Look with me again at verse 24
of James chapter 2. You see, then, how that by works
a man is justified, and not by faith only. Now what in the world does that
mean? You're justified by works, by
what you do, and not by faith only. Now the first thing I'd
like to say about this is that the Bible is one whole. It's made of 66 books. And if you remove any of those
books, you no longer have the whole. And we have to have the
whole book to understand any one book, don't we? The Bible
is one whole. And there's no way that you can
understand what James is saying. when he says, by works a man
is justified, and not by faith only, if you don't see what Paul
says regarding justification. And you can't really understand
what Paul means when he says, therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law, unless
we understand also what James is saying. Now these two things
are not in conflict and one explains the other. And I hope that by
the end of this message we will understand just what this means. You see then how that by works
a man is justified and not by faith only. Turn with me for
a moment to Job chapter 25. This is the oldest book in the
Bible. Older than the book of Genesis
they tell me. Somebody says, who are they? I don't know. Just
so to speak. Then answered Bildad the Shuite
and said, Dominion and fear are with him. He maketh peace in
his high places. Is there any number of his armies?
And upon whom doth not his light arise? How then can man be justified
with God? Or how can he be clean? And if
you're justified, you know what that means? That means you're
clean. That means you have no sin. That means you're pure before
God. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Remember what the Bible also
says about men who are born of women? They're born evil. They're born sinful. Bildad realizes
that, so he says, how can he be clean that's born of woman?
Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not, yea, the stars
are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a
worm, and the Son of Man, which is a worm. Now, this question How can man
be just with God is grappled with in every book in the Bible,
including this oldest book, Job. But before we consider the answer
to that question, thank God a man, a sinful man, somebody like me
or you, can be justified before God. It's taught in both Old
and New Testaments. Isaiah 53, verse 11, By his knowledge,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall my righteous servant justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities. We read in Isaiah
45, verse 22, In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. and shall glory. We have in the
New Testament the Lord's testimony concerning that man who said
regarding himself, God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what
he said about himself. He didn't say, not the believing
sinner, not the repentant sinner, not the elect sinner, not the
loving sinner, not the sensible sinner, the sinner. And you know what our Lord's
testimony about that man was? He said, I tell you, this man
went down to his house not pardoned, not forgiven, justified. Justified. Wouldn't that be something
if me and you right now were justified before God to where
there was no sin? I think of Paul's words. Therefore, we conclude, here's
our conclusion, that a man is justified by faith without the
deeds of the law. And I couldn't help but to think
of Paul's words of triumph in Romans chapter 8, verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that, what? Justifies. Now, if I'm justified, that means
nothing can be laid to my charge. How attractive is that to you?
You think of all your sin, and to have none of that laid to
your charge. And the reason that it's not
laid to your charge is there's nothing to charge you with. If
you're justified, that means you are without guilt. That means
you never sinned. That means you never did it.
You never did anything wrong and you've always done that which
is right if you are justified. Somebody says, but I do sin.
So how can that be? I understand that question. If I sin, and I've sinned today,
how can it be that I really am justified before God? If a human judge declared people
to be not guilty when they were guilty, they'd be impeached,
wouldn't they? We wouldn't want a human judge
like that, who if someone was guilty of a crime and he said,
now you're justified. It won't work, humanly speaking. Yet, the Scripture speaks of
God justifying the ungodly, to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly. That's something God does. His
faith is counted for righteousness. Now to some, this is a dull and
an uninteresting subject. They have no sense of the holiness
of God. They have no sense of their own
personal sin, and it's a dull and uninteresting subject. To
others, well, I already know that. Let's go on to something
else. And still, there are others who
need to hear this over and over again. Now, I happen to be in
that group. I need to hear this over and
over again, how God can be just and justify the ungodly, because
I find I forget it so quickly, and I look to myself so quickly,
and I dare say that many of you would say you'd do the same thing.
And we need to hear this over and over again. Now the Bible, and only the Bible,
answers this question. And we want to dwell on what
James said when he said a man is justified by works and not
by faith only. That's what we're going to dwell
on. But in order to understand that and to understand what he's
saying, you're going to have to understand everything else
the Bible has to say about this thing of justification. Now,
here is my first point. Would you turn with me to Romans
3? I'd like you to turn to these scriptures with me. I want you
to see them with your own eyes. Romans chapter 3. Now, I cannot
understand what James meant until I understand this. Verse 23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God. And you know what that verse
means? You take the most morally pure
person you've ever known, and you take the most degraded, sinful,
debauched, perverted person you've ever known, and what difference
is there between those two people before God? Nothing. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now look at this next verse.
