James Session 4 (Chapter 2:14-26) - With Chuck Missler

[Music] okay we're doing a study in the book of jacob jacob's letter to the 12 tribes james in your new testament for those of you looking for jacob it's james in the english there was a and a cartoon in the new yorker some time ago it showed that the sketch was of a a church but it had a billboard you know they do advertising their particular features and this church was advertising the following advantages to its particular style of worship it's it advertised that they have 24 fewer commitments they're the home of the 7.5 tithe they advertise they only have 15 minute sermons 45 minute worship services we have only eight commandments your choice we have just three spiritual laws not four everything you've wanted in the church and less right and of course it was just a humorous insertion the new yorker and yet the spirit of humor behind that is tragically like all good humor is always built around some germ of truth it's interesting how in our society the church has moved towards comfort rather than commitment no quickening of the conscience no feeding of the mind no opening of the heart no real commitment and james would argue no real faith the letter to james a letter of james i mean in the new testament is often presented as in contrast to paul and it's really not one of the great debates among biblical scholars is the relationship between the epistle of james and the many epistles of paul's paul's epistles really focus on the time prior to salvation and james's focus is after salvation the way we normally would start our study in james say how many of you are saved get a show of hands and then ask after everybody how many of you are saved how many of you saved you in the office has you good good then the next question is what have you done with it see part of the problem we have in the evangelical community there's an attitude an atmosphere that the whole thing is to get people to receive jesus christ i'm not knocking that don't misunderstand don't misunderstand me but we have these crusades and things and the idea is to get people to come down the sawdust trail and accept jesus christ as if that's a climax as if that's the goal as if that's the the peak no no no that's the beginning that's the beginning of what it should be in other words that's where things start because that should begin a path of growth a path of commitment a path of bearing fruit all you do there is to plant a seed which jesus is looking for is a seed that bears for a tree that bears forth fruit just a little bit of review we are an epistle i like to call jacob it's jacobo's in the greek it's jacques and france it's iago and italian diego and spanish or yakov and hebrew but strange enough in english it's james and it's always fun to talk about the epistle of jacob but in the case there were several james's of course in the new testament brother john another one but we side with those scholars that believe that this letter was literally written by the lord's half-brother one who did not accept him until after the resurrection but then emerged to become the leader of the community of the christian community in jerusalem and i won't go through the whole thing there's the epistle could not have been written later than 62 a.d and may have been one of those precipitating events in the rebellion that caused was crushed by rome in the fall of jerusalem in 70 a.d 68 to 70 a.d there are some people that believe the letter might have been written much earlier than that in fact probably approximately at the time of the acts 15 and the council in jerusalem but there's different views and each one has its uh support and implication and it's written to the 12 tribes you need as we read this letter let's keep in mind that james was very jewish and he's writing to primarily a jewish community christians yes but but the jewish christians that's one of the arguments for it being very very early in that whole development and these are the same 12 tribes that the old testament talks about the same 12 tribes that peter wrote to in his first letter same 12 tribes that paul spoke to it is addressed before agrippa in acts 26 and i think we dismissed in one of our earlier sessions this whole myth that's very popular but a myth of 10 lost tribes they're not there aren't 10 lost tribes and i won't get into all that here the book does have 60 imperatives in 108 verses but let's not carry away a lot of do's and don'ts let's try to see through those as to the real argument the real perspective that james is uh painting for us now tonight we're gonna take the last half of chapter two uh the whole epistle deals with faith but he deals with it especially in chapter two and faith of course is a key doctrine in christian life many people mean many different things about faith faith of course sinner is saved by faith we learn that from ephesians 2 8-9 the believer must walk by faith second corinthians 5 7. without faith it's impossible to please god we learn in hebrews chapter 11. and in fact romans 14 verse 23 says whatever we do that's not done of faith is sin wow what is this business of faith i suspect that if we had a little survey if we had more time i'm almost tempted to do that just to give everybody a scrap of paper and give me a definition of what you think faith is and i think we'd be surprised in an audience of this size we've probably got an incredible diversity of perspectives as to what do we really mean by faith and it's tragic that uh first of one of the one of the myths of modern society is that faith is good as if if you have faith everything's fine that's misses the point entirely faith in what you know there's often in the popular entertainment you sort of often get a they feel that they're reaching some kind of philosophical pinnacle by saying that if you have faith it's wonderful in a nondescript sense and of course that's tragic but even within the christian realm there is an attitude by many that faith is some kind of commitment of belief in spite of evidence and nothing could be further from the truth faith is not believing in spite of evidence faith is obeying in spite of convenience let me try that on you because i think that's the way james would describe it and he's going to develop that as we go and get into this now and faith is not a feeling that we work up many people feel we need to grow in faith you know we somehow you know faith is not a feeling we work up it's um confidence that god's word is true that's more than just believing and it means there's an atmosphere of trust involved in that word confidence it's confidence that god's worth is true and that acting upon his word will bring a blessing and that's what it's all about now one of the questions we want to ask ourselves tonight very basic stuff tonight is uh what kind of faith saves a person what kind of faith saves a person and is it necessary to do good works in order to be saved you should gasp in horror no that's legalism well let's wait and see how can a person tell whether or not he's exercising a true saving faith that's a good question anyone that's not uncomfortable now wasn't listening now james is going to focus we're in about verse 14 on the last half of this chapter james is going to discuss three kinds of faith and the first one is going to disturb us if you're paying attention verse 14 james says what does it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works can that faith save them or be a little more precise can that kind of faith save him that's interesting you see there are those who claim they had saving faith yet did not possess salvation i won't ask for a show of hands there are people among us not necessarily here tonight but among us in the community that say they have faith but are lost now let me let's turn to matthew 7. and let's pick it up about verse 16. you shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire well first of all we're measuring trees how what's the discriminating thing by the kind of fruit they bear then it goes on wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them then he continues to amplify the amplification of this verse 21 not every one that saith unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say unto me in that day lord have we not prophesied thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then while i profess it to them i never knew you depart from me that work iniquity therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them i will liken him unto a wise man to build his house in a rock and he goes on to a whole nother development this is a very very heavy question that dave is po that uh that james is posing in verse 14 what does it profit my brethren do a man say he hath faith and have not works can that kind of faith save him and then he goes on to give an example he's going to actually give three examples but the first one is anecdotal here if a brother or a sister verse 15 be naked and destitute of daily food and he's going to continue as a believer you and i have an obligation to help meet the needs of people and that's something that's so easily shrugged off that something so easily deferred to a committee or what have you we'll talk more about as we go in galatians chapter 6 verse 10 paul says as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are the household of faith paul paints a perspective here that we have an obliged christians we are manifesting demonstrating professing the character of god by our conduct and as we fail to meet obligations to help we are casting a cloud on the image of god that we are to be witnesses of but i mentioned paul mentioned something else in galatians 6 10 he emphasizes that our obligation is more intense on believers that's something that seems instinctively right and yet it's interesting to see that confirmed in the scripture itself another passage will come to mind is in matthew 25 but the second coming verse 40. it says and the king shall answer and say to them verily i say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it unto the one at least of these my brethren you have done it unto me no there is an obligation to to be supportive well in james's example he points to in verse 15 a brother or sister naked destitute of daily food then in verse 16. and one of you say unto them depart in peace be warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things they are need for the body what does it profit in other words what he's portraying here is someone that's come in that's in need and we say to them good good depart in peace be warmed and filled what good is that that's lip service in other words we're not feeding them we're not meeting the need we're just saying be warmed and filled brother it's a cynical remark in effect you understand the cynicism that's portrayed here it's all lip service depart in peace be warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which they need for what does it profit jesus is portraying here people who have the vocabulary but not the commitment not the action people with dead faith substitute words for authenticating deeds they know the vocab they picked up all the buzzwords the vocabulary for prayer for worship for witnessing testimonies be warmed and filled brother gee thanks a lot guy i'm hungry be warmed and filled first john 3 17 19 but whoso hath this world's goods and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of god in him if you have a brother in need and aren't responsive how can you say god dwells in you and then john continues the first letter he says my little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but and in truth and hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him john himself is making the same argument that james is making in his letter that words are cheap but indeed and in truth and hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him now the probably the classic example and you know it's so difficult sometimes with our most familiar stories to really remember the point that's being made all of us are familiar with the story of the good samaritan let's refresh it let's turn to luke 10. let's just take another look at that it's obviously not a new discovery it's a something that we've all taken a look at but it's always it always uh fascinates me how sometimes our most familiar passages become so familiar that we forget the real issue here and behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him saying master what shall i do to inherit eternal life and he said what is written in the law how is thou and the answering said thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart with all my soul with all my strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor is thyself he sent him thou hast answered right this do and thou shall live but he willing to justify himself he said to jesus who is my neighbor who is our neighbor and jesus answering said a certain man went down from jerusalem to jericho felt among thieves which stripped him of his by the way if you've ever been to jerusalem to jericho you know that's what a half an hour drive it's 20 miles something like that and it's really destitute even today this desert open rolling country bandits all kinds of things i'm sure in those days maybe even maybe today too um it fell among thieves which stripped of his arraignment wounded him and departed leaving him half dead and by chance there came down a certain priest a priest okay this is a descendant of aaron this is a professional religionist if you will and when he saw him he passed by on the other side well i wonder how many times we've done that how many times we've done that when we've seen someone in need and we sort of found a way to sort of avoid a direct confrontation and likewise a levite when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side but a certain samaritan now this interesting selection kind of most of you realize the samaritans were regarded they're sort of like they were regarded by the people sort of half jews when the northern kingdom fell the inhabitants in large measure were transported other parts of the assyrian empire and other people other syrian captives were trans they had a policy of cross-mingling their captives to break down any nationalistic identity with the soil they were raised on so that's where the northern kingdom developed a population that was sort of half jewish half other things and out of that came the samaritans and they were despised by the jews so they were in fact remember the woman at the well that when jesus goes through samaria that was like regarded to a true true jew that was like foreign country see anyway here comes one of these despised in their society a samaritan as he journey came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him and he went to him bound up his wounds pouring on