Faith Without Works is Dead

Tom Shrader examines James 2:14-26 to address the relationship between faith and works in salvation. He explains that while we are saved by grace through faith alone, genuine saving faith always produces good works as evidence of transformation. Using Abraham and Rahab as examples, he demonstrates that dead faith is mere intellectual assent, while living faith results in a changed life that others can observe.

“We're saved by God, by grace, I'm saved from God, and I'm saved for God.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: James (2011)

Recorded: 2011

Duration: 48 min

Themes: faith, works, salvation, grace, transformation, obedience, evidence, discipleship, new believer, questioning salvation, struggling with assurance, wondering about works, confused about faith, seeking confirmation, doubting conversion, examining heart

Scripture: James 2:14-26, Ephesians 2:8-10, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Genesis 15, Genesis 22, Joshua 2, Romans 4, Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15:3, Titus 3:5, 1 Corinthians 10:31, 2 Timothy 2:4, Acts 2:42-44, 2 Corinthians 5:17

Theological Themes: justification, sanctification, sola fide, faith alone, genuine faith, dead faith, saving faith, biblical soteriology

Full Transcript

Open your Bibles to the book of James, if you would, please. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. If you get a Bible from us, it's page 654. We're going today to look at a passage that's got a little bit of confusion around it.

I became a Christian March 6th of 1980. Though some of you are familiar with it, we're going to take you down memory lane a bit. I was born and raised Catholic—grade school, high school, college. When I got down here, I didn't want much to do with God. I didn't want much to do with God even back in Iowa when I was there. But I came out here and reached a point in my life where business was pretty good. We had had our first child, Sarah. It just hit me at some point where I wasn't sure exactly what life was about, what was going on.

I went to a Bible study. No one invited me. I knew it existed. I went to it. I sat down. There was a guy by the name of Larry Wright. Larry Wright shared the gospel. I went back to my office, looked up his name in the phone book. Actually, I couldn't find it. There were a bunch of Larrys and a bunch of Larry Wrights. I dialed that Larry Wright. I said, "Do you teach a Bible study?" He said, "I do." So it was him.

We got together. That was Thursday. We got together the next Tuesday. I asked him all of those tough questions about do you believe in Adam and Eve, in the Bible, and so on. You know the questions, right? The next day, I'm up in Scottsdale waiting for a client to show him some property. My heart was moved. What happened in my experience was I cried out to God. What happened theologically was 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.

A New Christian's First Confusion

So that was Wednesday. Thursday, I went back to the study and I said to Larry, "Yesterday, God saved me." He hugged me. I thought, "Oh my golly, they're huggers. Oh my gosh, we're going to be hugging. I don't know about hugging."

Larry said, "You need a small group." Church then is different than now. It's 30 years ago. Small groups were not necessarily encouraged like they are now. For example, here, 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 it. I said, "Larry, I don't know anything about small groups." He said, "Well, why don't you start one?" So I started this group. I didn't know anything. We started in the book of James, right where we are.

As we're going through the book of James, Larry's teaching the book of Romans. When I'm in Romans four, Paul's making the case that Abraham was justified by faith. When you get to James chapter two, we see James say in chapter two, verse 21, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works?" So we have here two, on at least surface, contradictory opinions. Now, we know the scriptures are word of God, so we know they're not contradictions.

I called Larry and I said, "Hey, man, I don't know if you've ever read this James thing, but he's not tracking with you. Here's what you're saying, here's what James is saying." Larry said, "Oh, wow, that sounds like a tough one," and hung up. That's all the Bible training I've ever had, right there, was just hanging up.

The Challenge of James

When you get into the book of James, I'm always nervous when we get in there, not because it isn't beneficial, but when you just go rip-roaring through there, if you don't have some context, you can be in trouble pretty fast. Martin Luther considered James to be an epistle of straw, and it was this passage we're looking at today that produced that in him.

I've done it long enough to know that we're going to talk about faith, we're going to talk about works, talk about what we believe and how we behave. When we do that, 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 that you think, "Boy, this was made for them. I don't know why they went out to PIR today, because this would have been perfect for them."

Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 13:5: "Test yourself to see if you're in the faith." One of the paraphrases says it this way: "Examine yourself to see if your faith is really genuine, test yourself." Eugene Peterson, paraphrasing 2 Corinthians 13:5, writes this: "Test yourself to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along, taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you, test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it."

The Central Questions

That's what we want you to do, is to look at you today, to hold up the word of God as a mirror, to look inside and to see if I measure up to God's standards. James opens this section—we're going to look at verses 14 through 26—opens it with two questions. "What use is it, my brethren, if somebody says he has faith, but he has no works?" He asks the question, "Can that faith save him?"

James is in all likelihood responding to what he's heard about in these 12 tribes who are scattered, that they have come out of a very strict legalistic background, and they're saying, "This is perfect, it's party time now, I can do whatever I want to do." So James says, "Let's hit this head on," and this question really governs this section that we're all about. Here's a group of people who say, "I believe all the right stuff, therefore I'm saved." James is saying, "Wait a minute, if you have all that belief, but you don't have that behavior, is that a fair conclusion? Can that faith save him?"

of this book is? What is it? Chapter one, verse 22. Prove yourself to be doers of the word, not just hearers. So what they were doing is they're hearing the word of God, come into a setting like this, come into a home study, read the word, somehow God's convicting them, and then they walk away, and nothing happens.

James is building on that. He's talked about what is real religion. Remember what we saw at the end of chapter one? If you think you have self-control, but you don't, then that faith isn't real. If you're oblivious to the plight of the orphan and the widows, the weakest in the culture, then that's a problem. And if you can't keep yourself unstained by the world, meaning if your value system is the same as theirs, then that's a problem. So then last week we talked about partiality. Here's what he says this week.

Now let's be clear. Keep your finger right there. We didn't last long, did we? Go to page 634, or the book of Ephesians. Let's make sure we establish what salvation truly is. Even the word itself.

What Does It Mean to Be Saved?

When somebody says, have you been saved? In our context, here's what they mean. They mean that the Bible teaches that we come into the world separated from God by our sin. So I am by nature a sinner. The result of that sin is that I'm separated from God. The wage of sin is death. Death means separation.

So that's 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. Naturally, I'm dead in my sin and trespasses. Chapter two, Ephesians chapter two, verse one. For you were dead in your sins and trespasses, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of power of air and the spirit that's in the world. Among them, we too all formerly lived. He says at the end of verse three, by nature, we were children of wrath.

That's who I am. That's your spiritual DNA. By nature, you're a child of wrath. So there's a big myth: we're all children of God. We're not all children of God. You come into the world as a child of wrath, and something changes.

God's Intervention in Our Condition

It's verse four. 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.

So if you look humanly at my story of salvation, of me sitting out in Scottsdale, humanly, it appears that the gospel was presented to me, and I responded. Indeed, that's accurate. But what happened theologically is 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.

Man, by his nature, will be incurably religious. I, in my natural state, will want to do something. So essentially, everybody in the world gets something's wrong, and gets that we're out of sync with the creator. Two groups of people in the world: biblical Christians, everybody else. Everybody else says, I created the problem, I'll 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.

Salvation by Grace Through Faith

So He says, we were dead, but God moved. Here's the summary of this, verse eight. For by grace you've been saved through faith, that not of yourself, it's a gift of God, not as a result of works, so no one shall boast.

So He says, in terms of getting in right relationship with God, it's utterly, completely, entirely His job. We're saved by God, beginning to end. I'm saved by grace, unmerited favor. We know that here. We come back to that again and again. We study the book of Ephesians, I have no clue. I think we spent four or five weeks just within this section right in here.

I'm saved, delivered, rescued, from my condition, estranged 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, boy, that Tom, he's got a lot of potential, if I can get him on my team. No, He looked down and He sees seven billion sinners and He decides that He's going to shed grace on some. They'll receive that, they'll believe, their faith is evidence of that grace.

The Role of Works in Salvation

Now, how 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 says, but this, my Father, by this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.

