Doubt to Devotion Part 5
Real or Fake Faith – James 2:14-27
- Welcome
- So glad y’all are here tonight
- We are continuing our study in James that we are calling Doubt to Devotion
- Where we are asking – what does it look like to be a maturing Christian?
- What are evidences that we are a Christian?
- This book of the Bible can be extremely helpful and also extremely challenging.
- Before we dive in, let’s do some recap questions as we try to build week after week a memory bank of important things we’ve discussed in James
- James Recap
- James is written by the half brother of Jesus
- He went from thinking his brother was crazy to willingly dying to proclaim the truths of Jesus’ resurrection after his horrific crucifixion
- Now in this book, James told us to count trials as what? JOY
- James told us to do what when we face trials? PRAY
- James also reminded us that temptation comes from within and every good thing comes from whom? God
- Anyone remember how we are to respond to the word? There were 3 ways we discussed 2 weeks ago.
- Quick to Hear – Like a mother hearing her infant
- Slow to Speak – Don’t talk back to the Word
- Jump when it says Jump, sit when it says sit
- & Slow to Anger – Don’t get angry when the Word says you’re a sinner or when it says the way you see the World is wrong.
- And last week Alan showed us that we are to not show what? Favoritism.
- We talked about how a person saved by God – must love like God, without partiality or without favoritism
- This week we are going to get right down to it – how do we know if our faith is real or fake
- Well open your Bibles to James chapter 2 and we will see what the Word of God has to say. (page 1114)
- Read James 2:14-27
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
- Pray – God – you are good, and you are right, and you are perfect. And sometimes your Word is hard to stomach. So I do pray we are quick to hear, slow to speak, & slow to anger. And I pray we would truly examine ourselves and ask – is our faith real, or fake. God have your Holy Spirit to work mightily in us. Have the Sprit yell from within – you are a child of God. Or God, for anyone that isn’t, God let them run to you, believe in you & submit to you as the boss tonight. And have a life changed and set apart for good works. IN Jesus name. Amen.
- Well
- This passage can be hard
- Because this is challenging maybe even a bit confusing
- The challenge for us is to ask if our Faith is real
- Before we dive in – let’s break the ice
- Are you a person who must buy Name Brand food or can you buy Store Brand?
- What are some store brand items you’re good to buy?
- Honey Bunches of Oats vs Aldi’s Brand
- Cozette’s Princess Movies
- Close – but not quite there
- Cheap
- What are some store brand items you’re good to buy?
- Faith Outlined
- Remember this about scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16 ‘16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’
- See here that God’s Word is from God
- And is helpful
- And it trains us up for good works
- Saved by Faith (Eph 2:8-9) ‘8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.’
- Salvation, becoming a christian,
- Is NOT a result of works
- Walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) ‘for we walk by faith, not by sight.’
- Our lives are to be guided by Faith
- Not by our own thoughts or opinions
- But what God says
- Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) ‘And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.’
- Faith is the doorway to pleasing God and bringing Him glory.
- In fact – Whatever we do apart from faith is sin (romans 14:23) ‘But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin’
- Faith as the backdrop for everything – is extremely important
- In Hebrews 11 – we have the hall of fame of faith
- We see many – who are known for great acts of faith
- Pastor & Theologian Warren Wiersbe says ‘When you read Hebrews 11, you meet men & women who acted on God’s Word, no matter what price they had to pay. Faith is not some kind of nebulous feeling that we work up; faith is confidence that God’s Word is true and (the) conviction that acting on that Word will bring blessing.’
- We see people like:
- Abel – offered a pleasing sacrifice
- Enoch – didn’t taste death
- Noah – trusted God through the great Flood
- Abraham – trusted God and moved away from home because of great faith, and then offered his only son as a sacrifice
- Sarah – though old in age and barren her whole life, trusted God and conceived a child
- Rahab – trusted God and believed him to the point of protecting the israelite spies
- This backdrop of faith is important as we look at the types of faith James described
- Now James is going to take us on a journey for 3 types of faith
- Dead Faith
- Demonic Faith
- & Dynamic Faith
- Remember this about scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16 ‘16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’
- Dead Faith
- Let’s re-read James 2:14-17 ‘14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’
- We see here
- Dead faith substitutes words for actions.
- what were the words spoken in verse 17? Go in peace, be warm and filled.
- With dead faith there is brain activity but nothing more
- An acknowledgement that yes God is real
- Yes there was a Jesus
- I believe in Jesus
- Here’s some good hallmark words for my facebook or instagram page that loosely tie to the Bible
- Here’s some kind thoughts for you hurting person
- But it is never anything beyond that
- And this is a problem, a shortcoming, a failure in our walk
- Famous Theologian John Calvin warned ‘It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.’
- Put it another way – dead faith involves the brain alone.
- It only involves a level of knowledge or knowing about God.
- Dead faith involves the brain.
