{"id":18696,"date":"2021-02-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/james-015-becoming-gods-friend\/"},"modified":"2021-02-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T06:00:00","slug":"james-015-becoming-gods-friend","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/james-015-becoming-gods-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"James 015 – Becoming God’s Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[104],"series_event":[514],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18696","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 015 - Becoming God's Friend","sermon_date":"20210203","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2021","sermon_notes":8779,"sermon_slides":8780,"sermon_mp3":8782,"sermon_id":"2421039364118","series_or_event":514,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":104,"chapter_and_verse":"2:25-26","sermon_transcript":"James 15 \u2014 Becoming God\u2019s Friend \u2014 James 2:25-26<\/u><\/strong>\n\n\u00a0<\/strong>James 2:23<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 As you guys know, we've been doing the study on the book of James, about practical righteousness.\u00a0 The first part of the book is about continuing to trust God as a Christian, and as we were saved by faith, but we continue to walk by faith, and as we continue to walk by faith, we are demonstrating a practice that is catching up with our high position in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 So how, exactly, do we do that?\n\nThe first section was on trials; we adopt God's perspective on the issue of trials and suffering.\u00a0 These involve rejoicing in the midst of trials and not charging God foolishly in the midst of trials as we have talked about.\n\nThe second way we continue to walk by faith and demonstrate a practical righteousness that is pleasing to God is in James 1:19-27<\/u><\/strong>, where we obey His Word<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 We are slow to speech and anger, and we take in His Word<\/u><\/strong>, but we don't just sit, soak and sour; we aren\u2019t hearers only, but doers.\n\nThe third way to manifest a practical righteousness that is pleasing to God is to get away from the idea of showing favoritism within the assembly; giving people preferential treatment on the basis of some standard that humans might value like wealth.\u00a0 When we do that, unfortunately, showing favoritism that way, we are operating completely contrary to God's character and God's purposes.\n\nSo that is what we finished prior to Christmas break, and we reconvened afterwards starting our spring quarter and we got into this very controversial subject of \"faith without works is dead<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 That is in James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0 faith, unless it is accompanied by works, is dead.\n\nWe have done four teachings on this and this is our fifth, and I'm hoping that tonight will be our final teaching on that paragraph.\u00a0 We try to make the point that this paragraph is not dealing with justification but with sanctification, the middle tense of our salvation.\u00a0 It becomes obvious just by watching the context of this because at the end of James 1<\/u><\/strong>, he says to \u2018help widows and orphans in their distress and keep yourself unstained by the world<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That isn\u2019t talking about how to become a Christian there, it is talking about how to live<\/em> as a Christian.\n\nThen, you follow that over into James 2, and it is about not showing favoritism in the church.\u00a0 That\u2019s not talking about how to become a Christian, it is talking about how to live<\/em> as a Christian.\n\nThen he starts talking about the fact at the end of the first paragraph of James 2<\/u><\/strong> that we will stand before the Lord at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ and be rewarded or not<\/em> rewarded based on how we live for Him while we are here on the Earth.\u00a0 Again, that\u2019s not a section dealing with how to become a Christian but how to live<\/em> as a Christian.\n\nNext week, if all things work out here in terms of my timing, though sometimes they don't, but next week if we are finished with James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>, then we are going to move into James 3:1-12<\/u><\/strong>, which probably is one of the most convicting chapters of the whole Bible \u2014 would you agree with that?\u00a0 It is dealing with taming the tongue, the 2x2 slab of mucous membrane between my gums that gets me into so much trouble.\u00a0 So, taming the tongue is not a section on how to become a Christian; it is how to live as a Christian.\u00a0 So, do you see the whole context here?\u00a0 So, if everything in the surrounding context deals with not, how<\/em> to become a Christian, but about how to live<\/em> as a Christian.\u00a0 I can't come to James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong> and make it about if you or are you not a Christian? Because none of the other sections do that; they assume you are a Christian and they're teaching us how to live as Christians.\n\nSo, what people do is to use special pleading with James 2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>, and they want to turn it into \u2018If you don't have enough good works, they you're not a Christian at all.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 I don't think James is talking about that given the surrounding context<\/em>.\u00a0 None of the surrounding context where this paragraph is found, deal with that, so why would James be dealing with it here?\n\nRather, James' point and his thesis given in James 2:14<\/u><\/strong>; is that you have to have works for your faith to be productive; you have to have works for your faith to be useful.\u00a0 If you have faith but you don't have works, then basically what you have is a saving faith only, which is a wonderful thing to have because at least you're not going to hell, amen?, so there isn\u2019t anything wrong with just having saving faith by itself, but James says that God wants more from us; He wants to get us to a point where we don't just have our fire insurance paid up because we trusted in Christ for salvation, but He actually wants to use our lives to advance His purposes.