This is the verse I want to call to your attention. Verse 24. Being justified. And what's the next word? It's
one of the best words in the Bible. Freely. Freely. being justified, having
been justified. You see, justification was accomplished
by what Christ did on Calvary Street. When he died, all the
elect were justified. Did you know that? That's a wonderful
thing to know. Justification comes to me outside
of my personal subjective experience. It was accomplished by what Christ
did on the cross. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. When he was resurrected from
the dead, all the elect were justified. Matter of fact, they
were justified in the Lamb's Lamb before the foundation of
the world. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved us, and He called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Justification was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began if we're justified. Now
that's what justification by grace means, being justified
freely by His grace. Now that word freely is translated
in John chapter 15 verse 25 without a cause. Being justified without a cause
in us by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
Now what that means is God does not have to find a cause in me
or you to justify us. He doesn't have to look at something
in you and say, yep, I'm going to justify. Being justified freely
by His grace. I don't care how sinful you are,
it's a holy, gracious act of God. This thing of justification.
I love that scripture in Genesis 6, 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, And that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that describes every man.
And two verses down it says, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It doesn't
say Noah was better. It doesn't say Noah wasn't included
in that demographic. God decided to give him grace.
Sovereign, distinguishing grace. Being justified freely by His
grace. God doesn't do this in response
to you. He doesn't see something in you
or me that makes Him do it. It has nothing to do with me
or you. Being justified freely without a cause in you. And secondly, turn to Romans
chapter 5. And let me repeat, I want to
emphasize this, there's no understanding of what James said if we don't
have this understanding as well. Romans chapter 5 verse 9, much
more than being now justified, how? How? How? by His blood. Being justified by His blood. Now, how is it that His blood
justifies? Well, His blood put away the
sin that will condemn us. Hebrews 1, 3 says He by Himself
purged, put away our sins. And now, because of his blood,
there is nothing to condemn me for. The sin is gone. It's canceled. It's wiped out.
It's blotted out. It's gone. Romans 8, 34 says,
Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Now, beloved,
I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died, and that He died for me. His blood removed,
blotted out, made the sin to be no more, and His perfect righteousness,
His perfect obedience is given to me, my sin given to Him, His
perfect obedience given to me, so that However righteous Jesus
Christ is, that's how righteous I am right now. How satisfied is God with the
righteousness of His Son? He's completely satisfied, isn't
He? Believers, do you know that is exactly how satisfied God
is with you. However satisfied He is with
His Son, that's how satisfied He is with you because we're
justified by His righteousness. blood. Now, about to throw this
in, I'm going to throw it in. If I say that he shed his blood
for all men without exception, that means all this is meaningless.
If he can die for somebody and shed his blood for them and they
wind up in hell anyway, all this is meaningless. Someone who teaches
that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody and made salvation
available does not preach the gospel. They don't understand
what justification is. Justification comes by his blood. Don't tell me somebody can die
for whom his blood was shed and they're not justified and end
up in hell. That takes the gospel away. Justified
by his blood. Now look back in Romans chapter
5, verse 1. Therefore, being justified by
faith, being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you
understand the gospel, you understand that the act of faith doesn't
justify. Christ justified you. It's not
your faith that justifies you. It's Christ who justifies you,
and you believe that. Faith is the evidence that you've
been justified. You can't look at yourself and
say, I must be justified. Look how perfect I am. Look how
righteous I am. If you're honest, all you'll
see is sin. So how can I know I'm justified?
