Faith On Display // James 2:14-26

Today we are going to be in the book of James, James chapter 2, to be exact.

James 2 · chapter mention

So if you have your Bibles, you could turn there.

I like reading from the New King James Version.

It's just the version I grew up with.

It's the version I've always read.

So if you have that, you'll follow along.

If not, you can look at the screen.

But today we're going to be looking at a message I titled Faith on Display.

Faith on Display.

James is, as many of you know, that the half-brother of Jesus.

And he wrote this book to other believers who had been dispersed around the area and was encouraging them in very practical ways.

And that's one of the reasons why I love the book of James, is it's it's very practical.

There's some very um just things that you can apply on a day-to-day basis, and we it still speaks to us today.

Uh and as we look at the chapter today, chapter two, um, this section really uh James tries to identify uh what is faith, and more importantly, what is saving faith and what does that look like?

And so we will look at that today together as we study the book of James, chapter two.

Uh, if you do have your Bibles and if you are willing and able, would you please stand this morning for the reading of God's Word?

Um, if you're new, we stand for the reading of God's Word each and every Sunday.

Uh, it's not just a religious act, but it's uh to show honor and respect to our Lord and Savior, to honor and respect the word of God.

Uh, this isn't my word, this is his word.

Uh my words will fail you, but God's words never will.

Uh, his word is the ultimate authority, so we stand to give honor uh to God's word.

Uh so we will start reading in the book of James, chapter two, starting in verse 14.

It reads, What does it profit, my brethren?

If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can faith save him?

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of food, and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and be filled, but do you do not give him the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But some will say, You have faith, and I have works.

Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that there is one God, you do well.

Even the demons believe and tremble.

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered Isaac, his son on the altar?

Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

And the scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

You see then that a man is justified by faith, by works, and not by faith only.

Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

We'll stop there.

Uh Lord, we thank you for your word.

It is the authority that that guides our life.

It is your instruction manual to us, and and we want to be faithful to obey it, to know it, and to live it out on a daily basis.

And I pray this morning that you would prepare our hearts and to hear your word, uh, whatever spirit you would want to speak to us this morning, that uh we would be encouraged and built up and be more committed in our relationship with you.

I just thank you for this opportunity, Lord.

Would you speak through me?

Uh, use this time for your glory, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

You can be seated.

So, James chapter two, faith on display.

Through the text this morning, I want to just point out three simple things.

The first thing is faith defined.

James speaks about this faith in verse 14, and he asks the question uh, what does it profit, my brethren, if someone says they have faith, but they do not have works?

Can faith save him?

But what is faith?

Well, the Webster's dictionary defines faith as complete trust or confidence in someone or something often held without physical proof or absolute certainty.

The early church fathers uh after the Reformation um used three Latin words, and I'm not Latin, so I'm not gonna try to pronounce them, but they use three words uh to define faith.

And basically it comes down to the first is the idea of knowledge, having the knowledge, I know what God has revealed.

Uh, and then assent or belief, um, believing that it is true.

And then lastly, trust, that you personally entrust yourself to the thing that you know to be true, that you've believed to be true.

Do you trust it?

Um, these are essential components of saving faith.

But the Bible itself has a definition in Hebrews 11.

If you want to turn there just a couple pages back, Hebrews 11 and excuse me, in Hebrews 11 it says uh a simple destinate uh definition of faith.

Hebrews 11, verse 1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

This is what we see biblically as biblical faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

That word substance uh can be also translated confidence or or firm trust or assurance.

Uh evidence is just proof or any of any information, fact or or object or or testimony used to prove or disprove whether something is true.

Evidence.

You know, I I imagine, like most of you, uh you enjoy a good movie.

I I'm I really enjoy movies.

My some of my favorite movies are like mysteries or like detective style movies.

Uh I recently watched this movie uh Mercy.

Anyone seen it?

It's not the greatest movie in the world, but I like the idea of it.

Um there's a uh a character, he's being accused of a crime and he has to prove his innocence, and he he has to prove it to this artificial intelligence uh judge.

