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James 2:14-26 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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  Well, the passage we have before us today is one of those that you kind of cringe when
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  ! you finally get to teach on it because if you mess it up, it could have some bad effects.
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  but if you do it well, it could have some really good effects. And I remember when I was in college
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  up here in North Georgia just a couple years ago, when me and Nathan and Sam and Wes and
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  Lesburn were in school together up here, I got invited to speak at the Corps of Cadet Bible
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  study on campus and I knew the chaplain and he was like, we're studying James. And he said, can you
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  come do it this week? And I volunteered like, yeah, sure. Well, what's the passage? And he was like,
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  faith and works. I'm like, thanks, buddy. I appreciate that. I remember I was so nervous.
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  I just actually memorized some of John MacArthur's notes and just like said it and was like, there
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  you go. But to show you how much I've grown in my faith, I did not consort John MacArthur one time
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  in my study during this time, but I consorted several other Johns. But here we go. We're going
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  to be in chapter two. Zach did a really awesome job last week of talking about the beginning of chapter
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  two up to verse 13 about not showing partiality. So we'll, we'll get into that. The next part of this
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  now about faith and works, but just in case you're new, some people are kind of returning from breaks
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  and vacations. James was the brother of Jesus. He was a leader of the Jerusalem church. And he's often
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  given kind of a hard time because he was a little slower to come to faith, like in his brother as
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  the Messiah. And you can just imagine though, the pressure he had growing up as a younger brother
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  with Jesus being his older brother and how often he probably didn't measure up to that and how he heard
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  all the time, like, Jesus is your big brother? Or why can't you be more like Jesus? Those sort of
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  things probably just resonated around him. And whenever, you know, he went to his parents for
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  advice and they would just say, well, I don't know, James, what would Jesus do? And that would just drive
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  him crazy. So you can go on and on with the jokes though, but he like, you know, Jesus has a lot more
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  scripture memorized than you, James. And he lives it out, like get with the program. So it really is a miracle
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  that at some point he really did come to faith in his older brother as the Messiah. So, so this is his
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  letter, this is his contribution to the scripture. And James' focus mainly is not so much how one becomes
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  a genuine believer, but rather what does real authentic faith look like in holy conduct. So a
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  little bit different angle than Paul has in a lot of his letters. So this is more like how to live out
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  one's faith, doing it, being a doer of the word rather than just a hearer of the word. So his audience
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  is definitely a Jewish audience, Jewish Christians. And so let's get in with our passage in verse 14,
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  chapter two, he says, what good is it? My brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have
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  works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking daily food,
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  and one of you says, says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things
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  needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.
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  But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works,
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  and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons
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  believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
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  Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
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  You see, faith was active along with his works. And faith was completed by his works. And the
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  scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
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  And he was called a friend of God. You see, that person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
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  And in the same way, not also Rahab, the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers
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  and sent them out by one or another, by another way. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,
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  so also faith apart from works is dead. Just pray with me real quickly. Lord, we're just so thankful
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  thankful for your grace. We're thankful for your word, for your people and your love for us. Just help me to
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  be faithful with this text you've given us. Apply it to our hearts by your Holy Spirit. Let it not just
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  fall on death ears, but may it have the desired effect. In Jesus' name, amen. So this is definitely
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  a section where James, the personality of James comes out. His tone in this letter is just blunt,
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  straightforward, matter of fact, also pastoral and instructive. He's more like a marine or army
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  drill instructor who cares more about training you and getting you ready to survive and not die rather
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  than your personal feelings. That's sort of how a lot of it is. It's not a lot of coddling or pampering.
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  He just really wants you to hear the truth and like wake up to it. Today's section we're dealing with
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  not a lot in our own day where there was a lot of people who claimed to be born again Christians,
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  saved followers of Christ, yet did not actually possess true faith and salvation. Something we would all do
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  well just to heed today, but I have, I have three points to kind of walk through the passage.
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  I'll give them to you now, but the first one will be faith that is dead.
