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Transcript

Let's Save James · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_00: How are y'all doing this morning?
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Y'all happy?
0:11
SPEAKER_00: I am too.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: I am so happy to be here this morning.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: Happy to be alive in God.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Happy to be be alive throughout all of eternity.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna get right into this because I got a bit of a mouthful.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: And I've titled this, Let's Save James, that guy, that poor guy that wrote this little epistle and his unloved epistle.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: And this is one people like Rick, you should explain James sometime, because James, you know, he made this statement that that uh that that bothers a lot of us.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: He said, therefore, and this is in uh chapter 2, verse 24, and we'll look at it, but he says, we see that a man is justified by his works and not faith alone.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: And then we see something that Paul wrote in Romans, and he says the exact opposite of that.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: He says, A man is justified by faith and not by his works.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: And and and I used to look at that and I would think, well, Paul and James are are totally on one of them has to be wrong.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: And uh when I chose saw grace and it started happening to me, I said, well, obviously Paul was right.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: And James was wrong.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: But let's let's save James because I want to show you James is not wrong.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: He's just misunderstood.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: And I think you'll see it today.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: And we can't go through all five chapters of that letter, but we'll look at the first two, and that'll set the stage for the rest.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to read the rest of it, read the book of James on your own, it'll all, I believe it'll all make sense as we put it into the correct context here.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Because it's really pretty clear if we see it without uh I want to say it without filters.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to say religious filters, but they're filters of our mindset.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: We miss it.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: That that that that verse where James says, you see that a man is not saved by faith alone, but he's saved by works.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough one for me.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: But you got to understand some things that we'll point out.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, I want to uh as we get into this, I want to show you how gracious James really is.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: I want to show you that James very much, very, very, very much did and does understand grace.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: He was not making a mistake and he was not contradicting Paul.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he agreed very much with Paul, and we'll see that.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: So basically, we talk when we talk about this.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me start with James.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Who was James?
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Most scholars uh would agree they they agree that it was James, the brother of Jesus.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: There is dispute and debate always on these things, but most uh most believed that he was Jesus' uh brother.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: And if you know a little bit about that history, there was a time when he when James thought Jesus was crazy, right?
2:48
SPEAKER_00: There was a point there where even Mary and the boys and her other boys that that she'd had after Jesus, they came actually to put him away.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: And that's interesting to me because Mary, you know, Gabriel and you know, you're gonna have a child, and you're a virgin, and he'll be called the Son of God, and and you know, she knows who he is, but things are going on, and she's like, Okay, Jesus, you're taking this too far, and now you've gone off the deep end, and and all the Pharisees, you can they they can't all be wrong about all of this.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: And so they they thought that he had actually uh lost his mind at one point.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: But overall, we know after, at least after the resurrection, is when I believe it happened, we know that James became a total, complete believer, and he was very uh zealous about it.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: He was a very, very strong believer that his brother actually was the fulfilled prophecy.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: He was the Messiah, the Christ that all the prophets had been been talking about.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: This was him.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: He was a uh a strong believer.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: And another thing about the about background, and and I don't think I'll read it because of the time's sake, but if you look at Acts chapter 15, there was a situation where Paul and Barnabas had been going to the Gentiles, and these Gentiles had been getting saved.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: The Gentiles had they would believe, and when they would believe their message, which was that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecy, and you can all just receive him, when they believed, they received the Holy Spirit.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And it was very evident.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: And there was great joy and rejoicing, and there was fruit of the of that belief that was happening.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: And and so uh, you know, Paul and Barnabas believed that was enough.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: But while they were, as they were in Antioch, there came some other believers in Christ, but they still also believed in circumcision, and they believed that you had to be circumcised because you really understand that in their in their minds, Christianity was not a separate religion from Judaism at that time.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: It was a sect of Judaism.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: They were still Jews in their mind.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, but they believed that the prophecy is now fulfilled.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: Whereas those that didn't believe in Jesus were also Jews, but they just believed it hadn't been fulfilled.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: It's not Jesus, it's somebody else, and they're still waiting for that today.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: But they but there were some, they believed in Jesus, but they also believed a lot of law things, and they believed that you had to be circumcised so you can be a part of this whole whole thing.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul and Barnabas didn't want that to happen.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of fighting over it, and so the people at Antioch were like, well, we don't know who to, we don't know what's going on here.