James chapter 2.
The title of the message is Faith Without
Works Is Dead.
And I'm pretty sure most of you have
heard that phrase before, right?
Faith without works is dead.
This is actually why Martin Luther, he was
part of the Reformation.
I'll just, brief history lesson, some of you
already know.
But around 1517 in Wittenberg, Germany, Martin Luther
nailed the 95 thesis on the church doors
in Germany challenging the Roman Catholic Church to
all these different points that weren't biblical.
And Catholicism, as you know, many of you
know, really promotes works and works and you
gotta works.
And it's works to get to heaven, it's
works to stay in God's good graces, it's
really a works based religion.
So the Catholic Church would often use this
scripture against Martin Luther and the Protestants.
And that's where the word Protestant comes from,
the word protest.
That they would protest what the Roman Catholic
Church was teaching.
So he did not like this phrase, faith
without works is dead, because the Roman Catholic
Church would use it showing, see you've gotta
have works, you've gotta have works, Martin Luther.
And I don't think he realized that all
the scriptures, which I'm sure he did eventually,
but this scripture is really just saying that
if you have genuine faith, you will have
genuine works.
A person who's truly a believer, you can't
hide it, it's like telling an apple tree
to stop growing apples.
It's gonna happen.
So a genuine believer has works.
But if you don't have works at all,
and your lifestyle doesn't resemble anything that looks
like a Christian, then that faith is dead
faith, it's a faith based on religion alone.
So that's what James is talking about here.
And I'm gonna get to that in a
minute, but while I was, during worship, I
was thinking that most people, especially on Wednesday
nights, this won't be applicable in the sense
of challenging your faith.
I don't think there's false Christians on a
Wednesday night, most of you here, I mean
I don't know everybody, but this message will
be wonderful for those who have religion, but
not a relationship.
That they don't have any works, there's no
fruit.
But I want to encourage some of us
to really look at our lives because we
can start to measure our Christianity based on
what I do for God.
The more works I do, the more He
likes me, the better I am, and the
more holier I am than you, and I
start to have this attitude of works, works,
works, and I'm in this wonderful relationship with
God because all of my works, and really,
God doesn't see our works and then we
go on a better pedestal or we become
better in His eyes.
He simply looks at Christ, the finished work
of the cross, that's why we can stand
before God.
He knows that our works are but filthy
rags.
But because of my love for the Lord,
because He commands it in His scripture, because
there are rewards based on obedience, there are
rewards, our works will be rewarded to see
if they're made of straw or stubble or
gold and these wonderful things.
So the works are important.
But, and maybe it's just me thinking about
this this week, growing up, I've explained before
with a dad that was hard from the
farms of Oklahoma and wanting to please and
wanting to please and wanting to please and
not show emotions, and it was works, and
the harder you work, the better you were.
And it's really hard for me now to
rest sometimes on vacation because I think I
should be working or taking a day off
because you measure who you are by what
you do, and the more work you do,
the more successful you become.
The more work you do, the happier.
My dad was a harder worker.
We were known in the valley, many would
know, as a hardworking family.
My dad, people would still, even to this
day, your dad was a very hard worker
because of that poverty in Oklahoma and working
12-hour days and in construction.
And you know it's a hard job.
I mean, he would drop me off with
a jackhammer and an air compressor and say,
I'll be back in four hours for lunch.
And lunch came and I was exhausted and
we worked again and hard work paid off.
So sometimes now we take this concept into
God and, see God, I'm a hard worker,
I'm doing all this work, but if we
become the old Mary Martha syndrome, and which
is about works and we don't take time
to sit at the foot of Christ and
sit in God's presence and just let Him
minister to your soul and not rate yourself
by your works, you will be very blessed.
And it's just been a challenge for me
because I do rate sometimes my relationship with
God on how much work I'm doing.
And He always brings me back to that
spot of remembering that it's not about what
I do, it's about what He's already done
for me and then resting in that.
So does that make sense?
That's the foundation of works and faith and
different things.
