{"id":18693,"date":"2021-01-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/james-012-faith-without-works-is-dead-pt-1\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:13:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:13:18","slug":"james-012-faith-without-works-is-dead-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/james-012-faith-without-works-is-dead-pt-1\/","title":{"rendered":"James 012 – Faith Without Works is Dead? Pt 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[104],"series_event":[514],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18693","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-james","series_event-james","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"James 012 - Faith Without Works is Dead? Pt 1","sermon_date":"20210113","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2021","sermon_notes":19912,"sermon_slides":19913,"sermon_mp3":19914,"sermon_id":"113212243582302","series_or_event":514,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":104,"chapter_and_verse":"2:14","sermon_transcript":"In James session 012, \u201cFaith Without Works is Dead?\", Dr. Andy Woods continues his progression through the Book of James as he arrives at James 2:14-26. Is James here teaching that if you do not have enough good works as a Christian, then your initial faith was illusory, inauthentic, or spurious? Or, rather, is James' point here something completely different? Is James instead dealing with whether the Christian's faith is productive and useful rather than questioning its existence in the first place? This session also provides an analysis of the arguments favoring the assurance of the believer's salvation.\n\nJames 12 \u2014 Faith Without Works is Dead?\u00a0 James 2:14<\/u><\/strong>\n\nLet\u2019s open in a word of prayer:\u00a0 Father, we thank You for this evening; thank You for Your eternal Word, and in the midst of all of the confusion in the culture, I ask right now that You would speak to Your people through Your eternal Word as we try to study it this evening, particularly as we look at a section of it that is very controversial.\u00a0 So, I do ask, Lord, that You would help us to rightfully divide Your Word and apply it this evening.\u00a0 We will be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things In Jesus' Name, and God's people said, Amen!\"\u00a0 <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>I want to welcome you to the Wednesday evening, mid-week service here at Sugarland Bible Church. If you could take your Bibles and open them to the book of James 2:14<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Beginning, I think, last quarter we started a study on the book of James, and we made it all the way to 2:13<\/u><\/strong> before Christmas break, and we reconvened the spring quarter in the new year last Wednesday, and picked it up at 2:14<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0So that's the paragraph we're looking at this evening, and as you're going to see, we are just barely starting to look at it, because it's one of the most controversial, misunderstood, misapplied sections of scripture in the entire Bible, so we want to make sure that we get this one right.\n\nThe book of James<\/u><\/strong>, as you know, is a book written by James the half-brother of Christ, written from Jerusalem to the Hebrew Christians scattered in the Diaspora outside the land of Israel, and he's teaching them on the subject of, not positional righteousness but practical righteousness. In other words, once you're a Christian, how then shall we live\u2014that's really the point of the book of James<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nThe book has two major parts: the first part of it is faith James 1:1-3:12<\/u><\/strong>, faith here being used as as a Christian, we are saved by faith, but we need to keep trusting God through the trials and the difficulties of life. \u00a0So how do we do that? \u00a0Well, by way of review, the first thing we need to do is to adopt the mind of God on the subject of suffering. We need to look at suffering in our lives as Christians the way God looks at it. \u00a0And that involves 1:2-12<\/u><\/strong>, rejoicing in the midst of trials. And then 1:13-18<\/u><\/strong>, not charging God foolishly in the midst of trials, charging God with trying to destroy us; telling God that \u2018Look this trial is here to destroy me,\u2019<\/em> when the reality of the situation is that the trial is not there to make us bitter but better.\n\nThe second major way that we continue our walk of faith and develop a practical righteousness that pleases God is that we need to obey His word, 1:19-27<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0What does that mean? \u00a0Slowness in speech and anger. \u00a0It means the need to take in God's word and obey it. \u00a0And then it also means allowing the Word of God to change us the way we live as we practice true religion; keeping oneself unstained by the world, and helping widows and orphans in their distress.\n\nAnd then from there, we moved out of James 1<\/u><\/strong> into James 2<\/u><\/strong>, where we learned that we should, in order to to continue our walk of faith and to have a practical righteousness that pleases God, we should not fall into the trap of showing favoritism to people on the basis of some privilege they have in life. \u00a0So, there is a command there, James 2:1<\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0 don't show favoritism. There's a situation described there in 2:2,3<\/u><\/strong> where the wealthy within the assembly were given places of privilege that others were not given. Then in James 2:4-13<\/u><\/strong> is basically James\u2019 reasoning that showing favoritism in that way is contrary to God's plan and purposes and character.\n\nThat is where we left off at the end of last quarter, and this year we started off with 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong> where we started looking at this important paragraph the last time we were together last week.\u00a0 Now we will continue to build this evening on that foundation.\n\nJames 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong> is all about, and most people know these verses very well:\u00a0 they are about this idea that faith, unless it is accompanied by works, is dead.