James | Week 5

Well, good morning, again. My name is Steve.

I am not Pastor. Steve.

We have, we have already had this conversation our pastor

elect Steve or anything like that.

I know that's just not me. I'm just steep.

Okay, you can call her call me older, Steve Elder Steve.

That's okay. Had a birthday last week so I'm

now older. So thank you.

I happened to look it up and I was born in 1958 and for all of

you techies, the microchip was invented in 1958.

So I'm as old as a microchip about that.

They're a lot smaller now than they were when they were first

invented. But anyway, I want to welcome

everybody here this morning. I want to welcome visitors,

thank you for being here with us and our scripture, this Warning

again, we're in James. We're in Chapter 2, will be

beginning in verse 14 and going through 26 James 2:14 through 26

James 2:14–26

while you're turning there. I would like to thank you again

for the opportunity to bring you a message this morning.

I know I say this every time I get up here and I hope you don't

get tired of hearing it, but I am continually amazed every time

that I have an opportunity to do this, how God has taken somebody

like me and is now using me to do something like this.

And it, it humbles me. And, and I thank you for the

opportunity to do this. And also want to say that if he

can use me, he can use you. We, we've got Kyle made the

announcement earlier about Josh and Hannah.

And Mandy and Shane. And and I want to want to see

this. Those are not sad things.

Those are God, that is God working in our community.

It's with with Josh and Hannah. It's adding to our fellowship.

We're adding another child to our fellowship, which is a great

thing, which y'all but know me would know, two years ago, I

would say that with clenched teeth, but now, Now, I'm kind of

get to where I like kids especially my own grandkids,

I'll kind of love those guys now, and, and the opportunities

with with Mandy to step out into the community, I've had a chance

to talk with her for just a few minutes about some of the things

that she plans to do and it's amazing.

So so these are awesome things that God is doing in our

congregation. And I thought, while I was

sitting there that it's interesting that we have these

openings that have come up, and I'm going to be talking about

works this morning, so that means there's opportunities

available, hint hint. So anyway, if you, if you again,

will if your turn to James 2:14, if you're able to stand with me,

James 2:14

would you do so? So we can Read God's work.

What good is it? My brother's if someone says he

has Faith but does not have Works.

Can Faith save him. If a brother or sister is poorly

clothed and lacking in Daily food and one of you says to them

go in peace, be warmed and filled Without giving them the

things that things needed for the body.

What good is that? So also Faith by itself, if it

does not have works is dead, but someone will say you have faith

and I have Works. Show me your faith apart from

your works. And I will show you my faith by

my works. You believe that God is one, you

do well, even the demons believe and shudder.

Do you want to be shown you foolish person?

That Faith apart from works. Is useless, was not Abraham Our

Father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on

the altar You see that Faith was active along with his works and

Faith was completed by his works.

And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God,

and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called

the friend of God. You see that a person is

justified by works and not by faith alone, and in the same

way, was not also Rahab The Prostitute justified by works.

When she received the message, Hers and sent them out by

another way, for as the body, apart from the spirit is dead.

So also Faith apart from works is dead.

Please be seated. I don't often use Big Ideas when

I do have this opportunity, but as I was studying this this

week, there was something that just came out and I couldn't get

it off my mind. So, the big idea for this

morning. Is faith alone.

Bonds us to Christ yet? This faith cannot remain alone.

It's resulting work. Must be buried the fruit of Love

or it is nothing but dead and useless.

If there's nothing else that you hear me, say this morning, I

pray that you remember that. When you leave Faith alone,

bonds us to Christ. Let's pray.

Father, I love you. I thank you again for this

opportunity to be able to be in front of your people and speak.

Father, I I am totally totally reliant on you this morning.

Father, I pray that. you give me the air in my lungs that I need

to Proclaim your truths. pray that you give me the Breath to

preach your word. Father, I pray that.

The words that I have put on paper today will be what your

people need to hear. I pray that you bless them.

And I pray God that we leave here with.

The knowledge, the fact. That our faith alone bonds us to

you. He seems we ask in Christ's

name. Amen.

So the big idea this morning focuses on faith.

So if we're going to talk about faith, let's all make sure that

we understand What faith is all about, right?