The message then, we'll start in chapter 2.
My brethren, do not hold the faith of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
with partiality.
And we talked about that last week, so
I'm not going to say much on this.
I'm just trying to recap.
Basically, what he was talking about the first
part of James 2 is we often rate
a person by how they can benefit me.
He was talking about if somebody rich comes
into your service, don't treat them nice, and
somebody poor, don't sit in the back seat.
Because we have the tendency, even as believers,
how can this person help me?
What do they have that will help me?
Can they help in this area, that area?
But somebody who can't help me or is
just poor and maybe takes more effort, and
we just kind of cast aside.
But he says here that there is no
partiality, and we can find that in skin
color and gender, a particular struggle, our attire,
age, different things we can categorize people.
So a lot of what the writers of
the Bible will do is they'll tell you,
your flesh is doing this, the Spirit wants
you to do this.
So your flesh is going to have the
tendency to elevate somebody else, but the Holy
Spirit wants you to not have any partiality.
Actually, if you want to work on that
area, go to those who cannot ever repay
you.
Sign up tonight for our hospital homes.
It's a wonderful place to start.
These are people in beds who many of
them are not coming out, and it is
like Christmas to them when we go and
visit.
There's nothing they can give back.
And believe it or not, when you leave,
you are transformed.
Are you not?
Those who go, you know when you leave,
you are left there filling God's tremendous grace
and love, and we've given to those who
cannot give back.
So that's what he's saying here.
Go out of your way to help the
unlovable.
Go out of your way to help those
who are poor in this world and cannot
offer you anything.
Those are the ones we need to be
reaching out to.
And it's interesting, as we follow this course,
we begin to be filled with the Spirit.
I've been talking about that on Sundays, being
filled with the Holy Spirit.
The best way to be filled with the
Holy Spirit of God is to follow these
principles, to start to love people, not based
on color or race or age or status
or financial status, but to just love them,
and as you're doing that, you're filled with
the Spirit.
You have this joy and this passion for
life because of that.
So that's what he was talking about.
And then he goes into verse 5.
Listen, my beloved brethren.
Has God not chosen the poor of this
world to be rich in faith and heirs
of the kingdom, which He promised to those
who love Him?
But you have dishonored the poor man, going
back to how He was treating him.
Do not the rich oppress you and drag
you into the courts?
Do they not blaspheme the noble name by
which you are called?
The rich were persecuting Christians in many cases,
but yet the Christians were still looking to
the rich and treating them with this pomp
and this arrogance that they thought they deserved.
And they were not looking to the poor.
Now it's interesting on this issue of poverty
and wealth.
The Bible does not condemn wealth.
David was wealthy.
Abraham was wealthy.
There are wealthy Christians.
The Bible per se does not condemn wealth,
but it does say that it can severely
hinder your walk with the Lord.
It can severely hinder your walk with the
Lord, and it can severely hinder salvation.
Well Shane, come on, how do you know
that?
Well, I think Jesus said it's hard for
a poor man to what?
Nothing?
It's hard for a rich man.
See if you guys are paying attention on
Wednesday.
It's hard for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of heaven.
Why?
Because the rich has become our God and
become idolatry, and we're worshiping that, and when
you have wealth, it's very hard to show
that person their need for God.
Try talking to Bill Gates about God.
Try talking to, who was the one that
owned Apple?
Steve Jobs.
Try talking to him when he lived here
about God.
Now he knows who the true and living
God is, but wealth does that.
Wealth, it's a double-edged sword because we
need it to exist.
It's a monetary, you have to have it.
There's no way around it.
But when it begins to control you, and
that becomes your God, and before a person
is a believer, I mean, just looking over
my life, I have not seen that many
wealthy people come to know the Lord.
I've seen a lot of people poverty stricken
in spirit, the divorce, a life is difficult,
things aren't working out, the loss of a
child, the loss of this, financially ruined, this
and that, and it's in that poverty that
we begin to see our need for God.
