that orange line. So that takes place in the forensic or courtroom justification before God. James 2, 21 through 22 is on the left-hand side of that orange line, the justification before man, where he seeks to live consistently with that court declaration. The later justification by works that occurs in verses 21 through 22 occurred in Genesis 22, when he offered up his 25-year-old son Isaac, and Abraham was 125 years old. By the way, that's just a hint that Isaac had faith as well. Why do I say that? Well, a 125-year-old man is not going to be able to tie up and butcher a 25-year-old Isaac unless Isaac says, yeah, I agree to this. I agree with God's promise as well. So, just for the record, Abraham lived to be 175. Now, let's keep those contexts distinguished in our minds. In verse 21, a man who has already been justified saint for 40 years is said to be justified by works. And so, to me, it's obvious which category. It's in the fourth category of evidential or demonstrative justification. Now, let's read the verse. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect? Now, I want you to notice something here. It is not his justification that was made perfect, as so many false teachers claim. That is a gross misinterpretation of this verse. It was his faith that was made perfect. It wasn't his court justification that took place by works. That was 40 years earlier. The first justification was a justification before God in a courtroom before the judge of the universe. He's out of court. He's a believer. He's out of court. This is a justification before man that his faith in God expressed years before was so authentic he's willing to give up his son to the Lord. Hebrews 11, by the way, tells us He knew, without any shadow of a doubt, he was confident of the fact, since God in Genesis 15 promised that he would raise a seed through Isaac, God would be obligated, since he cannot lie, he would be obligated to raise Isaac from the dead if he had to go through with the sacrifice. That's how much he believed in the Lord. So it demonstrated the reality of the faith that had earlier justified him. And I think that's a good question to ask each of you. If you went into a court trial in China or some other place, you were tried by men to determine whether you're a Christian, would there be enough works in your life that you could be convicted? I think it's a good thing. Is your life so characterized by good works? Everybody knows you're different. You are a Christian. Notice that James keeps using the term show in this chapter. In verse 18 it says, but someone will say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. The Greek word is deikon, and it means to exhibit, to show, to display, and you'll see it all the way through the chapter. You got the words shown, show, speak and do, shown, show, show. Okay. Let me just now go through each of those verses, give you 13 proofs that James is trying to contrast the genuine from the counterfeit consistent with the rest of the book. If they truly have saving faith, he's basically asking, how come you have such a shallow Christiana? How come you do not have a zeal for holiness? That's his question. So look at verse 14. What is a prophet, my brethren? If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him? New King James leaves out the word that. He is not saying can faith save him. Of course faith can save him. Bible says that over and over. But can that kind of a faith save him? If you look in the Greek interlinear, you'll see there's an extra word in front of faith that distinguishes a certain kind of faith from another. Second, In verses 15 through 16, he's basically saying that words are empty without action. So if you've got faith without works, you've got empty faith. If you've got words without works, you've got empty words. So again, that fits what he has been saying in the rest of the book outline. Third, in verse 17, he gets to the nub of the issue, and he says, such faith by itself is a dead faith. Now, in my Bible, I have underlined by itself, because that was a critically important phrase for the reformers, they said even though we are justified by faith alone, we are not justified by a faith that is alone. So if your faith is by itself, if it's alone, if it does not have works, God says it's a fake faith. It's not a faith that could receive God's righteousness. If it is not a living faith that produces works, your works are gonna just condemn you because it's only what comes from God that is pleasing in his sight. So James is saying, if you have a faith that's by itself and it's not zealous for good works, you're not saved, you're dead in your sins. God has never regenerated you, he's never given you faith. Every supposed grace you have in your life is a counterfeit grace. And so it's a dead faith. That too, I think is consistent with what we have said, ties with the whole chiasm. Fourth, verse 18 quickly corrects an error on the opposite extreme. And that is whether there can be good works apart from faith. And he says no, obviously not. So he's dealing with both sides of the equation just like Paul does. Now Paul emphasizes dead works, James emphasizes dead faith, but both Paul and James are opposing both. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. James says, hey, it doesn't work that way. Show me your faith without your works, which is an impossibility, and I will show you my faith by my works. Any faith that can be shown without works is a different faith than James has. Any works that does not flow from faith is a different works than James has. The two have to go hand in hand. Fifth, verse 19 says that mere doctrinal belief is not saving faith since demons have good doctrine, but they're not saved. In fact, demons probably know more about God doctrinally than you and I do. They've been around for 6,000 years. The Bible says Satan knows the word of God. But he hates it, he disobeys it. The amount of doctrine you believe is not sufficient. Biblical faith involves the mind, the will, and the affections embracing God. Sixth, in verse 20, he says again that faith without works is dead faith. That too fits what we said, counterfeit versus real faith. Seventh, look at verses 21 through 23. Proof of what had been said can be seen in that Abraham demonstrated the saving faith that he started his Christian life with 40 years earlier. His faith simply grew as it expressed itself in works. So let me draw that out a bit. We'll start with verse 21. Justification by works is by works alone. Now obviously faith produces those works, the next verse says so, but humans can't see that faith. All they can see is works that illustrate the faith. James picks an example of works that flowed from his saving faith. There could have been any number of other that he could have picked, but Genesis 22, which was 40 years later, serves his purpose of clearly distinguishing the two kinds of justification. Verse 22, notice that he says, faith was working. Abraham already had faith, but his faith was working. Second notice, he says, by works, faith was made perfect. I mentioned already, I think, that justification was not made perfect. The only way to mature And faith is to challenge faith with good works, and good works are works that are done that no