and amen. We're turning to James chapter 2 once again the book of James and the chapter 2 and as you turn there to the passage of God's Word we welcome one and all in our Savior's precious name. We apologize that sermon audio is not working for whatever reason I'm unsure technology really isn't my thing and so we trust that Facebook is running there for you, and we trust that you're able to hear all that we're saying this evening. And we welcome those who join with us in our church car park. So James chapter two, and we're reading from the verse 14 of the chapter. What does it profit, my brethren, though man say that he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warned and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, That was faith, and I have works, Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Verse 19, I believe us that there is one God, thou dost well. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? We'll end our reading at the verse 20 of the chapter. Let's briefly again pray. Loving Father, we cry now for the help of thy spirit. Speak to our souls, be the great instructor we ask. May our hearts be blessed and challenged through the word tonight. Try now for the help of God, the Holy Spirit. I ask for his infilling and his enabling as the word of God is preached. I ask this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Well, tonight's message is entitled, A Faith That Doesn't Work. A faith that doesn't work. If you recall, last Wednesday night I spoke about the Christian's compliance to the law of God. I emphasized that our obedience to the law of God does not secure salvation for us. Rather, it simply evidences that we have been saved. If ye love me, keep my commandments. The Christian is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, Christ alone. Ephesians 2 verse 8 and 9 makes it clear that our works and our obedience to the law of God and the works that are forthcoming from such obedience are not the basis of our salvation. Rather, the ground of our salvation is the grace of God alone. For by grace, Paul wrote, for by grace are ye saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. However, does that mean that we are to forget about good works? Well, Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 2 in the verse 10, for we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus onto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And so Paul teaches here in Ephesians chapter two, that although we are not saved by our works, we are saved onto good works. Our good works should be exhibited outwardly after God's good work has been accomplished in us inwardly. This is the very matter that now James is dealing with here in these verses that we have read this evening. Now some people believe that James's teaching here is in conflict with Paul's teaching on works in Ephesians chapter 2 and elsewhere but that is simply not the case. You see to Paul the question was How is salvation received? And Paul's answer in his epistles is that it is received by faith alone. But to James, the question is not, how is salvation received? The question is, how is salvation verified? And James' answer is, by works. By works. Salvation is received by faith. but it is verified by our works. And so there is no conflict between Paul's teaching and James' teaching in their various epistles. Rather, there is perfect harmony. Biblical Christianity is not a faith of works, but it is a faith that works. You know, many of God's people forget that. They seem to forget that a profession of faith that is not accompanied with works is not a saving faith. The Apostle James calls such a faith a dead faith. In verse 17, even so faith, if it hath not works is dead being alone. James is not saying here that a sinner is brought into a right standing with God by their works. but that having been brought into a right standing with God, the Christian then exhibits that inward work wrought by God by their outward good works. This then turns on its head the teaching of every other world religion. For the world's religions, they teach that the sinner is justified, that they are made right with God because of their good works. their acts, their deeds. However, the Bible teaches that good works are the result of God justifying or making right the sinner. They are the byproduct. They are not the basis. They are not the beginning of our justification. We are justified by faith alone in Christ alone on the grounds of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so we really want to make our way through the verses that we read this evening. And we want to see what they have to say about a faith that doesn't work. A faith that doesn't work. And the challenge to all of our hearts will be this. Is our faith such a faith? Or is our faith a different faith? Is our faith a faith that is a saving faith? A faith that unites us to Jesus Christ? Now it is really this section in the book of James that caused the reformer Martin Luther great problems and difficulties. This is why Luther called James's letter a veritable epistle of straw. Luther, don't forget, had been delivered from a religious system of works from the Roman Catholic faith. And so he was delivered from a works-based religious system. Rome taught that a man would find acceptance with God by their works. However, the gospel argued that a sinner is accounted righteous before God, not because of the deeds done by them, but through the merit of Jesus Christ alone. And thus, when Luther came to read in the book of James that faith without works is dead, the Protestant reformer rejected James' teaching on the matter. Now, we would side with Luther that salvation is by faith and not by works. However, we must not, as one commentator put it, discount the necessary and evidential nature of works as a testimony to the presence of genuine faith. We must not discount the necessary and evidential nature of works as a testimony to the presence of a genuine