Let's make sure that we have that definition together, the

Oxford dictionary defines Faith as complete trust or confidence

in someone or something. Or it says in the doctrines of

religion based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

But I don't know about you, but I don't care too much for either

one of those definitions of faith.

When I, when I want to look at a definition for Faith, want to

see what God says about faith. So, Hebrews 11:1 I think, says

Hebrews 11:1

it best. Now, Faith is the Assurance of

things hoped for the conviction of Things Not Seen. but, so, so

we, when we use this verse We can simply say that the biblical

definition of faith is trusting God for things.

We can't explicitly proof. But if you look at that verse

closely, there are two parts to it, two aspects to it.

One is an intellectual aspect. And that is where it says not

seen, and then there's a belief aspect.

And that's where that verse is hoped for.

So let me give you a silly example of that.

This morning when you came into the sanctuary.

You looked around and you are looking for somewhere to sit.

So, you look around and you find this chair.

Your mind tells you that you're looking for a chair, you're not

looking to sit on anything else except the chair.

So your mind tells you to look for a chair.

So you find the chair and don't deny this.

The first thing you did was before you sit down in that

chair. Was thought who normally sits

here? Am I taking their golden eyes?

You did it, didn't you? Okay, especially if you're

sitting somewhere different, you know, if you're one of those

that sits in the same place every week, if you sit over

here, if you move over here next week, then the world's going to

tilt this way. So so you found your chair.

Your mind tells you that's a chair.

When you sit down on that chair. That's where faith comes in.

You have faith in that chair, that it's going to hold you up.

Now like I said that's kind of a silly example of that but let's

look at it another way. Where does biblical Faith come

from? Ephesians 2, 28 tells us for a

for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not

your own doing. It's a gift from God.

It's the word of God that produces faith in us.

Romans 10:17 tells us. So, faith comes from hearing and

Romans 10:17

hearing through the word of Christ.

So we can come to Faith only through hearing the gospel and

the specific message that must be heard is the word of Christ.

That is the good news of Jesus Christ as the crucified and

Risen Savior. So, there's biblical faith.

We see another type of Faith called saving faith.

Faith in Jesus is saving faith. Whereby we receive and rest upon

him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel

that comes from the Westminster assembly's Shorter.

Catechism I quoted a catechism Gulp and that'll be the last

time when I quoted a catechism. R.c.

Sproul says saving Faith, which he calls Christian faith.

He says that Christian faith is a personal act involving the

mind, the heart and the will just as it is directed to a

personal God and not an idol or an idea.

So now we have biblical faith, we have saving Faith.

So what's the source of our faith?

Simply enough Jesus is a source source of our faith.

Because Jesus is son of God. Jesus gives us living Water by

which we can be saved through Grace, that grace and mercy are

given to us by God. Faith is from God.

God gave us his one and only son to atone for our sins.

So now that we've looked at a little bit about faith.

So, We claim to have faith, right?

Most of us claim to have a faith.

But the problem sometimes arises when that Faith remains here and

doesn't move to here. That knowledge of Faith resides

in our head. But the belief.

Is a matter of the heart. I've heard it said and I'm sure

you have to that the longest 12 to 18 inches in the world, is

this just distance between our head in our heart.

So true, Faith transforms our conduct as well as our laws.

That's what we move that Faith from intellectual.

To a saving faith. If our lives remain unchanged.

We truly, we don't truly believe the faith that we claim to

accept. Here's another question about

faith. Why does God Save Us by faith

alone? why doesn't God just prescribe

some specific Duty, some Quest that we might be able to do to

complete Or prove our worthiness.

You know Christianity is unique in that.

It is taught that no amount of Good Works will make us right

with God. And you know why that is Because

Faith eliminates the pride of human effort.

Because faith is not a work that we do.

Faith exalts, what God has done, not what people do, Faith admits

that. We can't keep the law or measure

up to God's standards. We need help.

Faith is based on our relationship with God, not our

performance for him, right? Thank you, Jesus.

So we are saved by faith alone, and at that time, we're all

declared Justified. So before we move into this

discussion over faith that works, let's make sure we

understand what we mean by Justified.