And so he has to go through the evidence and provide evidence for why he is innocent.

In movies like this, the the characters use various pieces of evidence just to prove that they did or did not do something.

But when we look at the Hebrews 11 definition of faith, it shows uh it tells us that we uh faith is a confident belief in that the evidence produces and proves that we uh are what we say we are, or that we believe what we say we believe.

And so to prove that we believe what we say we believe, we must be able to present evidence uh to back that up.

But how do we do that?

Do we just say, I have faith?

Uh that's what what James is getting here at in verse 14.

He says, if someone just simply says, I have faith, but does not have works, can that faith save him?

And there are some people who will confuse faith uh for something that it's not.

Uh is faith simply just believing or knowing that a God exists?

James directly confronts us later in this chapter.

He says, the demons also believe and tremble.

A person can affirm correct things, but not have saving faith in God.

Is faith simply agreeing with Christian doctrine and Christian beliefs?

Umone can say they believe that Jesus existed, that he was a good teacher, even that he died and that he rose again, um, but may not actually have saving faith.

They can be theologically and and or intellectually theologically correct, but not having saving faith.

It's important that intellectual agreement alone isn't what saves a person.

Is faith just saying you're a Christian?

Uh that's what James is talking about here, making a claim of faith.

James is examining this claim of faith, not automatically accepting it as the evidence of genuine faith.

Uh, some think that faith is having a spiritual experience, uh a powerful emotional uh experience.

And that may happen to people, but that doesn't mean that they have saving faith.

Someone may associate these feelings or these emotions being moved during a worship moment or being have having an emotional conversation or experience as the underlying fact of their faith.

These things can happen, but they don't equal faith.

Some people think faith is just thinking positively, having good things, uh good thoughts about things.

Uh, this turns faith into confidence that something desirable might happen.

If I if I just believe strongly enough, this this thing, God will do it for me.

It's almost as if people would turn God into a genie in a bottle, where they just have to believe enough and ask for something and he will w grant their requests.

Biblical faith isn't in the strength of your belief, it's in the trust of the person in who you believe.

Knowing the person and character of our God is what allows us to understand and experience saving faith.

And it's important for us to know the character of God, uh to get to know him.

And how do we do that?

Through studying God's word.

Every time I get an opportunity to speak to people, I try to always encourage the study of God's word for yourself.

Not just coming to church on Sunday or going to a Bible study during the midweek, but actually spending time walking through the scriptures, reading through the scriptures, and allowing God to reveal himself to you.

And as he does, you get to learn his character, who he is, what he has done, and what you can believe.

Some also think that uh faith is just believing something, but never being changed by it.

And I think that is what James is talking about in this passage.

Uh the person that says, I believe, but that belief never affects their obedience or their relationships, uh, their generosity, their priorities, their repentance, their conduct.

James asks, can that faith save?

And the answer is no.

Only true faith in the true God and faith, and that faith is on display.

We see James draw this out for us uh in the hypothetical question in the next section, and this is where we'll find our second point, uh, which is dead faith.

Point number two, dead faith.

And in that second section, he says, uh if in verse 15, if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of food, and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed, and be filled, but you do not give them the things that are needed, what does that profit?

Here we see James talk about a faith that speaks but does not act.

You know, some people see this passage or this verse of, you know, giving people food or clothing, and they see it as a source of conviction to go out and feed the homeless and take care of the poor, which is a good thing.

We should do that as the Lord leads us, but that's not exactly what James is talking about here.

He points out if a brother or a sister, someone in the body of Christ, is lacking something, and you say to them, Oh, God bless you, brother, be on your way.

The Lord's gonna take care of it, but you don't actually give them the things, you don't have actions to back up what you say you believe.

And what is it that we believe?

Well, we believe that Jesus said that all people will know you're my disciples.

What?

By the love that you have for one another.

So if you say you love the brethren, you say you love your brothers and sisters, but when they have a need and you don't act, you don't do something, do you really have the works to back up what you say you believe?

