Faith Without Works Is Dead
Tom Shrader works through James 2:14-26, addressing the apparent tension between Paul's teaching that salvation is by faith alone and James's insistence that faith without works is dead. He grounds the discussion in Ephesians 2:8-10, establishing that believers are saved entirely by God's grace through faith, yet are also created for good works that inevitably follow genuine conversion. Using Abraham's offering of Isaac and Rahab's protection of the spies as illustrations, Shrader calls listeners to examine their own lives for evidence of saving faith rather than mere intellectual assent.
“Works don't save me, but the faith does. And that faith is a gift from God. Works don't save me, faith does, but the faith that saves me is never by itself.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Blue Jean Theology (2011)
Recorded: 2011 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 48 min
Themes: faith, works, salvation, obedience, grace, self-examination, genuine faith, conversion, new believer, doubting salvation, questioning faith, young adult, seeker, nominal christian, spiritually complacent, struggling with assurance
Scripture: James 2:14-26, James 1:22, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 5, Romans 4, 1 Corinthians 15:3, Titus 3:5, 1 Corinthians 10:31, 2 Timothy 2:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Acts 2:42-44, Genesis 15, Genesis 22, Joshua 2
Theological Themes: justification by faith, sola fide, sanctification, soteriology, faith and works, saving faith, total depravity, covenant faithfulness
Full Transcript
A Personal Beginning
Open your Bibles to the book of James. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand — it's page 654. We are going to look at a passage that has a little bit of confusion around it, so I want to give you some context before we dive in.
I became a Christian on March 6th of 1980. I was born and raised Catholic — grade school, high school, college. When I got down here, I pretty well didn't want much to do with God, and I didn't want much to do with God even back in Iowa when I was there. I came out here, and it reached a point in my life where business was going well, we had had our first child Sarah, and it just hit me at some point that I wasn't sure exactly what life was about or what was going on.
I went to a Bible study. No one invited me — I knew it existed and I went. I sat down, and there was a man by the name of Larry Wright. Larry Wright shared the gospel. I went back to my office and looked up his name in the phone book. I couldn't find him at first — there were a bunch of Larry Wrights. I went down the list, dialed one, and said, "Do you teach a Bible study?" He said, "I do." It was him.
That was Thursday. We got together the following Tuesday, and I asked him all of those tough questions about Adam and Eve, the Bible — you know the questions. The next day I was up in Scottsdale waiting for a client to show him some property, and my heart was moved. What happened in my experience was that I cried out to God. What happened theologically was that God opened my eyes and heart to hear the gospel for the first time. The evidence that He had saved me was the faith that was proclaimed.
That was Wednesday. Thursday I went back to the study and said to Larry, "Yesterday, God saved me." He hugged me, and I thought, "Oh my goodness — they're huggers. We're going to be hugging. I don't know about hugging." Larry then said, "You need a small group." Church then was different than it is now — this was thirty years ago, and small groups were not necessarily encouraged the way they are now. Today we would say to you, if you want to take full advantage of the church, you need to be in a redemption group. Back then, that wasn't typically the direction given.
How James and Romans Collide
I told Larry I didn't know anything about small groups, and he said, "Well, why don't you start one?" So I started a group, not knowing anything, and we began in the book of James — right where we are now. At the same time, Larry was teaching the book of Romans. So when I was in Romans 4, Paul was making the case that Abraham was justified by faith. When I got to James chapter 2, I saw James say in verse 21, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works?" Here, at least on the surface, we have two contradictory opinions. We know the Scriptures are the Word of God, so we know they are not actually contradictions, but it certainly appears that way at first.
I called Larry and said, "Hey, I don't know if you've ever read this James thing, but he is not tracking with you. Here's what you're saying, and here's what James is saying." Larry said, "Oh wow, that sounds like a tough one" — and hung up. That was essentially all the Bible training I ever received right there.
When you get into the book of James, I am always a little nervous — not because it isn't beneficial, but because if you go ripping through it without some context, you can get into trouble fast. Martin Luther considered James to be an epistle of straw, and it was this very passage we are looking at today that produced that opinion in him.
