James 2:14-20
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Introduction:
Introduction:
-Years ago, I had a chance to witness to some Mormon missionaries
-I saw them in my neighborhood, so I invited them in
-It was 2 young ladies, probably in their early 20’s, and they were very nice
-They went on to present to me their works-based Gospel
-And telling me the good news about how if I did enough good things the rest of my life, I could be accepted by God, I began to share with them the True Gospel about how we can be saved by faith in the finished work of Christ
-They had an objection though
-They asked me, isn’t there a place in the Bible that talks about how salvation is by works
And they were referring to this passage, our text this morning:
**read text, then pray**
The Gospel
The Gospel
Paul says in Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the good news that the Bible is all about, which centers on the person and word of Jesus Christ
-You see God created you and me and everything on this planet
-God created the first man and woman
-But that man and woman rebelled against God and plunged the whole human race into sin
-Sin is anything we do, say, or think that disobeys and dishonors God
-Things like lying, stealing, any kind of sexual activity outside of a man and woman within the bounds of marriage
-We have all sinned and disobeyed God
-And because of our sin, we all deserve the to be punished by God, separated from Him forever
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God sent His Son, Jesus, to take on human flesh
-Jesus was truly God and truly Man
-He never sinned His entire life
-He perfectly kept God’s Law in everything he said, thought, or did
-Jesus went to a Cross and there offered Himself as a the atoning sacrifice for our sins
-He suffered not for Himself, but for us
-He took all of God’s wrath on Himself in our place
-Jesus died there on that cross, was buried, and then was raised up by God 3 days later
-And here’s what the Bible says:
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
And this salvation that is freely offered is given to us by faith, and not by anything good we can do to earn it:
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
It’s not by your baptism, it’s not by church attendance, it’s not by the good things you try to do, it’s not by turning over a new leaf or trying harder
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
-This salvation is a gift, not something you can earn
-It is given to us by faith in Jesus Christ
Transition
Transition
Now, we’ve got to understand: the whole gospel explanation that I’ve given here at the beginning as a preface to our text to make sure that what I’m going to say today doesn’t get misunderstood, James makes no effort to give his readers a similar preface
-He simply launches into this passage and says some things that may seem difficult or conflicting to us on their surface
-James finds no need to qualify what he’s saying with something like what I’ve just said
-He writes this entire section, and is then content to let it hang there for us to think about, pray through, meditate on, and ultimately to act on
Now, recently my dad has been giving a flyover of the book of James sometimes during the afternoon services
-but I want us to take a much deeper look at this particular passage
So, how do we go about working through this passage?
Intro to James
Intro to James
Let’s start with the author and with this book
-The man who has written this book is James, the half-brother of Jesus
-We know from the Gospel of John that during most of Jesus’ life and ministry, James and the other brothers of Jesus did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah
-However, we find out in the first chapter of Acts that sometime towards the end of the life of Christ, or perhaps even after His death and Resurrection, that the half brothers of Jesus came to put their faith in Him
-James goes on to be a very prominent figure in the early church
-He was very closely tied with the Apostles, and even came to be the leader of the church (or network of churches) in Jerusalem
-So this man really is a pillar of the church in the New Testament
-James authors this book, and we believe it was one of the earliest epistles written more than likely
-And James, in this book, is concerned to give practical wisdom and instruction to Christians
-He gives a lot attention and concern to way that a true Christian ought to live and conduct himself or herself
-And this is why many have labeled James as the NT Proverbs
-So while every book in your Bible is theological in that all the books of your Bible tell us about Who God is, the book of James doesn’t have a lot of deep theological discussion per se
-James is instead concerned to exhort his readers to live out their Christian lives in a way that would genuinely please the Lord Jesus Christ
Introduction to this passage
Introduction to this passage
Now, let me give you two reasons why this passage in particular is important for Christians to really have a grasp on:
-The first one I already hinted at when I began
1. This is a passage that many people try to use against Christians
-What would you say to a couple of Mormon missionaries that object to your presentation of salvation by grace through faith based on this passage?
-What would you say to a devout Catholic who informs you that the only place in your Bible where the phrase “faith alone” or “faith only” is used, is James 2:24
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
-How would you respond to that?
-Or how do you respond to those who don’t hold the Bible in high-esteem like we do
-who don’t believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God
-who look at a passage like this and say, “Paul and James just contradict each other. They just believe different things about salvation and faith and works.”
