James 2:14-26 | Genuine Faith (A.G.)

Hello, I am Anthony Garcia.

I am so grateful that you tuned in to our social media or to our video ministry here.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to these messages.

I hope that they're a blessing to you.

If you have any other questions or ways that we can minister to you, I would be glad to connect with you.

You can do so through the information below.

Thank you again, and I hope this message is a blessing to you.

Now we're gonna read a passage this morning that at first glance could be viewed with great contention.

At first glance, as we read this passage, you might think, whoa, that's the opposite of what Brother Lucas just encouraged us with.

Brother Lucas just encouraged us that it's through Christ alone that the Bible all points to Jesus, that there would be no point of Jesus dying if it was just all up to your works.

And then you read James chapter number two, and you read in verse number 14 down through the end of the chapter, and it can be one that's viewed with great contention.

Martin Luther, he had very strong thoughts concerning the epistle of James, and there was a good reason why he had these strong thoughts.

It's because he came out of the Catholic Church that was teaching it's by your works, it's by your ability, it's by you doing X, Y, Z that you get into heaven.

And as Martin Luther was reading the Bible, as he's reading the book of Romans, as he was reading the book of Galatians, as he was reading the Word of God, he said, Whoa, it's not by my works, it's by grace, it's by faith in what Jesus has done.

And so we look at the book of James, and we might think, whoa, whoa, whoa, is this the like an alternate way of salvation as though the Bible might disagree with itself?

Is this an argument against the Pauline epistles, the book of Romans, or the book of Galatians that was just read from?

Is this something like there's one way it's it's by grace, and there's another way, it's by works.

If we're not careful, if we look at the Bible, we can sometimes take any verse and take it out of context and make it mean something that it doesn't mean.

I don't know if you've ever played these games before.

Maybe the teenagers have.

When I was in a teen group at times, they would play this game where they had a zoomed-in picture on something, and you had to try and guess what the zoomed in picture was without the context, and then they would blow it up and you'd be like, oh, it's a tennis ball, or oh, that's a kiwi, or whatever it might be.

And so sometimes if we're looking at a zoomed-in picture, we don't have the whole context of the Bible and of the book of James, we might think, uh-oh, do we have a contradiction?

And I want to assure you this morning, we certainly do not.

We do not have a contradiction.

It is by grace that ye are saved through faith, the Bible says in Ephesians 2.

And that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast and say, This is how I got to heaven.

This is what I did to earn it.

What did you do to earn it?

But then in verse number 10, he also says this for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

1 Peter 1 says, For as much as ye know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your empty conversations received by tradition from your fathers, you weren't bought back.

Your salvation wasn't earned because you were able to give enough in the offering plate.

No, it was with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Your salvation cannot will not be received by good works.

But your salvation will produce good works.

There's a slight difference there.

Your salvation, it's not received by the good works that you do, but when you're truly saved, there will be good works that are produced.

I do not live this morning according to the Bible in order to earn a place in heaven, but you begin living according to the Bible because you already know where your citizenship is at.

Good works does not regenerate, bring life to the soul, but good works follow regeneration.

It's by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone that saves, but a saving faith will not remain alone.

What does genuine faith look like?

What does genuine faith look like?

Genuine faith, it is lived out in real life.

True belief, it's going to affect our behavior.

Genuine faith lived out in real life.

Let's see it this morning in the text.

If you would, can I invite you to stand one more time together with me for the reading of God's word?

We're in James chapter 2 this morning, verse number 14.

James 2 · chapter mention

And you'll get what I'm talking about.

Once we start reading it, you might think, whoa, is this in contradiction?

It's not in contradiction.

We'll get to what James is getting at here.

It says in verse number 14, what doth it profit, my brethren?

Though a man say he hath faith and have not works.

Someone says, I have faith, but but there's no works involved, okay?

There's no life change involved.

Can that type of faith save him?

Can faith save him?

That type of faith save him.

If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled.

Notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

Verse number 19, thou believest that there was one God, thou doest well.

The devils also believe and tremble.

But wilt thou know, O empty man, that faith without works is dead?

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

Seeest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and ye was called the friend of God.

Ye see then how that by works a man is justified?

Oh, and not by faith only?

We're gonna get to that.

Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works?

Whoa! She saved by works?

We're gonna get to it.

When she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way.

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

Genuine faith.

It's lived out in real life.

Let's pray together.

Uh, if you would, pray that the Lord would help me as I teach the Word of God this morning, and pray that He'd help you to receive it in faith, that we would understand what this text says.

Let's pray together.

Lord, I thank you so much for your goodness to us, and I thank you for the scripture.

God, I know, I believe wholeheartedly, it does not contradict today.

Lord, we have the truth before us.

I'm thankful that it is not by works that we're saved, God.

But Lord, when you produce real life in us, God, you produce real transformation.

And so, God, I pray that you'd help us to understand your word this morning.

Oh Lord, I pray and beg you to help me, God, as I teach it.

This is your flock, Lord.

These are your people.

I want to be careful with how I teach your word this morning in a clear, accurate, helpful way, God.

And so please, Holy Spirit, fill me today.

Bless your word this morning, and help us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you.

You may be seated this morning.

The examination this morning is not if good works save a person and take them to heaven.

The Bible is very clear on that, as was clearly explained to us in the exhortation that it is not by works that you're saved, it's not through your good deeds.

But if a person is truly saved, there's going to be some life in that salvation.

Because what Jesus did for you at that moment of salvation is He made you a new creature.

He produced new life in you.

You went from being dead to now you're living.

You went from being the enemy of God to now you're the friend of God.

You went from not having the Holy Spirit in your heart to now the Holy Spirit resides in you.

Genuine faith.

So up here I have a uh uh uh a dead tree.

What do I have up here?

A dead tree or a dead uh uh jalapeno plant, okay?

A dead jalapeno plant, and uh uh it's dead, right?

And uh uh uh for the most part, maybe it like has like a little bit of life.

For the sake of the illustration, it's a dead tree.

What is it?

A dead tree.

Thank you.

All right, so we got a dead tree this morning, a dead jalapeno plant.

Is jalapeno plant?

Because it's dead, can it produce jalapenos?

No, no, a dead tree is not going to produce fruit.

Now, if I had, say I had another jalapeno plant, just imagine with me, or uh pretend one of these is a jalapeno plant, all right?

These are living, they're alive, they're not fake actually, they're alive.

And uh and so say I had this plant with me, and say this was a jalapeno plant, and it's living.

What can we anticipate that a living plant or a living tree is gonna produce?

Some jalapenos, right?

It's not actually a jalapeno uh plant, right?

But whatever it is, let's just pretend this morning.

So a dead tree, is it going to produce fruit?

No, that's what James is getting at.

If it's actually dead, if it's this person that sometimes, even in today's age, and it must have been happening then, where they casually said, Oh yeah, I believe in God, but they're dead.

They believe in God, but there's no transformation, there's no fruit, there's no life.

But a living tree, you're gonna expect it to have some fruit that's produced.

Now, listen.

Might there be some of the soil that needs to be changed to see it produce fruit?

Yeah, the soil might need to be cultivated a little bit, right?

Might there be some weeds that are choking out the roots that need to be plucked out of the ground?

Yeah, some of the weeds might need to be plucked out of the ground for it to be producing fruit.

Might there be some pruning that needs to be done, some cutting back that needs to be done?

Yes, there might be some pruning that needs to be done.

Might there be some sunlight, some water that needs to be given so that plant, that tree, that vine can produce more fruit.

Yes, but in time, maybe a long while, some trees take five, maybe even ten years to begin producing fruit, but it might be some time.

But a living tree, you're gonna see some signs of life, you're gonna see some fruit that is produced.