\u00a0 You see that in 2:17, 26, 20<\/u><\/strong>, and the last time I was with you, I gave you a whole bunch of quotes that really span the spectrum \u2014 it almost reads like the Who\u2019s Who List of Christianity<\/em>.\u00a0 I am not doing this to denigrate people\u2019s ministries; I am trying to expose you to the fact that across the spectrum, the dominant interpretation of these verses is as follows: \u00a0If you don't have works as a Christian, then you were never saved to begin with.\u00a0 I want to show you how epidemic this interpretation is before I react against it.\u00a0 I want to give you what I consider to be the proper interpretation.\n\nJohn MacArthur talks about how if you don't have works, then you never had genuine saving faith.\u00a0 To him, if you have no works, faith is just an intellectual exercise, and no faith really exists.\n\nCharles Swindoll holds to the exact same interpretation.\u00a0 He says that after salvation there are things that will inevitably<\/u><\/strong> happen \u2014 good works, in other words, they're unavoidable, and if you don't have these good works, then you have what Swindoll calls here, \u201cphony faith<\/em>.\u201d\n\nDouglas Moo, a scholar, says basically the same thing, that genuine biblical faith inevitably leads to good works, and if you don't have good works, then your faith on the front end was never authentic or genuine.\n\nRonald Blue, in the Bible Knowledge Commentary<\/u><\/strong>, says that genuine faith is always evidenced by good works.\n\nArnold Fruchtenbaum, one of my favorites, unfortunately, holds this position as well.\u00a0 He says that \u2018a living faith will authenticate itself in the production of good works<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 In other words, if the works aren\u2019t there, then the faith was inauthentic.\u00a0 Works, he says, are \u2018the evidence of salvation,\u2026 true saving faith will reveal itself by works.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>\n\nAgain, Charles Ryrie, someone I agree with on most things, I think, has it wrong here.\u00a0 He talks about a spurious faith; a faith that is not living or productive.\u00a0 A faith that does not produce good works is dead; in other words, it is non-existent, says Charles Ryrie.\n\nWarren Wiersbe says basically the same thing, \u201c\u2026Any declaration of faith that does not result in a changed life and good works is a false declaration\u2026True saving faith involves something more, something that can be seen and recognized: a changed life<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Translation:\u00a0 no changed life, no faith on the front end.\u00a0 He goes on and calls it a counterfeit faith; in other words, you are just a mere professor, but you never were an actual possessor of authentic, saving faith.\n\nThat is how all of these interpreters are interpreting our paragraph \u201cFaith without works is dead<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The last time I was with you I tried to show you that all of these remarks basically violate the context.\u00a0 They force James to ask and answer a question that James is not asking or answering.\u00a0 The reason for that is that James is writing to a saved audience<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 The audience that James is addressing is already saved, so if they're already saved, why would he question whether their faith is genuine?\n\nI gave you a lot of proofs of this in the series and last time, but you might just want to refresh your memory with James 4:5<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 It says, Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose:\u00a0 \u201cHe jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 Us.\u00a0 James says the spirit is in me, and to his audience, \u2018the spirit is in you<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 If they were unbelievers, or if some were saved and some weren\u2019t, there is no way that he could make a statement like that.\u00a0 If a person is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit is inside of them.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit was inside of James when James says, \u2018us\u2019<\/em> he is saying that the Holy Spirit is inside of you as well, which means that James is not writing a book about justification \u2014 how to get saved.\u00a0 He is writing to them a book about sanctification, the middle tense of their salvation.\u00a0 This becomes very obvious as you just follow the context of the book of James<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nThis is one of the reasons that we like to teach the Bible verse by verse, because when you are doing that, you can't cherry pick paragraphs or verses to support a preordained systematic theology.\u00a0\u00a0 Our theology is only as good as the text it comes from.\u00a0 If you have a theology that says, \u2018Gosh, if you don't have enough good works, then you were never saved to begin with<\/em>,\u2019\u2014that may be an interesting theological discussion, but it has absolutely nothing to do with what James is talking about here.\n\nJames is all about getting these folks that he is addressing who are saved and on their way to heaven, heaven-bound, he is trying to get them to a point where their faith that is already in existence and is already inside of them, is going to become productive <\/em><\/strong>to the point where God can actually use them to accomplish His purposes on the earth.\u00a0 You will notice at the end of James 1:26,27<\/u><\/strong> that he talked about comforting and helping widows and orphans in their distress.\u00a0 In James 2:1-13<\/u><\/strong>, he talked about not showing favoritism in the assembly.\u00a0 In 2:12,13<\/u><\/strong>, he talked about them having a favorable ruling at the Judgment Seat of Rewards, the Bema Seat Judgment.\u00a0 With that context in mind, then he says \u2018faith without works is dead<\/em>.\u2019 \u00a0So obviously, he isn\u2019t second guessing whether these people are saved; what he wants them to do is to become productive.\u00a0 The faith that existed in them to become useful where it can accomplish all of these other things that James is speaking of in the letter.