-So that’s the first reason that it’s important, brothers and sisters, that we have a firm grasp of this passage so that we know how to handle these kind of objections without being afraid of them
but secondly, and really more importantly:
2. This passage is written to Christians like us and churches like ours
-Now, obviously there are a lot of differences between us and 1st-century people living in the Roman Empire
But, what we know from other parts of this letter is:
-James is writing here to churches, called out groups of believers who meet together
-Churches like ours who love the Lord Jesus Christ
-Churches like ours who love the Word of God
-Churches like ours who hold to the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus
I’m sure the recipients of this letter were people a lot like us in many ways
-People who have made a profession of faith in Christ, and who are trying to be faithful to the Lord and His Word
-And James would look at a group like our’s here today, and finds this to be a topic that is very important for a church like ours
-So important, in fact, that he takes 13 verses in his rather short Epistle to deal with this topic, and puts it smack-dab, right in the middle of his letter
-And so brothers and sisters, don’t think that a message like this is for someone else
-We are the kind of demographic that James had in mind when he wrote this Epistle and included this passage right here in front of us
-This is something that the Holy Spirit desires us to sit up and pay very special attention to:
Listening to James
Listening to James
-Now, as we jump into this text, it is very important that we allow James to be the one to shape how we think about what he means when he talks about “faith”
-Words develop different connotations depending on the context
Let me give you an illustration:
-let’s take the word “ambitious”
“ambition” can really be taken and understood in different ways, depending on the context of the conversation
-Let’s say that you come home from work and you’re talking to your spouse about what’s going on there
-You tell your spouse all the drama and stress and strife that’s being stirred up at work by a coworker
-This coworker really wants to push themselves to the front
-They want a promotion, and they’ll do anything they can to move themselves up the ladder
-And so they slander this person to the boss
-And they gossip about this person
-And they make sure that they’re the one who is receiving praise and recognition
-And you tell your wife, “This coworker is just so ambitious. Their ambition is just killing our unity.”
Now let’s take the same word and use it differently
-Let’s say at VBS this year, we have one of our children, a little girl in church let’s say
-She’s 8 years old, she’s been saved recently, and she really wants to see her friends come to VBS so they can hear the Gospel
-And so she tells her Mom, “I want to bring 10 friends to church”
-And she begins to go visit her friends and is inviting them all to come with her to VBS
-And her Mom shares that at a Wednesday night prayer meeting with the church, asking prayer that her daughter’s friends would come
-And the pastor responds, “wow, that’s awesome! would that we all would be so ambitious to have an impact like that!”
-Do you see the difference in how we understand that word “ambitious” based on the context?
-So need to be careful that we allow James’s arguments to shape our understand about what he means when he says “faith” in this passage
So let’s jump into the text:
We really have 2 sections in our text today:
-In the first section, James asks a question, gives and illustration, and then answers his own question
-In the second section, James will raise an objection, give an illustration, and then reassert the same answer he’s been giving from the beginning
Let’s jump into our first section:
Round 1
Round 1
A. The Question (vs. 14)
vs. 14
-Now, it’s important to note, look down at verse 1 in this chapter
-James in the previous section is dealing with Christians showing partiality (treating some people better than others)
-But look at how he describes Christians there
-as those who “hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ”
-So even within the context of this chapter, James clearly understands the primacy of faith for the Christian
But he asks, “what profit is it if someone faith but not works?”
-So as we begin to work through this Scripture, we begin from the outset to see what James is talking about when he talks about faith
-he’s talking about a “faith” that has no good works accompanying it
-It’s a “faith” that has no changed lifestyle attached to it
And he presses home the question even more with this: “can faith save him?”
-Now, there are some of you in your Bible that may have a footnote that gives you some help here
-Some of you may have a footnote that says that it could be translated “the faith” or “that faith”
As a matter of fact, if you are using an ESV or an NASB, your verses is translated as “can that faith save him?”
-The reason for that is that in the Greek, the way it is constructed, it gives that kind of sense
So when James is talking about a faith that is not accompanied by a changed lifestyle, he then asks, “can that kind of ‘faith’ save someone?”
Let me ask you, can you think of another place in your Bible where there is a kind of “faith” put forth, but it’s clear that it’s not saving faith?