So that's what he's teaching here, that the
poor in this world are rich in faith,
but the rich person, it's going to be
hard for that person to follow God, and
it's going to be hard for an unbeliever
to know God because they're trusting in their
riches.
Why else would it be hard for a
rich man to enter heaven?
Because he sees no need for God.
And I truly believe that's why they see
a lot more miracles on the mission field
in third world countries than we do here
in the United States because they are utterly
dependent upon God.
They're not going to go walk into Kaiser
and get their medical need met.
They're not going to put it on Visa
and pay it off next month.
They're just not, they can't, unless God heals.
I've read stories, unless these people are liars,
which, I mean, they've been on the mission
field, they've got a good track record, where
they'll have food out, and God will keep
supplying that food, and they'll feed hundreds of
kids, and they don't know where that food,
it just kept, how did that happen?
Well, come on Shane, they're lying.
Well, either that or God is providing.
God can do that.
If you're poor and you're relying, poor of
spirit, poverty of spirit, blessed are those who
are poor in spirit.
What does God desire but a broken and
contrite heart?
That He will not cast away.
So there's something about physical poverty and spiritual
poverty that are near to the heart of
God.
Now, if you're convicted in this area of
having wealth, I'm not convicted in this area.
I switched careers from real estate to this,
and that did me in as far as
focusing on wealth, because you got large bonuses,
and you can make a lot of money,
and that was the focus.
Where ministry, thank God, is just you serve
God, and then God provides for your needs.
But if you have a struggle, and I'm
not saying I don't, most people struggle with
the monetary things.
We want more.
We want to save more.
We want 401ks.
You know, God, I don't think you're going
to help me when I'm 65, so I
need to start planning ahead.
And some of that's wisdom.
You've got to use wisdom as well.
But if you have a problem in this
area, the best thing to do is to
give some away.
It's to just, you know, I've got abundance
here.
I want to give some away.
That releases the stronghold that money can have
on us.
And it's interesting.
Any time over the years, West Side Christian
Fellowship has done very well financially with bills.
We've always saved.
We've saved a few thousand dollars every month
since God planted the church.
But there are times where it gets tight
with different things happening, and usually, you know,
that's when you want to drop giving to
missions, but that's often when we've increased it.
We've got next Wednesday, Sylvester, that we've helped
before, put water wells in Africa.
He's actually going to be in the United
States.
I've asked him to speak here next Wednesday.
You want to hear this next week.
And we'll write them a check for $1
,000 to help that mission.
There's another mission field in Asia, in China,
the Asia Harvest, where it goes directly to
the pastors on the field in China.
And we do that regardless often of where
we don't really have it, but we're going
to do it.
And then God will bring in like 10
times more.
Some people drop by the office.
Oh, I just sold my house.
Here's a check for $10,000.
Where'd that come from?
God, when you put that fir, when you
sow churches, even churches can have a struggle
in this area.
We want to just hold on to everything
because, you know, we've been taught that.
And there is a balance there.
There's wisdom in saving.
Bible Proverbs.
Look at Proverbs.
It talks about storing away and saving.
So that was my only thought on that.
If you struggle in this area, give some
of that away.
Sell the jet ski or sell the boat
or sell this and get rid of some
of that that's holding you.
And if you're not sure if it's holding
you or not, try selling it.
And you'll see real quick if that has
a hold on you or not.
And isn't it hard to let some things
go?
Even when God puts it on our spirit.
It's hard to let that go when it
comes to money.
I think I've told you this before.
I probably wouldn't share it again on Sunday.
I'm kind of careful with this because, you
know, you don't want to say too much.
But Randy will remember it because I talked
to him and the elders back then.
But I just paid off my truck two
and a half years ago.
I just, five years, finally, the month I
paid it off, God put on my heart
to sell it and give the money to,
at that time we had a homeless couple
in their 20s with a three-year-old
living in their car.
So I said, oh, Lord, you've got to
be kidding me.
Isn't there something else we can do?
And a month went by.
