I told you Sunday that I planned
to preach to you tonight on the faith of devils, but that will
just have to wait for another day. I believe God's given me
a message. You'd be turning to James chapter two. Just put your
bookmark there. I'll get there in a little bit.
James chapter two. God has spoken to us by his prophets,
by his apostles, and by his son. and everything that God has spoken
to man. Everything that God has revealed
to man by his prophets, by his apostles, and by his son is in
this book. The whole revelation of God is
given to us in his word in this book. The importance of this
book and the words it contains is beyond understanding and expression. This is the Word of God. This is the Word of God. I was at my dentist office a
couple of weeks ago and He attends one of the churches in town.
I will be generous, considerably more liberal. And he said he
had a woman, a preacher, who was teaching the Sunday school
class. And she said, the Bible isn't to be taken as a historical,
literal book, but rather it is a book that gives practical advice
and pictures that are to be understood as allegorical things. And I
said to him, a man who's got a woman for a preacher has got
a fool for a preacher, and he's a fool to listen to her. And
that goes for any woman who's a preacher, let alone this one.
This book is God's Word. It is God's Word. Every word
in it, God breathed. All scripture given by inspiration
of God and profitable for instruction, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction, reproof, and instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished, furnished
throughout his being, unto all good works. This book, only this
book, is able to make us wise unto salvation. Here, in this
book, through the words of this book, we see who Jesus Christ
is, and sinners are instructed in the way of life and salvation
by faith in Him. He is able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is the Savior of the world. Trust His blood, His righteousness,
His grace, His power, His intercession. Believe Him and salvation is
yours. But know this also. This book,
the words of this book, I never read my Bible. I suggest you
do. I don't care to hear somebody preach from the Bible. I suggest
you listen. Our Lord tells us in the 12th chapter of John,
that by the words of this book we shall soon be judged. Every
man and woman soon will hear the words of this book either
to your everlasting joy or your everlasting torment. This is
the word of God by which men shall be judged in that great
day. Receiving, believing the Word
of God is that which is necessary to life and salvation. Yes, we
believe on the Son of God, but you cannot believe on the Son
of God and despise the Word of God. You cannot believe on the
Son of God and deny what's taught in the Book of God. We must receive
God's Word as His Word. And we must receive the word
of God by faith in Christ. In Hebrews chapter 4 we're told
about some folks who had the gospel preached to them just
as we had the gospel preached to us. But it did not profit
them because it was not mixed with faith. The word of God will
profit us nothing until we believe on the Son of God. You may read
the scriptures and Memorize the scriptures and hold to the scriptures
and fight for the scriptures and live your life by the rule
of the scriptures and do good and be admired of men. But until
you believe the Son of God, this book profits you nothing. It
profits you nothing. Faith in Christ is that which
is the key that unlocks the book of God. Brother Larry in his
prayer just a little bit ago spoke of All the types and symbols
and ceremonies of the law and all the various commandments
and laws given in Israel. Those things are just meaningless
symbols until you see Jesus Christ in those things. And you see
Christ in those things as you believe on the Son of God. Now
this seems to be as far as many folks go with the scriptures.