How can I know I stand without guilt before God? The evidence
is faith. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
really is the only righteousness you need and you're relying on
him? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. So I am justified. The evidence
of my justification comes through faith, not by my works. I can't
look at my works and say, yeah, I must be justified. Look how
I'm praying. Look how I'm reading the scriptures. Look how I'm
witnessing. Look how I'm conquering this sin. I'm becoming more holy
and less sinful. Sure, I must be justified. You're
an idiot if you think something like that. And I'm not saying
that strong enough, really. That's just not so. The only
evidence of justification is believing the gospel. Now fourth,
turn to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12, verse 37. For by thy words, thou shalt be justified. And by thy words, what comes
out of your mouth, what rolls off your tongue, by your words,
you'll be condemned. Now what's that all about? By
your words, by the things you say, you'll be justified. And by your words, by the things
you say, you'll be condemned. It's in the Bible. Justification
by words. What does that mean? If your words deny justification
by grace, if your words deny justification by blood, if your
words deny justification by faith, you'll be condemned. Out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And if your words,
your preaching, what you believe, what you rejoice in, if it denies
the great glorious doctrine of justification by grace, justification
by blood, justification by faith, you'll be condemned. Write it
down. There is no hope. for that man who rejects the
gospel of justification by grace, and justification by blood, and
justification by faith. As a matter of fact, Martin Luther
made this statement, and I like this statement. He said, a church
stands or falls on what it believes regarding justification. And
I believe that. If you understand justification,
you understand the whole gospel. All the other stuff, you'll understand
if you understand justification. And if my words confess justification
by grace, and justification by blood, and justification by faith,
if my words line up with that, I'll be justified. Now somebody's
thinking, do you mean to say that if you just say you believe
that, that means you're saved? That's where James comes in. Now we're going to understand,
once those four truths are nailed down into our hearts, now we
will understand what James meant. So turn back to James chapter
2. Verse 19. Thou believest that there's one
God. Thou doest well. That's the words of the Doctrine
and Covenants. Is that right? That's right. You ought to believe that way.
But look what he says next. The devils believe. Demonic beings, fallen angels,
evil spirits believe. They know there's one God. And
they know that Jesus is the Christ. They say, I know thee who thou
art, the Christ of God, the Holy One of God. They believe, but
their belief is not saving faith, is it? No demons believe the
gospel. No demons are saved. Now, let's
go on reading. Verse 20, But wilt thou know,
O vain man, that faith without works is what? Dead. Dead. When's the last time you
looked at a dead person in a coffin? And it is evident that there
is no life there. Look down in verse 26, for as
the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works
is dead also. And that word spirit is translated
generally breath. Breath, the same word. What is
a body without breath? Dead. What is faith without works? Dead. It will not Now, James gives us an example
of what he's talking about. Now, like I said, preachers Take
this passage of scripture, and they take it in every direction.
You need to have good works to give you assurance that you have
faith. If you don't have works, you can forget your faith. If
you're not witnessing, if you're not reading the Bible, if you're
not striving against sin and becoming better and more holy
and less sinful. Now, understand, I want to read
the Bible. I want to pray. I want to strive
against sin. I want to be like Christ. But
as far as me gaining some kind of evidence that I'm saved because
I do these things, That's just, it's a lie. It's a lie. When
someone talks that way, they've lost all credibility in the first
place. Paul said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. And someone who makes some kind
of other claim, they've lost all credibility. If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. That's
what John said. So, this thing of this doesn't
mean, you know, I want to be an obedient child. I want to
honor Him. I want to glorify Him. Every
believer does. But as far as looking at my works and my efforts
and so on, saying, I must be saved. I must be justified because
look at me. No, if I look at me, I think
I must not be saved. I mean, anytime I look at myself,
I think, do you even know the Lord? That's why, you know, somebody
said for every One look, you look at yourself, you've got
to look ten times to Christ? No, you don't need to look at
yourself at all. Let me assure you, you don't want to go there.
You want to look to Christ only. All times look to Christ only. Now, he says in verse 21, Was
not Abraham our father justified by works? when he offered Isaac
his son upon the altar. Now here is his premise. Abraham
was justified by works when he offered up his son upon the altar.
Now what's that mean? Well, let's look back at Genesis
chapter 22. We'll come back here in a moment. Genesis 22. I love what Walter Groover said.
He said, if a man can't preach the gospel out of Genesis 22,
he needs to find something else to do. I agree. I agree. Verse 1. And it came to pass after these things,
after all these trials, that God did tempt Abraham. My dear friend, you're going
to be tempted, tried, and tested. You will be. There ain't any
doubt about it. You will be. And he said unto
him, Abraham. And he said, behold, here I am.
