1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:01,560 All right, good morning, church family. 2 00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:05,520 Once again as you find your seat, if you would open your 3 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:10,400 Bibles to the book of James this morning, we're going to be in 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:19,160 chapter 2 and verses 19 to 26. James 2, verses 19 to 26. 5 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:25,360 Let me start by reading God's Word and then open us in a word 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,000 of prayer and and then we'll get your expedition of the text and 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:34,160 our application of the text. So James 2 beginning in verse 8 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:44,920 19, you believe that God is 1. You do well, even the demons 9 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:49,360 believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you 10 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,840 foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 11 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:56,160 Was not Abraham our father, justified by works when he 12 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,280 offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 13 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,400 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith 14 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,640 was completed by his works, and the Scripture was fulfilled. 15 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,400 That says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as 16 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,680 righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. 17 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,320 You see that a person is justified by works and not by 18 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:23,760 faith alone. And in the same way, was not 19 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,800 also Rahab the prostitute, justified by works when she 20 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,920 received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 21 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,160 For as the body apart from the Spirit is dead, so also faith 22 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:43,800 apart from works is dead. Would you pray with me, Lord? 23 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:50,120 I pray this morning that You would convict us all to examine 24 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:55,600 our faith and to perhaps be a means of grace and helping 25 00:01:55,600 --> 00:02:02,560 others to examine theirs. That we would understand the 26 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:08,639 true nature of saving faith that we were not perhaps asked this 27 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,880 question this morning. Lord, what does make my faith 28 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:19,440 different than a demon's faith? Is it different, and if so, why 29 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,200 or how so? Lord, would you use this text 30 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:28,640 this morning to challenge us, to convict us, to reveal to us what 31 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,720 it means to have faith? When we say that we believe in 32 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,360 Jesus, what do we mean by that? Help us to understand that this 33 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,720 morning. God, I pray in his name, Amen. 34 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:49,640 How much of the Bible Can you believe and not be saved? 35 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:58,440 How much of this book Can you believe and not be saved? 36 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:09,520 All of it. You can believe all of it and 37 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,640 not be saved. A person can read this book and 38 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:22,200 at the end of reading it they can say that's true, all of this 39 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:27,400 is true, and not actually be saved. 40 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,000 Such a person can have faith, but their faith be no better 41 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,360 than a demon's faith. How so? 42 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,480 Because they don't love it. They don't love it. 43 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,400 They don't submit to it. They don't give their life. 44 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:59,080 What makes my faith different than a demon's faith? 45 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,720 That's the central question we're asking this morning. 46 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,120 Let's start by looking at expedition of the text. 47 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,400 I'll go through it verse by verse and then I have 7 points 48 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:11,640 of application for you this morning. 49 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,600 Let's start in verse 19 where we're going to pick up this 50 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,399 morning 19 a the first part where James writes, you believe 51 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:23,200 that God is 1. You do. 52 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:28,520 Well, the last week we saw this argument by James in verses 14 53 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:33,280 to 17 where he gives the church a series of questions and three 54 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:36,600 questions. And then in verse 18, James 55 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,640 brings up this hypothetical objector to his argument. 56 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,720 He says that someone will inevitably say back to me, 57 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:50,400 James, some have faith and others have works. 58 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,960 You can't expect everybody in the church to have both. 59 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:58,720 And now James is going to address this hypothetical person 60 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,640 who says that his faith is sufficient. 61 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:04,880 All right, that that's the argument. 62 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,280 This this hypothetical objector is saying, James, my faith is 63 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:10,800 sufficient. Not everybody is going to have 64 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,440 works that go along with it. And James is going to address 65 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,320 this person. He says you believe that God is 66 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:23,640 1, you do well. Now what does that mean? 67 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:25,840 You believe that God is 1, you do well. 68 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:28,600 This is most likely a reference to the Shema. 69 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:34,880 The Shema is Deuteronomy 64 Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the 70 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:39,360 Lord is 1. Now the NIV translates this a 71 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,520 little bit different and and James he says you believe that 72 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,520 there is one God rather than God is 1. 73 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:51,360 There is one God. That may be the sense that James 74 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,680 means, but either way you take it. 75 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,000 This verse highlights the exclusivity of God. 76 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:03,760 There is only one God and the unity of God, God is 1. 77 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,760 There are not multiple manifestations of God. 78 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,840 There are three persons, but not three different essences. 