Faith and Works

Spiritual Lessons from James  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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C. The Origin of Trials and Temptation, 1:13–18

1. God is Not the Source of Temptation (1:13)

God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

2. Understanding Temptation (1:14-15)

Temptation comes from our own evil desires.
Desire leads to sin, and sin leads to death.
Galatians 6:7–8 NKJV
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
God sometimes allows great tests to come to His people, even some who might be thought of as His favorites.
We think of the hard command He gave to Abraham (Genesis 22:1), and the affliction He allowed to come to Job (Job 1-2).
Other times He may send tests as a form of judgment upon those who have rejected Him, such as sending a spirit to bring deception (1 Kings 22:19-23) or departing from a man and refusing to answer him (1 Samuel 28:15-16).
Yet in no case does God entice a person to evil.
“Satan tempts: God tries. But the same trial may be both a temptation and a trial; and it may be a trial from God’s side, and a temptation from Satan’s side, just as Job suffered from Satan, and it was a temptation; but he also suffered from God through Satan, and so it was a trial to him.”–Spurgeon

3. Every Good and Perfect Gift (1:16-17)

God is the source of all good and perfect gifts.
The unchanging nature of God.
Matthew 7:11 NKJV
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

4. The Word of Truth (1:18)

God chose to give us birth through the word of truth.
We are a kind of firstfruits of all He created.
1 Peter 1:23 NKJV
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

D. The Preparations Necessary to Withstand Trials and Temptation, 1:19–27

1. Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak, Slow to Become Angry (1:19-20)

Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
Effective communication and restraint.
Proverbs 17:27 NKJV
27 He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.

2. Getting Rid of Moral Filth (1:21)

Accepting the word planted in you, which can save you.
Removing all moral filth and evil.
Ephesians 4:22 NKJV
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

3. Doers of the Word (1:22-25)

Not merely listening to the word, but doing what it says.
The blessing in doing the word, not just hearing it.
Matthew 7:24–25 NKJV
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“I fear we have many such in all congregations; admiring hearers, affectionate hearers, attached hearers, but all the while unblest hearers, because they are not doers of the word.”–Spurgeon

4. True Religion (1:26-27)

Keeping a tight rein on the tongue.
The NT never uses the Greek word for religious in a positive sense ever. (Acts 17:22, 25:19, 26:5, Col 2:23)
Looking after orphans and widows.
“The Biblical Ritualism, the pure external worship, the true embodiment of the inward principles of religion is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Charity and purity are the two great garments of Christianity.”–Spurgeon
“True religion does not merely give something for the relief of the distressed, but it visits them, it takes the oversight of them, it takes them under its care; so episkeptesthai means. It goes to their houses, and speaks to their hearts; it relieves their wants, sympathizes with them in their distresses, instructs them in divine things, and recommends them to God. And all this it does for the Lord’s sake. This is the religion of Christ.”–Clarke
“While women weep, as they do now,
I'll fight
While little children go hungry, as they do now,
I'll fight
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now,
I'll fight
While there is a drunkard left,
While there is a poor lost girl upon the streets,
While there remains one dark soul without the light of God,
I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!”–William Booth
Keeping oneself from being polluted by the world.
Micah 6:8 NKJV
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
“There is no book with so lofty an ideal of what life may become when it is yielded to the grace of Christ. A cleansed heart, and an unspotted robe; no sin allowed and permitted in the soul, and no evil habit allowed to dominate and enthrall the life.”–Meyer

v. 1) A fundamental principal:

Partiality: mainly seen in Scripture as a bias against places, peoples and ideas.
Our faith is wonderful because it is the “faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it should never be associated with partiality or discrimination.
God, Himself shows no partiality so neither should those who put their trust in Him.
The period around which James wrote was very partial, filled with prejudice and hatred based on class, ethnicity, nationality, and religious background.
Ephesians 2:14–15 NKJV
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

vv. 2–9) The wickedness of partiality:

[2-4] To favor the rich over the poor in the way our passage describes is deeply carnal and wicked.
To show partiality shows:
You care more for the outward appearance than you do the heart. God looks at the heart, and so should we (1 Samuel 16:7).
You misunderstand who is important and blessed in the sight of God. Riches to not equate blessed, to often there is greater value placed on material riches.
How selfish you really are. Are you nicer to the rich because you can get more from them?
[5-7] The poor simply have more opportunities to trust God.
Matthew 11:5 NKJV
5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
[8-9] James anticipates some of his readers might and try to defend their partiality towards the rich as simply loving their neighbor as Christ commanded.
The problem is being nice to the rich and not nice to the poor. So their excuse is moot.

vv. 10–13) Obeying all of God’s commands:

These four verses are included to safeguard the readers…us included against selective obedience. The pick and choose which commands of God we should follow and obey and those in which we can disregard.
It is called a law of liberty, because it is freely and willingly kept by the believer, in which there is no burden or bondage.
“judgement is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy:” reiteration of one of Jesus’ principles
Matthew 7:2 NKJV
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

v. 14) Truth faith is accompanied by action:

I believe James is being very upfront with this verse. Thinking it is impossible for someone to genuinely have saving faith without any proof.
Someone could say they have faith, but fail to show good works. So it begs the questions: Can that kind of faith save them?
“The apostle had just before declared, that they who are unmerciful to men shall find God severe to themselves, and have judgment without mercy: but hypocritical professors boasted of their faith as sufficient to secure them against that judgement, though they neglected the practice of holiness and righteousness.”–Poole
“Can faith save him?” Do not be confused, James is speaking to a persons profession of faith. It is not said that he has faith, but that he says, I have faith.

vv. 15–17) A bad example:

The marks of saving faith: It is faith:
looking not to self, but to Christ.
agreeing with God’s Word
not looking at your works as deserving rewards from God.
grounded in what Jesus did on the cross through His resurrection.
that may sometimes doubt; yet realizing those doubts are not bigger than the faith. “Lord I believe; but help my unbelief.”
Wanting other to come to the same faith.
which says more than “Lord, Lord:”
Matthew 7:21–23 NKJV
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Not only hears the Word of God but does it also.

vv. 18–19) A living faith cannot be separated from works:

Some might try and say they have the gift of works; while, others have the gift of faith. We cannot see someone’s faith, but we can see their works. You can’t see faith without works, but you can demonstrate the reality of faith by works.
The demons believe in the sense of acknowledging God exists. Yet this kind of faith does nothing for the demons, because it isn’t real faith, and is proved by the simple fact it doesn't have works along with it.

vv. 20–26) Example of living faith—Abraham and Rehab:

“the grace that does not change my life will not save my soul”–Spurgeon
James purposely put these two examples together, as they are so different in their character, in order to show, no one, whatever may have been their condition, nation, or class in society, have ever been counted righteous without good works.
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also:” As much as you can have a body with no life (a corpse), so you can have a faith with no life—and faith without works is a dead faith, unable to save.
We can think of an apple tree; where is the life of the tree, It is in the root, and underneath the bark in the trunk. The life is not in the apples, the fruit that is displayed in season; but if the tree is alive it will produce apples in season.
“Man is not justified by faith alone, that is, by a bare and empty knowledge of God; he is justified by works, that is, his righteousness is known and proved by its fruits.”–Calvin
Numbers 6:24–26 KJV 1900
24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
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