Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible in. We're going to be in the book of James, chapter two this morning.
[00:00:09] James, chapter two.
[00:00:12] We'll do a brief review over what we have covered so far on the subject. Well, part of what we've covered on the subject of faith, first of all, we have seen the location of faith, which is found in the what?
[00:00:28] Well, that's the source.
[00:00:30] The location, when we exercise faith, it's found in the heart. Right. And we saw that was actually, I didn't copy that into my notes, but that was. .2, I believe the source of faith, location of faith is in the heart. And we saw that faith is both inward and faith is instantaneous.
[00:00:50] Inward and instantaneous. Now, that does not mean that when we exercise faith that we have the full amount of faith that we might have in the future. Remember, the Lord said, you don't need very much if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, which is taken to be the smallest of the seeds. Right. He said, you could move, you know, say to the mountain, be thou removed and cast of the sea, and it should obey. So the issue is not the amount of faith, but our faith does grow. But when it comes, it's instantaneous. And that's what we saw from Abraham in Genesis 15 six.
[00:01:24] And so we grappled with this idea of faith being in the heart and instantaneous. And so it's not something in the subject of evangelism, which is what we're doing, the school of evangelism here, because faith is inward. It's not something you can see.
[00:01:43] But when we share the gospel, we often want something to see. We want to see that a person has believed. And for that reason, we have to be very careful that we do not.
[00:01:56] We don't artificially rush things, and we learn to be patient when we're dealing with people. And I guess for me, one of the best helps I've received, and something that has helped me in that, in keeping balance, maybe is the best way to put it, is remembering that when we give the gospel to people in the process of evangelism and a person coming to the Lord, this is, we have a part to play, but it is not our whole responsibility that it is God's work. And so, you know what? Oftentimes, especially when we're doing our evangelism, knock on people's doors, and sometimes they give us but 10 seconds, you know, they're not all that interested. Sometimes they give us five minutes, sometimes 30.
[00:02:50] Sometimes, you know, you have just a, you know, if we're passing out some gospel tracts in downtown Greenville, we have a chance, literally 5 seconds, to just say one phrase or sentence to someone.
[00:03:03] Look, we take the opportunities we have, but we. It is not our responsibility. God is at work. And in fact, if the Lord is not at work, then our evangelism is totally vain. Salvation is a work of God from the origin of it. With the cross, with the plan, the prophecy, and then the cross of Christ. How Christ died for sinners and rose again. That was all the Lord did before we were ever born. But then also up to the point that a person actually trusts in Jesus. The Bible says, for by grace are ye saved through faith. Right? Think about it. That moment of salvation when we put our faith in Christ, that is also of grace. That is also God actively being involved. So here's the thing. The responsibility of it does not fall upon our shoulders. When we take the opportunity we have, we commend it to God, and we trust him to bring the fruit of it at a future time. And that's okay. That's okay, because he will.
[00:04:07] Instead of artificially trying to push something that is not, you know, that maybe someone's not ready for. Or sometimes, just because we have an itch to see what, to see someone respond or whatnot. We just have to remember, even evangelism is an act of faith. We do it trusting the Lord to do the work, because he's the only one that can.
[00:04:32] And so we looked at that, and then we looked at, briefly, we looked at counterfeit faith.
[00:04:42] So let's look at James two and verse number 19. We're going to spend a little bit of time in James two.
[00:04:52] We saw last week that true faith requires proper information.
[00:04:59] In other words, that's one. And I'm going to say a lot more about the cults, because this is a particular thing that really overlaps with false teaching. But if the gospel that we're giving, the gospel that we're giving someone is a false gospel, or the christ that we're preaching is the false Christ. That is wrong information.