So, we can't, it's so familiar to us and my fear is for 90% of you, you're going, let's get onto the real meat. Well, this is the meat. From all the rest of this, everything else flows. We should, in a sense, never grow weary of this. This is the good news. Amazing grace.

Again, we don't spend a lot of time trying to coordinate songs and music and some people do, some people don't. We just never, it just sounds like a lot of work. And so, I worship at 8:30. So, I'm worshiping over there this morning at 8:30. I'm done with this message. They get in the music and there's amazing grace. They had no clue, or I had no clue.

But works play the role. I am His, prepared for good works. So, I'm saved by God. Angel appears to David. Mary will have a son. You name Him Jesus, save His people from their sin. Christ died for our sin, 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, regeneration, renewing of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5.

Saved by God from God

I'm saved by God, but here's what oftentimes we overlook. I'm saved by God, what am I saved from? I'm saved by God, from God. Paul writes in Romans 5, much more than, now having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, through Christ.

So, the result of His saving me is I'm no longer under the consequence and bondage of this sin. My destination has changed, went from hell

I went from sinner to saint. I'm saved by God, from God, but I'm saved for God. That's His point in Ephesians 2:10. I'm saved for these 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 very practical, kind of marching orders right before he dies. Last correspondence we have, and he said in 2 Timothy 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 the scripture, but that's really the guts of what we look at when we turn to Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10. If there's any temptation there, it's to do verses 8 and 9 and skip verse 10.

From Works-Based Religion to Grace

Much like these 12 tribes who are scattered, especially some of us that come out of religion where we've been working and working and working to try to make God happy, all of a sudden we say it's not based on our work, it's based on His grace. All of a sudden we go, "Whew." We can go "whew" because we don't contribute to our salvation. That's why we can hear Jesus say, "All you who are weary, heavy laden, burdened with the law, those of you that are pooped, come to Me, and I'll give you rest," because here's 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's accompanied by a life change. One more time, Max Lucado: 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. So there's salvation. Whoever believes in the name of the Lord will not be disappointed. No other name by which we can be saved.

James Addresses the Opposite Extreme

So back to James now, because that's exactly what James is dealing with. He's saying, you have this faith—perfect. I'm only going to know if that faith is real if I see a life change take place in you. One of the authors writes this: some Jews had gone from extreme legalistic Judaism to the opposite extreme of antinomian Christianity. In other words, they're going, "I'm saved, I can do whatever I want." They replaced the works-righteousness system with one that required no work at all.

So here's what they're saying: "I'm saved by grace through faith, it's party time. There's no difference there. It doesn't make any difference." And James is dealing with that and saying, "No, that's simply not true. If you say you're a Christian, I should see it. You should sense it."

The very first person that's going to sense that you're a new creature will be you. The things that you were once attracted to now repulse you. Or even if they still attract you, there is this sense of "all of a sudden, something's not right here." All of a sudden, oftentimes without coaching, without anybody coming alongside to give 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's what James is dealing with.

Head Knowledge Without Heart Change

So if you're one of those people who are like the people back in chapter one, who love to be hearers of the word, you love to come and study and study and you read and you send me all these long esoteric emails about all these nuances of all this stuff—good for you. But if that doesn't move to action, then this is nothing but a bunch of head knowledge. That's what he's combating.

He's combating guys—and a church like Redemption Church attracts people like this. Love to study, love the word, love to read. The problem is they may not love the life change that comes with it. He's addressing what apparently had to be a problem in the church that he's hearing about. Remember, he starts at the very beginning and said, "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials." We saw last week they're showing partiality. By and large, it's a very poor church. There's a few that are rich. They come in, he's saying, "You sit up here, you poor guys, get out of the way, let them in."

Faith Without Works: A Practical Example

So he poses the question: "What use is it, my brethren, if somebody says he has faith but has no works? Can that faith save him?" And the answer implied in that is no.

"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 warm 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."

So he's saying, "Listen, there's a connection there. There's a really practical outcome." You run into people, and remember what we saw in Acts chapter 2, verse 42? God begins to save these people, 3,000 people are saved, and they stay together, they study together, they fellowship together, they 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 with them all as anyone might have need." They were taking care of one another.

