Book of James Chapter 2 - Bible Study | Encounter 2020 Men's Retreat

[Music] you can't handle the truth some of the most iconic words uttered in cinematic history by colonel nathan jessup aka jack nicholson and you know what those words in our day ring even more true because i believe the media thinks that you and i can't handle the truth we hear a great deal these days about something called fake news don't we one one uh segment of the news says that the other is fake the other comes back and says no you're fake we hear all of these fake news going around and there's a lot of fake stuff in our world today the matter as a matter of fact you can get pretty much anything you want in a fake form today i remember several years ago an associate pastor of mine and our wives took a ministry trip to new york city and it just so happened that his wife had a contact with somebody else's wife who knew where in new york city we could go and we could buy these big name purses and other products at very discounted prices so i'm a little thinking this is a little sketchy but here we are we're in new york city we go to this location we look at the address we walk in it's just a little old store i mean maybe 20 feet by 20 feet and there's probably six people working in there and then she says the code word or whatever that word was and they take us to the back of the store they open up this fake wall and we go in now i'm a pretty good sized guy that was a little tight tunnel for me but i'm going through there and we're walking down this hallway and down this hallway and down this hallway and every step i take i'm thinking there's going to be a policeman at the end of this thing we're going to be arrested just for trying to buy this gucci bags for you know 50 bucks just pennies on the dollar so lo and behold after this weaving through all of this long tunnel we get to the back and it opens up to this huge area and every different room had different name brand bags that you could buy for just pennies on the dollar and so my wife takes advantage of this opportunity she buys one bag but but his wife she has money from all of her friends back here in georgia so she walks out with a garbage bag full of these quote unquote high ticket bags so we're walking through the streets of new york city carrying a trash bag load of expensive bags or so we think or so we are led to believe when we look at things from that perspective we question ourselves is it artificial or is it authentic you know you can buy pretty much anything these days you can buy body parts and we'll not go into the details of all of that but you know what i'm saying you can buy a rolex watch and knock off limitation for a hundred bucks looks just like the real thing but what about when it comes to faith if you have a bible with you this morning i want you to find your way over the book of james chapter 2. james chapter 2 is where we're going to plant ourselves for the next few moments and i hope that you'll take out that bifold and follow along with us there's a lot of scriptural truth that we're going to cover and we're going to try to do it as fast as we possibly can so i want to make a deal with you you listen fast i'll talk fast and we'll get done in a reasonable amount of time now we're not going to deal with the first 13 verses of james chapter 2 because that's a wonderful passage of scripture but we really want to get into the meat of chapter 2. the first half of james chapter 2 is all about not playing favorites not showing favorites favor playing favoritism the latter half however is is our assignment for this morning and the assignment this morning is we want to talk about the difference between artificial and authentic faith artificial versus authentic faith we begin by reading james chapter 2 and verse 14. what good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them go in peace be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body what good is that so faith by itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say you have faith and i have works show me your faith apart from your works and i will show you my faith by my works james says verse 19 you believe that god is one you do well even even the demons believe in shudder do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless was not abraham or 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 if i had to sum up this teaching time in one sentence this would be our sentence an authentic faith is a faith that works and authentic faith is a faith that works this text that we just read is the heart and soul the apex moment if you will in the book of james 10 times in these 13 verses we have the words faith and works mentioned together the entire book of james is a variation on this theme authentic faith will be shown through the works in the life of a believer authentic genuine saving faith in jesus christ will demonstrate will make itself manifest in a changed life authentic faith is indeed a faith that works it's been said if there is no change then something strange and that's true or as the old uneducated preacher put it if you are what you were then you ain't that sinks in doesn't it if you are what you were then you ain't now many people view this passage as a very controversial passage for many this is a very difficult passage of scripture to understand and the reason is is because paul seems to teach us over and over and over and over and over and over again in his writings that sinners are justified by grace alone through faith alone in jesus alone without any works of the law and yet what we just read from the book of james twice james says we are justified by our works martin luther that great reformer he uh he had a lot of problems with the book of james as a matter of fact in writing about the book of james he called it an epistle of straw he wrestled with whether or not it should even be included in the canon of scripture because he believed that james contradicted paul yeah listen to what paul taught in writing to the church at rome in romans chapter 2 and verse 13 look at these words with me on your notes it says this for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before god but the doers of the law who will be justified paul paul right