Would you turn back to James
chapter 2, verse 18? Let me read the first half of
this verse, and this is very important. Yea, a man may say,
Thou hast faith. And I have works. Now here's one man who says,
I have faith. And here's another man who says,
I have works. Two different men with a different
claim. Now, here's the question I'd
like to ask you, and while I'm asking you this, I'd like you
to turn to 1 Kings chapter 3. I'm asking, is this a separation
that can be made? Can one man say, well, I have
works, and another man says, well, I have faith. Is this a
separation that can be made? In 1 Kings chapter 3, this is
a famous Old Testament story beginning in verse 5. In Gibeon,
the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said,
ask what I shall give thee. Put yourself in Solomon's place.
What has God said to you? Ask. Whatever you want. I'll give you." Now let's look at Solomon's reply,
verse 6. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed
unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he
hath walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in
uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this
great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his
throne, as it is this day. And thou, O Lord my God, thou
hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am
but a little child. I know not how to go out or come
in, and thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou
hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted
for multitude. Here's what I want. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart. My marginal reading says a hearing
heart. And isn't that what understanding
it is? To hear what God says? To judge thy people that I may
discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this
thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord,
that Solomon had asked this thing. Now he could have asked for riches,
he could have asked for protection from his enemies, or the destruction
of his enemies, there's a lot of things he could have asked
for. But what does he ask for? Wisdom. Discernment. An understanding heart. Now we find out just what that
wisdom is made of beginning in verse 16. Now God was pleased
with what he said and he gave him many other things beside. But now he demonstrates what
this wise and discerning heart is. Verse 16. Then came there two women that
were harlots unto the king, and stood before him. And one woman
said, O my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was
delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to
pass the third day after that I was delivered that this woman
was delivered also, and we were together. We both had newborn
infants, only two days separating them in age. There was no stranger
with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's
child died in the night because she overlaid it. She rolled over
and slept on it and smothered it. And she arose at midnight
and took my son from beside me while by then they'd slept and
laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom. And
when I arose in the morning to give my child's son, behold,
it was dead. For when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it
was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay,
but the living son is my son, and the dead son is thy son.
And this said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is
my son. Thus they spake before the king. Now how is the king
going to settle this? How would you know? Then said
the king, The one that saith, This is my son that liveth, and
my son is the dead. And the other saith, Nay, but
thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. What are we going
to do about this? And the king said, Bring me a
sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king
said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the
one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman, whose the
living child was of the king, for her bowels yearned upon her
son. And she said, O my Lord, give
her the living child, and in no hour slay it. But the other
said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then
the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and I know
I slay it. She is the mother thereof. And
all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and
they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was
in him to do judgment. Now, if the child was separated
and cut in two, what do you have? a dead child. No life whatsoever. Now the woman that loved the
child would not have that. And the one with no love for the child was
willing for it to be separated. Now what does that tell us? Now
remember I was talking about a separation spoken of in James
chapter 2 verse 18. One man says, I have faith. And
the other man says, well I have works. This is a separation that cannot
be made. If you make this separation,
this man Says, I have faith. I have faith. You know what it
is? Dead faith. It's not real. It's not saving. Here's another
man who says, well, I have works. You know what the writer to the
Hebrews calls those works? Dead works. Dead works. I've entitled this
message, A Deadly Separation. This attempt at separating faith
and works. Now understand, the gospel is
one gospel made of many different truths. Many different truths. We have
the fall of man and his need of salvation. We have God electing
a people. We have Christ dying for those
people and accomplishing their salvation. We have the invincible
work of God the Holy Spirit giving them life. We have these people
persevering all the way to the end. We have justification. We have sanctification. We have
redemption. We have faith. We have repentance.