\n\nNow, when most people quote, \"faith without works is dead,<\/em>\" they never give you that context<\/em><\/strong>, but the context<\/em><\/strong> of the surrounding verses explains what James is getting at in James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 As we mentioned last time, a lot of the battle here is this idea that Paul and James are addressing totally different issues.\u00a0 As they're addressing totally different issues, they're using the identical words, but they are pouring different meanings into those words.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s primary thrust is justification, not exclusively, but primarily, and James\u2019 thrust is not justification but progressive sanctification.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul, to a large extent, is focused on the first tense of salvation; James is focused on the second tense of salvation.\u00a0 Paul is condemning self-righteous Judaism.\u00a0 People who think that they can be made right with God through their own good works, Paul condemns.\u00a0 James is not dealing with that issue; he is dealing with what we would call \u2018dead orthodoxy\u2019<\/em>\u2014people who are saved and are going to heaven, but their Christian life thus far is a non-productive life.\u00a0 Paul will camp on Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong> which was the verse that describes Abraham\u2019s justification.\u00a0 James is going to camp on something that happened 20-30 years later in Abraham\u2019s life, where Abraham\u2019s faith became useful because he was willing, at that point, to sacrifice his son, Isaac.\n\nWhen Paul talks about justification, he is talking about the declaration of innocence before God that we receive at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0\u00a0 James, by contrast, uses the same word, justification<\/em>, but he has a totally different meaning that he brings to it,.\u00a0 When James uses the word, justification<\/em>, he is talking about the evidence of the usefulness of a believer\u2019s faith before man.\u00a0\u00a0 So, Paul has a vertical perspective related to justification and James has a horizontal perspective.\n\nWhen Paul uses the word, save<\/em>, he is speaking of justification; when James uses the word save<\/em>, he is speaking of progressive sanctification.\u00a0 When Paul uses the word, faith<\/em>, he is speaking of saving faith; when James uses the word, faith<\/em>, he is speaking of serving faith.\u00a0 Remember the quote I gave from Lewis Sperry Chafer last time where he speaks of saving faith and then serving faith and then sanctifying faith.\u00a0\u00a0 Chafer says, (per slide,Lewis Sperry Chafer), \u201c\u2026The justified one, having become what he is by faith, must go ahead living on the same principle of utter dependence upon God.\u201d <\/em>That is what James is dealing with.\u00a0 What we have there in that last sentence, I think, in green (on the slide).\n\nFaith<\/em>, in the Bible, doesn\u2019t always mean the same thing every time it is used.\u00a0 Paul, in Romans 12:3<\/u><\/strong> and Romans 12:8, <\/u><\/strong>says that we should use our spiritual gifts according to the proportion of our faith.\u00a0 So, when Paul makes those statements, he isn\u2019t talking about faith to become a Christian, he is talking about continuing on in the walk of faith allowing our faith to become productive and useful as we step out and begin to serve the Lord based on the spiritual gifts that He has given to us.\u00a0 Backing up for just a minute, you will see that when Paul is speaking about faith<\/em>, he is talking about saving faith; when James is talking about faith,<\/em> he is talking about serving faith.\n\nPaul, when he talks about works<\/em>, he talks about the attempt by people to curry favor with God through their good works, thinking that somehow that makes them right with God; the religious person.\u00a0\u00a0 James, by contrast, when he uses the word, works<\/em>, is not talking about that at all.\u00a0 He is talking about the believer\u2019s moral deeds<\/em><\/strong> that God produces through the life of the Christian, which justifies that person in the presence of his fellow man \u2014 that his faith is in fact, not an authentic faith, but a useful faith, or a serving faith.\n\nSo, I want to go through this, and if you wanted a slower explanation of this, go back to last week\u2019s lesson, but much of the battle here and the misunderstanding about James is not understanding the differences in vocabulary.\u00a0 If you think that James and Paul are answering the same question, you will be confused about James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong> for your whole Christian life.\u00a0 If, on the other hand, you understand that James and Paul are dealing with different questions, and using the same words but in a different sense, then all of a sudden, the light bulb will go on and you will never be confused about 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong> ever again.\n\nI didn\u2019t get a chance to go into this last time, so let me spend a little bit of time on this as we are speaking about vocabulary.\u00a0 It has to do with this word, death<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 \u201cFaith without works is dead<\/em>,\u201d James tells us, and sadly, at this point, most people commit what is called the anachronistic exegetical fallacy.\u00a0 You recognize the word, chrono<\/em>s, as time, and anachronistic<\/em> is outside of time. In other words, you take a definition of something outside of time, and you read it back into the Bible.\u00a0 You see this with the word, death<\/em><\/strong>, and how all of these interpreters that I showed you earlier, misinterpret the word, death.\u00a0 \"Faith without works is dead<\/em>;\" if you don't have works, then your faith doesn\u2019t exist, and they're defining death<\/em><\/strong> as non-existence.\u00a0 Now, that might be a very valid definition of death in the 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> centuries, but that is not what the Bible means by the word, death<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 In fact, when the Bible uses the word, death<\/em><\/strong>, it never means non-existence.\u00a0 So, if you're looking the word, death<\/em><\/strong>, here in \"faith without works is dead<\/em>\" and if you think that since there are not enough good works, then faith is non-existent, you have committed the anachronistic exegetical fallacy, where you have defined the word death from the 21st<\/sup> century and read it back into biblical times.