Examine Yourself First
I have also done this long enough to know that when we talk about faith and works — about what we believe and how we behave — the temptation is great for you to assess the life of the person to your left, or the person to your right, or the person you think this message was made for. Resist that. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Test yourself to see if you're in the faith." One paraphrase puts it this way: "Examine yourself to see if your faith is really genuine."
Eugene Peterson, paraphrasing 2 Corinthians 13:5, writes: "Test yourself to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular check-ups. You need first-hand evidence, not hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it." That is what we want you to do today — to look at yourself, to hold up the Word of God as a mirror, look inside, and see whether you measure up to God's standards.
The Governing Question of James 2
James opens this section — verses 14 through 26 — with two questions. "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?" James is, in all likelihood, responding to what he has heard about among the twelve tribes who are scattered. They have come out of a very strict, legalistic background, and some of them are saying, "Okay, this is perfect — I can do whatever I want now." James says, let's hit this head-on.
The question really governs the entire section we are studying. Here is a group of people who say, "I believe all the right things, therefore I am saved." James is asking: if you have all that belief but none of that behavior, is that a fair conclusion? Can that faith save him?
What Real Faith Looks Like
Chapter 1, verse 22: "Prove yourself to be doers of the word, not just hearers." What they were doing is hearing the word of God, coming into a setting like this, coming into a home study, reading the word, somehow being convicted by God, and then walking away with nothing happening. James is building on that. He has talked about what real religion is. Remember what we saw at the end of chapter 1? If you think you have self-control but you don't, then that faith isn't real. If you are oblivious to the plight of the orphan and the widow — the weakest in the culture — then that is a problem. And if you can't keep yourself unstained by the world, meaning if your value system and worldview are the same as the world's, then that is a problem. Last week we talked about partiality. Here is what he addresses this week.
What Salvation Actually Means
Before we go further, let's make sure we establish what salvation truly is — even the word itself. When somebody says, "Have you been saved?" here is what they mean. The Bible teaches that we come into the world separated from God by our sin. I am by nature a sinner, and the result of that sin is that I am separated from God. The wage of sin is death, and death means separation. That is why the Christmas song says, "God and sinner reconciled," which presupposes a preexisting hostility. I come into the world separated from God, and I will stay in that state forever, naturally, because naturally I am dead in my sins and trespasses.
Ephesians 2, verse 1: "For you were dead in your sins and trespasses in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of power there and the spirit that's in the world." He says at the end of verse 3, "by nature, we were children of wrath." That is who we are. That is your spiritual DNA. By nature, you are a child of wrath. There is a big myth that we are all children of God — we are not. You come into the world as a child of wrath, and then something changes.
That change is verse 4: "But God." But God moved. "God, rich in His mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive." If you look humanly at my story of salvation — me sitting out in Scottsdale — humanly it appears that the gospel was presented to me and I responded. Indeed, that is accurate. But what happened theologically is that God took a heart of stone, made it a heart of flesh, and put in me for the very first time ever a desire for Him rather than a desire away from Him.
Two Groups of People
By his nature, man will be incurably religious. In my natural state I will want to do something. Essentially, everybody in the world senses that something is wrong and that we are out of sync with the Creator. There are two groups of people in the world: biblical Christians, and everybody else. Everybody else says, "I created the problem, and I will do something about it." Biblical Christianity says, "I created the problem, but if God doesn't do something about it, it isn't going to happen." We were dead, but God moved.
Here is the summary of it all, verse 8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one shall boast." In terms of getting into right relationship with God, it is utterly, completely, entirely His job. We are saved by God, beginning to end. I am saved by grace — unmerited favor. We come back to that again and again. I am saved, delivered, rescued from my condition of estrangement from God, put into right relationship with Him, completely through a work that He did in spite of me, not even because of me. He didn't look down and say, "That Tom — he's got a lot of potential; if I can get him on my team." No, He looked down, saw seven billion sinners, and decided He was going to shed grace on some. They would receive it, they would believe, and their faith would be evidence of that grace.
