Returning to the book of James, chapter 2, where we'll be doing our lesson today, I heard a story about a fellow who got a call. He was at work, and he got a call that his wife had been rushed to the hospital. And so he dropped everything, drove to the hospital, and met the doctor in the hall. He said, doctor, how is she? He said, she's critical. He said, well, you get used to that. I know, it went over some of y'all's heads, I can tell. All right, well, James chapter 2, and the lesson today is entitled, A Living Faith in the Life of the Church, and we'll be looking at verses 1 through 10, 14 through 26. There's a lot in here, and I'm just gonna be able to sort of hit the Highlights give you a general outline of the subject matter. This could be, you know, this could last four or five weeks if we wanted to really get into a detailed exegesis, but we'll do what we can. The chapter starts off with a caution against favoritism, discrimination, or what the Bible terms respect of persons. So I'll preface all that by saying that God has not given us the ability to look into the heart of another individual and determine whether or not that person is genuinely saved. We can look at fruits and get an idea, but we don't really know another person's heart. Only God truly knows that. It wasn't very long ago I ran into a preacher friend of mine, and I've known him for many years, although I hadn't seen him in a while. I had him preach at my church, and I was pastoring in Michigan. And saw him, shook his hand, hey, good to see you, brother. He said, let me tell you something. Let me tell you what happened to me. He said, two weeks ago, the Lord saved me. And I was just flabbergasted. I would not have guessed that of this man, but yet he said, He said, I came to the conclusion that I have not truly been saved. And he said, the Lord led me in the right direction. And I trusted the Lord as my savior. So we never know. Somebody said that there's two things that will surprise us when we get to heaven. the people that aren't there, that are there rather, that we didn't think would be there, and then the ones that aren't there, that we most assuredly thought that they would be. So, you know, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, you'll know them by their fruits, but in the context, he was speaking specifically of false prophets, And I personally think that he was speaking of general discernment, not an absolute certainty. As I said, you can't really know. You can look and see someone who lives a life that would suggest that they are truly a Christian, and yet we don't know for sure. In fact, Jesus followed up that statement in verses 21 through 23, He said, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. You would look at someone like that and say, surely they must be a true Christian. But he said, I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. So we cannot always know whether someone is truly saved based on the works that we observe in their lives. I mean, if we had heard the apostle Peter cursing and swearing in his denial of Christ, would we have said, yeah, that's a saved man? Probably not. You know, we'd have had some doubts. And the point I'm making is that there are people who appear to be Christians but aren't. And there are true believers who at times can act pretty miserably. That's probably all of us. We have had those times. But to add insult to their failures, they often do so in a very public way for all to observe. And my further point is this, the connection between faith and works, that's what this chapter is about, the connection between faith and works is not always absolute. It's not always perfect. in the life of a Christian. Even Apostle Paul, great a man as he was, he expressed how he struggles with sin. He said so in Romans chapter 7. Well, James chapter 2, I think, is the definitive chapter on the relationship between faith and works. Now, I want to precede the study today with a caveat or a caution A casual reading of this passage could easily lead the reader to believe that James is teaching salvation by works. You're going to see what I mean as we go along. So what we must do is we must understand and accept that the Bible as a whole teaches us that we are saved by grace through faith alone. I mean, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. very familiar verses, or by grace are you saved through faith, that and of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So that's pretty clear. And there's a plethora of other passages as well. So we must accept that the Bible teaches, as a whole, it teaches salvation by grace. And further, we must accept that God's word does not contradict itself. So as we read these somewhat odd statements here in James chapter two, we have to start with the belief, with the understanding of the truth of the entire word of God, and it will help us to interpret this chapter correctly. So let's get into it and get to the things here. As we search the text, chapter 2 the first thing we see is discrimination and faith look at verse 1 of chapter 2 here it says my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons so there's an exhortation here first of all he says don't have the faith with respect to person. Notice he says the faith. He doesn't just say don't have faith, but he talks about the faith. This refers to the entire scope of our beliefs, everything spiritual that is related to our salvation. And he talks about respect of persons. In the Greek, that's one word. And I told you I'm not a Greek scholar, but I can look things up in a lexicon. And it's one word in the Greek, and it's translated respective persons, and it's defined as favoritism, partiality. We don't like to see those things at work in things like sports. If you've got a