here in this text he he tells us something and he says this he says the idea of authentic faith is a faith that works and so any perceived conflict between what the apostle paul taught and what james taught really can be dealt with when we understand that they were attacking this issue from two different perspectives w.h griffith he was one of the guys that was a part of the team that started dallas theological seminary look at what he said and i quote it has been well said that saint paul and saint james are not soldiers of different armies fighting against each other but they are soldiers of the same army fighting back to back against enemies coming from opposite directions end quote do you see that picture paul is standing here and he's fighting the enemy as it comes from this direction paul is standing here james is standing here with his back up against paul and he's fighting in this direction and they're fighting an enemy back to back and their enemy is coming from different perspectives what is the apostle paul doing the apostle paul is fighting against jewish legalism and jewish legalism said you you have to have works added to your faith in order to be saved james is fighting something called antinomianism and that's a big word that simply means this he was teaching and he was communicating to the jews who had been dispersed as we talked about last night from james chapter one and he's talking about these jews who grew up in jewish legalism and now they've come to the point to where they understand that faith has nothing to do with their walk with christ at all and james says in authentic faith a living faith is a faith that works adrian rogers that great preacher said this and i quote paul speaks of the root of our salvation james is speaking of the fruit of our salvation end quote paul is talking about the foundation of our faith james is talking about the house that is built on that foundation paul is speaking about that which takes place inward james is speaking about that which takes place outward paul is talking about the provision of our salvation james is talking about the proof of our salvation paul is speaking about the means of our salvation and james is speaking about the marks of our salvation paul is talking about a no-so salvation and james is talking about a show so salvation as a matter of fact listen to what the apostle paul wrote to the church at ephesus it's a very familiar passage of scripture if you've been around church any length of time and all too often we stop just a little bit short when we quote or when we read this text look with me if you will ephesians chapter 2 beginning in verse 8 the apostle paul writing under the inspiration of the spirit of the living god to the church at ephesus a church that he loved so dearly he said for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is the gift of god not a result of works so that no one may boast we know that we believe that we cling to that we hold on tight to that but then often times we fall short because we stop there but look at what he wrote in verse 10 again he's writing to that same audience the same train of thought and he says in verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus y four good works which god had prepared beforehand that we should walk in them now what we're going to do is we're going to take james chapter 2 versus 14 to 26. we're going to rip it apart we're going to try to get our heads wrapped around we're going to try to get our hearts wrapped around we're trying to get our hands wrapped around it there are three words that really divide this passage up very easily for us to understand and uh the first key word in verses 14 through 17 is the word says s-a-y-s says and then immediately following that verses 18-20 the key word is show show and then in verses 21-26 the key word is c c says show c says show and see that helps us to get a little bit of structure around our our understanding of this text so point number one you want to open up in your bifold you want to fill in the blank with this and that is this authentic faith james says is more than just the words that i say authentic faith is is more than just the words that i say now look with you will if you will again at verse 14. we've said the key word here's the word says now that word says in verse 14 in the greek grammatical construction of this text is written in what is called the perfect tense now it doesn't mean a whole lot to us when we just hear that but let me explain just a little bit about what that means when it is something is in the perfect tense it means that it is a continuous action so here in this text in the present tense that word says that this is a continuous claim of the person the person claims to be a christian the person claims to be a follower of christ and then in verse 14 just a few words over we have the words have and that word have is also in the present tense and by the by virtue of the fact that that word is in the present tense it means that there is a continual lack of any support for the claim a person says they are a christ father a christian but they don't have anything to back up that claim now notice again verse 14 doesn't say this person has faith it says this person says that they have saving faith but there's not enough evidence in their life to prove them guilty of that fact and so james asks this question can that kind of faith save him and then james gives us an illustration as he does in each one of these points verses 15 and 16 it says this if a brother is sister and that's a key to understand if a brother or sister someone you know someone you're connected with somebody who's in your small group somebody who's in your sunday school class someone who sits around your table someone whom you have a relationship with if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and you say and one of you say to them go in peace be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body then he asked a very practical question what good is that so he's not talking about you have to come upon a stranger who needs food or a stranger who needs clothes this is somebody you've got a relationship with this is somebody that you know somebody that you have been intimate with