Now, which one of those things can you separate from the rest
and still have the gospel message? You can't leave out one, can
you? You leave out one, and you no longer have the truth. You have a dead message that
cannot save. Now, here we have James speaking
of a hypothetical situation. He said, a man may say, people
make this claim, one fellow says, well, I've got faith. I've got
saving faith. And another fellow says, well,
you might have faith, but I have works. I have works. What does James say about these
two people? He says back in our text, in
James chapter 2, verse 18, Yea, a man may say,
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, you can't show me your faith
without your works any more than this can take place. Look in
verse 14 of the same chapter. What doth it profit, my brethren,
though a man say he have 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, and be
warmed and filled, notwithstanding You give them not those things
which are needful to the body. What does it profit? What's your
answer? Absolutely nothing. Even so,
verse 17, faith, if it hath no works, is dead, being alone. Now you cannot show me your faith
without your works any more than I can say be warmed and be filled
without giving you food and giving you clothing. It cannot be done. James says, I'll show you the
reality of my faith by what I do, my works. Now, what does that
mean? You know, I could say this regarding
just about every scripture, but this is one of those totally
abused passages of scripture. It's used, abused, and very few
have any understanding as to what it means. May God be our
teacher so we will learn just what this verse of scripture
means. It's a very important scripture, a deadly separation. Now, let me first say this about
faith. Faith is not an assent to some propositions
and some facts. It's not that. You can hear truth
from the Bible, see the Bible says it, and say, I agree with
that. I believe that is, in fact, what
the Bible's teaching. That is not saving faith. You can have that and miss the
gospel altogether. Faith is a supernatural thing. It's a living thing. And it is
a powerful thing. It's called in Galatians 5.22,
the fruit of the Spirit. It's the fruit of God the Holy
Spirit. If you have faith, what is it? It's the fruit of the Spirit. It's one of the three great things
that remain. Paul said, Now abideth faith,
hope, charity. These three. But the greatest
of these is charity. Faith is the gift of God. Now
think about that. It's the gift of God. It's not
something you came up with. It's not some kind of a scent
that you give to something you hear. It's not a decision you
make. By grace, you say through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Paul said with regard to faith
for the which cause, I suffer these things. Now Paul knew that
everywhere he went to preach, you know what was going to be
waiting on him afterwards? A beating, being stoned, being whipped with
a cat of nine tails, being hated and despised. He knew wherever
he went to preach, that's what was going to happen afterwards.
He says, for the witch cause, I suffered these things because
I preached the gospel. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed. There's faith. And I am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him against
that day. I've committed the salvation
of my soul, all of it to Him. Listen to these scriptures. Galatians
chapter 5 verse 6 says, From Christ Jesus, neither circumcision
avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith Anybody know the rest
of the verse? Which worketh by love. That's a whole lot more than
an assent to some propositions, isn't it? Faith worketh by love. We read in the scriptures that
we walk by faith. We stand by faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. What's the evidence that I have
a new and holy nature, one given to me by God? Faith in Christ. It's not because I can look at
myself and say, yep, I fit the bill, I'm holy, look how good
that is. No, it's faith in Christ. He said on numerous occasions,
the Lord said this to people he healed, according to your
faith, be it unto you. He said, if you had faith as
a grain of mustard seed, you'd say to this mountain, remove.
Hence, to yonder place, and it shall remove. That sounds a whole lot more
than an assent to some facts you hear and say, I agree with
that. One time some men brought Four
men brought a man on a cot to Christ in a real crowded room,
and they couldn't get in. He was teaching and they couldn't
get in. You know what they did? They got up on the top of the
house, they knocked a hole in the roof, and they lowered their
friend down in the midst while our Lord was preaching. And you
know what the Lord said? It says, when he saw their faith, when he saw their faith. Now, they didn't say anything,
but what was it that he saw? He saw these four men who knew
that the only hope their friend had was Christ. And if they didn't
get him to Him, he didn't have any hope. So what did they do? They couldn't get in the door.
They knew they had to get him to Him, so they were willing
to do whatever it took. They knocked a hole in the roof.
Can you imagine when the Lord was preaching, all of a sudden
the hole started, everybody looking around, and they lowered this
man in, and the Lord said to him, Son, be of good cheer, thy
sins be forgiven thee. And they murmured, who is this
that forgives sins? He said, what's easier to say?
Your sins are forgiven, but rise, take up your walk. But I want
you to know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins. Then he looked at that fellow and said, rise, take up
your bed and walk. And that's exactly what he did
when he saw their faith. We read in Romans chapter 3,
verse 25 of faith in his blood. Now, let's take Cain and Abel.