Justified. Or justification means that

we're being made righteous. Let's look at this word

Justified as it's used in the case of James.

Before we get into these two conflicting, looks at the word

Justified. Like John Piper made a good

quote about about some of these apparently conflicting.

Verses in our Bible, Piper says, when the Son of God became a

human being, he became vulnerable to abuse and death.

When the word of God became human language, it became

vulnerable to ambiguity and misunderstanding.

We'll look at apparently conflicting, passages from James

and Paul that are caused by multiple meanings of this.

Same word justification. One, we just looked at look at

James 2:24 again where it says you see that a person is

James 2:24

justified by works and not by faith alone?

but then, if we look at what Paul says in Romans, Romans

Romans 3:28

3:28, Paul says for we hold that one is justified by faith, apart

from the works of the law. So these two verses apparently

look on the surface to be totally contradictory.

But the issue is, is the meaning of the two words, the two

meanings of the word justification.

Now, in our home groups on Wednesday night, I think the

book did a great job explaining this.

I will apologize. First off, if you were in home

group on Wednesday night, you're here in this for the second

time. If you were not in home group on

Wednesday night, you should be so that you will be hearing it

for the second time on Sunday. So, I'm going to read this

again. Again, and it comes directly

from the home group book and it's referring to.

This verse James 2:24 begins verse 24 has caused significant

James 2:24

confusion among Christians because it seems to formally

contradict Paul's teaching, that we are, in fact, justified by

faith alone justification, however, has two different

meanings in Scripture. On the one hand is Paul's

somewhat technical use of the word to mean a Judicial

declaration and acquittal and declaration that a person is

regarded as righteous. We stop right there for just a

second. Paul uses.

The definition that says a Judicial declaration remember,

Paul's background. Paul was a Pharisee of

Pharisees. He had been taught from the

get-go, the law. He was a very educated man.

So we would we would expect him to use that technical Definition

of the word justification where he says it's a Judicial

declaration. And then Paul also says that

this justification happens through faith alone on the basis

of Christ's righteousness alone. on the other hand, however, as

an older and more common, meaning of justification, as a

Public Presentation of a person as being righteous, This is what

James uses. We don't have any evidence that

James was a very educated, man. Remember James, the brother of

Christ didn't believe that. He was the Messiah, the whole

time Christ was alive. He didn't really come to Faith

until after Christ's death. So we would expect him to use

that were common. Use of the word justification.

Common definition. So the example used in the book

is of a wedding ministers, pronouncement that a couple are

man and wife. And so let's think about this

for a little bit little bit you've got up at the end of the

wedding, you've got the minister, you've got the bride

and the groom, the bride and groom are still facing each

other. They do the minister does his

thing and then he Claire's the man and wife to be one, he

declares them husband and wife. So that is the judicial or

that's the legal definition of marriage.

They've been proclaimed, husband and wife. but then, The husband

and wife then turn and face the congregation.

And the minister says, now I pronounce to you.

Mister and missus as husband and wife, that's the public

pronouncement that they are now husband and wife.

So that is the, as I said, that's the Public Presentation

of a couple. So you have the legal definition

of the marriage and then the Public Presentation of

justification in marriage So, let's look briefly here at both

Paul, and James is use of Abraham as an example, even

though they tend to be to me a little bit more muddy than what

we just talked about Paul writes in Romans 4, beginning in verse

1. What then shall we say, was

gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the

flesh? For what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed in God and it was counted to him as

righteousness. Paul here is using Genesis 15:6,

Genesis 15:6

which is a key verse that's been quoted at least four times in

the New Testament. And this means that the faith in

God is something that everyone in the Bible is expected to

exercise. It entails trust in or confident

Reliance on God based on the truthfulness of his words.

From James 21. And from our text this morning,

Was not Abraham Our Father justified by works when he

offered up his son Isaac on the altar.

James is referencing Genesis chapter 22 in which the event

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

occurred approximately thirty years.

After the events in chapter 15 used by Paul the reference me,

make sure you understand the reference that Paul uses in his

version of what he's talking. Talking about occurred at the

initial saving if you will the acceptance of Abraham of God.