this is somebody who you're a part of their life and they're a part of your life and then you recognize one day they don't have enough food to eat they don't have good clothes to wear outside they don't have a coat to wear in the winter they don't have proper shoes to wear in a rainstorm and if your response to them is merely hey listen brother hey listen i hope that you can find something good to eat somewhere and i hope somebody will come along and give you a real good deal on some good clothes and some good shoes be warned and filled and i'll catch you on the down low and james says um what good is that it doesn't do that person any good at all you see in the book of james good deeds good works are always deeds of mercy and then notice what he says in verse 17 as we work our way through this text so faith by itself if it doesn't have works is what say it with me dead let's say that together again you ready faith without works is what dead not bad not insufficient not lacking did and then he moves on remember our three key words says show and see number two james says that authentic faith is something i show authentic faith is not just something i say but authentic genuine real faith is something that i show verse 18 says that faith and works cannot be separated they are inextricably linked together they are meshed together they are woven together they cannot be separated from because they are so linked verse 18 but someone will say you have faith and i have works show me your faith apart from your works and i will show you my faith by my works you cannot see faith apart from works now stop and think about that with me for a second what could we compare faith to so that we understand what it is that james is trying to say to us and i was thinking about this and that's thought of calories you know everything you and i buy these days everything we take these days everything we eat has a nutrition label on it doesn't it and it says that there are 90 calories 120 calories 300 calories you get a blizzard 5 million calories whatever it is and so we can't find anything that doesn't tell us how many calories it has in it so our brilliant legislature said listen you got to put that on there so we know how many of you have ever seen a calorie let me see your hands you've seen a calorie i'm 56 years old i've never one time seen a calorie i don't know what a calorie looks like if a calorie were to walk through those doors right now i would not recognize it because i don't know what a calorie looks like but if you want to see what the results of calories are look right here so when you have more calories coming in that are getting burned up on the interior engine the body was designed by god to save some for the future understand what i'm saying so faith is like calories you can't see it but you can see the results works are not a requirement for salvation but they are a result of salvation you cannot show your faith apart from your works now put it into a mathematical equation we'll put it on the screen maybe it's there i think in your notes look at this if not faith plus works equals salvation but it is faith equals salvation plus works for those who think linearly if those who think in accounting terms and we think in numbers when we think in mathematical equations that kind of makes sense doesn't it and as a matter of fact jesus talked about it and he talked about it and none other than the most famous message ever preached the best sermon ever preached it's recorded for us in the first few chapters of the book of matthew the sermon on the mount over in chapter 7 speaking in the context of false teachers notice what he says matthew 7 beginning in verse 16 he says you will recognize them how by their fruits you will recognize them by the fruit that is produced in their lives and then he breaks this down for us are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles no so every healthy tree bears good fruit but the diseased tree bears bad fruit a healthy tree cannot bear good fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire thus you will recognize them by their what the fruit they produce the fruit they produce verse 19 verse 19 of james tells us that having an orthodox theology is not enough look at verse 19 with me will you you believe that god is one what is he doing there he's referencing the shema deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4. he's going back to the old testament something that his audience would have known very very well and in deuteronomy chapter 6 we are instructed that our god is one and so he says this he says listen you believe god is one whoo-hoo good job you do well but notice what he says after that even the demons believe and shudder you know what that word shudder means it means to to tremble in terror it means and i don't mean any disrespect by this but it means to pee your pants demons believe and shudder and james just told us as we read about a few moments ago that a dead faith does us no good but then he also here in this text says that that not only is faith without work just a dead faith but it's a demonic faith vance havner a great preacher a great thinker great communicator very practical he said this he said i quote you can be as theologically straight as a gun barrel and just as empty think about that for a second i can know all of the right things about god i can know every point of theology that there is i can memorize huge chunks of scripture and still be devoid of spiritual life inside of me as a matter of fact did you know that the demons know good theology we're going to put this up on the screen and i didn't create this i got this from ray pritchard and and and let's talk for just a quick second about demonic faith do you know what demons believe number one they believe in the deity of christ mark chapter 3 verses 11 and 12. number two they know his human name luke 4 and 34. they know his divine origin luke 4 and 34 they recognize the true preaching of the gospel acts 16 and verse 17. they recognize the false preaching of the gospel just a few chapters later acts 19 and verse 15. they believe in hell luke 8 and verse 31 they acknowledge jesus as their ultimate judge mark 5 and verse 7. they believe in a set time for their