Dead Faith vs. Living Faith

Well, if you're a guest with us and you do not have a Bible, feel free to use that Pew Bible in front of you, and you're welcome to take that home if you do not own a Bible.

You want to make sure everybody has a copy of God's Word.

If you want to follow along, the big numbers are the chapters and the little numbers are the verses.

Well, if any of you ever went to a beach and as you're sitting on the shore, you saw someone caught in a rip current struggling, and you saw me sitting on the little porch, not porch, but booth thingy where the lifeguards hang out, and I have a lifeguard outfit on, I got the little flotation device and everything, and you say, Hey, that person I think is drowning, go help them.

And I looked at you and said, Oh no, I don't do that.

You would conclude something is something is very wrong here.

You look like a lifeguard, you wear the lifeguard attire, you're in the lifeguard booth, there's danger, go help.

And if I responded, no, it's the water's cold.

I'm I'm good.

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do that.

You would conclude, okay, well then how are you a lifeguard?

What is your purpose?

That is some of what James is getting at this morning.

How some can proclaim verbally with their mouths there's something, but in their actions they communicate something very differently.

That's exactly James's point.

Faith that doesn't act is no faith at all.

As we continue to see, my man James is very black and white.

He's very honest and direct.

Faith that doesn't act is no faith at all.

And in the text we're looking at this morning, verse 14 governs this entire section.

In verse 14, he says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says verbally he has faith, but does not have works?

Notice that James doesn't say this person has true saving faith.

He says this person claims to have faith.

So the question throughout this past these passages this morning is not, can faith save, but rather, can this kind of faith save?

James is confronting professing believers whose lives don't match their confession.

He's already given us several examples of dead faith so far.

We're only two chapters in, but he has given us several examples of dead faith and hollow religion.

So in chapter 1, verses 6 through 7, he told us how we can pray but pray to God without trusting God.

He says that person should expect nothing from the Lord.

And then in chapter 1, verse 22, he warned that we can be hearers of God's word, but don't do the word of God, which is also a sign of dead faith.

And as we learned the other week, we can also have a religion that doesn't control our tongues.

We can wax eloquent as if we're people of God, but then when we open our mouths, we discount our faith with our speech.

And we learned last week, James warned against favoritism towards others simply because of their appearance, and how that is a sign of dead faith as well.

And now in verses 14 to 26, he puts it all together for us and says, faith without works is dead.

And James is not trying to confuse you and I.

If you're talking to someone after service and you ask them, like, brother, I haven't seen you in a while, how are you doing, man?

How can I be praying for you?

You know what?

It's actually been very hard.

I got laid off of my job.

Things are tight financially.

I'm trying to figure some things out to just make sure I can keep providing for my family.

And you know, as that person is speaking, you by God's grace have the means to bless them in some kind of tangible way to show generosity and hospitality.

And you hear their need that God providentially has dropped into your lap, and your response is, that sounds really hard.

I'll be praying for you, brother.

God bless.

James says, What then what good is your faith?

What's the point of it?

If God providentially blesses you with an opportunity to walk in his grace to bless others, and you simply say, Go in peace, that's like saying, God bless you, brother.

I hand you off to God, let him take care of everything you just share.

So he gives a simple test case, a brother or sister in need who has no clothing, no meal, and the audience responds, Go in peace, stay warm and be well fed.

Can you even see how that would even be offensive to say?

The person just shared with you, I am struggling with clothing, with food, and your response is go in peace, stay warm and be well fed?

It's like, bro, I just share with you, I'm struggling to do that very thing.

So you say this, but you never lift a finger.

James calls that faith dead.

How can you have faith, James would say, if it doesn't shape the affections of your heart and how you live your life amongst a fallen people?

If the Spirit of Christ lives in you, you can't close your heart to need.

You're not an owner.

Every last one of us in this room is a steward of all of God's stuff.

We are stewards entrusted with things that God has given to us.

He gave us time, he's given us money, other resources, a home, a vehicle, jobs, mental capacity, and strength not to hoard up things for ourselves primarily.

Yes, we plan, we provide for our families primarily.

However, we are not to be spiritual hoarders, because if grace has reached our hearts, then generosity should reach our hands.

If you have tasted the grace of God and salvation, how on earth as Christians could we ever be a stingy people?

When we realize literally everything I own belongs to the Lord, and my job is just to be a faithful manager of it all.

