I'm going to get around to a
verse of scripture found in the book of James chapter 2 verse
18 in a little while. And I'm going to speak on this
subject. Show me your faith. Show me your faith. But let me lay a little groundwork
here and make some introductory remarks. In Romans, in the book
of Romans chapter 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul exposes the evil,
the evil, the corruption of human nature both in the pagan Gentile
and in the religious Jew. That's what he, in Romans 1 and
2, he just spins The entire two chapters exposing and laying
bare the corruption and evil of the human heart, which is
found in the world and in the church, among the Gentiles and
among the professing religionists. He just exposes the evil of human
nature, fallen human nature. And Paul comes to several conclusions,
there are about four that I want to give you today, four conclusions
to which Paul comes as he writes on this subject. First of all,
in Romans 3, 9, he says, he comes to this conclusion, he says,
all are under sin, all, A-L-L, all are under sin. under the
guilt of sin, under the rule of sin, under the judgment of
sin, under the curse of sin. He said in Romans 3, 9, I've
proved, he said, I have proved both Jew and Gentile that they're
all under sin. There's no difference, he said,
there's no difference. There's no difference. They've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. You, me, every
person in this world, in the church, out of the church, on
the street, in the home, old and young, all have sinned and
come short of God's glory. And then in Romans chapter 3
verse 20 comes to a second conclusion. He says, therefore, because of
man's fall, because of his evil heart and evil nature, and sin
is a principle. Sin is not just a deed without.
Sin is a principle within. Sin is the principle that motivates
the deed. We do what we do because of what
we are. We sin because we're sinners.
We steal because we're thieves. We lie because we're liars. See,
that's the problem. And therefore, he said in Romans
3, 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, by the works of the
law, by the deeds of religion, by doing good deeds, shall no
flesh, no flesh, be justified in God's sight. That is, because
of man's sinful state and nature, he cannot, by the law of works
and deeds, justify himself before God. Everything we do just adds
to our condemnation. Every breath we draw, every word
we say, every thought we think, every deed we do, every step
we take, every movement about us just adds to our condemnation. You see, the law can no more
save you than a mirror can wash your face. The law can tell you
what you are, but the law can't do anything about it because
of what you are. That's the reason Jeremiah asks
three questions. He said, can the Ethiopian change
his skin? Can a black man change his skin?
No, sir. Why not? Because that's his nature. Can a leopard change his spots? No, sir. Nor a zebra his stripes? Because that's his nature. Neither
can you do good. that are accustomed by nature
to do evil. Can't do it. There's no good
thing about us. In the flesh, no man can please
God. That's Paul's conclusion under
divine inspiration. And then people talk about there's
a little good in every man. No, not by nature, not by birth. There's no good. Only God is
good. Romans 3, 21, 22, Paul comes
to the third conclusion. He comes to this conclusion.
But, he said, there is a holiness. There is a holiness. I'm not
talking about something that people profess down at the local
assembly. I'm talking about a real holiness.
I'm not talking about what people profess by wearing their hair
a certain length, or their clothes a certain length, or a certain
color, or say praise the Lord every breath, or hallelujah.
That's not the holiness I'm talking about. I'm talking about a real
holiness, a genuine holiness, a God holiness. Paul says there
is a holiness. There is a righteousness, and
righteousness and holiness are the same thing. There is a righteousness
for sinners that God will accept. There is a righteousness for
sinners that God will receive. There is a righteousness for
sinners, but it's not by that sinner's works. It's by the faithfulness
and obedience of a perfect man, the Lord Jesus Christ, our representative. Our Redeemer, our substitute. That's right. That's what he
says here in Romans 3 verse 20. He comes to these conclusions.
