Dead Faith and Living Faith - James 2:14-26

[Music] as we continue on now in our study through the book of James we come now to James chapter 2 beginning at verse 14 and the section that we're going to cover in this study from verse 14 all the way through to the end of the chapter shows us in really a remarkable way the heart of the book of James here he's going to speak in a very pointed and powerful way about the relationship between faith and works and the necessity of works to demonstrate the fact of a living faith you'll see what I mean as we get in now into verse 14 James chapter 2 where we read what does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works can faith save him again we're in a very James Ian section of the book of James where he's dressing head-on this controversy or at least it was a controversy in James's day and it continues on into our own of this relationship between faith and works is he James thought it was impossible that someone could genuinely have saving faith with no works that were an evidence of that faith but then again someone could say that they have faith but they would fail to show good works so the question is very valid can that kind of faith save him again let me read this again what does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that kind of faith save him now I added the words that kind of but really that seems to be exactly what James is saying he's calling in the fact that this kind of faith that is only a faith of words but has no action in life has no works to demonstrate it is not a doer of the word as we just saw in the previous section of James chapter 2 can that kind of faith save a person and the answer of this rhetorical question is no obviously it cannot you see again get back to the idea here in 14 someone says he has faith but does not have works it may very well be and I know this is sort of just a theoretical construction take it for what you will but it may be that James wrote to these Christians from a Jewish background who discovered the glory of salvation by faith you see they knew the exhilaration of freedom from the bondage of a system of works righteousness but then perhaps some or many of these Jewish Christians then went on to the other extreme of thinking that works didn't matter at all and what James is trying to say is no don't discount the place of works because works are a valid demonstration of a true faith that's why he says there at the end of verse 14 can faith save him now some people will quickly cry cry contradiction James is contradicting the Apostle Paul who seemed on several occasions to very plainly and clearly state that we are saved by faith and not by works and somebody would say well look here James says can faith save him and obviously faith can't save you it has to be works look I would contend very simply that James did not contradict the Apostle Paul now give you several reasons why first of all I believe that James did not contradict the Apostle Paul because it is our job as Bible teachers as Bible expositors to rightly divide the word of truth and to reconcile passages of Scripture not to use some to cancel others out in other words I am unwilling to use passages from the Apostle Paul to cancel out James and say see Paul said James is wrong but I am also unwilling to use passages from James to go and so to speak cancel out the Apostle Paul and say the Apostle Paul was wrong I believe that both men spoke as it were inspired by the holy spirit and I believe that these words speak to us today and I believe that it is the job of good Bible teachers good Bible expositors to rightly divide the word of truth and to properly reconcile such passages so without apology I'm looking for a reconciliation I'm looking for a common ground between Paul and James and it's not hard to find it you see the Apostle Paul insisted that we are saved not of works that's in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 9 but you see James is clarifying for us the kind of faith saves that saves I should say we are saved by grace through faith not by works but saving faith we'll have works that accompany it as the saying goes and this is somewhat of a cliche saying but it's a good cliche faith alone saves but the faith that saves is not alone it has good works with it you see Paul also understood the necessity of works in proving the character of our faith and he wrote about this in at least a few places for example in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 Paul wrote this for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them in other words God has ordained that we should walk in good works those of us who are saved by faith Titus chapter three verse eight says this this is a faithful saying in these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works to hear what Paul just wrote again that's Titus chapter three verse eight that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works sounds to me like Paul is echoing James right there so again when James says can faith save him we understand that what Jamie seems like that is can that kind of faith save him you know the kind of faith that he was talking about earlier in James chapter 2 the kind of faith that's reflected by somebody who is a hearer of the word and not a doer of the word also or a doer of the work no that kind of faith can't save but the kind of faith that does save is the kind of faith that puts its trust and is demonstrated to be real by the reality of works now let me put it to you this way another way to phrase this is what James is simply talking about is a living faith you see now in these next few verses it's going to talk about dead faith and look at the contrast starting now at verse 15 he says if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart in peace be warm and filled but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body what does it profit thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead see what James is condemning is not salvation by faith it's he's trying to condemn anybody who would have the hope of salvation through a dead faith a faith that does not have works and here the example that he gives in verse 15 is of a brother or sister who is naked and destitute of daily food isn't it wonderful how James brings us back again and again to this idea a very practical Christianity of helping those who are in need that's why he talks about in the earlier in chapter 1 where he talks about someone who deceives themselves and thinks that their religion is real but pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their trouble you see James talked