And if you don't really believe anything I'm saying right now, I would challenge you after service.

Go home, privately pray to the Lord.

God, every dollar in my bank account and in my investments accounts are all mine, and you can't do nothing about it.

I challenge you to pray that prayer.

But if grace has reached your heart, generosity should reach your hands.

Turn over real quick to Matthew chapter 25.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 25.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

Let's listen to James's big brother Jesus.

You're always safe quoting Jesus.

Jesus has some very strong words on this topic in Matthew chapter 25, beginning in verse 31.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

Listen to how Jesus connects how we treat others and how he identifies with the people in our lives.

Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31, says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will put the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left.

Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

I was a stranger and you took me in.

I was naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you took care of me.

I was in prison and you visited me.

Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you?

When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?

And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Then he will also say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the efer eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.

I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.

I was a stranger and you didn't take me in.

I was naked and you didn't clothe me, sick and in prison, and you didn't take care of me.

Sorry, my pages don't want to turn right now.

There we go.

Then they too will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or without clothes or sick or in prison and not help you?

And then he will answer them, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

How you treat others is a direct reflection of how much you respect Jesus.

Every person that walks this earth is made in the image of God and therefore carries inherent dignity and worth.

But we do see passages of scripture that make it clear as Christians, as members of a church, we should especially prioritize doing good towards those of the household of faith, but then also those in our sphere of influence.

Now, let's be careful here.

I'll get to this in a moment.

Jesus is not teaching here that you are saved by social justice.

You are saved by doing good deeds towards people who are less fortunate.

So forget the gospel.

As long as you give to the poor or you meet all these needs, Jesus sees that and says, Great, enter into the kingdom of God.

That's not what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is saying what James is saying.

Those who have tasted the gift of salvation are though are those who are generous because they have received generosity in their salvation.

So when they see brokenness in the world and they know God has given them the opportunity and the resources to bless others as they have been blessed by their father, they eagerly walk into those opportunities for the glory of God.

I think about in Mark chapter 4, where Jesus gives the parable of the seed being scattered on the ground, and he's using that as a uh illustration of those who receive God's word and believe it and actually obey it, they're doers of the word, and those who are phony, so to speak.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

In Mark 4, 16, he says, and others are like seed sown on rocky ground.

When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.

So they're like, Okay, I love this Christianity stuff.

I receive God's word, I'm about that life.

But they have no root, they are short-lived.

Why?

Well, because when distress or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away, showing that wasn't true faith.

They were excited about the things of the Lord, but temporary joy vanishes when faith costs something.

Challenges in the Christian life is a good determiner for who has true faith and who doesn't.

I have seen people in my own life as a Christian who looked very zealous for Jesus, were on fire for Christ, doing all kinds of things, but the moment difficulty was introduced into their lives, they walked away.

And to this day are no longer walking with Jesus, which showed they never had true saving faith in the first place.

This is what James is getting at.

This is why verse 14 is the foundation for everything he's saying here, all the way up to verse 26.

He is emphasizing if someone claims, he's not saying it is genuine faith, but if anyone claims to have faith but does not have works, can such faith save him?

Imagine a firefighter who wears a uniform, you call 911 because your neighbor's house is on fire, the fireman shows up in the truck, the sirens are going, he jumps out in all his gear, and you say there's a family still stuck inside, and he looks at you and says, I'm gonna stay outside.

And you're like, but the family's in there, you gotta help them.

He's like, Yeah, but man, it's hot.

And there's smoke, it's dangerous.

Yeah, I know.

That's why we called you.

Isn't that your job?

When you wear the uniform, when you're hired to do this job, that's what you are here for.

And you're like, Yeah, I'm just that looks hard.

I don't know if I'm gonna do that.

Like, as you hear that, you know that is catastrophically wrong, right?

It's no different when it comes to Christianity.

When people say, I love Jesus, I'm a disciple of Christ.

And then they're living in adultery, they're sinning, they're doing all kinds of things in a habitual pattern that contradicts the faith they claim, something is desperately wrong.

How can you name the name of Jesus and yet you are pursuing the things that God says are wrong, you are wholeheartedly pursuing.

Now, don't get me wrong, all of us are works in progress.

The goal is faithfulness and holiness.

We're not talking about perfection, but James is addressing people who claim faith but have no works.

So James doesn't just condemn favoritism as we saw last week, but these have been struggles for churches historically.

So this isn't unique to the Christians James is writing to.