in oil and wine set him on his own beast brought him to the end and took care of him left his credit card and on the morrow when he departed he took two pence and gave him to the host and said unto him take care of him and whatsoever thou spend us more when i come again i'll repay thee that's a gutsy move what's his protection against being abused what's his protection against false billing i mean you stop thinking about that that's a gutsy move those days are no different than today they're people that are unscrupulous and of course jesus raises the question now which one of these three the priest the levite or the samaritan was the neighbor unto him that fell among thieves now this is not an academic parent it's a parable these don't have names when they have names it's a real story here that's a parable okay i i assume persecution and he said he that showed mercy on him okay jesus said go thou and do likewise commandment for obedience this is an academic intellectual exercise this isn't defining some doctrine this is laying out a a pattern of conduct and that's really what james is going to hammer away because getting back to james any declaration of faith that does not result in a changed life and some practical results is a false declaration a lot of people around that claim to be christians that are making maybe unknowingly but i'm making a false declaration verse 17 he's going to say this three times in this short passage we're going to look at tonight he says even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone that is being by itself james is not drawing a distinction between faith and works he's saying they're inseparable quite the contrary john calvin summarized it very eloquently it is faith alone that justifies but faith that justifies is never alone see we have a tendency in our theology and our cliches to see because we're so we've we've gotten so fearful of legalism faith and works you don't get saved by works it's not that simple because faith in works if it's real faith it'll produce works that's what calvin's saying it's faith alone that justifies we're justified judicially before god by faith but we're justified we justify him by our works before men solafide only by faith yeah but counts it faith alone that justifies but the faith that justifies is never alone so faith without authenticating actions is vain is the main burden that james is going to try to hammer away here it's interesting interesting epistle uh i'm so grateful that we chose to really dig into this epistle because i think it's so timely for today so timely for today because i think all of us are victims in a sense that perhaps an over emphasis on the one at the expense of the other when they really need to go together like two sides of the same coin let's go to verse 18 yea a man may say thou hast faith and i have works show me thy faith without works and i will show thee my faith by my works we have expression or common language you know your actions actions speak louder than words right that's really what james is saying james is actually repudiating any separation of faith alone or deeds alone as if they were contradictory he is going to make the point that mere intellectual assent is inadequate i think most of us are probably mature enough to realize just intellectual assent just belief is not faith i may believe that that airplane can fly that's a different thing than getting into it and flying it one one's believing it one's having faith in it in a sense okay we may know accurately the doctrines of salvation and yet have not submitted ourselves to god you can intellectually know the doctrines of salvation but not have submit been submitted to god and james will warn three times that faith without works is dead in verse 17 20 and he'll close the chapter with verse 26. now i said he's going to talk about three times of faith the first kind of faith that he's addressed here we'll call dead faith you can have faith that's dead you can have faith or think you have faith and be unsaved and that's scary you know sometimes we take up topics here and stuff and we sometimes go a little on the fringe or take things that are sort of the different views and we'll express both views and move on we're in some deep deep stuff here and i want to ask for a show of hands but one of the questions is are you saved and if so how do you know well i believe the word of god praise god that's great but is there evidence in your life that you are a little tougher now james is going to develop this with a second example and this the next example he deliberately picks one to shock you and he takes the most bizarre example you can imagine verse 19 thou believest that there is one god thou doest well the demons also believe in tremble ooh are demons real i think in this audience and i think most of you are sophisticated enough to recognize they are one of the great discoveries it's interesting 10 20 years ago if you had this kind of discussion in the church christian group of christians you had an uphill battle talking about demons and the christian community is very comfortable talking about jesus christ talking about all the stuff but you start talking about satan as a real person you start talking about demons and people get uncomfortable they sort of the back they may acknowledge the vocabulary but the back mind they say these are maybe idioms for some kind of fuzzy darkness they don't think of him as a sentient resourceful malicious adversary today's world it's interesting maybe more more than 10 years but certain last 20 years say there's been a whole change in our culture there was a time on the universities or in the high schools you'd argue about the existence of god today there are many many uh debates not whether god exists it's who's going to win and you start you start seeing the embodiment of supernatural beings of various kinds that are painted as good guys it was interesting when you see just to speak of the entertainment media and the movie independence day when these there was some kind of you know interaction with presumably aliens from outer space and these people crowded on rooftops of buildings welcoming them like they're going to be the answer to all our problems now of course that's just entertainment's dealing on some popular myths and whatever but but essentially how many people today regard the paranormal as intrinsically good they don't doubt it's reality but they're they not only acknowledge it's reality they're perfectly willing to take it comfortably as our friend potentially our friends anyway the good news i think that the biblical churches churches that take the bible seriously do they have i think rediscovered the reality and the activity of demons there are many many churches that had some kind of experience that endorses that anyone has a doubt about that i encourage you with a certain amount of desperation in my voice to get into ephesians 6 verses 10 through 18 where paul admonishes you in strong turns to put on the whole armor of god why because we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against demonic powers and he enumerates them there the armor you need to wear is very specific and it's just as specific as physical armor but far more important it admonishes you to put on the whole armor of god not just a few of your favorite pieces and there are seven elements you need to understand what those seven elements are do an intensive