okay well but a long time for the first james up here so i think i'll just keep preaching it if you will turn your bibles to james chapter four we're gonna be looking at james idea of faith without works being dead have you ever heard people make a an inconsistent truth claim Something like, it is an absolute fact that all truth is relative. I believe in freedom of speech, if you agree with me. I love my wife and my two mistresses. That one gets you killed. I eat healthy and I drink a two liter soft drink every day. Now these are silly and exaggerated, but Jesus warns us in the scriptures to beware of a particularly dangerous, inconsistent claim. In Luke 6 he says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been built. It had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. Jesus' point here is that to make the claim that he is Lord while not having any desire whatsoever to obey him is deceptive and inconsistent. And James, if you know much about the book of James, James loves to elaborate on Jesus' teaching. And that's what he's doing here in chapter 2. James is also concerned about dangerous, inconsistent truth claims. Claims like, I have faith, but I don't have works. I love God, but I can't be bothered with caring about my brothers and sisters in Christ. I believe in sound doctrine, but I don't care about obedience. James says that when the claim of faith does not line up with the actions that should flow out of faith, that faith is useless. That kind of faith is dead. So let's look at this passage James chapter 2 beginning in verse 14. 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 warmed 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 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. 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 as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. If you look in your bulletin, you can see my crazy outline. It is pretty crazy. There's basically two main points and then there's sub-points to those points. James begins by saying if someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him. And James begins by giving us an example of what he calls, what he's referring to as that faith, the faith that doesn't produce works. First, he brings us back to the topic of having mercy upon and caring for the needy. If you're familiar with chapter 1 and chapter 2 of James, There obviously was some kind of problem in these churches of rich people or people with status looking down on poor people and needy people and treating them badly. In James chapter 2 verse 1, he talks about showing favor to the rich and looking down on the poor. And in chapter 1 verse 27, he talked about how true religion is caring for orphans and widows, poor people, in their distress. Well, here in verse 14, it seems like he's bringing back the poor people to use them as an example of dead faith. He says, one of you sees a brother or sister poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and you say to them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, but you don't give them what they need. He says that statement, that action, is as helpful to that poor person and that hungry person as saying I have faith and not possessing works. So he's just using it as an example. James says that kind of faith is dead. He says this kind of faith cannot be seen. So just like the help from the words of the person who says be warmed and be filled cannot be seen. It's just a sentiment. He says the faith that says I have faith but not works is not seen. It's not visible. And that brings us to point one B. Show me your faith. James says in verse 18, 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 God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe. and shutter. The statement here, show me your faith, is very helpful for us to understand how James is defining faith here. What he's talking about when he says faith. James is not saying that faith over here, and then you add works to it, is what saves you. That's not what he's saying. He is saying the type of faith that saves, true living faith, is lived out in your actions and your words. There's a consistency there. In the Gospel of Mark, we see Mark teaching this too in the actions of Jesus. So how many of you are familiar with the story of the paralytic man who has friends and they can't get to Jesus because there's so much of a crowd? What do they do? That's right, Logan, right? I remember. They cut the roof. So, you know, just imagine Jesus is preaching to a crowd and then, you know, trickles of sand start coming down and then bigger chunks of roof just start falling in. And this guy is lowered down to Jesus. And Jesus, of course, heals him. And the interesting thing is that Mark says this about Jesus. He looks at the men who brought the friend and Mark says, Jesus saw. their faith. These friends didn't just say to the paralytic man, well, we hope you get better. They did something. They acted. And Mark says Jesus was able to see that faith. It was visible. James gives us another example of a faith that does not save. He says this, he says, you believe that God is one, you do well. Now when he says this little statement, you believe God is one, that's what we refer to as the Shema. How many of you are familiar with the Shema? All right, there's a handful. So the Shema is just the Hebrew word for hear, hear O Israel. This is from Deuteronomy 6.4. It's hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And this was a type of creed almost that the saints would say. This is a core foundational truth for the Christian faith. I mean we believe that the Lord our God the Lord is one and James commends us for believing that if you believe in the Shema That's a good thing you do well however, he says Guess who else believes in the Shema? the demons do Demons believe in the Shema Demons are not atheists They don't believe in false gods. They have even been in the presence of the one God. In a sense, they have more evidence of the existence of the one God than we do. Their theology is good, but they do not have saving faith. And it's because their lives and their wills and their hearts are not lined up with that belief. Demons don't have a heart and a desire to please God. But James does say that they have one proper response. What's the proper response