- Dead faith substitutes Word for actions
- now
- Demonic Faith-
- Let’s Re-read James 2:18-19 ‘18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!’
- So if we are going to talk about demonic faith we need to think about Demons and what they believe – and what they will never do
- One thing – they believe in God
- And they believe rightly about Jesus
- When demons met Jesus while He was on earth, they spoke about His sonship (Mark 3:11-12) ‘And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.’
- Demons believe in punishment and that Jesus would be the judge (luke 8:31) ‘And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss’
- So demons believe
- But what else do they do according to verse 19? Shudder.
- Shuddering is an emotional response
- They have the brain response like dead faith – they know things about God
- They also have an emotional response
- Having an emotional reaction or moment or season about Jesus is important but it is incomplete
- Demons even believe, and shudder
- Demons have a brain reaction to God & an emotional reaction to God.
- So there we have 2 fake faiths
- Dead Faith – What does it involve? Brain
- Demonic Faith – What 2 things does it involve? Brain and Emotion
- Now let’s move onto the real faith
- Dynamic Faith
- James 2:20-26 ‘20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.’
- Here we see James detail a 3rd phase to faith beyond brain & emotion
- What is the 3rd phase of faith? Action/works
- This is real faith
- This is true faith
- The brain is engaged
- The emotions are stirred
- And action is taken
- Let’s reflect on the account of Rahab the prostitute
- Remember she made the hall of fame of faith
- And she even made it into the genealogy of Jesus, She’s His great great great great grandmother of some number of greats
- Her account is found in Joshua 2
- Rahab had heard that God was giving Jericho to Israelites
- Her brain was engaged
- She was aware of how powerful God was.
- She talks about being fearful because of this, and that the hearts of her people melted
- Her emotions were engaged
- But she didn’t stop there
- She acted by hiding the Israelite spies from the King – even though worldly wisdom would tell her – give up the enemy – live a few days years longer
- No she knew of God – knew he was more powerful than the leaders in jericho
- She was fearful of his power.
- And she acted
- And now her legacy of dynamic faith – has been spoken of for thousands and thousands of years
- She is one of our examples of Dynamic Faith
- And now the question falls to us
- Is our brain engaged with the truths of Jesus?
- Are our emotions engaged with the truths of Jesus?
- And finally have the truths of Jesus brought us to action?
- Famous british preacher Charles Spurgeon says on the idea of Dynamic Faith ‘Oh! I charge you by your soul’s salvation, neglect none of Christ commands, however small it may seem to your brain. Whatever he says to you, do it, for only by a child-like obedience to every command of Christ can you expect to have the promise fulfilled, “They that trust in him will be saved.”
- Here at this baby church called Refuge – we want to see lives changed
- We don’t want you to leave unwarned or confused about where you stand
- The Bible is immensely honest – People can be deceived – and think that their dead faith that involves the brain only, or demonic faith that involves the brain and the emotions can save them
- But Jesus warns us in this
- Let’s not be the ones Jesus described in Matthew 7:21-23 ‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 sOn that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 tAnd then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’
- Let’s be honest and fight against the great deceiver to see if we have dynamic faith
- Faith that engages the brain, the emotions, & our actions
- Now I’ve got 9 questions for us to reflect upon, to help us in this.
- Take one of these, and pass it down. I want to encourage you to stick this little slip in your Bible at James 2.
- Read this and ask yourself these questions in your quiet time this week.
- In the future use them when you are discipling someone or walking through their faith to see if they have dead faith, demonic faith, or dynamic faith
- 9 Questions to see if you have Dynamic Faith. (Brain, Emotional, & Active)
- Was there a time when I honestly realized I was a sinner and admitted this to myself and to God?
- Was there a time when my heart stirred me to run from the wrath to come? Have I ever seriously been alarmed over my sins?
- Do I truly understand the gospel, that Christ died for my sins and arose again? Do I understand and confess that I cannot save myself?
- Did I sincerely repent of my sins and turn from them? Or do I secretly love sin and want to enjoy it?
- Have I trusted Christ and Christ alone for my salvation? Do I enjoy a living relationship with Him through the Word and in the Spirit?
- Has there been a change in my life? Do I maintain good works, or are my works occasional and weak? Do I Seek to grow in the things of the Lord? Can others tell that I have been with Jesus?
- Do I have a desire to share Christ with others? Or am I ashamed of Him?
- Do I enjoy the fellowship of God’s people? Is worship a delight to me?
- Am I ready for the Lord’s return? Or will I be ashamed when He comes for me?
- Look we are all in different spots in our walk – on different levels of sanctification
- But my hope and prayer for all of us is we grow together
- It’s one of the pillars of Refuge Church
- Share the hope of Jesus
- Grow together
- & love our neighbors
- Where do you stand with Jesus
- Don’t leave tonight without knowing for sure
- Ask God to help you take a step of faith
- A step of Dynamic Faith
- Let’s pray…