study of ephesians 6 verses 10 through 18. seven elements there do some homework don't be satisfied until you know what those seven elements are and that you have them on you don't put the armor on during the battle you put it on before it starts and you're already on enemy turf let's move on it's interesting that the demons have faith there is not i don't believe that there's a demon in the entire universe that's an atheist right isn't that what james is saying you say you believe you know devils also believe and tremble he makes another point they are further ahead than many christians because many christians believe intellectually it's a remote academic definitional thing there's no emotion associated with it the devils are ahead of you they at least have the consciousness to shudder and tremble this scary stuff by the way i think some of the demons have better theology than we have we're so proud of our no hey they believe in the existence of god they believe in the deity of christ they even witnessed of christ whenever they met christ when he was on the earth they bore witness to his sonship and we should probably take a look at a couple of these mark 3 11 and 12's one place let's take the matthew account matthew eight it's in it for those of you on in your notes you put mark 3 matthew 8 and luke 8 but i thought we'll just i'll just pick one of these we'll take matthew 8. let's clean what we can pick it up oh it's right after the calming of the storm and so forth we'll pick it up about verse 28 and when he has come to the other side he's on the sea of galilee and he calmed the storm and when he was come to the other side into the country of the guttering sir they met him too possessed with devils coming out of the tombs exceeding fears and many people have a real hang up because some of the other gospels only mentioned one one was apparently more prominent there apparently were actually two but anyway so that one so that no man might pass that way and and behold they cried out saying what have we to do with thee jesus thou son of god notice they reckon this is matthew 8 this is early in his ministry not matthew 13 or 28 it's 8. get the picture here what do we have to do with thee jesus thou son of god wow that's more theology than a lot of gra seminary graduates with phds and h2so4s behind their names art thou come hither to torment us before the time what a strange insight they apparently understand that they've got a destiny that's coming what are you doing here so early not time yet what's going on these are knowledgeable questions these are not hallucinations by some psychiatric problem that this character had out in the rock somewhere you know many people think demons and stuff that's new testament idioms for what we now call psychiatry today i hope not i have some concerns about modern psychiatry that ain't one of them no no these are recorded in the word of god in many places many ways to make it clear in fact in fact this particular episode is one of the strangest that we should maybe dwell on it as we go here i think we're not crowded for time we'll make it they asked the question verse 29 verse 30 and there was a a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding so the devils or demons besought him saying if thou cast us out suffer us to go away into the herd of swine in the other accounts in the marker luke accounts it'll mention they were they assumed if he didn't do that they would go into the abuso back to where they came they didn't want to go there one of the strange things we infer from the many new testament accounts of these demons is they seek embodiment they seem to be powerless except to the extent that they can embody a a person that has broken that for whatever reason is the gateway of the will has been opened and suffers to go into that herd of swine some say what is a herd of swine doing in israel that's not kosher it isn't they are on the other side of the sea of galilee they're in the area of the decapolis they were there to support a greek popular or a gentile population why do they want to go into the herd of swine i don't know but even more mysterious why does jesus give them what they asked for they asked for he said okay fine go verse 32. he said on them go and when they would come out they went into the herd of swine one of the reasons i've often wondered why is this in the scripture what's going on here why did the lord want us to if for no other reason and to teach us that these are real these aren't idioms these aren't figures of speech these aren't labels that we might now today use for some other kind of mental arrangement no no these are sentient beings asking permission jesus granted their permission and they entered the swine now i don't know what happen if what happens subsequently i don't know if it's a result of their indwelling them or if that was the fine print go ahead where jesus go ahead but then he then somehow he drives them off because the swine obviously the whole herd of swine ran violently down a deep place into the sea and perished in the waters i don't quite understand i i this raises more questions than i have answers for in other words if is that what they wanted or was that just you know yes you can go but not for long kind of thing and if so whatever in any case why is this in the scripture i think if not no other reason for us to recognize that these things by the way do you how many swine there were do many many demons were in this guy two thousand two thousands in in one of the other gospel accounts it mentions the number of swine wow and they did they that kept them that's why we always call this the case of the deviled ham but i that's him yeah it's bad i know and they that kept them fled and went their way into the city and told everything and what was befallen of those that possessed the devils and behold the whole city came out to meet jesus sounds great no no they came out and when they saw them they sought him that he should depart out of their coasts religion was not good for the economy i mean these guys got wiped out of their whole herd they're upset they're upset somehow it brings us back to memory we have a relative got in a situation in southern california where this particular party had a very very visible disease a shrinking of the skin it's a malady that was very very painful very very final very very visible as the real point and was invited to a healing service that during which this particular party was miraculously healed visibly that's what makes it so spectacular because this wasn't one of those things i've got a backache or something this was conspicuously visible and there was a it was a supernatural healing took place well they went to their church to give glory to god and people who knew this person you know should have been flabbergasted because they they have a before and after situation right and the pastor very gently took them aside and acknowledged that this wonderful isn't god great but could you worship somewhere else because they didn't want to get into these controversies about gifts of the spirit and all that stuff very very strange stuff anyway getting back to the demons here they knew and acknowledged their ex the existence of a place of punishment they recognized in the mark account especially they recognized jesus christ as the judge and interestingly enough they submit to the power of his word now they may not have had a choice