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: And so they said, I'll tell you what, why don't you guys all let's send a delegation to Jerusalem where all the big names are, and they'll we'll let them settle this for us, and then we'll know what's right and what's not.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: So Paul and Barnabas and some of the ones that disagreed with them, they all went there and they talked to the apostles, and James was one of them.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: In fact, many say he was the head, uh, the leader of that group of elders and apostles in in Jerusalem.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: And and when they uh it says after there was much debate going on, they were going back and forth because people were on both sides of this thing.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: One talk about keeping the law, or at least part of the law for sure, uh, in addition to believing in Jesus.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: And the other said, no, it's just it's just uh by grace through faith alone.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: Going back and forth.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: And finally, Peter stands up and he says, Guys, listen, you know, I've been out there too, I've been preaching to the Gentiles, and I've seen this.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: I said, God has made no difference between us.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: I said, It says they believe just like we do, and they get the spirit, they get the promise, and that's what the whole thing's been about throughout all the prophets in the Old Testament that this promise of the Spirit would come, and they're getting it.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: And they they're not being circumcised and they're still getting it, they're not keeping these rules and they still and they're still getting it.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: And God is approving of them by doing that.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: And he says, We don't need to do the put any burdens on them.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: And then there's still more questioning going on.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Then James stands up and he says, Guys, Peter's made a great point here.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: And he says, and he starts preaching, and he says, now remember the prophet said that God would raise up the tabernacle of David again, and he would, in that he would bring the Gentiles to himself, and they would come to him, they would know him, and they would worship him, and they would receive the promise.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: And he says, It's been it's fulfilled, it's been happening.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: He says, So let just as James.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: James that many of us think is all works oriented and legalistic and all that.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: James says, let's not put any other burden on them.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: Let's send them a letter and let's tell them what we have decided.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: So they wrote a letter and sent it, and uh the letter said, uh says, Greetings from the apostles and pastors, from your fellow believers to our non-Jewish brothers and sisters living in Antioch and Syria and the regions.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: We're aware that some have come to you from the church of Jerusalem.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: These men were not sent by us, but they came with false teachings that have brought confusion and division.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: And they're telling you to keep the law and to be circumcised, things we never commanded them to teach.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: So after deliberation, we're sent the letter said deliberation.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says there was much uh can't remember what word it used, but there was they were fighting about it, you know.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: Um after much deliberation, we're sending to our we're sending you our beloved brothers Paul and Barnabas, who have risked their lives for the glory of the name of the Lord Jesus, the anointed one.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: They're accompanied by Judas and Silas, who we have unanimously chosen to send as our representatives to you, and they will validate all that we're wanting to share with you.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Because it pleases the Holy Spirit, and it pleases us that we don't put any unnecessary burden on you except for the following restrictions.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: And then it tells, it says, you know, don't eat things sacrificed to idols, don't drink the blood of animals, stay from away from sexual immorality.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: And these things were all associated with pagan worship.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: And they said, differentiate yourself, pull away from that, don't be doing that stuff anymore, and make it all about Jesus.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: So they did that.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: And so I said all that to say this, that we see that James here knew about the grace of God.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: James was not legalistic, James was not about putting the burden of rules, and uh and when he talked about works, look at it this way as we as we read this.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: You'll see that where Paul talked about the root of our righteousness and our salvation, which is we are saved by grace through faith, by our faith alone.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh James talked about the fruit of what that root provides.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: He was talking about what happens in our life, the changes that take place, and we're to expect and look at and and what it looks like when a person does believe and does trust in Jesus.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: I hope I think you'll see that as we look at this.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: So let's go to James chapter 1.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: And uh first thing I want to point out is I want to give you four little verses here that just show you the graciousness that James sees.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: I want us to be aware that James knows what he's talking about, he understands grace.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, and in verse 5, he says, if anybody longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he'll give it.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: He won't see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures, but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: So he thinks God is good.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: He thinks God is gracious.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't think God is condemning at all.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: Let's know that, let's understand that.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: He says, When you're tempted, don't ever say that God's tempting me, because God's not capable of being tempted by evil, and he's never the source of temptation.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: There again, looking at the goodness of God.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: And these, I'm just pointing these out because they're all right there in the first chapter, and I want to cover the first and second chapters uh this morning.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, he says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and it comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: He is absolutely good.