Untitled Sermon

But it’s authentic faith is seen in more ways than just going to Jesus… it is seen even in the way that we obey him.This as you’ll see by the last two Scriptures that we looked at and this next one as well, a visible faith that is seen in one of the main themes of James

James 2:17–18 ESV17 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.

James goes on to illustrate such active and obeying faith with these two examples to show how faith is always accompanied by outward works:

James 2:21–22 ESV21 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;

Such was the faith of Abraham when he said to Isaac:

Genesis 22:8 ESV8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

and again, James provides us with another OT example of demonstrated faith

James 2:25 ESV25 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?

Listen to Rahab’s faith:

Joshua 2:8–9 ESV8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

But to be clear, it’s not just James that has much to say about the visible effect of authentic faith. For Paul too wrote

Galatians 5:22–24 ESV22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

This isn’t legalism… this is a whole new way of living where the person of faith has recieved the source of life in the future and in the presentBut it’s not just James and Paul who show how true faith is always accompanied by good fruit… but Jesus too said the same thing a chapters ago in Matthew as he came near to the end of the sermon on the mount:

Matthew 7:17–18 ESV17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

and again:

Matthew 7:24–25 ESV24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

So what should we get from all this: