Faith That Works

Read James 2:14-26.

Pray!

Thank everyone who has preached over the last few weeks!

-I want to break down what Faith is not and what it is, as well as works before we get to far into the sermon this morning:

-I really want us to grasp what faith is not:

-Faith is not some magical thing we have in our pocket to use whenever we want to get something from God.

-Faith is not crossing of your fingers and hoping for the best

-Faith is not some mindless stabbing in the dark trying to figure things out.

-faith is not merely believing in God. It is believing God Taking God at his word, living in obedience to his revelation whatever the cost because you know down deep in your bones that God will always do what he says, that his speaking is his doing

The meriam webster definition of faith is :something that is believed with strong conviction

-Faith is simply trusting God, and believing Him for who He says He is and What He has done. And from that faith means we align ourselves with God and His ways.

- If we have faith, we are convinced that what we believe is real, true, and reliable. The biblical object of faith is the person and work of Jesus Christ. True faith has always been the identifying mark of the people of God.

-Todays scripture deals with noth faith and works, so it important to acknowledge some things,

The faith vs. works debate. which often comes up in discussions of salvation. There are many who say that a person is saved based on some mixture of faith and works. Biblical Christianity teaches salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, apart from any works we do.

-What are works? Works are a person’s actions or deeds. Work is that which we perform for some kind of reward. We work at our jobs and expect to receive a paycheck for it. Even working on a voluntary basis has its own reward—praise from others, a feeling of good will, etc. In the context of salvation, works refers to good deeds we do, especially religious or charitable acts or the observance of the Old Testament law.

Lets move onto to talk about how:

We All Have Faith in Something

-Faith isn't just a “religious” thing. Every person lives by faith daily—whether they believe in God or not.

We trust that chairs will hold us when we sit down.

We trust money has value when we spend it.

We trust people when we enter relationships.

We trust the government, our jobs, ourselves—or God.

-Everyone has faith in something (money, relationships, success, control, etc.).

The real question is: What is your faith in?

Jesus made it clear that your heart always points to your treasure—what you trust most.

Matthew 6:21 (CSB) "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

-Whatever you value most—comfort, approval, control, power, pleasure—that’s what you're putting your faith in. And that object of faith shapes your behavior.

-And whatever you place your faith in will shape your life. That’s why James challenges us to test the genuineness of our faith.

-What we do with our time, our money, our relationships, our words—these aren’t random. They’re mirrors of what we really believe.

-“You can say you believe in God, but your life shows what you actually trust.”

For example:

-If someone claims to trust God for provision but is dishonest in business, their actions reveal faith in money, not in God.

-If someone claims to follow Jesus but won't forgive others, their actions reveal faith in control or self-protection, not in grace.

-Even Paul—who championed salvation by grace through faith—said: Galatians 5:6 (CSB) “What matters is faith working through love.”

-Faith works. It doesn't stay in your head or on your lips—it shows up in how you live.

Faith Without Works Is Dead Section:

Read James 2:14–19.

-James is very concerned about a problem which was already arising in the earliest church and which is with us to this day. He has already begun to address this problem in the previous chapter, when he spoke about being ‘people who do the word, not merely people who hear it’.

- He has heard people talking about ‘faith’, not meaning a rich, lively trust in the loving, living God, but rather a shell, a husk, an empty affirmation, a bare acknowledgement. A body without a spirit

-“If someone claims to have faith but does not have works, can such faith save him?”

-James is not contradicting Paul—he’s confronting counterfeit faith.

-In the faith vs. works debate, the two sides maintain that either we are saved by faith (and faith alone), or we are saved by works (or, more commonly, works added to faith). Which side is correct? What is the biblical relationship between faith and works?

• Works are required for salvation—but Scripture is clear that those works are Christ’s, not ours.

-Jesus fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17). In fact, “the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).

-Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross reconciled us to God , and as He died, Jesus proclaimed that the work was finished. Now we are invited to enter into God’s rest by faith: “Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works” (Hebrews 4:10).

• Our works do nothing to earn or maintain salvation.

-It was the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ that justifies sinners. “Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, . . . because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

-We begin by faith, and we continue in faith: Galatians 3:2–3 says “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?”

• Salvation is by grace, which precludes works.

-Grace is, by definition, unearned, and Scripture makes it clear that God’s grace in salvation destroys the argument for human effort: “If by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6).

-“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

• God’s requirement for salvation is faith in His Son.

-One of the grand themes of the Bible is that we are justified, or declared righteous, by faith (Genesis 15:6). Faith is the only means of making sinful human beings able to stand before a holy God.

-No amount of law-keeping or good works can accomplish it (Titus 3:5). If our works could save us, then Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:21).

• Works are the product of faith.

-Those who have true faith in Jesus Christ will be “eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). John the Baptist called for “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

-And as we have seen today and over the last couple weeks The book of James emphasizes the nature of true saving faith as that which results in good works: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” and “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:17, 26).