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: And the gift and every good gift does come down from him.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh verse 18, I love this.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures, of his own will.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: Not putting it on you, but talking about he wanted this.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: It was because of his goodness that we're in this place that we're in.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: So he knows something, at least we see, about the graciousness and the goodness of God.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Um he's talking about the fruit of faith.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: So I want to look at a few things here and and just mention uh four or five of them that we see right here in the first uh first uh two chapters here of James.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh in verse six, after he said, If any of you lack wisdom, just ask of God.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: In verse six, he says, just make sure that you ask empowered by confident faith without doubting that you will receive.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: So one of the fruits of having faith in Jesus, which is trusting him, is that you can receive from God.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray for people at the end of this, and I want us, if we need anything, especially after we were singing about the power of the name of Jesus, I was thinking this is a good time for us to receive what is necessary in our lives.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: And we can receive.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: I tell people, this is why we always got to know that God is good.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Because if you know he's good, you'll trust him.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: Even if things don't make sense, if things don't add up, like Matt was talking about with Gideon, when things do just don't add up, and your brain says that I make no sense of this, you can still trust him because you know that he is good.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: Things might not be looking good, things can be looking horrible, they might look be looking confusing, but in all that, if you know, if you've been fully persuaded, convinced, as Paul says, you will still trust him and you will still have peace and you'll walk forward and you'll you'll you'll also you'll also see yourself walk through.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Because if you trust him, you can receive from him.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: You can receive grace from him in all of its forms, whatever that means.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: And he says, and if you ask in faith, trusting him, you will receive without doubt.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: He says, but the ambivalent person believes one minute and doubts the next.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Why do they do that?
13:31
SPEAKER_00: Because they're not convinced yet.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not, if you say, Well, I still struggle with that, that's okay, it only gets better.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: You'll you'll you'll you'll trust him more, you'll know him more, because in all in all of our walk, what's going on is we're finding out more and more that he's gooder and gooder than we thought he was.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: Right?
13:48
SPEAKER_00: I I I tell people, I believe, most people know that I believe God is good, but I'm also aware that I've just scratched the surface of how good he is.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: I remember sitting there hearing Clark saying, we will all be absolutely amazed someday at how good God really is.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: I know that's right.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: Wow, think of that.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: Because I think you guys all think he's pretty good.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: But whatever it is we think, he's gooder than that.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: And the more we know that, the more we see that, the more our trust is, so we're not up and down in our trust in God.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: And I love that feeling.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: I love seeing that kind of growth in me, don't you?
14:31
SPEAKER_00: To see, don't you love seeing that when you're dealing with something that's hard, when you look back and you realize, wow, if this were a few years ago, this would have been much worse inside me.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: He says, Up one minute and doubts the next, being undecided makes you become like the rough seas driven and tossed by the wind.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: You're up one minute and down the next.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: So, so not having faith causes that, but having faith or trust in God causes the ability to receive.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Another fruit that he mentions about having faith in God, which is the root, the fruit, one of the fruits, is that the life, your very life, is a blessed life.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 25, 125, but those who set their gaze deeply into the perfect law of liberty, or this this translation says the perfecting law of liberty.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's it's it's it's it's changes that we actually see.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he's dealing with the fruit, but not the root.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: They are fascinated by and they respond to the truth as part of the root that they hear and they're strengthened by it, they experience this is the fruit.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: Experience is the fruit of the root of your belief in him and his graciousness.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: They experience God's blessing in all that they do.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: See, this is what James's mind is on those things in this particular letter.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: Another thing is uh that I see right here in chapter 2, verse 1, is that the part of the fruit that we see of this wonderful root of God's grace, the goodness of God that we trust in, have faith in, is that it changes us fruit, where we have a righteous judgment.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we lose our prejudices.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: He says, My dear brothers and sisters, this is chapter 2, verse 1, my dear brothers and sisters, fellow believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, how could we say that we have faith in him and yet we favor one group of people above another?
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Now, see if you don't look at this right, you can go through this letter, and many, many of us do, and we have, where we look at that, and it looks like he's just coming down hard because in some of the later chapters, especially, he'll use some strong language.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: But if you understand, basically we want you to understand that this man knows grace, but the reason we misunderstand is we're looking at him talking about the effect of uh of grace.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, the book of 1 John tells us, he says, he says, if you don't love your brother, you don't know God.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty strong.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: But John was a very loving, gentle in the you know, in the things that he that he wrote mostly, but what he's what's he saying?
