Our Bible is akin to James chapter
2. I know of many people who have
great difficulty accepting the book of James. They go so far
as to say that it shouldn't even be included in the Bible. I try not to think about that.
It aggravates me to no end. Do we think we're wiser than
God putting the book of James in the Bible. It's God. You know, I know men compiled
these these books, but now do we believe God's on the throne
or not? I mean, God directed them to put these books in the
Bible. If the book of James is not inspired by the Holy Spirit,
it wouldn't be in the Bible. We know. But I'll tell you why
they think that the book of James should not be included in the
scriptures. It's because they just don't understand what James
is saying when James says Abraham was justified by works. James
is not contradicting the Apostle Paul in Romans or the rest of
the scripture that so clearly says that we're justified by
faith without our works. Scripture can't contradict itself,
can it? All of scripture just has one
message. The whole message is Christ and
salvation in the end. James is actually saying the
exact same thing that Paul says in Romans. When Paul says in
Romans chapter 3, this is what we conclude, Paul said, that
a man's justified by faith without the deeds of the law. What the
Apostle Paul is talking about is how God justifies sinners. We're not justified by our works.
We're not justified by anything we do. We're justified by the
work of Christ, by His obedience to the law, not our obedience
to the law. And then when James comes to write his epistle, he
says Abraham was justified by works. James is talking about
the results of being justified by Christ. He's talking about
the results of being justified by God-given faith in Christ.
Now, there can be no debate about this truth. Sinners are justified
through the obedience of Christ. Hold your finger there, James.
Look at Galatians chapter two. There's no debate about this
truth. Scripture makes it so plain. Sinners are justified
through the obedience of Christ. We're justified by the faithfulness
of Christ to keep the law for us. Galatians 2 verse 16. Knowing that a man's not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ, not by the works of the law. For by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. We can't
be justified, that's plain, isn't it? By our own works. We're justified
by the faithfulness of Christ to be obedient to the law for
us. Look over a page at Galatians 3 verse 11. Also, there can be
no debate about this. We're justified through faith
in Christ, not by our own works. Galatians 3, 11. But no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God for it's evident. For
the just should live by faith. The just don't have life because
we've been obedient to the law. The just live by faith in Christ,
not our own works. So there's no debate about that.
But there's also no debate about this truth. Saving faith is a
living, active faith. Faith has life. Faith always
works by love. Paul told the church at Thessalonica,
He gave thanks for him. He said, I remember your work
of faith and your labor of love. Saving faith believes God in
the heart. That's where it's at. But whenever
there's faith in the heart, whenever God is believed in the heart,
God will be followed with the feet. He'll be served with the
hands. He'll be served with the mouth. Absolutely. In the book
of Romans, Paul and James are both fighting an error, a religious
error. In the book of Romans, Paul is
fighting this error. Many people believe this. that
we sinners can somehow justify ourselves by our obedience to
the law. Now that's an error that's got to be fought. We cannot
be saved by keeping some laws, by going through different ordinances
of the church or anything. We can't be saved that way. God
forbid that we approach God based upon our own works. God forbid
you do that because of anything that I've said wrong. God forbid.
Well, James is fighting another error. James is fighting an error,
many people believe this. They say, well, salvation is
by grace through faith. So it doesn't matter what I do
or how I live. It doesn't matter because I'm
saved by grace, no matter what I do. Now that's, God forbid
that we fall into that error. That error leads to licentiousness. And licentiousness is a great
big word, simply means this. It's living in open sin. and
just thinking, it doesn't matter what I do. It doesn't matter
how I live because I'm saved by grace, not by what I do. Now
that's an error that James deals with in this epistle. And those
are the people that he's talking to in verse 14 of our text in
James chapter 2. He says, what does it profit
my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and doesn't have
works? Can that kind of faith save him?