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
Here near the beginning of the 4th Gospel, John the author shows that there is a kind of “faith” that people can put in Jesus that is not a true saving faith
-People of this kind of faith like Jesus
-They see the benefits of Jesus and the power of Jesus
-But it falls short of true saving faith, and therefore Jesus does not entrust Himself to those kind of people, because he knows their hearts
James then gives us an illustration:
B. The Illustration (vs. 15-16)
vs. 15-16
-Now, imagine what James is saying here:
-This is talking about a brother or sister, so a fellow Christian, probably from your own church, being destitute of daily needs
-It’s not just that they need a ride to the grocery store
-They’re in poverty and don’t have anything to eat
-Let’s imagine the Boyles
-We love them dearly
-They love the Lord, they’re our family in Christ
-They’ve got 5 beautiful children
-Let’s say we know that they have no food to feed their family that day
-Nothing
-They have nothing to set before their kids
-They aren’t even very well-clothed
-Let’s say it’s November, and some of the kids don’t have jackets
-Theia doesn’t have shoes
-Cassandra is using the only blanket they have to try to keep Maleah warm
-And you see this:
-And you come up to them and say:
“May God supply you good food and clothing this evening as you go home!”
-And then you leave
-And you have the resources to take care of their needs
-But you leave them to fend for yourselves
Can you imagine that? Doesn’t that make you both sad and kind of angry at the same time?
-Maybe to you sitting here, it may seem unfathomable that anyone in our church who calls themselves a Christian would ever do that
-And that’s exactly what James thinks!
-This is the kind of “faith” that James is talking about!
-A “faith” that hasn’t resulted in any kind of change in life
A “faith” that hasn’t resulted in obedience to God or love for others
“what does it profit?”
-Let me ask you that, what does it profit?
-what good is that kind of “faith?”
but as we move to verse 17 and see James circle back and answer his question from vs. 14, I want to point something out:
-Verses 15-16 don’t just serve as an illustration of a kind of “faith” without works
-Those verses also serve as a comparison
C. The Answer (vs. 17)
vs. 17
Do you see James is not only just using 15-16 as an illustration, but he’s also drawing a comparison?
many translations start out the verse as “in the same way”
He’s showing that in the same way that those words, “be warmed and filled” are of no profit, or they’re useless, so also is “faith” without any works
-it’s useless
Let me try to illustrate it in a slightly more exaggerated way
-Let’s shake up the illustration just slightly from earlier
Let’s say that I’m a door greeter for the service, and up walks Mrs. Dalton
-Now, she’s carrying a lot of stuff for VBS that she’s going to put in one of the classrooms
-And she’s buckling under this mountain of VBS stuff
-And come run out to greet her, smile warmly, and I say, “Mrs. Dalton, God bless you in your efforts to carry all of that stuff! I hope that you have an easy and comfortable time getting in the door and then taking all of that stuff to the classroom!”
-And then I go on to greet the next person
-How effective and helpful were my words?
-Not at all
-And it is made worse by the fact that I’m perfectly capable and free to help
-Those words were completely useless
-They were empty
-They were of no profit
-And that’s what comparison James is making
-He’s saying, “you see how useless those kinds of words are in vs. 15-16? so also, that kind of ‘faith’ is useless, empty, and dead without works to accompany it.”
-So going back to verse 14:
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
The answer:
-No
-That kind of have does not profit and it does not save
Which brings us to our final section of the text:
Round 2
Round 2
Look at the beginning of verse 18:
Vs. 18a
Now, James deals with an objection that may be raised to what he’s said so far
-the objection is that James deals with is that faith and works can be separated in the life of a Christian
“you have faith, and I have works”
How does James respond to that?
-Can works and faith be separated in the life of a Christian?
Here’s what James says to that:
Vs. 18b
James clearly believes that true saving faith is demonstrated and shown by works
Listen: while genuine conversion happens through faith, the evidence of genuine conversion is the good works of a changed life
Let me say that again: while true conversion happens through faith, the evidence of genuine conversion is the good works of changed life
-And I think the reason that this passage often takes Christians off-guard is because they aren’t paying attention to the rest of their NT where this is a constant theme
Jesus, when talking about how to spot false teachers says:
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
John the Baptist said:
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,
We’ll spend more time harmonizing James with Paul next week, but Pauls says this:
but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
and this:
They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Next week, Justin is going to preach to us from 1 John 2, and I don’t want to steal his thunder, but the book of 1 John was written to help Christians know for sure that they were genuinely born again
-And in this book that is probably more devoted to assurance of salvation than any other book, John doesn’t ask:
“when did you pray the prayer of salvation? What words did you say? How much faith did you have?”