This applies to us today.

We must, when you consider what he said before, we must confess any type of sinful favoritism in our own hearts, of favoring one group of people over another for sinful reasons, because we are called to something different.

We are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength in our neighbor as ourselves.

Our faith should make us move toward the people who could never pay us back.

That's what's unique about a Christian ethic.

We don't do stuff based on a return on investment.

We already got the investment.

Jesus knows my name.

I do what I do to the glory of God because I have tasted God's grace, and I want to share that with you.

That's what motivates us.

Not, well, if I do this for that person, they'll owe me in the future.

That is not a Christian ethic.

But James now turns from this very practical example of dead faith to the argument that lies behind this false claim.

Now, we're gonna get into this supposed debate between James and Paul on the doctrine of justification.

But I'll get to I'll get to that in a second.

But just know, he's not debating Paul, he's not opposing Paul, rather, he's dismantling false assurance of salvation.

So let's look at verses 18 through 24.

And I want you to see this.

You deceive yourself when you think right doctrine is enough to save you.

You deceive yourself when you think right doctrine is enough to save you.

Picking up at verse 18, James says, but someone will say, You have faith, and I have works.

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

You believe that God is one, good.

Even the demons believe and they shudder.

Senseless person, are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

Let's stop there.

He says, but someone will say, so he's bringing up a hypothetical, imaginary scenario here to make a to illustrate a point.

He's he's creating an imaginary opponent, a hypothetical Jewish critic who is essentially arguing for two kinds of faith.

He's saying, Okay, James, I hear you, but you know, it's to each his own.

So your your faith and works go your way, but I believe I'm saved by my works.

So it's almost like he's addressing this imaginary opponent who's saying, No, you do it your way.

There's two kinds of faith.

And James is saying, no, there's only one kind of faith, the saving kind.

So then keep in mind the context here.

James is writing to a group of Jews who converted to Christianity, so they still had some residual residue, so to speak, of the law, of okay, I'm used to, I earn God's favor by checking the right boxes in the law.

That gives me assurance that I have saving faith.

And I have right doctrine.

I believe in the God of the Old Testament.

And James is saying, no, no, no, there aren't two kinds of faith.

There's only one real faith, and it always, always shows itself in action, is what he's getting at.

So you have faith and I have works, James replies.

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

You can't see faith apart from works.

Think about that.

How does anyone know you're truly a Christian if they can't look at the fruit of your lies that gives credence to your profession that you are a Christian?

That is what James is pointing at.

Faith is not invisible.

Your actions make faith visible.

Your obedience, rather, makes invisible faith visible to the surrounding world.

And then James strikes at the heart of hollow orthodoxy.

He says in verse 19, You believe that God is one, good.

I wonder if he's being sarcastic here.

Maybe that's just a sarcasm and calm.

But I wonder if he's like, Yeah, y'all got great theology.

You believe, you're monotheistic, you believe in the one true God of the Bible.

That is great.

Even the demons believe that.

Even the demons have sound theology and they actually fear God in light of what they believe the Bible teaches.

He says demons have sound theology.

They affirm Deuteronomy 6.4, they know the Shema just like US Jews do.

They affirm the oneness of God, they know them.

But their belief leads to rebellion, not repentance.

Right doctrine in your head does not make you a Christian.

I know people who know a whole lot of Bible but don't know God.

James is saying if you just have head knowledge but know works that affirm your profession of faith, you're just like the demons.

You know right doctrine, but you don't have a right heart towards the Lord.

And this is the danger.

You can know all the right truths about God and still not know God.

You can know every true fact the Bible reveals about God and miss God completely.

Just read the Gospels.

You can read books, you can take notes in those books, you can nod an amen through a Sunday morning sermon, you can sing good lyrics that.

Are filled with good doctrine and yet never obey.

There are people who fill churches all across the world who raise their hands in worship, who quote verses of the Bible, and go home and cheater on their spouse.

Or live in habitual patterns of sin.

With no guilt, no turning away.

That is a concern.

Turn over to Matthew chapter seven.

Matthew chapter seven.

Matthew chapter seven.

Beginning in verse thirteen.

Again, it's always good to quote Jesus.

Matthew 7, 13 reads, Enter through the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide and the road and the road broad that leads to destruction.

And there are many who go through it.

How narrow is the gate, and difficult the road, the road that leads to life, and few find it.

Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravaging wolves.

You'll recognize them by their fruit.

Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.

A good tree can't produce bad fruit, neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Every tree that doesn't produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

So you'll recognize them by their fruit.

Now listen to this, friends.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Just let that sink in real quick.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

But only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?

Then I will announce to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you lawbreakers.

Here's the exhortation to us this morning.

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house, yet it didn't collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed.

It's collapse, it collapsed with a great crash.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one who had authority and not like their scribes.

Friends, do not be a fool and play games with Jesus.

When I stand up on a Sunday morning like this, I'm always humbled by the reality that there's always three people in the crowd.

There's those who have trusted in Jesus Christ for their salvation and they're walking faithfully with the Lord.

There are those who are not Christians and they know it.

And there's those who profess to be Christians and they're self-deceived.

I think that's the most terrifying reality in all of Scripture.

This is what James is warning against.

This is why he's speaking so plainly.

Right doctrine should always produce right living.

True faith never makes us arrogant, but it does make us obedient.

A faith, listen to me, a faith that never changes you, that never changes how you spend your money, how you spend your time, how you love other people, how you forgive, how you use your resources, that faith is not saving faith.

If you truly have tasted the transforming power of the gospel, you are a new creation.

You are radically transformed.

You're not a part of a new religion, checking boxes to earn God's love and favor, but rather you obey the Lord out of joyful gratitude for the fact that I was on my way to dropping straight into hell and Jesus rescued my soul.

How can I not, out of gratitude, live for his glory and for the good of those in my life?

Right doctrine should always produce right living.

And going back to our verse in James 2, so he is a little sarcastic, probably.

You believe that God is one, good, even the demons believe and they shudder.

But he goes on, senseless person, are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

Now he he's being a really good pastor here.

He's gonna do some biblical theology.

He says, Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works and offering uh Isaac his son on the altar?

You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works faith was made complete.

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Now, he's using Abraham as a case study, which is very clever.

If you're familiar with your Bible, Abraham was one of the greatest heroes for the nation of Israel.

He was the the or the originator of the Jewish nation.

And he's using him as a case study to say, even Father Abraham was justified by, or his faith rather, was justified by his works, meaning his works demonstrated or rather made visible his faith.

So how are you gonna argue with Abraham?

Is essentially what he's saying.

He's he's pointing to Abraham to prove his point.

Abraham, according to Genesis 15 and Romans 3, was justified before God by faith alone.

So if you've ever wrestled with the question of like, well, how did God save people in the Old Testament, the same way he's always been saving people?

By faith alone.

He was saved by faith, Abraham.

But we see that in Romans 3.28.

But when he offered, when God told him to offer his son Isaac on the altar, many people missed the whole story and they think, whoa, how could a loving God ask him to do that?

Well, God is all-knowing.

He knew exactly what he was going to do.

He's teaching him a lesson similar to prayer.

God doesn't need us to pray to him, he knows exactly what we're gonna ask him.

He already knows how he's gonna answer our prayer.

Prayers for us to mature us and to teach us more about him.

Okay, back to the text.

So when he calls uh Abraham to offer his son Isaac on the altar, Isaac had, I mean, Abraham had absolutely no idea what was gonna happen.

He just knew God promised me, he made a covenant with me that he would do something.

And I trust that he can do what he said he can do, even if he takes the life of my son.

If that's not faith, I don't know what is.

He even had faith.

If he wanted to, God could raise him from the dead.

And because of that faith, his faith, his works rather vindicated his faith, making it visible.

And then God stepped in and said, No, no, no, no.

I have the sacrifice for you to offer.

Now, some look at these texts, they look at James, and there's this supposed contradiction of, well, isn't James saying something different than Paul?

Isn't James arguing like the Catholics that we are like working with God, we are justifying ourselves by our works, and James is saying, no, it's all by by grace alone and faith alone?

Uh, friends, I would just say, please, it's there's no contradiction, there's no debate here whatsoever.

Let me make my argument as to why.

Paul and James are not contradicting each other, they're actually complimenting each other when you understand what they're saying in the context of who they're writing to.

When you study your Bibles, context is important.

Who is the author?

Who are they writing to?

What is the purpose of their writing?

What are they trying to get their audience to believe or stop believing, do, or stop doing, because that will help you interpret the book according to the author's original intent.

So let's look at Paul, for example.