And if you're saved, you've been made alive in Jesus Christ, you're a new creature, you may need to change the soil up a little bit.

There may be some weeds that need to be plucked out of your life.

You may need to get in the sunshine and get in the word of God, but there's some growth, there's some transformation that's gonna begin to take place because God is committed to your sanctification.

God is committed to you being a transformed creature.

Now we have to work in alignment with Him, but there's gonna be some fruit.

Now, I wanna be careful how I teach the Word of God this morning because I don't want you to look into your life and go, oh no.

We can have a faint heart sometimes.

Know your personality this morning, okay?

If you have a very self-condemning type of personality, okay, and you overthink things and you're like, oh no, I'm looking at this, and I might be the the dead tree, and I don't see as much life change as that person, it's not wise to compare yourself against other people.

I don't see life change as much as that person over there, so I must have not really been saved.

Whoa, careful, careful, careful.

I don't want you to go away this morning thinking I'm not really saved.

James is addressing the casual, flippant type of Christian who says, Oh yeah, I believe in God.

I believe in Jesus.

But you look into their life, and there is nothing that shows that they believe in Jesus.

There's no love for the Word of God, there's no love for God's people, there's no love for the things of the Lord, there's nothing.

There's nothing, but oh I believe in God, that's all it is.

It's just, you know, you just believe in God and you're good to go.

He's addressing the casual Christian, Christian, because he says that type of faith, there's an article uh-uh um that within within the Greek when he says there uh um that faith, can that faith save him in verse number 14?

Can that type of faith save him?

No, this is not genuine, it's not real.

What does genuine faith look like?

What does genuine faith look like this morning?

Genuine faith, number one, it moves us to be grace givers because we've received grace.

Genuine faith, you've put your trust in Jesus Christ.

It's gonna move you to be a grace giver because you've been a grace receiver, you've received grace yourself.

The wonderful news of the gospel is that yes, you are more sinful than we like to believe.

You're worse off than you actually really know.

We like to give ourselves credit, and we like to put ourselves in I'm the good person bracket over here, but really you're wretched, really you're sinful, and you're you're way worse off than you really like to believe about yourself.

But also the gospel says this you're way more loved.

Jesus loved you so much that he was willing to come, he was willing to die, he was willing to give his life, even though you were spiritually poor, you were spiritually destitute, you spiritually had nothing to offer God.

Jesus said, I will take their place so that they can be rescued.

And so, what did Jesus heap on you?

What did Jesus pour out generously generously on you?

All right, he poured out his grace.

Woo! He poured it out on you, you were more sinful than you want to imagine.

It wasn't just that one time that you lied, it wasn't just that one time that you cheated, it wasn't just that one time that you stole, but all your sin, past, present, future, was covered under the cross of Calvary.

That you had no chance of paying yourself.

And so when you were spiritually poor and destitute, Jesus reached out and poured out his riches on you.

So you've received grace.

Now, this is what grace does.

Oh wow, Jesus, you've saved me from so much, you've forgiven me of so much, you've been so good to me.

How can I not be good, be gracious, be loving to others?

And here's the illustration he gives us.

If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food, if a brother or sister within the Christian community, they're naked, they don't have clothes, they can't afford clothes, they can't afford to keep themselves covered in a day and age where maybe the shelter wasn't the greatest, and maybe they needed that cloak to wear as they were traveling and sleeping outside.

And then they don't have a cloak to wear, they don't have a robe to put on, they don't have something to even put on themselves as they go to bed at night, and they're destitute of food.

Understand, this is this is first century type of destitution, first century type of poverty, okay?

Not American type of poverty.

First century type of poverty.

There's no refrigerator, there's no pantry, there's no food, there's no grocery store, there's no government assistance, there's no saving account, there's no food pantry at the church, there's no food bank to go to.

If you didn't have food in that day, you could essentially go hungry and die.

That's the first century, okay?

We gotta wrap our minds around the fact that this was different than today.

