If you would turn with me this
morning to the little book of James chapter two, if you would. James chapter two. I'll begin reading in verse 17
of James chapter two. In verse 17, James writes, even
so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone. Yea, a man may say that thou
hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works and I will show thee my faith by my works. Now let me
say in the beginning that this is a very misunderstood passage
of scripture. Interpretation has caused a great
deal of confusion and controversy, but it shouldn't. It shouldn't
at all for the simple reason that this book says without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. No contradictions in this book,
no controversy in the Word of God. So with that said, I want
to spend some time this morning trying to unmuddy any waters
that man has stirred up in this matter of salvation by grace
through faith and what James means here when he says, faith,
if it hath not works, is dead being alone. Now, I won't turn
you here, but you know the passage well. The Apostle Paul wrote
in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, those very familiar words
that let us know very plainly how God saves sinners. This is
the passage that we most often turn to and refer to to prove
that salvation is by grace. For by grace are you saved, through
faith. And that's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."
Very plainly we see here that it's by God-given grace, through
God-given faith that we're saved. We can agree on that, can't we?
It's this grace and this faith that's in Christ. No other place
in Christ that freely provides our salvation. It's not of us,
and it's not by us. It's the gift of God. This grace
and this faith comes from God. It comes in Christ. It's not
of works. God gives the chosen sinner grace,
and God gives the chosen sinner faith, and both the grace and
the faith is given to us through Christ's substitution. You can't
obtain a gift by works without it ceasing to be a gift. If obtained
by works, it becomes something that you've earned. And if we
could work to achieve this gift of grace and faith, we would
most certainly boast. It's our nature to do so. Paul
strengthens his case further here in this matter of achieving
salvation by works, by the simple fact that God will not share
his glory in the salvation of sinners with another. God gets
all the glory, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. God gets all the glory. You see,
the sinner doesn't do anything to contribute. Now, the point
that I'm endeavoring to make here in the beginning of this
message is that the grace of God and the faith of the sinner,
they go hand in hand, and both are God's gift to his people.
Grace without faith is impossible. Faith without grace is impossible. It takes the giving of both to
save a sinner, and both come in Christ from God above. Paul
said in Romans 11, verse six, he said, and if by grace, then
it's no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if
it be of works, then it's no more grace, otherwise work is
no more work. Salvation cannot be attained
by both grace and works. It's one or the other. For many
today, this is a subject of great controversy. There are many who
do not understand the relationship between faith and works. It's for the same reason that
men are unable to reconcile God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. But both are true. Now, in Romans
chapter 4, I want you to stay in James for now, but in Romans
chapter 4, you can look at this later, Paul said Abraham was
justified by faith without works. And then here in James 2, verse
21, James asked this question. He said, was not Abraham our
father justified by works? Now, wait a minute. Paul said
Abraham was justified by faith without works, and now James
said Abraham was justified by his works. Is this a contradiction? Men and women turn over to the
book of Hebrews chapter 11. They read, by faith Rahab perished
not with them that believe not. And then James says here in his
epistle, chapter two, verse 25, look at it. He said, Rahab was
justified by works. Is this a contradiction? No. Not in the mind and heart of
a redeemed man or woman, it's not. Not at all. You see, a believer
understands that what both Paul and what James are saying is
the same thing. And you say, well, how so, preacher?
How is that possible? Well, Paul is talking about the
justification of a man's and woman's soul before God. We're justified by Christ alone,
we know that. Christ is our justification before
God. There is no other justification
before God. Christ reconciled us to God. And James is talking about the
justification of our faith before man. Paul and James are perfectly
reconciled in these things. They're viewing the truth from
two different standpoints or perspectives. People say that
faith is invisible, and that's true. It's true to the extent
that we can't go down to the store and buy a gallon of faith.
We can't pick faith off a tree in our yard. Faith is not a tangible
or a touchable thing, but in a whole nother sense, faith is
not invisible. You know, James would have never
said here, show me your faith if it could not be seen. If you
can show someone your faith, then it's not invisible. And
James says, show me thy faith without thy works, and I'll show
thee my faith by my works. So we have a hint here anyway,
that faith is seen by our works. The only way to show faith is
by works. Now, if my faith is true faith,
if my faith is saving faith, it will produce works. I'm not
saved by those works. I'm saved by grace through faith.
