This evening we should say we return back to James chapter 2. And since it's been a while, we'll read the whole chapter, although our text is going to be almost half the chapter. Verse 14 to the end of our text. I'm not going to read that twice, obviously. So pay attention to 14 to the end, but we'll begin with verse 1. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 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? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. And now our text. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he have 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 warmed 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, thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou 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 God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works. when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to understand this passage and drink from its living water, it's important to understand a few things. First of all, the main subject here is the utility or the benefit or usefulness of a true faith, the very same faith by which we're saved and by which we are justified. To put it another way, the text is not about justification itself or salvation, although obviously they're mentioned. The main issue is about faith and its utility. Secondly, there is another related subject, which is really the nature of true faith, and the nature of true faith as it is related to love. Please understand that the mention of good works here, you may substitute the word love, that's the idea. The question is, what's the relationship to faith and love, and specifically, can they ever be separated? And if so, how are they connected if they can't be separated? Now, having said that, you have to ask yourself, well, why is this coming up? Well, it's all related to the context. We've seen that the apostle makes pretty tight arguments. He doesn't tend to just raise new things and new subjects, but they're all related one to the other, and that's the case here. It might seem like this is coming out of left field, but it's not. That this section concerns faith is evident from the very first verse of this chapter, where the apostle didn't simply say, We're going to talk about respective persons. And he doesn't say, now my brothers don't have respective persons, but don't have the faith that is a respecter of persons. And so everything that follows in that instruction was about faith. But when you read that section, is it about faith directly? No, it's actually about a number of things he was telling the church to do or not to do. And he tells us that all those good works, or even those evil works, all were works of love. That's why he brings up the law, and fulfilling the law. Loving one's neighbor in particular. So he's dealing with faith, and faith and its relationship to works, or love. The relationship between faith and love. And why does this come up? And why are salvation and justification brought up? And the reason is because the Apostle is anticipating an argument. And he's really not anticipating it so much. It's an argument he ran into and he knows very well. Because it's very common in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ It's an argument that's found within the church, and it's in response to the kind of instruction the apostle has just given. Don't be respecters of persons. Bridle the tongue and other such things. And the response is this. Why? Why do I have to do that or not do that? Because I'm justified by faith alone. I'm saved by faith alone. Faith alone is enough. Why are you telling me to do something more? I have faith. I believe in God. Away with your legalism. Away with this kind of instruction. That this is on the foreground is because, as even John Kelvin himself points out, The previous subject of mercy shows that behind all of this is an understanding of the doctrine of the Apostle Paul that we're justified by faith alone. That is, we're justified in God's mercy, and we receive that mercy through faith, believing. And that's alone, without works. And therefore, this person is claiming, well, I'm justified by faith without works. Therefore, away with your works. I have faith all by itself. That's enough. And over against that, the apostle says, you need to be instructed about faith. Specifically now, faith and its utility, its benefit, its purpose, and then its relationship to love. And so we consider that this evening under the question that governs this whole thing and introduces it, which is, what good is faith without works? What good is it? What good is faith without works? We consider in the first place the important question that is asked here. Secondly, the answer explained. And finally, the personal implications of that question. Its answer. This whole section begins with a question raised by James here, by the Holy Spirit, and it is an important question, most important. That's worth emphasizing this evening because there have been those, in fact, the same those who would respond here, the very same people the apostle is addressing that would just as soon cut this out and say this is a heretical passage, this is a bad passage, this can't