79 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:12,920 There's only one essence, the unity of God. 80 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:18,520 And so James says that this hypothetical objector, you not 81 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:22,760 only believe that God exists, but you also believe that there 82 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:27,160 is only one God. You you don't believe that Baal 83 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:29,560 is God. You don't believe that Ashtaroth 84 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:34,200 is God, or that Moloch or Zeus or Artemis or Hermes or you 85 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:40,240 believe that Yahweh is the one true God, the God of the Bible 86 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:46,080 is the one true God. And consequently James says, you 87 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:50,120 do well, you do well to believe that brother. 88 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,760 But then right after commending this objector, he challenges 89 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,080 them. Right after commending them he 90 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:04,320 challenges them. Look at 19-B, Even the demons 91 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,440 believe and shudder. Now what does that mean? 92 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,200 Before we answer what it means, we probably need to 1st ask who 93 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,680 or what are demons. I don't want to suggest or 94 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,680 assume that everybody knows what demons are what. 95 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:23,160 You know when James just says you, the demons believe an 96 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:28,320 incomplete explanation of this. Demons are talked about 53 times 97 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,120 in the Gospels, but they're only talked about 10 times in the 98 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,480 rest of the New Testament. It's pretty rare outside of the 99 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:37,840 gospels to to hear about demons. It's debatable as to what demons 100 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,560 are and where they came from. The most common interpretation 101 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,080 is that they were once angels created by God, good angels 102 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,240 created by God, and Satan rebelled against God. 103 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,760 That that that these angels join Satan and his rebellion and thus 104 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:54,440 became demons. That's the most common 105 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,560 interpretation. This is somewhat of a 106 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,040 hermeneutical theory though, because the Bible does not 107 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:02,920 explicitly state this. But at the very least, we know 108 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,880 from the gospels that the demons are real. 109 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:11,720 They are here on earth, they have the capability to possess 110 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,360 people, and they are active in opposing God's Kingdom. 111 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,640 We know those things to be true. And James says that these 112 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:25,160 demons, they believe. The Greek word therefore believe 113 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,880 is pistuo. It's actually the verb form of 114 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,280 faith. Faith pistus, the verb form is 115 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,480 pistuo. He says the demons pistuo, they 116 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,840 faith the verb form of it. James's point is that the demons 117 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:42,320 themselves, they have faith, even the demons believe that 118 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:44,800 there is one God. The demons not only believe 119 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,480 there is a God, they believe that there is one God, that 120 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,520 Yahweh is God. Mark 123 to 24. 121 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,880 There was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he 122 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,760 cried out when he saw Jesus. What have you to do with us? 123 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:05,280 Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? 124 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:13,360 I know who you are. You are the Holy One of Israel, 125 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:20,920 the Holy one of God. Now the demons not only believe, 126 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:23,880 they also shudder in their belief. 127 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:25,400 What does that mean? Shudder? 128 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:27,600 This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament. 129 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:32,520 It means to tremble with fear. The demons not only have faith 130 00:09:32,680 --> 00:09:37,520 that God is God, they also fear God as God. 131 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,680 When demons encountered Jesus, they feared Him. 132 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,240 Remember what the legions of the legion of demons Jesus 133 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:48,800 encountered. A legion of demons may have been 134 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,480 as many as 2000. There were 2000 pigs may have 135 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,560 been as many as 2000. The legion of demons said to 136 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:59,440 Jesus, I beg you, do not torment me. 137 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:05,800 Luke 828 They were afraid of Jesus, of God. 138 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,440 They feared God. Look at verse 20. 139 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:14,840 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart 140 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:20,280 from works is useless. Now, James is still talking to 141 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:22,960 this objector in verse 18. He's still addressing this 142 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:25,360 objector. James asked him a question. 143 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:28,600 He says, do you want to be shown? 144 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:30,560 I want to stop there for just a minute. 145 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:32,680 That's pivotal. Do you want to be shown? 146 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:36,440 Just as a side note, our job is not to win arguments. 147 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:43,760 Our job is not to win debates. Our job is to show people the 148 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:48,280 scriptures, which is exactly what James does. 149 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,240 This person is objecting to James and rather than James get 150 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,080 into a verbal spat with him, James just goes to the 151 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:57,920 scriptures. He says, do you want to be shown 152 00:10:58,120 --> 00:10:59,800 and look at what he, look what he calls him. 153 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:04,000 He says, you foolish person. Now lest we think that James is 154 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,920 being harsh here, he is not. Both Jesus and Paul call people 155 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:12,120 foolish multiple times. Luke 1140 you fools. 156 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:17,240 Luke 24250 foolish ones. First Corinthians 1536, you 157 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:21,240 foolish person. Galatians 310 Foolish Galatians. 158 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,760 James asked. Do you want to be shown, you 159 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:33,320 foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 160 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,360 James has already told us that faith apart from works is dead. 161 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:40,800 Now he uses a different word. He uses the word useless. 162 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:42,720 Or you can translate it worthless. 163 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,640 Right? As the age-old pastor joke goes, 164 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:55,040 faith that does not work does not work, it's useless. 