Now here's a man. He says he's saved. He says,
I believe Christ. He says, I've been saved by Christ. But he doesn't live his life
following Christ. He doesn't show love and care
for other people. He's selfish. He's a selfish
man. He's not generous and giving. He's hard. Oh, he's hard on people. He's not gracious to them. He's
not forgiving of people. He doesn't seem to have any understanding
of sinners need to be forgiven. He doesn't have a need to go
to the worship service. So he doesn't attend the worship
service regularly. He just doesn't feel a need to
worship the Lord, to hear from the Lord. He's stingy. He doesn't give to support the
ministry so people in his town can hear the gospel. Now here's
what James is asking that kind of a person. He says he has faith. Can that kind of faith save him? Can that kind of so-called faith
save anybody? Well, the answer is, of course
it can't. Of course that's not saving faith in Christ. True
faith in the heart always acts by following Christ, by trying
to imitate Christ. True faith always works by doing
labors of love, acts of kindness for other people. In the rest
of this chapter, James gives us four examples of how faith,
so-called faith, without works is dead faith. The first example
is this. Words without actions. Don't do anybody good. Verse
15. 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? Even so faith, if it hath not
works, is dead. Be ye alone. Now here's the picture
James paints. Suppose next winter, one of these
brothers or sisters knocks on your door. It's nighttime, middle
of winter. You go and answer the door and
there stands your friend. You know them well, your friend.
And here they stand. They're wearing a tattered t-shirt. They're wearing shorts and flip-flops
and it's dark. Snow's blowing around in the
air, you know, about 20 degrees and they're standing there shivering.
And they tell you, I don't have any food. I'm hungry. freezing
to death, and you say, you know, I'm so sorry. I just hate that. Just go on now. You'd be warmed
and you'd be filled. And you close the door and you
go back and sit down and talk to Peter. Did you do him any
good? You said be warmed and be filled,
but you didn't bring him into your house. You didn't say, come
on in here now. and you give them a good meal,
you wrap a blanket around them, you fix them some hot chocolate,
you go get them some boots and a coat, you give them the things
that they need so they won't be freezing to death, so they won't
be hungry. Well, you told them, you know, I care about you. You
told them to be warm and filled. Did your words alone do them
any good? Of course they didn't. Words
can't warm the body. Words can't fill the hungry belly.
That takes action. A friend that just gives you
words and doesn't bring you in and give you something to eat?
That's a useless friend, isn't it? You don't want a friend like
that. So is faith that doesn't follow God. So is faith. That kind of faith is useless. Faith that doesn't show love
for other people? That's dead faith. That's not real saving
faith. Faith that only exists in words and doesn't have any
actions to back it up? Doesn't do anybody any good.
Anybody. That kind of faith can't save
you. It doesn't do you any good. And that kind of faith doesn't
have to help somebody else. That kind of faith doesn't do
anybody else any good either. Believers are called the salt of the earth.
If you don't do something to help the world around you, that
kind of faith is no good, is it? James says that's dead faith. They're not living faith. That
kind of faith doesn't give eternal life. That kind of faith, James
says, is just like a dead body. Y'all have seen a dead body.
You watch somebody die maybe. You go to a funeral home. There
lays a dead body in the casket. Well, that body has still got
a head. It's still got eyes and nose and ears and a mouth. It's
still got hands and feet and legs. All the right form of a
body's there. But there's one problem. There's no life in that body.
And that makes that body useless. Useless to himself, useless to
anybody else. That's what James says here in
verse 26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead also. It's dead, doesn't help anybody.
Faith that has all the right words, but there's no act of
love, there's no acts of faith, and following the Savior is not
saving faith. That's the first example. The
second example James gives us is of faith. that has all the
right facts, has all the right words, but doesn't have any works,
is not saving faith. See how serious this is. Faith
that has all the right words, faith that believes all the right
things, I mean, really believes all the right things, but doesn't
have works, is the faith of devils. Demons have that kind of faith.
Look here, verse 19. For thou believest that there
is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? Now, everybody knows somebody
like this. Here's a person, they've got all the right doctrine. Oh,
man, they've got the right doctrine. They're five-point cowards. They
believe God created this earth in six days. They believe that.