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  Faith that is dead. Number two will be faith that is demonic. And then thirdly, faith that is dynamic.
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  So first faith that is, that is dead. And we see that verses 14 through 17. He says,
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  what good is it, my brother, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith
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  save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed, lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them,
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  go in peace, be warm and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
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  So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. So three times in this section of the letter,
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  James warns that faith apart or without works is dead. And guess what the Greek means? It means dead.
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  It means lifeless, inactive, not breathing or moving. It's the same word used of Lazarus before he was
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  raised from the dead. Same Greek word that Paul used to say that we were dead in our trespasses
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  and sin. So metaphorically, a kind of faith that is lifeless, a lifeless corpse laying in a tomb,
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  a kind of faith that falls short of true saving faith, barren, false, inactive. So James expresses
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  this by making his first argument by way of illustration, if you see the illustration.
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  So, but to help us understand the entire passage, I'm going to kind of break a little rule of preaching
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  and kind of jump ahead. But I also know that some of you are maybe stuck on a couple of verses.
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  If we don't deal with that now, like you're just going to go, that's going to drive me crazy until
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  he gets to that part. So, but just a clarification on what James is saying and what he isn't saying.
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  And so that we can just see the whole passage in this. But to illustrate, I want you to imagine
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  that you're, you're speaking to a Roman Catholic friend. I have, I have many friends who are Roman
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  Catholics. And he says to you, so do you Protestants really believe what the reformers taught when
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  someone is saved by faith alone and not by works? And you would probably be like, yes,
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  we believe in faith alone, not by works. And then he would say, well, I see. So how does that
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  actually square with James 2, 24? You see the verse? You see that a person is justified by
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  works and not by faith alone. So you'd be like, what? You know what? What's, I've been lied
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  to this all the time and the five solos is not a real thing. You would kind of have those
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  sort of questions. You'd be kind of second guessing. This is the verse that drove Martin Luther
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  Bonkers. Like he did not like this verse. So being caught off guard by the question by
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  your friend, your Roman Catholic friend, you're now kind of in a panic to sort of flee and run
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  directly, kind of slide in safely to Paul's words in Romans where he, he just says, you
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  know, um, you see, uh, um, for by works for the law, no one will be justified in his sight
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  for a rehold that one is justified by faith, apart from works of the law. And then you would
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  kind of like run away and say, just read Galatians and just, so when you do that though, two things,
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  not only have you failed to like directly answer his question or her question, but you've kind
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  of given the impression that new Testament writers have contradicted themselves, that
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  Paul is opposing Jesus or opposing James, the heart of opposed Jesus, but Paul opposing James.
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  So, however, if you had just kind of slowed down and just asked some really good hermeneutical
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  questions on the passage, okay, well, let's just look at it. You would ask, what's the big picture?
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  What is James and Paul trying to get out? What question are they trying to answer? What
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  problem are they trying to solve? And thankfully that's not hidden. Like we just read it clearly
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  in our passage. James isn't being obscure. It's not hidden. We don't have to guess at what he means,
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  but look at verse 24. He basically says, can, can, he doesn't say, can faith save you? He doesn't
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  even ask in real faith, save you. Look at what he says. Can that faith save him? What's the, that
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  therefore? So the whole verse, what good or what profit is it? My brothers, if someone says,
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  or professes or claims, he has faith, but does not have works. Can that faith save him? Meaning can
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  that kind of faith, that sort of faith, that type of faith, he's singling out someone who has an outward
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  profession of faith, acclaimed faith, and not asking, can faith apart from work save somebody,
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  but can just a mere profession of faith alone save somebody? And he's making a clear distinction
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  and catch this between a possession of faith and a profession of faith. There's, they can be two
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  different things. You can profess something you don't actually possess. So that's what he's focused on.