165 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,960 And then James is going to give 2 Old Testament examples to make 166 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:05,000 his point. The verse 21 was not Abraham our 167 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:10,280 father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on 168 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,560 the altar. James, ask a question. 169 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,040 Most of you remember the story, but for those who don't, if you 170 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:22,080 remember the story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham had wanted 171 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,840 him and his wife Sarah had wanted a son for years. 172 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:27,320 And they waited and God had promised them a son. 173 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:31,120 And then finally, after waiting 25 years after the promise was 174 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,560 given, when Abraham's 100 years old and and Sarah's 90 years 175 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:38,600 old, they're given a son. After a decade or so passes, one 176 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:42,160 day God comes to him and says, I want you, Abraham, to take your 177 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,640 son, wake up in the morning, climb this mountain, and I want 178 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:47,760 you to sacrifice him on top of this mountain. 179 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:52,800 And Abraham does it, wakes up the next morning, gathers the 180 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:57,160 wood, gathers his son. He climbed the mountain, he 181 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,720 straps him to the wood, pulls out his knife. 182 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:06,400 He's ready to to kill his son. And then only at the 11th hour 183 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:10,520 does God stop him and tell him he doesn't have to do it. 184 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:19,000 And James asked the question, He says church was not Abraham 185 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:25,680 justified when he did this? Now James uses a word here 186 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:28,400 that's going to give us some theological problems, and the 187 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:32,200 word is justified. It's used three times in this 188 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:36,080 passage, verse 21, verse 24, and verse 25. 189 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:38,840 Now what does this word justified mean? 190 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,760 Here's the definition. To render a favorable verdict, 191 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,720 to vindicate, to be found in the right to be free of charges. 192 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:52,240 Here's the idea. Suppose you are standing for a 193 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:57,480 judge for speeding, right? You got, you got caught speeding 194 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:00,880 and you go and you're guilty, right? 195 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,480 You, you objectively were speeding, you're guilty and you 196 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:08,120 need to pay a fine of $200.00. But the judge says to you, I'll 197 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:14,520 let you go without a penalty. You may go and you don't need to 198 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,760 pay the penalty. What does he do there? 199 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:23,200 He justifies you. He renders A favourable verdict 200 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,280 and says you may go without a penalty. 201 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,080 That's the idea of justification. 202 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:35,400 And James asked, was not Abraham justified by works? 203 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:40,960 Works meaning when he offered up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. 204 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,120 Now why does that create a theological problem for us? 205 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,480 Here's why. Because Paul clearly states that 206 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,760 a person is justified by faith, not by works. 207 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:59,040 Paul clearly states this several times. 208 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,080 Let me let me just read a few verses to you. 209 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:06,960 Romans 324 By works of the law, no human being will be justified 210 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:11,400 in his sight. Romans 328 For we all, that one 211 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,640 is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 212 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:21,200 Romans 51 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, 213 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:26,040 Galatians 216 Yeah, we know that a person is not justified by 214 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,040 works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, because 215 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,360 by works of the law no one will be justified. 216 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:37,480 Here's one more Galatians 324 in order that we might be justified 217 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:42,600 by faith. Now, how do we reconcile this? 218 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:45,640 How do we reconcile these two ideas? 219 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,920 James says that Abraham was justified by works. 220 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:51,720 Paul says we are justified by faith. 221 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,840 How do we reconcile this? There are several ways to 222 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:59,960 reconcile this, but I think maybe the most helpful is to 223 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:03,800 actually go to Paul himself and see what he wrote. 224 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:08,200 Paul actually agrees with James because Paul writes this in 225 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,600 Romans 213. He says, for it is not the 226 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:17,560 hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the 227 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,760 doers of the law who will be justified. 228 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:25,880 Did you catch that? Paul says in Romans 230. 229 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,120 It is not the hearers of the law who writes for God, but it is 230 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:35,680 the doers, the workers of the law, who will be justified. 231 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:39,680 I'll give you one other way to reconcile this. 232 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,160 This is the most helpful quote I have found on this. 233 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,800 This is by a man named Joaquin Jeremiah's. 234 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:50,480 Here's what he writes. Paul speaks of Christian faith, 235 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:53,760 and then he says in parentheses, trust in Jesus. 236 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:55,280 That's always defining Christian faith. 237 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:59,840 Paul speaks of Christian faith, trust in Jesus, and Jewish 238 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:04,800 works, parentheses, obeying the law so as to justify oneself. 239 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:11,520 Whereas James refers to Jewish faith, parentheses, pure 240 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:17,520 monotheism, and Christian works, parentheses, good deeds that 241 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:21,760 flow from salvation. So here's what he's saying. 242 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:26,240 Paul is Speaking of Christian faith and Jewish works. 243 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,400 James is referring to Jewish faith and Christian works. 244 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:34,960 I mean, it's a good way to understand this and what these 245 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,800 two men are saying. Look at verse 22. 