All right, good morning, church family.
Once again as you find your seat, if you would open your
Bibles to the book of James this morning, we're going to be in
chapter 2 and verses 19 to 26. James 2, verses 19 to 26.
Let me start by reading God's Word and then open us in a word
of prayer and and then we'll get your expedition of the text and
our application of the text. So James 2 beginning in verse
19, you believe that God is 1. You do well, even the demons
believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you
foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
Was not Abraham our father, justified by works when he
offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith
was completed by his works, 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.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by
faith alone. 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?
For as the body apart from the Spirit is dead, so also faith
apart from works is dead. Would you pray with me, Lord?
I pray this morning that You would convict us all to examine
our faith and to perhaps be a means of grace and helping
others to examine theirs. That we would understand the
true nature of saving faith that we were not perhaps asked this
question this morning. Lord, what does make my faith
different than a demon's faith? Is it different, and if so, why
or how so? Lord, would you use this text
this morning to challenge us, to convict us, to reveal to us what
it means to have faith? When we say that we believe in
Jesus, what do we mean by that? Help us to understand that this
morning. God, I pray in his name, Amen.
How much of the Bible Can you believe and not be saved?
How much of this book Can you believe and not be saved?
All of it. You can believe all of it and
not be saved. A person can read this book and
at the end of reading it they can say that's true, all of this
is true, and not actually be saved.
Such a person can have faith, but their faith be no better
than a demon's faith. How so?
Because they don't love it. They don't love it.
They don't submit to it. They don't give their life.
What makes my faith different than a demon's faith?
That's the central question we're asking this morning.
Let's start by looking at expedition of the text.
I'll go through it verse by verse and then I have 7 points
of application for you this morning.
Let's start in verse 19 where we're going to pick up this
morning 19 a the first part where James writes, you believe
that God is 1. You do.
Well, the last week we saw this argument by James in verses 14
to 17 where he gives the church a series of questions and three
questions. And then in verse 18, James
brings up this hypothetical objector to his argument.
He says that someone will inevitably say back to me,
James, some have faith and others have works.
You can't expect everybody in the church to have both.
And now James is going to address this hypothetical person
who says that his faith is sufficient.
All right, that that's the argument.
This this hypothetical objector is saying, James, my faith is
sufficient. Not everybody is going to have
works that go along with it. And James is going to address
this person. He says you believe that God is
1, you do well. Now what does that mean?
You believe that God is 1, you do well.
This is most likely a reference to the Shema.
The Shema is Deuteronomy 64 Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the
Lord is 1. Now the NIV translates this a
little bit different and and James he says you believe that
there is one God rather than God is 1.
There is one God. That may be the sense that James
means, but either way you take it.
This verse highlights the exclusivity of God.
There is only one God and the unity of God, God is 1.
There are not multiple manifestations of God.
There are three persons, but not three different essences.
There's only one essence, the unity of God.
And so James says that this hypothetical objector, you not
only believe that God exists, but you also believe that there
is only one God. You you don't believe that Baal
is God. You don't believe that Ashtaroth
is God, or that Moloch or Zeus or Artemis or Hermes or you
believe that Yahweh is the one true God, the God of the Bible
is the one true God. And consequently James says, you
do well, you do well to believe that brother.
But then right after commending this objector, he challenges
them. Right after commending them he
challenges them. Look at 19-B, Even the demons
believe and shudder. Now what does that mean?
Before we answer what it means, we probably need to 1st ask who
or what are demons. I don't want to suggest or
assume that everybody knows what demons are what.
You know when James just says you, the demons believe an
incomplete explanation of this. Demons are talked about 53 times
in the Gospels, but they're only talked about 10 times in the
rest of the New Testament. It's pretty rare outside of the
gospels to to hear about demons. It's debatable as to what demons
are and where they came from. The most common interpretation
is that they were once angels created by God, good angels
created by God, and Satan rebelled against God.
That that that these angels join Satan and his rebellion and thus
became demons. That's the most common
interpretation. This is somewhat of a
hermeneutical theory though, because the Bible does not
explicitly state this. But at the very least, we know
from the gospels that the demons are real.
They are here on earth, they have the capability to possess
people, and they are active in opposing God's Kingdom.
We know those things to be true. And James says that these
demons, they believe. The Greek word therefore believe
is pistuo. It's actually the verb form of
faith. Faith pistus, the verb form is
pistuo. He says the demons pistuo, they
faith the verb form of it. James's point is that the demons
themselves, they have faith, even the demons believe that
there is one God. The demons not only believe
there is a God, they believe that there is one God, that
Yahweh is God. Mark 123 to 24.