They hear it. and they profess to believe the Word of God, but
that's the end of it. Perhaps they hear the doctrine
and hold to that, or they hear the Word of God and discuss it
and debate it and argue about it, but they refuse to bow to
the Scriptures. They refuse to bow to God's revelation. We must receive the Word as God's
Word. We must receive the Word of God
by faith. But there's something more involved
in this matter of a living faith in Christ in our relationship
with the Word of God. Faith in Christ obeys God's Word. Now I want you to get that. God
help you to get this. God write it on my heart and
yours. Faith in Christ obeys God's Word. Faith obeys the revelation of
God. Faith obeys the revelation of
God. We bow to the revelation of God
in all things doctrinally, and we bow to the revelation of God
in all things doctrinally, no matter how it runs, contrary
to our flesh, our pride, our arrogance, our sense of self-worth,
we bow to the word of God. Faith in Christ equally bows
to the Word of God in all things in life. Believers are obedient
to Christ. Believers are obedient to Christ. Look at James chapter 1, verse
22. James tells us plainly that we
are not saved if we're not obedient. He says, be ye doers of the word
and not hearers only deceiving your own selves. Now that brings
me to my text and my message for this evening. My subject
is faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead. dead, useless, meaningless, empty,
vanity. Faith without works is dead. James chapter 2 verses 14 through
26. James declares that the person
who hears the word of God and claims to believe the word of
God but does not obey the word deceives himself. In other words,
if we do not obey the word of God, We have not received it,
and we do not believe it, and we are not saved by it. Those
who are not obedient to the Word of God, that's whether it's talking
about Don Fortner or Don Martin. Those who are not obedient to
the Word of God, have not received it, do not believe it, and are
not saved by it. Now that's not hard or judgmental,
that's just so. Let's see. James chapter 2 verse
14. Three times the Holy Ghost tells
us here, faith without works is dead. James 2 verse 14. What doth it profit, my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith
save him? If a brother or sister be naked
and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them,
Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you
give them not those things which are needful to the body, what
doth it profit?" Words don't mean anything. Words don't mean
anything. Here's somebody's cold. And they
need something to wrap up in. They need a warm blanket, a warm
coat, and they're hungry. They need some soup. And you
say, go in peace, my brother. What good did that do him? Words
are meaningless if you didn't reach in your pocket and give
him what he needed. Words are meaningless if you didn't wrap
a blanket around him and give him a coat if you had one to
give. Words are meaningless if you didn't feed him. Words are
meaningless if you don't. Verse 17, even so, Even so, just
as meaningless, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being
alone. My dear brother Paul Thacker,
who while he lived was of such great help to this congregation
and many others, when I first met him, the first time I sat
in his living room, he said to me, I'm convinced that faith
is not just what we believe, faith is acting on what we believe. And my friend who's now with
the Lord was exactly right. Faith is not just the doctrine
we believe or the person we believe. Faith is acting upon the fact
that we believe God. Faith without works is dead because
it's all alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works. James, speaking by the Spirit
of God, says, Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will
show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest there is one God.
We're strong Orthodox Christians. We're Trinitarians. Thou believest
there is one God. Thou doest well. So does the
devil. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
O empty-hearted, empty-headed man, faith without works is dead. That's the second statement. Verse 21, Was not Abraham our
father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son
upon the altar? Now, some folks read that and
they say, What's the problem? James is
contradicting Paul. And do you know books have been
written about that? To solve the contradiction between James
and Paul? And folks, some folks will say,
well, James and Paul can't both be speaking as servants of God.
This is the Word of God. So any apprehension we have,
any problem we have with James' statement right here, Abraham
was justified by works. Any problem we have with that
is a lack of understanding what God says in His Word. The problem
is not a conflict between James and Paul. The problem is a conflict
between Don and James. The problem is a conflict between
my flesh and God's Word. A conflict between God's revelation
and what I want God to say. Read what it says. Was not Abraham
our father justified by works? when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought
with his works? And by works was faith made perfect,
complete, entire, whole? And the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
Abraham believed God, long before he sacrificed his son Isaac.
And righteousness was declared to be his when he came out of
Haran and, believing God, walked in the wilderness. Righteousness
was declared to be his when God said, I'm going to give you a
son. And Abraham said, I believe God's going to give me a son.
God said it was righteousness. It's his. It's his. And now he
tells us that this is fulfilled. Abraham now shows himself righteous,
offering his son Isaac, and he's called the friend of God. Verse
24, you see then how that by works a man is justified and
not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers
and had sent them out another way? For as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Three times James tells us faith
without works is dead. And he gives us four illustrations
of this fact. A needy brother or sister to
whom you say go in peace but give them nothing. The faith
of devils, the devils believe also but they're yet without
faith. They have no faith in Christ
Jesus. Abraham's offering of his son
Isaac and Rahab the harlot hiding the spies. Back in chapter 1,
verses 23, 24, and 25, James tells us that a person who hears
or reads the Word of God and does not rule his life by what
God says. I chose my words deliberately.