about it in chapter 1 now he talks about it again in chapter 2 very practical Christian living helping people who are in need back in chapter 1 the people who were pictured of being in need were orphans and widows but but so James uses the example of something else to make sure that we understand that he's not only talking about orphans and widows here in verses 15 16 and 17 he gives the idea of somebody who lacks food and clothing they're naked and destitute of daily food and if we fail in the most simple good works towards a brother or sister in need that demonstrates that we do not have a living faith and I'll say it again I'll probably say it a dozen times through this Bible study but I don't mind repeating myself only a living faith in Jesus Christ can save us now again we just understand that when he talks about somebody being in need of clothing and in need of food he's not trying to say that that's the only needs that matters he's using sort of those as a shorthand for legitimate human need and especially here in verse 15 from a brother or sister what we should be very aware to those needs and notice now in verse 16 look at the response of this dead faith person to them it says and one of you says to them depart in peace be warm and filled but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body what does it profit you see if we say to that person be warm and filled that proves we know that they need clothing we know that they need food you know their need well but you do nothing to help them except throw at them a few religious words again not deeds but words and brothers and sisters that is not enough that is not a demonstration of a living faith that's why James says in verse 16 what does it profit real faith and the works that accompany a real faith are not made up only of spiritual things your real faith will not only be demonstrated by your prayer life it will not only be demonstrated by your Bible reading habits it will not only be demonstrated by your church attendance it will also somewhere along the line be demonstrated by your real practical care and assistance for those who are in need and especially brothers and sisters because that's who he's talking about in verse 15 if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food you see those people have the need for comfort covering and food when needs arise sometimes what we should be doing as believers is praying less and doing more sometimes and I don't know maybe I'm the only one who's guilty of this but I think at some times I've been guilty of it maybe you have too sometimes I've been guilty of praying as a substitute for action look it's never wrong to pray but it is wrong to use prayer as a substitute for action I like what Adam Clarke the great Methodist commentator said about this he said on this line quote you're pretending to have faith well you have no works of charity or mercy is utterly vain for as faith which is a principle in the mind cannot be discerned but by the effects that is good works he who has no good works has presumptively no faith I think animal Clarke caught the spirit of that pretty well and that's why James says in verse 17 thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead now this is the first time in the letter that James speaks of the concept of a dead faith and just so we're clear on this we understand that faith alone saves us we'll look if you want to get technical you would say grace alone saves us and we receive that grace by faith in Jesus Christ but just in shorthand we can say this faith alone saves us but it must be a living faith you can tell that a faith is a live by seeing it accompanied by works and if it does not have works James and the Holy Spirit speaking through him tells us it is dead let me put it to you this way a living faith is simply a real faith if we really believe that something is real if we actually believe it we will follow through and act upon it if we really put our faith in Jesus Christ we will care for the naked and the destitute as he told us to do so what we need to have is a living faith a real faith a saving faith I made a list some time ago and today the truth I can't tell you exactly where I got this list I think I compiled it from a few different sources but I made a list of some of the marks of saving faith let me walk you through this list number one it is faith that does not look to self but to Jesus Christ isn't that important about a living faith there's no salvation looking to myself or in believing in myself or trusting in myself no real living saving faith looks to Jesus and not to self secondly it is faith that agrees with God's Word both inwardly and with words I'll say that I agree with God's Word I'll confess the truth of the Scriptures next it is faith that in itself is not a reward not a work that deserves a reward from God there's a sense in which real saving faith is simply refusing to think that God is a liar and there's no great credit that comes to me for refusing to think that God is a liar it's simply the absence of a sinful work next we could say that real faith is faith grounded in what Jesus did on the cross and affirmed or demonstrated by the empty tomb furthermore we would say that this faith will be naturally expressed in repent and good works if faith is real it will be expressed in repentance and other good works and real faith is faith that may sometimes doubt but the doubts are not bigger than the faith nor are they more permanent than the faith therefore faith can actually say Lord I believe help my unbelief as the famous father with the afflicted child said in the Gospels real faith is faith that once other people to come to the same faith real faith is faith that says more than Lord Lord as Jesus described in Matthew chapter 7 the Sermon on the Mount that many would come to him in that day and say Lord Lord did we not do many works in your names but he say depart from me from I never knew you and then finally I would say that real faith is faith that not only hears the Word of God but does the Word of God of course not perfectly we're not looking for perfect obedience to be a demonstration of real faith but it is nevertheless a real obedience now moving on to verse 18 James continues very much in the same idea the same train of thought he says this verse 18 but someone will say you have faith and I have works show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works you believe that there is one God you do well even the demons believe and tremble Wow those are two power packed verses first James points out the idea that somebody may object to what he's saying he say