There was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he
cried out when he saw Jesus. What have you to do with us?
Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are. You are the Holy One of Israel,
the Holy one of God. Now the demons not only believe,
they also shudder in their belief.
What does that mean? Shudder?
This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament.
It means to tremble with fear. The demons not only have faith
that God is God, they also fear God as God.
When demons encountered Jesus, they feared Him.
Remember what the legions of the legion of demons Jesus
encountered. A legion of demons may have been
as many as 2000. There were 2000 pigs may have
been as many as 2000. The legion of demons said to
Jesus, I beg you, do not torment me.
Luke 828 They were afraid of Jesus, of God.
They feared God. Look at verse 20.
Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart
from works is useless. Now, James is still talking to
this objector in verse 18. He's still addressing this
objector. James asked him a question.
He says, do you want to be shown?
I want to stop there for just a minute.
That's pivotal. Do you want to be shown?
Just as a side note, our job is not to win arguments.
Our job is not to win debates. Our job is to show people the
scriptures, which is exactly what James does.
This person is objecting to James and rather than James get
into a verbal spat with him, James just goes to the
scriptures. He says, do you want to be shown
and look at what he, look what he calls him.
He says, you foolish person. Now lest we think that James is
being harsh here, he is not. Both Jesus and Paul call people
foolish multiple times. Luke 1140 you fools.
Luke 24250 foolish ones. First Corinthians 1536, you
foolish person. Galatians 310 Foolish Galatians.
James asked. Do you want to be shown, you
foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
James has already told us that faith apart from works is dead.
Now he uses a different word. He uses the word useless.
Or you can translate it worthless.
Right? As the age-old pastor joke goes,
faith that does not work does not work, it's useless.
And then James is going to give 2 Old Testament examples to make
his point. The verse 21 was not Abraham our
father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on
the altar. James, ask a question.
Most of you remember the story, but for those who don't, if you
remember the story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham had wanted
him and his wife Sarah had wanted a son for years.
And they waited and God had promised them a son.
And then finally, after waiting 25 years after the promise was
given, when Abraham's 100 years old and and Sarah's 90 years
old, they're given a son. After a decade or so passes, one
day God comes to him and says, I want you, Abraham, to take your
son, wake up in the morning, climb this mountain, and I want
you to sacrifice him on top of this mountain.
And Abraham does it, wakes up the next morning, gathers the
wood, gathers his son. He climbed the mountain, he
straps him to the wood, pulls out his knife.
He's ready to to kill his son. And then only at the 11th hour
does God stop him and tell him he doesn't have to do it.
And James asked the question, He says church was not Abraham
justified when he did this? Now James uses a word here
that's going to give us some theological problems, and the
word is justified. It's used three times in this
passage, verse 21, verse 24, and verse 25.
Now what does this word justified mean?
Here's the definition. To render a favorable verdict,
to vindicate, to be found in the right to be free of charges.
Here's the idea. Suppose you are standing for a
judge for speeding, right? You got, you got caught speeding
and you go and you're guilty, right?
You, you objectively were speeding, you're guilty and you
need to pay a fine of $200.00. But the judge says to you, I'll
let you go without a penalty. You may go and you don't need to
pay the penalty. What does he do there?
He justifies you. He renders A favourable verdict
and says you may go without a penalty.
That's the idea of justification.
And James asked, was not Abraham justified by works?
Works meaning when he offered up his son Isaac as a sacrifice.
Now why does that create a theological problem for us?
Here's why. Because Paul clearly states that
a person is justified by faith, not by works.
Paul clearly states this several times.
Let me let me just read a few verses to you.
Romans 324 By works of the law, no human being will be justified
in his sight. Romans 328 For we all, that one
is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 51 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
Galatians 216 Yeah, we know that a person is not justified by
works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, because
by works of the law no one will be justified.
Here's one more Galatians 324 in order that we might be justified
by faith. Now, how do we reconcile this?
How do we reconcile these two ideas?
James says that Abraham was justified by works.
Paul says we are justified by faith.
How do we reconcile this? There are several ways to
reconcile this, but I think maybe the most helpful is to
actually go to Paul himself and see what he wrote.
Paul actually agrees with James because Paul writes this in
Romans 213. He says, for it is not the
hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the
doers of the law who will be justified.