\n\nWhat did the biblical writers mean by the word, death<\/em><\/strong>?\u00a0 Here is a standard Lexical work (see slide on \u201cDeath\u201d in the Old Testament<\/u><\/strong>), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament<\/u><\/strong>, there is the Hebrew word, death<\/em><\/strong>, and notice what it says, \u201cDeath is the consequence and the punishment of sin.\u00a0 It originated with sin.\u00a0 A grand theme of the Old Testament is God\u2019s holiness, which separates<\/u><\/strong> Him from all that is in harmony with His character.\u00a0 Death, then, in the Old Testament means ultimate separation <\/u><\/strong>from God due to sin.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0Death<\/em><\/strong> does not mean non-existence in the Old Testament; death<\/em><\/strong> means separation.\u00a0\u00a0 You see this in Daniel 12:2<\/u><\/strong>, when it describes what happens to people when they die<\/em><\/strong> and they experience the final resurrection.\u00a0 Daniel 12:2<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cMany of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting<\/u><\/strong><\/em>, [notice the word, everlasting<\/u><\/em><\/strong>]\u2026 \u201clife, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 That is what death<\/em><\/strong> is.\u00a0 Death<\/em><\/strong> is never non-existence.\u00a0 Death<\/em><\/strong> is separation from God if you die without Christ, or it involves eternal life with God if you die with Christ, but for both the saved and the unsaved, there is never a point of non-existence.\u00a0 The only issue with the unsaved is that they spend eternity, not in a state of non-existence; they're everlasting.\u00a0 But they are separated from God.\u00a0 Death<\/em><\/strong> equals separation in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Death<\/em><\/strong> does not equal non-existence.\n\nYou ask, \u2018Well is that true in the New Testament<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 It is true in the New Testament.\u00a0 Here is the Greek word for death<\/em><\/strong>, here (see slide on \u201cDeath<\/em><\/strong>\u201d in the New Testament) is Thayer\u2019s Green English Lexicon<\/u><\/strong>, a standard work, and it says concerning this Greek word, death<\/em><\/strong>, \u201cthat separation<\/u><\/strong> (whether natural or violent) of the soul from the body by which the life on earth is ended.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0What happens to a person when they die?\u00a0 Their soul and body separate; that is what death<\/em><\/strong> is, separation<\/u><\/strong>, but the soul doesn\u2019t ever stop existing for both the believer and the unbeliever; it continues on and on and on.\n\nSo, if you are coming to this word, death<\/em><\/strong>, in James 2<\/u><\/strong>, \"faith without works is dead<\/em>,\u201d and you are saying that if there aren\u2019t enough works, then faith is dead or non-existent, then you are automatically violating the standard Greek and Hebrew definition of what constitutes death<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Notice Matthew 25:46<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cThese will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 You will notice that when people die, no one stops existing, the unsaved go into eternal punishment, and the righteous or the saved go into eternal life.\u00a0 I need to drive this point home because for whatever reason, people, when they see this word, death<\/em><\/strong> in James 2<\/u><\/strong>, and they develop a theology which says, \u2018Well if there are not enough works, then faith never existed<\/em>,\u2019 they're going against everything the Greek and Hebrew languages communicate.\u00a0 It might be a valid definition of death<\/em><\/strong> in the 21st<\/sup> century, but it isn\u2019t what the Bible means here at all.\n\nNotice, if you will, Luke 16:22-25<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cNow the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham\u2019s bosom; and the rich man also died<\/u><\/strong> and was buried.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Now, if death here means non-existence, then when these two died, when the rich man died, he would stop existing, right?\u00a0 But you keep reading here that he didn\u2019t stop existing.\u00a0 In verse 23,<\/u><\/strong> it says, \u201cIn Hades he\u201d<\/em> {the rich man who died]\u2026 \u201clifted up his eyes\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, [<\/em>does it sound like he stopped existing there?],\u2026 \u201cbeing in torment, and saw<\/u><\/strong> Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.\u00a0 And he cried out<\/u><\/strong> and said, \u2018Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am<\/u><\/strong>\u201d[<\/em>present tense]\u2026 \u2018 in agony<\/u><\/strong> in this flame.\u2019 But Abraham said, \u2018Child, remembe<\/u><\/strong>r [<\/em>in other words, he could remember; he could think back; he could lift up his eyes; he could cry out; he could experience agony], \u2026 \u2018that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are\u2019\u2026 [<\/em>all these are present tense ideas and verbs]\u2026 \u2018in agony.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>See, this man is experiencing these things although he died.\u00a0 So quite clearly, died<\/em><\/strong> or death<\/em><\/strong>, does not mean non-existence.\u00a0 What this man is experiencing is separation<\/u><\/strong>, that is what the Greek and Hebrew means through this word, death<\/em><\/strong>, and you must keep this mind when you are going through our passage, \"faith without works is dead<\/em>.\"\n\nHow about 1 Timothy 5:6<\/u><\/strong> speaking of the young widow living in wanton pleasure?\u00a0 What does Paul say about her in 1 Timothy 5:6<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cBut she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead<\/u><\/strong> even while she lives.<\/u><\/strong><\/em>\u201d\u00a0 So obviously, death<\/em><\/strong> is not non-existence because she is dead even though she lives, so what does it mean then that she is dead while she lives?\u00a0 It means that she continues to exist, but she is separated<\/u><\/strong> from God because of her sin.