I've proved, he said, all are under sin. Face it now or face
it at the judgment. Admit it now or have to admit
it in the judgment. All is sin. And therefore, by
the deeds of the law, the works of religion, there shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. You can justify yourself in your
mama's sight, or your preacher's sight, or your neighbor's sight,
but not in God's sight because God looks on the heart. But he
says now, without the law, without your obedience to the law, there
is a righteousness without the law. It is even the righteousness
of God Almighty. It's not some little tin horn
religious professor's righteousness. It's God's righteousness. It's
not some little silly rules or regulations that some churches
come up with and said, this is our standard by which we are
holy. This is God's righteousness. And it is by the faithfulness
of Christ. And it is unto all and upon all
them that believe. for there's no difference. Now
this holiness of Christ, this righteousness of Christ, this
perfect holiness justifies and makes righteous the sinner in
God's sight. It gives me holy acceptance before
God. That's what he said in 2 Corinthians
5 21. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin in order that we might be made In Him, the righteousness
of God, the holiness of God. And in 1 Corinthians 1.30, it
says of Him, of God, are you in Christ Jesus, in Christ? who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And do you know
this perfect obedience of Christ, this perfect life of Christ,
this perfect holiness of Christ, which He performed and perfected
for you and me, not only justifies us before God, But it justifies
God. It enables God. This holiness
of Christ enables God to be just, righteous himself and still accept
us. That's right. Because Christ
perfectly obeyed God's law. He did before God what God requires
us to do, which we don't do, which we can't do, which was
never done, which no man's ever done. But Christ did it. That's called imputed holiness. imputed righteousness. And in
the event that some Bible scholar makes fun in your presence of
imputed holiness, imputed righteousness, turn to the fourth chapter of
Romans and you'll find the word there nine times. The word counted
or imputed, nine times. Abraham believed God and it was
counted, imputed, reckoned to him for righteousness. Faith
brings us a righteousness that God will accept and it's in Christ. Oh my soul, with wonder tale,
Jesus has done all things well and Through his atoning blood.
I have perfect peace with God Justice mercy truth and love
every attribute of God Joins to make this peace secure and
it must and it shall endure Now Paul came to the fourth conclusion
In Romans 3.28, he comes to the final conclusion. He says, I've
proved all have sinned. I've proved by the deeds of the
law, no flesh will be justified in God's sight. You needn't tiptoe
around about it, it's just so. And I've proved that there is
a righteousness to be had. There is a holiness, there is
an acceptance with God, but it is not in you, it's in Christ.
Now, he said, here's my final conclusion. Therefore, we conclude,
Romans 3.28, that a man, that a man is justified by faith,
by faith, without the deeds of the law. That's my conclusion. Paul said that sums it up. That's
my gospel. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. It's not of works. Lest any man
should boast. We're his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. We're not created because of
good works, but unto good works. Romans 5.1, therefore being justified
by faith. We have peace with God. And Paul's so strong on this
point, he labors it again and again and again. He said Abraham
believed God, which counted to him for righteousness. He said
in Romans 11, 6, if it be of grace, it's not of works. Otherwise,
grace is not grace. It's of grace, it's not of works.
If it's of works, then grace is not grace. But now here's
a question I have to ask, and probably some of you have already
asked it. If Abraham is justified by faith
alone, and the reason Paul selected Abraham as his example is because
Abraham is the father of the faithful. God promised to him
a seed as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea show
up. through his seed, all nations will be blessed. So Abraham is
the father of the faithful and Paul chose Abraham. as an example
of how man is saved. Well, preacher, if Abraham is
justified by faith alone, not of works, and that's what Paul
says, how do you reconcile James, James 2.21, which says, was not
Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his
son Isaac? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he offered his son Isaac? My friend, one cardinal
rule that you must observe in reading God's Word, and that
is, find out who's speaking. Find out to whom he is speaking. And find out the subject which
he is treating. That is a cardinal rule. And
in this portion of Romans that I've just been dealing with,
Paul is speaking to the religious Jews, the folks that would do,
do, do, keep days, holy days, feasts, tithing, Sabbaths, rituals,
working their way to heaven, working their way to God. They
were, Paul said, going about to establish their own righteousness
and would not submit to the righteousness of God, which is Christ. They
were ignorant of how God saved sinners. They were trying to
save themselves. Trying to make themselves acceptable with God.
