Sunday’s Sermons

Text: James 2:10-26                                                        8/16/09 p.m.

Intro:  By way of reminder, you will have an opportunity to ask questions at the conclusion of this sermon so listen, think, and when questions arise write them down and then ask them.

Read James 2:14-26

Tonight, the plan is to further explain James’s contribution to the relationship between faith and works.

Then we’re going to follow James’s lead and walk through the illustrations of Abraham and Rahab.

I) James’s contribution is this: empty faith is worthless faith

a)      In the discussion James refers to two different types of faith

i)        So confusion rises over this passage when we let ourselves think that when James uses the word “faith” he uses it the exact same way every time.

ii)      Let’s look at the two different types of faith.

iii)    The first type of faith is active faith. This faith is an asking faith according to James 1:6; certain of the person of God and the glory of Christ asking faith rests in God’s sovereignty and follows God’s leadership.

iv)    And active faith works; it is a doing faith. Upon hearing the word of God, active faith, seeks to do the word of God according to James 1:21&22.

v)      When a person holds or possesses active faith he will not show partiality to the rich and will care for the needs of the poor, widow, and orphan.

vi)    Active faith is also a mercy-knowing faith and a mercy-showing faith according to James 2:13

vii)  And this faith is not alone; it is not mere words. Active faith is accompanied by works according to 2:22.

viii)            Recap- Active faith asks, listens, does, shows no partiality, cares for those in need, gives mercy, and works.

ix)    This active faith is explicitly faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.  This faith has the resurrected sovereign king Jesus as it’s content.

x)      The other type of faith is dead faith. Dead faith is alone faith. It is only words and has no works.

xi)    Dead faith ignores the needs of others while speaking good and godly words of encouragement according to James 2:15&16.

xii)  This dead faith is a generic ineffectual belief that God exists, that there is only one God, and that he exists in unity.

xiii)            It is impotent orthodoxy without a change in lifestyle.  Dead faith consists of powerless but biblical content.

xiv)            The reason all this is important is because you may have deceived yourself concerning your own salvation.

xv)  You may possess only a dead faith and God intends tonight to bring you to life; that’s good news.

xvi)            This is also important because our church membership undoubtedly includes people who possess a dead faith. God intends to use this passage and this church to bring them to life.

xvii)          And this is important because our community and your neighborhood are full of people who have the faith of a demon but are convinced they are friends of God. God intends to use you and this passage to bring life.

xviii)        Don’t miss the blessing of this passage.

II) You’ll miss the blessing if you deny the truth of this passage

a)      Here’s the truth: there were foolish people in the first century and there are foolish people in the 21^st century.

i)        Read verse 20

ii)      Now James is baiting us. He is enticing those who would argue with him to look a little closer and dig a little deeper.

iii)    James is about to prove to us the fact that faith apart from works is useless.

iv)    When you stand before God on judgment day, dead faith, just mental assent to truth, will do you as much good as it will the demons. Here’s the proof:

III) Abraham is an example of active faith

a)      To understand what is happening here we have to nail down James’s definition of justify.

i)        If you get the word wrong you’ll get the point of the sentence wrong. If you get the sentence wrong you’ll miss the truth and your life will suffer for it.

ii)      Knowing your bible, hearing the truth, is crucial for living the truth. We want to live this truth so let’s work to know this truth.

iii)    Verse 21 asks another rhetorical question: “was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?”

iv)    Alright, let’s define justified. Justified means to be declared righteous.  Was not Abraham declared righteous because of his works?

v)      God looks at what Abraham did and said, “Not guilty”

vi)    Let me give you that end of time, eschatological, or judgment day perspective that I talked about this morning. Turn to Revelation chapter 20.

vii)  Let’s read verses 12-15.

viii)            There is a day of judgment coming when you will stand before God and eternity will be divided according to what you have done. Do you see that?

ix)    James is not teaching something found no where else in Scripture.

x)      Talking about the end of time or the eschaton Jesus said in Matthew 16:27, “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”

xi)    There will be a judgment, a final pronouncement of guilt or innocence, tied directly to what you have done.

xii)  But is this judgment void of grace?

xiii)            Is this judgment prescribing a works righteousness or demanding that we earn our salvation?

xiv)            Let’s read Revelation 20:15 again.

xv)  Your eternal security does not begin with nor depend upon your good deeds.

xvi)            Eternal security is based upon the fact that God wrote your name in the book of life before you were born (Rev 17:8; 13:8)

xvii)          Simultaneously, your eternal security certainly cannot be viewed without looking at who you are and what you do.

xviii)        Those with active faith are those whose names were written in the book of life.

xix)            If your name is not in the book of life you are thrown into the lake of fire.

xx)  Revelation 21:7 joins it all together when speaking of heaven after the day of judgment:

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

xxi)            Your name in the book of life equals the pursuit of a righteous life; you don’t pursue the detestable.

xxii)          So when James 2:21 says that God justified Abraham by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar God is validating the fact that Abraham’s name is in the book of life and at the same time Abraham’s life is validating the fact that his name is in the book of life.  He works because his name is in the book.

xxiii)        Using the words of verse 18, Abraham’s works show his faith.