It's the gift of God. But our faith will produce out
of the labor of love for Christ, it'll produce works of faith.
Noah was justified by faith in Christ, but Noah proved that
he believed God by building an ark on dry ground. Noah, it's
gonna rain. I want you to build a ship, big
ship, by the way, on dry ground. Noah believed God, and he built
that ark, and Noah believed God when he got in that ark before
the flood came. You see, his faith produced some
works. Abraham, Father Abraham, the
father of our faith, was justified by believing God. Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him for righteousness. But Abraham
proved that he believed God by leaving his father's house when
God told him to. He proved he believed God by
taking his only son to offer him as a burnt offering unto
God. You see, faith produces a work
of faith. His actions proved his faith
and his salvations. His actions didn't save him,
but they certainly proved that he was saved. Now, a man or a
woman is not saved because they pray. I hope that we figured
out now that prayer can't save, it's Christ that's saved. But
a man who doesn't pray is not a saved man. A man is not saved
because he's honest, but I'm telling you a dishonest man chose
himself to be lost. Sinners are not saved because
they love God's people. Men and women are saved because
Christ died for sinners. He was buried and He rose again
in their room instead. But James said, we know that
we've passed from death to life because we love the brethren.
Loving God's people is proof. It's evidence that God has saved
us. So there is a way that faith
is seen, and you can't show someone something that can't be seen.
Men and women's good works is proof that the Lord has done
something for them. Now, James gives us a very good
example right here in this second chapter. Look at verse 14. James
says, what doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he
hath faith and hath not works? Can faith save him? Can faith
without work save him? And then in verse 15, James gives
us a very good illustration. James writes, if a brother or
sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you
say unto them, depart in peace, be you warmed and filled, notwithstanding
you give them not those things which are needful to the body,
what doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not
works, is dead being alone. Now, we have a picture here,
a very good picture, a very good illustration of the righteous
work of Christ by faith. Every child of God, naturally
speaking, was naked and destitute. We had no righteousness to offer
God. We were dead in trespasses and
sin, without food, destitute. Our God did not merely say to
us, depart in peace. He gave us His only begotten
Son, the faithful one, Christ Jesus, who manifested His faithful
work of righteousness on our behalf. He clothed us with His
righteousness. He fed us with Christ, the living
bread. We drank from Christ, the solid
rock. He clothed us, He fed us, He
gave us life, and His faith produced a work of righteousness for us.
If someone is naked and destitute of food and you tell them, well,
be warmed and filled without giving them the clothing and
the food, the nourishment that they need, how have you helped
them? That's what James is saying here.
What did it profit them? And then he says, even so faith
works the same way. If you don't put action, if you
don't put work with your words, your words don't mean anything.
If you don't put works with your professing faith, your faith
means nothing. That's why it's the faith of
Christ that saves us. Our works don't merit our salvation. Christ's righteous work for us
did, but our works do give evidence to our salvation. That's what
this is about here. If our faith doesn't give evidence,
proof to what we profess to believe, then our faith is without works
and it's dead being alone. It's alone because God's not
in it. What is faith? Well, better yet,
what good works does faith produce? Let's just consider a few things
this morning. It's just us, it's just family.
Let's just talk about these things. First of all, faith produces
repentance. You see, faith produces a heart
that is genuinely broken over sin. The false religionists,
the man or woman who has no faith in Christ, only puts faith in
their works. They can never by themselves
produce a broken heart within themselves. They pray like that
Pharisee in the temple. They say, Lord, I thank you that
I'm not like other men. I tithe, I fast, I pray, I go
to church. I do many wonderful works in
your name. Oh, they may talk about sin in
general. They may talk about the sin of
nations. They may talk about the sin of
others, but they never talk about their sin. However, the true
believer who has God-given faith prays like that publican. I can
just see him there. I've pictured him so many times.