Did you catch that? Paul says in Romans 230.
It is not the hearers of the law who writes for God, but it is
the doers, the workers of the law, who will be justified.
I'll give you one other way to reconcile this.
This is the most helpful quote I have found on this.
This is by a man named Joaquin Jeremiah's.
Here's what he writes. Paul speaks of Christian faith,
and then he says in parentheses, trust in Jesus.
That's always defining Christian faith.
Paul speaks of Christian faith, trust in Jesus, and Jewish
works, parentheses, obeying the law so as to justify oneself.
Whereas James refers to Jewish faith, parentheses, pure
monotheism, and Christian works, parentheses, good deeds that
flow from salvation. So here's what he's saying.
Paul is Speaking of Christian faith and Jewish works.
James is referring to Jewish faith and Christian works.
I mean, it's a good way to understand this and what these
two men are saying. Look at verse 22.
You see that Faith was active along with His works and Faith
was completed by His works. James says that Faith was active
along with His works. Literally, Faith was working
together with His works and Faith was completed by His
works. It could also be translated,
perfected by His works. Now what does this mean?
What does it mean that faith was completed by his works?
Faith was perfected by his works.
One way to think of it is this. You ever ask yourself the
question, if God knew that Abraham would sacrifice his son,
if he knew that Abraham would go through with it, why make him go
through with it? It wasn't as that God was up
there and he's like, I wonder if Abraham loves me more than his
son. Let's, let's find out.
He's omniscient, He knows. So if God knew that or if he
thought, I wonder if I asked him to do this, if he would do it,
He knew he would go through with it.
Why make him go through with it if he knew?
Another way to think of it is this.
If God knew that Jesus would die on the cross for the sins of the
world, why make him go through with it?
Why isn't the knowledge of his son's willingness enough?
Why make him go through with it? Because the climbing up the
mountain and tying his son to an altar and pulling out his knife
completed his faith. At this moment nobody could
argue that his faith wasn't genuine and the climbing up of
Mount Calvary and being nailed to a cross completed Jesus
sacrifice. Nobody could argue that his love
wasn't genuine. You see, our faith is
meaningless unless it's completed.
Our faith is meaningless unless it is working together with our
works. Look at verse 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. James says that scripture was
fulfilled. What scripture?
Genesis 15-6. Do you remember in Genesis, the
book of Genesis, God had promised Abraham and Sarah that
they would have a son, but many years went by and still no son.
Some 25 from the time that God promised them a son to the time
they actually had one was 25 years.
And Abraham was growing discouraged and he asked the
Lord, He's like, Lord, can't you just use like my servant?
Can't you just use Ishmael, you know, do something else.
And God brought him outside, and he said, Abraham, look toward
the heaven, Number the Stars if you are able to number them.
And then he said to him, so shall your offspring be.
And what happened? Abraham believed the Lord, and
he counted it to him as righteousness.
Now what does that mean? Counted it to him as
righteousness. Some translated as credited to
him as righteousness. In other words, prior to his
justification, Abraham stands as guilty before God.
All he has on his Ledger is liabilities and debt.
But when he believed God's promise wiped his debt clean, he
wiped his liabilities clean and God credited him with
righteousness. He is now counted righteous
before God and as a result Abraham was called a friend of
God. This title comes from Second
Chronicles 27 and Isaiah 41. Eight.
Now one question is, is why does James include the scripture
reference? Why does James reference Genesis
15-6? Why does he do that?
I think it's to show that righteousness was not credited
to Abraham when he offered up Isaac.
Make sure you don't miss that righteousness was not credited
to him when he offered up Isaac. It was credited to him when he
believed God. But that crediting was
fulfilled. It was completed when Abraham
offered up Isaac. Look at verse 24.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by
faith alone. Now this verse clearly seems to
contradict what Paul is telling us.
If you put James and Paul side by side, it creates problems.
It created. I mean, to the point for Martin
Luther, he, he burned the book of James because he couldn't
reconcile it with with Paul. But James and Paul are dressing
different contexts with different meanings.
Here are some of the key differences.
And you must, you must, must understand the differences of
how these men are using these words, right?
We all know that when we use words, they mean different
things. They have different contexts.
We all know this. Let me give you 3 examples of
the of the words. The word works.
When Paul talks about works, he
is typically referring to relying on the works of the law
to save us. That's what it typically means.
When James talks about works, he is referring to actions
performed out of love for Christ and his people.
They're referring to two different things.