but i mean all that's embedded in this passage it's interesting to me they were not just touched in the intellect they trembled according to james they they believe and tremble james makes the point see a person can be enlightened in his mind and even stirred in his heart and still be lost that's disturbing that's a very very upsetting insight using the demon james used the example i didn't he did and what's the example here are ones that intellectually know what's going on and they're stirred emotionally about it and they're lost that should make all of us a little uncomfortable see it's not a confirming experience to tremble and you fill in that blank with many other kinds of of emotional responses that's not a confirm that's not the kind of confirming experience that james is going to focus on true faith involves something more something that can be seen and recognized namely a changed life this implies that hell is going to have its share of monotheists trinitarians orthodox theologians and lost verse 20 james but wilt thou o vain man who thou know o vain man that faith without works is dead he says it a second time they'll say the third time before the passage is over you know you've got to look at this the way that the way i guess see i made it because i'm a businessman i look at this as an investment god has made an investment and he expects a return a farmer plants a tree expects the tree to bear fruit doesn't bear fruit he replaces the tree cuts it down gets another one and jesus that analogy that figure of speech that that approach is mentioned several times in scripture the way we would look at he expect there should be earnings on investment if you have a portfolio investment you weed out the losers the ones that just for whatever reason didn't work out we could go from here if we want to matthew 13 the four soils and how were those four events the four different kinds of soils by the fruit bearing some were dry you know various reasons they didn't bear fruit the fourth one did of course now faith without works is dead the word is actually implies from the greek it's a play on words really means useless useless dead vain empty useless faith that has no works doesn't work and he emphasized all through here you get to get the main point he's making it is not faith versus works as we generally tend to jump to that issue it's the idea that they're inseparable if you have faith without works it's empty it's faith now that we've mentioned two kinds of faith we've mentioned the dead faith we've mentioned the demonic faith and of course he's going to obviously lead to and to keep the d's working we'll say dynamic faith true saving faith is based of course in the word of god and because we received our spiritual birth how by the word of god james mentioned that in chapter one we went through that then romans 10 17 faith cometh by hearing and hearing what the word of god and faith of course is i think all of us recognize if we think about it is no better than its object i can have faith in the chair to sit on it but i don't have faith in the chair to save my soul i mean faith is meaningless without an object and obviously it's a tragedy in our in our federally enforced paganism in our schools is that any object as good as another that's good for you i have mine in other words if it doesn't matter whatever you choose is the underlying myth and dynamic faith james is going to use some examples here involves the whole person the intellect the emotions yes and the will and the will the mar the mind understands the truth the heart desires the truth but the will acts upon the truth and again i i love this summary faith is not believing in spite of evidence faith is obeying in spite of the consequences and he's going to use several examples here to to talk about now before we go on we might talk about works just a little bit there are all kinds of works too there's works of the law in galatians 2 16 there's works of the flesh in galatians 5 19 there's wicked works in colossians 1 21 there's dead works in hebrews 9 14. but there's also good works and that's what he's going to talk about here in his a couple of interesting illustrations very contrasting illustrations actually verse 21 he continues was not abraham our father justified by works when he had offered isaac uh his son upon the altar now it's really he's obviously drawing he's jewish and his his readers are jewish so he doesn't have to fill in the blanks for you and i as gentiles we should take the time we won't hear in the study but i encourage you to take some time to reflect on the career of abraham really starts in genesis 12 but genesis 15 is very very critical 15 and then what he's drawing on specifically is the events in genesis 22 known in hebrew is the akida the offering of isaac a very very interesting passage where god asked tells abraham to offer his son isaac and that's a staggering passage god is certainly not endorsing child sacrifice on the one hand and yet that's what he's asking abraham to do now when by the time abraham gets to chapter 22 he's learned a lot of lessons but back in chapter 15 abraham was initially spiritually bankrupt but god added to his account one of the verses that's quoted several times in the new testament is that abraham believed god and it was counted to him for righteousness so abraham was justified before god by his faith demonstrates that by his works here in in this passage justification in the declarative sense in the judicial sense is a one-time act and you and i are justified by god's action not what we do and something that we appropriate to ourselves through faith but it's not something the sinner does it's something that god does for the sinner but the question is how can the person himself and more importantly maybe the outside world also know that he's justified in a demonstrative sense by faith and the answer of course is by a changed life and obedience and that's what abraham is going to demonstrate here in chapter 22. in chapter 22 abraham is demonstrating to you and i that he is already saved he wasn't saved in chapter 22 he was saved in chapter 15 verse 6. both paul in both romans 4 and galatians 3 makes that point and quotes that verse on that basis that's how abraham was saved by faith and paul both in romans 4 and galatians 3 quotes that but more than 30 years later abraham demonstrates that he was saved by being obedient god says i want you to offer your only son isaac very strange phrase because he had ishmael but as far as god's concerned he's focusing on the son of the promise i want you to offer them on a mountain i'm going to show you the next morning not a week of prayer and confirmation and whatever no no the next morning he gets up early takes isaac and two young men and a donkey and they head for a three-day journey turns out to be a three-day journey and it's interesting when they get to the place that god has appointed the donkey the two men stay at the bottom and abram says to the young the men that that accompanied him wait here i and the lad are going yonder and we will come back to you abraham expected to come back down the hill with isaac even though he's going to offer him interesting attitude you have to unravel your unravel is primarily by looking at galatians 3 and romans 4 and also hebrews 11 verse 19 you discover several things you discover that what say the the issue here the key faith issue is in the resurrection