be the Word of God, and if it's the Word of God, it's not a very important Word of God. And they would give us their excuse that there's a contradiction here. Paul says we're justified by faith without works, and James says we're justified by works. Hopefully that gives you a flavor of how important this question is, but let's break it down. Why is this such an important question? And the answer is, in the first place, because it concerns one's attitude towards faith, a certain attitude toward faith, the attitude of you and the attitude of me and the church itself. And that attitude either enhances or perfects our enjoyment of salvation in a robust, godly life in the church of Jesus Christ, or it threatens it. In fact, one may say that if one doesn't have this attitude, he doesn't enjoy salvation at all, which is the very implication of the question that the apostle asks, can faith save? In other words, can faith as one understands it to be a certain way, can that kind of faith, can such a faith save a man? Can he enjoy salvation and the forgiveness of sins, justification, sanctification? Can he enjoy those things with that kind of faith? And the answer is no. So it's an attitude concerning the usefulness or the benefit of faith. That's simply what the word prophet here means. The question in the King James is, what doth it profit, my brethren? Though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him? The question is, What is the usefulness or the benefit or, in the words of the theme, what good is faith without works? That's the question. The benefit or the usefulness that the apostle has in mind is, first of all, personal. That's clear because part of the question is whether such a faith can save him. That is, provide a benefit to an individual. Can an individual receive the benefit, even that we call salvation, with regard to a faith that has no works? Salvation is an intensely personal matter. And so the Apostle indicates that in his very question and response. But he also indicates, we're talking here about the benefit, the usefulness, the good of faith as it pertains the congregation, corporately, for others in the body of Christ. That's clear. When he basically asks the same question and gives an example with regard to that, In a situation in the church where you have a Christian, he claims to have faith. And he finds a brother or a sister in the church that's destitute and has need. They don't have food or clothing. They're naked. They're starving. And all that brother says is, be well or be filled. Doesn't provide them with anything. Doesn't actually give them anything. Just words. And the question is, what is that prophet? What's the benefit of a faith that does that? The question isn't simply, how does such a faith benefit the individual? What's the profit of that? What's the blessedness of that? But what's the blessedness for the church of Jesus Christ? And keep in mind, that's the context too. With regard to the neighbor has been all his instruction. Respective persons, how you deal with them, love toward the neighbor, Secondly, this is a very important question the Apostle asks here because it concerns specifically faith without works. Not just faith. You see, if the question is merely what profit and benefit is faith, well, there's no question there. That answer is easy. And it's plain. It's an entirely good and profitable thing. In fact, it's the main good and profitable thing we have. Why? Because it's the instrument, it's the means by which we are justified, by which we receive Jesus Christ, by which we receive salvation. Everything comes through faith. So that's not even the question here. It really concerns faith without works. And it's a question because there's an attitude that erroneously follows and comes from the fact that we are justified by faith, we are saved by faith alone. That truth, that doctrine all by itself promotes, provokes, as it were, this question. The underlying question is actually in light of the fact that we are justified by faith without works, or saved by faith without works, what good is faith then without works? And the erroneous conclusion that's made is this, that there is no other kind of faith than if I'm justified by faith alone without the deeds of the law, if I'm justified by faith without works, then that's what faith is. Faith is without works. Seems like a pretty logical argument. If I'm saved by faith without the deeds of the law, if I'm justified by faith without works, consideration of works, without love or any of those things, none of those things justify me, well then faith is without works, right? And that then brings up this whole issue that the apostle is addressing head on. If I'm justified by a faith without works, and that faith is what alone receives salvation, justification, and all these such things, then faith without works is what's beneficial and profitable. And the Apostle is going to point out, you don't know something. You're forgetting something. You're lacking something. And this is the attitude. This is the false notion that the Apostle is dressing full head on. Now you might say, the apostle's just dealing with a hypothetical here. And a rare hypothetical at that. Oh