When Paul in Romans specifically is articulating the doctrine of justification, Paul is focusing on defending the root of our salvation, which is we are justified by faith alone, not by our works, meaning we are not justified in the courtroom of heaven because we've accumulated enough good deeds that pleases God.

That's what Paul is addressing.

He wants to make sure his audience understands grace.

You are saved by grace alone to the praise and glory of the Lord.

James is focusing on the fruit of justification.

He is saying saving faith never stays alone.

Those who have been justified are being sanctified, is James's emphasis.

Well, James is saying if you're claiming you've been justified, but we don't see any fruit of sanctification, then you probably were never justified.

And Paul is saying, if you're saying you're justified because I keep the law, I'm a good person, I do good deeds, he's saying you don't understand justification.

So they're not contradicting each other, they're taking different angles at the same gospel.

So Paul writes to show how sinners are made uh right with God by grace through faith apart from works, according to Romans 5, chapter 1.

And he's tearing down every ladder, every wall of self-righteousness.

For so no one can boast and say, of course God saved me.

Look at my resume, look at all the good things I've done.

It makes sense that he would save me.

James writes to show that just what that justifying faith looks like.

Those who have been justified have a life in which their works or their obedience bears fruit, making their justification visible to the world.

Does that make sense?

Are you tracking?

There's no contradiction.

James in our text is writing to show what the justifying faith should look like.

Think of it like this Paul is addressing the root of justification.

James is addressing the fruit of justification.

Same gospel, different angles, no contradiction.

Those who claim there's a contradiction just don't know how to study their Bibles.

They should come to Redeemer and we'll help them out.

But Abraham's obedience almost, you could say, completed his faith.

Because when he went forward in obedience, with fear, I'm sure, and anxiety over, Lord, this is my son.

But when he was obedient, his faith was made complete.

His faith was matured, faith grew up and went to work, so to speak.

Let me apply this to us this morning.

Friends, you show your faith not by the creeds you can recite, a statement of faith you might ascribe to, but rather by the cross you carry every day of your life.

When obedience gets costly, and it absolutely will, the Christian life is not easy.

When obedience gets costly, your comfort, your habits, your pride, you must trust God and obey no matter the circumstance.

Because when God brings difficulty in our lives, it's not for his benefit, it's for ours.

Like Abraham to test us, to mature us in our faith.

Not because God's like, I want to send my children on like a painful uh obstacle course of life, just for my own entertainment.

No.

God looks at us and he says, I want to make you look just like my son Jesus.

But to get there, it's gonna take work.

So there's gonna be trials, there's gonna be hardships, there's gonna be difficult choices you need to make.

But each time you trust me and you press through in joyful obedience, you're gonna mature more and more, and you're gonna look more and more like my son Jesus.

That's what living faith looks like.

However, when we face those same difficulties and we say, I'm good, I'm gonna go this way, that could be evidence, friends, that maybe you haven't truly tasted the gift of salvation.

It's easy to follow a deity when it works out for you.

It's easy to say you love God when life is going good.

It's when it's, you know, think about our brothers and sisters in Nigeria right now, who are literally being gunned down simply for their love for Jesus Christ.

Think about our brothers and sisters, if we go back in time in church history, who refuse to recant their faith and were taken into the Roman Colosseum and fed publicly for entertainment to lions and other wild beasts simply because they refused to denounce the name of Jesus Christ.

When they could easily say, you know what, I it's not worth it.

I don't believe, I'm gonna go home.

True faith becomes visible through our works.

Now let me be clear here.

I don't want to discourage anyone too much.

I don't mind discouragement, but I don't want to beat you up.

If you are weary in your Christian walk, if you feel weak, remember God by his grace honors mustard seed faith.

We're not talking about perfection here, we're not talking about everyone getting it right, every every difficult, uh, every every difficulty the Lord brings into our lives.

Living faith sometimes limps.

Living faith sometimes is us sitting on our hands for a season.

But true saving faith never quits.

It never quits.

You will stumble, but you can repent and keep walking.

This is why the longer I'm a Christian, I uh, you know, I find sanctification more of a direction rather than a destination.

I think a lot of us think of sanctification as like we get saved here and then we're just kind of like a chart just going up and up, and then we're just maturing and we go home to be with the Lord.

It's like, you know, the longer I walk with the Lord, I it's real, it's more like a this spiral of hills and valleys.

But what matters is not the hills and the valleys per se, but rather, am I heading in the right direction, which is sanctification.

All of us can do that.

