Again with me to James chapter
2. You and I know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that what James is teaching here in chapter 2 does
not contradict the gospel when he makes the statement, was not
Abraham justified by works? Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works? James is not teaching justification
of the soul by works. He's teaching justification of
our faith, the reality of our faith. the evidence of our truth,
our faith by works. Paul said in Romans 3, 28, therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. And allow me to give you three
vital truths in regard to this subject, three vital truths. First is this, any duty or works
that I do or you do toward God is exactly what we ought to do. That's what we ought to do. There's
no merit or credit or praise to me in doing what I ought to
do. These things you ought to do.
And when we've done all that we ought to do, we're still unprofitable
service. So that's just so. I ought to
pay what I owe. I ought to render to God what
belongs to God. And I ought to do what I ought
to do. So I take no praise or credit for doing what I ought
to do. Like my friend, Clemmie Coleman,
down in Madisonville, Kentucky. Someone said to her one day,
you don't have to be in church ever service, do you? No. I don't
have to. But this is what I want to do. This is what I want to do. It's
what I ought to do. And this is what I want to do.
And I'm doing what I want to do. I want you to see is this. Any
spiritual grace or fruit which is evident in me or you, any
spiritual grace or fruit which is evident in us, is not the
product of our fallen nature. It is the presence and fruit
and the gift of God. It's called not our fruit, but
His fruit. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
So anything that I have, it's the gift of God. That's the reason
Paul said, who makes you to differ? Who maketh thee to differ? What
do you have you didn't receive? Now if you received it, if God
gave it to you, if it's yours by grace, why would you gloat
over it? So anything that we do, for the
glory of God, we do what we ought to do. And then anything we do
for the glory of God, we do it by his motivation and by his
Spirit and by his grace. And the third thing, for any
son of Adam, you know Paul said about us, sons of Adam, he said
You have before been proven, Jew and Gentile, that you are
all under sin. That there's none righteous,
no not one. That there's none that understandeth.
That there's none that seeketh after God. That there's none
good, no not one. Now that being established, to
talk of acceptance with God, or eternal salvation based in
any measure or way on my works is not only ignorance, it's blasphemy. It's not only ignorance, it's
blasphemy. Salvation of the Lord. It's of
the Lord in its planning, it's of the Lord in its execution,
it's of the Lord in its application, it's of the Lord in its sustaining
power is of the Lord in its conclusion. Salvation is of the Lord. So James here in chapter 2 is
exhorting us to do what we ought to do. And here in chapter 2
verse 14, I want you just to go verse by verse here for a
few moments. And James says, what does it
profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not
works? Can that faith save him? For
a man to profess, whomever it may be, to have faith and to
be saved, and have no works, no works of faith, no labor of
love, no patience of hope, can that kind of faith save him?
Can that kind of faith deliver him? If he says he's in the body but
he has no life, if he says that he's in the vine but has no fruit,
if he says he's in the family but he has no inheritance, if
he says he is free and yet he's in bondage, in slavery, this is religion
in word only, not in deed. And it cannot save. What does
it profit a man if he says, not does, but says that he has faith
and no works? Can that kind of faith save?