no, he's not. This is in fact the attitude of the man that he early rebuked who seemed religious. Someone who seemed pious, seemed religious, but he would not bridle his tongue. So he spoke evil against others. The very same man that the James said, your religion is vain. Your piety is worthless. And later reminds them that they should speak and act with mercy because they're saved by mercy. In other words, you're saved by grace. You're saved by a faith without works alone. You need to remember that. This was the very same person, members in the church, who had respective persons. He gave that example of the rich and poor visitors to the church. Remember what he reminded them of. Number one, God chose to save the poor. Also, he saves in his mercy and in his grace. Is it not the wealthy of the world who oppress you? Isn't there a worldly-minded spirit that's behind this, not the spirit of Jesus Christ? And it violates the law of God to love your neighbor. And you say, well, where's that kind of behavior come? From the very same attitude toward faith that he's addressing here. That's what he's getting at. That's how important this issue is. That if a man gets this wrong, then he deceives himself. He deceives himself about his own salvation, and he deceives himself because there's no benefit for the congregation either. So knowing that apostle asks, And we may paraphrase here, so what's the profit? What's the benefit? What's the good if a man says, well, I have faith. May even add, I have faith. You know, we're saved by faith alone. What benefit? What good is it when a man says, I have that kind of faith? That is, what's the benefit of that kind of faith? What's the usefulness of that kind of faith? One more thing as to the importance. It is possible that we simply look at this from a sort of practical viewpoint, see the importance for ourselves, but understand that this is also related to others. This is an important question, an issue that regards not only me personally, but all of us, as I said. When the apostle asks the question, what benefit, what profit, what good is such a faith? He means benefit or good for you and for all of us together. And that's pretty evident. We should be able to see that. We all enter into the church as adults by making confession of faith. We say we have faith, just like the man here. We say we have faith. The question of the consistory and the question of the members when a young person comes and says, I have faith, is, well, what kind of faith? What kind of faith? Is it faith with works or without works? That's not only my concern, but your concern. It should be all of our concerns. We all claim to have faith. But the question is, what kind of faith? And what if it's the kind of faith with no works? What if it's the kind of faith that's very religious, but our tongue's on fire in a world of iniquity? What if we have faith that's very religious, but we're respecters of persons, we're merciless in judgment, we don't really care about God's law? A faith without works. That's what this question is all about. And hopefully you can see how important it is. Now, one other thing as to the importance of this question. It's an important question because of the conclusion the Apostle reaches. When he's all said and done, verse 24, he concludes, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. I hope you can see that that is, as it stands, a direct contradiction to the Word of God somewhere else. Romans 3, where the apostle says this, by the deeds or works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. Verse 20, and he concludes this, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds, works, of the law. And just so we're clear here, James basically concludes this. Ye see how that by love. I told you the word works here. You may substitute the word love. That's what he has in mind. And I'm doing that so you see how important this question is. Because love we know begins in the heart. It pertains to the heart. He's not just talking about outward deeds as such. He's talking about even what flows out of the heart and may be called love. And we all know how important that is. James says, you see how that by works or love a man is justified and not by faith only. And Paul says, by the deeds, works of the law. And he means the same thing. By love, no flesh will be justified. In Galatians, he says this, no man is justified by the law. And he means the same thing, the keeping of the law, love. He even goes on to say, Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. If you think you're justified by the law or by love, well, you've fallen from grace. You can't be saved that way. You see how important the question is? because it leads to a conclusion that seems to be a direct contradiction of James. And there's something to be learned here, by the way. The Spirit deliberately put this here, and He was well aware of the language He was using. Well aware. And this isn't the only passage that you find in Scripture where you scratch your head and you look at it, and you could conclude that's heretical. Jesus is the Savior of all men, especially those that believe. That's Arminian, right? The Spirit thereby teaches us something