So, what he's saying here is you have a brother or sister that's that's coming to the assembly, and what you do is you just say, I'll be praying for you.

God bless you.

Go in peace.

I know God's gonna provide for you, but you have the means to be able to care for someone that is there at the ready to die, possibly.

Do you understand the severity of it?

Do you understand that it's like the Good Samaritan story where the Levite and the priest saw a man that was about to die, and they looked on him and they said, Not my problem.

They might have even said a prayer as they went by.

Oh Lord, I hope you send somebody to help them because they're in bad shape.

That's the idea.

They're poor, they're destitute.

And he uses the word brother or sister.

He uses the word that, hey, this is a Christian among you.

This is someone that's a part of the church, and what you should see within the church body is what you see in the book of Acts in Acts chapter number two, where they looked on one another with compassion and saw that there was needs that they could help with, that they could be a blessing with.

So understand the severity of the poverty here.

If you didn't have adequate clothing, you could genuinely suffer from the exposure of the elements.

If you were sick, injured, widowed, orphaned, or simply unable to work, there was no system in place to help.

This time, it wasn't the same resources.

Now we're blessed.

We are blessed because there are resources that we can go to.

We don't have to get in what whose responsibility is what, but we understand this morning, we're not in this type of severity.

I'll never forget seeing in another country and Chinnandega in the marketplace.

There was, I feel like this would have been like the biblical times of the way you saw it.

That there was a man who his leg was gone and he was laying on the ground, begging, asking for money.

He couldn't work, he couldn't take care of himself.

I don't know if someone brought him into the marketplace, but a busy marketplace right there, not able to do anything to care for himself.

So imagine that gentleman's in our church service.

There were kiddos that they spent all day.

What they did is they went and they bought candy and they bought snacks, and then they would go all around, little kids all around the city, trying to sell as much candy as they could to make sure that they were able to eat and support their families.

On that day.

This type of poverty, probably even to a worse degree, was the type of poverty that they were facing in the book of James.

So for someone to say, God bless you, not my problem, was basically, in a sense, depending on the situation, sentencing them to death.

Hope you're taken care of.

There's varying degrees of how we are to help people.

The Bible says though in Galatians 6 10, as you have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men.

As you have an opportunity, do good to others.

But then he says this, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

James's language here of brother or sister makes it uh uh um eye-opening that these were of the household of faith.

These were their that was their brother, their sister that were in need of help here.

And so when we've received grace, it should move us to extend grace.

Christians should be the most gracious people on the planet because we've received the grace.

I would not expect someone who doesn't know Christ, you haven't received the grace, you haven't received the forgiveness.

Well, how are you gonna forgive?

How are you gonna give grace to others?

How are you gonna show love?

How are you gonna show kindness?

I wouldn't expect someone who doesn't know our Savior to extend that same type of grace.

But for those of us here this morning that say, I've been saved, I've been rescued, Jesus died and he loved me and he gave me everything that I have, then we should be the ones that say, Who can I pour grace out onto?

Who can I pour grace out?

The gospel, the gospel, the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, salvation in Christ alone.

It moves us, it compels us to serve.

I want to help others, I want to bless others, it compels us to move towards others in love.

You see, someone that they're not being cared for, they're not being loved.

The idea is not just leave them alone, the idea is that I'm going to enter into that.

I'm gonna love them, I'm gonna know who they are, I'm gonna care about them.

The gospel, it moves us to this extraordinary, absurd type of kindness where the world is a dog-eat dog type of world, and I'm gonna get mine, and if I have to step on you to get it, that's okay.

Christians say no, I'm gonna show this extraordinary type of kindness that I might be the one who gets hurt in the middle of it.

But that's the kind of kindness, that's the type of grace that has been poured out on me.

The gospel, it moves us towards others.

The gospel, it moves us towards sharing the good news.

The gospel, it moves us towards care, the gospel, it moves us towards generosity because Jesus has been generous to me, my finances, my wealth, my things are not my own, but they're Jesus's.