They believe Christ came to save sin. He didn't come save righteous
people, he came save sinners. They believe we can't be righteous
by our obedience to the law. They believe, genuinely they
believe that. They believe wholeheartedly in
imputed righteousness. But that person doesn't live
following Christ. That person is harsh. They're
not gentle and merciful. They're selfish, they're not
generous. And here's the big thing. You know what they talk
about? People talk about what they believe.
You know what they talk about? They talk about doctrine, but
not the person. They believe in imputed righteousness. They don't believe in Christ
our Lord. They believe they're trusting a doctrinal truth. They're
not trusting Christ the Savior. They're trusting in imputed righteousness. They're not trusting in the Savior
who makes his people righteous. There's a big difference. That
kind of faith, James says, is dead faith. It's the faith of
devils. The demons know all that's true.
The demons know that's true better than you and me. They know that.
But does that kind of faith, is that just mere knowledge?
Does that save anybody? Well, of course it doesn't. The
demons believe all that and they're damned. Well, they believe all
the right stuff. They know all the right stuff
is so, why are they still damned? Because along with their head
knowledge or knowledge of facts, there's not acts, there's not
work, there's not works that follow Christ. There's no begging. They know Christ is the Savior. They know Christ saved sinners. They know that. But they never
come begging Him for mercy. They never ask Him to forgive
them. They know God's merciful to sinners, but they never ask
God, be merciful to me. Let me show you that a couple
of scriptures. First, Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8
verse 29. This is the man who is possessed
with the legion and behold, this legion of demons that possess
this man, they cried out saying, What have we to do with thee,
Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment
us before our time? They knew who the Lord was, didn't
they? They knew who He was. And I'll tell you what else. They knew who was in control.
They believed in the sovereignty of God. Look down here at verse
31. So the devils besought Him, saying, If thou cast us out,
nothing we can do about it. We can't stop your will. If you
cast us out, suffer us to go away. into the herd of swine.
They knew God's Sovereign. They knew they had to do whatever
it is He commanded. They knew God's Sovereign, but
they never asked the Sovereign to save them. That's the faith
of devils. Look at Luke chapter 4. Verse
33. And in the synagogue, there was
a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with
a loud voice saying, let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art. You're the holy one of God. They
knew that, didn't they? They knew he was the holy one
of God, but they never asked him for mercy. They never asked
him to make them rangers. See, they knew who he was. But
their faith is not saving faith. It's just a head knowledge. There
is no acts to go with it. There is no works to go with
it. There is no seeking mercy. There's no seeking forgiveness.
There's no seeking righteousness. And the same thing is true of
us. If we know all the right facts, we're so doctrinally straight. I want to be doctrinally straight.
We ought, of all people, now we ought to be doctrinally straight.
But if we start priding ourselves and being more doctrinally straight
than everybody else, know more truth than everybody else, and
there's no resting in Christ, there's no loving Christ, there's
no loving the people of Christ, then brethren, our faith is not
saving faith. That's the kind of person Brother
Henry's described as being straight as a gun barrel and twice as
empty. God forbid that we do that. That is empty, dead faith. True saving faith. is living
faith, and it always works by love. You just can't help it.
And if there are no works of love, then our faith is dead
faith. It's faith that will not save.
Now, remember the man James is talking to. He described him
there in verse 14, a man who says he's got faith, but he has
no works. He has no evidence of following
Christ. Well, he says he has faith. Then
isn't it fair to ask him for some evidence of it? Look at
verse 18. Yea, a man may say thou has faith
and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I'll show thee my faith by my works. Okay, you
say you have faith. Well, show me your faith without
any works. Can't do it, can you? No. But I'll show you my faith
by my works. by my works of love, by my obedience,
by the way I follow Christ. And the religious person will
say, no, that's impossible. You know, you can't look into
my heart. You can't see the faith that's in my heart. So it's impossible
to show you what's in my heart. That's true. It's impossible
for us to look into your heart. But you know what? Abraham and
Rahab did it, didn't they? They showed it by their works.