important about how He works. There's a lot of things to be learned here. One is, we judge and we deal with one another and their words according to their meaning. Words have meaning, we say. Someone here must be a heretic. James or Paul, one of them, can't both be right. Oh yes, they're both right. Be very careful when you want to just take scripture, any scripture, and just set it aside as heretical or maybe Arminian. I was telling my wife I remember being reprimanded one time for preaching an Arminian text. John 3.16. I had to laugh because there was nothing about that sermon that was Arminian at all. And how could a text be Arminian? No, we deal with meaning. So the question is, what do they mean? But hopefully you can see how important this is all about. Some go and look at a passage like this and say, well, somebody's got to be wrong. And ironically, a lot of people say, it's Paul that's wrong. James, that's right. But on the other hand, there's a temptation to flip it around too and say, well, Paul's right. James has to be wrong. He don't know what he's talking about. Or at least let's not talk about it. Yeah, that's true. What Paul teaches is denied often. The Arminians do that. It's one of the essential errors of the Arminians. The Arminian view of justification is that it consists not in God imputing to us the righteousness of Christ. And by the way, that is the main definition of justification. We normally mean it. It's the imputation of Christ's righteousness by God. God imputes to us the righteousness of Christ. That's what we usually mean by the word justification. But the Arminian says that's not so. Justification is this, that God graciously accepts our faith and our love. He accepts them both as part of our righteousness. Our righteousness really isn't what Christ's righteousness is. Our righteousness is what we do. And God has determined that he's going to accept that. Well, what's Paul excluding? Many would say, well, he's just excluding works outside of Christ, those that you do on your own. That's all he's talking about. Recently, there's been a couple of heresies. They're closely related. We refer to the one as the New Perspectives on Paul, NPP, and another one's FV, Federal Vision. They're very much alike. I'm not going to get into all the details and differences, but their view is basically this. The deeds of the law that Paul was talking about and excluding from justification is simply the law of Moses, the ceremonial law. You're not justified by keeping the sacrifices anymore and all those regulations and Leviticus. You're still justified by works, faith and works, as James says. And so they would have James and Paul basically saying the same thing. We just do away with what Paul's talking about. No. No. In fact, James himself explicitly rejects those kinds of views. And it's clear even from the passage that James and Paul are in perfect agreement. That's brought out even in verse 11 and 10. 10 and 11, where he reminds the audience, you do realize, don't you, that if you're going to obtain righteousness by keeping the law, if you break just one law, you're a debtor to the law. What's he doing there? He's pointing out no man can be justified by their works. in the sense that they are righteous by working. You can keep nine of the commandments. You break one. You're no longer righteous. You can't be righteous any other way than having God impute righteousness to you. There's no other way. It's impossible. And he's pointing it out in those verses. He agrees with Paul 100%. So what's going on? Well, the answer is they're using the word justification in two different senses. And Paul is focusing on how we are justified before God. The emphasis is even upon that, and James is referring to something entirely different, showing, by the way, that words in Scripture aren't always used the same way. If you read carefully even the Scriptures with regard to that word justification, you will find it is used, I think, six or seven different times. I've found seven. What's going on? Well, Paul is talking about how a sinner is justified before God, and it's through faith. And works play no part of it. Works are not a part and cannot be a part of our righteousness. When God looks at us and says, we're righteous, does He do that on the basis of our works? You've done enough, or not enough, or whatever. The answer is no. It's just by faith. That's it. And James is using that word justified in a way Scripture does elsewhere to mean to prove or demonstrate something. Well, prove or demonstrate what? And the answer is the faith that we confess, that it's genuine, that it's real. It's the faith by which we're justified. In other words, do you really have the faith by which one is justified? by faith alone. Do you have that kind of faith? How do you demonstrate it? How is it demonstrated? How is it proved? Even as we read in Scripture, for example, Christ was raised for our justification. What's the idea of that? We don't connect the resurrection and justification like that normally. We connect justification to the cross. We connect justification to faith and are actively receiving it subjectively. Objective and subjective. Talked about that