17:21
SPEAKER_00: He's just saying the fruit of knowing God is a change in the heart, right?
17:27
SPEAKER_00: A love that happens in the heart.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm a witness of that.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad that my heart has changed in so many ways.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: And then it's exciting to know that we've got a whole lot more change to happen.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, here in in chapter 2, verse 8, part of the fruit is that love.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: He says uh in verse 8 of chapter 2, your calling is to fulfill the royal law of love that's given to us in this scripture.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: You must love and value your neighbor as you love and value yourself.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: For keeping this law is the noble way to live.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: But when you show prejudice, you commit sin and you violate this royal law of love, violating the royal law of love.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: There again, that which God has given us, that love into our heart, has a fruit, doesn't it?
18:14
SPEAKER_00: We lose the prejudgment, we lose the prejudice, we lose the hatred, we lose anything that's not love, and are losing it.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: We see it in our life and in our growth.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: Um He says, for the one who attempts, look at this, he goes on to the next verse, for the one who attempts to keep all of the law of Moses, but fails in just one point, has become guilty of breaking the law in every respect.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: Sounds just like Paul.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: So he's not a believer in being justified by the works of the law at all.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: Says, in fact, that you can't do it.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: If you just break one, you're guilty of the whole thing.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: For the same one who tells us don't commit adultery, also said don't murder.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you don't commit adultery, but you do commit murder, then you're still guilty as a lawbreaker.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: So we must both and speak and act in every respect like those who are destined to be tried by the perfect law of liberty.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: That's the grace and love of God.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: And remember, watch this.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Remember that judgment is merciless for the one who judges others without mercy.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: Now that sounds pretty harsh right there.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: Judgment is merciless for the one who judges others without mercy.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you just stop right there and you put a filter around everything else and you just look at that verse, you think he's giving you a rule of law here, and he's telling you that if you're not if you're not merciful, then God's wrath comes down on you because you get judged real, real harshly.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: But watch.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Look at the next part.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: So by showing mercy, you take dominion over judgment.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, he's talking about the fruit that that that as our our our heart and our life becomes merciful because of what God has done to us.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: The root.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: Because of what he has done to us, we become loving, gracious, and merciful.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: And as we live and walk in this, we're we're showing and living and experiencing a life that has taken dominion over all judgment, because love supersedes all of that.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: And it's a real love that not only has He been given to us as the root of this whole thing, but I love the fact that it does have an effect.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: See, one of the things I was afraid of about this idea of absolute grace was that it would not have an effect on me because I thought that pressure and condemnation and guilt were were the ingredients necessary to produce the changes in my life.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: I thought those things were the root of my change.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: Anyone else ever think like that?
20:45
SPEAKER_00: You guys hardly ever raise your hands.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Like I just, I'm so stupid up here.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: I thought those things were the root of change.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: And what he's saying is, no, it's the love that's the root of change.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: And look at the beautiful change that it makes.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: And he says, and you're you're exercising and you're living and you're showing and experiencing a life above all the judgments that that that the that the works of the law could bring.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: You're showing dominion over all that stuff.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: For instance, we forgive.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, God God forgives.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: I like what one man said.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: He said, the very fact that God forgives you of sin is proof that he cares more about you than he does his rules.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Because if he could put his rules higher than you, he wouldn't forgive you.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: He'd say, uh-uh.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: The rule's too important.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: And that's what religious minds do, right?
21:40
SPEAKER_00: We see that in the Pharisees a lot, and and we see it today in Phariseeal type minds, where where they put they put the rule first.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: I know, you know, Christians they'll they'll cut you off because you break a rule.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: You're breaking a rule, and the rule is too important to them, so they can't fellowship with you anymore.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: It was a woman caught in adultery.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: What did he do?
22:02
SPEAKER_00: He made her more important than the rule.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: It was a Samaritan woman worshiping in the wrong place.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: What did he do?
22:08
SPEAKER_00: He put her more important than the rule.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: He did that every time.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus was in a tree breaking the rules.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: What did he do?
22:14
SPEAKER_00: He put Zacchaeus as more important than the rules.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: That shows love.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: That means that God cares more about you.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: Don't you love that?