well look what we all have our different emphasis we all have our different gates you have faith and I have works you see some might try to say that somebody has the gift of works and somebody else has the gift of faith it's fine for you James to have your gift of works and that you all care for the needy but that isn't my gift James is not going to allow that kind of thinking real faith will be demonstrated by works it's not like you have some works Christians and some faith Christians no all Christians should have a real living faith that's demonstrated by a life of good works that's why James says in verse 18 show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works I love the logical appeal of James in this passage you see you can't see somebody's faith can you you can't see it it's not like there's a faith ohmmeter on the forehead of everybody that turns green or red or blue would everyone say when they really have faith there is no such faith ohmmeter on a person's head you can't see somebody's faith but you can see their faith in action by their works you can't see faith without works but you can demonstrate the reality of faith by works and as an example of someone who may believe but have no works in verse 19 James brings up the idea of the demons let me read that one to you again he says you believe that there is one God you do well even the demons believe and tremble now please remember that at this time James was writing to a church that was predominantly Jewish in its background I'll make no mistake about it these were Christians but these were Christians that came from a Jewish background and having come from a Jewish background they would value the statement known as the Shema hear o Israel the Lord our God is one and it was a very important principle to say that they are not polytheists they don't worship many gods they don't worship idols they worship the one God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob James takes that idea and he says ok great you believe that did you know that every demon in hell also believes it you see the fallacy of faith without works is demonstrated by these demons they have a dead faith in God those demons believe in the sense that they acknowledge that God exists and that God is one but that kind of faith does nothing for the demons because it isn't real faith and that is proved by the fact that it doesn't have works along with it now maybe James anticipates that were kind of Hungary for an example of this principle from the scriptures and in an interesting and of course very much inspired by the holy spirit way in verse 20 of James chapter 2 James will begin to present to us Abraham as an example of living faith faith that has works here we go James chapter 2 beginning now at verse 20 he says but do you want to know o foolish man that faith without works is dead was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which says abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only so now in calling this hypothetical objector this foolish man who doubts that faith without works is dead James will use the example of Abraham in the Old Testament and I'm fascinated by his use of Abraham here first of all notice he says there in verse 21 was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar you see Abraham was justified by faith long before he offered Isaac that was in Genesis chapter 15 verse 6 that's where it initially speaks of Abraham being justified by faith but his obedience in offering Isaac demonstrated that he really did trust God you see I find a few things fascinating in this first of all notice that it says here that Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar now if somebody wants to get kind of picky they could say this Abraham did not offer his son Isaac on the altar the book of Genesis tells us that God stopped Abraham before he actually offered Isaac on the altar before he plunged the sacrificial knife into Isaac as Isaac was bound upon the altar God stopped Abraham and he stopped Abraham to demonstrate that God did not want human sacrifice such as the other idols of the nations were reported to desire no I find it fascinating that James understands that God in many cases takes the willingness for the deed so that James actually says that Abraham did offer Isaac even though God did not receive the offering of app of Isaac as a sacrifice in a very firm resolution in a very firm intention Abraham would have absolutely completed that act of sacrifice if God had not stopped him Abraham surrendered to God in obedience was so complete that James can actually say that he did offer Isaac on the altar that's number one number two I want you to notice something that we learned from Abraham's life in Hebrews chapter 11 if you go to that chapter which is sometimes known as the museum of faith because it speaks so powerfully of these great heroes of the faith and all that they did in all the ways that they trusted God Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that the reason why Abraham had such great faith on Mount Moriah where he was to offer eyes it was because he believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead and because he believed it that's why he was willing to do the work of actually offering Isaac as a sacrifice is it that really remarkable that's why James can say in verse 22 faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect faith and works cooperated perfectly together in Abraham if he had never believed God he could have never done the good work of obedience of taking Isaac on the altar binding him on the altar holding the knife over being ready to plunge it in believing that God would raise him from the dead as Hebrews chapter 11 says if he didn't have faith he would have never done those things but if he didn't have the works of actually taking Isaac up there of actually binding him of actually putting him on the altar of actually raising the knife over his son and being ready to plunge in him if he had not have done those works it would have never demonstrated that his faith was real but it was real his faith was proven true it was completed it was made perfect by his obedient works that's why James can say right there in verse 24 you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only now again when he says faith only there what you should understand is what he's saying is by faith that is dead faith only in James mind there has faith that is dead you see the faith only that will not justify a person is faith without works it is dead faith but true faith living faith shown to be true by good works that will alone justify a