And I'm to steward them in a way that pleases him.

The gospel, it moves us to a radical way of living that is absurd to the world, because grace has been poured out on us.

James is not saying give to the poor in order to be saved.

James is saying, if you're saved, you have a brother or sister that's there and they're hurting.

You don't just say good luck, buddy.

You move towards them in care.

When someone's mourning, when someone's hurting, you move towards them in love.

When someone has need, sure, we might not be able to do everything, but we can perhaps do something.

When someone has a burden, let me carry that burden with you.

True.

We don't have the option to just pass the problem to somebody else.

It means we step into it.

Throughout the ages, Christians have done this.

Throughout the ages, when there was times of sickness, when there was plagues, it was Christians who oftentimes they were the ones that though they might get sick themselves, though they might be the ones to die, they were the ones that ran to those that were hurting and in need to give them the gospel and to care for their humanity, to care for their physical needs.

It was Christians oftentimes who are the ones that built hospitals and set up centers for care to help people and serve people because we have been blessed with grace.

We can't help but bless others to run to that need.

Genuine faith, number two, is more than good doctrine or mere acknowledgement of God.

Okay, verse number 19.

Thou believest that there is one God.

You have some good doctrine.

He's pointing Jewish believers back to the Shema.

Deuteronomy chapter six, verse number four.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

Hey, that's good doctrine.

That is true.

James is writing to those that primarily have a Jewish background.

And so when these Jews they had this upbringing that they memorized the Shemmah, so they have good doctrine, they have this good foundation.

He says, You believe that there's one God?

Good job.

You do well.

But he says this, he almost says it in a in a in a in a sarcastic manner, right?

He says, Oh, you have good doctrine?

You believe that there's one God?

Oh, you do well.

He says, the devils also believe and shudder.

Hey, you know who else has better doctrine than any seminary can offer here in the United States?

The devils have better doctrine than we have.

The devils know who God is.

They know that there is one Lord and they shudder, they tremble at the name of Jesus because they know their judgment is coming.

They know that there's one God.

They know that every other God that's named on this earth is a false God, is a fake God, that there was but one Savior, Jesus Christ.

And when they hear the name of Jesus, when they recognize that, hey, there's some good doctrine here, they shudder, they tremble because of their future.

He says, You have good doctrine, you know that there's one God, you acknowledge God.

Good job.

You do well.

But having good doctrine, you can have good doctrine, you can have a lot of theology, a lot of learning, you can have a lot of scripture memorized, but you could still not have saving faith in Jesus Christ alone.

You understand there is a difference.

They had good doctrine, they acknowledge God's existence.

There are people that you may grow up in a home that involves God.

And so you may at a young age say, Oh yeah, I've always believed in God.

Oh, I've always believed in God.

As far back as I can remember, I've I know there's only there's only one God.

I've always believed in God.

But this is different than genuine faith and dependence in Jesus Christ to be your personal savior.

This is different because the devils they also have good doctrine.

They also believe that there's one God, they also believe and they acknowledge that God exists, and they do a little bit better than the casual Christian here in chapter number two, because at least they shudder, they tremble at the judgment that's to come for them.

True, genuine faith is more than good doctrine.

You need good doctrine.

You need good doctrine.

Because if you believe, well, Jesus is one way, but there's a lot of different ways.

False doctrine.

You're not gonna be saved if you have false doctrine.

If you think, well, Jesus is one good way.

No, no, you need good doctrine, but good doctrine does not necessitate, that does not mean, that does not equal that you have saving faith.

They go hand in hand, but they're different.

The shuddering, the trembling that the devils have does not equal salvation.

See, true salvation is in this.

You confess you that word confess means it means you agree with God.

You agree with what God says is the truth about who you are and about who He is.

Genuine faith is this understanding that I'm a sinner.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

If you don't recognize you're a sinner, you're not gonna run to a savior.