[00:05:22] And faith in wrong information is useless. It's vain. So you have to have the true gospel. But on the flip side to that, in James 219, notice what it says. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. So you have this idea what I call the counterfeit faith, which is mere mental ascent. And that's not mental ascent is not the same as faith. Now, again, true faith requires information. It requires assent. You know, that's the beginnings of it. But that is not the sum total of if you can get somebody to nod along that they think a thing is true, it is therefore the same as being saved. No, that's not true at all. There are many, many, many people, I would say probably the vast majority of people in Christendom who believe in goddess. They believe that God exists. Often they believe facts about Jesus, but they still are relying on their own righteousness and good works to save them, not God. So they have the mental assent part. They have it. They have it, but they're still not on their way to heaven. And that's just a sad truth. And Matthew, you don't have to look any further than Matthew, chapter seven, when you see, and we'll get to that in our study in Matthew, we'll get to it later. You see hordes, many, Jesus says that serve the Lord, that were christians and were believers or appeared to be. And Jesus says, depart from me because they did not know him.
[00:07:03] So when we talk about faith, we're not talking just about intellectual assent. So we have to be careful of that.
[00:07:11] And especially in our evangelism as a practical matter, we are not trying to get people to just nod and yet say, yes, we're not trying to do that.
[00:07:21] We're trying to help people understand that they must personally trust in Jesus. Now, I'll admit to you that's not easy to do. Sometimes. That can be, especially when people that have been raised in the south and that's the things they've heard their whole life, they just nod along and it makes it kind of difficult to know, well, where are they at? You know, where are they at?
[00:07:43] But I know before I got saved, if, you know, if you had sent me a list of catechismic questions, I would have, you know, I would have answered yes to the catechism. You know, I knew the answers. But that wasn't the same as trusting in Jesus. It was different. So, so we have that. And then, and then we looked last week, last time we were here, rather, we looked at the concept of works masquerading as faith. Works masquerading as faith and based upon James 220, we're going to look at that. Actually, we're going to look at the full context of James 220 because this is, well, I'll give you an example that'll illustrate what I'm trying to say. But James 220 says this, but wilt thou know, o vain man, that faith without works is dead?
[00:08:32] That's a good verse, but it's so abused it's so wrongly interpreted by those who have an agenda with a false gospel. So we'll pick up there and then we'll study this morning. In particular, we'll study the book of James. So let's pray together.
[00:08:48] Our father in heaven, thank you for the chance to come together in our Sunday school class. Lord, I pray for those downstairs who are teaching the kids. I pray that you would give them grace and wisdom and understanding.
[00:08:59] Miss Beverly, Miss Pam and Abby, please bless their classes. Help the kids to grow in their knowledge of scripture. And in their knowledge of God. And who you are and what you've done, Lord, that it would bear fruit. Lord, we trust you. Just as when we evangelize, Lord, we sometimes we want to see more visible fruit. But, lord, we trust you with this work. This is your work. And you are the Lord of the harvest. We believe you and we pray, though you would help us to be faithful. Help me, Lord, to be faithful.
[00:09:31] To give the gospel to people. And to do so clearly. Bless our study this morning, Lord, help it to be helpful to your people. And guide in it in all things. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:09:45] So we see James 220, faith without works is dead. And we saw last week how that when it says faith without works is dead. And I asked, I posed this question, not last week. Several weeks ago, I posed this.
[00:10:00] What is dead? Dead, in that case is a. Is an adjective, right? Describing what word? What is dead?
[00:10:13] James 220, faith. Faith. Faith. It's describing a faith that is dead. Dead faith. All right, so we can say dead faith and living faith, right? Living faith. And again, there's only one kind of faith, real faith, and that's living faith. Dead faith is not faith. Dead faith is something else. It's a fake faith, perhaps you could say.
[00:10:36] But that's what we're talking about here. So in James 220, faith that faith without works is. That is faith is dead. Is dead.
[00:10:46] Now here's the problem with the cults, and I'll show you this in some detail.
[00:10:54] Is the cults all say false. And not just cults. Okay, this is cults. But this is mainline christian religions as well.
[00:11:05] Anyone, any religion that does not believe in the gospel of grace as taught by scripture, of course they all believe in the gospel of grace if you ask them, right? But they do not have the same definitions. So you have to understand that. But any christian religion that uses the Bible and says they believeth the gospel, except the ones that hold to the gospel of grace, which is what the scripture teaches, in other words, the counterfeits are of, are far more abundant than the real deal. Okay.