of isaac abram had been given a promise by god that isaac would have children isaac didn't have a child but married yet didn't have children god you wanting to kill him you got a problem god i don't i know you're going to do it because i trust you so i knew he's going to be so it's interesting very you we could spend easily the whole evening just on that the subtleties all through that little passage in genesis 22. and obviously abraham goes up there and and he's ready to do the deed and by the way you need to also understand don't get misled by your little sunday school coloring books isaac wasn't just a little kid we even have some very elegant sculptures given to us as gifts you know it's always he's always portrayed in art as a little child no he's probably close to 30 not over 30. and he went willingly he volunteered if you read the hebrew it says they both went together no the hebrew says they both went in agreement and abram's all ready to do the deed has the blade ready to go can you imagine can you imagine the emotional churning in abraham's gut and yet he knew that god was going to have he's going to have children by isaac because god told him that before isaac was born back in genesis 15 you gotta read jesus 15 to get the whole profile of this thing and he is ready to do it that's faith obedience in spite of the apparent consequences that's faith it's not believing in spite of evidence that's a myth that doesn't grab it obviously you all know the story the angel interviewer intervenes they substitute a ram and if not before by then abraham knew he was acting out prophecy because he names the place in the mount of the lord it shall be seen verse 14. i don't know how much he knew but he knew that he was acting out a foreshadowing of something in the future and 2 000 years later on that exact spot another father offers his son as an offering for sin now i think you all know a couple of chapters later chapter 24 abraham and of course abraham that's what it's also called a type abram's that type or a foreshadowing of the father isaac as the son they're acting out in in what's called the in literary terms or coding terms it's a macrocode it's it's a type it's interesting that two couple chapters later later abram has his eldest servant commissioned to go to a far country and gather a bride for isaac don't take isaac don't mind the country you go there get the bring the bride home and so the eldest servant don't think he's a menial he's a business partner he would have inherited everything abram had if he didn't have issue he takes on the mission and he goes there and he qualifies rebecca by a well and then arranges with her family to it's up to her she agrees to marry a bridegroom she has not seen so they make arrangements and this elder servant brings her back again we have a type abraham's the type of the father what is the elder servant a type of the holy spirit the eldest servant's name is not in that chapter 24. you have to go back to chapter i think 15 to discover his name is eliezer which means comforter this is the type of the holy spirit and it's interesting not only is the comforter he's always portrayed in the scripture in a type as an unnamed servant see the same thing in the book of ruth but as his kinsmen redeemer ruth is the gentile ultimately the gentile bride of boaz who introduces ruth the bow as an unnamed servant and why because in john 16 jesus tells us that when the comfort comes he will not testify of himself and how literally that's true fascinating to see the artistry but what's really interesting is when you get back to genesis 22 and you read that chapter i want you to pay attention to verse 19. because after this whole event up there on the hill verse 19 says and abraham came down joined the two young men and they went home three their journey back to beija and they dwelt in bear shava if you look at that you and i jumped to the conclusion i'm sure it's correct that abraham and isaac came down the hill they joined the two young guys that were waiting and the four of them went home but that's not what it says it says abraham came down joined the two young men and they went home to bear shabba and they dwelt in bear sheva they're both even what's interesting if you study a scripture the person of isaac is edited out of the record from the time that he's offered until the time he's united with his bride by the well of lahai roy the well of the living water two chapters chapter 24 verse 62. i fascinated with that because the holy spirit engineers even the presentation in your bible so that even so it fits the type the model obviously isaac went down they went home but that's not what it says and by the way it's expressed it fits more tightly the model anyway back to james verse 22. james continues sees thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was fa his faith made perfect see jesus taught that that uh tree that one recognizes trees by their fruit the same thing is with you and i people recognize you and i if we're saved by the change in our life how many people are shocked by the change that comes over some friend they've worked with for years that discovers lord jesus christ and their life changes they no longer relish dirty stories they no longer indulge in the things they used to they they their lives change their love has changed their passions have changed their commitments have changed that's evidence of the work of god james continues verse 23 and the scripture was fulfilled which said abraham believed god and it was imputed him for righteousness and he was called the friend of god see abraham was declared righteous in uh by paul in romans four first first five verses you can look them up at your own leisure galatians three verses six and seven and that was 14 years before circumstance a circumcision was uh ordained he was saved in genesis 15 circumcision came in genesis 17 what a blow to the jew and that's hundreds of years before the law of moses circumcision didn't says them save the law didn't save them they had other purposes his faith saved him but then verse 24 ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith alone in other words you know that he's he is uh saved by the fact that he he uh his faithfulness god's obedience by faith abraham is justified before god and his righteousness is declared by works he was justified before men and his righteousness demonstrated demonstrated i love what dl moody said this sort of gets it across too every bible should be bound in shoe leather isn't that neat put shoe leather to your face titus chapter 1 verse 16 they profess that they know god but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient unto every good work reprobate and i always echo what gandhi answered when someone asked mahatma gandhi what is the biggest obstacle to christianity coming to india and he answered with one word christians what an indictment verse 25 now abraham uh now james is going to take another example and he couldn't pick a more contrasting example to abraham he picks rahab rib verse 25 likewise also was not rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and sent them out another way and this of course is drawing upon joshua chapter 2 and chapter 6. you may recall that joshua sent in two spies into jericho he had just led the children of israel across the uh george the jordan river on dry land first thing he did when he got to gilgal set up his base at