Which one had faith in his blood? It's not hard to figure out,
is it? Who brought a blood sacrifice? Who brought the fruit of the
ground? We can tell by these men's works who believed Christ
and who didn't. 2 Corinthians 4.13, we read of
the spirit of faith. Faith as a spirit. And it goes
like this, I believed, therefore have I spoken. If you really
believe something, you'll speak it. You'll make it known. Four times we read in the Bible
that the just shall live by faith. They'll live by faith. Ephesians
317, we read of Christ dwelling in the heart by faith. And then we read in Ephesians
6, of the shield of faith which will quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked. We read of the joy of faith,
and the service of faith, and the work of faith, and the boldness
of faith. Paul said to Timothy, fight the
good fight of faith. And he spoke of keeping the faith. We read that we understand by
faith. The only way we understand is
by faith. The Lord said, if you'd believe,
you'd see the glory of God. He didn't say, if you see, you'll
believe. He said, if you believe, you'll
see the glory of God. The only way we're going to have
any true understanding of anything is by Faith. Scripture actually says we're
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. This faith cannot have the works that flow
from it separated, can it? You can't have one without the
other. Somebody says, I have faith. And you have works, well the
fellow that has faith has no faith, and the fellow that has
works has no works. They're both false. This is a separation that cannot
be made. Now let me give you two things
before we talk about what James is saying. Let me give you two
things that James is not saying. And I want you to listen real
carefully. This is of utmost importance. James is not saying, I repeat,
James is not saying that you can only have assurance that
your faith is real by the works that flow from your faith. Now let me repeat that. James
is not saying that you can only know that your faith is real
by the works that flow from your faith. Let's say some preacher says,
you can't really believe your faith is real unless you have
works to back it up. Show me the money. Show me what
you can do. Show me how this faith has affected
your life. You know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to turn it around and say, you show me. You show me. You go first. Kind of like the
fellow who said, when the Lord said, cut your hand off, we ought
to literally do it if it's causing us to be offended. OK, you first.
Go for it. Show me. You do it. I'll do it
after you. The point is, when people make
statements like that, it is pure hypocrisy. Do you have any works
that you perform that confirm to you that, man, I've got faith,
look how good I am. I mean, look how I'm reading
the scripture, look how I'm praying, the time I spend in prayer, look
at my witnessing, look at my giving, look at my generosity,
look at the way I'm living. I must have faith. Let me assure
you, you don't. You have no idea what faith is. To even say something like that. Any works I have that assure
me I have faith means I have a false faith and a false assurance. And do you hear that? James is
not saying you have to have a bunch of works that prove you have
faith. And here's the second thing he's
not saying. He's not saying that we prove
to others our faith by our works. And let me repeat that. I want
you to hear what I'm saying. He's not saying we prove to others
our faith. fireworks. Have you ever heard
that? I know you've heard that saying.
Maybe you've even said it. I'd rather see a sermon than
hear one. That's foolishness. And that's
all it is. I'd rather see a sermon than
hear one. No one was ever saved by looking
at somebody's conduct. No one was ever saved by looking
at how somebody acts. That's never happened and it
never will. As far as that goes, who is the
man who truly walked the walk? Who's the one man whose life
was full of good works? Who went about doing good? Remember when he said to the
Pharisees, Many good works have I shown you of my Father, for
which of these do you stone me? And they replied, For good works
stone we not, because of thou being a man, makest thyself God. What they got upset with the
Lord about was not his good deeds. It's what he said about himself,
about his Father. salvation. No one is going to
look at your conduct. Now, I'm all for it. Don't anybody
misunderstand me. I want us to live in such a way
that we're men and women of integrity, that we treat people kindly and
mercifully and graciously and all those things. I want to pay
all my bills. I want to be a good citizen. I want to be good to
you. I want you to be good to me. Don't anybody misunderstand
me. But let me say this. Nobody will ever see that you're
a Christian because of Your conduct. It's never happened. Faith doesn't come by seeing
conduct. Faith comes by what? Hearing. And hearing by the Word of God. Christ was not opposed because
of his good works, but what he said. Turn with me for a moment
to John chapter 7. Verse 7, The world cannot hate you, but
me it hateth, because I go around doing all these good works. I
heal the sick, and give sight to the blind, and cleanse lepers,
and raise the dead. It doesn't say that at all, does
it? The world cannot hate you. But me it hateth, because I testify
of it, that the works thereof, all the works thereof, the bad
stuff and the good stuff, what is it? It's all evil. That's why the world hates me. So we see that it is, show me
your faith without your works, I'll show you my faith by my
works. That does not mean our assurance comes from seeing our
good works. Nor does it mean that the only
way we can demonstrate to somebody the reality of our faith is by
how we treat them and how good we are and how righteous we are.