That's one. The second is justified.
When Paul talks about justification being justified,
he's typically referring to the punctilier action of when a
person is regenerated. There is a moment.
There's a punctilier moment in time when a person goes from
dead to alive. They are regenerated.
They are justified in that moment.
That's typically what Paul means when he talks about
justification. When James talks about
justification, he is referring to the future event of
justification that will happen at the judgement.
So the argument is I have been justified, but at the judgment I
will be justified. Those that God has justified
will justify at the judgment. James is talking about that
event. And here's a third one, faith.
When Paul talks about faith, he is referring to a faith that
does not rely on the law to save us, but a faith in Christ Jesus
to save us. When Paul says that we're saved
by faith alone, he's referring to a faith that does not rely on
the law, but it's relying on Christ.
When James talks about faith in this passage, he's referring to
a dead demon faith that is nothing more than mental ascent.
That's how he's using the idea of faith, just a mental ascent.
So one way to think of this is this.
Here's here's a phrase that you can memorize or use.
We were justified by faith alone.
We will not be justified if faith is alone.
We were justified by faith alone.
We will not be justified if faith is alone.
Look at verse 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.
Now James gives one more example to make his point.
We're we're going through the book of Joshua and Sunday
school. We studied this past.
It's not too long ago. If you remember, Rahab had faith
in Israel's God. When they came to her, it was
clear that she already had faith in Israel's God.
We know this because what does she say to the spies?
She says, I know that the Lord has given you the land.
How does she know this? For the Lord your God, He is God
in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
There is Rahab confessing her faith in Israel's God, but this
faith is put to the test when the spies come to her.
She risked her life by receiving them, by hiding them, by
protecting them, by sending them out another way.
And James's point is that it wasn't enough for Rahab to
simply believe that Israel's God was the true God.
This faith must be tested. It must be proven by her works.
Last verse, Look at verse 26. For as the body apart from the
Spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
James uses a very basic analogy here.
God has made us body and spirit. There is no such thing as a
living body apart from a spirit. What makes the body alive is the
spirit inside of us, sometimes referred to as the soul.
When the soul was removed, the body is dead.
There's no such thing as a living body apart.
There are no zombies or or soulless humans walking around.
Likewise, faith apart from works is dead.
A body without the spirit is just a rotting corpse.
And likewise, a faith apart from works is as good as a corpse.
We'll stop there with the expedition of the text
application. 7 points for us this morning.
Number one, theism will not save anybody, not even monotheism,
not even Christian monotheism. Theism will not save anybody,
not even monotheism. Not even Christian monotheism.
Often when I hear people talk about religion or spirituality
or possibly the afterlife, they'll say something like, I
believe in God. I believe that there's a God,
right? I mean, if you go talk to
somebody at your workplace or maybe in your family or out on
the basketball court or just at the playground and you're like,
you know, hey, what do you believe spiritually?
You know what we're like, we're, you know, what are your beliefs?
You know, they often will say something like, I believe in
God. I believe that there's a God.
That's a very common statement that people will say.
This doctrine is called theism, the belief that there is a God,
as opposed to atheism, which believes that there is no God.
Now it is good to be a theist, as opposed to an atheist.
The only problem is that theism will not save anybody.
Sometimes people will take it a step further and they will
commit to monotheism, the belief that there is not only a God,
but there is only one God. This doctrine is known as
monotheism, as opposed to polytheism, which teaches that
there are multiple gods. Now it is good to be a
monotheist as opposed to a polytheist.
The only problem is is that monotheism will not save
anybody. And then sometimes people will
take it one step further and they will commit to Christian
monotheism, the belief that that not only is there a God, not
only is there only one God, but that the one true God is the God
of the Bible. We call this Christian
monotheism, as opposed to, let's say, Islam, which is also a
monotheistic religion as well. Now, it is good to be a
Christian monotheist as opposed to a Muslim.
The only problem is that Christian monotheism will not
save anybody. How do we know this?
Because the demons are Christian monotheist.
The demons are Christian monotheist.
They know that God exists, They know that there is only one true
God exists, and they know that the one true God is the God of
the Bible. And they are not saved.
Friends, it is not enough to be a Christian monotheist.
Hear me when I say this. There are some of you.
This is true in every church. There are some of you, if not
maybe only one of you, but there are at least some of you who are
banking your eternity on the fact that you are a Christian
monotheist. #2 Orthodox theology will not save anybody.
Orthodox theology will not save anybody, AW Tozer wrote.
The Devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil
still. Charles Spurgeon wrote, The
demons are not atheist. They have perfect knowledge of
God and yet remain devils. RC Sprawl wrote.
Satan is the most Orthodox theologian in the universe.
He knows the truth better than we do, JC Rao wrote.
A man may know right doctrine as well as the devil and yet be no
better for it, James writes. Even the demons believe
literally, even the demons faith.
Faith can be a verb in the Greek, Even the demons faith.
I have met many, many professing Christians through the years who
love theology. They love doctrine, they love
knowledge. But I question that they love
Christ. Now let me back up and say I
love theology, I love doctrine, I love Bible knowledge.
I have devoted my life to teaching them.
But there is always a danger with this.
The danger is to think that the goal of Christianity is to get
your theology and doctrine right.
I actually see two dangers in the church with this topic.
On the one side is the danger to under emphasize doctrine and
theology. To think that doctrine is the
executive membership of Christianity, right?
And you might think, you know what, I'm fine with the basic
membership. I know that our church offers
the executive membership. You know, Pastor Matt talks
about these fancy words and justification and propitiation
and sanctification and, and, and, you know, but you know
what, I'm fine with the basic membership.
I don't need the executive version.
I don't need to understand all these fancy terms.
That's dangerous. That's dangerous.
But the other danger is to think.
I know my doctrine, I know my theology, I know how to exegete
Romans 9 to 11, and therefore I feel good.
I feel pretty good about my salvation.
That's dangerous too, brothers and sisters, Orthodox theology
does not save us. You can get your theology
perfect and go to hell. Three, Even a proper fear of God
will not save anybody. Even a proper fear of God will
not save anybody. James writes that not only do
the demons believe, they also shudder, meaning they have a
proper fear of God. Mark 311 Whenever the unclean
spirit saw him, they fell down before him.
When the rich young ruler came up to Jesus, he ran up to Jesus,
and he knelt down before him. Out of reverence, out of
respect, he bent his knee to Jesus, but he could not bend his
heart. You see, fear of God often takes
the form of fear of hell. Fear of God will often take the
form of fear of hell. It's good to fear hell.
Some people will begin to believe that I believe that
there's a heaven and a hell. I don't want to go to hell, so
let me be a Christian. What do I need to do to make
sure I don't go there? I'd like to go here.
I'd like behind what's behind door number A Johnny.
But fear of hell will not save anybody, JC Rowell writes.
No one ever yet became holy by fear of hell.
A man may feel terrified and frightened, but this is not
conversion. True repentance is born of
seeing Christ's love, Jonathan Edwards writes.
Terror will not bring the heart to God.
It may restrain sin for a season, but only a sense of
God's beauty and mercy and Christ will incline the soul to
Him, John Owen writes. Convictions from fear of hell do
not of themselves produce true repentance.
Many have such convictions who never come to Christ.
Listen to me friends, if Christ is nothing more to you than fire
insurance, you will have a big problem when you get to heaven
because your deductible will be a quadrillion dollars. 4 Mental
assent to the truth of the gospel will not save a person,
we must love the main character. Mental assent to the truth of
the Gospel will not save a person.
We must love the main character. If Christian monotheism will not
save a person, if orthodox theology will not save a person,
if proper fear of God will not save a person, what will save a
person? Mental ascent to the truth of
the gospel will not save a person.
Let me, let me ask you a series of questions.
If I were to ask you a series of questions right now, do you
believe that there is a God and that it is the God of the Bible?
Do you believe this God created the world and all that's in it?
Do you believe that there is sin in this world and that you are a
Sinner? Do you believe that God has a
Son named Jesus Christ who is fully God?
Do you believe that Jesus came to this world as a human, lived
a perfect life, died on the cross for the sins of the world,
and three days later rose from the dead?
Do you believe that there is a heaven and a hell, and that upon
death all who place their faith in Jesus will go to heaven and
all those who don't will go to hell?
There's one more question. Is it possible to answer yes to
all of those questions and not be saved?
Yes, yes. How do we know that?
Because the demons answer yes to all of those questions.
They answer yes to every single one of them.
Mental assent to the truth of the gospel will not save
anybody. We must love the main character.
We must love Jesus. This is why James writes 2 times
in his letter, which God has promised to those who love him.
5 Show the blind the scriptures. It's the only way they will ever
see. Show the blind the scriptures.
It's the only way they will ever see.
This is really a side point of James's main argument.