faith. You see what James is addressing here is the evidence of a person's salvation, not the ground of a person's salvation. Or to put it another way, James in this section is examining the fruit not the root of salvation. Or to put it another way, James is dealing with the outcome of faith, not the object of faith. Understanding this connection between faith and works, our faith and our works, is necessary for Christian maturity. And I say that for this particular reason. If we feel as believers to grasp that we are saved by faith alone. If we fail to grasp that tremendous biblical truth, we will drive ourselves into slavish servitude, believing that we could only ever find acceptance with God by our works. And we will work ourselves to the bone. And we will concern ourselves Are our works enough? Are they acceptable before God? And we will find ourselves under a bondage, under a slavish, as it were, servitude, trying to work our way to salvation. However, if we fail to grasp the other end of the truth, that we are saved onto good works, Then we will live selfish lives that are unbecoming one who has been saved by grace. We'll live for self. We'll indulge self. And we'll certainly not, as it were, do good works as Christ went about doing good. No, we will live a selfish, self-centered life. What James is trying to do here is to bring a balanced and a biblical view on the matter of works versus faith. You see, what had happened was that certain Judaizers had come into the church and they had placed the emphasis on works. They demanded a rigid observance to the rights and the rules of the Jewish religion. And some of the believers had gone along with such a teaching. On the other hand, there were those within the assembly of believers that had gone to the complete opposite extreme. They had taught that works play no part in the Christian's life. This liberty as they saw it, then led to license. And from that license, all kinds of sins were spawned and practiced by those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. And so to counteract the teachings of the Judaizers and those who preached a full liberty, a willingness, or an ability to do whatever one likes, James, understanding that, attempts to bring the pendulum from both extremes into the middle, and gave the balance biblical presentation on the matter of the place of works within the Christian's life. And this is what he's doing in this particular section. So let's look at the verses. Let's glean what we can from the verse number 14, first of all. Let's read it again. What does the prophet, my brethren, though a man say that he hath faith and hath not works, Can faith save him? James is dealing here with the matter that is rife in the professing Church of Jesus Christ today. He's dealing with those who claim that they have believed on Jesus Christ for salvation, that they have faith in him, but their lies contradict that very claim. James states, what profit is it? In other words, what benefit is it to you to say that you have faith, but yet there are no works to back up such a claim? What benefit, what profit is making such a claim? Well, I was at university in Belfast many years ago now. Did a little bit of outreach in Belfast on a Thursday evening. They'd often speak to young people, as we handed out gospel tracts, often spoke to them, and many of them, or some of them, claimed that they were saved, but they were half drunk, and they were heading into a place of sin in Shaftesbury Square. By their actions, they proved that they were mere professors of faith, and certainly not true possessors of faith. By their actions, they proved, they proved that they were unconverted, unsaved. They said that they had faith, but their works evidenced the contrary. But folks, you don't have to go to Belfast to find such people. You find them in the church today. People who, as Titus 1, verse 16 puts it, they profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. How then can we discern a person who has real faith and one who has a dead faith, a faith that doesn't work. How can we discern them? Well, there's often this telltale sign. The person who has a dead faith is someone who always substitutes words for deeds. They substitute words for deeds. They say much. But there's very little evidence in the life of a genuine saving work having been wrought within the soul. They say that they're a Christian, but by their works, they prove that they're not. Their music tastes are the same as the world's. Their dress is like the world's. Their language is like the worlds, their desires, where they place the emphasis in their lives. It evidences that they're not the Lord's. I must say that I was shocked to see, even last Monday on social media, about individuals who thought it fine and thought it right to go out on the Lord's day and build snowmen. in the Lord's day. No wonder Ulster is in the way it is. No wonder the Church of Jesus Christ is the way it is. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, just to be the day whenever bikes were kept in the house, even by the ungodly. And now we're building snowmen. May God help us. A person with a real faith, a person with a saving faith is a person whose faith is accompanied by their works. By their fruit ye shall know them. What James, you see, is beginning to unfold here in this particular verse and passage is another test against which a person can evaluate whether their faith is a real faith or not. You see, James has already given a number of tests within his letter. You may have missed them, so let me quickly give them to you again. The first test was the test of trials. James 1, verse 2 to 12. Our response to trials is an indicator of whether or not we have a dead faith or a living faith. The second test is the test of temptation, James 1, 13 to 15, where you place the blame in days of temptation as an indicator of a living or a dead faith. The third test is the test of our response to the word of God, James 1, verse 