\n\nAll of this needs to be factored in when you see this expression, \u201cfaith without works is dead<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Now, notice James 2:17<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cEven so faith, if it has no works, is dead<\/u><\/strong>, being by itself\u2026\u201d <\/em>See verse 26, <\/u><\/strong>\u201cFor just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead<\/u><\/strong>.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0Now, based on all of those commentators earlier, how do all of them interpret 2:17,26<\/u><\/strong>, that as if you don't have enough works, then your faith never existed.\u00a0 \u00a0That is a problem because that isn\u2019t what death<\/em><\/strong> means in the Bible, the Old Testament or the New Testament.\u00a0 It might be what it means today, but that isn\u2019t what it meant in biblical times, so it is very poor, shallow, superficial exegesis on this passage.\n\nNow look very carefully at James 2:20<\/u><\/strong>, right in the middle of verses 17,26<\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that \"faith without works is <\/em>[see how the NASB translates this, word, argos<\/em>] is useless<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The NASB translators are recognizing that death<\/em><\/strong> doesn\u2019t mean non-existence, death in verses 17, 26<\/u><\/strong>, does not mean non-existence, for if it meant non-existence, it would have said that in verse 20<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 In fact, James would probably have used some word if there was such a word as non-existence, but James doesn\u2019t use that; he uses the word, useless<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 That is James\u2019 point.\u00a0 James is not second-guessing whether these people have faith.\u00a0 When he says it is dead<\/em><\/strong>, he isn\u2019t saying that it doesn\u2019t exist; what he is saying is that it is useless<\/em><\/strong>; non-productive.\u00a0 Yes, you have your fire insurance paid up, and you aren\u2019t going to hell, but can God use you to stem favoritism in the Church?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Can God use you to have a favorable ruling of rewards at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Can God use you to comfort widows and orphans in their distress?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Are you going to hell?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Your faith is there; it exists, but it is useless<\/em><\/strong>, you see?\u00a0 It is non-productive.\n\nAll of this is important to understand how we will interpret James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Folks, let me tell you something.\u00a0 You had better get this one straight, and the reason you need to get it straight is because there is an epidemic within Christendom today amongst believers who don't know if they are saved or not.\u00a0 They trusted in Christ, but they don't really know if their faith is authentic faith.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because they don't see enough good works in their lives, and they question whether they're Christians to begin with.\u00a0 They don't question whether they're productive Christians.\u00a0 That is what James wants us to question.\u00a0 They question whether they are Christians.\u00a0 Theologians and commentators and very bad teaching on this, teach this doctrine around the clock, and they make it sound like James is second-guessing whether these people are saved at all; whether their faith exists at all, when in fact, that isn\u2019t even James' point.\u00a0 James' point is:\u00a0 Is your faith productive<\/em><\/strong>?\n\nIf you start to question whether your faith exists because you are under bad teaching, and you are misunderstanding James 2<\/u><\/strong>, then you, too, have big doubts about whether you are going to heaven.\n\nSo, notice this chart (see slide of colored pie chart) here:\u00a0 10%, 30%, 60% reads like the weather report, 60% chance of rain or whatever.\u00a0 That is how a lot of people feel concerning the assurance of their salvation.\u00a0 Are you going to heaven?\u00a0 \u2018Well, I don't know, I hope so<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 When assurance of salvation is not an \u2018I hope so\u2019<\/em> thing, it is an \u2018I know so<\/em>\u2019 thing, biblically.\n\nJohn Piper says, \u201cNo Christian can be sure that he is a true believer.\u00a0 Hence, there is an ongoing need to be dedicated to the Lord and to deny ourselves so that we might make it.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0What a horrible teaching that he is giving there!\u00a0\u00a0 John Piper elsewhere, coming from a recent radio interview he did, says, \u201cWhat causes me to be anxious is the possibility that I may not be a Christian\u2014that I might be fake [<\/em>you know, we have fake news, now we have fake Christianity, I guess] that everything I've ever done might be a farce\u2014those are horrible, horrible thoughts; right?\u201d <\/em>\u00a0Well, they are horrible thoughts, and I would probably think this way, too, if I sat under pastors and teachers that misinterpreted for me perpetually, James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nRC Sproul said, \u201cA while back I had one of those moments\u2026Suddenly the question hit me: \u2018RC what if you are not one of the redeemed?\u00a0 What if your destiny is not heaven after all, but hell?\u2019\u00a0 Let me tell you that I was flooded in my body with the chill that went from my head to the bottom of my spine.\u00a0 I was terrified.\u00a0 I begin to take stock of my life [<\/em>there is the problem; you are taking stock of your own life and looking at your own life, when you ought to look at Jesus' life, who transferred His righteousness to you.\u00a0 So, your eyes are on the wrong place.\u00a0 Continuing with the quote]\u2026I looked at my performance <\/em>[wooo, don't do that.\u00a0 I mean, if you're going to spend your whole life looking at your performance, you will never think you're saved]. My sins came pouring into my mind, and the more I looked at myself the worst I felt.\u00a0 I thought, \u2018maybe its really true.\u00a0 Maybe I'm not saved after all.