And I looked them over a long time. The person who hears or
reads the Word of God and does not rule his life by what God
says, his religious life, his doctrine, the way he behaves,
his house, his business, the person who hears or reads the
Word of God and does not rule his life by what God says, is
like a person who looks into a mirror and pays no attention
to that which the mirror reflects. The mirror says, your hair is
messed up, your face is dirty, you need a shave, your teeth
need cleaning. But as soon as he turns away,
he says, I'm saved by grace. These things don't matter. How
I look, how I talk, how I act, that's not important. James says
that person has deceived himself. His religion is vain. I actually
heard a preacher some years ago make the statement, we're saved
by grace. Character and conduct don't matter. Character and conduct matter
a great deal. It does matter how I live. It
does matter how you live. It does matter how we talk. It
does matter how we behave. The person who looks into the
perfect law of liberty and obeys it, he is a doer of the word
and he's blessed of God. James is not telling us that
God's people are legalist or that we are to live under the
Mosaic law. Sinai's law was a law of bondage. James is talking
about the law of liberty. He's talking about the whole
revelation of God, the gospel of God's free grace revealed
throughout the book. When James speaks of the perfect
law of liberty, he's telling us that the word of God, this
word of grace into which faith looks, speaks like this. Love one another. Be kind to
one another. Wives, obey your husbands. Obey
your husbands. I've forgotten who it was and
where it was. And that's good. But I was chatting
with someone and the lady said, I would not say in a marriage
vow that I'm going to obey my husband. And I said, well, I
wouldn't marry you. I wouldn't marry you. Why? Because
God requires it. And God's people obey God's word. But that's out of step with the
times. I want to stay out of step with
the times. I hope you do. I don't ever intend
to catch up with the day in which we live. I hope you're willing
and determined to stay behind. Husbands, love your wives. Abstain
from all appearance of evil. That particular statement in
its context is not talking about abstaining from something somebody
looks at and says, well, that's bad. You ought not do that. Back
in the office, we kind of teased Lindsey and Bobby. I always ask
them, can I get you a cup of coffee? Because I know neither
one of them drink coffee. But they don't frown too much
on me having a cup of coffee. Some folks do. That's not healthy,
you know. You can't do that to be a Christian.
I know folks who profess just that very thing. James is talking
about abstaining from that which is contrary to the gospel of
God's grace. If it looks like free will, if
it looks like works, stay away from it. It is. Walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. What does that mean? Live by
faith in Christ and you will not fulfill what you are by nature. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. Don't do it. Don't do it. It'll
cost you. It'll cost you. Let your light
so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. Look not on your own things but
every man on the things of others. Be content with such things as
you have and avoid covetousness. Faith hears God's speech. And
faith cries, God, give me grace to obey. Give me grace to obey. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. Did you hear God say that? You're
not your own. That's what God said. You're
bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body in your spirit, which are God's. I don't think there's been a
day or much time through a day in the last 48 years. I haven't
had to acknowledge how I horribly, horribly, horribly fall short
of that command. and beg God for grace to glorify
him this day. Oh, I've been redeemed. Christ bought me with his precious
blood. God, give me grace to glorify
you. To do all things for the glory
of God in body and in spirit. The person who can look on those
things and ignore them is a lost rebel. The person who looks into
these things with a humble, broken heart and cries out to God saying,
what will you have me to do? Regulating his life by these
things, by the things revealed in this book, is a doer of the
word and is blessed in his deeds. Understand, understand. We are
saved by grace alone. Nothing we do in any way contributes
to God's saving grace. We're saved by grace alone. In fact, to teach otherwise,
to teach that somehow our works have something to do, make some
contribution to this thing called salvation, is a criminal doctrine,
denying the very necessity of our Lord's redemption, saying
that Christ died in vain. Galatians chapter 2, verse 21.
Paul says, I don't frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ died for nothing. Christ died
in vain. And the grace by which we are
saved, is grace that produces works. Works we are urged of
God to be careful to maintain. Twice in Titus chapter 3, he
says, Jonathan, you be careful to maintain good works. You be
careful that you do. Why? Because we're so prone by
nature not to. We're so prone by nature to ignore
our responsibility. We're so prone by nature to excuse
irresponsibility and to excuse failure. Not that we would make
a fair show of things in the flesh, but grace by which sinners
are saved is grace God gives which produces in saved sinners
works that God calls good works, works of faith. We are His workmanship,
we're told in Ephesians 2, Ted. His workmanship, God's masterpieces. His workmanship created in Christ
Jesus, made new creatures in Christ, that we should walk in
good works created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now hear
the Word of God and hear what God says about this. Faith without
works is dead. Now let me repeat somewhat what
I told you Sunday morning. As we read and study the Word
of God we find believers being justified in four distinct ways. We are justified from eternity
by the will, purpose, and decree of God in Jesus Christ the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. No question about
that. Everyone who's justified in time
was justified from eternity in Jesus Christ the Lord. And we
are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, by His blood atonement
at Calvary. When Christ cried, it is finished,
He put away our sins. He made us the very righteousness
of God in Him. When He was made sin for us and
punished for our sins, we were made the righteousness of God
in Him and are rewarded with perfect righteousness. The proof
of this is the fact that He who was made sin was buried and is
now risen from the dead, justified in the Spirit, and yonder He
sits, justified from all the sin for which He died. and we
are justified in Him. And the believer is justified
by faith. That is to say, we receive justification
by faith in Christ. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. And when the Scriptures
talk about justification by faith, it is not teaching that justification
or that faith is a condition of justification. I just read
that in a commentary yesterday. I thought, I can't believe this.