But when you recognize that you're a sinner, that you've broken God's law, the schoolmaster, as Lucas pointed out, the law was meant to point out that you have a problem in your heart, that you have a problem and you need something outside of you.

It's the imaging, the illustration, right?

But you need someone else, you need a savior.

And so you have to acknowledge, yes, I'm a sinner.

To acknowledge Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death.

What you deserve because of your sin is to be separated from God forever in a place called hell.

It's not because God wants to send you there, it's because our imperfection, He cannot allow that into His presence.

So we recognize that I'm a sinner, I deserve hell, but I confess, I agree that Jesus Christ paid the price for me.

And I am staking my life on Jesus.

I am fully depending, I am resting on Jesus to take me to heaven.

Not my works, that's not what James is saying.

Not even because, well, I I I grew up and I've always believed in God.

The devils know God also, but because there's been a time in your life where you've confessed, you've agreed, you've depended upon the finished work of Jesus.

I had that time when I was about seven years old.

Did I know all the theology and the things that I know now?

I hope not, right?

Hopefully I've grown since then, right?

Since I was seven.

No, I didn't know all the ins and outs.

Did I know all the richness of the gospel?

I didn't know all the richness of the gospel.

I knew this.

I was a sinner.

I lied, cheated, stole, never disobeyed my parents.

No, just kidding.

Disobeyed my parents.

I did all those things, right?

And my sin kept me from knowing God.

But I believed that Jesus, as best as I was able to, I believed that Jesus had died on the cross for me.

That he rose from the dead, and I called on him to be my savior.

I depended on him.

Have you had a time in your life where you've depended on Jesus to be your savior?

The question is, what are you gonna do with Jesus?

He that has the Son has eternal life.

But if you don't have the Son, you don't have eternal life.

So have you had a time in your life where you've depended on Jesus?

This is what saves.

This is what saves.

It is Jesus that saves.

It is Jesus that rescues.

Understand this morning, you can go faithfully to church.

You can be a Baptist, you can be this, you can be that.

You can do all these things and yet not have a relationship with Jesus because Jesus warned there will be those that say, Lord, Lord, have we not?

And he'll say, Depart from me.

I never knew you.

You never depended on me alone to be your savior.

You had religion, you had works that you were trusting in.

You were casual, and you said, Well, I just believe in God, and that's enough.

No, my friend, has there been a time where you've come to Jesus in genuine, trusting, depending on faith on the finished work of Jesus Christ?

There is no other way to have eternal life but through Jesus.

James teaches that.

He's not teaching that you get to heaven through your works, he's teaching us genuine faith.

Genuine faith.

It's more than just good doctrine, it's more than just acknowledging that God exists, it's dependence on the finished work of Christ.

Last point this morning.

Genuine faith is revealed in steps of obedience.

It's not earned through steps of obedience, it's not received by I did this and I did that.

It's revealed in steps of obedience.

James gives us two examples at the end of this chapter.

Abraham, the patriarch, that all the Jews would have looked back to and said, Father Abraham.

I don't know if they would have sung that song, Father Abraham had many sons, but they would have looked back and said, Father Abraham, the patriarch.

And then you have this other woman, a Gentile woman, a woman that was a prostitute, a woman that was in the city of Jericho, and she also had genuine faith.

Genuine faith to Abraham, genuine faith in Rahab.

Both of them had genuine faith, and it was revealed, not earned, not received, in their steps of obedience.

You read this passage and you think, uh-oh.

Do we have a contradiction in the Bible?

Maybe we need to pack up and go home.

Our faith is ruined.

Good news, it's not ruined.

Remember, James is uh contemporary with the Apostle Paul.

He's the pastor of the first church in Jerusalem.

He's the brother of Jesus.

The doctrine that James preaches agrees with the doctrine that Paul preaches.

And Paul's doctrine agrees with what James preaches, because it's all God's doctrine.

And it's all good and perfect and it aligns together.

So here's what Paul says in Romans.

He says, What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.