22:25
SPEAKER_00: He shows dominion because of his love.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: He shows dominion over all judgment.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: That's what this whole thing's about.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: And this these are the things that James is saying.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: You understand his name is really Jacob, just for a basically King James has started to say.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Another fruit is all of the outward expression of that root of his grace and love.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Here in verse chapter 2, verse 14.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: And this is where, and we're gonna this is as we as we get into this, and we'll as we move into wrapping this up, we'll show you, this is where he deals with works versus faith alone.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: And James says, it's not faith alone.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: There's works involved and this is where, this is the passage that gives us the most trouble.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at it.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14 of chapter 2.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: James says, My dear brothers and sisters, what good is it if somebody claims to have faith but demonstrates no good works to prove it?
23:47
SPEAKER_00: How could this kind of faith save anyone?
23:51
SPEAKER_00: For example, if a brother or sister in faith is poorly clothed in the faith is poorly clothed and hungry, and you leave them saying, Goodbye, I hope you stay warm and have plenty to eat, but you don't provide them with a coat or even a cup of soup, what good is your faith?
24:07
SPEAKER_00: So then faith that doesn't involve action is phony.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: There again, faith root, action, response, the fruit.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what he says, what James believes is he believes in the root of this thing is God's grace.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: Our faith in that.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: He says, but I don't believe that it's just this thing that doesn't have an effect on us.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe it's just a thing that doesn't change the world.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that it's just a theology.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that it's just a doctrine.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that it's just something that we say is right.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Remember, this is a guy that thought Jesus was crazy.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: This is a guy that's been changed.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: This is a guy that is a Jew that before believing in Jesus would be a lawkeeper, but has been changed.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: This is a guy that has seen his own heart be changed.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: He believes in the power of the root that produces fruit.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we believe.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to produce fruit in our own strength here.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: We know that it's only that which is in the root that provides the life for these changes, and we're enjoying that.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: We're actually, it's like we're watching these changes take place in us.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: Anybody see in that?
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Do you get a little smile sometimes when you just think, wow, this thing's changing me, it's working me.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: It's it's uh I'm seeing more Christ-like, I'm feeling more Christ-like.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: I may have a zillion miles to go, but I'm feeling more like it, and I like this.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: He says, So then faith that doesn't involve action is phony, but some, he said, watch this.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: But somebody might object.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: And they say, well, one has faith and another has works.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Or you can say, okay, James, well, well, you well, I have faith, but you have works.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm more about faith, James.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm more about by, you know, Martin Luther, who he had trouble with the book of James for a while, too.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: He he was like, you know, and here basically he's the you know, he's the reformer.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: He's he's the one that came up, came out with this, by grace are we saved, by grace and God's grace alone.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: It's not the sacraments of the church, it's not the rituals.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: Got in bad trouble for it, but changed the world.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: But he looked at the book of James, and you know what he called this, he called it an epistle of straw.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: He just like had such a problem with the book of James.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: When he finally accepted it, he kind of relegated it to the lower class of scriptures.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, but one says, Well, James, you're talking, you you you might be all about works, but I'm all about faith.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: He says, Well, go ahead then and prove to me that you have faith.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: Show me your faith without works, and I'll show you my faith by the works as proof that I believe.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: You can believe all you want.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: That there's one true God, that's great.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: But even the demons know this and they tremble with fear before him.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Yet they're unchanged, yet there's no fruit in that.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: They remain demons.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh, feeble sons of Adam, do you need further evidence that faith divorced from good works is phony?
27:32
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if it's a faith that doesn't have an effect, if it's a root that cannot produce fruit or does not produce fruit, then it's not real.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say?
27:43
SPEAKER_00: You will know a tree by its now.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: The tree is where the life's at.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: And he was speaking in a time when the religion, they had a tree, tree of knowledge of good and evil.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: What's its fruit?
27:57
SPEAKER_00: It's death.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Separation mentality, condemnation, guilt, heavy burdens, it's all on you.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: What's the fruit of that thing?
28:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm giving you life, and you're gonna know it by its truth.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: It would come up in the Bible over and over again in Galatians when people were coming in teaching this stuff again, teaching this stuff in the Galatian church, and Paul hated it, and he wrote to them and he told them, a tree's known by its fruit.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: He says, Come on, the works of the flesh are manifest in that tree.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: But the fruit, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kind.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: No contradiction here.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't our ancestor Abraham found righteous before God because of his works when he offered his son on the altar?
28:53
SPEAKER_00: Now watch this.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Why do we know?
28:56
SPEAKER_00: We know that Abraham believed God and it was counted him for righteousness, right?