Here's the third example that James gives us. Faith that's
not obedient to Christ. that is not obedient to follow
Christ is not saving faith. Verse 21. Was not Abraham our
father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon
the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 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. You see then, how that by works
a man is justified, and not by faith only. Now look over at
Romans chapter 3. What are some of the things we
know about Abraham? There are many things we know
about Abraham because the Word of God tells us. We know Abraham
was justified by faith without any of his works. We know that,
don't we? Look at Romans 3 verse 26. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Now, where's boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law? By the law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Therefore, we conclude that a man's justified by faith without the
deeds of the law. Now, that's obvious, isn't it?
Abraham and any of us, if we're gonna be justified, we're gonna
be justified by faith in Christ without our deeds, our obedience
to the law. What shall we say, then, that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he as were of the glory,
but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that
worketh but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Now that's plain. And what was
true of Abraham is true of you and me. God hadn't changed. If
sinners like you and me are to be justified, it's going to be
by the obedience of Christ. It's going to be through God-given
faith in Christ, not our words, not anything we do. Look down
here at the end of chapter four, verse 21. and being fully persuaded that
what God had promised he was able also to perform. And therefore
it was imputed unto him for righteousness." That's Abraham. Now, it was not
written for his sake, not written for Abraham's sake alone that
it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it should be
imputed. If we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. That's how sinners justify. It's
through faith in Christ, through His sacrifice, putting away our
sin. Now, here's another thing we know about Abraham. God makes
this so plain. Abraham had works, didn't he?
He had works. But Abraham was justified long
before he did anything to give any indication of it. And I'll
tell you how we know that. Scripture tells us so. Romans
4 verse 9. Cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also.
For we say that faith was reckoned Abraham for righteousness. How
was it then reckoned? When was it then reckoned? When
he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had being
yet uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that
believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also." See, Abraham's work, circumcision or anything
else, it didn't have anything to do with justifying his soul
before God did. He was justified before he did
any of that, without any of his works. Abraham was justified
by Christ, by the sacrifice of Christ. He was justified through
faith that laid hold on Christ. You and I are going to be justified,
it's going to be the exact same way. But here's the other thing
we know about Abraham. Abraham lived a long life. Faithful
Abraham was obedient. He was obedient to follow God.
He was obedient to follow the command of God. Now that's how
Abraham's faith was justified before men. That's how Abraham's
faith was proved to be genuine. Now we know Abraham had faith. God's word tells us so. And we
also know Abraham had faith because he gave such good evidence. He
really did believe God. Abraham was living a pretty good
life in his father's house. One day, God spoke to Abraham. He said, Abraham, get out of
your father's house and go to a land I'll show you. And you
know what Abraham did? He got out. He left his father's
house. He took his wife, Sarah, he took
his nephew, Lot, he took a few animals and a few servants, and
out into the desert he went. Now, I've never been in the desert
in that area of the world, but I've seen pictures of it. and
it's desert as far as you can see. I mean, as far as you can
see, there's no oasis, there's no water, there's no town, there's
nothing. Abraham took out into nothingness. He took out into
sand as far as he could see and had no idea where he's going. Why would anybody do that? He believed God. God's gonna
show him where he's going. He believed God. Then some years
later, Abraham and Sarah were childless. Oh, how they wanted,
they desperately wanted children. And God said, Abraham, I'm gonna
make of you a great nation. Abraham said, how's that gonna
happen? I don't have any children. And
when Abraham and Sarah were far too old to have any children,
God came to Abraham again and said, Abraham, I'm gonna give
you a son. Abraham believed that. Now, why on earth would anybody
think when they're in their 90s and way past having children,
why would anybody think when he's 90 years old, he can have
a son? He believed God. Biologically, it was impossible,
but Abraham believed God and he had a son. Then that son was
born. He's grown man, young, probably
pretty young, he's grown man. God came to Abraham again. Spoke
to him again. He said, Abraham. He said, here
am I. God said, Abraham, that son that
you love, I want you to take him. It's your only son. I want
you to take him to a place I'm going to show you. You go there
and you sacrifice him. You go on a three day walk to
a place I tell you, and you sacrifice your son. And you know what Abraham
did? He took off walking. He's still going, walking, following
God, obeying, not knowing where he's going. God said, you go
to a place, I'll show you. And when you get there, Abraham,
tell you what you do. You take that boy who you love and you
slit his throat. And you're not done yet. put
his body on an altar. You prepare an altar, you put
wood on, you put that dead body and you quarter it. You cut that
body in pieces and then you burn it so there's nothing left but
ashes. And what had to be great pain,
this was not a spur of the moment thing now, and what had to be
pain greater than we can imagine, Abraham kept his mouth shut.