246 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:44,640 You see that Faith was active along with His works and Faith 247 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:49,560 was completed by His works. James says that Faith was active 248 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:51,920 along with His works. Literally, Faith was working 249 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:57,200 together with His works and Faith was completed by His 250 00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:58,680 works. It could also be translated, 251 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:01,600 perfected by His works. Now what does this mean? 252 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:04,680 What does it mean that faith was completed by his works? 253 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:06,080 Faith was perfected by his works. 254 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:09,360 One way to think of it is this. You ever ask yourself the 255 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:14,160 question, if God knew that Abraham would sacrifice his son, 256 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,120 if he knew that Abraham would go through with it, why make him go 257 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:23,560 through with it? It wasn't as that God was up 258 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:29,440 there and he's like, I wonder if Abraham loves me more than his 259 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,200 son. Let's, let's find out. 260 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:39,240 He's omniscient, He knows. So if God knew that or if he 261 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:42,520 thought, I wonder if I asked him to do this, if he would do it, 262 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:46,480 He knew he would go through with it. 263 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,760 Why make him go through with it if he knew? 264 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:50,760 Another way to think of it is this. 265 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:55,000 If God knew that Jesus would die on the cross for the sins of the 266 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,560 world, why make him go through with it? 267 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:04,360 Why isn't the knowledge of his son's willingness enough? 268 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:11,280 Why make him go through with it? Because the climbing up the 269 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:17,440 mountain and tying his son to an altar and pulling out his knife 270 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:24,360 completed his faith. At this moment nobody could 271 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:29,680 argue that his faith wasn't genuine and the climbing up of 272 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:34,560 Mount Calvary and being nailed to a cross completed Jesus 273 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:38,640 sacrifice. Nobody could argue that his love 274 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:43,280 wasn't genuine. You see, our faith is 275 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,600 meaningless unless it's completed. 276 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:53,440 Our faith is meaningless unless it is working together with our 277 00:19:53,480 --> 00:20:00,080 works. Look at verse 23 and the 278 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:03,280 scripture was fulfilled. That says Abraham believed God 279 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,520 and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called 280 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:12,000 a friend of God. James says that scripture was 281 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,280 fulfilled. What scripture? 282 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:18,240 Genesis 15-6. Do you remember in Genesis, the 283 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,520 book of Genesis, God had promised Abraham and Sarah that 284 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,280 they would have a son, but many years went by and still no son. 285 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,800 Some 25 from the time that God promised them a son to the time 286 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:29,760 they actually had one was 25 years. 287 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,640 And Abraham was growing discouraged and he asked the 288 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,680 Lord, He's like, Lord, can't you just use like my servant? 289 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:43,040 Can't you just use Ishmael, you know, do something else. 290 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,880 And God brought him outside, and he said, Abraham, look toward 291 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:53,160 the heaven, Number the Stars if you are able to number them. 292 00:20:55,080 --> 00:21:00,360 And then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. 293 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,920 And what happened? Abraham believed the Lord, and 294 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,680 he counted it to him as righteousness. 295 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:15,800 Now what does that mean? Counted it to him as 296 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,120 righteousness. Some translated as credited to 297 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,880 him as righteousness. In other words, prior to his 298 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:25,760 justification, Abraham stands as guilty before God. 299 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:31,480 All he has on his Ledger is liabilities and debt. 300 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:38,360 But when he believed God's promise wiped his debt clean, he 301 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:42,400 wiped his liabilities clean and God credited him with 302 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,080 righteousness. He is now counted righteous 303 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,400 before God and as a result Abraham was called a friend of 304 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:52,680 God. This title comes from Second 305 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,280 Chronicles 27 and Isaiah 41. Eight. 306 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,520 Now one question is, is why does James include the scripture 307 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,480 reference? Why does James reference Genesis 308 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,240 15-6? Why does he do that? 309 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:10,000 I think it's to show that righteousness was not credited 310 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,600 to Abraham when he offered up Isaac. 311 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,880 Make sure you don't miss that righteousness was not credited 312 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:25,120 to him when he offered up Isaac. It was credited to him when he 313 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:32,720 believed God. But that crediting was 314 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:37,480 fulfilled. It was completed when Abraham 315 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,760 offered up Isaac. Look at verse 24. 316 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,800 You see that a person is justified by works and not by 317 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,600 faith alone. Now this verse clearly seems to 318 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,480 contradict what Paul is telling us. 319 00:22:54,440 --> 00:23:01,040 If you put James and Paul side by side, it creates problems. 320 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:03,560 It created. I mean, to the point for Martin 321 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:09,000 Luther, he, he burned the book of James because he couldn't 322 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:15,200 reconcile it with with Paul. But James and Paul are dressing 323 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,760 different contexts with different meanings. 324 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:20,320 Here are some of the key differences. 325 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:24,200 And you must, you must, must understand the differences of 326 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,720 how these men are using these words, right? 327 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:33,840 We all know that when we use words, they mean different 328 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,200 things. They have different contexts. 