I, I, I I get that. But I wanted to include it
because James is exhorting some of the church to see.
That's what he's doing. He's exhorting them to see.
Why? Because he wants them to see
that their faith is dead. They're blind to it.
There are some in the church whose faith is dead, Then they
are blind to it. They believe it's a lie, but
it's not. And he wants them to see this.
And the question is, is how do you get a dead person to see
that they're dead if they believe that they're alive?
I ask this question all the time.
There are people on the church, there are members in our church
that I may believe are spiritually dead.
And I ask myself, how can I get you to see this when you're
convinced you're alive? Maybe you are, maybe you're not.
How do you get a blind person to see that they are blind if they
believe they're seen? By showing them the scriptures,
Showing them the Scriptures, James writes.
Do you want to be shown? Do you want to be shown?
And how does he show them? He shows them with the word of
God. He takes them to the scriptures.
He points them to two examples of faith, Abraham and Rahab.
Brothers and sisters, our job is not to convince people that they
are saved or not saved. Let me be clear on this.
My job is not to convince you that you are saved or you are
not saved. Your job is not to convince
anybody that they are saved or not saved.
Our job is to point them to the scriptures that they might see
it for themselves. 6 Sanctification is not only
necessary, it's certain. Sanctification is not only
necessary, it's certain. James gives this example of
Abraham to show how faith and works are related.
James says that faith was active along with his works, and faith
was completed by his works. Now, we've already looked at the
fact that works are necessary for final salvation.
We've already looked at that fact not to earn final
salvation, but to give evidence that initial salvation has
happened. But another way to look at this
is this. Sanctification is not only
necessary, it is certain, meaning that a person who has
been truly justified will be sanctified.
If you have been justified, you will be sanctified.
It is a certainty and the way that James is making this point
is to give to show that Abraham gave evidence to his
justification. He gave evidence when he offered
up Isaac that that that gave evidence to the fact that when
he said he believed God, he really did believe God.
And we give evidence to our justification when when we are
sanctified, when we are sanctified.
Now here's where I want to challenge us all.
When I use the word sanctified, I don't mean read your Bible,
pray, attend church and tithe. Certainly all of those are a
part of sanctification. Let's be clear on that.
I mean the kind of sanctification that looks life
altering. Looks life altering.
I think the reason that James gives this example of Abraham
offering up Isaac is because the story is so mind blowing, isn't
it? I mean, who, who, who could do
this? Who could be willing to OfferUp
their son a person whom God had changed?
Isn't this what God does in a person's life when he saves
them? Doesn't your life just look so
different? Matthew left his tax booth.
James and John left their fishing Nets.
Zacchaeus left his life of fraud.
Paul left his life of murder. Brother, sisters, sanctification
is so much more than just spiritual disciplines and
serving. It's don't don't reduce
sanctification to be like, well, look at my sanctification.
I've read my Bible, I pray, I'm going to church, I tithe, I
serve. It's not less than that, but
it's way more than that. Your life will look radically
different. You will live different.
You will think different. You will feel different.
You will experience life differently.
You just will. It's the kind of faith where
you're willing to sacrifice what you love most, because that's
what Abraham did. Are you willing to sacrifice
what you love most in your life? Would you be willing to give up
what you love most? You will if what you actually
love most is Christ. 7 God will test our faith so that we know
whether what we have is fool's gold or true gold.
God will test our faith so that what we so that we know what we
have is, is fool's gold or true gold.
When we read this passage in James, every one of us,
including myself, should ask ourself these questions.
How do I know if I have a dead faith?
How do I know if I have a demon's faith?
How do I know if my faith is nothing more than a mental
assent to the truth? How do you How do I know that?
Here's how you know. God will test it.
How could Abraham possibly know
if his faith was genuine? You ever think about this?
Perhaps God was simply a means to an end for him.
A means to an end of giving him a son, right?
He wanted a son. God had the ability to give him
a son, God to give him the son. God was nothing more than a
means to an end. How did he know if that's the
case? This is the same argument that
Satan made about Job. Satan basically was accusing Job
saying God he you're just a means to an end to Job.
He just worships you because you pay him.
You pay him. Well.
How did Abraham know if his faith is real?
Because God gave him a test. God put him to the test and when
Abraham passed the test, this is what the Lord said.
For now, I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not
withheld your son, your only son, from me.
Brother and sister, God will give you test in your Christian
walk. The test is not merely to refine
your faith, but also to reveal it.
Let's pray.