The Heart of the Matter

Now I'm going to stop here, because the tendency here is to judge everybody but yourself. How much do I have when I give to them? It opens up all sorts of lifestyle issues. I'm not here to solve them for you. I'm here to simply present them as issues.

He's saying, "Listen, is this standard operating procedure in your heart? Somebody comes along and says, 'I've got this real need,' and it's a big need, and you have the capacity to meet that need. Maybe it's not even a physical need. Maybe it's an emotional need. Whatever it is. And you say, 'God bless you, man,' and out the door you go the other way." He's saying, "Wait a minute, can that faith save you?"

Now you're going to see this over and over and over again. Here's the basic principle: 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's master, then we should see you enslaved to Him.

God saved me in March 1980. I went home to tell Susan about it. And Susan and I split. We split on this. She's not here today. By the way, you can be praying. We're going to do the brain surgery, radiation thing on her Thursday. It's going to be the day. So we'll be in there Thursday. She's not at church today. She hasn't been at church the last while, she just hasn't been able to get around much.

So I came home, I wish she was here so she could give her side of the story. But her not being here, I'll represent her and I'll get it accurately. So I came home and I said, God saved me, I'm not going to hell. And here's what I remember. I remember nurturing her for three or four months, lovingly in the process. Her version is, 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. Doesn't sound like me. Doesn't sound representative. I've had a chance to hear her speak in just certain settings when they ask her to share her testimony. She has a great line. She said, 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. And then she said, are you going to be there? And I said, no. And she said, then it won't be that bad. And so, that's what I've had to live with.

The Power of a Changed Life

Well, about four or five months after God saved me, God saved Susan. And when she talks about it, and it's a total God thing and shouldn't be interpreted as anything but that, she would say, here's what was compelling for me: I couldn't argue with his changed life.

I tend to be compulsive. So, the only thing I've ever done in moderation is work, and I can control that. But everything else I do to excess. She would say, I would have four pairs of running shoes, though I've never run a mile. I would do everything to excess. But she said, all of a sudden, I figured that's what this was. Because he went from zero to a thousand: Bible studies all over, reading the Bible. I'm not a big reader or student. Reading the Bible, studying every night, reading books.

And she said, ultimately, this is all humanly speaking now, 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, if God saves you, the people around you, and especially those close to you, should be the first to spot it. So, you ask yourself, is that what's happened in your life?

Dead Faith Versus Living Faith

Verse 17: "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead." You can say you believe, you can have mental assent, you can be orthodox. I have a guy that used to go to church here, whose father's written three or four strong theological textbooks, and this guy's testimony would be, there's no way he's a believer. But he knows it. He's saying, listen, if you believe this, here's how you behave a certain way.

"Someone may well say, 'You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the 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. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?'" Faith without works doesn't save.

And in a way, here's what he's saying: the demons believe, they believe God is one, they're monotheists. So when Jesus would, in His walk on earth, encounter demons, they would say, we know who you are, we know that you're the Son of God, we got it all figured out, doctrine down cold, intellectual assent, scoring high on tests. It's mental, but it's not a belief, it's not "I put my faith and trust there" that results in life that changes. No fruit. Jesus at the end of the Sermon on the Mount said, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

The Reality Check

So let's stay on this. He's going to give us an example, and we'll count big on the one, it's Abraham, less on Rahab, but let's make sure we got it in your life. So here's what I'm saying to you: because you walk an aisle, or pray a prayer, or sit with one of our staff people, or somebody in your redemption group, and you cry, and you pray a certain prayer, the only way you're going to know if that's true is if your life changes. That's what he's saying.

So hell's going to be filled with people who have walked aisles at crusades and checked boxes at lunches. You probably know them.

Abraham's Example

Now he said, I'm going to give you an illustration here. I'm going to give you Abraham. "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 the works, faith was perfected. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."

Interestingly enough, here's what he's saying. He said, listen, was not Abraham justified, and he talks about an action that takes place in Genesis chapter 22. And he says, this was the fulfillment of something that took place in Genesis 15.