329 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,960 We all know this. Let me give you 3 examples of 330 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,240 the of the words. The word works. 331 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:48,080 The word works. When Paul talks about works, he 332 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:52,080 is typically referring to relying on the works of the law 333 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,600 to save us. That's what it typically means. 334 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,680 When James talks about works, he is referring to actions 335 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,760 performed out of love for Christ and his people. 336 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:04,440 They're referring to two different things. 337 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:07,480 That's one. The second is justified. 338 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:12,080 When Paul talks about justification being justified, 339 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,360 he's typically referring to the punctilier action of when a 340 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:19,200 person is regenerated. There is a moment. 341 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:21,600 There's a punctilier moment in time when a person goes from 342 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,520 dead to alive. They are regenerated. 343 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,400 They are justified in that moment. 344 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,000 That's typically what Paul means when he talks about 345 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,280 justification. When James talks about 346 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,040 justification, he is referring to the future event of 347 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,600 justification that will happen at the judgement. 348 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,880 So the argument is I have been justified, but at the judgment I 349 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,720 will be justified. Those that God has justified 350 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:52,080 will justify at the judgment. James is talking about that 351 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:54,920 event. And here's a third one, faith. 352 00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:01,800 When Paul talks about faith, he is referring to a faith that 353 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:07,600 does not rely on the law to save us, but a faith in Christ Jesus 354 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,400 to save us. When Paul says that we're saved 355 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,760 by faith alone, he's referring to a faith that does not rely on 356 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:16,920 the law, but it's relying on Christ. 357 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:22,160 When James talks about faith in this passage, he's referring to 358 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:27,680 a dead demon faith that is nothing more than mental ascent. 359 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:32,920 That's how he's using the idea of faith, just a mental ascent. 360 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,160 So one way to think of this is this. 361 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,320 Here's here's a phrase that you can memorize or use. 362 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,080 We were justified by faith alone. 363 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,720 We will not be justified if faith is alone. 364 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,200 We were justified by faith alone. 365 00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:01,520 We will not be justified if faith is alone. 366 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,200 Look at verse 25. And in the same way, was not 367 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,720 also Rahab, the prostitute justified by works when she 368 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,800 received the messengers and sent them out by another way. 369 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,480 Now James gives one more example to make his point. 370 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:23,320 We're we're going through the book of Joshua and Sunday 371 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:24,640 school. We studied this past. 372 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,680 It's not too long ago. If you remember, Rahab had faith 373 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,040 in Israel's God. When they came to her, it was 374 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,560 clear that she already had faith in Israel's God. 375 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,960 We know this because what does she say to the spies? 376 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:39,200 She says, I know that the Lord has given you the land. 377 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,880 How does she know this? For the Lord your God, He is God 378 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,000 in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. 379 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,960 There is Rahab confessing her faith in Israel's God, but this 380 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,280 faith is put to the test when the spies come to her. 381 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:59,040 She risked her life by receiving them, by hiding them, by 382 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,680 protecting them, by sending them out another way. 383 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:07,200 And James's point is that it wasn't enough for Rahab to 384 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,600 simply believe that Israel's God was the true God. 385 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:15,720 This faith must be tested. It must be proven by her works. 386 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:22,280 Last verse, Look at verse 26. For as the body apart from the 387 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:27,600 Spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. 388 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,400 James uses a very basic analogy here. 389 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,040 God has made us body and spirit. There is no such thing as a 390 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,760 living body apart from a spirit. What makes the body alive is the 391 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,400 spirit inside of us, sometimes referred to as the soul. 392 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,400 When the soul was removed, the body is dead. 393 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,440 There's no such thing as a living body apart. 394 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:55,600 There are no zombies or or soulless humans walking around. 395 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,560 Likewise, faith apart from works is dead. 396 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,320 A body without the spirit is just a rotting corpse. 397 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:12,200 And likewise, a faith apart from works is as good as a corpse. 398 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:16,280 We'll stop there with the expedition of the text 399 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,960 application. 7 points for us this morning. 400 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:30,960 Number one, theism will not save anybody, not even monotheism, 401 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:38,800 not even Christian monotheism. Theism will not save anybody, 402 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,960 not even monotheism. Not even Christian monotheism. 403 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,760 Often when I hear people talk about religion or spirituality 404 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,000 or possibly the afterlife, they'll say something like, I 405 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,600 believe in God. I believe that there's a God, 406 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:57,240 right? I mean, if you go talk to 407 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,000 somebody at your workplace or maybe in your family or out on 408 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,240 the basketball court or just at the playground and you're like, 409 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,320 you know, hey, what do you believe spiritually? 