Saved for Good Works
Now, what about works? Verse 10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." There will be fruit. The night before He died, Jesus said, "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit." This is so familiar that my fear is that for many of us we want to move on to what we think is the real meat. But this is the meat. Everything else flows from this. We should, in a sense, never grow weary of it. This is the good news. Amazing grace.
Works do play a role. I am His, prepared for good works. I am saved by God — the angel appeared and told Mary she would have a son, to name Him Jesus, and He would save His people from their sins. "Christ died for our sins" — 1 Corinthians 15:3. "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which were done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" — Titus 3:5.
I am saved by God. But here is what we often overlook: what am I saved from? I am saved from God. I am saved by God, from God. Paul writes in Romans 5, "Much more then, now having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." The result of His saving me is that I am no longer under the consequence and bondage of sin. My destination changed — from hell to heaven. My designation changed — from sinner to saint. I am saved by God, from God, but I am saved for God. That is his point.
Saved By Grace, Saved For Good Works
In Ephesians 2:10, we see that we are saved *for* good works. "Whether then you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). Paul writes to Timothy with very practical marching orders right before he dies — the last correspondence we have from him. He said in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 4, "No soldier in active duty entangles themselves in the affairs of everyday life, so he may please the one who enlisted him." So I'm saved by God, by grace; I'm saved from God; and I'm saved for God. We get all of that throughout scripture, but that's really the heart of what we look at when we turn to Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10. If there's any temptation there, it's to read verses 8 and 9 and skip verse 10.
Many of us come out of a religious background where we've been working and working to try to make God happy, and all of a sudden we discover it's not based on our work — it's based on His grace. We breathe a sigh of relief. We can do that because we don't contribute to our salvation. That's why Jesus says, "All you who are weary and heavy laden, burdened with the law — those of you who are exhausted — come to Me and I'll give you rest," because here is salvation. But now, because you're saved, those works will be present.
So when the Reformers say "I'm saved by faith alone," they always add quickly: but that faith that saves is never alone. It is accompanied by a life change. As Max Lucado puts it, please note — salvation is God-given, God-driven, God-empowered, God-originated. This is a gift not from man to God, but from God to man. Whoever believes in the name of the Lord will not be disappointed. There is no other name by which we can be saved.
James: Real Faith Produces Real Change
That brings us back to James, because that is exactly what James is dealing with. He's saying: you have this faith — good. But I'm only going to know if that faith is real if I see a life change take place in you. One author writes this: some Jews had gone from extreme legalistic Judaism to the opposite extreme of antinomian Christianity. In other words, they were saying, "I'm saved — I can do whatever I want." They replaced the works-righteousness system with one that required no work at all.
Here's what they were saying: "I'm saved by grace through faith, so it doesn't make any difference how I live." James is dealing with that directly and saying, no, that is simply not true. If you say you're a Christian, I should see it. You should sense it. The very first person who is going to sense that you are a new creature will be you. The things you were once attracted to will now repulse you — or even if they still attract you, there is this sense that something is not right. Often without coaching, without anyone coming alongside and giving you instructions, you just start not doing things you know are wrong and start doing things you know are right. Your life begins to change. That is what James is dealing with.
So if you are one of those people who loves to come and study and read — who sends long, detailed emails about all the nuances of a passage — that is good. But if that knowledge never moves to action, then it is nothing but head knowledge. A church like Redemption Church attracts people like this: people who love to study, love the Word, love to read. The problem is they may not love the life change that comes with it. James is addressing what was apparently a real problem in the church he was writing to.
The Test Case: Meeting Real Needs
Remember, James begins at the very start by saying, "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials." As we saw last week, the church he is addressing is showing partiality. By and large it is a very poor church, with a few wealthy members. When the wealthy come in, others are saying, "You sit up here — you poor people, get out of the way." So James poses the question: "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but has no works? Can that faith save him?" The implied answer is no.
He continues: "If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to him, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself." He is saying there is a direct connection — a very practical outcome. This is not abstract theology; it is how you respond when someone in front of you has a real need.
Recall what we saw in Acts chapter 2, verse 42: God begins to save these people, three thousand in one day, and they stay together, study together, fellowship together, and eat together. Luke tells us in Acts chapter 2, verse 44: "And all those who believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and sharing them with all, as anyone might have need." They were taking care of one another.