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  And he's aware of Jesus's words, Matthew 15, where he says, these people honor me with their lips,
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  but their hearts are far from me. And perhaps the most dreadful, sobering passage to me personally,
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  one that the Lord used to scare the junk out of me when I was, when I was probably not a believer in
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  the early 2000s, which is right out of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. Whew, I'm thankful now,
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  but man, this really woke me up. I was just never told to question whether or not I was a Christian,
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  et cetera. But Jesus said on the judgment day, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,
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  will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven on that
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  day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name
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  and do many mighty works in your name? And I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me,
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  you workers of lawlessness. I've never shown that, that verse, you know, and it, it scared me
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  in a good way. I think it kind of helped scare me into the kingdom. So as a professed believer,
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  right, I was deceived and misled because my lifestyle did not at all reflect what I claimed to believe
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  on a Sunday and on Wednesday nights. So the Bible is full of such warnings. Hebrews 3, 12,
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  take care, brothers, let, let there be not in you any evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away
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  from the living God. So that's a very like real and scary thing for us, for a lot of people to walk
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  around professing something they don't actually possess. And that's what James is after that kind,
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  of faith, a professed faith, just a claim. Can that kind of faith save someone? So the illustration
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  James gives in verse 15 and 16, very simple, right? Food and clothing are basic needs. You have to have
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  them to live. You don't, you're going to, you're going to perish. And true believers have an obligation
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  to meet those kinds of needs of people. They have to, to help people have food and clothing.
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  Paul says in Galatians 6, so then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone
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  and especially to those who are of the household of faith. So this is an image of a fellow believer
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  coming in among them, clothed and tattered very poorly. And it's cold weather. You can see that in the
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  passage, like he means like someone coming in from the cold is not have really good winter clothes.
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  And they also look skinny, weak, and malnourished, hungry. A person who has dead faith would notice
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  that visitor, see the need they have, but instead of doing anything to meet that need, they offer a simple
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  pious words, go in peace, be warm, be filled. In Hebrew, shalom. Be filled, all is well, and just walk away
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  and not actually meet that person's need. People that have dead feet, dead faith, substitute naked words
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  for deeds. They have words of compassion, but no acts of compassion. They claim, the faith they claim
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  without tangible love for their brethren, James says, is useless. And just because we can offer somebody
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  correct vocab, correct theological definitions, to fail to meet their need is evidence of a dead faith.
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  So James is saying, if your faith looks like that, shameful, disgraceful, it's worthless.
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  The faith I just described, can such a naked profession save someone? John wrote very similarly,
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  but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet clothes his heart against him,
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  how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed
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  and in truth. He's concerned, James is concerned about dead faith masquerading around as real faith.
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  It's not accompanied by works. Faith claimed in verse 14 then is inevitably just a profession of
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  something they do not have. That's what he's going after. Faith by itself, who does not have works,
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  is dead. And so we all know that Luther just drove him crazy, right? He thought that James should be
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  just removed from the canon of scripture because he just didn't think it reckoned with all the other
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  New Testament teachings. But if you could go back to the 1500s and John Calvin, who knew Luther just
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  through letter, they never met in person. And Luther just said, this guy knows what he's talking about.
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  Pretty much all he said. But if Luther could travel, or excuse me, if Calvin could travel to Germany
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  to hang out with Luther, maybe he could help his older brother in the faith, have some peace with
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  James. No. He would say, you know, rest easy, my German brother. Let's just have a little cup of wine,
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  just a small cup of wine. And let's talk about James and how that squares with the rest of scripture.
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  Luther would just roll his eyes and be like, wine? You're such a Frenchman. Let's get a mug of beer
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  and let's have a conversation about this. This is their personality, if you don't know anything about
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  them. But Calvin would have agreed. And he, Luther would have said, you know, John, like,
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  I wrote a whole entire commentary on Galatians. I just don't see how that fits with James.
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  It seems like they're contradicting one another. So clearly, we are saved through faith in Christ
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  alone, or not by works of the law. That's what it clearly is taught. And Calvin would have said
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  humbly and gently, and this is the only real quote of this whole conversation, but Calvin said,
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  it is faith alone that justifies. But faith that justifies can never be alone. Pretty deep.