And he said, take now thy son thine only son, Isaac. Ishmael is not acknowledged by
God as a son. He represents salvation by works. Whom thou lovest, O how Abraham
loved Isaac! And get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of
the mountains, which I shall tell thee of." Let me tell you a couple of things
about Isaac before we go on reading. God had already promised that
the Messiah would come through Isaac. Now this was a promise. The Messiah is going to come
through Isaac, not Ishmael. Ishmael is rejected. That's the
child of the flesh. the Messiah will come through
Isaac. That's the first thing I want
to say about Isaac. And the next thing I want to
say about Isaac is he willingly laid down upon that altar. You know why he willingly laid
down upon that altar? Was it just because he was obedient
to his daddy? No. His dad told him after I kill
you, you will be raised from the dead. God has promised the
Messiah is going to come through you. Therefore, you will be raised
from the dead because God never goes back on his word. Whatever
God says, that's the way it is. So I have no doubt, after I kill
you, that God will raise you from the dead. And we have this
taught both in Old Testament and New Testament, look in verse
3. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning. He didn't wait. He saddled his ass and took two
of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he claimed
the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went unto the
place which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, Abide ye herewith, he asked, and I and
the lad will go yonder and worship, and what? And come again to you. He knew he would be coming again. Hebrews chapter 11. Hold your
fingers there in Genesis 22 and look at Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 19. Verse 17, By faith Abraham, when
he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that received the promises
offered up his only begotten son. of whom it was said that
an 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." He believed all along that God was going
to raise him from the dead. Now, you've thought before, I
just don't know if I could be obedient like that. If God told
me to kill my kid, I just don't know if I could do it. Well,
if you knew for sure He'd raise him from the dead after you did
it, you would. You would. If you knew that for
sure. Oh, I don't see how I could do
that. You would if you knew it for sure. Abraham knew it for sure. He
believed God. That's what faith is. He believed
God. God said, in thee shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed. All blessing is going to come
through Isaac because that's the promised seed. All blessings
are in Christ. Christ is going to come through
Isaac. Abraham believed God. And so because God made that
promise, Abraham knew for sure that God would raise him from
the dead, because God can't lie. God never exaggerates. He never
tells a mistruth. Whatever He says, you can count
on it. It's absolute. Verse 6, And Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, And he
took the fire in his hand, and the knife, and they went both
of them together." Now the typology of the son carrying the instrument
of his execution up the mountain is so clear. This is such a type
of the gospel. Verse 7, And Isaac spake unto
Abraham his father, and said, My father, And he said, Here
am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? He
had not yet told him that he was going to be the burnt offering.
He said, We've got the fire. We've got the wood. Where's the
lamb? He knew there had to be a lamb.
You know, there's a lot of things you could say about that. We've
got the fire. We've got the enthusiasm. We've got the excitement. We've
got the wood, we've got the doctrine, we've got the structure, we've
got the form, but where's the lamb? That ought to be asked
regarding every message we hear. Where is the lamb? If the lamb's not in the message,
it's a message that ought not ever to have been preached. I
don't care what the subject is, if the lamb's not there, it was
no good. It was no good. Somebody said,
well, what if it was true? Still no good. Still no good. Where is the lamb? Now look at his answer. Verse
8, Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. Don't you love that God does
the providing? What could you provide that God would accept?
You want me to answer that for you? Nothing. Nothing. God's the one who does the providing.
And understand this. He provides for himself. The
lamb was not for you. The lamb was for God. For God
to have anything to do with you, He had to do something for Himself.
He had to make a way for your sin to be gone and blotted out
and put away. For God to do something for me
or you, He had to do something for Himself. And the glorious
thing is this, that God Himself is the Lamb. Behold, said John
the Baptist, the Lamb of God. That's the Lamb He was speaking
of. the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. So they both went up together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham
built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound
Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Now he had every intention of
slitting his throat and setting him on fire. believing that God
would raise him from the dead. Now, what if? Now here's what
James meant. What if Abraham would have said,
if I kill my son, then the Messiah won't come through him. It'll
mess up God's plans. God said the Messiah is only
going to come through Isaac. If I kill him, Then it won't
happen. What would he prove by that? He would prove that he didn't
believe what God said. He thought there was some scenario, some
case, where what God said wouldn't come to pass. That's what would
have happened if he would have said that. He would have said,
we can't take God at his word. Everything has to work out just
right, and if I kill him, that'll mess up everything, and the Messiah
won't come through. Isaac. Now somebody is thinking,
why would God require him to kill his son? You know, that
seems barbaric, doesn't it? That seems cruel. That seems
not right to require you to kill your own child. Since when are you able to sit
in judgment on anything God does? Are you able to Decide whether
you think what he's doing is right or not. Don't go there.