And then the situation that James uses was 30 years later

after Isaac had been born. And so it was it was used later

here. Abraham's Faith was already

established in verse 21. When God called Abraham to take

Isaac, his only son and sacrifice him.

Abraham's Faith was being validated as genuine Abraham has

been justified in faith. But now, his faith was being

justified by works as a process of sanctification the ongoing

process of justification. Then we get to Rahab.

Story of Rahab is a little bit clearer for me.

Little bit more simple, you remember, Rahab is the

prostitute that lived at Jericho when when the Israelites sent

spies to Jericho to check out the land around Rahab, hid them

and in return, her life, and her family's life, Life was spared.

And the reason for that was that Rahab had already heard about

all of these miraculous things that God had done for the

Israelites in their Exodus from from Egypt and she believed in

God. So Rahab was justified by her

faith. And her faith was justified by

her works. Both of these instances teach

justification by faith alone, but James is looking past the

initial moment of justification to the ongoing process of

sanctification James is saying that faith alone saves but works

gives evidence that it is the true faith.

I know that repentance is not mentioned in this in the

scripture that we read this morning, but as I was putting

this together, I it kind of struck me.

That there may be some people that Are wondering.

Where does repentance fit into this works?

Justification, sanctification process.

So just wanted to take just a second, basically, just to read

a quote about repentance this, this quote comes from nine marks

dot-org, And it says, some people say that you can believe

in Jesus as Savior but not as Lord.

That is, you can believe in him but never repent of your sin.

You can believe in him and be saved even if your life goes on

as it was just before you became a Christian or.

So the claim Globe goes, some people even claim that if we say

repentance is necessary for salvation, we're adding Works to

the gospel. They claim that if repentance is

required, then we're no longer saved by God's grace alone.

But by what we do as well, So then is repentance a work.

We must perform in order to earn our Salvation.

No, not at all. Repentance and Faith are really

two sides of the same coin. Repentance is turning from sin.

Faith is turning to trusting in and relying on Christ.

Repentance is not a work anymore than faith is.

We simply Our sin and rely on Christ.

Faith apart from works is dead, is your life producing works?

Works of love for God and for others.

Works that are not only financial, but our physical

also. You may not be able to

financially help a lot of other people. but let me tell you

from, from my experience in being involved with Ministries

and Charities and such are many times when somebody shows up to

help with a physical project that is just as important as a

financial something that they might give to us.

It's a huge blessing. remember what James says in verse 15 and

16 if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in

Daily food, And one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed

and filled without giving them two things needed for the body.

What good is that is giving a cold hungry person, a good word

and a pat on the back. Is there sent down the road?

Is that a good work? No, that is not.

And if brothers and sisters, that stopped me telling you that

James the brother of Christ in his divinely inspired writings,

that are part of God's. Holy word is telling us that

once you're open your eyes today and and look for those

opportunities presented to us to change people's lives.

Be eternally thankful for the justification of your faith and

continue to seek opportunities to accomplish The Works.

That bear the fruit of Love. While God continues to sanctify

your life. James and Alan, and I will be

available after the service today.

If you have any questions, I want to remind you again of the

one thing I asked you to remember out of this message,

And that is that faith alone. Bonds us to Christ yet.

This faith cannot remain alone. It's resulting work.

Must be bearing. The fruit of Love or it is

nothing, but dead and useless. I like to end with a quote from

a lady named Helen wodehouse. And then we'll pray.

We think we must climb to a certain height of goodness

before we can reach God. But he says, no at the end of

the way, you may find me. He says, I am the way I am the

road under your feet, the road that begins just as low down, as

you happen to be, if we are in a whole the way begins in the

hole. The moment we set our face in

the same direction is his. We are walking with God.

Spray. Father, I thank you for your

word. I thank you for The life that is

in your word, I think you that we have an opportunity to hold

your holy word in our hand. And I pray God that we take the

opportunity to study that. father, I pray that this morning

that is we leave here that we take a new look around, be aware

of people that are hurting around us, people that we can

help Either financially, either physically spiritually

emotionally. Father and I pray that we

continue as you sanctifies through our lives, that our

works continue to produce love. We ask these things.

Your most holy name. Amen.

We ask these things. Your most holy name.

Amen.