Faith Works

James 2:14-26 “Faith Works”

Faith Without Works Is Dead

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

This is the apex of the book of James. James is writing to Christians, and his exhortation is “live out your faith.”

We’ve learned through God’s Word that we are to live out our faith when it comes to trials, and wisdom, and temptation, and anger, and favoritism…and living out our faith in each of these areas has this one practice in common: We have to take what we believe, and we have to act on it. Remember, as followers of Christ, we want to walk in WISDOM, but wisdom is more than knowledge…it’s knowledge PLUS action.

Our mission, Way Church, I hope you know it by now, is to 1) Discover God’s will, and 2) Walk in God’s will through an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

And what God’s Word is going to show us tonight, if we lean into it, is that if we are going to walk in the will of God, then action is required…works are required.

If we are going to walk in God’s will here on this earth, then it is imperative that we take action in our faith walk, and we are going to spend quite a bit of time tonight talking about what that action looks like…but before we talk about how important works are in our faith walk - in our Spiritual maturing - in our process of sanctification, we have to address an ESSENTIAL GOSPEL TRUTH…first point:

WORKS DON’T SAVE.

James highlights the importance of works in the lives of believers, but God never shows us, through James or any other book in the Bible, that our works lead to salvation.

James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?(that’s a rhetorical question…the answer is no) 17…faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…26…faith apart from works is dead.(the faith that James is talking about here is not a saving faith)

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

So how do we reconcile these two passages of scripture? Throughout history, many Christian sects, many denominations have made a divide over faith and works. Martin Luther, who started the reformation in the early 1500s, when he died, was still unsure if he could consider James a Biblical book. (he came from the Catholic church at the peak of its corruption - requiring works) He felt like James’ teachings stood in opposition to Paul’s.

I see these instagram theologians, oftentimes Catholics, who say you have to do x, y, and z to be saved. And when someone replies with Ephesians 2:8, the debate is OVER.

but what happens is you see this side say, “I’m with James..it’s all about works.” and this side say, “I’m with Paul..it’s all about faith.” And here’s what they’re missing. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, I hope you know it by now..we quote it here often, it says that ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD-BREATHED. That means that each passage is God’s Word. James wrote this part; Paul wrote this part…God authored both. And God’s Word will never contradict itself.

Ephesians 2 makes crystal clear that our works don’t save Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.…the only way we are saved is by grace through genuine faith - it’s a gift from God that I didn’t do anything to earn.

Which means that the faith that James is talking about in ch. 2 is not genuine faith, it’s not a saving faith. Because it is ONLY BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH that we are saved.

Many Catholics will go to heaven, but not because they were baptized and confirmed and partook of the sacraments, it’s because they had saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Any Baptist that makes it to heaven will be there not because of all the scripture they memorized but because they had saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Any Pentecostal that makes it will not be there because of the signs and wonders that they can testify to in their lives, will not be because they spoke in tongues…it will be because they had saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Any Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal…whatever..anyone who makes it to heaven will be there only because they came to a saving faith.

Ephesians 2 shows us that we can only be saved by the grace of God through faith, but let’s look at what else it shows us…Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We’ve created a culture in the Evangelical American church where our Christianity starts and ends with salvation…where we say, “I’m saved. I’m good. Just gonna live the way I want to now until I meet Jesus.” I gotta tell you, that’s not Biblical..and that’s not the transformative saving faith that my Bible talks about.

2. It’s only by grace through faith that we can be saved, but it has to be a real faith, a genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. James 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Romans 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The demons believe..they have a concept for who Jesus is and what He did. So how are we different from the demons? (Well, we don’t just have an intellectual, rational belief that “that makes sense.” We have a belief in our hearts that we are sinners in need of a Savior, and we know that Jesus left His throne in glory to come down, live a perfect life, and die on a cross to pay our debt.)

That’s how we, inwardly by faith, are different from the demons who believe. Different from Judas, the son of destruction. But how can it be known outwardly that someone has true saving faith? Well, you’ll know them by their fruit. Jesus said in Matthew 3:8, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Repentance simply means changing your mind. When we come to a saving faith in Christ, we repent. We change our mind about God, about who Jesus is. And the fruit of that repentance, the evidence that we do have saving faith, is the way we now live our lives. The fruit of repentance, the fruit of salvation, is seen through our works, through the way we walk after we claim to come to a saving faith. What James is saying in James 2 is the same thing that Paul says in Ephesians 2 – THE FRUIT OF SALVATION IS GODLY WORKS…not the CAUSE of salvation, but the fruit. If the faith is real, the works will follow.

If we are honest, when we look around, we are so lacking in this in the American church. We see lots of professions of faith, but we’re missing the fruit of repentance, the fruit of salvation. Here in the American church, we have an issue that you don’t see in most places around the world, an issue that hasn’t been extremely prevalent in the almost 2,000 year history of the church…and that’s the issue of false conversion.