A Personal Inventory
Now, I want to stop here, because the tendency at this point is to judge everybody but yourself. Questions about how much you have and what you give open up all sorts of lifestyle issues. I'm not here to solve those for you — I'm here to present them as issues that must be faced. James is asking: is generosity standard operating procedure in your heart? When someone comes along with a real need — whether it's physical, emotional, or otherwise — and you have the capacity to meet that need, do you say "God bless you" and walk the other way?
He is asking: can that kind of faith save you? You can apply this principle over and over again. Here is the bottom line: if I say I'm a Christian, I should be able to see it. If you say Jesus is Lord, I should be able to see it. If you say He is Master, then we should see you enslaved to Him. God saved me in March 1980.
Susan's Testimony and the Evidence of a Changed Life
I went home to tell Susan about it, and Susan and I split on this. She's not here today — you can be praying. We're going to do the brain surgery and radiation on Thursday, so we'll be in there then. She hasn't been able to get around much, so she hasn't been at church lately. I wish she were here so she could give her side of the story, but since she's not, I'll represent her as accurately as I can.
I came home and said, "God saved me. I'm not going to hell." I remember nurturing her for three or four months, lovingly, through the process. Her version is that I would come home every day and say, "Do you believe in Jesus yet?" And she would say no. And I would say, "Well, you're going to hell." Now, that doesn't sound right — that doesn't sound like me or representative of what happened.
I've had the chance to hear her share her testimony in certain settings, and she has a great line. She says, "One day Tom came home and said, 'Do you believe in Jesus yet?' And I said no. And he said, 'Well, you're going to hell.'" Then she said, "Are you going to be there?" And I said no. And she said, "Then it won't be that bad." That's what I've had to live with.
About four or five months after God saved me, God saved Susan. When she talks about it — and it's a total God thing and shouldn't be interpreted as anything but that — she says, "Here's what was compelling for me, humanly speaking: I couldn't argue with his changed life." I tend to be compulsive. The only thing I've ever done in moderation is work. Everything else I do to excess — I once had four pairs of running shoes without ever having run a mile.
All of a sudden, she could see what was happening, because I went from zero to a thousand: Bible studies everywhere, reading the Bible — and I'm not a big reader or student — studying every night, reading books. She said, "Ultimately, I couldn't argue with the change that I saw in him." I'm not trying to put myself in a positive light. I'm simply saying that if God saves you, the people around you — especially those closest to you — will be the first to spot it. So ask yourself: is that what has happened in your life?
Faith Without Works Is Dead
Verse 17: "Even so, if it has no works, it's dead." You can say you believe, you can have mental assent, you can be orthodox. I know a man who used to attend this church whose father wrote three or four strong theological textbooks, and yet this man's life gives every indication that he is not a believer — but he knows the doctrine. What James is saying is this: if you truly believe, it will show in how you behave.
"Someone may well say" — verse 18 — "you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. Are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?" Faith without works does not save.
Here is what James is saying: the demons believe. They are monotheists — they believe God is one. When Jesus encountered demons during His walk on earth, they would say, "We know who You are. We know that You are the Son of God." Doctrine down cold, intellectual assent, scoring high on tests. But it is mental assent, not saving faith. It is not "I put my faith and trust there" in a way that results in a life that changes. No fruit.
Jesus, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, said every tree that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So just because you walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, sat with one of our staff or someone in your redemption group, cried, and prayed a certain prayer — the only way you are going to know if that was real is if your life changes. That is what James is saying. Hell is going to be filled with people who walked aisles at crusades and checked the box at lunches. You probably know some of them.
The Example of Abraham
Now James gives us an illustration — Abraham — and we will spend most of our time there, with less on Rahab, but we need to make sure we see both.
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of works, his faith was perfected" — completed, matured. "And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' and he was called a friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."
Here is what James is saying: Abraham was justified by an action described in Genesis 22, and he says this was the fulfillment of something that had already taken place in Genesis 15. The word "justified" carries two meanings. The primary meaning is acquittal — it is what changes our destination and our designation. It is acquittal before God, being declared righteous. But "justified" is also used to mean proving, or demonstrating — as in evidence.