Two Meanings of Justified

Now the word justified has two meanings. The primary meaning, for sure, is acquittal. It's to change, as we said before, our destination, our designation. It's acquittal before God. It's to declare us righteous. Justified also is used as a way of proving, as evidence.

And what I'm suggesting to you is that Paul's talking about the first, James is focused on the second. Paul is concerned about Abraham being justified, not before you and me, but being justified before God. In fact, that's exactly what he says in Romans chapter 4.

Abraham's Two Justifications

What then shall we say that our father Abraham, our forefathers in the flesh, how was he found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Paul's concerned about that first type of justification, being in right position with God. James is not concerned about that. He's saying, if you say you're in right position, we ought to see the evidence of it.

So let's look at the two incidences. We're going to take them in the chronological order that they come. Just note, it's different than the order that James handles it. James says, Abraham believed God, it was declared to him as righteousness. The evidence of that is seen in Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 15: God's Promise and Abraham's Belief

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'm childless? I don't have any heirs, there's no one around, none of my offspring."

And God gives him a promise. He takes him outside, verse 5. He takes him outside, and he said, "Now look toward the heavens, count the stars, if you're able. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be." And then Abram believed Him, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Here's what happens. God says to him, "Listen, you're my kid here." Abram believes Him. Abram kind of says, "What's the promise? How am I going to know?" He said, "Look at all those stars. That's representative. That's how many descendants you're going to have." And Abram's going, "It doesn't sound like that's going to work out too well, because I don't have any kids. I don't know how this is going to happen."

So Abram's armed with this promise. Abram then sits out and waits to see what, in fact, God is going to do. He has a couple of moments where he wants to take kind of events into his own hand. But ultimately, Abram at age 100, Sarah at age 80, where the Bible says she is barren, where they are dead, the chances of them procreating are zero, God intervenes, and the result is this son Isaac. It was a son who was a special joy to Abraham.

Genesis 22: The Ultimate Test

Now look at Genesis chapter 22. That's the incident that James is talking about. He said Abraham was justified and then he recounts this, which is the fulfillment of the other justification. So in Genesis chapter 15, at that moment God declares Abraham righteous. The evidence of that 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. And we always go, if God would have stopped right there, Abraham would have said, "Ishmael, we're going for a ride." That's what he would have done right there, right? But He said take your son, your only son. Not clear enough. Isaac, the one you love, take that son and sacrifice him.

Now Abraham probably, and I can only speculate how his mind had to be kind of swirling around at this point. He'd be saying, "Wait a minute, human sacrifice, that was never part of this whole deal. But you promised. God, what kind of a God are you?" You can hear it all, right?

Abraham's Obedient Response

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. And on the third day, we said all the time we're reading through the Old Testament, we're seeing pictures, foreshadowing of Jesus. You can see all of this begin to take place.

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." This is key now. "We will worship and," implied in that is, "we will return to you."

Now Abraham demonstrates extraordinary faith there. Because what does he say? "We're going to go and we're going to come back." Abraham knows, and we're going to see, he's fully committed to executing Isaac. He's going to do exactly as he was instructed.

Through this, Abraham has figured this out. Not sure how it's going to happen, but "I know this is the son of promise. I know that the descendants are going to come through him. I know that all of the promises God's made to me are wrapped up in this kid and though I'm going to kill him, somehow God's going to bring him back. Don't know how." That's why you say that he is a man of great faith.

The Walk to the Altar

Now unless you think I'm exaggerating, Abraham took the wood and the burnt offering and he laid it on Isaac. See again, figurative 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, I've got a question. I've been thinking. I'm looking around. There's a deficiency here." "Yeah, go ahead." "We have the fire. We have the wood. We don't have 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.

And 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 and there's a full intention of executing the orders that God had given him.

God's Intervention

But an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham," and he said, "Here I am." He said, "Don't stretch out your hand against the lad. Do nothing to him for now I know that you fear Me since you've not withheld anything from Me."

And Abraham raised his eyes and looked and behold, behind him a ram, not a lamb but a ram

ram, caught in the thicket and the sacrifice is made and they return.