And these are the people that Paul's speaking to, the religious
Jews, and he's speaking to them about what? Justification of
the soul before God in His sight, in His sight, in His sight. Don't
lose that right there. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight before God. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without works in God's sight. in God's
sight. He talks about how man is justified
from sin and the curse of the law in God's sight. And that's
only by faith through the merits of Christ. But James now, oh,
got something different here. James is not writing to the religious
Jews who are trying to work their way to heaven. James is writing
and speaking to people who were misusing the grace of God, who
were abusing the grace of God. And he says, if a man comes into
your assembly and doesn't have enough clothes and enough food,
and you say to him, be warmed and filled. He said, I won't
do him any good. You got to put clothes on his
back and food in his belly. These people were claiming to
be saved by a faith without works, by a faith that was dead, by
a faith that had no love for God or anybody else. Boy, we
know a lot of people in this world, in religion today, who
hold to that same... Well, I'm saved, once saved,
always saved, never can be lost because I believe. I don't do
anything else, but I believe. And you know what James says?
He says, a faith that has not works is dead as a doornail. He said, a faith that does not
love, and a faith that does not give, and a faith that does not
obey God, and a faith that does not pant after holiness, and
a faith that does not pant after God is dead and can't save anybody. And that's when he says, show
me your faith. Now you know Paul was writing
while ago about how a soul is justified in God's sight. Now here James is talking about
you justifying your faith in his sight. He said, show me your
faith. He said, I'll show you my faith
by my works. That's how I'll show you my faith.
You can't see my heart. I say I love God, but you can't
see love. Not in my heart. I say I believe Christ, but you
can't see my faith in my heart. So I'll just show you. I'll show
you I believe God. You show me your faith. Let me
see your faith. See that? And when Paul is writing,
the Apostle Paul is speaking to a religious-minded works-minded
self-righteous people observing all the rules and rituals and
ceremonies trying to establish a righteousness of their own
and he says it won't work it won't work it won't work you
can't be justified your soul is not justified in God's sight
by works but by Christ And James comes along to these people who
say they believe in Jesus and they made their profession, they
walked down the aisle when they were 10 years old and joined
a Baptist church and got their name on the roll and they've
been there ever since. The name is, they hadn't been there, but
the name's been there. And oh, they show up on Christmas
or Easter or Mother's Day, wear a big flower on Mother's Day
and sit on the front row and sing, oh, how I love Jesus, you
know. And James says, you're a liar. You're a liar. You don't love Jesus. You don't
love your neighbor. You love yourself. And he said,
you show me your faith. Don't you know that faith without
works is dead? A so-called faith that does not
produce love, that does not produce peace, that does not produce
joy, that does not produce humility, that does not produce works of
righteousness is dead. And it will not say. So show
me your faith. Show me your faith. Show me your
faith. Now I want to give you in a few
minutes, I've got several of them here. I want to give you,
and I'm not talking about outward deeds altogether. I don't believe
God's talking about outward deeds. I'm going to give you some evidences
of a show me faith. I'm going to give you some evidences
of a true love for Christ. These things are obvious. They're obvious. Now, first of
all, a true believer, a true believer in Jesus Christ, he
will so trust Jesus Christ and so believe on the Son of God
as to renounce, absolutely renounce every other ground of confidence.
He has no other ground of confidence except Christ. That's what Paul
is saying, I count all things but loss. for the excellency
and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord. My religious heritage,
my experiences and my feelings and my works. That's what Isaiah
is saying. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him. By His stripes we're healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Christ is my hope. That's what Job is saying. I
know that my Redeemer liveth. That's what David is saying.
Although it be not so with my house. These were the last words
of King David, sweet psalmist of Israel. Although it be not
so with my house, God's made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things insure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Everything is wrapped up in that
covenant of mercy in Christ Jesus. That's trust. That's faith. It's Christ. And then secondly, a true believer.
will glory. Yes, he will glory and boast
and brag only in the righteousness of Christ. Yes sirree. Never in his own works. You can't
get him to brag on himself or praise his works. He counts his
works as filthy rags. That's right. He counts the best
prayer he ever prayed to be unacceptable by God Almighty except in Christ.