[00:11:39] All of them will give lip service to the idea of faith. Yes. You have to believe in God. You have to believe in Jesus. You have to believe that Jesus died on the cross. And those kind of, they'll give lip service to it. But what they do is they say that, but in practice, the only things they're really concerned with is you doing what their religion prescribes, which, according to them, if you do not do that, you are not saved by whatever definition of saved that they give. All right? So that's the key. And the way they say this is James 220. Let me give you a story, tell you a story that happened. So we were in California traveling around to churches. This would have been in 22,000, 920, ten, I think it was the spring of 2010, I believe it was.
[00:12:39] And eleven. Yes, spring of 2011.
[00:12:45] And we were staying at a church at a house in California. It belonged to a missionary, but anyway, we were staying at the house and Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on the door. So anyway, I was actually unloading our van, and they came up and on the back of the van there was a, it was one of these missionary transportation ministry vans, right? So it had a logo. So they knew walking up that I was a Christian of some sort. They knew that based upon that. And so this person asked if she could share some Bible verses with me. So I said, sure. So she turned to John chapter three.
[00:13:25] She's reading the new world translation. But even new world translation says basically the same thing there. Okay? So she turned to John chapter three, and she began reading John 316.
[00:13:37] And she said.
[00:13:39] And so she read the verse and I listened. And of course I was playing dumb, and at the end of it I said, so hold on a second.
[00:13:49] So what you're telling me is if I want to have eternal life, all I have to do is believe in Jesus like this verse says, right? Whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Right?
[00:14:04] And here's what she said. Well, well, we have to go to, I have to go to James chapter two and show you. And I said, and I interrupted her and I said, you're going to go to James chapter two and you're going to say, faith without works is dead. And then you're going to tell me all the other things I have to do to be saved. Right?
[00:14:22] And she took her bible and closed it and decided she was going to head out.
[00:14:30] That is exactly how James two is used in the face of John chapter three, verse 16, which is a perfectly clear verse.
[00:14:39] They cannot accept that verse. So what they do is they go to James two, verse 20, undo what they just read, and then use that verse to load you up with all the requirements of their religion in order to finally be saved.
[00:14:59] Now I'll say this and I'm going to demonstrate it to you in just a minute.
[00:15:03] That is not what James two, verse 20 says.
[00:15:09] In other words, they used James 220 as an excuse or a pretext, kind of the inroad to add any and every requirement to their two faith in Christ.
[00:15:28] And they say, see, if you have faith, then you'll do all these other things. But that's not what James 220 says. Now let me read a couple things to you.
[00:15:37] I hope I'm being clear because I want you to understand what I'm saying here. The Mormons.
[00:15:49] Here we go in Mormonism.
[00:15:55] Here's what according to Mormonism, salvation requires. Number one, faith in Jesus Christ, based on second, Nephi chapter 25, verse 23. For we know that it is by grace that we are saved. Have you heard that before?
[00:16:13] After all we can do.
[00:16:16] That's what it says.
[00:16:20] Okay, doctrines and covenants. You might not know it, but you have. The Book of Mormon has five books. It's not the book of Mormon. And the Bible. There's the book of Mormon. The Bible, doctrines of covenants, pearl of great price. I think there's one more. It might be four. Is it four or five? I can't remember. I think there's a fifth one.
[00:16:40] It says this, behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven. And I the Lord, remember them no more. But this ye may know if a man this ye may know, if a man repenteth of his sins, behold, he will confess them and forsake them.
[00:16:54] All right. Number three, baptism is essential to salvation. Again. Second, Nephi 31 five says, and now if the lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water to fulfill all righteousness, o then how much more need we need? Have we being unholy to be baptized, yea, even by water?
[00:17:16] Number four, receive the Holy Ghost.
[00:17:19] Same book says, follow thou me, and do the things which ye have seen, seen me do. Listen. Now the Holy Ghost will come down upon you.
