Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / 17.10 - James 2:14-26 - Can You Prove You Believe?

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17.10 - James 2:14-26 - Can You Prove You Believe? · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  We hope that this podcast will help you to know Christ, grow in
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  his Word, and show His love to others.
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  Let's dive right in. Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  Today we are in James chapter 2 and verses 14 through 26, and we
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  are continuing in a similar thought as we've been working in
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  the past couple of episodes, and that is James, pastor of the
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  church in Jerusalem. He is writing to people that
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  were once a part of his congregation, now scattered
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  throughout the Roman Empire. They are struggling with
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  favoritism in their churches that they are esteeming and
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  doing special things for the rich and specifically like
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  neglecting and putting down those that are poor.
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  And so as James is talking through, he's saying this is
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  sin. This is breaking the law.
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  And you might say, OK, well, you know, I haven't committed
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  adultery. I haven't killed anyone.
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  Is this really that big of a deal if I'm extra nice to a rich
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  person and I'm, you know, extra dismissive of a poor person?
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  And James says, yeah, you break one part of the law, you have
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  broken the whole thing. It's all 1 collected tapestry
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  and to break 1 portion is to have broken all of the law.
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  So then verse 14, he goes one step further to say when you
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  have a dismissiveness to obeying the commands of God and you
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  claim that because you believe in Jesus, it's all OK and your
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  actions don't really matter so long as you believe in Jesus.
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  We're going to see that James says no, you should definitely
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  doubt that the kind of belief quote UN quote that you have in
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  Jesus is the real thing. And I, I, I won't go too far
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  into it. I love this passage.
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  It's so good, so good. All right, verse 14, What good
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  is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith
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  but does not have works, can such faith save him?
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  If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily
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  food and one of you says to them go in peace, stay warm and be
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  well fed, but but you don't give them what the body needs, what
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  good is it? In the same way faith, if it
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  does not have works, is dead by itself.
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  But someone will say you have faith and I have works.
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  Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my
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  works. You believe that God is 1 good.
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  Even the demons believe, and they shudder.
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  Senseless person. Are you willing to learn that
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  faith without works is useless? Wasn't Abraham, our father,
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  justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?
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  You see that faith was active together with his works, and by
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  works faith was made complete, mature, whole, and the Scripture
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  was fulfilled. That says Abraham believed God
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  and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called
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  God's friend. You see that a person is
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  justified by works and not by faith alone.
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  In the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by
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  works in receiving the messengers and sending them out
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  by a different route? For just as the body without the
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  Spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
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  All right, so I want to clear up one thing at the very beginning.
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  James is not preaching a different gospel than the gospel
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  that John and Paul preached. He's preaching the exact same
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  gospel. Our, our salvation is found in
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  Jesus. Now here is what James is
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  saying. I grew up and, and this could
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  just be a, a particular oddity of a couple of the, the places
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  that I was around growing up around, you know, particular
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  conferences or Bible colleges or, or things like that.
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  And, and the phrasing went like this.
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  If you pray a prayer and you're really sincere, when you pray a
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  prayer, at any point in your life, you could be a three-year
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  old. And if you can get the words out
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  and you can pray this prayer, then you are saved always and
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  forever. And it doesn't matter.
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  If you then become an atheist 5/10/15, thirty years later, it
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  it doesn't matter if you, you know, reject Jesus at some point
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  afterwards and and you embrace Judaism or Buddhism or just
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  exercise no religion, no faith in God at all.
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  You are still saved because you prayed that prayer when you were
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  three or four or you prayed that prayer and you got baptized when
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  you were 13 or 14. And a real faith is found in
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  this prayer that you pray. Nothing could be further from
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  the truth that we find expressed in Scripture.
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  If you have any questions about that, go to the book of Hebrews,
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  the book immediately preceding James, where we are told like
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  yes, there were people that were once a part of this local
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  congregation that you guys are in, but they have now rejected
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  Jesus. They are no longer walking with
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  him. They no longer repent and
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  believe. And as a result, you can know
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  they are not Christians. There is no salvation found
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  outside of repentance and belief in Jesus.