pagan can do. So just think of it this way. Faith is not just tested like Joshua had his faith tested by crossing the Jordan River. That would be a huge test of faith. You mean I actually gotta stick my feet into this water before it parts? No, faith is tested by whether you can have joy in very difficult circumstances like persecution. whether you can love the unlovable, whether you can gain the victory over your besetting sins. That shows the supernatural at work in your heart. Abraham so trusted God would raise a seed through Isaac, the very thing promised in Genesis 15, that he knew God would have to raise him from the dead. I think I already mentioned that from Hebrews 11. So that's faith, that's banking on God's word and acting even with all the evidence seeming to go against it. Every example of faith in Hebrews 11 is a faith that acts, a faith that works. Works is simply the perfection or natural outgrowth of faith. But in any case, the verse says that faith was perfected, not justification. This is not about getting saved, this is about growing his faith. But in verse 23, he hastens to clarify that he's not denying forensic justification by faith alone. He describes justification by faith alone when Abraham was 85 years old, 40 years before, the scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. We've already talked about that, and actually, since it's in the perfect tense, technically he was justified in Genesis 12. Abraham's first justification, let me just distinguish these. Abraham's first justification was immediate, not progressive. It was declarative, not earned. It was legal, not outside the courtroom, and was once and forever never in jeopardy. The second justification was before men, proved he was indeed a believer. It's ongoing. Forensic justification brought Abraham out of a state of being an enemy to being a friend. Evidential justification proved that Abraham was a friend of God. He's acting like a friend, right? 11th, look at verse 24, you see then, so he's appealing to the two justifications he's just discussed from Abraham's life and he's saying to his readers, do you now see that there are two kinds of justification that you need to be concerned about? You all experience the justification of verse 23, because you're believers, you know, you're in the church. But are you taking seriously the second justification before others? Nothing but faith is appropriate in the courtroom. In the courtroom only Christ's works will justify, but outside the courtroom, and you are outside the courtroom. Why? Because you're believers, Outside the courtroom, no one can know that you have faith without the works that flow from faith. So Christ said it this way, by their fruits you will know them. Not by their profession, but by their fruits. James says, you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. My twelfth point is James goes on to show that though you can distinguish forensic justification from demonstrative justification, you cannot separate them and have one without the other. And so in verse 25, James uses Rahab to illustrate the truth that faith and works cannot be separated because all four aspects of justification took place on the same day in her life. So you can distinguish, but you cannot separate. God saved her with the first three justifications, and she immediately showed that she was a justified person by taking dangerous actions that required true faith. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? His point is that no person who is justified by faith can ever escape being justified by works. You cannot have one without the other. So distinguish, yes, your eternal salvation depends on it, but verse 25 says don't separate. And then finally in verse 26 he says, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Just as body and spirit need each other, faith and works need each other. It's because of the true nature of faith that the two kinds of justification cannot be separated. And of course, the whole book is trying to distinguish between fake faith and true faith. Saving faith leads to demonstrating faith. Faith that justifies before God will eventually justify you before men. So this interpretation of these verses gives them the same fourth that all of the other sections of the Chiasm did. Throughout this book, you will see James contrasting True faith, grace, wisdom, and religion with fake faith. Faith, grace, wisdom, and religion. And in this section, he's contrasting dead faith and works with good faith and works using demonstrative justification. It fills out the picture perfectly. Like Paul insisted upon in his epistles, if you are truly saved, you will persevere. If you have true faith, it will result in works. So here is an illustration I like to have in my mind. When we first get saved, We are confronted with God. We are humbled. God tells us, take off your work boots for the ground you stand on is holy ground. So you take off your work boots, you bow down, you worship, you receive. You don't contribute anything. You have nothing to contribute. But after you're saved, you get up, you put your work boots on, you go out into the world and you serve your Savior gladly as His children. You're demonstrating that you are saved. So that's an image that helps me in my mind. These Jewish Christians were beginning to act as if they didn't have faith, as if they weren't saved, as if they weren't children. And James is testing them to see whether they are in the faith. And by the way, Paul did exactly the same thing in Titus and other books. Second Corinthians 13.5 says, examine yourselves as to whether you were in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified. How are they supposed to examine themselves? repentance, and good works. Paul had twice confronted them, and they've ignored him twice, and he's beginning to question whether they are true believers. He's doing exactly the same things that James is. In Titus 2.16, Paul said, they profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, disqualified for every good work. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. So Paul is in essence saying, hey, if you do not have demonstrative justification, you are denying that you ever knew Him in forensic justification. Claiming to be a Christian is not enough. If you really were justified in the courtroom, then prove it with your life. Here's how he worded it in the previous five verses. This is Titus 2, 11 through 15. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who, get this, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. So you see both sides of the diagram on page three in that statement by Paul. May we be a people who testify by our lifestyle what God has testified in the court, that we are saints, that we are righteous people. That means we should start living as a righteous people. And may He receive all of the glory. Amen. Father, we thank You for this challenging book that confronts our lives and challenges us to examine ourselves to see whether we have a genuine faith. May each one of us here be not deceived. But walking in the power of your Holy Spirit, may we exhibit an increasingly godly life that is conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless this, your people, in Jesus' name, amen.