[00:17:27] And here's the kicker. Now this. Now listen to this because you're going to see this again.
[00:17:31] Enduring to the end.
[00:17:34] Doctrines and covenants 14 seven. And if you keep my commandments and endure to the end, you shall have eternal life, which is the greatest gift of all the gifts of God, how does that related to James 220?
[00:17:52] Believing and then enduring to the end, whatever that means. That is a totally abused verse. But anyway, so notice all these other things beside what John 316 says that are added.
[00:18:05] How do they figure that they can do that? Here's the way they do it. They fit it all in James 220. If you want to know that's where they fit it.
[00:18:13] They think if you believe in Jesus like we say, then all these other things that we prescribe you will also do. And if you don't do those, then that means you're not saved. That's what it means.
[00:18:25] Job's witnesses have a similar setup.
[00:18:33] Here's what it says from the article. What must I do to be saved? On their website, salvation is possible only because of Jesus ransom sacrifice. Notice they say only possible because of Jesus ransom sacrifice. In other words, that's not the key. That's one element that enables you to be saved.
[00:18:55] Without it, none of us would have any hope of eternal life. You see how deceptive that is? It sounds just about right.
[00:19:02] Listen to this. What does God require of us? This is a brochure. It says this, to gain salvation, you must have accurate knowledge of God's purposes and his will. What they mean is basically the watchtower.
[00:19:13] All right. Repentance and dedication to God from the article, how can you have a close friendship with God? It says this quote, if you wish to have a relationship with God and gain his approval, you need to stop practicing anything that he condemns and you must turn to him in repentance.
[00:19:33] Okay, baptism in the book, what does the Bible really teach? It says this quote, baptism is a requirement for those seeking salvation. It shows that the person has repented of their sins and dedicated themselves to Jehovah.
[00:19:47] Okay, here's another one from the article. Why make disciples? It says this quote, preaching is an essential part of a Christian's life and a requirement for salvation.
[00:20:04] Faithfully enduring. You've heard that before, right?
[00:20:09] In the article, how to endure to the end says this, the hope of everlasting life is offered to those who faithfully endure in doing God's will.
[00:20:21] Where did they get, how do they, what Bible verse did they go to to add all of these other things beside believing in Jesus? James 220, you thought it was just a little verse with just like ten or twelve words. And it's actually, it's a big enough verse to fit every doctrine in all of every false christian religion in the whole world in that one verse.
[00:20:49] Now let's look at James two.
[00:20:59] James two describes it, talks about faith in works.
[00:21:03] But the works in James two are not the set of rules that we say someone has to keep.
[00:21:11] That's not the works in James two. And I'll prove it to you so you can't. This is what is called private interpretation. When you come at a scripture, they're also called Eisegesis. When you come out of scripture with an idea that you want to be there, and you make the idea appear out of thin air, so you come at it and you impose the idea upon it. So here's the idea that's being imposed on James two is that works is anything I say it is that my religion says I have to do to be saved in James chapter two. Okay, but that is not what we see in James chapter two. The works spoken of in James chapter two are the works that follow the faith and that flow from that very faith to demonstrate that that faith is genuine.
[00:22:09] Now, again, the works spoken of in James two are the works that follow and spring from that very faith.
[00:22:20] It is the natural outworking of faith. Okay, let me give you a couple of illustrations for what I'm saying, and then we'll look at the verses. At our house, we have a mean smoke detector.
[00:22:38] Every time we open the oven when it's hot, the smoke detector goes off and we have to wave it. You know, the battery's good. It's just highly, highly sensitive, right?
[00:22:52] As a result of that, we kind of get used to hearing it.
[00:22:55] So what happens if one night we're laying in bed and the smoke detector goes off?
[00:23:04] You know, we might hear it and we might think, well, it's probably just somebody. Maybe one of the kids went down there and made a snack, or, you know, maybe it's already highly sensitive. It might have just completely bit the dust, and it's going crazy, whatever.