And then James gives us an example in verse 15. This is an illustration
that James gives to us on this subject. Now if a brother or
a sister If a brother or sister be naked
and destitute of daily food, and one of you say, you say to
him, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you
don't give them those things which are needful to be warmed
and to be filled, and for the body, what is a prophet He's saying here, suppose a brother
or sister or family member is without proper food or proper
clothing or proper shelter, and one of us says to them, goodbye,
depart in peace, keep yourself warm, keep yourself clothed,
keep yourself well fed, I wish the best for you, God bless you. These are good words and good
wishes, but not good works. If we do not supply those things
which that person needs, what good have we done? Will words feed him? Will words
clothe him? Will words warm him? Of course
not. And a person is foolish to think
that words alone will profit someone who's in need. And a
man is foolish, a woman is foolish, who professes a religion that
thinks that words, profession, and emotionalism will take the
place of the life of Christ, or the love of Christ, or the
grace of Christ, or the walk of faith, that's foolishness. That's foolishness. Paul said this, if any provide
not for his own, his own kindred, his own family, his own brothers
and sisters. If he provides not for his own
brothers and sisters, he has denied the faith, and he's worse
than an infidel. A person who does not have good
works, which is the result and evidence of good faith, is worse
than an infidel. He's denied the faith. And that's
what he says in verse 17. Even so, faith, a profession
of faith, a claim of faith, a creed of faith, name it, a doctrine
of faith, even so, faith, if it does not have works, is dead. What is this works? It's the
fruit of the Spirit. Faith that does not have the
fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, Patience, gentleness,
goodness, kindness to back it up. It's dead. It's like a dead body, a body
without a soul. It's like a carcass without life. It's alone. One great old writer years ago
made three statements. I think so outstanding. Listen to this. The first one is this. Faith
without works, without good works, is useless. Even so, works without
the life of Christ is useless. It's called works of iniquity. Good works are not the cause
of faith. Good works are the result of
faith and the evidence of the life of Christ within us. Good works do not cause faith. God gives faith. Good works are
the result of a life of faith that God gave us, a heart of
faith. Good, now watch this. Think carefully
now. Good works, which men call good, and works which God calls good,
there's two different kinds. But good works, which men call
good, are not absolute proof of the presence of God or saving
faith. A man may do good works and still,
not have faith, because good works are not absolute proof
of faith. But I guarantee you this," he
said, the absence of good works proves the absence of Christ.
You understand what he said? A man may do some good
things, but that doesn't prove the same. He may do it for various reasons.
I give my body to be burned. He said I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels and have not love. Man, they do those
things and not show salvation. And I tell you this, if God has
saved him, he will have good works. The absence of good works
is positive proof. of the absence of faith. See
what I'm saying? And that's what James is declaring
here. He's saying faith, if it has not worked, is positive proof. Faith that does not have compassion
and generosity and love and kindness and gentleness, it does not have
that proof. It's dead. No matter what the
reason for performing these things Look at verse 18. Now this is
an interesting, powerful challenge here. Let me read it to you and
then comment. Brethren, yea, a man may say
thee, a man may say, you have faith and I have works. Show
me your faith without your works. I'll show you my faith by my
works. This is a true believer speaking now. This is a true
believer. This is a believer speaking here. And he says to
the man who has no works, you have faith. You claim to have
faith. You profess to have faith. I
say nothing about my faith. The believer says nothing about
his faith. But he does say something about
the results of his faith, the work of God in his soul. I say
nothing about my faith. I make no boast of faith. You
know what the sin do? And he said, Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief. You won't find the believer walking
around bragging on his faith. It's the unbeliever that brags
on his faith. It's the religious man. He says, you say you have
faith. Now, I have works. What kind of works? Well, I believe
God. You believe God. I worship God. You worship God. I support his people, his family,
his church. We're family. We show mercy to
the weak and to the needy. We set forth, if best we can,
an example for other people. These are works. You say you
have faith, we have works. Now do this. Show me your faith
without your works. I'll show you my faith by my
works. You show me your faith without
works. Faith without works, show it, show me. I can't see faith.
This man says, I have faith, show me your faith. I can't see
your faith. Faith is an inward, hidden principle,
which cannot be seen of men, cannot be detected of men, except
one way. Faith is revealed one way, by
its results. by action. We're not doers of
the word, we're not hearers of the word, we're doers. And that's
what he's saying here. You say you have faith? Well,
God has given me a love for Christ and a love for his people and
a love for his word. I have works. I don't boast of
my faith. I don't gloat in my faith. God
gave it to me. It's a gift of God. God helped
my unbelief, but I do believe. I'll give you an example. The
Apostle Peter had denied his Lord. He had acted very ugly,
cowardly. And a little while later, after
our Lord rose from the tomb, he appeared to the Apostle Peter
and to the other disciples. And they ate together and talked,
and he revealed himself to them. And he took Peter off to the
side. And three times he looked at
Peter, said, Do you love me? Do you believe on me? Yea, Lord. Now he said, Yea, Lord. Then
you feed my sheep. If you love me, you feed my sheep.