If Abraham were saved by works, he'd be able to glory in himself.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

But James says, Abraham believed God, it was beauty for righteousness, he was called the friend of God.

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

You see, James, he's teaching works.

No, no, no, my friend.

They go together.

Abraham believed God, it was counted unto him for righteousness.

He depended on God's word to him.

He believed God.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him, that justifieth the ungodly.

His faith is counted for righteousness.

Abraham was not justified by works, but his works justified his faith.

Rahab was not justified by works, but her works justified her faith.

Let me give us an illustration that hopefully will help us understand.

If you said the earth is round, and I said to you, justify that statement.

You say the earth is round, I say, justify that statement.

Your justification of the statement, you might give evidence, pictures, the curvature, science, math, the way that ships disappear over the horizon, all these different things you might give to be a justification of the statement that you made.

But your evidence didn't make the earth round, the earth already was round.

Your evidence simply revealed the truth of your statement.

This is the relationship between faith and works.

Abraham's obedience to take his only son up to the mountain.

Mind you, this is a few chapters later from when righteousness was imputed to him.

This is several, several years later, many years, decades later, that Abraham is obeying God and his work justified his faith.

That he had genuine faith.

And because he had genuine faith, there wasn't dead faith, it produced fruit in his life, that he was willing to take the step of obedience.

The step of obedience revealed the true faith that was in Abraham's life.

Same thing with Rahab.

She said, Man, I heard about your God.

And I heard that he's the one true God.

And I want to believe on that one true God.

And I know that you guys are coming and the city's gonna crumble, and I believe on him.

The spies they said, okay, take a scarlet thread, put it out your window, get all your family into your house, and when we come, the walls are gonna come down.

But your family and you, you're gonna be rescued.

If Rahab didn't have a genuine faith, she would have not obeyed, take those steps of obedience to have the thread out the window to gather her family.

It would have revealed that she had a profession of faith, but not a genuine faith.

But because she took steps of obedience to the Lord, it showed Rahab's faith is justified.

Do you understand the difference?

I hope you understand the difference this morning.

Works does not save you.

But when you have genuine faith, good works should be produced in you and through you.

A dead tree, it can't produce fruit.

Now, again, overly critical, overly examine yourself.

Oh no, I must not be a Christian because I'm not winning as many souls as so-and-so, or I'm not, man, I've only read my Bible.

You know, I haven't read through the whole thing yet.

And man, I haven't done this and I haven't done that.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Careful, careful, careful.

Careful that you don't examine yourself and begin to worry because Satan would like you to doubt, because then you don't, then you're not gonna grow in your faith.

You're gonna be focused on, man, maybe I'm not really saved.

My friend, fruit does take time.

But if you in your life, caution here, you in your life, you're sitting here this morning, you're like, you know what?

I've never depended on Jesus.

I don't have the Son.

My friend, the Holy Spirit, he can work in your heart this morning and show you, hey, you need that.

You need salvation.

You say, I believed in God, I've gone to church, but I don't have that gift of salvation.

Then run to the cross this morning.

Run to Christ this morning.

Don't think, well, I'll go get my life cleaned up and then I'll come back.

No, you can't.

You missed the point.

You can't do it.

You need Jesus to come and rescue you and save you and cleanse you.

Then the fruit will begin to be pre-produced because now there's new life.

Church family, I hope you understand this morning the heart of the passage.

I want to be very careful with this passage this morning and hopefully it's helped you.

If you have more questions, I'm always happy to try and sit down with you and answer any questions that you might have.

But can we take an opportunity this morning and bow our head and close our eyes?

Let's take a moment to pray.

I hope this message was a blessing to you.

If you are in the Phoenix area, we would love to have you come in for a visit.

We're located on Indian School and 23rd Avenue.

If we can be a help to you in any other way, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

I would love to answer any questions that you had about the sermon, or maybe a question that you have about eternal life and a relationship with God.

We're here to serve you and to point you to Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for watching this message.