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Why do we know that he believed God because of what he was willing to do?
29:05
SPEAKER_00: There was a fruit to what he believed.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: If he did not believe, he's not taking his boy up there.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: He's not raising the knife.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: Abraham believed, Hebrews 11 says.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: If he had to kill his boy, he said, God will raise him from the dead.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: So, guys, me and my boy are going to go up there and we will come back.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: We will come back.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna kill him?
29:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but either way, we're coming back, both of us.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: Y'all seeing this?
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Why do we do what we do?
29:43
SPEAKER_00: It's because of the root that's in our lives.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Where did all this fruit come from?
29:49
SPEAKER_00: Where's all this love that you feel in your heart?
29:51
SPEAKER_00: Where's all this grace that you that that that's overtaking your life?
29:54
SPEAKER_00: Where's all the changes?
29:56
SPEAKER_00: Where's the joy that you now have because you have believed in something about God that may have been very hard to believe at one time?
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Because that fruit, I mean, root is producing a fruit, right?
30:14
SPEAKER_00: Because in this way the scripture was fulfilled.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh, excuse me.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Can't you see how his action cooperated with his faith?
30:21
SPEAKER_00: And by his action, faith, the root, found its full expression.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: We believe, therefore we speak, 2 Corinthians tells us.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Paul said that.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: Root and fruit.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: They both agree in the root and fruit.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: So in this way, the scripture was fulfilled.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: Because Abraham believed God, his faith was exchanged for God's righteousness.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: So he became known, known as the lover of God.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: Who knows that he loved God?
30:57
SPEAKER_00: We know he loved God.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: How do we know he loved God?
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Because he said he did?
31:01
SPEAKER_00: No.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: We know because of what he did.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: How did how the here's a statement to throw?
31:09
SPEAKER_00: How will the world take notice of us in this kingdom?
31:12
SPEAKER_00: Because we say that we love Jesus?
31:14
SPEAKER_00: We say it all the time.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: They don't care.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they'll take notice when they see how we love Judas.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: So now it's clear that a person is seen as righteous in God's eyes, not merely by faith alone, but by work.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: It's like the fruit brings the completion of this whole thing.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true of the prostitute Rahab.
31:47
SPEAKER_00: Remember her?
31:48
SPEAKER_00: She was found righteous in God's eyes by her works, or by what she did, or we could say by her response to what she believed, or by the fruit demonstrated in that faith.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: Because she received those spies into her home and she helped them escape from the city by another route.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: You remember the story?
32:10
SPEAKER_00: She believed in them actually more than they did.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: When they showed up, you remember the story?
32:14
SPEAKER_00: She basically said, What took you guys so long?
32:16
SPEAKER_00: We've been hearing about y'all for a long time.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: We've been afraid of you for years.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: We didn't believe those things that we've heard.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: So she joined them.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: That was her work.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: So you see, when he talks about these works, he's not talking about keeping works of the law.
32:37
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about our expressions, our actions that are happening simply because of what has happened to us.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: For just like a human body without the spirit is a dead corpse, so faith without the expression of good works is dead or it's nothing.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Would y'all stand up?
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Did that help a little bit?
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Did we get did we save James?
33:07
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: Father, right now, what do I want to do?
33:15
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray for people.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: And I want there to be some receiving here.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: We talked about receiving.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: And right now I want to I want to pray the name of Jesus.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: The power in that name.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people here this morning with a lot of lives and a lot of different situations and different expressions going on here.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to know this morning that God is good and God is gracious.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: And if any of us lacks, if any of us needs right now, let them ask and let them trust, let them believe, let them receive this morning.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: If you're struggling with anything, we mentioned addictions this morning.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: There is help and power for you this morning, and you can receive it right now.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: So in the name of Jesus, I'm saying receiving.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: There's always healing that's to be dealt with when you get any number of people together, physical healing in the name of Jesus, by whose stripes we were healed.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: And right now, just take this as an altar call and just let the healing just work, because out of the midst of your innermost being would flow rivers of living, life-giving water like that would that would spring up unto everlasting eternal life, affecting you, your spirit, your soul, your body, your mind.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Goodness is happening to you.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: You got a situation that's stressful or worrisome.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Life and goodness is all over you and all happening to you because you've got a source of life this morning.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: And the root will bring a manifestation in your life.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: Give God thanks.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: God bless you, Grace Church.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: Have a great day.