And I was fighting it and fighting it.
And he threw out an axle on his
car, I think, out on 90th Street.
Like, okay, so I did it.
I talked to the elders.
It was hard.
You know, I sold it, gave half of
it, used half for a down payment on
a truck I was going to get and
then used the other half, bought them a
Chevy and got them an apartment.
And it was wonderful, but it was hard.
Because I'm like, Lord, this isn't you, right?
This is just me.
Or is it the devil?
Is the devil going to tell me to
do that?
But it was hard because I just paid
it off.
I've always wanted to do that.
And it was a struggle for a while.
Sadly, though, shortly after, she overdosed in a
hotel room on Sierra Highway.
And I had to go there, and we
kept her three-year-old daughter playing out
on the grass while her husband waited for
the coroner.
And it was something I'll never forget.
But when I was there, I was glad
that I did that.
I was glad that I was able to
at least help what God put on my
heart.
But the whole point of sharing that was
to tell you that it's not easy.
When God puts something like that on your
heart, it's hard to let that go because
it has a hold on us often.
Verse 8, If you really fulfill the royal
law according to the Scriptures, you shall love
your neighbor as yourself.
So basically saying if you really fulfill the
law, if you're really a Christian, be quiet,
close your mouth, and love your neighbor as
yourself.
That's a true test, isn't it?
I knew I didn't want to start James
because God was going to just shoot me
with everything in here.
Trials, tribulations.
This one, my neighbor, I'm pretty sure I
haven't asked him yet, but he's done some
time.
He's tatted up.
He's got the white wife beater tank top
on.
He walks his pit bull right by my
house.
Six feet past my house, guess what he
has his dog do every morning?
Leaves it right there.
And so now I get a square point
shovel and a trash can and clean it
up.
And we have a good relationship.
But exactly what this says.
It's hard for me because I've – I
hope they don't watch this now that I'm
thinking of it.
I'm going to have to edit this part
out.
I don't think they do.
But I've prayed probably a dozen times to
bring me new neighbors in the last two
years.
But I know how do you love the
unlovable if it's not unlovable?
How do you love your neighbor if they're
easy?
If the neighbor baked cookies and watched the
kids and took the dog on a walk,
it's easy to love that neighbor.
And so he'll put challenging things in your
path.
And that's what he's saying here.
If you really want to show – so
the flesh wants to tell that guy off.
The spirit says no, love him.
But as I'm – we've given him gift
cards for gals.
We've done all these things.
Now we have a good relationship with them.
But the flesh hates it.
The flesh – that old man, that old
nature comes out.
So you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Oh, another thing too.
They've got a new car.
And they park on the property line on
the curb.
So I can no longer park past our
house because he's parked there and he backs
up.
So now I have to park down the
street a little bit.
And I tell – and I let him
know, hey, if you ever need me to
move or different things, if I get too
close.
Oh, no, no problem.
But it's that, it's the dog, it's everything.
It don't even want to walk out front.
So this really jumped out this week because
you have to love your neighbor as yourself.
That's true religion.
God really has your heart when you do
these things.
But if you show partiality, you commit sin.
If I treat a big tither – and
we don't know who they are because we
don't see the records.
Pastors don't.
But if I were to treat a big
tither versus somebody who doesn't give wrong, then
I would be sinning because I'm treating them
based on what they give to the church,
not who they are as a person.
And we do that same thing in our
own lives.
Skin color.
Racism still exists in the church.
I don't know if you're aware of that
at all.
I've never struggled with that sin.
Some of my best friends were African-Americans,
Hispanic.
I've never had to thank God by the
grace of God, but it still exists in
our churches.
And I think it has a lot to
do with my mom and how she raised
us and different things.
And my dad was not that involved in
that area.
But partiality is a sin.
Let's just get that out there right now.
If we show partiality, we are committing sin.
And we're convicted by the law as a
transgressor.
Now people might say, well, that's no big
deal.
I follow all these other things.
What's wrong with showing a little partiality?