410 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:07,960 You know what we're like, we're, you know, what are your beliefs? 411 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:10,160 You know, they often will say something like, I believe in 412 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,440 God. I believe that there's a God. 413 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:15,920 That's a very common statement that people will say. 414 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:21,200 This doctrine is called theism, the belief that there is a God, 415 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:25,000 as opposed to atheism, which believes that there is no God. 416 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:30,520 Now it is good to be a theist, as opposed to an atheist. 417 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,600 The only problem is that theism will not save anybody. 418 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,800 Sometimes people will take it a step further and they will 419 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:44,040 commit to monotheism, the belief that there is not only a God, 420 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,720 but there is only one God. This doctrine is known as 421 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,040 monotheism, as opposed to polytheism, which teaches that 422 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,600 there are multiple gods. Now it is good to be a 423 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,000 monotheist as opposed to a polytheist. 424 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,840 The only problem is is that monotheism will not save 425 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,720 anybody. And then sometimes people will 426 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,120 take it one step further and they will commit to Christian 427 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:15,720 monotheism, the belief that that not only is there a God, not 428 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:20,480 only is there only one God, but that the one true God is the God 429 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,960 of the Bible. We call this Christian 430 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:28,520 monotheism, as opposed to, let's say, Islam, which is also a 431 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:33,440 monotheistic religion as well. Now, it is good to be a 432 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,400 Christian monotheist as opposed to a Muslim. 433 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:42,440 The only problem is that Christian monotheism will not 434 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:47,720 save anybody. How do we know this? 435 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:51,920 Because the demons are Christian monotheist. 436 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,080 The demons are Christian monotheist. 437 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:04,920 They know that God exists, They know that there is only one true 438 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:09,000 God exists, and they know that the one true God is the God of 439 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,280 the Bible. And they are not saved. 440 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,440 Friends, it is not enough to be a Christian monotheist. 441 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,240 Hear me when I say this. There are some of you. 442 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,400 This is true in every church. There are some of you, if not 443 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,800 maybe only one of you, but there are at least some of you who are 444 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:39,240 banking your eternity on the fact that you are a Christian 445 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:53,280 monotheist. #2 Orthodox theology will not save anybody. 446 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:58,680 Orthodox theology will not save anybody, AW Tozer wrote. 447 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,680 The Devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil 448 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,200 still. Charles Spurgeon wrote, The 449 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:07,960 demons are not atheist. They have perfect knowledge of 450 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:12,760 God and yet remain devils. RC Sprawl wrote. 451 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,680 Satan is the most Orthodox theologian in the universe. 452 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,560 He knows the truth better than we do, JC Rao wrote. 453 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,920 A man may know right doctrine as well as the devil and yet be no 454 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:31,800 better for it, James writes. Even the demons believe 455 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,680 literally, even the demons faith. 456 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:40,200 Faith can be a verb in the Greek, Even the demons faith. 457 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:49,240 I have met many, many professing Christians through the years who 458 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:54,840 love theology. They love doctrine, they love 459 00:32:55,040 --> 00:33:00,040 knowledge. But I question that they love 460 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:08,880 Christ. Now let me back up and say I 461 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:13,240 love theology, I love doctrine, I love Bible knowledge. 462 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:15,800 I have devoted my life to teaching them. 463 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,520 But there is always a danger with this. 464 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,560 The danger is to think that the goal of Christianity is to get 465 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:24,640 your theology and doctrine right. 466 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,120 I actually see two dangers in the church with this topic. 467 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:33,600 On the one side is the danger to under emphasize doctrine and 468 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:37,280 theology. To think that doctrine is the 469 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:41,560 executive membership of Christianity, right? 470 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,840 And you might think, you know what, I'm fine with the basic 471 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:47,720 membership. I know that our church offers 472 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,120 the executive membership. You know, Pastor Matt talks 473 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:54,480 about these fancy words and justification and propitiation 474 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:59,240 and sanctification and, and, and, you know, but you know 475 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:01,480 what, I'm fine with the basic membership. 476 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:05,080 I don't need the executive version. 477 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,120 I don't need to understand all these fancy terms. 478 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:13,400 That's dangerous. That's dangerous. 479 00:34:18,929 --> 00:34:20,610 But the other danger is to think. 480 00:34:21,770 --> 00:34:28,730 I know my doctrine, I know my theology, I know how to exegete 481 00:34:28,730 --> 00:34:33,690 Romans 9 to 11, and therefore I feel good. 482 00:34:34,290 --> 00:34:35,969 I feel pretty good about my salvation. 483 00:34:38,010 --> 00:34:45,960 That's dangerous too, brothers and sisters, Orthodox theology 484 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:52,520 does not save us. You can get your theology 485 00:34:52,760 --> 00:35:07,250 perfect and go to hell. Three, Even a proper fear of God 486 00:35:07,450 --> 00:35:13,280 will not save anybody. Even a proper fear of God will 487 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,520 not save anybody. James writes that not only do 488 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,520 the demons believe, they also shudder, meaning they have a 489 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:23,480 proper fear of God. Mark 311 Whenever the unclean 490 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,640 spirit saw him, they fell down before him. 491 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:30,400 When the rich young ruler came up to Jesus, he ran up to Jesus, 492 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:33,960 and he knelt down before him. Out of reverence, out of 493 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,920 respect, he bent his knee to Jesus, but he could not bend his 494 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:43,480 heart. You see, fear of God often takes 495 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:50,800 the form of fear of hell. Fear of God will often take the 496 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,880 form of fear of hell. It's good to fear hell. 497 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,760 Some people will begin to believe that I believe that 498 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,160 there's a heaven and a hell. I don't want to go to hell, so 499 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,760 let me be a Christian. What do I need to do to make 500 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:06,760 sure I don't go there? I'd like to go here. 501 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:09,560 I'd like behind what's behind door number A Johnny. 