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  And if that wasn't enough to convince Luther, if he disagreed, Calvin could trump him like, well,
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  I wrote 27, 24 New Testament commentaries, including Galatians and James. So just do what I'm saying.
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  And Luther would have liked the snappy comeback. He'd be like, I like you. So really, just
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  understanding that we are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. It's not
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  adorned with good works that prove that the faith is real. So the conclusion in this part is Paul and
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  James are not contradicting. They just have a different starting point. Not contrasting between
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  faith and deeds as the basis of salvation, rather a contrast between true saving faith and a false
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  faith. Any declaration of faith that we make, apart from works, James says, cannot save. It's having
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  creed without conduct. So through faith, right, we are justified alone before God. But works justify
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  our faith. James is dealing a healthy blow to anybody who would suggest that your faith can be
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  separated from godly conduct. It can't. Because it always produces godliness in us. They go hand in
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  hand. So justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. So some application,
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  like does your lifestyle overall contradict the faith that you claim to have? What good is it if you say,
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  or you claim you have faith, but don't have anything to really show that that faith is real?
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  What kind of, can that kind of faith save you? If there's anyone that you've seen in help or need
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  that you've sort of passed over now, there are people who have issues getting food and clothing,
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  even in our own county here. But for the most part, those needs can be met, but there's a lot of
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  other needs. Have you bypassed someone and just given them simple words and not really
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  help meet their need? On the other hand, don't confuse this. There's a lot of groups out there
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  that say, hey, just help feed them and then don't share truth with them. We're not saying that at all.
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  We're saying they should go hand in hand. You're, I think Spurgeon said, if you're going to give someone
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  the gospel, wrap it in a sandwich, give them a gospel track wrapped in a sandwich. So like just
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  accompany with good deeds. So number two is a faith that is demonic. You see that in verse 18 through 19.
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  So James anticipates an objection from the critic, right? But someone will say, you have faith and
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  I have works arguing basically that faith and works can be separate. They don't have to go hand in hand.
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  And he answered that challenge by saying, oh yeah, well, show me your faith apart from your works.
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  I will show you my faith by my works. The vitality of someone's faith is evidence through holy living
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  and good deeds. He challenges that person like, okay, well you show me. Then he goes on and says
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  something really strong. He's like, you believe in God is one. You do well. He's saying to this Jewish
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  audience, you know, you know, the, you know, the Shema, hero Israel, the Lord, your God, the Lord is one.
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  And he's saying, you can say that and you know it, but he shocks them by saying even the demons believe
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  that and they shudder. Someone who has dead faith is only touched by truth in the intellect, but the
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  demons are not just touched in the intellect. They're touching the emotions. They're, they're
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  terrified. They're afraid. They know well who God is. So he's saying basically, so you believe in God,
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  you have correct theology, you can close scripture. Good for you. So what? No different than the demons.
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  That's all you have. So the characteristics of demonic faith really quickly, right? One is they
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  clearly believe in the existence of God. They're neither atheists or agnostics. They believe in the
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  divinity of Christ as the son of God. In Mark three, it talks about how he threw out the unclean spirits
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  and they cried out. The demons cried out, you are the son of God. And he strictly ordered them not to make
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  him known. The son of God, Jesus could exercise power over them. Thirdly, the demons believe in a real
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  existence of hell. They know that there's a place of judgment and torment. When Jesus delivered that man
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  who was possessed by demons, he said, what is your name? He said that to the demons. He said,
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  legion, for we are many. And they begged him and he, they begged him not to destroy them. So tell us to
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  depart into the abyss. That's what Jesus did. So they even are aware of hell. They're aware of the
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  divinity of Christ. They know that something's going to happen. But what makes us different than
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  that? That's kind of like his point. Like what makes us any different? Even the demons have that
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  kind of faith. They are well aware of who Jesus is and they're terrified of him. So what's different
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  about the faith that you claim? So that's a shock, right? But like demons have really good theology.