that the demons have? They what? They tremble. They tremble. They shudder. So the demons actually have one up on people who have deceived themselves by just a faith claim. because they actually are terrified of the God that they refuse to serve. Now, James is going to continue making his case by appealing to the faith of two historical figures. And this is what I'm calling, I'm calling this James little like miniature hall of faith. So who's familiar with the Hall of Faith in the Bible? Yeah, where is that usually found? Hebrews chapter 11, yeah. So this is, I'm saying this is James version of Hebrews chapter 11. So starting in verse 20, James says, 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 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. James says that if you so far are not convinced by what I have said about faith, then let me appeal to our father Abraham and how God justified him by works. When does it say that Abraham was justified by works in that passage? I love making y'all talk to me. What Bible story does it say that Abraham was justified by works in? Huh? That's right, that's right. Anybody remember the name of that mountain? Mount Moriah yeah yeah so so this is Genesis chapter 22 and this is where Abraham was told go up on the mountain and offer up your son your only son to me prove your love to me and we all know what did Abraham not have to do on the mountain he did not have to sacrifice his son that's right what did God provide he provided a goat yeah So God told him to stop. He provided a ram or a goat for him. Now in Genesis 15, God promised Abraham something. He promised him that one day his offspring would be as the stars in the sky. So think about that and the sacrificing your one son. Those things don't seem to line up, do they? So I'm promising you that your children will be as the stars of the sky, and Abraham, go sacrifice your son on Mount Moriah. Well, Moses tells us in the book of Genesis chapter 15 that when Abraham believed this, it was credited to him as righteousness. And this is the normal way that we as good reformed people think about justification. justification by faith. Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteous. Not that he was completely righteous, but he was declared righteous by God because of his belief. But when James says in verse 21 that Abraham was justified by works when he offered Isaac, see he's not denying that Genesis 15 justification. He's just saying that Genesis 22 worked out and proved the real faith that Abraham had back in Genesis 15. So it wasn't like a new adding to his works, it was just proving that he had been justified when he believed in the promise of God. Now, if you're confused, raise your hand. Alright, thank you for that honesty, Ellie. So let me let me just bear with me if you're confused. I'm going to try to get through verse 24 This is probably the most difficult verse in the book of James James says you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone So let's all leave here and go to a Roman Catholic Church, right? Because the Reformation was for nothing we are we are justified by works and not by faith alone. What's one of the soul laws? Faith alone, yeah. Now, this obviously seems like a contradiction, right? Who do we know in the Bible that says that we are justified by faith alone and not by works? Paul, that's right. So, Paul in Romans chapter 2 says, for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. So, the Bible contradicts itself, right? No. Thank you for shaking your head no. Yeah. So let's try to clear up this seeming contradiction. First, we have to think about the audiences that these two men are writing to. James and Paul are addressing different concerns when they are using the word justified. So I'm going to tell you that, just simply, they're using the same word, justified, and it is the same word in the Greek. So don't try to go to some Greek scholar to clear this up. It is the same word in the Greek. But they're using the same word to mean a different thing. And the context is what clears it up for us. So, I don't know why, but in our modern times, when we approach the Bible, we love to do what RTS has trained us out of, which is called word-level theology. And what that means is we find a word like baptize or justify or church or something like that and we think it has to mean the same thing in every context no matter what and that's how we kinda get into some strange doctrines. So, but we don't believe this in our own language because we naturally use words the way the Bible does it here. Let me give you a few, these are very goofy examples so just bear with me. Sarah can run a successful dog sitting business while dogs are running around her. So, does run mean the same thing in both places in that sentence? No. One means to operate a business and the other one means literally physically the action of moving around and running. Here's another one. I am taking a book to the math class I am taking. So taking means actually picking up and moving from one place to the other. The second taking means participation in. I'm participating, see totally, now the meaning is slightly connected, but it has a nuance to it. Here's my last one. It will break my heart if you break my coffee. So, break in the first part of the sentence means emotional distress, I'll be upset. And the second one is physically just crushing the matter of a different substance. So, not a different substance, that's scientifically incorrect. Different shape, we'll say that. Okay. So, when Paul refers to justification, Paul is dealing with an audience who wants to say, hey, Faith isn't enough to save me. I have to add works. It's like I have to help God in order to be saved. I help save myself. And Paul is especially dealing with people, usually Jewish people, today we would say church people, who think that because they're good, God loves them and they're forgetting the fact that God only loves them because he sees them through the lens of Christ. Paul is dealing with people who think that they can do rituals and that they can keep certain, especially external things, and that adds to their salvation. So that's why he uses the word justified in the sense that God has already declared you righteous, and if he hasn't done that, then you couldn't