person you see works must accompany a genuine faith because genuine faith is always connected with regeneration regeneration is just kind of a fancy word for using the phrase being born again becoming a new creation or a new creature in Christ Jesus according to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 if there is no evidence of a new life then there is no genuine saving faith real faith will demonstrate itself in some kind of change of life now listen we know don't we we know that that change of life isn't all at once nobody's life is changed immediately from sinful to perfect when they put their trust in Jesus Christ the changes don't come all at once and the changes are never completed on this side of eternity it's a progress or at least it should be a progress throughout the Christian life yet there will be demonstration of some kind of change when real faith is in the life you know preacher that's a great kind of hero of mine in church history as a man named Charles Spurgeon and Charles Spurgeon is reported to have said now I say reported because I've never been actually to try able to track down this quote from Charles Spurgeon so it's reported that Charles Spurgeon said this the grace that does not change my life will not save my soul or maybe I could turn it around in another way the grace that saves my soul will change my life and it will be evidence in works that is a living faith and breath and sisters I just want to bend over backwards and say to you again dead faith saves nobody dead faith is a mark of mere religion but we need to have a living faith a true faith a faith that will at least in some way demonstrate itself in the works in actions of our life now continuing on verse 25 likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way for as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without work is dead also you see here in James chapter 2 James will bring us to remarkable demonstrations of faith the first one was Abraham when his faith was seen to be so real that he was willing to do the work of offering Isaac the works demonstrated the reality of his faith the second example he gives us in verses 25 and 26 the example of Rahab the harlot and you know what that's a little bit of a shocking example maybe even a scandalous example what do I mean by that well listen number one Rahab was a Gentile she was a citizen of the city of Jericho number two she wasn't even a particularly moral Gentile at least not the way that she made her living she was a prostitute nevertheless she demonstrated the reality of her faith in the Living God by the way that she took in the Jewish spies the messengers and she hid them in her own house and then covered for them so that they could escape James uses these two examples of a living faith Abraham the father of the Jews and Rahab a Gentile and he's doing this I think no doubt because this is a time when Gentile believers are just beginning to come into the church and James is trying to tell his Jewish brothers who are already believers don't worry about these Gentile believers just as we have a pattern of faith in Abraham of course the Gentiles at Abraham as a pattern as well but that's another matter but just as we have a pattern of the faith in Abraham so they have a pattern of the faith in Rahab and he says there in verse 25 was not Rahab the harlot also justified by her works Rahab demonstrated her true faith in the God of Israel by hiding those spies and seeking salvation from their God you'll find that in Joshua chapter 2 verses 8 through 13 her faith was shown to be living faith why because it did something her belief in the God of Israel would not have saved her if she had not done something with that faith real faith will do something living faith will do something so that a lesson that we learned from Abraham is very clear if we believe God we will do what he tells us to do the lesson from Rahab is clear if we believe God we will help his people even when it costs us something so isn't that powerful Abraham shows us that obedience is a mark of true faith Rahab shows us that compassion and even sacrifice is a mark of true faith now verse 26 the verse in which we're going to conclude this study and this chapter James chapter 2 James says for as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also you know it is possible to have a body without a spirit we call that a corpse it's a dead body so it is at least possible theoretically to have faith without life and that faith without works is what it is a dead faith unable to save you see James does not deny that this is faith he simply calls says it is a dead faith it's not the right kind of faith so do you see how Paul and James don't disagree at all when Paul is talking about the faith that saves and the faith that saves alone he's talking about real faith when James is talking to us about the faith that will not save he's talking about dead faith and Paul and James would stand together and they would say absolutely positively dead faith will save nobody and Paul and James would agree together absolutely positively real faith living faith will be demonstrated by action you can think of it like an apple tree where is the life of the tree the life of the three is in the root of the tree and underneath the bark of the tree you can't see the actual life of the tree the life of the tree is not primarily in the apples the apples are the fruit that are displayed in proper season but if the tree is alive it will produce apples in season the the real life is in the the trunk it's in the roots it's in the SAP the apples are the evidence of life and so fruit spiritual fruit holiness obedience compassion for those in need that will be the demonstration of a living faith brother and sisters we are not justified by a dead faith we will never be saved by a dead faith but a true faith a living faith this is what justifies this is what makes a man or a woman right with God and that kind of faith will be shown to be true in life by some kind of works some kind of activity some kind of holiness some kind of compassion these are the things that James is pointing towards and these are the things to which we must give close attention we're gonna end our study with this right here at the end of verse 26 but join us next time as we begin in James chapter 3 [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: James, Book of James, New Testament, Bible, Living Faith, Dead Faith, Guzik, David Guzik, Abraham, Rahab, Faith

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Length: 35min 13sec (2113 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 13 2019