It doesn't mean either of those things. That's the way this passage
of Scripture is used by most preachers. And most preachers
demonstrate by that that they have no idea what it means. Well,
what does it mean? Well, our works will demonstrate
whether we have that faith that's the gift of God. Now let me show
you what I mean. First, our methods are going to line
up with our message. And that's true with regard to
the songs we sing. We sing hymns that line up with
the grace of God, don't we? And when they don't, we change
the words. I love the way you guys do that. There are several
hymns where the words have been completely changed that they're
blasphemous if you don't change them. Our hymns, the songs we
sing. If you really believe the gospel
of God's grace, you know what you're not going to have? You're not
going to have an altar call. You believe that Coming to cross
to salvation, not coming down to the front of a church and
saying anything. There's nothing like that in
the Bible. You're not going to be baptizing
infants and sprinkling infants. What do you say if you sprinkle
infants? What do you say? Oh, I don't
believe that has anything to do with their salvation. Why
do you do it then? Why do you do it? There's only
one reason. You think somehow it makes that
infant a little bit more savable, a little bit more likely to be
saved. Put them in the covenant family, and so on. Romans 1,
16 and 17, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation. Why do you prove that? By preaching it. preaching the gospel of God's
grace without a polity, preaching it. And leave it alone. If we believe
we're all one in Christ, we're not going to have this clergy
laity, this one up here and that one down there. We're all brethren,
and Christ is all. If we really believe and If we
please God by the foolishness of preaching to save them to
believe, our focal point is going to be the preaching of the gospel,
isn't it? If we really believe that. If we really believe Romans 6,
14, you're not under the law but under grace, you know what
we're not going to do? We're not going to hold out a hope
for reward or fear of punishment. We're going to preach the gospel
knowing God's people are not under law, but under grace. We're
going to preach the grace of God. We're not going to motivate
people by law if we believe. What is it that's going to prove
that I really believe, Jonah 2, 9, salvation is of the Lord?
I know. When I really believe salvation
is of the Lord, I preach out salvation is of the Lord in eternal
election. Salvations of the Lord, the Son
in redemption. Salvations of the Lord, the Spirit
in regeneration. He does it all. If I really believe
salvations of the Lord, that's exactly what I'll preach, and
I won't listen to anything else. If I can listen to something
else, I don't really believe salvations of the Lord. It really
is that simple. Our works will prove what we
really believe. Our methods, even in preaching
and worship, will prove what we really believe. What is it
that proves I really believe in the free forgiveness of sins? I'll forgive freely. And if I
won't, I don't know anything about the free forgiveness of
sins. What proves that I have obtained
mercy? I'll be merciful. And if I'm
not merciful, all I say by that is I've not obtained mercy. What proves we believe God answers
prayer? We pray. That's simple enough,
isn't it? We pray. What proves that I believe
that Christ's righteousness is the only righteousness there
is? When I preach with David, I've made mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. As the only righteousness there
is. What proves I really believe
I'm a sinner? A lot of people make that claim. You believe
you're a sinner? Oh yeah. But the only ones who really believe
they're a sinner are the people who look to Christ only. And
they have nowhere else to look. They look to Christ only as everything. salvation. What proves I love
God? I love the brethren. What proves
I believe? I rest in Christ. They which
have believed do enter into rest. Now the faith that is alone is
never alone. Now the only faith there is,
is always alone. And it is never alone. Now somebody says that's contradictory.
No, it's not. If you look to Christ alone, you're going to have joy. I don't. Then you're not looking
to Christ alone. If you look to Christ alone,
If you really believe that all God requires of you, He looks
to His Son for it. He doesn't look to you for one
single thing. He looks at all of it to Christ.
If you really believe that, you know what you're going to have?