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  They just don't love God. They don't obey him. They don't reverence him. So that's the scary thought.
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  But thirdly and lastly, a faith that is dynamic. And we see that in verses 20 through 26. For a
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  second time, I won't read it again, but a faith that is dynamic. And by dynamic, we mean a faith marked
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  by steady and continuous productive growth, right? Faith that is marked by a steady, continuous,
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  productive growth and activity. Something's happening. There's life in there. This, we would say,
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  someone who is being sanctified, someone who's growing. So when a sinner is saved, when they're
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  born again by the Holy Spirit, when I, that happened to me and happened to many of you. And I, I remember
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  an old preacher saying this when I was young in the faith, but it just stuck with me for over a decade now.
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  But he said, when someone is saved, when someone is born again, there's an inward transformation.
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  The inward transformation leads to an outward demonstration, which leads to an upward destination
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  kind of through that. But that's kind of like what he said. And that just stuck with me. Like
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  something happens that leads to an outward demonstration of what's going on in here.
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  The Westminster Confession of Faith talks about good works in this way.
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  These good works done in obedience to God's commands are the fruits and evidences of a true
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  and lively faith. And by them, believers manifest their thankfulness to God, strengthen their assurance,
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  edify their brethren, and listen to this, and adorn the profession of the gospel. That's like what good
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  works do. They just make the gospel beautiful. And Jesus said that, right? Let all men see,
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  let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father
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  who is in heaven. But in verse 20, just blunt honesty, here we go, direct matter of fact,
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  do you want to be shown, you foolish person, you vain, empty-headed person? That's like what he
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  says. He says by itself, this kind of faith without works is useless. So you still don't believe me? You
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  fool? Do you not see it? That there's still not registered that you can't have this claim that you
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  love God and belong to him and have been saved by him and then have nothing to back it up? Like you
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  completely walk in the darkness. That's what he's saying. So they're not contradicting one another, James
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  and Paul. They're just coming at different starting points. And to prove that, he calls two witnesses.
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  He says, okay, I'll give you two examples. Two people that you will be familiar with, Jewish audience,
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  and in people today. But he gives you the example of Abraham and Rahab to prove that.
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  So Abraham was the father of their nation, the father of the faith. God made that covenant with
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  him. The story of Abraham reveals what real faith looks like. He made that promise that through him,
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  he was going to have descendants of many of the stars in the sky, and that through him, all the
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  nations of the world would be blessed through Isaac. Abraham really believed that. Like he really
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  believed God when he said that. It was reckoned to him as righteousness. That's what it says in Genesis
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  15, 6. But there came a day when that was tested. He had that profession. I believe I'm there. But that
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  was tested when God, it says God tested him when he told him to take Isaac and offer him up as a burnt
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  offering. And so the author of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed God so much that he even knew that
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  God would raise Isaac from the dead if he had to. That's pretty crazy. Like, I'm going to do this, but
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  God's going to fulfill his promise. I'm not exactly sure how, but even if you have to raise
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  Isaac from the dead, this will happen. So his actions flowed from the realness of his faith.
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  And that's what he said. Our father Abraham's faith in God was vindicated by his loving obedience to God
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  when he offered up Isaac. That story demonstrates what real faith looks like. Not how someone's made
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  righteous, right? Not by works, but what proves that that profession of faith was real. All right,
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  so that was Abraham. It was counted to him as righteousness, reckoned to be his by faith alone.
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  And then he gives the example of Rahab, who was out of Joshua chapter 2. Go ahead and read that story. Great story.
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  But she was a Gentile woman, not from the people of God, but from the enemies of God.
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  And she believed the news about the Hebrew God who was destroying all the enemies, destroying all his false gods.
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  And she helped hide the Jewish spies in Jericho and helped them escape.
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  And she says,
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  So at great personal risk, she acted on what she claimed to be.
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  She was a real sin. She was a real sin. She was a real sin. She wasn't just trying to save her own skin.