I can't believe this fellow said that. Salvation is conditioned
upon our faith. Oh no, a thousand times no. A thousand times no. Faith is
the gift of God, the response of the heart born again as God
speaks by His Word. Faith in Christ is the result
of our being saved in the new birth, our being sanctified,
our being regenerated. And faith in Christ is the result
of our being justified by Christ Jesus the Lord. John Gill put
it this way, the reason why anyone is justified is not because they
have faith, but the reason why they have faith is because they're
justified. Faith is the fruit, the evidence,
the manifestation of justification. And by faith we receive justification. Faith reaches out with purpose
and deliberately takes from God all His grace. Faith reaches
out with purpose and deliberately takes from God all His grace. I can't think of a better illustration.
I'll give it to you again. And the scriptures, receive,
implies two different things. The same word. This glass received
water. It didn't do a thing. Somebody
just put some water in it. And Burl Hart, that's how you
received life. You were dead, God gave you life.
You were lost, God gave you life. Without you doing anything. Now,
having been given life, faith receives Christ. just like I received that water.
Faith that is the fruit of life receives Christ gladly and willingly,
and we receive all the gifts, benefits, and blessings of grace
in Jesus Christ by faith in Him. And every true believer justifies
his professed faith in Christ by works. If a person says he
or she has faith, James makes a fair and honest request. He
says, show me your faith. Convince me you have faith. Justify
your claim. Justify your faith. Abraham did. Rahab did. And you may say, oh,
I believe in one God, sovereign, omnipotent, eternal, saving,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I'm a five-point Calvinist. I
believe, too. Look, so do the devil. The devils are just as orthodox
as Paul Harries and Don Fortner. Just as orthodox. They're just
as precise in doctrine as us. They understand far more than
we understand, but they don't know God. They don't believe
God. Wilt thou know, O vain man, that
faith without works is dead? Fruitless faith is useless faith. Faith that has no effect on your
life is useless faith. Those who know Christ, those
who experience His grace, being justified by His grace, justify
their professed faith in Christ by their works. Now I repeat,
James and Paul don't contradict each other. In Romans and Galatians,
Paul shows us the accomplishment of justification. Here in James
2, James shows us the outworking of justification. What kind of
works justify a man and prove the reality of his faith? What's
James talking about here? Let me show you. Look at chapter
1. A patient submission to the will
of God. Look at verse 2. James chapter
1, verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into divers temptations, divers trials, knowing this,
that the trying of your faith worketh patience. So, but Brother
Don, I have such a struggle with trials and difficulties. I just,
that can't apply to me. Back in the office last Sunday
evening, Brother Larry read the 107th Psalm. And you've been through a few
trials in your life, a few difficulties, a few troubles. And I can tell
you, I've never discussed, well I guess I have discussed it with
him, I don't remember what particular time, but I just guarantee you,
Larry will tell you that when the trials and difficulties come,
you wring your hands and you just do everything you can to
work it out and you can't work it out and God fixes it so that
you realize you can't work it out and forces you to trust Him
and forces you to submit and faith says thank you God graciously
by His grace triumphs over the flesh of His people giving us
grace needed, sufficient grace in every time of need. What kind
of works justify a man before God as he walks before God in
faith? What kind of works prove the
reality of faith, love toward the people of God? That's what
James talks about in chapter 2, verses 15 and 16. If we love each other, We bear
one another's burdens, weep with those who weep, rejoice with
those who rejoice. We provide for, care for, protect,
forgive, and do for others the objects of our love. And God's
people do. I'm not suggesting, Sam Wall,
this is how you ought to behave if you're a believer. I'm saying
if you and your pastor are believers, this is how we behave. And God
graciously forces it. You get angry with a brother,
and you're, oh, I just want to bust him. You just do. That's just fact. And you hate
it. Oh, God, forgive me. and God
graciously compels you to forgive your brother. What kind of love
justifies a man's professed faith as he walks with God in this
world? Love toward the people of God, submission to the will
of God, and faithful obedience to the word and will of God,
utter consecration to the will of God, and the glory of God. Believers, like Abraham when
he offered Isaac, are completely given over to
God's glory. They really are. Not the flesh. I don't pretend that. Oh, my God. I don't dare pretend
that. But Lindsay Campbell, if you
and I are believers, We delight in the law of God after the inward
man, and we give ourselves in utter consecration to God our
Savior. And he graciously forces us to
do so. As we would break away and live
for ourselves and live unto ourselves, God fixes it so that we can't. He fixes it so that we can't.