Well, then he'll clarify.
Verse 10, for whoever shall keep the whole
law and yet stumble in one point, he
is guilty of it all.
This is an amazing concept.
You can go, I keep these commandments.
I keep this, I keep this, I keep
this, I keep that.
Yeah, but you show partiality to a person.
Or you are committing adultery in your mind,
which Jesus said is the same thing as
committing in your heart.
And here's what we focus on.
We do all these things, but we can't
seem to get this area together.
So we shoot people who are messing up
in all these other areas, not realizing that
we have our own struggle.
And those who come at the law of
God saying, well, I keep this law, I've
never done this, I've never done this, I've
never done this, but you've done this.
So in essence, you've broken the whole law
because if you break one piece, it's like
the cake.
Don't ever touch that cake.
If I have one piece, I just ruined
the whole cake.
And I can never do that.
Chocolate, whatever it was, it's the same thing.
You can't just follow a certain amount of
God's laws and then blow it in other
areas and expect God to wink and turn
the other way.
For whoever shall keep the whole law and
stumble in one point, he is guilty of
all.
For he who said, do not commit adultery,
also said, do not murder.
So what was happening is the Jews were
saying, I don't, okay, I might have put
away my wife and I might be in
adultery, but I don't murder, I don't do
this, I don't do this.
He's saying, you've already stumbled on all points
because you've fallen in this area.
Now, if you do not commit adultery, but
you do murder, you have become a transgressor
of the law.
So obviously, people were picking, choosing what they
were doing in the early church, thinking it's
not that big of a deal, I'm keeping
all these other laws.
And I think we all know, right, that
breaking, breaking any commandment of God and trying
to keep all his laws is not, it's
impossible.
We are striving to do it, we're called
to do it, but realizing that we cannot
keep his laws perfectly.
Now, if you do not commit adultery, but
you do murder, you have become a transgressor
of the law.
So speak and so do as those who
will be judged by the law of liberty.
For judgment is without mercy to the one
who has shown no mercy.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.
You see what he's saying here?
Have mercy on somebody that triumphs over judgment.
But many times, we want to judge the
person and not show them mercy, right?
Go get them, send sniffers.
Go get them, go get them, go get
them.
And he says, every time, mercy triumphs over
judgment.
On this issue of judgment and being judgmental
that I've struggled with before.
I'm sure some of you have as well.
Here's a question I often ask.
I've presented it to you before.
I'm sure you've heard it, but it fits
in here.
Is my attitude, is my attitude where I'm
at leading to love, joy, peace, contentment, gentleness,
and kindness?
Or is it leading to being rigid, arrogant,
legalistic, divisive, critical, and angry over non-essential
issues?
So I look at my, if I'm being
judgmental, I look at my heart.
Because I can judge somebody, say about sin
or something that's wrong, somebody's lied to me,
I can judge them according to scripture, discerning,
but am I loving and joyful and compassionate,
considerate as I'm trying to help them see
the error in their way?
Or am I overbearing, critical, divisive, have a
judgmental spirit?
There's a difference between using wisdom and discernment
and judging a situation than there is being
judgmental.
Big difference, it's night and day.
Jesus was this and not this.
Jesus discerned, he judged all things.
He called things out as he saw them
and what was wrong.
But yet he was not judgmental.
A judgmental, critical spirit is what he's going
after here.
Now the famous portion, verse 14, what does
it profit my brethren?
So think about this, what does it profit
you if someone says he has faith but
does not have works?
Can faith save him?
Well people say yeah, you're saved by faith
alone.
That was Martin Luther.
That was what the sola scriptura, scripture alone.
They had these five solas of the Reformation.
One of those was I believe also of
Fido, however they say faith in Latin or
whatever that is.
It's saved by grace alone through faith alone.
So it was faith alone.
So can faith save him?
Yes, but James is saying no, not here
in this context.
If somebody says, that's the thing, they have
faith but they don't have any works according
to the scripture, that faith won't save them
because it's not genuine faith.