[00:23:19] But no matter what, here's the thing. I don't believe that there's an actual fire.
[00:23:27] So I lay in bed, or actually, I probably yell at one of my kids to go make sure, turn the smoke detector on.
[00:23:35] But if I believed that the smoke detector would go off, what would I do? Go water my lawn?
[00:23:41] Go get gas in my car.
[00:23:44] You see, those works aren't related to the faith. They're not connected with the faith. This is exactly what the false religion does. Just adds a bunch of random works. They say, no, but this is directly connected to the faith. If I believe that there is actual fire from the smoke alarm, what am I going to do? I'm going to get up and go deal with the fire. That's the works that follow that faith. Do you understand what I'm saying? That makes sense.
[00:24:10] I remember when we were in Cambodia, there was a water outage, which I just want to tell you, if you've never been in one of those, a water outage is way worse than an electrical outage. I mean, water is the magnitude worse.
[00:24:26] And there were rumors swirling that they were going to cut. There was going to be no water at all for, I think it was a long period of time.
[00:24:38] And so they were telling people, you need to fill up whatever tanks you have. You need to fill it to the brim. And because there's not going to be water. And so there was a question.
[00:24:46] Do I believe? Because rumors, you know, especially there. Rumors spread very quickly, and rumors spread very quickly, and people believed them in things, especially there. And so I had a. I had a, you know, is it true? Is it nothing? But do you know what determined what I really believed?
[00:25:07] I mean, part of me, from my, you know, when we were going through it, I said, you know, I just don't believe that. But you know what I did?
[00:25:16] Somebody tell me what I did.
[00:25:18] I filled up something with water, but how is it that I didn't believe it, but then I filled something with water? You see that inconsistency? You know, why? What did the faith, what did the works demonstrate? That I believed it a little bit, right?
[00:25:34] The works followed and were directly connected to the faith. Do you see what I'm saying?
[00:25:42] This is what we see in James two.
[00:25:47] Okay?
[00:25:50] Notice what it says in verse 14. What doth it profit my brethren? Though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him? Now, the question is, people latch onto that verse, the last part, and say, can faith save him? Well, no, obviously not, because that's fake faith.
[00:26:04] You know why? Because it has no works, which means it's dead. Dead faith can't save anybody. All right? That's why you have verse 19 talking about the devils.
[00:26:16] So people have misused that verse as well. But notice. But this does raise an interesting point. In verse 14, if a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him? You know, there are many, many people, many, many people that say, oh, I believe in Jesus, and there is no evidence of faith at all in their life. That verse is directly condemns that situation. No evidence that that person actually believes what they say they believe.
[00:26:52] No evidence at all. And one of the primary ways that faith is demonstrated at least in the short term is confession.
[00:27:00] If you see someone who has trusted in Jesus and they refuse to confess that fact, that's a strong indicator that they have not yet truly believed in Christ, because confession is one of those works that directly is connected to faith. That's what Romans chapter ten tells us.
[00:27:19] Notice verse 15. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled. Notice the words. They sound nice, warm words notwithstanding. Ye give them not those things which were needful to the body. What doth it profit? This is an example of the faith shown in the warm words directly connected to the works, which is providing food. You see, there's a direct connection between the works of works and the faith.
[00:27:50] They're not disconnected of some made up series of things you do.
[00:27:56] Go on down. Verse 17. Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead. Being alone, yea, a man may say, thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Now look at the end of verse 18 again.
[00:28:14] I will show thee my faith by my works. Why is this man doing the works?
[00:28:25] He's doing the works because of his faith. You see, he's showing his faith. So the core of this man in verse number 18 is not the works. His faith is what animates and energizes his. It produces his works.
[00:28:39] This is perfectly consistent.
[00:28:49] And also in verse number 18, you see, he says, I will show thee my faith by my works. Notice when you show your faith by your works, that shows that that is the outward thing that everybody on the outside sees, because faith is inward.