kid that's ever gone out for sports, and he's the greatest basketball player since Will Chamberlain. But the coach won't play him because the coach wants to play his own son instead. He said, that's favoritism, that's bias, and we don't like that. Well, how much worse is it when that happens in the context of our churches, in the context of our Christian experience? So, other words that are used in this same vein, bias, racism, prejudice, discrimination, bigotry, xenophobia, nepotism, you might know some or all of those words. In other words, it's making a judgment about an individual based on invalid criteria. Discrimination of this kind is totally incompatible with true Christianity. Unfortunately, we've probably all done it at some time. Someone visits our church, we immediately form an opinion of how good a potential church member that person might be. If they're dressed nice and all, I guess they would probably, you know, their tithe and offering would really help our finances. Or if they've got a large family, it would increase our attendance. And we cater to that person, those people. But if someone comes in and they're not dressed very nice, and their kids are, you know, sort of snot-nosed and whatnot, and they're gonna, those people, they're gonna get our pews dirty, and they're gonna break things, and favoritism, you know, it's not a good thing. And James gives us an example in the following verses. Well, I missed this verse. I talked about the faith and in the book of Jude, it says that, he said, I exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered in the saints. I was just making that point. Let's go on now to the example in verses two through four. assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment and you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and saying to him sit down here in a good place and say to the poor stand thou there or sit down under sit here under my footstool are he not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts. So the first thing we see in verse two, there's a distinct contrast. You've got two different kinds of people coming into, he says, the assembly. And in this case, it's a word for synagogue, but it would apply to the church, I think. The church is a called out assembly. And he says, you got two different kinds of people. You got the fellow that comes in and he's got a gold ring on, And we're always impressed by bling, aren't we? And he's got a fine set of clothes on. I mean, this is not, you know, thrift store, vintage. This is top of the line, $500 suit from Brooks Brothers or whatever. So you got this guy, and then there's another fellow coming in, and he's dirty, and his clothes are tattered, and his hair's not combed just right, and might have a little bit of egg in his beard. So you immediately form a judgment He said, and so there's a contrast between these two men. And then notice the disturbing conduct in verse three. And he says, you have respect. In other words, you favor the guy in the gay clothing, in the nice set of clothes. And then, And you say to him, hey, come up here and sit on the front row. We want everybody to see you. You've got the place of honor. And then you say to the other fellow, the fellow that doesn't look so good, say, well, you stand over there in the corner. Or you can sit on the floor. He says that's a disturbing type of conduct. And in verse four, there's a damning censure. He says, are you not, if you do that, are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts or judges with evil thoughts? Now, not all judging is wrong. contrary to the misinterpretation of Matthew 7.1, judge not that you be not judged. But not all judging is wrong. In John 7.24, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. There's a wrong way to judge the person that comes in, the people that come in. Don't judge them by their appearance, but judge righteous judgment. 1 Peter 4, 17, the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. So don't be taken in by these people who said, you have no right to judge. Now, you know, I can live any way I want to, but you don't have the right to call it a sin. Calling sin, sin is not the judgment that he's talking about there in in Matthew chapter seven. He's talking about a a judgmental attitude, I think. But we have when the Bible condemn something, then when we quote the Bible, we're not judging. The Bible is doing the judging. Now, what is wrong? I'm talking about, that's proper judgment. What is wrong is forming a judgment about someone based on illegitimate criteria. Skin color. That's, of course, been a big one over the years. Style of dress. Social standing. What about somebody that has a lot of tattoos? We immediately, don't we, form a judgment about a person like that. And I'm not promoting tattoos, but I'm saying can we judge a person's heart based on those factors? such standards to decide how we're going to treat others, how we are going to love others, that is wrong. That's what he's calling this respect of persons. And the Bible tells us, by the way, that God is no respecter of persons. So if we're going to be like Christ, We need to diligently work to avoid this type of judgment, this type of preferential treatment. Now, that's the example. Notice next the expose that he gives us here in verses 5 through 7. First of all, he talks about the riches of the poor. Remember, don't forget what the example he gave. He said, you got the rich guy come in, you got the poor guy come in, and you immediately give preference to the rich fellow. He says, think about this. Verse 5, hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? He says, sometimes The poor have great riches. Now, not maybe in a monetary sense, not in a financial way, but I remember when Jesus and the