He gathered up everything that was necessary for the journey.
He gathered up everything that was necessary for the sacrifice.
And Abraham started walking. And Isaac went with him. And
after three days, God told Abraham, this is the mountain. Abraham
and Isaac, they went up the top of that mountain. Abraham told
his servants, Abraham believed God. He told his servants, you
stay here. I and the ladder are going to
go yonder and worship. And we're going to return to you. Abraham
believed God. He went to the top of that mountain. And they
must have had a discussion. Abraham's an old man. Isaac's
in the prime of life. And Abraham had to tell Isaac
what God told him to do. And Isaac said, all right. Isaac
was willing to do it. God said to do it. Isaac was
willing. See, Abraham and Isaac had the same faith, the faith
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Isaac believed God too. Because
saving faith is always willing. Saving faith is obedient. He
willingly got on that altar. Abraham never could overpower
him. He willingly got up on that altar and then Abraham took that
knife and killed his son. If God hadn't spoken from heaven,
Abraham would have killed him. He would have plunged that knife
into that son. Now, why was Abraham willing
to do such a horrible, horrible thing, so painful? Because he
believed God and his actions proved it. Look in Hebrews chapter
11, I'll show you that. Abraham believed God. God told
Abraham, Abraham, I'm going to make of you a great nation. Now the son's born, now you take
him and kill him. And Abraham didn't say, now,
Lord, let's talk about this. You said you're going to make
of me a great nation. How are you going to do that if I kill
this boy? He didn't do that, did he? He still believed God
was going to make of him a great nation, even though he had no
idea how he was going to do it. Hebrews 11 verse 17. By faith
Abraham, when he was tried, he offered up Isaac. And he that
had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of
whom it was said that in Isaac should I see be called, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. From whence
also he received him, in a figure. By faith, by his actions, Abraham's
faith was made obvious, wasn't it? It was made perfect, complete.
Abraham's faith was justified before man. Abraham, not just
whistling Dixie, he believes God. See, Abraham did that for
this reason. He was already righteous. God
had already imputed the righteousness of Christ to him. So Abraham
was not justified in his soul by anything he did, not before
God, was he? Abraham was justified in Christ,
but Abraham's faith was justified before men by what he did. He was willing to offer even
his own son because God told him to do it. Well, it's no wonder
Abraham's called friends, though. Here's something about friends.
People believe they're friends. You're my friend. You tell me
something I believe, because you're my friend. And I'll tell
you what else, for your friends, you do that. Abraham proved himself
to be the friend of God, he believed God, he obeyed God. Now, any faith that's not obedient,
we're not commanded to take our children out and sacrifice them.
What's God commanded us to do? To repent of our sin and believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're commanded, rest
in peace, Don't try to satisfy God by what you do. Rest in Christ
who already obeyed God's law for you. That's what we're commanded
to do. Any faith that's not obedient
to rest in Christ alone without any contribution from me whatsoever
is not saved by God. The rich young ruler proved that.
I know a lot of people speculate Later on, you know, the rich
young ruler came back and because of the way the scriptures is
phrased, that the Lord loved him. But we don't know whether
he did or not. This is what we know. When the
rich young ruler came to our Lord and then turned around and
left, he did not have to say anything. Do you know how I know
that? He wasn't obedient. The Lord
told him, say everything you've got and come follow me. that is not obedient to the Lord's
command to rest entirely on Christ for everything is not saving
faith. Now here's James' fourth example.