We see this all the time, it's professing
Christians.
And when I mention the church down the
street, I don't do that to poke fun,
but it's a serious illustration.
They have tons of work, but not the
right faith.
Other people say they have faith, but there's
no works.
So they go together.
There is fruit.
There is a fruit, and I believe if
you have the John MacArthur Study Bible towards
the back, it will give you listings of
genuine fruit.
There is a love for God's word.
There is sincere humility.
There is genuine love.
There is a disconnect from the world.
There is sincere repentance.
All these things are biblical fruit that shows
a person has faith.
So all James is saying here is, well
a person who says they have faith, Bill
Gates says he has faith, he gives him
millions of dollars to charity.
He has, but will the faith alone save
them?
No, they have to have works according to
scripture.
Now here's where it gets tricky.
The works don't save me.
The works simply reveal what type of faith
I have.
And somebody who has works, well they go
to church, they're a good person, they give.
That alone doesn't save them because that's superficial.
That can be false works for the wrong
reasons.
So the key to Christianity is faith in
Christ, and because God has changed my heart,
works flow out of me.
So if a person says I have faith,
well I can't, there's nothing in your life.
There's no fruit.
There's not even an ounce.
You're an apple tree, and I don't even
see a budding anything.
There's nothing there.
Then your faith will not save you because
you have, misguided, misdirected, not saving faith.
You don't have saving faith.
If a brother or sister is naked and
destitute of daily food, and one of you
says to them, depart in peace, be warmed
and be filled, but you do not give
them the things which are needed for the
body, what does it profit?
Thus also faith by itself, if it does
not have works, is dead.
Now, there's two ways to look at this.
Theologians will go back and forth.
Faith without works is dead.
You can be talking about faith that is
not genuine, that's a dead faith.
You're not in right relationship with God.
Or you can talk about a person who
does have relationship, but their walk with the
Lord is dead.
There's no fruit.
They're not bearing any fruit.
They're at a stale point in their life.
And this can happen to people.
We can have faith.
We could have been on fire for God,
but we haven't clothed the poor, or the
naked.
We haven't fed anybody.
We haven't visited the hospital homes.
We haven't led a person to the Lord.
We haven't done a lot of these things.
We've been dying in our faith.
And it's dead.
So whether you look at this, either way
you look at this, it's important that genuine
works based on genuine faith go together.
They cannot be mutually exclusive.
The fruit reveals the tree, basically.
Verse 18, but someone will say, you have
faith and I have works.
See, they're not separate.
So James is obviously answering questions that were
coming up in the early church.
Well, you have faith, Randy, and I have
works.
So we have the same thing.
Not necessarily, because that's what the church down
the street will tell you.
I have faith.
You have works.
So we're on the same team, aren't we?
Not necessarily.
Show me your faith without your works.
Show me your faith without your works, which
the person was doing, and I will show
you my faith by my works.
You believe that there is one God.
So the person was saying, I believe there's
a God.
I have faith.
But James is saying, your faith produces no
fruit.
There's no works, so you don't have faith.
It's dead.
He's challenging them.
I believe in God.
He says even the demons believe in God
and they tremble in His presence.
Or when the word God is mentioned, even
the demons believe.
So the church over there, the church across
the street, this cult, they can all say,
I believe in God.
Ask Anna Jolie-Jolie or whatever her name
is.
Brad Pitt's ex-wife.
She'll say she believes in God.
Brad Pitt will say he believes in God.
Hillary Clinton says she believes in God.
I'm a Christian woman, she says.
And Donald Trump says he believes in God.
Just throw it out there for that side
of the camp too.
Do you have genuine faith?
You can't say, I believe in God, and
then everything that you do goes against His
word.
It's false faith.
So that's why he said, you believe in
God, you do well.
Even the demons believe and they tremble.
But do you want to know, oh foolish
man, that faith without works is dead.
So, again, this won't be too applicable to
most people in this room because you have
genuine faith and you understand that works don't
save you, but that you know, right?