even be in the presence of God at all. The way that James is using it, James is dealing with people who believe that they can say that they believe in God. I mean, we know this. Even in our modern churches, we have this kind of idea. It's called easy believism. Have you ever heard of that? You know, I said a prayer one time. Maybe I walked an aisle. Things that aren't bad. But then you just go out and live however you want to. And you think that you're saved because of that one little act that you participate in. James is dealing with that kind of person, the person who makes the profession of faith but then doesn't believe that the fruit of the Spirit has to flow out of that faith. For James, justification is more like vindication. It's like proof. Works justify by proving the claim. It's also helpful to note that Paul teaches this too. He just uses different words to mean the same thing. In Galatians 5.6, Paul uses this phrase. He says, faith working through love. You see how that's the same thing that James is teaching? Faith is doing the working. It's a faith that works and its motivation is love. In Romans 5.1.5 Paul uses this phrase. He uses the term the obedience of faith. Obedience that flows out of faith. So both James and Paul believe the same thing and teach the same thing. Sam Albury, a commentator I use every once in a while, says this. How can you tell if someone is justified? How do you know if they're considered righteous by God? The answer is not by mere profession of faith. Anyone can claim to be trusting in Christ. And I love this. This is hilarious. He says, you could train a parrot to say that it believes in Christ. Does that mean it's saved? Of course not. No, he says faith alone in the sense James is using it in these verses is insufficient. The real evidence is how that faith moves someone to obey what God has said to them. Now back in James, James uses another example of what he's calling justification by works. In verse 25 he says, And in the same way, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them away by another way? James uses two very different people in his example, in his hall of faith here. One is a rich man, the father of the Jewish people, and the other is a female Gentile prostitute. And I think he's trying to make a point here. I think he's still trying to make the point that God saves people no matter what their status. So don't look down on people because of their status. The point is the same. James basically says the point with Rahab is the same as with Abraham. Her faith was not just a profession. It was not just intellectual assent. Her faith acted. Rahab was in a position where the Israeli spies came into her town. They were seeking ways to destroy the town and she hid them. She hid them from her own people. Now, she didn't turn to them and say, I believe in your God and I hope you escape. Now go in peace and be victorious. No, that would not have been helpful to them. She acted. Now she did express faith in God, but in hiding the spies, she actually made herself an enemy of her own people and allied herself with God and his people. So James has these two positive examples of faith. But then he ends with a negative, which completely destroys my whole idea of a hall of faith, because he ends on this negative example. He says, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James wants you to ponder this. When you ever see a dead body, no matter how much the mortician tries to make that body presentable, The absence of life is evident. James says it's the same way with faith that does not produce works. The absence of life is seen. It's evident. So I believe that James would have us ask ourselves, does my life, does my speech, does my love for others, make it harder or easier for people to see my faith? Would your life cause an unbeliever to think this? Why should I follow Christ? Their lifestyle is no different from mine. They act no different from me. So what is the advantage to following Christ? Now as we conclude this sermon, I understand that James is kind of meddling with our faith here, right? He's saying some things that are not real easy for us to hear. But I would urge you, don't ignore the challenge. I understand that these types of passages can mess with your assurance and your comfort, but that's okay. Paul says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. It's okay to let these things linger and let these challenges push you a little bit. One of my favorite Puritans said this, if there is anything excellent, it is salvation. If there be anything necessary, it is working out salvation. If there be any tool to work with, tis holy fear. And my hope is that if there's anyone here who has the dead kind of faith that James is talking about in this passage, that that person would be plagued with holy fear. Because that fear could be the path to lead you to Christ. Now having said that, I don't want to end with all fear and trembling. I also want you to take comfort in a couple things. First, It's obvious that James is not saying that your good works are perfect or that they're completely consistent. Think about the example. Aren't you thankful that the book of Genesis just kind of lays out Abraham's life for us? I mean, Abraham's life was like this. You know, he had these deep valleys. and his works were not perfect or consistent. He had times when he was really acting in the flesh and he had times when he had great faith. Just because your righteous works are inconsistent does not mean that they are not being produced by a true real living and saving faith. And if you have this kind of heart, that I know some Christians do, where you earnestly want to seek God, you earnestly want to obey God, but you always feel guilty, you're always condemning yourself. Let me share with you one of my favorite passages that helps me. 1 John chapter 3 verses 19 to 20. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. So your heart might condemn you, but God's not condemning you. So beware of the deception of claiming that you have faith and not caring about obedience. If you've fallen for this deception, turn to Christ. He will have mercy on you. He will give you true and living and active faith. Amen. If you will please rise, we're going to sing the first two verses of number 427.