\u2019\u2026Then I remembered John 6:68<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Jesus had been giving out hard teaching, and many of His former followers had left Him.\u00a0 When He asked Peter if he was also to leave, Peter said, \u2018where else can we go?\u00a0 Only you have the words of eternal life.\u2019\u00a0 In other words, Peter was also uncomfortable, but he realized that being uncomfortable with Jesus was better than any other option.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>RC Sproul himself wasn\u2019t even sure he was a Christian.\u00a0 Neither is John Piper.\n\nThis is an epidemic that goes all the way through Puritan writings.\u00a0 RT Kendall says, \u201c\u2026nearly all of the Puritan \u2018divines\u2019 {<\/em>you know who the Puritans were?\u00a0 They were the people who came and founded the United States of America. \u00a0All of your great Ivy League institutions on the east coast arose because of the influence of the Puritans, but listen to what RT Kendall says about the Puritans.]\u00a0 \u201c\u2026nearly all of the Puritan \u2018divines\u2019\u201d [men who were Calvinistic and taught perseverance]. <\/em>In other words, they were taught that if there was not good works after you are saved, then your faith is non-existent.\u00a0 It is spurious.\u2026 \u201cwent through great dread and despair on their deathbeds<\/em>,\u201d RT Kendall says, \u201cas they realized their lives did not give perfect evidence that they were elect.\u201d<\/em> Instead of going to death with joy, \u2018absent from the body is to be present with the Lord<\/em>,\u2019 the Puritans under wrong teaching went to their death beds terrified because they were taught this doctrine that there must be good works.\u00a0 How many?\u00a0 How frequent?\u00a0 How fast?\u00a0 Never objectively identified or defined, so you always wonder, is there enough?\u00a0 If there isn\u2019t enough, and you don't know what enough is, then maybe your faith was spurious on the front end because, after all, James 2<\/u><\/strong> says, \"faith without works is dead<\/em>\".\n\nThis teaching that is so off has nothing to do with God, nothing to do with the Bible, it has everything to do with Roman Catholicism; this is what Roman Catholics believe.\u00a0 Cardinal John O\u2019Connor of New York said, \u201cChurch teaching is that I don't know, at any given moment, what my eternal future will be\u2026I can hope, pray, do my very best\u2014but I still don't know.\u00a0 Pope John II doesn\u2019t absolutely know that he will go to heaven, nor does mother Theresa of Calcutta, unless either has had a special divine revelation.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>If mother Theresa doesn\u2019t know if she has done enough good works, what hope do the rest of us have?\u00a0 If the Pope himself doesn\u2019t know if he has done enough good works to demonstrate that his faith is authentic, then what hope do the rest of us have?\n\nSo you can see this teaching from Roman Catholicism, the Puritans, the neo-Calvinist movement of today; you can see what it has done to God\u2019s people; it has taken the assurance of salvation and destroyed it by getting them to ask a question that James is not asking!\u00a0 James is not asking, \u2018are you Christians?!\u2019\u00a0 That is the wrong question.\u00a0 James is asking, \u2018Are you as saved people, allowing God to use you in a productive sense<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Totally different question!\u00a0 Yet because of all of these misunderstandings, you have an epidemic in Christendom today of a lack of assurance.\n\nAt some point, you have to decide which John you want to believe.\u00a0 John Piper or the apostle John who records the words of Christ, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him<\/u><\/strong> who sent Me, has <\/em>[present tense] eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out<\/u><\/strong> of <\/em>[perfect tense, a one-time action, ongoing results] death into life.\u201d<\/em> You read a passage like that and your assurance of salvation is not a \u2018I hope so\u2019<\/em> thing; it is an \u2018I know so\u2019 thing<\/em> because it doesn\u2019t depend on you; it depends on what Jesus did for you.\u00a0 Your willingness to receive it by faith is a free gift.\u00a0 If it was on my shoulders, I wouldn\u2019t even know half the time if I was a Christian or not.\u00a0 But I don't spend my Christian life looking at myself to determine whether I am going to heaven.\u00a0 I spend my Christian life looking at what Jesus did for me and the promises He made to me, and the fact that He cannot lie, and I want to follow the exhortations in the book of James<\/u><\/strong> and allow the faith that is already in me to be productive in this life.\u00a0 That is what I look at.\n\nActs 16:30,31<\/u><\/strong>, this is the conversion of the Philippian jailer in Philippi, \u201cand after he brought them out, he said, \u2018Sirs, what must I do to be saved?\u2019\u00a0 They said, \u2018Believe<\/u><\/strong> in the Lord Jesus, and [<\/em>maybe you will make it if you have enough good works, whoops, doesn\u2019t say that]\u2026 you will be saved<\/u><\/strong>, you and your household.\u2019\u201d <\/em>In other words, as the message now gets into your household and they believe it, they\u2019ll be saved, too.\u00a0 Look at that: \u201cyou will be saved<\/em>.\u201d There is no ambiguity or doubt on the assurance of salvation.\n\n1 John 5:13<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cThese things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know<\/u><\/strong> that you have <\/u><\/strong>eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>God wants us to know that we are on our way to heaven.\u00a0 He wants us to know that absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.\u00a0 He wants us to know that \u2018to live is Christ to die is gain<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want you to go to your deathbed wondering, are you a Christian, or are you not?\u00a0 That idea of a lack of assurance, to be completely frank with you, reminds me of Islam.\u00a0 In Islam, Allah means deceiver<\/em><\/strong>, and that is why Muslims are so wrapped up in good works because they don't know, really, until they get to the very end, are their good works going to outweigh their bad works?