Last week when we went to youth camp, the camp pastor was talking about the prevalence of false conversion, how 80% of youth group kids in America, who call themselves Christians, in 5-10 years, will walk away from the faith…then he said something extremely profound that stuck with me, something that I won’t soon forget… he said…

”THERE ARE NO FALSE CONVERTS IN CHINA.” I challenge you to travel to China, or North Korea, a predominantly Muslim country in the middle east and find someone who claims to be a Christian but bears no fruit of repentance, who displays no signs or works that point to Jesus.. you can’t… If they worship Jesus, they stand to lose everything, potentially even their lives. Those people have no reason to be Christians and live like Jesus is their Lord unless they possess a true saving faith.

On the other hand, we could probably go into most churches here in Myrtle Beach on any given Sunday morning and find plenty of folks who call themselves “Christians” but show absolutely no evidence of that. If many folks were honest, and they were asked “Why do you identify as a Christian?” The answer to that question would probably be “because I don’t want to go to hell.” If that’s how you came to a saving faith in Christ, and it was a true conversion, then PRAISE GOD! But if you’ve remained there, for years and years, and there’s no fruit of repentance in your life - there’s no evidence of change, then you may need to seriously search the scriptures and search your heart.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Test yourself. Is there evidence in your life that Christ is in you? Do Godly works flow in your life? Ask yourself this…if it were illegal to be a Christian here in America (could happen in my lifetime), would there be enough evidence to convict you?

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The Bible says that if we come to a saving faith in Christ, then we are a NEW CREATION. That means that through salvation, through faith, lives are transformed. If someone says that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior and they’re not allowing the power of God to transform their life, then they’re telling the world that God has no power.

But we know that our God is omnipotent, that He has unlimited power..so what’s lacking there is not the power of God, it’s the faith of that individual…and that leads us to our last point, which is what James is telling the church:

3. Real faith breeds Godly works.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Eternity is forever, and we should do everything we can to see everyone we come into contact with come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, but if that’s where our walk with God, or their walk with God, starts and ends - just getting saved…then we are WAY OFF, and we are totally missing the purpose that God has called us to.

James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works….21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

What the Word of God is telling us here is that Godly works will always accompany true faith. No work that you do will ever be able to save you, but once you are saved, you will be drawn toward works that align with the will of God.

Let me give you a great Biblical example of what I mean. If we could choose one chapter in the Bible that highlights examples of faith, it would be..what? Hebrews chapter 11….better known as THE HALL OF…FAITH.

Here’s what faith in action looks like, according to the Bible…

Abel (Hebrews 11:4): Offered a more acceptable sacrifice to God than Cain

Noah (Hebrews 11:7): Built an ark.

Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19): Obeyed God's call to go to a foreign land, lived as a stranger in the promised land, took his son, Issac, to the mountain to be sacrificed.

Isaac (Hebrews 11:20): Blessed Jacob and Esau concerning their future.

Jacob (Hebrews 11:21): Blessed each of Joseph's sons.

Joseph (Hebrews 11:22): Spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

Moses' Parents (Hebrews 11:23): Hid Moses for three months after he was born because they saw he was no ordinary child and were not afraid of the king's edict.

Moses (Hebrews 11:24-28): Refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, chose to be mistreated along with the people of God, left Egypt without fearing the king's anger, and kept the Passover, sprinkling the blood to protect the firstborn.

The Israelites (Hebrews 11:29-30): Passed through the Red Sea as on dry land and saw the walls of Jericho fall after marching around them for seven days.

Rahab (Hebrews 11:31): Welcomed the spies and was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Hebrews 11…Is this the hall of WORKS? NO. This is the HALL OF FAITH. And how do we know that these heroes of the faith had a genuine, saving faith? By their works…because real faith will always produce Godly works.

When I came to Pastor Cedric a few months ago seeking wise counsel, and I said that I feel that the Holy Spirit is leading me to start a church, The Way Church, he could’ve said “I have faith in what you’re doing. I believe that God’s gonna do great things through your church.” And he could’ve patted me on the back and said “good luck.” But instead, his faith that this is a move of God was made evident in that he offered his church building to The Way Church.

That is what faith in action looks like, and if we have a true, saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then our lives ought to be a series of actions that show the world what we truly believe.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, the same letter where he calls his religious works as a Pharisee “rubbish”, literal trash, meaning that those works can’t produce salvation because they don’t come from a place of saving faith in Jesus Christ, he tells the Philippians this…

Philippians 2:12…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Notice that he doesn’t say work for your salvation…because it’s a gift that we already have, by grace through faith..amen? But he says “work” (there’s that word again) work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Y’all know what happens when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? 1- There is a new name written down in GLORY..we receive the promise of eternal life… but that’s not it. Secondly, we receive the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT..Romans 8:9 says “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” meaning that if we do have a saving faith, we have the Holy Spirit. That’s what Phil 2:13 means.

And what Paul is saying here…What GOD is saying through Paul, is that, yes, you are saved, but that’s just the beginning! Now you have this incredible, supernatural gift that has been given to you in order to fulfill my will. DON’T WASTE IT.

Our mission as a church is to 1)Discover the will of God and 2)Walk in the will of God through an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

And we do that by being guided by the Word of God and being empowered by the Spirit of God.

DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE. DONE WASTE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.