-Instead, he says things like,
1 John 3:6–8 (NKJV)
Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
So you see brothers and sisters, while the Bible clearly shows the uselessness of works prior to salvation, your Bible also clearly shows the absolute necessity of good works after salvation as an evidence that God has truly changed you
B. The Illustration
James proves his point by giving us yet another illustration:
-vs. 19
What an awesome argument from James!
“you believe that there is One God”
or
“you believe that God is One”
however your translation decides to interpret that, the point is still made either way!
-Every good Jew, and every good Christian believes that there is only One God
And what he’s saying is:
“you wanna talk about faith? You wanna talk about good, theologically sound orthodox faith? you believe that there’s only One God? Good for you! . . . even demons believe that.”
Don’t you think demons have pretty good theology?
-When Christ walked this earth, a lot of people were wrong about who He was
-They thought he was the Elijah, or John the Baptist, or another of the prophets
-What did the demons say about Jesus?
“I know who you are! The Holy One of God!”
-And what James is showing is that just having “faith” or just “believing” something is not what salvation is
-You don’t think demons are going to be in heaven, do you, just because they believe that Jesus is the God-Man who died and rose again?
-And so clearly, there is a kind of “faith” that is not true saving faith
-And it’s a kind of faith that doesn’t result in good works from a changed heart
So here’s how he finishes this section, and this is where we’ll finish as well:
C. The Reassertion:
Vs. 20
-James says that only a foolish person would believe that you can have true, saving faith that does not result in God-honoring action
-that does not result in a changed life
-that kind of “faith” is useless
Application:
Application:
So what does all of this mean for us?
What do we here at Kingsway Baptist Church this morning do with all of this?
1. We don’t need to be afraid of this passage when it gets brought up by those who aren’t saved
-James isn’t contradicting anything that’s in Scripture
-As a matter of fact, if we’ve been paying attention to our New Testament, what James is saying shouldn’t surprise us at all
-Like I said earlier, we’re going to get more into Paul next week, but he’s not contradicting Paul or Jesus or anyone else
-James is not saying that a person can earn salvation by doing enough good things
-He’s saying that the natural out-working of salvation will be doing good things
-So don’t be afraid of this passage
2. This Passage should cause rejoicing
-Brothers and sisters, I know many of you very well
-And for many of you seated here, I see the evidence of a changed life
-I know many of you have been genuinely saved by faith because I see your love for the Lord and love for His people that shows itself in your good works
-I personally have been the recipient of the generosity that some of you have shown in desiring to meet needs and encourage the family of God
-I have personally been served by man of you
-And I’ve seen others who work behind the scenes or give to people in the church
-I’ve seen these things, and that’s a reason to praise the Lord and rejoice!
-So for many of you, be encouraged and praise the Lord that His work in your life has been genuine and effectual
-That He has changed you from the inside out
And along with that, let me exhort you all to be vocal in your affirmation of your fellow Christians here at this church in their growth in the Lord
-If you see God changing someone
-If you see growth in the Lord in someone
-If you see the evidence of genuine conversion that shows itself in good fruit in the lives of a brother and sister in Christ, tell them that!
-Tell them, “hey, I just want to encourage you: I see growth in your life in these particular areas. I see good fruit by the way that you obey the Lord in this.”
That’s an encouragement! Tell people that!
-Christians, let us continue in good works!
-Let us be reinvigorated to get to work for the Lord
3. For some, this should cause some prayer and examination
-Now, whenever a sermon like this is preached, sometimes the complain is, “preacher, you’re gonna make people doubt their salvation”
-My goal is not in any way to cause a genuine believer to be discouraged or to doubt their salvation or plunge into morbid introspection
-But this text is here in Scripture
-And so we’ve got to preach it, pray about it, and seek to apply this to our own lives
-And there may be some people here who have made a profession of faith
-You remember walking an aisle
-Praying a prayer
-Maybe you remember the words you said
-But there has been little to no change in your life
-You might be a nice person
-But you speak a lot like the unsaved world
-You love what the unsaved world loves
-You don’t obey the Word of God in the area of sexual morality
And you may be sitting here, and there is really no evidence of genuine conversion
-There’s really no changed life
-You have “faith” . . . but it’s a dead faith, a useless faith
And I want to really encourage you to think about this
-Please sit down with a genuine Christian who you really respect and ask them: “does my life evidence true saving faith?”
-Because here’s the thing, many times the lack of fruit in your life is evident to those around you, even if you don’t see it
-So please, don’t take this lightly
-Consider the eternal state of your own soul
-Make sure that you’re a genuine Christian
Let’s pray
Trust and Obey, pg. 385, stanzas 1 4
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