gilgal the first thing he did get him circumcised here's the entire israeli nation wandering for 40 years but had not observed the right of circumcision circumcised them and now he's facing seven nations in the land the biggest and most powerful of the seven was the amorites and their capital was jericho by the way jericho means the moon god kind of interesting if you put it today as the head of the plo i think that's very interesting their base camp but anyway first thing he does he sends in two spies why two forty years earlier moses and twelve but ten were useless so i don't know if that's you i just i'll rather have ten i'd rather have two good ones but i don't think there were spies that we always use that term spies and i'll stick with it because that's where we're used to but i don't think there were spies at all nothing they brought back you know developed assisted the development of their battle plan what's the battle plan we're going to march around once a day for six days keeping silent and on seventh day we're gonna march around seven times and blow our horns and all the walls can come down really it's irresistible i don't know how bill cosby can miss that he did such a wonderful job with noah i don't know why you can miss joshua's staff meeting you know but as you know the the two guys get put up at this inn the word in the hebrew implies an innkeeper but the greek in the new testament implies a house of ill repute you know what a house of ill repute is that's a whorehouse with a bad reputation okay james 225 in hebrews 11 31 does indicate that she was an immoral person and yet she becomes saved she becomes the the wife of obed the mother of boaz who's so prominent in ruth and she is one of the few women that show up on a jewish genealogy in fact the genealogy of our lord jesus christ matthew 1. so he picks this case of rahab which is the opposite of his previous example abraham was a jew prominent patriarch prominent in old testament literature to any jew here's rahab who's a gentile she is an emirate and she's a prostitute and she's also a comparatively minor figure the old testament so she's obviously quite different you all know the story she risked her life hiding them you could say gee she betrayed her own people she lied to protect them a lot of interesting issues the whole issue of rahab and now that you get into our joshua commentary to get all the details but you all know the story how she by actually and she makes the hall of faith you know we do need it we need to we're almost there we'll make it uh turn with me to hebrews 11. you know we all talk about hebrews chapter 11. it's a famous one of the most famous chapters in the bible let alone the book of hebrews it's often called the hall of faith it's a summary of these great people of faith i believe hebrews was written by paul for a lot of reasons i won't bore you with here tonight it doesn't matter there's a lot of good competent controversy about that but i have some strong reasons why i hold to that view but the point is so i mentioned that so if i slip and say paul wrote it you need to understand that's controversial i have to believe it but there are good callers that would like to debate that i believe if james was commenting on this he would not call hebrews 11 a hall of faith he would call it a hall of works let's take a look at it it opens up with some great openings here now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen for by it the elders obtained a good report through faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of god so the things which are not seen were not made of things which do appear by faith abel offered unto god a more excellent sacrifice than cain oh really how do we know about abel's faith by his works that's interesting by faith enoch translated that he should not see death and was not found god translated him for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased god without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him how do i know if you believe god is a rewarder of them that diligently seek god by your reliance on those blessings even though they may not be convenient verse 7 by faith noah being warned of god of things not seen yet moved with fear and prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the witch he condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness which is by faith what's noah's testimony that he made an ark is making the ark the important thing no it's a demonstration of his faith for 120 years he had that thing in his driveway can you imagine how the neighbors thought anyway you move on let's get down let's pick up verse 20. by faith isaac blessed jacob and esau concerning things to come verse 24 by faith moses when he was come two years refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter the demonstration of moses faith right front when he insisted when he discovered he discovered and then insisted on his jewish roots choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season what was it what was the thing that justified moses his faith yes how by his actions you know pop down get verse 29 by faith they passed through the red sea is by dry land the entire nation demonstrated its faith by crossing and so on the whole whole chapter is called the hall of faith but i'm almost tempted to relabel it my bible the hall of works well we got one more verse to go in james verse 26 for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also what do you mean by dead meaningless useless powerless a lifeless counterfeit it's an imposter we have faith without works there's something wrong now we got you and i we got a bigger problem because of luke 12 48 for unto whom whomsoever much is given much is required you and i have the benefit of all the past history you and i can look around and we can know a lot more when job was confronted with his problems he didn't know there was a conversation between satan got joke chapter one we learned all that he didn't know that sitting on the dung heap lost everything see we have the benefit of more information we not only have the whole scriptures in front of us with great scholarship behind it all kinds of helps at our fingertips we have much more required of us by the way i got some bad news for you it's midterm exam time second corinthians 13 5 paul says examine yourselves whether ye be in faith and prove your own selves drop put that in your notes second corinthians 13 5. paul is saying hey midterm exam time and if you're smart and you're facing a midterm exam you give yourself one before you get to the big one right so let me ask you a few questions and you have to answer openly or obviously but just consider this was there a specific time that you realize that you were a sinner and you admitted this to yourself and to god i assume that most of you would probably not but i'll leave that to you to think about was there a time that your heart was stirred to flee the wrath to come yeah okay good well that's you know you may not be be on first base here okay do you truly understand that christ died for your sins and that you cannot save yourself have you sincerely repented oh that's an action item that's not an attitude thing it's something for you know more manifest sincerely dependent of your sins and turned from them if i'm on a ship in the task force the flagship gives me a turn one eight 180 degree turn thinking about acknowledging it