Faith that does not sell out for Christ is not saving faith. Verse 25. 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. Now here's Rahab, and I love
the way that the Spirit led James to write this. First, he talks
about Abraham. I mean, woo, Abraham. Then in
the same breath, he talks about Rahab the harlot. Rahab was a
harlot now. I have people try to say, oh,
she kept an inn and she just kept the motel sick. No, she
didn't. She was a harlot. Rahab didn't
have any good works. Rahab didn't have any religious
background. Rahab didn't have any religious upbringing. Rahab
was vile. I can't much identify with Abraham,
but I can identify with Rahab. The harlot Rahab was justified,
made without sin, in the exact same way Abraham. Not by our
works, but by the sacrifice of Christ. By faith in Christ. See, it doesn't matter who you
are. It doesn't matter what your background is. It doesn't matter
if you're a Gentile. It doesn't matter if you're religious
or you're heathen. Don't bother confessing everything
you've done in the past. It really is immaterial. It doesn't
matter who you are. It doesn't matter who I am. The
only way will ever be justified is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
She faithed in him. And Rahab had faith. She believed
God. How do we know that? Scripture
tells us that. But I'll tell you what else we
know. Rahab's actions revealed she really did believe God. Now
Rahab lived in a city named Jericho. Jericho was the first city that
the Israelites would pass when they came into the Promised Land,
the land that God promised Abraham. Jericho's in the sights. right
in the sights of Joshua and the children of Israel. They were
going to take that city and give it theirs. Everybody knew it. And they were afraid. Now, here
again, here's somebody who knew all the facts. They knew the
God of Israel is God. They knew the God of Israel does
whatever He pleases. And they knew God had given their
city to Israel. And they were afraid they knew
all that. But you know what they were going to do? They were going
to defend that city to the death. You're gonna have to take it,
you're gonna have to pry it from our cold dead hands. There's no begging
for mercy. And I tell you, anybody caught
helping Israel, anybody, they knew Israel would probably send
some spies. They got words, some spies were
there. Anybody caught helping those spies is gonna be put to
death. Same way we would, somebody trades the secrets of our country,
someone is a traitor to our country, we want them punished, don't
we? They and Jericho felt the same
way. They would put anybody caught helping those spies to a painful
death, painful death. Yet Rahab took those spies and
hit them. And when they came saying, where are the spies?
She said, you know, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe they went out. You
better go look that way, you know. If they'd caught her, she'd
have died that painful death. Why would she do that? Why would
she put her life at risk like that? She believed God. That's the only explanation.
She believed God. And if our faith doesn't sell
out for Christ, if it doesn't sell out to God, then it's dead
faith. If we say, I'm going to put all
my eggs in this basket, but one. I believe Christ saves sinners,
but I'm going to hang on to this. I'm going to hang on to my fill
in the blank, wherever you want it to be. My opinions, my tithing,
my whatever, my faith. I'm going to put all my eggs
in this basket, but just this one, just in case. That faith
didn't sell out to Christ. That faith won't save anybody.
Because salvation is completely and wholly in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Any faith that holds anything
back about this flesh is dead faith. Any faith that puts any
confidence in the smallest thing about this flesh has not sold
out to Christ. And it's dead faith. Just like
a body without the spirit is dead. Now, in conclusion, This
is so important. Please listen very carefully.
This is the point of the whole passage, so don't miss this.
It's very important. James did not write this passage
so that we would look to our works to find out if we're saved
or not. No, you can't look to your works
to find out you're saved. How can you know you're saved?
If you look at Christ. That's how we know we're saved.
Abraham looked to Christ. Our Lord said, Abraham saw my
day and was glad. Abraham wasn't glad when he saw
his words, and he said, you know, I'm going to offer my son Isaac
on the altar, so I'm glad that I see you. I said, no. Abraham
rejoiced when? When he saw the day of Christ.