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  Amazingly, Rahab even appears in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1, verse 5.
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  And also as an example of real faith, this beloved Gentile woman in Hebrews 11, 31.
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  That's what real faith looks like, James is saying.
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  She believed in what God had said.
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  They believed in what God had said.
• 31:11
  Counted them as righteousness and proven by how they lived and how they responded.
• 31:15
  So, lastly, in verse 26, he closes this by getting sort of a negative illustration of a body.
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  So you look around the room this morning.
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  There's a lot of living, moving bodies around you, hopefully.
• 31:31
  Like, that's pretty much what he's saying.
• 31:35
  But a body without a soul, that life force, the body would be dead, lifeless, a corpse.
• 31:42
  So, worthless faith is like that.
• 31:45
  A dead body just sits there, has no activity and no life.
• 31:50
  So, let's wrap this time up.
• 31:55
  Now we're tight on time.
• 31:56
  And conclusion, I mean, this is clearly a passage of warning.
• 32:01
  It's a warning passage.
• 32:02
  There's nothing upbeat about this passage.
• 32:04
  It's a kick, right?
• 32:08
  But, and see it as love.
• 32:10
  He's trying to warn us.
• 32:11
  Like, there are people out there who think that they belong to God and don't.
• 32:16
  And if they're, what they claim to believe is not followed by a demonstration of that faith they claim to profess like they have, then that faith is worthless.
• 32:28
  Don't, don't overthink it.
• 32:30
  Don't overthink it.
• 32:31
  That's just it.
• 32:32
  That's just what it says.
• 32:35
  Claiming to have the appearance of godliness but denying its power, right?
• 32:39
  2 Timothy 3, 5.
• 32:41
  Just write this down.
• 32:42
  If you want to see a huge illustration of this, Matthew 25, 31 through 46, where Jesus gives that idea that there are sheep and goats.
• 32:55
  This is what they do.
• 32:56
  And this is what it's going to look like one day on the judgment day.
• 33:00
  And clearly it's the ones who don't only claim to believe but the ones who actually obey and do what the Lord has commanded.
• 33:07
  So, but let's end on an encouraging note.
• 33:10
  Let's just be thankful.
• 33:12
  This isn't just implied directly in the passage, but let's be thankful that we are not saved by works.
• 33:17
  Who wants to take up that mantle?
• 33:21
  Nobody.
• 33:22
  It would crush us.
• 33:23
  You cannot be good enough.
• 33:26
  You can never do enough.
• 33:28
  So I'm thankful that we are saved by faith alone in Christ.
• 33:32
  For our sake, God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
• 33:44
  And if we really believe that, it's going to show in our lifestyle.
• 33:47
  Not perfectly, but it's going to be moving forward.
• 33:49
  It's going to be growing.
• 33:51
  It's going to be active and not dead.
• 33:52
  So let's help one another.
• 33:55
  There's conversations you need to have with people.
• 33:58
  Just be careful.
• 34:00
  Do it out of love.
• 34:01
  Do it out of concern.
• 34:02
  Do it gently.
• 34:03
  Do it humbly.
• 34:05
  One of my really good friends, well, several of my really good friends, some are even here today.
• 34:10
  No names.
• 34:10
  But they came to faith because someone said, hey, I love you, but what you're saying does not square with how you're living.
• 34:19
  And they were like, what?
• 34:21
  And the Lord used that encounter to bring them to genuine faith.
• 34:25
  That's a part of several of our stories in here, including mine.
• 34:29
  So don't be afraid to have that conversation.
• 34:31
  But don't do people the injustice of going around being like, he's not saved.
• 34:35
  She's not saved.
• 34:36
  I don't think she's saved.
• 34:37
  Go and talk to them and actually show compassion and say, hey, I'm concerned.
• 34:42
  I don't know, but I'm just concerned.
• 34:45
  Because often other people see it and we don't.
• 34:48
  So if there's things that we need to do, ask God to give us the faith to do that.