It's not simply about food and clothes.

I think it points to the fact of whether the person has true faith.

If we say we have faith in Jesus, but we don't have the works to provide the evidence for that faith, then that faith is dead.

How does that work practically?

You know, we have a really great church here, and I don't say that just because I'm here on stage, but it I've I've got to see a lot of churches.

I used to work in a ministry called the Crusade Ministry, and we would travel across the country setting up these outreaches, and we would partner with hundreds of churches.

So I get to see a lot, or I've got to see a lot of churches, and this church is very unique in the love and the generosity, the care that we have for one another.

Uh, you may not know this, we don't always broadcast uh all the stories, but there have been uh needs that have arised in this church, and other members of the church have heard about it, and we've seen their their faith on display.

Uh, medical bills have been paid for.

Uh, people have been taken to the grocery store and loaded up with food during a difficult season.

There's there's a lot that happens behind the scenes here within this church, and I'm proud to say that I'm a part of this church because I see your faith on display.

Uh the faithfulness to to give and to serve and to lend your talents to the church.

I think this is an example of faith on display, of works that are backing up or evidencing what we say we believe.

But if we are just saying it, ah, I'm a Christian, or God bless you, brother, uh, hope everything works out, and you don't do anything, then James says, faith without works is dead.

He continues in verse 18.

He says, But some of you will say, I have faith, and I, or you have faith, and I have works.

Show me your faith without your works, he says, and and I will show you my faith by my works.

You can't visibly see someone's faith.

Uh like I can't just be like, hey guys, you want to see my faith?

And you can see it.

Like it doesn't work like that.

Uh so how can we see someone's faith?

How can we see someone's faith?

By looking at what they do.

Uh James says, I will show you my faith by my works.

And it's important to distinguish works-based salvation where like you can work to get favor with God, or you can do enough good deeds in order to be saved.

That's not what James is pointing out.

It's actually the opposite.

He's saying that your faith, your belief, your confident trust in our Lord and Savior will be evidenced by your works.

And if there aren't works, you have to question whether or not it is true faith.

He gives an example of faith or belief without works being dead here in this passage.

He continues to in verse 19 and 20.

He says, You believe that there is God, there is one God, and you do well, but even the demons believe and tremble.

But do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Here, first he gives an example of a Christian in the church.

Like you're saying that you have faith, but you don't have works.

That faith is dead.

And then he gives us another example here of the demons.

They know that God is real, they know that God is one, as he points out.

But just because they know something to be true, but they don't have the works to back it up, that faith is dead as well.

Sometimes uh people will have this concept or this idea, or they'll even have a fear that, oh man, like I know God to be true, but how do I how do I know that I'm saved?

Like the demons know that God is true, but they're not saved.

So and there starts to be a fear that gets in inside of them that they're not saved, and they start to question their salvation.

I used to watch this show, uh, or not I watch it, or listen to this this radio program uh on the radio.

It was called Pastor's Perspective, and uh there would, it's like a call-in show.

People would call in and ask questions uh of the pastors who were um answering the questions that day, and one common question was, how do I know that I'm saved?

How do I know that I I believe?

And the answer is, Well, how are you living?

Are you living a repentant lifestyle?

Because you can know things to be true, but have you repented of that?

And that doesn't mean that you have to live a perfect life to know that you're saved, that you're without sin and you never sin again.

That's impossible.

The scripture declares that.

If a person says they're without sin, they are a liar.

But belief in the knowledge of who Jesus is, what he has accomplished, along with a life that is demonstrated by repentance is something that we can use to evidence our faith.

The answer to what we're trying to accomplish is always the gospel.

Anytime you find yourself questioning or doubting or um second-guessing whether or not you're in the right place or you're doing the right thing or you have a right relationship with God, I encourage you to remember the gospel.

What is the gospel?

There is a God in heaven who loves you, so much so that he sent his son Jesus to earth to be born of a virgin, to live a perfect life, a life that no human could ever live because no human is God except for him.