punishment matthew chapter 8 and verse 29 number 9 they know jesus is sovereign over them mark 5 verses 11-13 number 10 they know they must bow before jesus mark 5 and verse 6. they submit to the power of jesus's word number 11 matthew 17 verse 18 and this is just the tip of the iceberg of the doctrinal beliefs of demons and there's a lot of small group leaders and deacons and preachers that don't know as much theology as a demon does and by the way never play bible trivia with the demon because he knows his stuff and he will win every time again that great reformer martin luther listened to what he said he said we are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves is never alone verse 20 tells us that faith without works just doesn't work look at verse 20. do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless it's dead it's demonic it's useless it's a waste but then there's a third thing james teaches us that i want us to see this morning and that is that authentic faith is something you can see authentic faith is more than just the words i say authentic faith is something that i show and authentic faith is something that you can see verses 21-26 we see how authentic faith is fleshed out in the life of two particular individuals let's look at the story beginning in verse 21 was not abraham our father and he's writing again to the jews who have been dispersed so they know who abraham is they're very familiar with father abraham you remember the old song father abraham and that's they knew him so he's making a reference they understand he says 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 scriptures was when the scripture was fulfilled that says abraham believed god and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of god can you imagine that being said of you you are the friend of god well we got to go back to the book of genesis and look at abraham's story and and what's interesting here is james kind of inverts abraham's story just a little bit and he he tells us first of all about an instance that took place in genesis chapter 22. and you'll remember genesis chapter 22 that was that passage of scripture which god said to abraham take your son your only son and i want you to go up to mount moriah and i want you to sacrifice him there why in the world would god ask abram abraham to do that because as ron was teaching us last night he was he was testing the fiber of abraham's faith and so the day came and abraham gathers up the wood and he places the wood for the sacrifice on isaac's back isaac at this time is not just a little boy because he was a man that could carry a boatload of wood on his back and they're walking along with a couple of servants until they see mount moriah and then at the bottom of the mountain abraham looks to his servants and he says you stay here why the boy and i go and worship and notice what he says in genesis 22 we will come back to you we will come back to you don't forget that it's the key to that text and then together they start walking up this mountain and isaac says hey dad yes son i i see the wood it's on my back and i see the fire but where is the sacrifice and abraham says to isaac he says son god will provide himself a sacrifice as they find a clearing at the top of the mountain isaac and abraham together begin to build the altar and then abraham says these words to his son isaac son get up on that altar isaac is just for who knows how many miles carried a stack of wood up a hill and isaac at that moment could have ran he could have wrestled he could have done anything to stop this event but isaac gets up on that altar and then we hear the cold steel of the knife come out of its sheath as he stands over his one beloved son and with a heavy heart he reaches back and begins to plunge the knife down when all of a sudden a voice from heaven says stop and there's a rustling in the bushes over here and god says to abraham i know now i know now that you trust me and value me above absolutely everything including that which is most precious to you and what abraham and isaac didn't know is as they were marching up the side of one side of that mountain god had already prepared a ram on the other side to go up at the same time and the ram gets his horns stuck in the thicket but it was god's divine assignment and together they take that ram and slaughter it and place it on the altar and worship but you know what james did he he said that abraham believed god and it was accounted to him as righteousness and so he became the friend of god do you know when that took place that took place back in genesis 15. genesis 15 is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 years earlier than genesis 22. so abraham was was called faithful and then 35 or 40 years later he passed the test that proved his faith was real and then then james goes on and he gives us another highly unlikely picture and he says in verse 25 and in the same way was not rahab the prostitute aren't you glad your name is not in the bible written for all to read about your worst moment or decision in time we read about rahab in the genealogy of jesus and i wonder when we get to heaven are we just going to call her rahab or is she still going by rahab the prostitute so is to distinguish her from all the other rahabs okay and in the same way was not also rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way for as the body apart from the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead what did rahab do rahab came to a point where she understood the truth of the good news and she gave her life to to god and then an opportunity came for her to prove that faith it came in the in the form of two spies who had been sent by joshua to check out the region of jericho because they're getting ready to take this land and she takes them into her home her home was built into the wall around jericho and so she hides them in her home and the authorities come and say hey hey we saw two strangers come into your place where are they and she says to them i uh yeah they did come in [Music] but they left and i don't know where they've gone as a matter of fact if you leave right now and go through the city gauge you can probably catch them they haven't been gone that long all