before. And the answer is, it's talking about the fact that when Jesus was raised from the dead, it proved something. It proved he had paid for all our sins. And that's what James is talking about. So let's look at the answer. The question is, what good is a faith without works? Now the answer to that question is obvious. That is a rhetorical question. And so we have a rhetorical answer. The answer is no, none. There is no profit. There is no benefit. There is no good. about a faith without works. He's going to go on and show what that is, so we're going to explain. The answer is obvious, but the question is why? And why does he got to do that? Why does he spend so much time? Because you can be certain that his response to the man who says, I'm justified by faith without works, and is objecting to be told what to do and how to do it, is going to take exception to that answer. Faith without works? Worthless? Vanity? Not beneficial? Why, we're justified by faith without works. How can that be true? So, the important issue is, well, why? What's the explanation for that fact? That a faith without works is not good, has no profit, is not beneficial. Now, there's a brief answer to that. Because a man is not saved by that kind of faith. He's not justified by that kind of faith. I'm going to emphasize that point a little bit because, again, that seems to contradict Paul. Paul says we're saved by faith without works. And the question is, what's good, what's beneficial about faith without works? And the answer is nothing. And even with a little explanation, the explanation is nothing because you can't be saved by that kind of faith. You can't be justified by that kind of faith. Notice the different shift, that kind of faith. There's a difference between faith without works and the kind of faith that's without works. So the explanation here is going to be pretty important. The answer, of course, is much more detailed than this, and the apostle gives a lengthy explanation in a number of points. And the first is he gives a hypothetical example of his answer. He gives a hypothetical example of the kind of faith without works that he's talking about in order to demonstrate how unprofitable it is. And that is that member that sees another member naked and hungry and says, go away, be warm, be filled. But he doesn't give them any clothing, doesn't give them any food. That's what he's talking about. A faith without works. A faith that says something, may even confess something, but it doesn't do anything. Now, he's also illustrating by that the kind of faith that accompanies, or the kind of works that accompany faith. He's talking about love for the neighbor. And love for the neighbor by not despising the poor, but showing mercy. Remember? That's been the context. Don't despise the poor. Show them mercy. In this case, faith without works was unprofitable or beneficial for the neighbor. He does not only fail to help him in his need, but what he says is actually cruel and mocking. And everybody knows it. Everybody recognizes it. If we saw that, we would go, ah! He just walked by, said, be warm. That's cruel. And the apostle would like us to have that same reaction if a man has faith without works and says, that's my faith. The conclusion that he makes is such a faith without works is dead. It's dead. And why? And the answer is because it's alone. It's alone. Just like the words of a man who cruelly walks by and says, be warm and be filled. It's dead because it's not accompanied by any activity. And so is the claim to have faith without works. It's dead. It's a dead faith. And it's proven to be dead because it's all by itself, alone. And exactly because it's dead. Exactly because it's lifeless, it cannot profit anyone. It cannot benefit anyone to receive salvation, to be justified, to enjoy the blessings of salvation. That man has nothing. He next deals with an objection. And here, I have to acknowledge there's a difficulty in translating it. Comedian and commentator here, and they're going to acknowledge this. And it's better to put in the form of question. We have, "...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." The idea is this. Someone's going to come along and they're going to say, Do you have faith? It's the question of a proud, vain man who doesn't like the insinuation that he ought to be living a certain way and doing certain things. And he wants to question now the faith of James. Oh, so you have faith too. And the apostle then answers, and I have deeds also. And now, why don't you show me your faith? Show me your faith without works. And I, I will show you my faith by my works." Interesting argument that the apostle is making here. Now, the purpose of the apostle is to expound the vain worthlessness of any boast or claim to have faith that has no works. In fact, the whole thing that he's trying to demonstrate here is that it's impossible to show or to prove or demonstrate that you have faith without works. It can't be done. Faith is inside us. Faith is a matter of the heart. And then when you couple to the fact that it's pretty easy to say, well, I have faith, the apostle is saying, you can't demonstrate, you can't prove that you have faith without works. Because