You're going to have peace. That's the only place you'll
have peace. And if you don't have peace, that means you're
not looking to Christ alone. And you know that in your own
experience. Isn't it a joy when you're enabled to simply look
to Christ alone? And doesn't it make you miserable
when you start looking to yourself? All your peace, all your joy
leaves, doesn't it? That faith that is alone is always
accompanied with other things. If you look to Christ alone,
you'll repent of everything that's contrary to Christ alone. You'll
change your mind. I don't believe that junk anymore.
I believe Christ is all. If you look to Christ alone, If I really believe what Abraham
said in Genesis 22, 8, my son, God will provide himself a sacrifice. I'll look to Him and not myself. I'll look to Him to provide everything
for me. I really will. If I really believe the only
place of safety is in the house with the blood over the door,
you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to stay in the house with
the blood over the door. I'm going to look to Christ only. I'm going to
abide in Him. and not look anywhere else. Now, the point is, if I believe, it will leak out
on me. It will. Somebody says, do I
need to let people know I'm a Christian? They'll find out. You don't really
need to tell them. They'll find out. It'll leak
out on you. if my works prove what I believe, like I've been
talking about. Now, we all have our spouses. Our spouses know us. Our spouses
know our inconsistencies. They know our contradictions.
They know our hypocrisies. They can name all kinds of bad
things about us, except for Lynn. I can't think of anything she'd
come up with, but y'all know better than that. I know a whole lot better than
that, believe me. But the point is, though, you know if your
spouse loves Christ, don't you? It comes out on them. It comes
out on them. Now, there are two scriptures
I want to leave you with. First, turn to 1 Peter chapter
3. Verse 1, Likewise, you wives be in subjection
to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they hear
the gospel you believe, and they don't believe it. They don't
want to have anything to do with it. They may also without the word
be won by the conversation of their wives. And does that mean
that without hearing the gospel and seeing your good example,
they'll be saved? You know from the other scriptures.
It doesn't mean that. You gotta look at things in the
context of the whole Bible. Throw the whole book at it. Is
that what it means? That somebody can be saved by
a good example? No, it doesn't mean that. But it does mean this.
After hearing what you say, and he sees the way you conduct yourself,
it affects him. Doesn't mean he'll be saved,
but he might. He might. Who can tell? Look what it says.
while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear,
whose adorning, let it not be the outward adorning of the plaiting
of the hair, and of the wearing of gold, or of putting on of
apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, the new man,
in that which is not corruptible." Now, there's a verse of Scripture
that lets you know that the new nature isn't even subject to
corruption. It doesn't sin. This new nature
that's given to every believer, the work of God in them, and
look how it's seen. Even the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit. Meek before God. Quiet. Undisturbing and undisturbed. This is what shows her faith
has done for her. This meek and quiet spirit. Turn to Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6, verse 27, But I say unto you
which hear, ye hear the gospel, love your enemies, do good to
them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee
on the one cheek, offer also the other. and him that taketh
away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every
man that asks of thee, and of him that takes away thy goods,
ask them not again. As you would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what? Now that word thank is grace.
What grace have you? The ungodly, sinners, unbelievers
also love those that love them. And if you do good to them which
do good to you, what grace have you? For sinners also do even
the same. Unconverted people do that. You scratch my back, I'll scratch
you, yours. If you lend to them of whom you
hope to receive, what thank have you? What grace is there? For
sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. But
love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing
again. And your reward shall be great,
and you shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind
unto the unthankful, and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful,
as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not
be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive,
and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto
you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running
over, shall be given to your bosom. For with the same measure
you meet, that, for with the same measure you meet, with all
it shall be measured to you again. Y'all love that passage of Scripture.
The Lord says if you give only to those that give to you, there's
a grace there. Unbelievers act that way. Every one of them do. Now here's something that cannot
be separated. Faith and works. Somebody says, I believe the
gospel, yet they attend a church where the gospel of God's grace
is not preached. What do their works say? It's
a denial of what they say they believe. That's just one example
of many. Faith and works. They cannot be separated. Let's pray. Lord, by your grace, by your grace, cause our work
to line up with what we say we believe. Lord, only by your grace can
you enable us to be that way. Oh Lord, let it be so by your
grace. Bless this word for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
We got Dwayne.