\u00a0 If Allah is a deceiver, he could pull out the carpet from any one of them, couldn\u2019t he?\n\nDo you understand the complete and total satanic bondage that people are in under these doctrines?\n\nHere at Sugar Land Bible Church, we teach eternal security, but we don't just teach eternal security.\u00a0 Eternal security is once saved always saved<\/strong>.\u00a0 Because a lot of people will teach eternal security, and then they\u2019ll say, \u2018Well, you really don't know if you have eternal security because you don't know if your faith is authentic or not<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Because of misunderstandings of James 2<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 We teach once saved always saved; eternal security,<\/strong> AND the moment you take Christ as your Savior, you can 100% know for your whole life, that if you were to die you would go directly into the presence of the Lord.\u00a0 We teach eternal security, and we also teach the assurance of salvation that you are a present tense possessor of eternal security.\n\nSee:\u00a0 DTS Doctrinal Statement Article XI\u2014Assurance Slide<\/u><\/strong>\n\nThese doctrines that I'm teaching \u2014 people have never heard them before because the bad doctrine is so prevalent that they think that what I'm teaching is some kind of new thing.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 if you were to go back into the 1920\u2019s, when Dallas Seminary was founded roughly in 1929, you would see that the doctrines I'm proclaiming here were in the majority.\u00a0 Here is the Dallas Seminary doctrinal statement, Article 11 on the assurance of salvation.\u00a0 Notice what they say:\n\n\u201cWe believe it is the privilege, not only of some, but of all<\/u><\/strong> by the Spirit through faith who are born again in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured<\/u><\/strong> of their salvation from the very day [<\/u><\/strong><\/em>look at that]<\/u><\/em><\/strong> they take Him to be their Savior and that this assurance is not<\/u><\/strong> founded upon any fancied discovery of their own worthiness<\/u><\/strong> or fitness, but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written Word<\/u><\/strong>,\u2026\u201d <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>The Word of God<\/u><\/strong> is what will never lie to you; it is objectively true; like the compass in a vehicle; you can feel you are driving the right or the wrong way, but the compass is objectively true.\u00a0 You can feel like you are saved one day and unsaved on another day, but God's Word<\/u><\/strong> is objectively true; God cannot lie; God told you are saved the moment that you trusted Christ as your Savior.\u00a0 You can have that assurance of salvation not getting to the end of your life wondering \u2018Do you have enough good works to prove that your faith was authentic on the front end?<\/em>\u2019 But you can have that assurance of salvation from the very day, the very moment in time that you trust in Christ. \u00a0<\/em>Now you say, \u2018Well, what about other experiences that people have, I mean, you ask your average Christian today how do you know you are saved<\/em>?\u00a0 Well, I have a renewed interest in prayer.\u00a0 Well, I have a renewed interest in Bible study; I have a desire to share my faith; I didn\u2019t have any of those desires before, but now that I'm a Christian, I have those desires, so aren\u2019t those desires and new experiences proof that I am a Christian<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Notice what Lewis Sperry Chafer says, \u201cThere is a normal Christian experience.\u00a0 There are new and blessed emotions and desires.\u00a0 Old things do pass away; and behold all things do become new; but all such experiences are but secondary evidences,<\/u><\/strong> as to the fact of salvation, in that they grow out of that positive repose of faith which is the primary evidence.\u201d<\/em>\n\nI mean, having a desire to share your faith, to pray, to study the Bible \u2014 those are wonderful things that God does, but those are not the ultimate proof that you are going to heaven.\u00a0 Chafer calls them \u2018secondary evidences<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Primary evidence\u2019<\/em> is what?\u00a0 It is what God said about you.\u00a0 It is a promise that God made you the moment you placed your faith in Christ alone for salvation.\u00a0 That is how you can go to your grave with joy and courage.\u00a0 Because you have built your life on the promises of God, and you're not introspectively always looking at yourself, \u2018Did I have up week or a down week?\u00a0 Am I close to God today or far away from Him<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Those things come and go with life, and we should pay attention to those things in terms of our productivity, reward once we get to heaven, but they're no evidence in a primary sense of whether you are going to heaven or not.\n\nSo, this is why I am going into the detail that I am in the book of James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>, because this whole epidemic of a lack of assurance of salvation comes mostly from this passage and from people misunderstanding it.\u00a0 They interpret the word, death<\/em><\/strong>, as non-existence, when the fact of the matter is that death<\/em><\/strong> here does not mean non-existence, it means a lack of productivity.\n\nIf you are coming to the book of James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>, and you're asking the question, \u2018Am I saved<\/em>?\u2019 based on this passage, you are misreading and misapplying it; it has been mistaught to you, you are misunderstanding it because that isn\u2019t James' point.\u00a0 For whatever reason, everybody is forcing James to answer some question that he isn\u2019t answering.\u00a0 James' point is \u2018Is your faith<\/em> \u2019and he never second guesses, which always exists \u2014 James' point is \u2018Is that faith productive<\/em>?\u00a0 \u2018Are you visiting widows and orphans in their distress; are you keeping yourself unstained by the world; are you not showing favoritism in the church? \u00a0Are you adopting the right mindset of God on trials.<\/em>\u2019 Now, if you aren\u2019t, James' point is, \u2018Well, I guess your faith doesn\u2019t exist<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That isn\u2019t his point at all.