Whatever God does is right. And it's right because he does
it. He doesn't do it because it's right. It's right because
he does it. He's God. Whatever he does is right. We bow to it.
If God told him to kill his son, sure it's the right thing to
do. Wouldn't that be murder? Shut up. Shut up. I mean, that's
just, I can't stand that kind of thinking, you know. Some sinful
man, you're not supposed to say shut up, I know, but I said it
anyway. God is in control, and if he
told Abraham he needed to kill his son, that's exactly what
Abraham needed to do. And Abraham knew that God would
raise him from the dead. He knew it. And he demonstrated
his faith by his works. If he would have refused to offer
up his son on the altar, he would have proved by that that he didn't
believe God's word must come to pass, no matter what. He proved
he didn't believe it, so it was his works that demonstrated his
faith, wasn't it? It was what he did. Verse 10. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to slay his son. It was already done
in his heart. He'd made up his mind, this is
what I'm going to do. For three days, he knew this
is what I'm going to do. And he raised up that dagger
to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called
unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! Think of him having the knife
up and all of a sudden he hears his name from heaven. Do you reckon he stopped? He said, Here am I. He said,
Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto
him, for now I know that thou Fearest God. This is that fear
that's the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. The respect. The reverence for
the Lord. Do you believe whatever he says? Now I know thou fearest God,
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from
me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked. And behold, behind him, there's
so much significance to that, behold, behind him, a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns. I can't help but think of the
thorny crown of Christ. A ram caught in a thicket by
his horns. And this ram was behind him.
It wasn't in front of him. It was behind him. Now remember,
every word is important. There's not something that has
not yet already been done. It's behind you. It's already
been done. There's not something you need
to do. It's behind you. And Abraham, verse 13, lifted
up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a
thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. It's called the gospel. It's
called substitution. Somebody says, that word's not
in the Bible. Well, so what? Sure. You might not have the
word, but the doctrine's still there, isn't it? So clearly. And Abraham, verse 14, called
the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, as it's said to this day in the
mount of the Lord, it shall be seen the Lord will provide. Now let's close by going back
to James chapter 2. Verse 21, Was not Abraham our
father justified by works, when he offered Isaac his son upon
the altar? You see, if Abraham would have
simply said, Well, I believe God, but he wouldn't offer his
son up on the altar. No, he didn't. It's his offering
his son up on the altar that proved he really believed God
would do what he said he would do under every circumstance.
He'd raise him from the dead. Verse 22, see how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was faith made complete. It wasn't
just a faith like a devil. Well, I believe that. I give
a sin to that. So what? His works proved he
really believed what he said he did. By works, his faith was
made complete, and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham
believed God. That's found in Genesis chapter
15, verse 6, where God said, See the stars? So shall thy seed
be. And Abraham believed God. He
didn't have any evidence. He didn't have any kids. His
wife was an old woman. He'd never been able to have
kids. They didn't have the fertility doctors back then, but he still
knew he couldn't have kids. And God said, you're going to
have a great multitude. He had no evidence other than
the word of God. And he believed God. And it was
counted to him for righteousness. You see, faith is the evidence
of righteousness. Faith is the evidence of justification. And he was called the friend
of God. That's what I want to deal with
next Wednesday. The friend of God. I want to be God's friend,
don't you? I want him to count me his friend. You see then how that by works
a man is justified and not by faith only. Now, that is not
intelligible without justification by grace, justification by blood,
justification by faith, and justification by words. But when we see those,
we see exactly what James meant when he said justification is
by works and not by faith only. Let's pray together. Lord, take your word and bless
it to our hearts and our understanding. Lord, deliver us from a faith
that is no different than a devil's. Lord, give us saving faith in
thy blessed Son, for the glory of your name. In Christ's name
we pray. We got Matt? We're not.