I'm preaching to the choir.
If you have faith, you have to do
works.
It's like I have to breathe.
The Holy Spirit is prompting us and wanting
us to do good things for God.
So I think James was challenging those people
who would say, we have faith, but he
would see them at church and they wouldn't
do anything throughout the rest of the week.
There was nothing going on in their life
that would reflect the relationship with the Lord.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he offered Isaac his son on the
altar?
Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar,
but that did not save him.
Because the Bible says Abraham believed and God
counted it to him as righteousness.
So Abraham believed who God was, counted to
him as righteousness, but then God said, give
me your only son.
That work of putting his son on the
altar showed God, showed everybody else that his
faith was genuine.
So that work didn't save him.
It was a reflection of what was taking
place in his heart.
So was not Abraham our father justified by
works when he offered Isaac his son on
the altar?
And that word justified is interesting.
In other words, it justified his faith.
Had Abraham said, I have faith, but I'm
not going to do what God tells me
to do, then he didn't have saving faith.
He believed in God, so that work justified
his faith.
Do you see that faith was working together
with his works?
And by works, faith was made perfect.
And the scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham
believed God and it was accounted to him
for righteousness.
And he was called the friend of God.
You see then that a man is justified
by works and not by faith only.
Boy, is he trying to get this point
across.
He's again telling those people, you have faith,
well your works will justify that profession of
faith.
The works will prove if you're really a
believer or not.
Verse 25, likewise was not Rahab the harlot
also justified by works when she received the
messengers and sent them out another way?
So here's Rahab the harlot who hears about
God's people coming their direction.
This is not a person who's going to
be looked upon in a good light as
having faith in God.
She's a harlot.
She sees God's people coming to destroy the
city and the spies come into the town.
She says, I know what your God is
doing.
You have the one true and living God.
I want Him as well.
I want to be part of that.
I'm going to lie and tell them that
you're not here and when you come back,
please do not destroy me.
So what happened is, Rahab, many will believe,
that she had saving faith.
She believed in the God of the Bible.
She changed her life.
She repented.
She looked rightly at these men as spies
but sent by God so she hid them
and that hiding of them was justifying her
faith.
It revealed her faith in God and that's
why even Rahab the harlot was justified by
her works of hiding the spies.
Basically, she had a change of heart, repentance,
that led to a change of actions now
supporting the people of God.
So that's what James is trying to go
through here, that faith without works is not
really genuine saving faith if you do not
have the works that God is asking for.
She had a change of heart that led
to a change of action.
Now, interesting, on this point, no matter how
far you have fallen, God will restore.
God will restore.
You could be sitting here going, Shane, you
don't know me.
I just did this yesterday or I'm in
this spot.
I can't believe I destroyed my life.
No matter how far you have fallen, God
restores.
Yes, there are consequences.
Yes, we will have to walk through the
valley of the shadow of death.
Yes, we will have to take our consequences
with us but you can never fall so
far out of God's grace on this side
of the planet where you can't reach out
and grab His hand and allow Him to
rebuild your life.
It might be a short life.
You might go home soon to be with
the Lord but you're never that far.
That's what Rahab teaches us.
This was a harlot.
She would have been stoned.
She would have spent eternity in hell had
she not embraced God's gracious gift of salvation.
And you look even at the lineage of
Christ and you'll see that through a prostitute,
through Bathsheba, adultery with David after the one
son died, the different son, that they had.
And you'll see Christ came out of this
lineage of broken sinners who have given their
lives fully to the Lord, completely to the
Lord.
I was reading a book this week that
reminded me of a quote that D.L.
Moody heard that turned his heart toward God
100%.
Somebody told him, I don't remember the guy's
name, it said that the world has yet
to see what God will do with a
man who has been fully surrendered to the
Lord.
The world has yet to see what God
will do with a man or woman who
has fully surrendered to the Lord.
So it doesn't matter what you've been through.
It doesn't matter how far you've fallen.
It matters if you get back up on
track.