flashing back okay right that's great and not turning no no i gotta turn i've gotta turn that helm i've gotta head the other way do you hate sin and fear god it's easy to give intellectual assent to that think about it whether you really do and have you trusted christ alone for your salvation not the church you've gone to not the regular your regularity of attendance somewhere or any of those kinds of things have you trusted christ alone for your salvation do you enjoy a living relationship with him through the word of god and through the spirit of god and if all those things are true we come to the question has there been a change in your life is there a measurable demonstrable change in your life that the people around you perceive do you maintain good works or are they just occasional and weak are you ready for his return often i'll be before an audience and say um suppose i could tell you hypothetically but suppose i could tell you with authority that jesus was coming back tomorrow night at 2 a.m how do you feel about that some people get uncomfortable about that thought they know i'm just speaking rhetorically but they oh that bothers you then you're not ready if that doesn't quicken your heart boy the sooner the better something wrong and the real question you need to think about as you drive home tonight is will you be ashamed will you be ashamed when he returns it's interesting that paul certainly understood that we're saved by faith alone his epistles are full of that and yet he also lived his life with a strange desperation pressing to the mark fearful that he might be a castaway he paul i don't think any two christians have the same personal experience and there are degrees of sanctification but i do think we need to use the epistle of james and other scriptures to take a continual inventory of where we stand because the degree to which we our lives are demonstrating this is the degree to which our justification is confirmed and i love what psalm 31 39 says david says search me o god and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting i don't want to close this without talking a little bit broadly i picked on you guys you i mean as individuals if we understand james correctly in this it raises some interesting doctrinal questions i wonder if james endorses a common concept most of us endorse the or accept the idea that there's a two-stage relationship with jesus christ that the first stage is that he's our savior and the second stage that he's our lord i have many people say you know if you believe in jesus christ you accept him you he's your savior you've accepted him as savior but when you really submit to jesus christ he's your lord i've heard people you know i probably i may look back on some of my tapes i may have you know espoused the same view but i wonder what james would say i wonder if he would ask if faith without submission to christ yes because lordship is genuine at all faith without submission to jesus christ as a lord genuine at all there's another issue that has to do with discipline discipling is uh would seem to be a ministry that's owned by all members of the body of christ and you and i are supposed to hold each other accountable for a life of faith and this is not a call for actions that um come easily necessarily just just actions that come easily in terms of our individual personality or temperaments what have you i think it's a call for actions that are painful and sacrificial like abraham's it wasn't convenient or part of his personality that god said hey i want you offer your son painful inconvenient at least sometimes the calls are risky frightening like rahabs can you imagine sometimes they're just uncomfortable and convenient like being concerned for the poor the needy that he used in the very first place i think the other thing about in terms of the church body a correct grasp of theology will not save and neither will i is a pattern of faithless humanitarianism boy papers are full of heroic people doing giving of themselves in marvelous ways but not to the glory of christ from god's point of view those are uh they're they're empty not deeds instead of faith but deeds and completion of faith is what what james is calling for now it's interesting in terms of activities i don't think james is calling us to do more he's calling us to do things differently and i think there's several different deeds of devotion prayer bible study worship sacrifice abraham placed his son on the altar because he loved god more than his son oh boy and i wonder if that was part of the demonstration here what is it that you love more than you love god whatever it is you want to put that on the altar it can be a hobby it can be a career it can be any of a lot of things god doesn't want to be number one a list of 10. he wants to be number one on a list of one really deeds of devotion are done because god is worthy of them of course there's deeds of morality and this includes purifying our speech thoughts attitudes behavior it's interesting rahab wasn't praying about the needs of homeless spies and decided to start a homeless ministry right she was confronted with a situation and responded as she was called to do now all of us there are deeds of ministry all christians are called into the ministry every one of us each according to our gifts but all to obedience so that's our finishing up of the jacob's letter to the twelve tribes chapter two we'll take chapter three next week let's stand for a closing word of prayer it was lord calvin that said uh we don't really know about something until we can measure it how do you measure your spiritual maturity paul does call us to examine ourselves and we need to measure it not with numbers but but we need to measure and i think the way we need to measure it is how much do you hate sin how much how completely are we really obedient to christ's commands that's the question i think we all need to do continually let's borrow our hearts father we thank you father for bringing us together we thank you father that you have given us this opportunity we thank you father for your word and father we come before your throne acknowledging our presumption our arrogance our ingratitude you've done so much father and we've taken it so for granted we come before your throne father acknowledging our sin we come before your throne father acknowledging our repentance we do turn from these things that offend you father not to earn our salvation because we know we have it as a free gift from you through jesus christ and yet father we do seek to be obedient so we would ask you father through your word and through the ministry of your holy spirit that you would draw us ever more deeply into your word ever more sensitive to your heart father help us to be more effective at declaring your nature before those around us through our actions not through our efforts but through your spirit father that we might manifest a changed life that will bring the honor to you father that will magnify your name father that will communicate your heart and caring to others that would manifest your redemption that you've gone to such extremes to provide for us and all those that would receive your son jesus christ for we do father this night commit ourselves afresh into your hands in the name of yeshua our lord and savior jesus christ amen [Music] you

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Published: Mon Jan 25 2021