He takes that life and he offers it as an atonement or a payment for the sin of the world, as he dies the death on a cross.

But to prove that he was God, he raises up from the dead three days later, proving that he has the victory over sin and over death, and by faith, anyone who believes that Jesus died on the cross, rose again from the grave, and has forgiven them of their sins will be saved.

The scripture is clear.

But that faith is backed up by the evidence of repentance.

So, how can you continue in this gospel truth?

Just repent.

Continue to repent every single day, every single moment, every time you fall short, repent, turn away from that thing, and evidence your faith by repentance.

No uh perfect or there is no perfect person, and and it's not perfection that we can achieve.

That was only achieved by Christ.

Only you can answer the question of your salvation.

Only you can settle that in your heart.

And you can settle that today, that you would believe on the Lord Jesus, receive his forgiveness, and follow him all the days of your life.

Believe, repent, and live a life that evidences your salvation.

True faith is not just saying it, it's not just having the right information.

True faith is accompanied by works or by action, or it's just dead faith.

James continues and going, showing us more examples which reveal the third point, which is faith in action.

He continues in verse 21.

He says, Was not Abraham, our father, justified, justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

If you aren't familiar with the story, Abraham was called out of a place by God to go into a place that he did not know.

He believed God, he trusts God.

God promised him that he would make a nation great from him.

And he did so.

He he actually gave him a son, a promised son that he waited a long time for.

And after he gave him the son, he asked him to offer his son up to him on an altar, to basically sacrifice his son.

And Abraham, in obedience, was going to do that.

He went up the mountain, he prepared the altar, and he was to the point where he had the knife raised, ready to sacrifice his son, and the Lord stopped him and recognized his works, evidencing his faith that he actually believed God.

And that's what James is pointing out here that Abraham was justified by works when he offered his son on the altar.

He says that faith has obedience.

In obedience and faith, he does what God uh knows that he will do.

He demonstrates his faith.

His works were the evidence.

He had to more importantly believe the character of God.

Can I I try to think about this sometime that that Abraham, he's he's given this promise, and then the Lord tells him to do something that just seems out of character.

Um, but he knows God.

He understands who he is.

So whatever God is calling him to do, he's obedient to do it because he knows that God is good.

And this is why it's so important for each of us to understand the character of God.

Because as you go through life, there's gonna be decisions you need to make, uh situations you'll experience where it will require you to understand your God in order to make right decisions.

It's not always gonna be laid out for you.

I I would love it if that was the case.

If every day you wake up and God just drops you a text message like this is what's gonna happen today, this is the decisions you need to make, this is who you need to talk to, who you don't need to talk to.

Uh that's just not how it works.

But if you understand his word, his character, and what he's called you to, you can make decisions in faith, believing that he will work things out.

Abraham had seen the hand of God provide.

Uh, after a very long time, he received the promise of his son.

So he understood that God can deliver and that God promised that he was going to make him a great nation.

So it had to go into the mind of Abraham.

Like, if I'm sacrificing my son, then I guess you're gonna give me another son, or something's gonna happen where you're gonna work this out, Lord.

Um, and he believed God.

And I think in our day-to-day life, we need to believe God as we understand his character, we understand who he is and that he is good.

And sometimes the Lord is allowing us to get to a place where we are just simply obedient, knowing who he is.

Many times I've talked to people who uh find themselves going through seasons where it doesn't feel like they're close to God, like uh the same environment that one experienced, the mountaintop experiences where the Lord is just ever present and speaking to them and just revealing himself in bright new ways.

And then they find themselves in situations where that's not the case and they wonder like, did I do something wrong?

Is is God changed?

Is he different?

No, God remains the same.

But I believe in those seasons, he's calling us to obedience.

And I believe in those moments when you're obedient to God, despite having the emotional connection or or the miraculous experiences or the words of scripture just flying off the pages at you, that if you're still day by day being obedient to God, doing what you know to be do, uh what you know to do, avoiding sin, repenting daily, that God is glorified in those moments just as much, if not even more so, in the seasons where you feel super close to Him.