Abraham saw the day of Christ when he lifted that knife up
to slay his son. God said, stop and look behind
you. So the ram caught the thicket
by far. God said, you take that ram and you offer him up as a
burnt offering instead of your son Isaac. And Abraham saw. He saw justification. He saw
salvation through the death of the substitute, Christ who was
coming. He was glad when he saw Christ.
He saw his salvation when he saw Christ, not when he saw anything
about himself. So James didn't write this passage
so we could look to our works to know we're saved. James didn't write this passage
to teach us, now you look to your works to find assurance
of your salvation. If you have all these works,
then you must be saved, you must have faith. No, the only way
we can find any assurance of our salvation is by looking to
Christ. That's the only assurance we
ever have is by looking to Him. I'll tell you why this passage
is written. It's not written so we look to
our works. find out about our faith or our salvation. This
passage is written to teach us to be able to recognize false
faith in ourselves. In ourselves now. I'm not saying
this passage is written so we look at somebody else and say
they have false faith. We say that by our works we justify
our faith before men. You don't have to justify your
faith to me. Your faith is in your heart, that's between you
and God. But this is the way we recognize false faith in ourselves. If my faith does not produce
works of faith, if my faith, what I call my faith in Christ
doesn't produce works of love, doesn't produce love, not just
saying I love you, but if you're cold, I give you a coat. If you're
hungry, I give you something to eat. If my faith does not
produce works of love, then my faith is dead faith. That's why
this is written, so that I know I need to look to Christ. Works,
our good works, are never proof of life, ever. Looking to Christ
is the only proof of faith we ever have. However, the lack
of works is definitely the proof of lack of faith. That's the
point of this scripture. So don't look now to your works
to find evidence of spiritual life. Look to Christ. I'll give
you this example in closing. Suppose one of our loved ones
falls grievously ill. We come in, there they are laying
on the floor, you know. We call 911, the ambulance comes
and gets them, rushes them to the hospital. And we get there
to the hospital, you know, and we get there to the room and
there they are. They're laying in the bed and
you've got all these tubes and everything running out and those
monitors. You've got no idea what all these monitors mean,
but there you hooked up to a bunch of monitors. Now, our loved ones,
their physical life is in real trouble. If I've got to have
a monitor to let me know my heart's beating, my heart beats pretty
faint. If I have a monitor to let somebody
know I'm breathing, my life is just hanging on by a thread,
isn't it? Well, we've got to look to our
works to find out if we've been saved or not. Brethren, we're
in real trouble. The only way we can know, am
I saying, is by looking to Christ. Not my works, but by looking
to Christ. Now, faith without works is dead.
There's no question about it. Because true faith in Christ
is living faith. And it always produces acts of
life. But we don't look to the acts
of life to prove we have life. We look to Christ to prove we
have life. You know, you all are looking
at me and you know, Frank's alive. You don't need a monitor to tell
you that. Life is an evidence of itself.
But acts of love. They reveal a faith that loves
Christ and has a love for his people. I pray that that's the
kind of faith God's given us. We look at ourselves, our own
selves, look in our own heart. I pray that's the kind of faith
that we find, the faith that looks to Christ and Christ alone. Let's bow. Our Father, we thank you for
this portion of your word. We thank you for the promise
that you do give genuine faith in Christ. Faith that lays hold
upon Christ our righteousness. Faith that lays hold upon Christ
who's justified us by his sacrifice alone, by his obedience to the
law, all by himself, without any contribution from us whatsoever.
How thankful we are. Oh, how thankful that salvation
is all in Christ. We don't contribute a thing.
We don't have to contribute a thing. It's all in Him. And Father,
how we beg You for Your mercy. You promised You'd be merciful
to sinners. Oh God, be merciful to me. Be
merciful to us. Make Christ real to our hearts. Don't just leave us in doctrine
and theory and words. Make Christ real. With our hearts
we pray, give us faith that looks to Him alone. Give us faith that
will follow Him and be obedient to Him, to rest in Him and Him
alone. It's in His precious name we pray and give thanks.