His head's about, his hands on his chest, and he says, Lord,
be merciful to me, the sinner. I need mercy, Lord. I'm a great
sinner. A child of faith prays like David. Oh, God, have mercy upon me. Not upon us, but upon me. Pay
close attention to David's words. He said, according to thy loving
kindness, according to thy tender mercies, not justice, no, not
justice, but mercy, your mercy. According to that, blot out my
transgressions. "'Oh God, I acknowledge my transgressions,'
he said. "'My sin,' not the sin of others,
"'is ever before me.'" You see, the sacrifices of God are a broken
heart and a contrite spirit. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart. That's something that the Holy
Spirit produces in a sinner. It's an inward work of grace
and faith in the heart that produces an outward work of grace and
faith from the heart. Secondly, faith enables a sinner
to justify God in condemning them. We say it all the time. I can't think of a better definition,
Shelley. We've talked about it before.
The man and woman of faith will take sides with God against themselves. They sure will. They'll say that
God has a right to send them to hell. They'll agree that it
would be a just and right thing for God to do if he did. They'll
confess that they deserve to be condemned and damned, and
they'll tell you straight up that if God poured out His justice
and wrath on them, that it would be exactly what they had coming. The sinner that's trusting in
his or her own works would and could never say that. The saved
religionists can think of a thousand reasons why God should save them,
but they couldn't come up with one as to why He shouldn't. Again
with David, the true believer says, against thee and thee only
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified, that you might be just and right when you speak
against me, that you might be clear when you judge me. And
he is, because we're guilty. The elect confess, God, I'm a
sinner. And when you speak, and when
you judge, and when you condemn, you're right in every way. Every
charge that's brought against me, I have no defense. I'm guilty. And that, my friends, is an inward
work of grace, worked in us by God that produces an outward
work of faith from the child of God. It's an inward work of
power that produces an outward work of silence. I said it that
way on purpose. It's an inward work of power
that produces an outward work of silence. What the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilty before God, Romans
3.19. You know what that means? That
means that when God really convicts a sinner of sin, God really shows
a sinner that sin is what they are, not just what they do. God
brings them to see that Christ alone is their righteousness.
God shuts their mouth. They shut their mouth in reference
to their own goodness. They shut their mouth in reference
to their own righteousness and their own rights. They shut their
mouth and they stand speechless before God, dumb like the sheep
they are before their shearers. They open not their mouth. Religious
folks, they'll talk and talk. They'll talk about their dedication.
They'll talk about their consecration. They'll talk about their sanctification. Not the child of God. His mouth
is shut. God shut it. Men will talk about
their righteous works. They'll talk about all they do
for God, but not the child of God. You see, they've been broken. They've been stripped, just as
that thief on the cross was. Two thieves, two peas out of
the same pod. They were in trouble for basically
the same things. And it was so serious that they
were being killed for it. They were being crucified. And
there was that one thief He said to the other thief, after the
Lord done a work of grace in his heart, he said, don't you
fear God? Aren't you afraid of God? We're hanging here and we're
hanging here justly. This is what we deserve. We're
getting exactly what we deserve. But this man called Christ, he's
done nothing amiss. Oh, you see, God showed him something
while they're on that cross. And then that broken man, he
turned to the Lord Jesus and he said, Lord, you see, he saw
something that he didn't see before. He saw that this man
was a Lord. He's God. He said, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. You see, he knew that this was
the king of kings, that he had a kingdom. He said, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. And the Lord Jesus, He said,
today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. You find a sinner
like that, and you found a sinner that God is gonna be merciful
to. You find a sinner like that,
and you're gonna find one whom God is gonna be merciful and
gracious to. You find a sinner like that,
you found a sinner who justifies, agrees with God in their own
condemnation, you found a saved man or woman. You've found a
sinner that has worked out their own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do His
good pleasure. You see, it's an inward work
of grace and faith that outwardly shows itself in faith to others. Faith without this kind of works
is dead and alone. That's what James said. He said,
you show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you
my faith by my works. Thirdly, true faith believes
that God is sovereign. An unsaved man or woman can do
a lot of things, or at least they think they can. You know,
false faith can produce a lot of so-called righteous works,
which are really nothing but self-righteous works. but false
faith will never ever bow to the sovereignty of God, especially
in the salvation of sinners. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what the scriptures say. There's no debate about that.