Why?

Because it is complete obedience.

There's nothing that is prompting you to do those things.

You're just believing who God is and demonstrating works to line up with that.

And though those seasons will happen, and just know that it's not that God has departed from you, but he wants to see your obedience, just like we saw the obedience of Abraham.

He continues in verse 22, he says, Uh, do you not see that faith was working together with his works?

And and with works, uh I lost my spot.

Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

And the scripture was fulfilled and says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

He continues uh and giving more examples, he looks at at verse 25.

He says, Likewise, was not Rahab, the harlot, justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way.

So, this story, if you're not familiar with it, um, the the people of Israel were seeking to take over the promise line, to conquer the land that the Lord had promised him.

And this city, Jericho, had these high walls, and and so um Joshua sends in some spies to go spy out the land to see what it's gonna take to defeat them.

And as the spies are there, the king hears about it, and the king sends uh some people to go find them, to find out the spies and to get rid of them, obviously, to take them out.

Um and the spies end up finding themselves in the the house of Rahab, the harlot.

And she um in faith asked them to preserve her life and her life of her family, and she lies to the king's attendants and tells them, like, oh well, I don't know, they came, but then they left, but she actually hid them and sent them out a separate way so that they would be preserved.

It is a demonstration of her faith.

You know, Abraham, he knew God, he had some uh familiarity with God, he seen God deliver promises of the promised son uh and so much more.

But Rahab, she didn't have that background with God.

All she had was what she heard of God to be true, that he dried up the Nile River, and that he was preserving this people, and that fear uh was among everyone in the nation of Jericho, that everyone was fearful of this God.

And for what little bit she did know of God, she believed that he was, and that he could preserve, that he could protect.

And so Rahab is making it into James as well as she makes it into the hall of faith, in demonstrating her faith.

She had not walked with the Lord for a long time or seen his works firsthand.

She'd only heard of his works in power and believed that he can save.

She risked her life by misleading the king of Jericho, which was evidence that she truly did believe.

She believed in a God that she had not seen.

And so we see the picture of Abraham who's experienced, and someone who isn't as experienced or isn't as close to the Lord, but still demonstrating faith by their works.

James continues in this last picture, in verse 26.

The body, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

A simple picture.

The body, the human body without the spirit is dead, so also faith, belief without trust, without works, is dead.

And to be clear, just works on their own are dead also.

So just doing works isn't enough.

You can't earn salvation by doing enough things.

The works simply are the evidence that your faith is real.

This is true of our salvation, but I also believe it's true in our daily living.

We say we have faith in the Word of God, we believe it, but do our works show that we believe?

Are our works the evidence of our faith?

You know, I believe there's many ways we can show our faith by our works.

Uh, when we believe God and obey his word, we say we believe God when it says that the Lord has forgiven us and has called us forgive, Ephesians 4 32, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

We say we believe this, but do our works back it up?

Are we forgiving people?

And don't get me wrong, it's not always an easy thing to do, but it's what we're commanded to do.

It probably wasn't an easy thing to do for Abraham to take his son up onto the altar.

It probably wasn't an easy thing to do for Rahab to lie to the king's directives, uh uh to send the spies out another way.

But it's works that are supporting our faith.

Earlier in James uh 2, he teaches us to not be partial.

He says if uh if a person comes into your assembly dressed in fine clothes and another person is dressed in rags and you treat one better than the other, like that's wrong.

He condemns it.

And we believe that, it sounds great, but do we behave like that?

When when we see people that don't necessarily look like us or are a little uh different than us, do we treat them differently?

In the body of Christ, that should not be so.

We should not do that.

Here's another one.

Uh Philippians 4, 6, 7.

It says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

When you have worry or anxiety, what do you do?

Do you believe the scripture and perform the works that it's commanding us to to go to prayer directly?

Or do we allow that fear, that anxiety to burden us, to weigh us down?