that's, after all, what you're claiming to have. I have faith without works because, after all, I'm justified by faith without works. That's what I have. The apostle said, prove it. Demonstrate it to me. And he's arguing it's impossible to do that. And what he's saying on the other hand is, and I'm going to demonstrate my faith and that I have faith by my works. That's what he means by justified. I'm going to demonstrate it. I'm going to prove it. Not that I'm justified or saved as such. That's what he's talking about, but that I have a true and living faith. And this further demonstrates what the apostle means in verse 24, therefore. What he means by justification. I'm not going to elaborate on that anymore. Now in this answer, he also proves something. And gives two examples to prove his point. That the justification of a man is demonstrated by his works. So not only is he saying I'm going to prove that I have true faith by my works, but I'm going to prove that it's a faith by which I'm justified. And that's evident from the two examples he brings up. The first is just Abraham. Now, why does he bring Abraham up? Because Paul uses him. Paul uses him as the example of how we are saved by faith, and he's at pains to show in many places that Abraham simply believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And this was done before he had the law. This was done even before he was told to circumcise his children as a sign of the covenant. He believed God and that was accounted to him for righteousness. And now James is going to take him as an example of something. James is not teaching this. That Abraham was justified before God, that is, made righteous before God by the act of sacrificing Isaac. That's the exact opposite of his point. But what he's saying here is that you know Abraham demonstrates to all. that he had a true and living faith, the faith by which he was justified and made righteous before God by his sacrifice of Isaac. That's how you know it. That's what demonstrates it. If he didn't have faith, he would have never done that. It's the only explanation. Now, there are passages that explain why that was. It's because by faith he reasoned, well, if God promised me a son, And that son is Christ. And God now commands me to kill that son. It must be that God's going to raise him from the dead. But the point is, is that work of sacrificing Isaac, even in his mind, demonstrated his faith, not just to him, but to us. And then he brings up Rahab. Kind of interesting that he brings up Rahab because there we don't have such a close connection. We're not told actually when Rahab believed. And there's all kinds of other examples. So it's interesting that he grabs Rahab because, well, why? And it's likely because she's the opposite of Abraham. Abraham has pedigree. Abraham has a noble, wonderful place in the line of the covenant. And Rahab's this harlot who just kind of happens to come along and actually ends up being part of the line of Jesus, God's grace and mercy at display. But the point is, we don't really know. We're not told when she believed. We're not even told really what she believed as such. But we know she was a believer. We know she had true faith by the fact she hid the spies. That's what James is talking about. That's the faith that alone is beneficial and good and profitable. Well, what's the implication about this? I have personal implication, but first of all, I want to give some implications that have maybe a broader thing. There's an amazing conclusion that the Apostle makes here that we need to be warned about and told about and remember. And I bring that to you because we are churches that insist that we are justified by faith alone, without works, without deeds, without love. Period, end of story. No ifs, ands, or buts. And anyone says otherwise, they're lying to you. They're confusing you. They're trying to trip you up. It's not true. And I'll say I don't know a minister in the PRC that teaches otherwise. But there is an important conclusion of James that is forgotten, and I fear often among us, and it trips up people and makes them charge people with heresies and lies about them and all kinds of things. And what's that? Well, number one, there's no contradiction between Paul and James, and it's not a matter of one or the other. But secondly, it's this. Faith is never alone. Now, I know a lot of people know that conclusion. and how important it is, and that it's found here. But I don't know if we understand what it means. The apostle is teaching faith is never alone. It's not alone even for a split second. And it's not even alone when we're justified by faith alone. Please understand that. It is never alone. So even though I'm justified by faith alone, the faith by which I'm justified is never alone. To put it another way, faith is never separated, never apart from love. Faith and love are bound together and never separated, never apart. but that love itself is not a means by which we're justified. It can't be. It isn't, Paul teaches. That's what we have to remember. That's what James is teaching here, that this truth, this wonderful truth that Paul teaches, needs to have this attached to it that we always remember. But