What kind of works are those that justify a man's professed
faith in Christ? Self-denial and self-sacrifice
for God. That's what Rahab did when she
hid the spies. That's how faith behaves. hid
those spies and sent them out another way. And she thus proved
her faith by her works. Jephthah lifted his hand to God. And when his daughter came out,
oh, how his heart broke. And there must have been some
conversation. His daughter said, Daddy, you do what you told God
you was going to do. And Jephthah said, I've lifted
my hands to God. I can't go back. I can't go back. Let me give you one more illustration.
One more illustration. Turn back to Mark chapter 14.
Mark chapter 14. If you read this book and read
carefully what the book says about good work, works by which
we glorify God, you will find that they always involve two
things that only God sees and understands. Two things that
only God sees and understands. What Abraham did, nobody saw
but God. Nobody understood but God and
Abraham. And what Rahab did, nobody saw
but God. And nobody understood it but
God and Abraham. In fact, if you care to read
some commentaries out of the book of Joshua and hear them
talk about Rahab, you say, well, I don't understand how she could
have done this, because Rahab lied to save those spies, but
somehow she also acted in faith. What Rahab did, God calls faith
in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's what God calls it. What
are those two things? What are those two things? that
always characterize good works. Love to Christ and love to his
people. Those two things, always, always.
Not things that men see and understand. Not things men stand back and
say, oh, oh, look at Brother Don. Man, he's a good Christian. He's an example of what Christians
ought to be. If ever there was a good man, there he goes. Oh,
no. No, no. Here's good works. Mark
14, verse 3. Being in Bethany in the house
of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having
an alabaster box of ointment, a spikenard very precious. And
she broke the box and poured it on his head. And there were
some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was
this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for
more than 300 pence and had been given to the poor. That was a
year's wages. Men worked for a penny a day.
Read Matthew 20. She brought a box of perfume,
spikener that she'd been saving up, a year's wages? A year's wages! And she broke
that thing and poured it out on the Savior. And they murmured against her.
Verse 6, Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble you her? He saw what nobody there saw.
She hath wrought a good work on me. For you have the poor
with you always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good.
But me you have not always. She hath done what she could.
She's come aforehand. to anoint me, to anoint my body
for the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of
her." What was involved in this great work this woman did, the
only work described by the Son of God in this book as a good
work. The only time in this book the
Son of God says about something a man did, a human being did,
that's a good work. Oh, that gets my attention. Mary
did what she did here just for Christ. Nobody else had any benefit from
it, just her, just him. Just for his glory, to give honor
to him. It was an act of pure love. You see, love never counts the
cost. Love never weighs the consequence. Love never considers a loss a
loss when the loss is made for one who is loved. Now, this was a work requiring
considerable sacrifice and self-denial. Mary brought a sacrifice of tremendous
magnitude. She appears to have brought everything
she had, and with one act gave it all away for no reason except
to say, Master, I know the price of my redemption, and here I
give myself to you. Though it was a spontaneous act
of love, this sacrifice and anointing required thoughtful and deliberate
preparation Our master tells us that Mary had specifically
kept this precious ointment for this occasion to anoint his body
for the burying. And she did this without calling
any attention to herself. She just kind of slipped into
the room and anointed the master. This was the response of Mary's
heart to the Savior for the sacrifice by which she
was redeemed. It was an act of faith by which she justified her professed
faith in the Savior. Faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead. What kind of faith do I have?
What kind of faith do you have? If it does not cause us to give
ourselves to our Redeemer, it is a dead, meaningless, worthless
faith. God's people are people who serve
Him and walk with Him in faith. God make us such, for Christ's
sake. Amen.