It's not about perfection, but direction that proves life.

Which means even as you're stumbling forward and you fall flat on your face and you're honest before the Lord and your confession of sin and seeking the Lord's forgiveness, confessing sin to your brothers and sisters, friends, that is maturity.

That is faithfulness in walking with Jesus.

We're all sinners, and sinners do what sinners do, which is sin.

So we should never be surprised by that, right?

But sinners who've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus also confess sin, repent of sin, and repentance isn't just verbally confessing you did something wrong, it's also turning away from that sin and turning to Jesus.

So if you ever become a be be on guard as a professing believer from becoming a professional repenter where you're really good at confessing sin, but you're not actually repenting of it.

So you become really good at telling people you did something sinful, or if they confront you, you agree, yes, that was sinful, but then you just do it again and you do it again and you do it again.

It's like, wait a minute, that's not repentance.

And we all as a church family have a responsibility to love people like that.

To say, brother or sister, for the sake of your soul, because I care for you, I want to help you.

Like what it seems like repentance is hard here.

How can I serve you?

How can I be praying for you?

But faithfulness is the goal and direction is the key, not perfection.

Now, James adds one more case study.

A woman whose life screams that no one is too far gone for God's saving grace.

In verses 25 to 26.

I want us to see here, you demonstrate living faith when you risk everything for God's glory.

You demonstrate living faith when you risk everything for God's glory.

Let's look at my sis Rahab in verses 25 to 26.

He goes on, in the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Now the text doesn't give us this data, but I wonder if, as a Jew who is very familiar with the Old Testament, if maybe hearing James use Rahab as an example of someone who was justified by faith might have been a little offensive or at minimum uncomfortable to hear.

Because if anyone isn't checking the right boxes of the law, it's a prostitute.

And yet, James, the leading elder in the church of Jerusalem, starts with Abraham, knowing no one's gonna push back on Abraham.

It's like that's our guy.

Then he follows up with that same argument.

Let's do the same case, the same teaching, new case study, Rahab.

Wasn't she also justified by her faith?

He ends this section with Rahab and unexpected example of living faith.

We go from Abraham, the patriarch of Israel, to Rahab the prostitute, and he does this connection.

And the same is true of both of them.

True faith acts.

And they both are examples of that.

Now, as I get into this, I just want to speak to all the all the ladies in the room.

For all the cultural world uh wars out there that are trying to influence Christians and thinking the Bible oppresses women and doesn't favor women, please read your Bibles, okay?

We are reading inspired scripture.

When God wanted to use James to make this argument for justification and favor uh works that accompany justification, he decided, put my girl uh Rahab in there.

That was his decision, so that Christians for centuries could learn more about the doctrine of justification through his daughter Rahab, who was a prostitute.

What do we know about my sis Rahab?

She heard about the one true God in Joshua chapter 2, and she believed in him.

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

We don't have all the details surrounding that, but she she heard about God, Yahweh, and she believed.

But her belief didn't stay in her head.

This is why James is using her as a case study.

It moved her to risk her life and her family's life to save God's people because she was convinced that Israel's God was the one true God who should be worshipped.

That's what living faith does.

It trusts in God enough to act even at the risk of your own life if it came to that.

And look what grace does.

God saves Rahab's family in Joshua chapter 6.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

He places Rahab in Jesus' genealogy.

Maybe some of you didn't know that.

Yes, Jesus' family tree has a lot of jacked up people in it.

So for all y'all with dysfunctional families, you're in good company.

Jesus had a prostitute in his lineage and many other broken vessels the Lord used.

He saves her family, he adds her into Jesus' genealogy, and she's celebrated in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 31, as a model of faith.

Hebrews 11:31

That's the grace of our God.

He will take a prostitute and then put her in Hebrews 11 to say, if you want to know what real faith looks like, look at Rahab.

That is the beauty of God's grace.

Through the gospel, God loves to rescue the very same people that the world would write off.

So I don't care what your testimony is this morning, what decisions you made before you came to Christ, you've made since you follow Christ, what maybe what upbringing you had, just know the Bible is riddled with all kinds of people who have tasted the brokenness of this world and who the world would say, stay away with a 10-foot pole.

And Jesus says, Okay, bet, I want to save them.

That is our gospel.

So, friends, living faith still looks like risky love.

Loving the difficult people in your lives, receive that.

Loving the difficult people in your lives.

I don't know, no amens on that one.