502 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:23,600 But fear of hell will not save anybody, JC Rowell writes. 503 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,320 No one ever yet became holy by fear of hell. 504 00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:31,320 A man may feel terrified and frightened, but this is not 505 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,880 conversion. True repentance is born of 506 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:41,440 seeing Christ's love, Jonathan Edwards writes. 507 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:43,880 Terror will not bring the heart to God. 508 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:48,680 It may restrain sin for a season, but only a sense of 509 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:52,960 God's beauty and mercy and Christ will incline the soul to 510 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:58,560 Him, John Owen writes. Convictions from fear of hell do 511 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,640 not of themselves produce true repentance. 512 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,560 Many have such convictions who never come to Christ. 513 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:17,480 Listen to me friends, if Christ is nothing more to you than fire 514 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:24,240 insurance, you will have a big problem when you get to heaven 515 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:41,850 because your deductible will be a quadrillion dollars. 4 Mental 516 00:37:41,850 --> 00:37:48,050 assent to the truth of the gospel will not save a person, 517 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:57,080 we must love the main character. Mental assent to the truth of 518 00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:01,440 the Gospel will not save a person. 519 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:10,600 We must love the main character. If Christian monotheism will not 520 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:14,040 save a person, if orthodox theology will not save a person, 521 00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:18,200 if proper fear of God will not save a person, what will save a 522 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:24,200 person? Mental ascent to the truth of 523 00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:26,600 the gospel will not save a person. 524 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,360 Let me, let me ask you a series of questions. 525 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:34,320 If I were to ask you a series of questions right now, do you 526 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,320 believe that there is a God and that it is the God of the Bible? 527 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:44,160 Do you believe this God created the world and all that's in it? 528 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,000 Do you believe that there is sin in this world and that you are a 529 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:53,320 Sinner? Do you believe that God has a 530 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,480 Son named Jesus Christ who is fully God? 531 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,040 Do you believe that Jesus came to this world as a human, lived 532 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:05,120 a perfect life, died on the cross for the sins of the world, 533 00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:07,280 and three days later rose from the dead? 534 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,320 Do you believe that there is a heaven and a hell, and that upon 535 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,960 death all who place their faith in Jesus will go to heaven and 536 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:17,720 all those who don't will go to hell? 537 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:26,160 There's one more question. Is it possible to answer yes to 538 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:31,480 all of those questions and not be saved? 539 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:40,480 Yes, yes. How do we know that? 540 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:45,920 Because the demons answer yes to all of those questions. 541 00:39:51,210 --> 00:39:55,770 They answer yes to every single one of them. 542 00:39:56,530 --> 00:40:03,370 Mental assent to the truth of the gospel will not save 543 00:40:03,650 --> 00:40:07,970 anybody. We must love the main character. 544 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:16,520 We must love Jesus. This is why James writes 2 times 545 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:22,720 in his letter, which God has promised to those who love him. 546 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:32,480 5 Show the blind the scriptures. It's the only way they will ever 547 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:37,040 see. Show the blind the scriptures. 548 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:39,360 It's the only way they will ever see. 549 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,520 This is really a side point of James's main argument. 550 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,720 I, I, I I get that. But I wanted to include it 551 00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:49,320 because James is exhorting some of the church to see. 552 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:53,000 That's what he's doing. He's exhorting them to see. 553 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,120 Why? Because he wants them to see 554 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:57,240 that their faith is dead. They're blind to it. 555 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,040 There are some in the church whose faith is dead, Then they 556 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,360 are blind to it. They believe it's a lie, but 557 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,880 it's not. And he wants them to see this. 558 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:09,120 And the question is, is how do you get a dead person to see 559 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:12,600 that they're dead if they believe that they're alive? 560 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:16,720 I ask this question all the time. 561 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:20,760 There are people on the church, there are members in our church 562 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,000 that I may believe are spiritually dead. 563 00:41:24,240 --> 00:41:32,200 And I ask myself, how can I get you to see this when you're 564 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:39,560 convinced you're alive? Maybe you are, maybe you're not. 565 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:50,160 How do you get a blind person to see that they are blind if they 566 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:56,400 believe they're seen? By showing them the scriptures, 567 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:02,160 Showing them the Scriptures, James writes. 568 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:08,360 Do you want to be shown? Do you want to be shown? 569 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,960 And how does he show them? He shows them with the word of 570 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:13,280 God. He takes them to the scriptures. 571 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:18,280 He points them to two examples of faith, Abraham and Rahab. 572 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,880 Brothers and sisters, our job is not to convince people that they 573 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,320 are saved or not saved. Let me be clear on this. 574 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:29,440 My job is not to convince you that you are saved or you are 575 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:32,720 not saved. Your job is not to convince 576 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:35,440 anybody that they are saved or not saved. 