We can come at this from all different angles. Think about Isaac for a second. We don't know. Speculation here is that he's anywhere between 12 and 30 years old. So let's roughly split the difference and let's say he's 20. He's 20, Abraham's 120. Isaac is sensing what's going on. At the very least, I'm going to guess he can outrun him. And probably at the best he can out grapple him, right? So we talk about Abraham's faith, you're seeing some serious faith in Isaac here. And all of that was evidence that he was a righteous man.

The arm is poised, the hand is ready. And I was reading the other day, one of the commentators suggesting, obviously no way to prove this, that in this case, Abraham's almost disappointed that God stopped him. Because it would have been really interesting to see, God, how are you going to do this? How are you going to bring this kid back?

Works and Faith Cannot Be Separated

Now, let's go back to the book of James and start tying all of these ends together. James has said, listen, our father Abraham was justified by works. Look at it, right? Reverse chronological order. And it was verse 23, the fulfillment of what God had said when Abraham believed and it was declared to him as righteous. He was called a friend of God.

What he's saying is, I can never separate these works and this faith. The works don't save me, but the faith does. And we go back to where we started in Ephesians chapter 2, 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.

Again, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, the very end of it. He said, so every tree bears good fruit. And the bad fruit is born 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's right after this time as He's painting this picture, when He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will be saved on that day. He's drawing these distinctions all the way through.

If Paul says, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, if any man is in Christ, he's a new creature, and the old things passed away, and behold, new things have come. So let's go back to the anthem that we talk about all the time. We have a transformed heart, our mind is informed, and we live a radical life. That's the normal Christian life. That's what James is giving you.

What should a Christian life look like? It's somebody who believes the right thing and then behaves the right way. You can't separate those two. If I believe, I'll behave. That's the whole point. Very, very simple. It matters what we believe, it matters how we behave.

Rahab the Harlot: A Problematic Illustration

Now he comes with an illustration that actually is a little bit more problematic, really. It's Rahab the harlot. I'm going to have you turn. Just keep your finger there. We're going back just a few books into the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and then Joshua. And we're going to meet this lady Rahab.

As you turn, let me read to you 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. It's recorded there in Joshua chapter 2.

Joshua is going to send spies into the land. Indeed he does. The end of chapter 1, so they went and came to the house of the harlot whose name was Rahab and lodged there. We could probably ask what they were doing at the harlot's house for lodging, but that would take us way off track.

It was told the king of Jericho, and he says behold the men of the sons of Israel have come tonight to search out the land. And the king sent word to Rahab and said bring out the men. You've got them there. She's welcomed them in. He said you bring them out.

Rahab's Deception and Faith

Verse 4, but she had taken these guys and hidden them and she says yes the men came to me, but I didn't know where they were from. It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark. The men went out. I don't know where the men went. Pursue them quickly for you could overtake them.

She said these guys came in looking for lodging and protection. I didn't really know who they were. I sent them out and if you hurry, you look stronger than they are, you look better equipped than they are. If you hurry, I'll bet you can catch them. But what she had done is she brought them to the roof and hidden them there. And so the men pursued them on the road. She misled them.

And now she has this dialogue that begins in verse 9. She said I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. We've heard about your God, this awesome God. We've heard about the God that parted the Red Sea and the God that delivered you 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 now therefore please swear to me by the Lord since I have dealt kindly with you that you also will deal kindly with my father's house.

The Parallel with Jonah

I'm teaching the book of Jonah right now. It's a very similar situation. Jonah hiding, the sailors in the midst of the storm. They bring Jonah because they're all praying it says to their own gods. They bring Jonah out and they said tell us a little bit about you, where are you from, what do you do. They ask him five questions, he answers one. He said my God is the one true God.