the while they're up under some thatches on the roof and then when you read the story in joshua chapter two after the officials leave she goes up onto the roof and she has a conversation with these two spies and and they settle on an agreement together and they say hey listen if you'll keep you'll into the bargain we'll keep our into the bargain and when we come to overtake this city if you'll take this scarlet thread put it out the window of where you're about to let us down over the wall so that we can get away and you bring your family in we promise we won't harm you we won't harm your family and she kept her into the bargain they kept there into the bargain and the annals of history record for us that the faith that she had proved itself in the actions that she did look at this let's throw this up on the screen a quick comparison of abraham and rahab abraham of course was a man rahab was a woman abraham was the father of the jews rahab was a gentile abraham was a patriarch rahab a prostitute you could not find two diametrically opposed individuals that represent the same thing a saving faith that transformed their lives and that transformed life produced itself showed itself in good works now the word justified is a huge word in scripture theologically speaking when we say justified we we mean that it's just as if i had never sinned the slave slate is white clean and paul uses this term quite often in scriptures to be declared righteous but did you know the word justified has another meaning the word justified can also mean being vindicated proven or shown let me give you a few verses that help us to understand that look at this matthew chapter 12 verses 36 and 37 i tell you on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they spoke before by your words you will be notice the word justified it doesn't mean that by your words you will be declared righteous but it means that by your words you will be vindicated proven or shown and by your words you will be condemned romans 3 and verse 4 let god be true and every one were a liar as it is written that you may be justified in your words justified not declared to be righteous but to be vindicated proven or shown by your words or how about this first timothy 3 and verse 16 the apostle paul writing to his young protege in the faith timothy and he says this he says great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness he was manifested in the flesh vindicated and that's our word justified vindicated by the spirit seen by angels proclaimed among the nations believed in on in the world taken up to glory saving faith produces godly works charles ryrie that great theologian put it like this a workless faith is a worthless faith uh rahab's faith led to action authentic faith is not about not just about what you believe internally but it's about how you behave externally abraham's faith was saved by faith and he proved that faith when he was about to sacrifice his son rahab was saved by faith and proved her faith by protecting the spies and james this morning wants us to ask one simple but thought-provoking question do i have an artificial or an authentic faith in jesus christ and i began to think how could i illustrate this point we've had the discussion of paul versus james but i want to turn the tables now if you would and think through this process with me for just a couple of minutes before we go to the tables now it's not paul versus james it's god and me god in me perfect holy pure just one hot mess and so what i do is um i do everything i can to try to to reach god on my own terms and this rope represents me reaching god on my own terms if i go halfway he'll meet me halfway right it's not a trick question but let's say meeting god halfway is all that i have it's it's everything i have it's all that i can do i've got to make up this gap and i don't have any more rope this is all i've got i i need some help and i got it hey scott would you help me in my bag right there in the front zipper i have some thread would you bring me that thread thanks man you are a lifesaver literally here we go i've got some thread everything i tried up to this point was this sturdy rope i could trust myself on this and what i'm going to do now is i'm going to take this thread and i want to tie it to the end of the rope and i'm going to take it over to god that'll that'll be enough won't it if you were hanging over a huge precipice would you be willing to trust a spool of thread to keep you from tumbling to the ground i didn't think so so lo and behold i've got a little more in me now i'm about three quarters of the way to god surely surely god will accept three quarters right he's holy just pure righteous i'm a hot mess i gotta tie this thread on there and stretch it out so that he will is that thread going to save me what if i come 90 i've only got 10 percent left certainly this thread can hold up for from easy little ten percent right ryan would you would you trust your life on this rope and this thread above a gaping hole well how about this what if i get to within one inch of god by my works and now all i have is one inch of thread to get me to god would you trust that one inch of thread no because salvation is all of god 100 of god god sent his one and only son to live a perfect and a sinless life to die a substitutionary and atoning death on calvary's cross to bridge the gap between his holiness and my huge mess and the only way that i can get to him is by virtue of the perfect sinless sacrifice of the son of god on calvary's cross oh by the way did you know that that same mountain that abraham and isaac went up on that day was the same mountain that thousands of years into the future one day jesus would would be hung on that cross to bridge that gap between sinful man and holy god and then when he has changed my life you will see the difference because an authentic and a genuine faith is not just something that i say a genuine and authentic faith is something that i show and it is something that you can see because if you are what you were then you ain't i used to do a lot of speaking to teenagers and the best illustration i could come up with is this scott come up here johan come up here real quick up here yeah yohan come up here right