[00:29:06] The works that faith produces are the things that are seen by others, showing one's faith by your works. Verse number 19. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, o vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
[00:29:32] Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? And by works was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled, which Saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. So here's what this verse says.
[00:29:46] Abraham's faith is in Genesis 15 six, right? That's what Josh quoted when God showed him the stars. Everybody on the same page. I know we're kind of reviewing a lot, but I.
[00:29:59] Abraham's original faith was in Genesis 15 six.
[00:30:02] And then in this verse, says, when Abraham offered Isaac in Genesis 22 that he fulfilled his faith. That was the works part. That came later. That's a big. That's a big span of time between the two, is it not?
[00:30:23] What was God's promise that Abraham believed when he believed in the Lord? In Genesis 15 specifically, what was God's promise? It wasn't. He wasn't believing in Christ. That wasn't the context. I know that sounds like blasphemy to some people, but in Genesis 15 six, that was not the context. What was it he said? Remember, look at the stars, so shall thy seed be. That was the promise. And Abraham hearing that, believed in the Lord, and it was counted on him for righteousness. Okay, how is that, then? That's the faith part. How is that then, related to the works that he fulfilled when he offered Isaac? It is directly connected. Do you know why? Because he's offering his son. That was the fulfillment of that very promise. So when Abraham. This is why Abraham is known as the father of faith. His faith was amazing. When he offered Isaac upon the altar, he was still thinking about the thing that God had promised him in Genesis 15.
[00:31:35] He was still thinking about it. And even though he didn't know how it was possible, in fact, he thought that God might raise him from the dead. I his faith was so strong in what God had promised him that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. He did the works. See, he believed that his seed, though he had only Isaac, that his seed would be as the stars, and so he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. You see how the faith and the works are directly connected.
[00:32:11] Now, there was never what you do not see in James chapter two.
[00:32:23] It's also, we could look at Rahab as well. Rahab is mentioned in verse number 25.
[00:32:30] What you never see is this.
[00:32:32] You believe in Jesus, and when you believe in Jesus. Now, here is an entirely new list of requirements that we say that you must do, and then you will be saved, probably, which is exactly what misuse of James 220 does.
[00:32:50] It's, see, if you have faith and you're gonna do all these, well, hold on. No, no, no. If I have faith in Christ, I'm going to confess him, because that is directly connected.
[00:33:01] Whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed. Right? That's romans ten, verse ten. It's directly connected to my faith, the works.
[00:33:20] So, taking this out of context, James two, this is a means whereby these false religions can control people into the future.
[00:33:35] Because by adding this list of do's and don'ts, things they have to do, all the while calling it. It's under the heading, believing in God, believing in Christ. It's all under that heading.
[00:33:47] That's what's so tricky about it.
[00:33:50] It's all under that heading. By doing that, they're able to hang people's salvation in eternal life, the hope of eternal life, in front of them like a carrot in front of a donkey, to keep them in their religion.
[00:34:06] But listen, I was going to say, do we do that? But that's not the important thing. We shouldn't do that. Does the scripture do that? No. You know what God gives you? He gives you the whole package at the beginning. Listen now, this is amazing.
[00:34:22] The Lord, the moment, the instant that the Lord sees faith in the heart toward Christ, that moment, that person gets the whole deal. Isn't that amazing?
[00:34:38] He doesn't wait. You do all these other things. If you do it all, then I'll give it to the end. That is false. He gives you eternal life. He gives you an inheritance. He puts you in Christ, he gives you the Holy Spirit. He does, he transforms. You're born again, you're adopted in his family. All these things that are irreversible blessings. Irreversible blessings. The God of heaven gives those to us at once.
[00:35:03] And because he is in us, and because our faith is real, he knows because he saw it.
[00:35:10] The works play themselves out. But all of those blessings he gave to us at the front, we're not dependent on what comes after. But still all the works will come after. They will. Because it's true faith. It has to be. That's what faith does. It produces works that demonstrate the reality of faith. Isn't that amazing? We're not waiting on all these things for God to give us. They are ours now.
[00:35:41] Amazing. Let's pray.