And I don't want to minimize sin.
I don't want to say, oh, it's no
big deal.
Just mess up your life.
God will take you back.
Because I believe you want to live as
close to Christ as you can.
You don't want to have a testimony.
Young adults, you don't want to have a
testimony.
Your testimony wants to be, I've been walking
with God all of my life.
He's held me.
His grace.
I don't know much about the prodigal.
I don't know much about a harlotry.
I don't know much about this.
I've been walking close with God and He's
filled me with the Spirit.
That's what you want.
Nowadays, young adults want a testimony.
Let me use heroin for three years and
then I'll give my life to the Lord
and have a wonderful testimony.
That's not a good idea.
I've already buried two or three young adults
because of heroin overdoses in the last three
years.
It wrecks lives.
Verse 26, For as the body without the
Spirit is dead, so faith without works is
dead also.
Just a closing point.
I hear people say all the time, I've
got family members who say this and they're
on their way to hell.
And they say, but I'm a good person.
I'm a good person, Shane.
And they are a good person if you
compare it to ISIS, but compare it to
God's Word.
How can a person say that?
So being a good person is not enough.
I have to actually correct people all the
time.
I try to do it lovingly and say,
when you go before God, He's not going
to ask you how good of a person
you were.
He's not going to want to see your
long list of good things.
It won't even come up in the conversation.
It's not even on the radar.
How can you say that?
Good people, yes, but when you stand before
Him, it's one thing and one thing only.
What did you do with my son?
That's all.
That's all on the day of judgment that
will happen.
Not our good works.
Faith without works and works without faith will
both lead to eternal separation.
We need both.
We need genuine saving faith and from that,
that should motivate us to work.
And the only point of practical application is,
obviously, if you don't know the Lord, if
you don't know Him, and you just have
religion and not relationship, then I would encourage
you, you need to know Him tonight or
when you hear this on the radio or
when you hear this video or see this
video.
You need to get your life right with
the Lord and repent and call upon His
name and have genuine faith and your works
will follow.
But also, I want to encourage a lot
of us here tonight that we need to
step out of the box and stop resting
in knowing God but not going out and
doing things for God.
I mean, I read this and I think
that could be some of us.
Hey brother, it's great tonight, but we drove
past a homeless person.
We know a family in need right now
who needs something.
We're too busy to go to Trader Joe's
and buy some groceries.
We know somebody who's...
I can give you three people tonight you
could call who are on the...
just going through severe depression because of a
marriage, because of a mistake, because of this.
Why don't we reach out to them?
We've got people in hospital homes that we
can go visit anytime, 24 hours a day,
7 days a week, Rancho Vista, 2 in
East Palmdale, Lancaster, East Lancaster and over Lancaster
and K4, that we can just go visit
them and they'll...
where is that works?
I mean, if we have genuine faith, do
you think Jesus would just show up on
Wednesday and Sunday and do nothing the rest
of the week?
Who cares about the Dodgers and the Cubs?
I mean, really?
Chew me out later.
But who...
I mean, we...
okay, watch a game, wonderful, but we are
so consumed with entertainment, work, entertainment, work, go
eat out, go to the movies, go to
church, read my Bible, go to church, read
my Bible, go to sleep, and there's nothing...
we don't do anything to reach out.
There's very little works, especially in the Christian
church.
We've become comfortable, myself included.
That's why I have to force my flesh
into doing things.
I want it now on Saturdays or even
Sunday mornings before I come to church.
I looked into when the hospital homes open
for visiting, and I just found out you
can visit anytime you want to legally.
So I want to do that, at least
get one or two before I come here.
And I'm going to have to plan it
and do it because the flesh doesn't want
to.
But the Spirit says, listen, your faith has
to be backed by works.
And that means you're going to have to
get out of your comfort zone.
And those of you who serve in the
church, this can be a dangerous spot because
we're serving in the church so we think
we're doing work.
That's a good thing, but really serving is
going outside administering those who need it the
most.