here now you're gonna have to use your imagination all right stand over there johan come up over here okay good all right i wish i had some toys to do this but i don't scott you represent a cement truck filled with cement wet heavy going down the road johann you represent a 10 wheeled dump truck loaded to the full with gravel i represent a smart car i know it's a stretch but imagine this if you will you know what a smart car is right it is a golf cart with a hard shell over the top okay so i'm a smart car and we're going down the road turn around go down the road all right we're going down the road and mr cement truck all of a sudden something runs out in front of us and he hits the brakes as fast as he possibly can he's loaded down with cement guess what the the the the truck the dump truck behind him filled with gravel has been busy on his phone can you believe that johann would actually be on his phone instead of paying attention well guess what i just dropped something in the floorboard of my little smart car and although it's not that far to reach i spent some moments reaching down to it so he is stopping i hear the screeching i look up i hit my brakes i run into the back of the cement truck but because he was talking on his phone disobeying the law he didn't see what was going on it took him a few seconds to recognize what was going on so he's coming hard and fast here i am in a smart car sandwiched in between a cement truck and a dump truck filled with gravel how many of you think i'm going to walk away from that the exact same way i got into that car same thing with jesus when jesus comes into your life you are forever changed the marks are obvious you are different and that is what it means to have a faith that works let's go to the tables have a few questions and then we're going to come back and wrap it up in just a few minutes give these guys a big round of applause thank you guys [Music] you know i could take this entire time we have together last night and today and i could use this platform to try to convince you that i am a great dancer i could tell you about all the lessons that i had i could tell you how i have such great experience i could convince you beyond any shadow of a doubt that guy hutch he is a great dancer there's only one problem with it is when you asked me to prove it and i started to dance you would say he lied boy did he lie so that james would say the same thing james would say if you say that you have faith good for you prove it and you know what paul would say the same thing authentic faith bears fruit in the life of a believer to the glory of god and is a life that pleases god we looked at three verses earlier this morning and i want to finish up with these three give you three points and then we'll be done ephesians 2 8 through 10 once again for by grace what is grace grace is god giving to me what i do not deserve forgiveness purpose meaning for by grace you have been saved how through faith this is not of your own doing it's it's the gift of god not a result of works so that no one could boast could you imagine what heaven would be like if we could earn our way there when we get to heaven we would have a comparison contest and and i would be able to find a ton of people who i had gotten there in a more worthy manner than they did but the truth is also i could find a whole bunch of people who did a whole lot more than me and deserve to be there even more but the ground at the foot of the cross is level and i don't get there because of what i've done but i get there because of what jesus has done so i cannot therefore boast for we are his workmanship that word workmanship literally means masterpiece we are god's work of art i want you to think about that next time the enemy comes against you to beat you down i want you to look at ephesians 2 and verse 10 and remind yourself i am god's masterpiece he made me as i am but he loves me so much that he will not allow me to stay that way for we are his workmanship his masterpiece his poem if you will created in christ jesus why to do good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them three quick thoughts about our salvation our sanctification and our service number one look at the work god does for us it's salvation verse 8 for by grace you have been saved not of your own doing secondly the work god does in us that's the theological term sanctification verse 10 for we are his workmanship and then the work god does through us service created for good works the work god does for us the work god does in us and the work god does through us salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone but it's the good works that i do as a result that authenticate that faith matthew henry wrote a prolific commentary on scripture and any pastor preacher would have this probably in their library and look at what he said and i quote faith is the root good works are the fruits and we must see to it that we have both so as i conclude today instead of giving you the words of some great theologian i want to take you back to your earliest days of sunday school you remember those days maybe if you've been in church for the length of time there's a song we used to sing if you're saved and you know it clap your hands if you're saved and you know it clap your hands if you're saved and you know it now listen to this then your life will surely show it if you're saved and you know it say amen amen god bless you then we'll be back right here for chapter three dan's come and teach for us god bless you we'll see you later [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: One Thing for Men

Views: 542

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Men's Bible Study Topics, Online Bible Study, Men's Group Bible Study, Spiritual Growth, men's retreat, book of james, book of james bible study, apostle james, epistle of james, faith vs works, james bible study, book of james sermon series, book of james chapter 2 bible study, bible study with me, bible study fellowship, men's bible study, bible study for men, live bible study, men's ministry, small group bible study ideas, one thing for men, practical wisdom

Id: pR2ZVG87rJY

Length: 52min 3sec (3123 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 21 2020