-Grace through faith saves, and that faith is manifest in works. If someone claims to have faith yet exhibits no good works, his or her faith is “dead,” or nonexistent.

-The faith vs. works debate, then, is really no debate at all. Both faith and works are integral parts of the Christian life. Biblically, faith is the cause of salvation, while works are the evidence of it.

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READ James 2:19. You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.

“You believe that God is one.”

-James is referencing the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4: “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

-This was a foundational confession of Jewish monotheistic faith.

-His audience likely prided themselves in this belief, thinking that acknowledging the one true God was enough.

-But James strikes hard here. He confronts the kind of belief that is informational but not transformational.

-But what does their belief lead to? Not worship, not obedience, not repentance—but fear and rebellion.

-Demons have perfect theology. They know exactly who God is. They believe in His existence, His power, His holiness—but they hate Him. Their belief produces trembling, not transformation.

-This is a crucial warning: Right beliefs are not the same as saving faith

-This shows that mere intellectual belief without relationship, obedience, or submission is not saving faith.

-Knowing facts about God isn’t the same as knowing God personally.

-You can grow up in church, memorize Scripture, and still not have a surrendered, obedient heart.

-You can say you trust Jesus, but your life reveals where your trust really lies.

-True faith in Christ will result in a changed direction, changed values, and new priorities.

Titus 1:16 (CSB) — “They claim to know God, but they deny him by their works.”

 Examples of Works That Reveal True Faith:

Obedience to God's Word (John 14:15)

Love in action (Gal. 5:6)

Compassion for the vulnerable (James 1:27)

Spiritual disciplines like prayer, repentance, and forgiveness

Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23)

Jesus repeatedly exposed people who said they believed but lived as if God wasn’t trustworthy.

Matthew 15:8 (CSB) “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

He even said:

Matthew 7:21 (CSB) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom... but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

So the question isn’t just “Do you believe in God?” but:

“Is your faith in God so real that it shapes what you do?”

Real Faith is Transformational

Read  James 2:20–24.

-Abraham’s faith wasn’t just belief—it was obedience (offering Isaac).

-James points directly to Abraham offering Isaac (Genesis 22) as a demonstration that true faith takes action.

-Abraham believed God long before Genesis 22 (Genesis 15:6), but that belief was proven real through obedience.

-James says this act “fulfilled” the Scripture that said Abraham believed—indicating that genuine faith culminates in faithful living.

-Belief is not passive—it’s revealed through costly, trusting obedience.

-Saving faith always leads to a transformed life.

-This echoes the pattern of Abraham: he didn’t just make one decision; he lived a life of obedience.

-James argues that faith is “made complete” by works—meaning that faith finds its fullest expression in action.

-A changed heart (inward) leads to new habits (outward), showing evidence of the inward reality.

- You don’t work to be saved—you work because you’re saved.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

-True faith results in a changed heart that leads to changed habits.

Ephesians 2:8–10 (CSB) — Saved by grace through faith for good works.

With all of this in mind we need to keep in mind

Real Faith Bears Fruit Over Time

Read James 2:25–26.

-Rahab is an unexpected example:

She wasn’t an Israelite.

She had a morally broken past.

But she heard about the God of Israel—and believed.

-Her belief moved her to action:

She hid the spies (Joshua 2).

She risked her life for God's people.

Her faith wasn’t merely verbal—it was visible and costly.

- Faith that stays hidden may be fake. Rahab’s story shows that true faith acts boldly, even when imperfect.

-James could have chosen someone like Moses or Joshua as an example—but he chose Rahab, a prostitute. Why? Because her life is proof that God honors imperfect people with authentic faith.

-She wasn’t perfect, but she responded to what she did know.

-Over time, her faith grew—she eventually became part of the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5)!

-Saving faith doesn’t mean you have it all together. It means you’re moving in the right direction—trusting and obeying more and more.

-You may not be where you want to be, but you're not who you used to be.

-Rahab's faith journey reminds us of this powerful truth:

You don't need to be fully mature for your faith to be real.

Growth in Christ is a process.

Just start taking the steps

Philippians 1:6 “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

-If someone looked at your life, your patterns, your priorities—what would they say your faith is in? Let your works be the natural overflow of a heart that’s trusting in Jesus above all else.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

-That’s what genuine faith does.

In closing here are some things i want us to reflect upon this week:

-What do your works say your faith is in?

-Do you have dead faith (words only), demonic faith (intellect only), or dynamic faith (real and life-changing)?

-Have you trusted Jesus with your heart—but never allowed Him to shape your life?

-If you’ve never truly surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord—do it today.

-If you’ve been professing faith but not producing fruit—repent and renew your surrender.

-Let your life preach the gospel through your obedience, compassion, holiness, and love.