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  James then looks at OK, well, what does belief in Jesus look
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  like? Belief in Jesus is not the it's
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  not the result of your works. So you don't work enough and
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  then you're able to have salvation, but your works are
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  the fruit of a real salvific experience with Jesus in your
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  heart. That is, your works are the
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  fruit that will show up. They are not the root.
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  The root is belief in Jesus. But when you have a life and a
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  person that claims to have the root but has no fruit, there
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  should be doubt. In that instance, that person
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  looking at their own life should be concerned to say, Oh yeah, I
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  like believe Jesus existed and that he did all this stuff for
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  me and that he's coming back. But it is not motivating me to
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  love other people. It's not motivating me to share
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  my faith. And however that looks in my
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  life with other people, it's not motivating me to have a love for
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  God's church or for God's people.
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  None of the things that are supposed to be coming out of my
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  life are coming out of my life. And it's not a here James does
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  not say if you struggle with sin and and you're fighting against
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  sin, you're, you know, that kind of faith can't save you if
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  you're struggling with sin or if you have doubts.
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  That's not what he's saying at all.
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  And in fact, as we would look at the rest of the Scripture, Paul
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  would actually say the opposite. Romans 7 Paul would in essence
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  kind of say this. I am fighting against my old sin
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  nature that wants to crawl up from the grave and still try and
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  like rule my life. He says, but I don't want to do
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  that. And sometimes, like it makes me
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  do things I don't want to do and the things that I do want to do
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  the good, sometimes it stops me from doing that.
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  But then he says, God, thank you for the victory that is found in
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  Jesus, not in me, not my accomplishments, but in Christ.
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  So Paul says struggling with sin is not the litmus test for if
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  you are a Christian, the absence of good works, the absence of
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  love, the absence of any care for other people is a giant
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  flashing red sign, a warning sign in your heart that would
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  say you need to take a look at your life and and really assess
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  whether or not you have repented of sin and turn in faith to
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  Jesus. Here the first part is if
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  someone claims to have faith and does not have work, so they say
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  I believe in Jesus, but it is not backed up by any love or
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  care for another person. And James says, can such faith
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  save him? Can this type of belief save a
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  person a a, a faith that does not result in any fruit or any
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  renewed life or love? Then it gives a practical
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  example. If your Christian brother or
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  sister comes to you and they, you know, it's winter time and
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  they don't have the clothing that they need and they don't
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  even have enough food to be able to to eat for the day.
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  And you tell them like, oh, go in peace, stay warm and be fed.
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  You just have like this, you know, nice cheesy smile.
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  You're, you're giving. Oh God bless you.
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  God take care of you and James says, but you don't actually
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  give them clothing or food. It does nothing for anyone.
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  It doesn't benefit you. It doesn't benefit them.
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  It doesn't benefit the name of Jesus.
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  And verse 17, he says in the same way, faith, if it does not
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  have works, is dead by itself. The kind of faith that can say,
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  Oh yeah, I believe in Jesus, I believe in God, and then it does
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  not result in love. That's not a real faith, Jesus
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  said. By this will all people know
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  that you are my disciples. If you have love for one
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  another, you have that whole section in first John three and
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  four that we went over not too long ago.
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  All of that is directly applicable here.
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  This is the same thing John was encountering in the churches
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  that he was writing to. And so they encourage us.
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  Real faith loves others. Real faith cares for others.
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  Verse #18 But someone will say you have faith and I have works.
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  Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my
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  works. He says my works aren't the
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  basis of my salvation, but they are the the proof in the pudding
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  of my salvation. This is what we read a long time
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  ago in Second Peter chapter one, that we are to add to our faith.
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  Virtue and a virtue, Knowledge and knowledge.
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  Temperance and the temperance. Patience and the patience,
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  brothers, really. Kindness and a brotherly
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  kindness. Charity.