xxiv)        Keep James’s definition of justified in your mind- declared righteous by God because of active faith.

b)      Verse 22 helps further define active faith (read 22)

i)        You see, it is obvious, and unmistakable. Faith was active along with his works. Faith and works are two inseparable companions on the road to the judgment.

ii)      And here’s an interesting statement, “faith was completed by his works.”

iii)    James is not teaching us that faith is inadequate to save unless works come along and add their own merit.

iv)    James is teaching us that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and when you let steadfastness have its full effect you will be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (1:3&4).

v)      James does not advocate some form of minimalist salvation such that if you follow his 3 steps you’ll just barely make it into heaven by the skin of your teeth.

vi)    James rightly slaps us with the call to maturity. Your name was written in the book of life and God brought you to life so that you would use faith.

vii)  But using faith is a learning process.

viii)            You have to learn how to use faith and this happens by listening to the word and growing strong through the difficulty of trials.

ix)    So when James 2:22 talks about works completing faith this is not a reference to faith plus works equal salvation.

x)      This is a reference to the truth that each act of obedience strengthens your faith.

xi)    Each step brings you closer to maturity.

xii)  God isn’t interested in making things easy. God is interested in making us mature.

c)      Verse 23 helps us by putting Abraham’s belief and works in their place (read 23)

i)        When did Abraham believe God and when was he counted righteous? Was it when he offered Isaac?

ii)      No, according to Genesis 15:6, Abraham was counted righteous some 30 years before Isaac was even born.

iii)    The Apostle Paul, in agreement with James, explains the account of Abraham believing God and being counted righteous this way in Romans 4:19-22

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹ fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²² That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

iv)    Abraham was counted righteous because he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

v)      Abraham was called a friend of God because of his faith in the power of God.

vi)    So we can’t miss an important but often overlooked phrase back in James 2:23.

vii)  It’s the phrase “and the Scripture was fulfilled”

viii)            Abraham’s works proved the truthfulness of the Scripture which told us about Abraham’s faith.

ix)    His works were the logical product of his faith. Because he was a man of active faith he was a man whose faith worked.

x)      Verse 24, “you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

xi)    By ‘faith alone’ James is referring to empty words, dead orthodoxy, not a faith that holds onto Jesus.

xii)  So if all you have is dead faith you have nothing. But if you have active faith you have everything.

xiii)            Abraham is our pattern for believing and obeying. According to verse 21 he is our father, he is our example of faith, follow after him by believing God like him.

IV) One final example, the example of Rahab (read 25)

a)      Abraham was a patriarch but Rahab was a prostitute

i)        Some will claim that it was easy for Abraham because of the place that God put him. It was easy for Abraham to believe because God talked to him and gave him visions and guided him in miraculous ways.

ii)      Abraham was visited by 3 angels and quite possibly the preincarnate Jesus Christ.

iii)    He heard the audible voice of God.

iv)    It’s almost the equivalent of today when people tell me that being a Christian is easy for me because I’m a pastor. I don’t have the same struggles and temptations.

v)      This is only a veiled excuse for sin.

vi)    The preacher should obey because he gets to pray and study his bible all day. He should have lots of works.

vii)  But it’s okay for me not to have works because I’m in a different environment. If you were in my shoes you’d see how hard it is. Okay then, take Rahab for example.

viii)            She was a prostitute living in Jericho. She was born and raised worshipping anything and everything but the one true God.

ix)    If Abraham is the highest of the high then Rahab is the lowest of the low; trading her body for money.

x)      And she was justified by works.  But her story does not begin with works her story begins with God.

xi)    Joshua 2:11 is Rahab’s statement of faith. She’s talking to the spies sent by Joshua into Jericho. Rahab said:

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. ¹¹ And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

xii)  Rahab’s faith in the person and power of God caused her to receive the messengers and send them out another way.

xiii)            Her good works vindicated, proved, and brought her faith to it’s fulfillment.

xiv)            She knew God so she knew she had to obey God.

b)      Let’s put the examples of Abraham and Rahab in their rightful places.

c)      What summarizes the law and the prophets?

i)        Jesus said that all of the law and prophets depend on two commandments- love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mt 22:37; Lk 10:27) and love your neighbor as yourself.

ii)      Abraham is an example of active faith that chose to love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

iii)    He didn’t make any excuses regarding the cost.

iv)    Abraham did not withhold anything; he did not count anything as more valuable than God. He willingly offered even his own son.

v)      Rahab is an example of active faith which chose to love her neighbor as herself.

vi)    God providentially brought two brothers in need to her door and at the risk of her life she took care of their needs.

vii)  She didn’t make any excuses regarding the cost. She didn’t bless them with pretty words about the God of heaven and earth taking care of them some how.

viii)            She did something about their need.

d)     And the reason? James 2:26, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

i)        A body is of no use without the spirit; it just lays there lifeless and useless.

ii)      “Is he breathing?” is a test for life.

iii)    Faith that is not active, faith that does not have works is dead; it isn’t breathing.

iv)    It just lays there lifeless and useless.

v)      No good for you today or on the judgment day.

vi)    No good for your neighbors on any day.

vii)  We must hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We must believe God’s word. We must live.

viii)            We will obey.