19 to 21. The fourth test is the test of our tongues. What we do with them, James 1 verse 26. The fifth test is a test of our response to the poor and needy, to the widow and to the orphan, James 1 verse 27. The sixth test is a test of favoritism or partiality within the work of God, James 2 verse 1 to 9. The seventh test is a test of our adherence to the law of God, James 2 verse 10. to 13. And now, having given these series of tests, we now have to evaluate whether a person has a living faith or a dead faith. James, now in this section, brings up the eighth test. And what is the test? It's the test of works. Our works. You see, how a person behaves reveals what they believe. John Blanchard put it this way, the evidence of saving faith is not how much you believe, but how well you behave. The evidence of saving faith is not how much you believe, but how well you behave. Now James asks the rhetorical question here at the end of the verse 14, can faith save him? What faith is James referring to? Well, he's speaking of the faith that he has just spoken about in the previous part of verse number 14. Can a faith without works, cannot save a particular man? Well, the answer is, of course not. Now James, James is teaching here, that a profession of faith not accompanied by a dramatic change in a person's moral character and conduct is not a true saving faith. It is a faith that doesn't work. And so we must examine ourselves whether we are in the faith. This is a most vital and important matter. We know that we are unable to look into the souls of ours to determine if there is saving faith residing there. None of us can do that. I can't do it as a preacher. You can't do it as another believer. We can't look into our souls and determine, or into the souls of others to determine if a true saving faith resides within that soul. But we can look at the works. We can look at our deeds. We can look at our actions. We can look at the fruit of our lives and that will be good enough indicators as to whether or not we are genuinely saved. A profession of faith unsupported by deeds that back up that faith is not the faith that unites a person to Jesus Christ. It is a dead, it is a worthless, it is a spurious, it is a bogus, it is a counterfeit faith. That type of faith. But let me repeat for clarity's sake, it is not faith plus works that equals salvation. Don't get me wrong. It is faith in Christ alone that equates to salvation. However, that then proceeds to good works. The reformer John Calvin put it like this. It is faith alone that justifies. But faith that justifies can never be alone. It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone. It can come just by itself, with itself. In other words, works will flow from the life, good works, from the life of the individual who has been justified. But we go into the verse 15 and 16, and let's see what they have to say. As practical as ever in his teaching, James now gives an example, an illustration, a case example of what a faith that doesn't work, what that type of faith looks like. He gives us an example. If a brother or sister Now we're all aware that food and clothing form the basic needs of every human being. In 1 Timothy 6 verse 8, Paul reminds us that if we have these two basic things, that we are to be content. Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. As I said, James gives the illustration of a brother, a sister in Christ. They're in need. They're hungry. They're naked. The person who doesn't, the person who has a faith that doesn't work responds to that need before them in the following way. They say to the needy person, now off you go, all the best, try not to worry about things, God will provide. Do keep yourself warm and eat plenty of food. I'll see you at church on Sunday. The person who has a faith that doesn't work is really a person who sees the need but is unwilling to meet that need out of their own pocket. They see the need, they're aware of the need, but they blind their eyes, they close their eyes to the need. In recent times, I've seen the very opposite taking place, and thank God for that. I've witnessed and heard of people leaving food with families, in order to ease the burden. And folks, when I heard of that, I thought to myself, now there's a genuine faith at work. There's a genuine faith at work. Others may have done similar things without me hearing about it, knowing about it, but such people have a genuine faith. Their faith works. It's proactive. It involves itself, it sees the need and then it meets the need out of their own pocket, out of their own expense, out of their own substance. They meet the need without needing to have it created or published in a prayer meeting or in a congregational setting or in some social media platform. Just go about living out the gospel. And I say that it's all well and good being orthodox and reformed. It's all well and good being spiritual. It's all well and good spending hours in Bible study and prayer, but brother, sister, if you close your eyes and you shut your ears to those in need, especially to those of the household of faith, what has your knowledge of Scripture really accomplished in your life? Nothing. Nothing. It's filled your head. It's pumped you up with pride. But I'll tell you, it hasn't done very much with regard to what we have here in the teaching of God's word about our faith being accompanied by works. I want you to listen to these challenging words. In 1 John chapter three, verse 17 and 18, It says, but whoso hath this world's good, and see if his brother hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed, and in truth. We could say plenty, can't we? We like to boast. We like to crow. But is there any evidence to back up our boastings and our claims? C.H. Spurgeon. was accredited with the view that if you want to give a hungry man a tract, wrap it up in a sandwich. If you want to give a hungry man a tract, wrap it up in a sandwich. I say there's needs all around us, but