that faith is never alone, because faith that's alone is dead. How dead? Did you catch how the passage ends? It's striking. Just like a body without a spirit is dead, So is faith without works. Do you get that? Do you understand what he's saying there? I have to say, if it wasn't there, I don't know if I would dare preach it, but it's confirmed elsewhere in Scripture. Love is the spirit of faith, just like your spirit is what gives your body life. makes it alive, makes it vibrant, makes it grow. And you take the spirit out, the body's dead. So also faith. Faith without love has no spirit. It has no life. It's dead. That is, it's not real faith at all. Point being, we're justified and saved by faith alone. It's the only way to receive salvation. But if that faith is alone, you're not justified, you're not saved. Because that faith is dead. If you ask what's the benefit of faith, the answer is love. Love for the neighbor, loving the neighbor as thyself. It's the benefit of the fact that the fatherless and the widows are visited in their affliction. It's the benefit of keeping ourselves unspotted from the world, verse 27. It's the benefit of showing mercy and respect to all the members and the visitors of the church. That was the whole first part of chapter two, of actually helping those who are in need rather than simply walking by and saying, hey, be warm, be filled. It is the benefit of refraining ourselves from bitter envying and strife in our hearts. Next chapter. another chapter coming, and you don't think he's going to let this go, do you? It's that of making peace. It's the benefit for the body. It's good for the body of Jesus Christ. And remember, there's no such benefit in a church where there's just faith without works, where people only confess, I have faith without works. That's the issue. I'm proud of the fact that I confess I have a faith without works. Away with your works. We're not justified by works. They play no role in our salvation. And the apostle flips the script. Oh, indeed, we're saved and justified by faith without works. But if your faith was without works, you got nothing. You've got absolutely nothing. You're dead. Your spirit's dead. Your church is dead. Lastly, that love justifies. That's what he says. That's not a mistake. That's not an error. We conclude, he says, that we are justified by works and not only faith. Doesn't mean the same thing as Paul, but nevertheless, he's teaching that love proves or demonstrates our faith is genuine. It's an infallible proof, as it were. It's even a proof that we have the faith by which we're saved and justified. And negatively points out that faith, although it confesses the truth and believes certain truth, faith is not simply proven or demonstrated by confessing certain truths, even if it's true. That's his argument about the devil. He caught that, right? Notice how the apostle goes to the very first commandment, love God and your neighbor. So, if someone confesses, I love God or I believe in God, he goes, great. There's irony there. Great, woo-hoo. You realize the devil does the same thing, right? The devil believes God. He believes there's a God. He knows there's a God. He probably knows way more about God than you do. And when he thinks about God, he fears and trembles. He's filled with terror. Why? Because he doesn't have faith. Therefore, he has no love for God. He hates God. And he knows God will judge him. That's the difference. Pretty compelling argument. And we need to keep that in mind. From a certain viewpoint, it's quite easy to confess certain truths, and maybe we even believe they're true, but so does the devil. He doesn't love him though. And exactly because he doesn't love him, you know he has no faith, you know he's not saved, you know he's not justified, you know he's condemned. It's also implicit in the example of Abraham who was called the friend of God. As the friend of God, he's called simply not to believe on God or believe that he existed, or boast that he has a faith without works, but he was called to love God. And he showed he had that faith. That faith that loved God by obeying God. By even being willing to sacrifice his own son. Though it seemed to be against the promise of God. You look at that and you go, that's faith. That's real and genuine faith. And this is exactly what he was talking about when in the very first verse he called it the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does he mean by the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ? The faith that Jesus has? No, not as such. But real and genuine faith. That is, faith that's not in word, but faith in deed. Faith that loves. That faith is profitable. That faith is good. That faith is true and alive. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, O Lord, we thank thee for the instruction of thy word, thy word which is truth, which keeps us from error, which keeps us from evil, which keeps us living in love and faithfulness to our Lord Jesus Christ. We are thankful for that because we are prone to error on every side. to great wickedness, even to excuse our sin and iniquity. Forgive us, O Lord, continue to work faith, to work love in our hearts, in Jesus' name, amen.