577 00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:40,920 Our job is to point them to the scriptures that they might see 578 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:50,960 it for themselves. 6 Sanctification is not only 579 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:55,680 necessary, it's certain. Sanctification is not only 580 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:59,360 necessary, it's certain. James gives this example of 581 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:01,760 Abraham to show how faith and works are related. 582 00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:05,920 James says that faith was active along with his works, and faith 583 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:09,040 was completed by his works. Now, we've already looked at the 584 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:11,840 fact that works are necessary for final salvation. 585 00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,160 We've already looked at that fact not to earn final 586 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,880 salvation, but to give evidence that initial salvation has 587 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:21,360 happened. But another way to look at this 588 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:23,640 is this. Sanctification is not only 589 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:29,400 necessary, it is certain, meaning that a person who has 590 00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:32,600 been truly justified will be sanctified. 591 00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:37,280 If you have been justified, you will be sanctified. 592 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:41,720 It is a certainty and the way that James is making this point 593 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:45,480 is to give to show that Abraham gave evidence to his 594 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:48,960 justification. He gave evidence when he offered 595 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:53,320 up Isaac that that that gave evidence to the fact that when 596 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,920 he said he believed God, he really did believe God. 597 00:43:58,240 --> 00:44:02,240 And we give evidence to our justification when when we are 598 00:44:02,240 --> 00:44:06,080 sanctified, when we are sanctified. 599 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:08,320 Now here's where I want to challenge us all. 600 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:15,560 When I use the word sanctified, I don't mean read your Bible, 601 00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:22,960 pray, attend church and tithe. Certainly all of those are a 602 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:25,200 part of sanctification. Let's be clear on that. 603 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:30,360 I mean the kind of sanctification that looks life 604 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:36,080 altering. Looks life altering. 605 00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:42,360 I think the reason that James gives this example of Abraham 606 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:45,880 offering up Isaac is because the story is so mind blowing, isn't 607 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:50,440 it? I mean, who, who, who could do 608 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:53,800 this? Who could be willing to OfferUp 609 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:59,200 their son a person whom God had changed? 610 00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:06,600 Isn't this what God does in a person's life when he saves 611 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:12,840 them? Doesn't your life just look so 612 00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:18,840 different? Matthew left his tax booth. 613 00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:21,600 James and John left their fishing Nets. 614 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,960 Zacchaeus left his life of fraud. 615 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:29,800 Paul left his life of murder. Brother, sisters, sanctification 616 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:33,560 is so much more than just spiritual disciplines and 617 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:38,160 serving. It's don't don't reduce 618 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:40,880 sanctification to be like, well, look at my sanctification. 619 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:44,920 I've read my Bible, I pray, I'm going to church, I tithe, I 620 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:50,960 serve. It's not less than that, but 621 00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:59,360 it's way more than that. Your life will look radically 622 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,760 different. You will live different. 623 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:04,040 You will think different. You will feel different. 624 00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:06,680 You will experience life differently. 625 00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:18,580 You just will. It's the kind of faith where 626 00:46:18,580 --> 00:46:25,060 you're willing to sacrifice what you love most, because that's 627 00:46:25,060 --> 00:46:32,260 what Abraham did. Are you willing to sacrifice 628 00:46:32,260 --> 00:46:36,320 what you love most in your life? Would you be willing to give up 629 00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:47,320 what you love most? You will if what you actually 630 00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:59,790 love most is Christ. 7 God will test our faith so that we know 631 00:46:59,790 --> 00:47:02,630 whether what we have is fool's gold or true gold. 632 00:47:04,270 --> 00:47:08,910 God will test our faith so that what we so that we know what we 633 00:47:08,910 --> 00:47:11,470 have is, is fool's gold or true gold. 634 00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:16,000 When we read this passage in James, every one of us, 635 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:18,600 including myself, should ask ourself these questions. 636 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:20,800 How do I know if I have a dead faith? 637 00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:23,880 How do I know if I have a demon's faith? 638 00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:28,640 How do I know if my faith is nothing more than a mental 639 00:47:28,640 --> 00:47:32,120 assent to the truth? How do you How do I know that? 640 00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:34,960 Here's how you know. God will test it. 641 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:41,280 God will test it. How could Abraham possibly know 642 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:44,920 if his faith was genuine? You ever think about this? 643 00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,640 Perhaps God was simply a means to an end for him. 644 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:53,840 A means to an end of giving him a son, right? 645 00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:56,760 He wanted a son. God had the ability to give him 646 00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:59,680 a son, God to give him the son. God was nothing more than a 647 00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:02,560 means to an end. How did he know if that's the 648 00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:04,400 case? This is the same argument that 649 00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:08,760 Satan made about Job. Satan basically was accusing Job 650 00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:11,480 saying God he you're just a means to an end to Job. 651 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:15,080 He just worships you because you pay him. 652 00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:17,040 You pay him. Well. 653 00:48:22,900 --> 00:48:26,980 How did Abraham know if his faith is real? 654 00:48:27,420 --> 00:48:34,260 Because God gave him a test. God put him to the test and when 655 00:48:34,260 --> 00:48:38,060 Abraham passed the test, this is what the Lord said. 656 00:48:38,500 --> 00:48:44,640 For now, I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not 657 00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:48,200 withheld your son, your only son, from me. 658 00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:55,800 Brother and sister, God will give you test in your Christian 659 00:48:55,800 --> 00:49:01,440 walk. The test is not merely to refine 660 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:05,400 your faith, but also to reveal it. 661 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:08,160 Let's pray.