The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord because the Lord
is the one that made us who are unrighteous, righteous. It's
of Him. He's their strength in the time
of trouble. The Lord Jesus Christ is my salvation. He's my strength. Salvation is
not of him that will it, nor of him that run it, but of God
that showeth mercy. Is that not so? Those of you
that know Christ know it is. A man or a woman of faith knows
it to be so, and it'll be obvious to all that know them. They believe
God and they trust in Him because they've been given assurance
that He can do all things, and He does all things well. Men
and women of faith don't hide their light under a basket or
under a bed, but by faith, they put it on a candlestick to expose
the darkness of man's false religion of works. The child of faith
is the light of the world. The child of faith is like a
city that's set on a hill. They're a light that cannot be
hid. That light of the gospel that
shines inwardly by grace through faith in our hearts is a light
that shines outwardly from our hearts so that others may see
our Lord, our Savior, our gospel. Our Lord said, let your light
so shine before men. Now listen, let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father, which is in heaven. Our good works glorify our God. Not us, but Him. One day our
Lord lifted His eyes to heaven and He said, I thank Thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things
from the wise and the prudent, and Thou hast revealed them unto
babes. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in Thy sight. And the Lord has the right to
do what He will with His own. Natural man will allow God to
sit on his throne in creation. Oh yeah, I believe the Lord spoke
the worlds into existence. The lost religionist has no problem
with letting God be in control of the weather. The lost religionist
has no problem letting God sit on his throne and do good things,
but he's not, he is not going to bow to God in the matter of
his own salvation, not by nature. It's gonna take a powerful work
of mercy and grace in his heart, by grace through faith. Not of
him, not by his works, because he'd boast, but by the mercy
and grace of God. That's where man's throne resides. That throne belongs to man. Man
saves himself. Man insists that God owes him
something. Man has rights. Why, everybody
ought to have a chance. But the only problem with that,
friends, is salvation is not by chance. It's by grace through
faith. And it's not of man. It's not
of works, nor for the boasting of a sinner. It's the gift of
God. The marks of a false faith is
an unbroken heart, no admission of the guilt of sin, rebellion
against God's sovereignty, hatred for the Lordship of Christ and
redemption. By nature, men will not have
the Lord Jesus Christ to reign and rule over them. False faith
won't let you freely give what you freely receive. False faith
won't let you work out that which God has worked in, just won't. And the reason is God is yet
to work grace and faith in your heart. Fourthly, true faith receives
Christ alone. Christ alone is the way, the
truth, and the life to God. You know, the false professor
will take Christ along with their faith. They'll give him some
credit. The works religionists will take Christ along with their
works. The self-righteous will take Christ along with their
self-confessed righteousness. The moral superior will take
Christ along with their morality and their decency. They'll take
Christ along with their decision. They'll take Christ along with
their baptism. They'll take Christ along with
their church membership and along with their obedience, but they'll
never come to Christ alone. They can't come to Christ as
a beggar. They can't come to Christ empty-handed. They can't
come to Christ with nothing to offer. because they're trusting
in their own work. That's why a man or a woman cannot
understand this relationship between faith and works. Was
Abraham justified by faith without works? Yes, he was. Was Abraham
justified by his works? Yes, he was. And there's no controversy
there. There's no contradiction there.
But the unsaved man or woman doesn't see these things. You
know, they're just content to believe that, well, the Bible
was written by men. So there's some contradictions
there because men wrote it. There's a little controversy
there. We'll just have to agree to disagree. You know, I was
surprised and was reminded of this yesterday talking to a brother. But did you know that Martin
Luther actually renounced the book of James as being a part
of God's Word? He renounced the book of James
because he couldn't reconcile what he thought to be justification
by faith. You see, any contradictions and
controversy men think to be is not within this word, it's within
themselves. Paul said, let God be true and
every man a liar. God is going to be justified
in his sayings. And God's sayings are found in
this book called the Holy Bible. And God's people are going to
always overcome when they're judged. Do you know why? And
do you know how? Because Christ took their place.
Because Christ died for them. Because Christ fulfilled the
law in their room instead. Because Christ satisfied the
holy justice of God that was against them. And they love Him
because of it. They trust Him for doing so.
They believe everything that He tells them. They work out
what He's worked in. Their faith is alive. It's not
dead, being alive. And here's the reason why. It's
the same reason Paul gave Timothy. Paul told Timothy, he says, thou
hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. That's
where it's found. That the man of God may be perfect,
truly furnished. I like that word, truly, all
the way through. Perfect, truly furnished unto
all good works. Not works that save him, but
works that give evidence that he's saved. Oh, may God be pleased
to make it so for Christ's sake.