What I am suggesting is that Paul is speaking of the first meaning, while James is focused on the second. Paul is concerned with Abraham being justified before God — not before you and me. That is exactly what Paul says in Romans chapter 4: "What shall we say that our forefather Abraham has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about..."
Abraham and the Two Justifications
Paul's concern is about the first type of justification — being in right position with God. James is not concerned about that. He is saying, if you claim to be in right position, we ought to see the evidence of it. So let's look at the two incidents. Go back to the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 15. Note that we are going to take them in the chronological order that they appear, which is different than the order James handles them. James says Abraham believed God and it was declared to him as righteousness. The evidence of that is seen in Genesis chapter 22.
Look at Genesis chapter 15, verse 1: "After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great." Abram said, "O Lord, what will you give me, since I am childless, I don't have any heirs, there is no one around, none of my offspring." God gives him a promise and takes him outside. Verse 5: "He takes him outside and said, Now look toward the heavens, count the stars, if you are able. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be." Then Abram believed Him, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Here is what happens. God says to Abram, you are His. Abram believes Him, and asks what the promise is and how he will know. God says, look at all those stars — that is how many descendants you are going to have. And Abram is thinking this does not sound like it will work out, because he has no children and cannot see how it is going to happen. So Abram is armed with this promise and sits out and waits to see what God is going to do. He has a couple of moments where he wants to take events into his own hands. But ultimately, Abram at age 100 and Sarah at age 90, where the Bible says she is barren and the chances of them procreating are zero, God intervenes, and the result is a son — Isaac. He was a son who was a special joy to Abraham.
Genesis 22 and the Test of Abraham's Faith
Now look at Genesis chapter 22. That is the incident James is talking about. James recounts this as the fulfillment of the other justification. In Genesis chapter 15, God declares Abraham righteous at that moment. The evidence of that declaration is seen here in Genesis chapter 22.
"It came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. He said, Here I am. Now take your son, your only son, the one whom you love, Isaac, go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
Stop there. The word of the Lord comes and says, take your son. We always note that if God had stopped right there, Abraham would have said, "Ishmael, we are going for a ride." But He said, take your son, your only son. Not clear enough. Isaac, the one you love — take that son and sacrifice him. Abraham's mind had to be swirling at this point. He could be saying, wait a minute, human sacrifice was never part of this deal. But God, You promised. What kind of a God are You? You can hear it all.
Abraham's Obedience and Extraordinary Faith
What does he do? Verse 3: "He arose early in the morning and he saddled his donkey and he took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son, and they split wood for a burnt offering and arose and went to the place which God had told them." All the time we read through the Old Testament, we see pictures and foreshadowing of Jesus, and you can see all of that begin to take place here. "On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to the young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there."
And implied in what he says next is this: we will return to you. Abraham demonstrates extraordinary faith right there. He is fully committed to executing Isaac and will do exactly as he was instructed. Yet through this, Abraham has figured something out. He is not sure how it is going to happen, but he knows this is the son of promise, he knows the descendants are going to come through Isaac, he knows all the promises God has made to him are wrapped up in this child, and though he is going to kill him, somehow God is going to bring him back. He does not know how. That is why Abraham is called a man of great faith.
"Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and he laid it on Isaac" — and again, there is a figurative picture here — "and he took in his hand the fire and the knife and the two of them walked together." Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father." Abraham answered, "Here I am, my son." Isaac said, "We have the fire and we have the wood, but where is the lamb?" And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. So the two of them walked together."
The Ram in the Thicket
"They came to the place which God had told them, and Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife." There is a full intention here of executing the orders God had given him. "But an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. He said, Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear Me since you have not withheld anything from Me."
"And Abraham raised his eyes and looked and behold, behind him a ram — not a lamb, but a ram — caught in the thicket." The sacrifice is made, and they return. We can come at this from all different angles. Think about Isaac for a second.
Tying the Threads Together
Isaac at this point is anywhere between 12 and 30 years old. If we split the difference, he is roughly 20, and Abraham is 120. Isaac is sensing what is going on. At the very least, he could probably outrun Abraham, and most likely outgrapple him as well. So when we talk about Abraham's faith, we are also seeing serious faith in Isaac. All of that was evidence that Abraham was a righteous man. The arm is poised, the hand is ready.