And here's what the sailors say to him, how could you do this? He had told them what God told him to do, how could you do this? They had, like Rahab, they'd heard about it. They knew about Him. But at this moment she now believes. Interesting in the book of Jonah because they say what are we going to do and Jonah says throw

me overboard and they said that we can't do that they row harder and harder they can't get to shore so what they finally do is throw him overboard and the seas calm and what had happened in this progression is when the storm came they were afraid when they heard Jonah's testimony they were extremely afraid and when the sea went from this entire chaos to being calm they now are fearful of the one true God they feared the storm now they've encountered the God who created the storm. Rahab's encountered that God that one true God and the response her heart is melted and she believes. It raises all sorts of questions about truthfulness and honesty. All we know is this she's in the hall of fame and it relates to this that's what I know.

Closing Out James

Let me close out just go back to James let's close it out. He opened the section we're looking at in verse 14 with a question what use is it my brother and if somebody says he has faith but he has no works and the implication is obviously it's not of any use at all and He answers the question here for just as the 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's dead. He fails to say that that false faith is strictly intellectual it's ineffective it accomplishes nothing it's useless and it's dead. But saving faith on the other hand is based on knowledge. One of the authors writes this there's no such thing as having saving faith that does not have knowledge of Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became man and died in the cross of salvation. So it's that knowledge that's there it's that word that's there that now it becomes effectual it's intellectual ascent and it becomes life-changing. Any man is in Christ He's a new creature.

Your Personal Test

So let's go back to where we started how you doing on your test not of the personal left or right remember we agree we're gonna do that not the person who should have heard this but wasn't here today. How are you doing when you run through that list what's your evaluation of your life? Do you believe the right thing that salvation is utterly completely of God center and there's nothing you can do? We talk about that right all the time national debt and that debt just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and somehow we'll figure this out even if we just hit the reset button start over. We got a debt way bigger than that and it's the debt that's a result of sin and there's nothing we can do to pay that debt to God He did it all.

We believe that and the fact I believe that changes the way I behave. So here's the test do you believe the right thing and now look at your life around you how should I measure it? He's given us some ideas over these last three or four weeks. You have self-control. Do you have a heart that's broken for the weakest around you? When you see somebody that's really hurting really needy are you looking to make sure they have papers before you help them?

In the office this is simple get the org chart. You want to know what your reputation is don't look at the people the top with the people the bottom. Think about what's the receptionist think about you at work? What do the people who can't possibly pay you back for any kind deed how do you treat them? That's what He's saying.

And then He says how unstained are you by the world? How much worldly thinking is there in you? What's your world view? Do you see things as the world sees them to see things as God sees people places things?

A Personal Reflection on Worship

We had a great time Monday the new baby they had the baby shower Monday and so Sarah did a great job of putting together the shower my responsibility was to get Susan there and then I said well let me just get out of the way but I'll just stay as long as she can and then when she's ready to go I'll take her home. And so where we came around and I said we're gonna be back in the Commons where do you want me to park and she said we'll park over by the side over there which I would have done I think it's closer.

So we're walking up and as we're walking up she starts to talk and she starts to tear up and she says to me something that wasn't what I expected. She said to me I really miss being here on Sunday. I said really and she said I love worshiping together through song and taking communion together and the message. She said worshiping together and taking communion together.

I wonder how many of us get to a point like this where we're going all right we're done let's go. I wonder how many of you get to this point go communion again didn't we just do this last week? Yeah every week. See when we started at East Valley Church now at Redemption Church when we started this we decided we do communion every day that we gathered and one of the reasons biggest objections we come against it was it'll become routine. And here's what we decided that's your problem not ours. If you can encounter the one true God who loved you sent a Son to die for you and at this moment you're gonna stop and take an inventory and acknowledge that and that's ho hum to you then you got a problem bigger than anything we can fix.

And then even when it comes to worship you can fall into the kind of that cadence that goes yeah I don't know is this really important it's really important. And one of the ways I think and hopefully you don't have to do this one of the ways you realize how important it is to have you take it away from Him.

So if you're over in the conference center one of the guys will be over and close your time together over there. If you're here Tim's gonna come out He's gonna lead us in our time of communion and then we're gonna worship the Lord through music.

Let's pray together Father thank You for this amazing truth thank You for the love that You've given us that's evidenced in Jesus Christ and His salvation for us. God 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 and our mind, that we'd live a radical life for Your honor and glory. God, we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.