Because the scripture is clear.

We should be anxious for nothing and in everything.

So every time that anxious thought enters your mind, pray about it, talk to the Lord about it, give it to the Lord.

That's the work that will supplement or provide evidence for what we say we believe.

You believe the gospel saves?

Where's the works that evidence that?

Are you telling people about Jesus?

We believe it to be true, but do we have the works to support it?

Romans 1:16 says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

Romans 1:16

Do we believe that?

If we do, we should have works that evidence it, that we tell people about Jesus.

And I'm not saying you need to get a megaphone and go stand on a street corner, but you can love on people in your workplace.

Uh, you can offer to pray for people, open up those gospel conversations uh by just being kind and generous.

You know, Pastor Josh recently spoke about uh not overworking and trusting God to provide.

You believe that to be true, but are we actually showing the works of taking rest, taking Sabbath?

There are many ways that we can put our faith on display.

But I would say ask yourself this if if you removed what you say you believed and you just had to look at how you lived your life, what would your actions be saying about what you believe about God?

It's it's convicting, it's convicting for me.

We should live a life where our works line up with the things we say we believe.

And when we fall short, which we will, repent, fix it, get it right, and continue to move on and enjoy life.

Uh God is not desiring that we would have a terrible experience here on this earth.

I think he desires, like he said, that he came that we would have life and that abundantly, that we would enjoy life.

And the best way to enjoy life is by living in complete submission and obedience to how he's designed it to be lived, by studying his word and by believing these truths, and by taking action, by doing works that evidence our faith.

Another way that you can evidence your faith is in our relationship with the Lord, Jesus calls us to partake of a couple of things, to be baptized.

He says to be baptized.

He commands us to go into all the world and to make disciples and to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He also institutes communion, which we will partake of today.

And if you're a Christian today, I encourage you to partake of communion.

It is an act, a work that displays that you do believe that Jesus established a new covenant.

That by the shedding of blood we have been healed, that his body was broken for you.

It's not dependent upon how good you were this past week or since the last time you took communion.

Oh man, I sinned a lot this past month.

I don't think I should partake of communion.

It's not about you, it's about your belief in what Jesus did.

If you've made mistakes, repent.

Believe that he has forgiven you.

The scripture says that he is faithful and he is just to forgive you and to cleanse you.

This is the truth of the scripture.

He has not condemned you.

So this morning, as we prepare our hearts for communion, as we enter into that time, I'll ask the band to come up.

But communion is a time of celebration, of remembrance, um, for us to draw near to the Lord, to remember that while we were in sin, in our deepest, darkest, worst sin, he loved us.

The scripture teaches that for the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross.

That joy was you, your relationship with him.

He wants to commune with you.

The scriptures teach us that as we approach communion, that as often as we do it, we would remember him.

But again, this is for the believer, for those who have put their faith in Christ.

So if you have not done that this morning, I would ask you to abstain from communion.

But you don't have to.

You can believe on Jesus today, believe that he died and that he rose again and that he has the power to forgive, and that you would demonstrate works of repentance this morning, that you would turn away from a life that is contrary to God and seek to live a life that honors him.

And as you do so, I encourage you to partake of communion.

We are a family, we want to celebrate this together.

So allow me to pray as we prepare our hearts for communion.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you again for allowing us to worship you.

We thank you for your word that guides us, that leads us into righteousness.

And Lord, I pray that you would allow us to have works that line up with our faith.

That we would do those things that we know to be true.

Not just simply being those who say one thing and do another, but that our works would back up our faith.

And Lord, we ask that as we prepare our hearts, that you would remind us of your goodness and of your forgiveness, that we are cleansed this morning, not because of anything we've done, but because what you accomplished through your son Jesus.

And we give thanks to you this morning for that truth.

We know it was a high cost.

It cost you everything.

You gave your one and only Son so that we can have life.

And we're grateful.

So as we prepare our hearts, we remember these truths, we thank you, Lord.

We love you, and we commit our lives to you.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.