One commentator I was reading recently suggested — and obviously there is no way to prove this — that Abraham was almost disappointed when God stopped him. It would have been extraordinary to see how God was going to do it, how He was going to bring the boy back.
James and the Inseparability of Faith and Works
Now let's go back to the book of James and begin tying all of these ends together. James has said that our father Abraham was justified by works. In reverse chronological order, verse 23 describes the fulfillment of what God had said when Abraham believed, and it was declared to him as righteousness. He was called a friend of God.
What James is saying is that he can never separate these works and this faith. The works don't save us, but the faith does. And we go back to where we started in Ephesians chapter 2 — that faith is a gift from God. Works don't save us, faith does, but the faith that saves us is never by itself.
Consider what Jesus says at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount: "Every tree bears good fruit. And the bad fruit is borne by the bad tree. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the sea." It is right after this, as He is painting this picture, that He says not everyone who says to Him, "Lord, Lord," will be saved on that day. He is drawing these distinctions all the way through.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature and the old things passed away, and behold, new things have come." So let's go back to the anthem we talk about all the time: we have a transformed heart, our mind is informed, and we lead a radical life. That is the normal Christian life, and that is exactly what James is giving us.
What should a Christian life look like? It is someone who believes the right thing and then behaves the right way. You cannot separate those two. If I believe, I will behave. That is the whole point. It matters what we believe, and it matters how we behave.
Rahab the Harlot
Now James comes with an illustration that is actually a little more problematic — the example of Rahab the harlot. Keep your finger in James, and turn back a few books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and then Joshua. We are going to meet this woman Rahab.
As you turn, here is what James writes: "In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?" Let's look at the event itself, recorded in Joshua chapter 2. Joshua sends spies into the land, and at the end of chapter 2 we read: "So they went and came to the house of the harlot whose name was Rahab and lodged there." We could ask what they were doing at a harlot's house for lodging, but that would take us too far off track.
Word reached the king of Jericho: "Behold, the men of the sons of Israel have come tonight to search out the land." The king sent word to Rahab and said to bring out the men she had welcomed in. But in verse 4, she had already taken the spies and hidden them. She told the king's messengers that yes, the men had come to her, but she did not know where they were from, and that when it was time to shut the gate at dark, the men had gone out. She told them she did not know where they went, and urged them to pursue quickly, saying they could overtake them. She portrayed the spies as men who had simply come in looking for lodging and protection, whom she had sent away — and she encouraged their pursuers, making it sound as though the king's men were stronger and better equipped and could catch them if they hurried.
But verse 6 tells us what she had actually done: she had brought the spies to the roof and hidden them there. The pursuers went off down the road, and she had deliberately misled them.
Rahab's Declaration of Faith
Then begins the dialogue in verse 8, where Rahab speaks to the spies directly: "I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you." She tells them that they have heard about their God — this awesome God who parted the Red Sea and delivered His people time and time and time again. "And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you. For the Lord your God, He is the God of heaven above and on the earth beneath." And then she appeals to them: "Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly, that you also will deal kindly with my father's house."
I am currently teaching the book of Jonah during the week, and the situation there is very similar. The sailors are all praying, each to his own god, when they bring Jonah out and ask him five questions about who he is and where he is from. He answers only one: my God is the one true God. And the sailors' response to him is, how could you do this — how could you run from the God you told us about? Like Rahab, they had heard about Him. They knew about Him. But at this moment, Rahab now believes.
What is interesting in Jonah is that when the sailors ask what to do, Jonah tells them to throw him overboard. They refuse — they cannot bring themselves to do it — and row harder and harder, unable to reach shore. Finally, they throw him overboard, and the seas go calm.
Closing the Section on Two Types of Faith
What had happened in this progression is that when the storm came, they were afraid. When they heard Jonah's testimony, they were extremely afraid. And when the sea went from entire chaos to being calm, they feared the one true God. They had feared the storm, but now they had encountered the God who created the storm. Rahab had encountered that same God, that one true God, and the response was that her heart melted and she believed.