because we're so blinkered, and because we're so self-serving. And let me say that COVID-19 has done nothing but heightened our selfishness. As long as me and I are okay, what does it matter about others within the body of Christ? We become so blingered and self-serving that we fail to see the opportunities that God puts on a plate to us to help those in need. Samuel Rutherford said, believing and doing are blood relatives. They're blood relatives. James then comes to apply the teaching of the illustration. So we have in the verse 15 and 16, we have an illustration given but now James, he comes to apply the illustration. And on that point, that point that James applies the illustration that he uses, there are a number of quick lessons that all preachers should take to their hearts. Lesson number one, when you employ an illustration in your message, don't forget to apply it. Don't leave it hanging there, but apply it to the hearing. to the one within the congregation, apply it to the soul, to the heart, to the mind, at least to the ear of the hearer. Apply by the skill and the help of the spirit, apply it directly to the hearer. This is what James is about to do. The second lesson that we learn is that illustrations can be useful in presenting and preaching biblical truth. You know, some people, they condemn the use of an illustrative story. And yet James employs one here to drive home the biblical truth that he's presenting. And so we must not condemn the use of that type of means. Often it is the illustration that brings the truth right home to the heart. I'm not saying that you have your message then full of story after story. And I would say that there's not very many illustrations in my preaching, but I do take illustrations from scripture. If I'm presenting a truth somewhere, I find the illustration played out, shown, in another event within biblical history. And so the use of illustrations, as James is using here, is going to drive the truth home. And James drives the truth home, that a faith absent of works is a dead faith. And he does it twice, verse 17 and verse 20. Even so, If it hath not works is dead, being alone. Verse 20, he says, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? A dead faith produces no fruit, but a living faith will always manifest itself in the fruit of good works. A living faith intensely reaches out and serves the needs of others. And when we involve ourselves in such works, an eternal reward awaits us. Think of the words of Christ, Matthew 10, 42. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water, only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. God forbid that we would ever be classed with the Pharisees, of whom the Son of God said the following in Matthew 23, verse 23, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weedier matters of the law. What are they? Judgment, mercy, and faith. He's ought ye to have done, and not leave the other undone. Do not confuse what James is saying. He's not saying that a person must add works to their faith in order to be saved. He's saying that good works will be the outcome the natural outcome of a genuine faith. And I trust I've emphasized that point enough by now. Our works are the living proof of an already existent faith. However, we must be careful that we do not swing the pendulum so much in the direction of our works that then they take precedence over our faith. Works without faith are as dead as faith without works, and thus the balance must be struck. And the order is faith, then works, not works that produces faith. Note very quickly James' pragmatic conclusion to his teaching regarding faith, a faith that doesn't work, verse 18. Yea, a man may say thou hast faith and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. And in fact James was saying something like this. There are many people and they talk about having faith. But if they have nothing substantial, if they have nothing tangible to back up their claims, then it is not a true faith at all. But I, I can show you by what I do that my faith is real. John Angle James in his book Jewels from James said, true religion begins in right believing. and goes on to right doing. And right believing must, through the whole Christian life, be the guide of right doing. How neatly he brings the truth together. And so a day of faith, a faith that doesn't work, is a faith wherewith and along with there are no accompanying works. The Lord Jesus Christ said, so let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. A dead faith, a faith that doesn't work, Have you that type of faith? I pray that you don't. And if you do, that tonight you would come into saving faith, that God would save you by his grace, and that you would exercise faith in Christ and that you will be saved from your sin. And so James deals here with a dead faith. He then proceeds in the final verses of the chapter, verse 19, and then verse 21 down to 26. He speaks of a demonic faith, and then he speaks of a dynamic faith. Dead faith, demonic faith, a dynamic faith. We'll see how far we get in our study next week. I trust that the Lord will bless even this study to our hearts this evening for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's briefly pray and then some matters for prayer. Loving Father, we thank thee for thy word and oh for a faith that works, a faith that's living, not a dead faith, Oh God, we realize that a dead tree never brings forth fruit, but a living tree does. It shows, it evidences life within by the leaves that it has and the fruit then that it produces. Oh, that our lives would be like Joseph's bowing, bowing and running out over the wall, bearing fruit in our lives, that we would bear fruit. This is the desire of Christ. Oh, to have a real faith. May we not be, as it were, leaning on the crutch of some false profession, but may that which has been wrought within, may it be real, may it be genuine. Oh, answer prayer. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.