disciples were standing and watching what everybody was putting in the collection plate there at the temple. I've often suggested that the pastor ought to go around with the ushers and watch what everybody's putting in. But that doesn't go. No, we don't. Of course, we don't practice that. But Jesus and the disciples were watching. And these rich folks were coming in and making a big show of putting their large offerings in. They could afford to give those kind of offerings. It didn't affect their ability to pay their bills. or to live their lives, because they were just giving of their abundance. But then this widow lady came by, and she put in the two mites. I don't know how much that would be in today's economy, but it wasn't much. And Jesus said, hey, fellas, check this out. This widow has given more than all the others. And I can imagine that. That amount of offering, that size offering is not gonna do anything toward maintaining the temple and all of that. Jesus said, look, She has given more than all of them because she gave all that she had. And Jesus elevated her above all those rich donors. In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul talks about this. He says, moreover, brethren, we do you to wit. That just means we want you to know. If I'm going to tell you something that I want you to know, I probably won't say, I do you to wit. But that's the way they talked back in those days, I guess. But he said, we do you to wit, and we want you to know the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. They went over and above. They gave out of their poverty, not out of their abundance. And so, Paul is commending them for what they did. They gave sacrificially. So the riches of the poor often go a long way beyond what we can observe from the outside. Notice the rejection of the poor. In verse 6 he says, but ye have despised the poor. He says, without considering all of the factors without considering the ramifications of your decision, you have rejected, you have despised. That word despised means to look down on or to consider in low esteem. You have despised the poor. He says, you have set aside a wonderful source of riches, actually, because it didn't look to you, to your human eye, to your human observation, it didn't look to you like those people could do much for you. You have gravitated toward those that look like they could really help you out. And he says you despise the poor. Look down on the poor. Then there's the reproach by the rich. The end of verse six, he says, do not rich men oppose you, or oppress you rather, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called? So he's saying the rich, now certainly not, this is certainly not a blanket indictment of all rich people. There are some very, very generous, very good folks that are rich. I don't happen to know any of them personally. So I haven't benefited from their riches. But in general, He said, the persecution of God's people originated with the rich. Riches tend to bring power, political power, religious power, and they have been the ones, generally speaking, to oppress and persecute God's people, and blaspheme, actually, the name of Christ. And you remember Jesus talked about the rich people and he said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. But, you know, because the disciples said, well, who then can be saved? And he said, well, with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. So there are some rich that are going to be saved. But he says, when you gravitate toward the rich, you need to remember, they are the ones that have, in a general sense, that have caused you the problems, the persecution. So he's exposing the fallacy of their partiality. Moving on to verses 8 through 10, there's the expectation. First of all, there's obedience mentioned in this passage. Look at verse 8. If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. The royal law, what is it? He says, it's the saying, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So he said, that's the royal law. It's very much akin to the golden rule. What you would have others to do to you, do that also to them. Or as we commonly say, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So, that's very much similar to the Royal Law. So, there's obedience that God expects from us. And He said, if you do that, you do well. But then, there's an offense mentioned here too in verse 9. But, if ye have respect to persons, that's that discrimination, bias, favoritism. If you have respect to persons, ye commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. So this is not just Well, you know, we really ought to not show favoritism. No, this is a big thing. It is a major thing in God's eyes. He says if you have this favoritism, this respect of persons, listen, we don't want God treating us that way. I mean, I wouldn't be in the top half if we were judged according to our riches. If God's judging according to how much somebody can tithe and give offerings and how we dress and the type of clothes we wear and that type of thing, then a lot of us are just out of luck. And we wouldn't want God treating us that way, so we shouldn't have that same attitude. If you have respect of persons, he says you commit sin. So this is not just a character flaw. It's not just a minor foible. He says you are committing sin and you are convinced of the law as transgressors. Then in verse 10, there's an observation. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. You say, that doesn't seem fair. That doesn't seem right. Well, think about this. How many crimes does someone have to commit to be a criminal? Just one. If you rob a bank, you're a lawbreaker. Now, you may not have killed anyone, you may not have, you know, slandered or done any of the other things that we have laws against. but you are a lawbreaker. And I think that's what he's saying here. If you've offended in one point, then the whole law is against you. As you think about a salvation by works that some, of course, and many are preaching, well, are you saved? Well, I keep the 10 commandments. My favorite response to that is, well, can you name them? And most people that claim they're keeping the Ten Commandments can't name more than two or three of them. So that's a fallacy there. But they say, I'm doing the best I can. Well, that's not the standard by which we are judged, you see. If we're going to claim salvation by the law, then Paul said you are a debtor to the law to keep the entire thing. There's no grading on a curve. God doesn't say, well, you know, you kept 70, 75, 80% of the law, so I guess that's good enough. No, it doesn't work that way. The standard is complete righteousness, complete holiness, as exhibited by the Lord Jesus Christ, of course. And he, in his life, That is the standard by which God measures us. And so if we do not have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, God is going to look and see our own pitiful attempts at being righteous, and it will fall far, far short. And so that's one thing we can get out of this verse, that if you've offended one point of the law, then you are a lawbreaker, and the entire weight of the law is against you. And that's a burden that we can't bear. And the book of Galatians is clear about that. As Paul wrote and said, why do you want to go back to the Galatians were trying to, had been seduced into sort of reverting back to the keeping of the law. He said, why do you want to go back to something that you weren't able to do in the first place? It's a yoke that is too heavy for you. So we, we, I hope you're getting the point that the law is, it's a good thing. The law is not evil. And it's a good thing to do our best to follow the law because the law is not just an arbitrary collection of rules that God said, well, let's see, you know, when we were, when we were young, And we made a club, and we had all kinds of rules. The first rule, of course, when you were pre-teen, the first rule is no girls allowed. Now, that changed in a couple of years, of course, but, you know, no girls allowed and whenever you come, you got to bring a snake. And, you know, I mean, we did this in arbitrary rules, but that's not God's law. God's law is a revelation of his own nature. When he says, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, those are things that reflect the nature of God. And so it is a good thing for us to aspire to keep the things that are reported in the law. But thankfully, we are not being judged on the things of the law. We are being judged according to the righteousness of Christ, which has been credited to us. And I don't have time to talk about progressive sanctification and all that, because we've got to move on. So the observation is, You know, offend in one point, you're guilty of all. Well, let's move on. Talked about discrimination in faith, and we'll try to hustle through these last points. There's a dead faith that's mentioned here in James chapter 2. First of all, the argument, look at verse 14. What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? People would look at that last phrase and say, wow, that's tough. I thought we were saved by grace through faith. Well, I think what he's saying here, if you got a man that says he has faith, There's no works to back that up. Can faith or can that kind of faith save him? I think it's what he's saying. Can that faith save him? We are not saved by works. We are saved to work. That's in the lesson quarterly. A faith that does not produce works A change in behavior is a counterfeit faith. It was never real in the first place. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 and 2. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which you have also received wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless, he says, you have believed in vain. So there is a kind of faith that is vain, it's empty, it is counterfeit, it is not true saving faith. Then it gives us an absurdity in verses 15 and 16, and you know these verses, you know this story. It says, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, Notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what do they profit? He said, you've got some folks that have a need, and you say, bless you, depart in peace, be you warm, be filled, and then walk away. And they're standing there scratching their head and said, What am I supposed to do with that? There's no substance to that. This is a silly proposition, because I don't think anybody would ever do that, that very thing. But he's saying, here's an example of what this is like when you talk about a faith without works. It's like saying to the folks that have a need, you've got what you need. God bless you, go your way, be warmed and filled. You're not giving them anything to help them with their needs, so it's a counterfeit faith. Notice the assertion now in verses 17 and 20 and 26, verse 17, even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead. being alone verse 20 but wilt thou know o vain man that faith without works is dead in verse 26 for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also so three different verses he tells us that faith without works is uh dead Again, it's not a true faith. It's head belief, but not a heart belief. You haven't put yourself into it. Your heart is not in it, and so therefore, your faith is just a intellectual exercise rather than being something that has affected your very life. Then the articulation, 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 now i heard a an idiot one time i'm sorry um um an uninformed uh person but he said this he says Show your faith without works or show your faith by works. He said, one's as good as the other. That is not what this verse says, not what it is teaching at all. He says, and by the way, that shows the fallacy and dishonesty of pulling a verse out of its immediate context. This whole passage is teaching the very opposite of what that guy said. But he says, show me thy faith. without thy works. Show me your kind of faith without your works. Faith without works is dead, it's counterfeit. Ephesians 2.2.10, I've already got it here. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Now, verses 8 and 9 says very emphatically, salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast. But the very next verse says we were created unto good works. We're not saved by works, we're saved unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So this fellow says, show me thy faith without thy works. I'll show you my faith. Let me show you my kind of faith. I'll show you my faith by my works. And a faith that produces godly works, godly behavior. is not dead. It is a true faith. So that's the argument about dead faith. There's one other faith here. Well, two others, but we're getting there. And that's demon faith. Look at verse 19. It says, thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble. First of all, there's a complacency described here. He says, thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. I think that's some sarcasm, personally. I think he's saying, well, good for you. You know, you believe there's a God. Well, aren't you special? He says, by comparison, in the last part of the verse, he says, the devils also believe and tremble. The devils believe and they go one step further. They tremble before God. People today, I mean, you see them all the time. They're so complacent about it. They say they believe in God, but they don't really believe that He has any authority over them. They don't believe that He's angry at sin. They don't believe that He has the right to tell them how they ought to behave. This is one of the characteristics of evil men in Romans 3 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes. And that's a sad thing. When you realize what's coming, when you realize the judgment that is coming upon the unbelievers, you see that it's such a tragedy that there's no fear of God before their eyes. I mean, that's part of the whole duty of man, isn't it? Let's hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments. That's the whole duty. of men from the book of Ecclesiastes. Well, moving on, last point, there is a dynamic faith. A dynamic faith. First of all, a faith is exhibited by works. Look at verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou then how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of So that's Abraham. Then there's Rahab as well, verse 25, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. So I got ahead of myself. But so faith is exhibited by works, but faith is also embodied by works. Look at verse 24. You see them. How, and this is a tough verse, you gotta listen close. You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Now if you pull that verse out of its context, Out of the Bible as a whole, let's take that verse and point to that and say, see there, we are justified by faith plus our works. Well, the Bible doesn't teach that. So if we're going to interpret that verse, remember what I said at the beginning, you've got to interpret the passage based on the teachings of God's word as a whole. So what do we get from this verse and this passage as a whole? Well, clearly this is not referring to our justification in the sight of God, but rather justifying ourselves in the sight and the observation of men. Others cannot see your heart. But they can observe your actions. And again, we don't know another person's salvation for absolute certainty. We can't know that. But there's hundreds, listen, there are hundreds and probably thousands of professing Christians that I know personally that I have no doubts concerning their salvation. Do I know for sure? the condition of their heart? No, I don't. Only God knows that. But I don't go around doubting them. Now, will there be surprises in heaven, as I said? Yeah, probably. But I don't think that God has called us to be constantly skeptical of other professed believers. You know, you see them do something and you say, I don't really think they're saved. That's not really for us to say. And in fact, I think, and I'm almost done, hang with me. I think that James' purpose in this chapter is not primarily to help us evaluate others, but rather to cause us to look at ourselves. 2 Corinthians 13.5, examine yourselves We'd rather examine others, wouldn't we? But he says, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. He's given us some instructions here, given us a platform for observing ourselves and looking at our own work. What are we doing? Not what is everybody else doing? We're sort of like Peter saying, Lord, what shall John do? And he said, don't worry about what John does. You just take care of yourself. And I think that's a wonderful thing for us to practice as well. So as we set the application, two things. Number one, be careful about favoritism. And secondly, be certain of your faith. Thanks for your patient listening today. Let's pray. Father, I ask that you'll speak to our hearts today through your word. Not necessarily my feeble attempts at expounding it, but your word is quick, powerful, and is a judge of the intents and thoughts of the heart. Blessed as we continue in the services today, we thank you for bringing our brother, Paul Hatcher, and his wife, Wanda, to us today, and pray that you'll bless his ministry in our pulpit today. In Jesus' name, amen.