\u00a0 His point is that it exists<\/em><\/strong>, but it is separated from works, and therefore, it is saving faith only, but not serving faith.\u00a0 That is James' point.\n\nSo, you can see here our outline of James 2:14<\/u><\/strong> is James' thesis statement; James 2:14<\/u><\/strong> thesis statement (see slide on Faith Manifesting Works<\/strong> 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>), and basically, what he is getting at here in 2:14<\/u><\/strong> is that he is trying to set up a question.\u00a0 James 2:14<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cWhat use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?\u00a0 Can that faith save him?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>James' point is not, \u2018Maybe your faith is spurious; maybe your faith is inauthentic<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That is not<\/em><\/strong> James' point.\u00a0 If you believe that is James' point, you will struggle with the assurance of salvation for your whole Christian life.\u00a0 Rather, James' point is as follows:\u00a0 Can a believer, 2:14<\/u><\/strong>, make progress in the middle tense of his salvation, progressive sanctification, and become useful to others, and consequently, be fully rewarded at the Bema Seat Judgment, which he just finished talking about in the prior verses, 2:12,13<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 so that he can become fully rewarded at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ \u2014 can all of those things happen if he has no works?\u00a0 If he has no works, can he make progress in the middle tense of his salvation?\u00a0 Can he be fully rewarded at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ?\u00a0 Can God use him for useful purposes on the earth?\u00a0 Can those things happen if a person is a believer in Christ, but has no works?\u00a0 James\u2019 answer is, \u2018No, that can't happen<\/em>.\u2019\n\nSo, for James to communicate his point, just giving you the lay of the land of this passage, he has given us his thesis statement.\u00a0 If there are no works, how can you be fully rewarded at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ; how can God use you for His purposes here on earth; how can your faith be useful; productive, if there are no works?\u00a0 James, to communicate his thesis statement, gives five illustrations:\n
    \n \t
  1. The Needy Brother \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0James 2:15-17<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  2. The Demonic Monotheist James 2:18,19<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  3. Abraham James 2:20-24<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 when did Abraham\u2019s faith become productive?\u00a0 When could Abraham say, \u2018Yes, God is using me to accomplish His purposes on the earth<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 When could Abraham say that?\u00a0 Do you realize that Abraham could not say that until Genesis 22,<\/u><\/strong> where he was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac?\u00a0 You say, \u2018Well, wasn\u2019t Abraham saved in Genesis 22<\/u><\/strong>; wasn\u2019t he justified before God in Genesis 22<\/u><\/strong><\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Absolutely not!\u00a0 He was justified before God 20-30 years earlier!\u00a0 In a famous verse that Paul uses all the time, Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cAbraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 That is when Abraham was justified before God; that\u2019s when he was heaven-bound.\u00a0 Yet it took 30, Tom Constable says 20 years, I have a later quote from John Calvin, which I won't get to tonight, and I quote Calvin because John Calvin, himself says there were 30 years between Abraham\u2019s justification Genesis 15:6 <\/u><\/strong>and Genesis 22<\/u><\/strong> when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac.\u00a0 So, between Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong> and Genesis 22<\/u><\/strong>, three decades, according to John Calvin himself, Abraham had a saving faith but not a serving faith.\u00a0 That is his third illustration.\u00a0 His fourth illustration is going to be\u2026<\/li>\n \t
  4. Rahab, who as a harlot in Canaan; who as a saved person, and I will show you exactly where in the Bible that she was clearly justified; she had a knowledge of Yahweh; she had that for years, but the faith that was inside of her did not become useful until she hid the spies at risk to her own life James 2:25<\/u><\/strong>, and then his last illustration is\u2026<\/li>\n \t
  5. Lifeless Corpse \u2014 James 2:26<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\nSo, James' thesis statement is in 2:14<\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0 Can a believer make progress in the middle tense of his salvation and become useful to others and be fully rewarded at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ if he has no works?\u00a0 James answers, \u2018No<\/em><\/strong>!\u2019\u00a0 Now, let me prove that through these five illustrations.\u00a0 The whole thrust of this is on the productivity of one\u2019s faith and not on the existence of it.\u00a0 If you get tripped up here, what are you consigned to for your whole Christian life?\u00a0 You are consigned to wondering if your faith is really there or not.\u00a0 That is why we are going into this in detail.\n\nSo, we spent two weeks just on an introduction on this paragraph, and the next time I am with you, we will take a look at this verse by verse.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s pray:\u00a0 Father, we are grateful for these verses and grateful for Your Word, but we are also mindful of the fact that we can get very confused very fast.\u00a0 So, we just ask that You make us good stewards of these truths, and we will rightfully divide Your Word, and we will live our lives with joyful assurance that we are going to heaven, but we also live in such a way that our faith is actually being used by You to expand Your purposes on the earth that is useful and productive. We will be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things n Jesus' Name, and God's people said, Amen!\"\u00a0 <\/em>\n\n\n\n
    \n
    .<\/span><\/div><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t