Loving, and keep in mind, people might be amen and thinking of you.

Loving difficult, messy people, opening your home, confessing sin, obeying Christ when it's costly, standing for truth when it's unpopular.

If you're in Christ, we never play it safe.

You love boldly because our security is in Jesus, not our earthly circumstances.

And James ends with one final message in verse 26.

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

I mean, James can't be any more black and white.

He's saying if you're running around claiming faith in my big brother Jesus, and you have no works to make that faith visible, your faith is dead.

I don't care what you say, I don't care how much the odds you have.

In your head, if the fruits of your life are not making visible the faith you claim, it is dead.

Now let me leave you with a few applications to walk away with to process this in our modern day.

Let me give three categories personally, in the household, and as a church family.

So for you as an individual, prayerfully repent of any form of spiritual stinginess you might see in your heart.

We're all guilty of this, okay?

We're all equals here.

Areas in your life where you know you speak of love but are slow to show it in action.

It is very easy to say we believe certain things or to get excited about certain things.

It's another to actually enact it.

That's where the true test of faith comes.

A second application, if you're a Christian this morning, be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Embrace costly obedience.

Think about it.

What's the alternative?

You can A, joyfully obey the Lord even when it's difficult, but knowing that God is using everything in your life to mature you in the faith, or B, you can oppose God's will and work against your own sanctification, in which He's going to end up still teaching you the same lesson, anyways, and sanctifying you just through your own foolish decisions.

So why not just go with option A?

Just something to think about.

Household.

How can we apply this in our households?

Practice visible faith as a family.

Get real practical.

Have fun.

If you got kids, for example, open up your church directory and scroll through and say, hey kids, what's a family maybe we can invite over for dinner next month?

You know, who are, hey, who's someone by name we could pray for?

That the Lord would mature them in their faith and bless them.

Make a practice of making your faith visible.

Let your kids see your faith in action.

Or look for opportunities to give, to serve, and to pray for other people by name and to tell them you are praying for them.

Do you know how sweet it is sometimes when someone just pulls you aside or sends you a text and says, Hey, I've been praying for you, and specifically I've been praying this.

There's good precedent for that.

Read some of Paul's letters.

That's what he does.

He prays for the church and tells them, This is what I've been praying for on your behalf, which is a great encouragement.

As a church, I would encourage us all, let's serve in ways that stretch us.

And I'm just talking about practically here at Redeemer and formal ministry roles, but just things that would push you outside of your comfort zone, but that you know would bring glory to God and bless someone made in God's image.

Let's push ourselves to stretch ourselves.

Ministry is the gym where faith builds muscle.

And maybe some of you haven't been in the gym for a long time.

Spiritually, spiritually.

Ministry is the gym where faith builds muscle, where God gives us opportunity to serve and glorify his name.

I say this often, but if you're a member of Redeemer Church, welcome to the staff.

Ministry isn't just for the few, it's for all of us.

All of us can show hospitality, generosity.

All of us have a biblical mandate to disciple other people.

So enter into that, challenge yourself.

But in closing, faith, friends, that doesn't work is not weak faith.

According to James, it is worthless faith.

But the good news of the gospel is that Christ's work on the cross was sufficient for you and I salvation and powerful enough to transform our lives.

The power isn't in ourselves, it's in Christ and what he did on our behalf.

Now, if you're here this morning, as I said earlier, and you're not a Christian, or maybe you profess faith in Jesus and what I'm saying this morning kind of describes you, maybe the fruit of your life doesn't match up to what you verbally say you are.

I just want to leave you with this.

You cannot work your way to God.

You can try your whole lifetime, but you cannot work your way to God.

If you're convinced you can work your way to God, you have a gross deficiency in your understanding of God's holiness.

You could never truly earn God's love.

But here's the beauty of what we believe as Christians.

We believe that Christ has worked on our behalf in living a perfect and righteous life, and dying on the cross, taking the punishment we deserved.

He lived the life you could never even come close to living, and died the death that you deserve, and rose on the third day to breathe his spirit into his children.

And the beauty of all of this is all we have to do is humble ourselves, confess our sins, and ask the Lord for his forgiveness.

Dead faith just gives lip service, but living faith walks in action.

So I would encourage all of us, let us guard our hearts from being mere hearers of the word and not doers only.

And for those who haven't trusted in Christ, come to Christ and let the world see faith come alive through his regenerating work in your heart.

Let's pray.