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  For if these things be in you and abound, they will make it so
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  that you are neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
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  Jesus Christ. But the one who has neglected
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  these things has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
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  One of the greatest proofs in our life as we're questioning
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  like, hey, if I really repented and believed in Jesus, for a lot
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  of us the question is not do I believe in Jesus?
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  It's have I repented of my sin and turned to Jesus, if you
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  will, in the kind of Romans 10 phrasing of it, that if we
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  confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, the Jesus part is
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  easy for a lot of people, especially here in America,
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  being a Christian, you know, we've got like about 60% of the
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  population claims in one way or another to be a Christian in
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  whatever sect that might be or, or or denomination or in some
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  instances cult. The Jesus part is pretty easy
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  for us. But the Jesus is Lord portion is
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  the difficult part that a lot of people don't think about.
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  And it even in the like prayer of OK, Jesus, will you come and
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  save me? A lot of times there's not a
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  recognition of OK, this, this means he's in charge now.
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  And if he really is in charge, then it's going to bring out
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  fruit that the Holy Spirit builds out of my life.
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  It's the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, patience,
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  long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
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  temperance. And because it's the fruit of
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  the Spirit, not the fruit of your will, it's something that
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  God does in and through you. And so if you don't see that
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  fruit, if you don't have that pull, that impetus towards love
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  and care for another person, then you can know like, hey,
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  this isn't just me needing to like buckle down and do more.
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  I need to go to the Lord and say, Jesus, I know you exist,
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  but I want to make you my Lord. I want to repent.
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  I don't want to live this way anymore.
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  I don't want to live governed by my opinion and my way.
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  I want to be governed by your love.
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  And as we turn in faith and call on him to save us and we truly
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  acknowledge him as our Lord, our our Master, the one that we're
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  turning to, to tell us what to do, man, there is salvation
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  found in that. For the person here that has
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  faith, they have belief in Jesus, but they have no
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  repentance. They have no love and care for
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  others. The goal is not that you would
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  be like, OK, well, I guess I'm just, you know, if you will,
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  damned to hell and there's no salvation for me.
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  No, today, if you will hear his voice, today is the day of
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  salvation. And you can experience that.
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  So works show our faith verse 19 you believe that God is 1 So
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  that's the Shema in ancient Israel Deuteronomy sakes hear O
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  Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1.
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  So he says you believe that God is 1 good.
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  Even the demons believe and they shudder.
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  Even the like the the evil spiritual beings, the the
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  demons, Satan, the the fallen ones, these ones know that God
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  exists and they freak out when he comes around.
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  They freak out when they interact with him.
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  You can look at the demons responses every time Jesus comes
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  like Oh no please don't send us to Tartars, don't send us to the
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  pit. And I, I love those interactions
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  because it just proves to me over and over again, Jesus is in
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  control. But some of us, we interact with
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  the living words of God in Scripture.
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  And instead of us like shuddering, instead of us going,
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  oh man, I gotta like change my behavior because God has an
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  expectation for me that I need to follow through on.
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  And instead of us operating in obedience, we operate in
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  defiance and belligerence to say, yeah, I know he says that,
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  but I would rather do this. I know the Bible says this about
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  the church. The Bible says this about my
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  sexual behaviors or my gender identity, or the Bible says this
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  about how I view those that are, you know, immigrants.
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  But I really think or so and so told me that this is the way I
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  need to think about each of these things.
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  And so I'm going to like listen to myself or I'm going to listen
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  to humans rather than listen to God.
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  And so James here says, don't just have a superficial belief
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  in Jesus that he exists or that he did stuff.
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  Respond in faith. Respond in obedient faith to
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  God. And as we lay down our lives and
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  our way, and as we embrace the love and care that Jesus had
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  first for us and that he wants to extend through us to others,
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  then we have a faith that works. We have a root of faith that is
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  producing a fruit of works. And then he gives the 2 examples
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  here, Abraham and Rahab. Abraham, he we read very early
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  in the story in Genesis, I believe it was Genesis 16 or 17,
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  that Abraham believed God when God told him, look at the stars
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  in the sky, that's how many your offspring are going to be.