That's proof of your love. That's evidence of your love.
That's truth of love. Feed my sheep. You don't feed
my sheep, you don't love me. He said that three times. Do
you love me? Lord, you know I love you, then
feed my sheep." And he asked the third time, Lord. The Lord
said to him, Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord. Peter was
grieved. You know I love you. Feed my
sheep. That's the evidence of love. And that's what that fellow is
saying. You say you have faith, show me your faith. That's what
they're doing, raising their hands, jumping, throwing songbooks,
cutting up, doing all this stuff, you know. They're showing their
faith. You show your faith by believing Christ, walking in
godliness, sharing what God has given you with others, praying
for one another, preaching the gospel, sending the missionaries. That's how you show faith. Prove
it. Prove it. If you can't prove
it, you don't have it. That's just so. That's what he's
saying here. He said, I thank God for you.
I thank God for your work of faith, your labor of love, and
your patience of hope, because I know you're one of God's elect.
How do you know they're God's elect? Works of faith, labor
of love, and patience of hope. Don't have it, you're not one
of God's elect. That's so vital, isn't it? That's where we live. I don't hear any of you bragging
about your faith. I brag about your works. And
that way I know you believe. I know you believe. Here's a strong statement, verse
19. You believe there's one God.
You do well. The devil bleeds and trembles.
What's James saying here? words. Faith without works is
nothing more than the faith of devils, who are forever condemned. A
faith that's in word only, that's not demonstrated or lived out and shown by godliness and good
works, is the faith of devils. For example, the religious professor,
he says he believes in one God. The devil believes in one God. The religious professor says
he believes that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The devil knows
he's the Messiah. He doesn't have a doubt in his
mind. The religious professor says he believes that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. Satan said this, listen, in Luke
4, verse 34, the demons whom Christ cast out of a man, the
demons said, leave us alone. Speak into Christ, the Lord Jesus.
Leave us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Are you come to torment us before
our time? Are you come to destroy us? We
know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. That's who you are. Now believe this, there's one
God, one Messiah, one Son of God. That's a pretty good start. But the devil already believes
that. And trembles. That's more than
most religionists. He does tremble, they don't tremble. Now consider this with me, and
I'll come to a close. True faith does not only acknowledge
Christ to be God, Messiah, Son of God. True faith believes He's
the Son of God. Abraham believed God. He didn't
just say it, he believed Him. And we're going to see tonight
proof of it. It works. So just acknowledging that God
is God is not it. It's believing. You put everything
you have and everything you are and everything you want and everything
you hope to be in that faith. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I'll die for it. Secondly, true faith not only
confesses Christ, not only confesses Him, but actually in reality
and heart loves Him. More than life, more than children,
more than father and mother, more than husband and wife. If
any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. And he that loveth father, mother,
Husband, wife, brother and sister, son or daughter, more than me,
he's not worthy of me. Why did Abraham take that only
son and sacrifice him? Because he loved God more than
he loved that son. Faith doesn't only confess Christ,
faith loves him. Trust him, rest in him. True faith not only sees the
glory of Christ, The glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
True faith sees that. But true faith rejoices in it. I'm so glad. Rejoices. True faith not only sees that
glory, but rejoices in that glory. It just lies down wallows in it.
glory of God. Never as happy as right now when
we talk about Him. Look into Him and have a good
hope in Him. Knowing that dying Christ is
to live forever. We rejoice. That's all right.
Some of our loved ones are gone. I rejoice with them. I'm glad. Be glad when I go with them.
Wouldn't you? All right, here's the fourth thing. True faith
not only talks about faith and talks about the doctrine and
argues, but true faith walks in grace. Walks in grace. Walks in grace. He walked with God, and he was
not, and God took him. That's what my text says here
in Titus to this congregation, to all whom I love in Christ
Jesus. These things I will that you
affirm constantly, this day and days to come. You which have
believed in God, that you might be careful, very careful, very
diligent to maintain good work, because these things are good
and profitable unto men.