It raises all sorts of questions about truthfulness and honesty, and I acknowledge that. All we know is this: she is in the Hall of Fame of Faith, and it relates to this. Let me close that and go back to James.
James opened the section we are looking at in verse 14 with a question: "What use is it, my brethren, if somebody says he has faith but he has no works?" The implication is obviously that it is not of any use at all. And he answers the question here: "For just as a body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead."
James talks about two types of faith: saving faith, genuine faith, true faith, and false faith that is dead and fails to save. That false faith is strictly intellectual. It is ineffective, it accomplishes nothing, it is useless, and it is dead. Saving faith, on the other hand, is based on knowledge. One author writes this: there is no such thing as having saving faith that does not have knowledge of Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God who became man and died on the cross for salvation.
So it is that knowledge, that word, that makes faith effectual. It moves from intellectual assent to something life-changing. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature."
Applying the Test to Your Own Life
So let's go back to where we started. How are you doing on your test? Not the person on the left or right — we agreed we were not going to do that. Not the person who should have heard this but was not here today. How are you doing? When you run through that list, what is your evaluation of your life?
Do you believe the right thing? That salvation is utterly and completely of God, that you are a sinner, and that there is nothing you can do? We talk about debt all the time — national debt that just keeps going and going, and somehow we think we will figure it out, even if we just hit the reset button and start over. We have a debt far bigger than that, and it is the debt that results from sin, and there is nothing we can do to pay that debt to God. He did it all. We believe that, and the fact that we believe it changes the way we behave.
So here is the test. Do you believe the right thing? Now look at your life. How should you measure it? He has given us some ideas over these last three or four weeks. Do you have self-control? Do you have a heart that is broken for the weakest around you? When you see somebody who is really hurting and really needy, are you looking to make sure they have the right credentials before you help them?
In the office, this is simple. Get the org chart. You want to know what your reputation is? Do not look at the people at the top. What do the people at the bottom think about you? What does the receptionist think about you at work? How do you treat the people who cannot possibly pay you back for any kind deed? That is what he is saying.
He also asks: how unstained are you by the world? How much worldly thinking is in you? What is your worldview? Do you see things as the world sees them, or do you see things as God sees them? How do you see people, places, and things?
A Moment at the Baby Shower
We had a great time Monday. Haley had the baby, and they held the baby shower Monday. Sarah did a great job putting it together. My responsibility was to get Suze there, and then I said I would get out of the way, but I would stay and let Suze stay as long as she could, and when she was ready to go, I would take her home.
As we were walking up, she started to talk and started to tear up. She said to me, "It wasn't what I expected." She said, "I really miss being here on Sunday." I said, "Really?" She said, "I love worshiping together through song and taking communion together." I said, "Of course — and the message." She said, "Worshiping together and taking communion together."
I wonder how many of us get to a point where we are thinking, all right, we are done, let's go. I wonder how many of you get to the point of communion and think, again — didn't we just do this last week? Yes, every week.
Why We Take Communion Every Week
When we started at East Valley Church, now Redemption Church, we decided we would take communion every day that we gathered. One of the biggest objections raised against it was that it would become routine. And here is what we decided: that is your problem, not ours. If you can encounter the one true God who loved you and sent His Son to die for you, and at that moment you stop to take an inventory and acknowledge that, and it is ho-hum to you, then you have a problem bigger than anything we can fix.
Even when it comes to worship, you can fall into a cadence where you wonder whether it is really important. It is really important. And one of the ways you realize how important it is — hopefully you do not have to experience this — is to have it taken away from you.
If you are over in the conference center, one of the guys will be over to close your time together there. If you are here, Tim is going to come out and lead us in our time of communion, and then we are going to worship the Lord through music.
Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this amazing truth. Thank you for the love that You have given us, evidenced in Jesus Christ and His salvation for us. God,
Closing Prayer
We pray that You would open our hearts and minds so that we would see the truth and respond. God, that our faith would really transform our heart, our mind, and that we would live a radical life for Your honor and glory. God, we pray that in Christ's name, amen.