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  And it says Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as
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  righteousness. Abraham was a deeply imperfect
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  man with flaw after flaw and failure after failure, but God
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  did not write him off because of his failures.
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  Instead, what we read, especially from that point on,
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  Abraham begins to make some good choices.
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  He has a care and a love for God and the couple of angels that
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  come by his tent and he loves them, prepares food for them.
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  He intercedes for Lot and for his family and for the cities of
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  Sodom and Gomorrah. He eventually has some care for
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  Abimelech and for his people that he prays for them.
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  He has a love for Ishmael and for Hagar.
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  He has a love for Isaac. All of these actions begin to
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  build up that Abraham is operating in love.
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  But what James here highlights is the like final Test of
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  Abraham is when God tells him to offer Isaac and he says, do you
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  love God or do you love yourself?
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  Do you love your plans, your way or do you love God?
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  And when Abraham like lifts the knife up in the air and the
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  Angel says, hey, stop, don't harm the boy.
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  Now I know that you love and fear God because you have not
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  even withheld your only son from him.
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  Obviously their picture of God the Father and Jesus that Jesus
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  went through the death that God would not allow Isaac and
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  Abraham to experience. So you have this this moment of
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  proving Abrahams faith. Abraham had already believed at
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  that point for like 6 chapters in our in our Bible today or or
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  six, you know, narratives since then that Abraham had been
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  actively believing God and operating in faith.
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  So we know that God credited Abraham's belief has
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  righteousness, but the belief was validated, proven or in
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  God's phrase. Now I know, and in one sense now
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  Abraham knew what he truly loved and followed as a result of the
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  work that came out of Abraham's life in that moment, it proved
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  what was inside. Same thing with Rahab, that she
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  believed in God. We haven't gone over this yet.
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  This is in Joshua too. Rahab, get some spies from
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  Israel. They're spying out the city of
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  Jericho. It's the first stop in the
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  conquest of Canaan and they're being hunted by the the leaders,
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  the officials, army of the city. She hides them in her house and
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  she lets them know, like, hey, we're all freaked out.
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  We've heard about what Yahweh has done over these past 40
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  years and what he did to Egypt and what he did to the kings on
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  the other side of the Jordan. And so she she says, when you
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  guys come through, like, will you spare me and my family?
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  Because I know that God has handed all of this over to you.
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  And they're like, yeah, absolutely.
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  Like, thank you so much. And so Rahab, she had a belief
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  in God that was proven by her actions.
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  It was a faith that worked as one person has put it.
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  Faith alone saves, but a faith that saves is never alone.
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  Faith alone saves. It's not of works, lest any man
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  should boast. That's Ephesians 2.
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  Not by works of righteousness that we have done.
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  That's Titus 3/5. That there is none that does
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  good. No, not one.
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  We know that from Romans chapter 3.
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  It's not human righteousness. So faith alone saves.
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  But the faith that saves is never alone.
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  And it's not that we no longer struggle with sin, but it is
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  that we have that drive from the Holy Spirit towards doing good
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  to and for others. And as we do that we can know,
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  OK, God's presence is alive and real in me.
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  And I know that this root of faith is producing the fruit of
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  works. And verse 26 says he ends for
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  just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith
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  without works is dead. That a body if you have just a
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  spirit and you have no body, well, that's a in the biblical
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  mindset, this that's a ghost, that's a spirit.
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  That's not something that's alive, but so you can't just
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  have works without any faith because that's not living.
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  But you have to have faith a body that is animated by your
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  works. And so let us be people that
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  love, that care, that do good works, that prove our belief by
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  our actions. Let's have a provable faith
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  today. Thanks for tuning in.
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  Hope you have a wonderful day.