He counts the best gift he ever gave to be unacceptable. And
the best sermon he ever preached to be totally unacceptable. That's
what old George Whitfield said so many years ago, preached a
great sermon on the subject method of grace, had a point in their
own repentance. And he said, I tell you this,
no man has ever savingly repented, truly repented, truly repented. until first of all he repents
of his S.I.N. sin that's what he is what he
is and secondly no man's ever savingly repented until he repents
in godly sorrow over what he's done and is doing and will do
and thirdly no man's ever savingly repented before God Almighty
until he weeps over and mourns over and grieves over his best
deed for he counts even his best deed to be sin. There's enough sin in my repentance
that I have to repent over my repentance. That's right, there's
enough evil in the saint nearest to the gate of glory to send
him to hell except for the blood of Christ. There's enough kindling
wood, that old runny panty-knot kindling wood from South Alabama
in you to light another hail if God lit a spark set by His
grace. That's right, the best deed you
ever done. We've never loved God like we ought to, we've never
believed God like we ought to, we've never served God like we
ought to, and anything short of perfection is unacceptable
to God. To God. better get a hold of
that you see I'm taking a different direction what you thought I'd
take when I said show me your faith show me your faith you
show me your faith by confidence in Christ and a lack of confidence
in yourself oh I tell you if I'm saved by
the grace of God I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive
at home Tell you another thing, a true believer will rejoice
in the cross of substitution. He knows substitution, he loves
substitution, he preaches substitution. That's right, he rejoices in
substitution. God forbid, Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had some things he might
have gloried in if he'd been like us. I read all these stories
from prison to pulpit, from cocaine addict to preacher of the gospel.
You know, everybody seems to be bragging about what they used
to do and how mean they used to be and how wild they used
to be and the fun they used to have. Forgetting those things
which are behind. You ought to be ashamed of it
instead of bragging on it. I'd be ashamed. Paul could have gloried
in his religious background, but he didn't. He could have
gloried in his supernatural experience on the road to Damascus. Some
of these preachers that had an experience like that, they've
been talking about it until they're 90 years old. Paul could have
gloried in his revelations. He was taken to the third heaven.
Let a fellow just go to Australia to preach and he'll brag about
it for a month, or go to Haiti and he'll show scenes on his
television pro for six months. Paul went to the third heaven,
never mentioned it. He could have gloried in his
accomplishments, in the churches he had organized, in the writings. He wrote 13 books in the New
Testament. But he said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ. Let me see your
faith. Quit showing me your picture
and start preaching Christ. Quit bragging on what you're
doing and building and the money you're making, the souls you're
winning. And let me hear you preach Christ and I'll see some
faith. Up till then, I don't believe
you got any. There's a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. Legalist, on your way to Sinai,
why don't you stop at Calvary? Charismatic, on your way to Pentecost,
why don't you stop at Calvary? That's where the work was done.
That's where the grace flowed. That's where the mercy is. That's
where the blood is. Millennialist pre post and are
on your way to Armageddon. I wish you'd stop at Calvary
and take your people there there They'd be washed in the blood
Fundamentalist on your way to the five judgments and 17 crowns. You ought to stop at Calvary
and preach Christ Ritualist on your way down to the priest to
confess your sin. Why don't you go to Calvary where
they can be put away? Show me your faith A true believer
will love Christ supremely, and he'll so order his life as to
avoid commitments and associations which stand in competition with
his Lord. Yes, he will. What fellowship
does darkness have with light? You tell me. What communion does
Baal have with God? You tell me. A believer is not
going to form a business partnership with an unbeliever. A believer
is not going to join a club or organization to socialize with
pagans. A believer is not going to identify
with a religious organization which does not honor Christ,
and a believer will not marry an unbeliever. They marry only
in the Lord. Show me your faith. And I'll
tell you this, a true believer will continue in the faith. They
never quit. They never quit. They never leave the fellowship
because they can't leave Christ. You see, repentance is not an
isolated act, it's a continual coming to Christ. To whom coming? And last of all, a true believer
will obey the Lord's precepts and commandments, not in order
to gain his favor, but because he lives in his favor. The law
is not made for a righteous man. They don't put locks on these
doors out here for believers. They put locks for unbelievers.
You don't need to threaten a believer to get him to walk with God.
He loves him. You don't need to promise a believer
a reward to get him to love God. No, so he delights in his presence. What's this message called? Show
me your faith.