\u00a0 So, He wants our faith to become useful; mature.\n\nSo, \u201cfaith without works is dead<\/em>\u201d\u2014 if you're looking at this, saying, \u2018Oh, I hope I'm a Christian<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 by demonstrating that you have enough good works is not James' point; that\u2019s not what James is dealing with. You're forcing James to ask and answer a question that James isn\u2019t interested in.\u00a0 What James is dealing with is faith that exists, that is real \u2014 how does it now become productive in the life of the child of God? What he is dealing with here is the usefulness<\/em> of faith.\u00a0 Works accompany useful<\/em> faith; he isn\u2019t getting into the question of the existence of faith; he is assuming the readers have faith; now he wants them to become useful to God in daily life and in practical righteousness.\n\nSo, his thesis is that works must accompany useful<\/em> faith.\u00a0 Then he backs up his thesis with five illustrations, three of which we've covered:\n
    \n \t
  1. You will have a desire to, if you have resources and see someone in need, a propensity, if your faith is a useful faith, to help that person financially. James 2:15-26<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  2. The demonic monotheist, James 2:18-19<\/u><\/strong>, and here he is arguing from the lesser to the greater, basically saying, \u2018Look even the demons who believe; the demons believe<\/em>,\u2019 we understand that, right? They're not going to heaven because the plan of salvation is not open to them, but they believe in Jesus in the sense that when Jesus was on the earth, they knew exactly who Jesus was.\u00a0 They said, \u2018Have you come to torment us before the appointed time?<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 So, demons have a very high theology, Christology, belief in God's powers, etc, and James' point is, \u2018Look, even the demons themselves who have faith, their faith is practical because they at least tremble, which is an outward manifestation<\/em>. \u2018 So, if the demons have some kind of practical dimension to their faith, arguing form the lesser to the greater, how much more should the child of God pursue practicality in their faith?<\/li>\n \t
  3. Abraham, James 2:20-24<\/u><\/strong>, which is probably the ultimate example for his Jewish audience because Abraham is the foundation or the beginning of the Hebrew race, so if you can document your case from Abraham, you should have won over your Jewish audience that James is addressing a Hebrew Christian audience. Here, he gets into the subject that Abraham was justified by faith alone in Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.\u00a0 Then 20-30 years pass, and Abraham is justified a second time; he didn\u2019t get saved again but justified just means a declaration of righteousness.\u00a0 He was justified a second time, not in the eyes of God, but now in the eyes of man; not vertically but horizontally because God told him to do something hard: to sacrifice Isaac, and they had waited and waited and waited, when you read the Genesis<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 God says now, \u2018Sacrifice him<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Because Abraham was willing to do that physical action because God told him to, at that point, he was justified a second time not in the eyes of God; he already had that in Genesis 15<\/u><\/strong>, but now in the eyes of his fellow man, because now his faith was obedient to the point where God could actually use him in a very special way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nSo, that is basically what is going on here with the illustration of Abraham, and this is where it gets tricky because James 2:24<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cYou see that a man is justified<\/u><\/strong> by works and not by faith alone.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Unless you understand this chart (see slide on Harmony Between Paul and James<\/strong>), that verse will throw you into a tailspin.\u00a0 In fact, it does throw most Christians who aren\u2019t taught well on that into a tailspin.\u00a0\u00a0 It threw Martin Luther into a tailspin.\u00a0 Martin Luther, who was so into justification by faith alone, hated the book of James because of that verse.\u00a0 to him, it contradicted salvation by faith alone, which was what Luther\u2019s emphasis was, so he actually took the book of James in his German translation, and put it way in the back in the appendix.\u00a0 Because at first glance, it looks as though James 2:24<\/u><\/strong> contradicts everything that Paul said in terms of salvation by faith alone.\u00a0 That is because Luther never included his chart here in his translation, had he included it, the confusion would have disappeared because Paul and James used the same word, \u2018justification,<\/em>\u2019 but in different senses.\n\nJustification <\/em>is just a declaration of innocence.\u00a0 When Paul talks about it, he is generally talking about the fact that we receive it when we trust Christ for salvation.\u00a0 In the Old Testament sense, that is what happened with Abraham in Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 When James uses the word, \u2018justification<\/em>,\u2019 a declaration of righteousness, he is talking about the evidence of usefulness of the believer\u2019s faith, not before God, but before man.\u00a0 Justification in the Bible can be used in either sense. Here is how it is used in the horizontal sense:\u00a0 in Matthew 12:37<\/u><\/strong>, you see in brackets the Greek word for \u2018justified<\/em>;\u2019 it is the same word that Paul uses over and over again, but here, Christ is warning us against false teachers.\u00a0 So how do you discern a false teacher versus a true teacher?\u00a0 It is like a tree bearing fruit.\u00a0 A good tree will bear good fruit, and a bad tree will bear bad fruit.\u00a0 That is how you can tell from the outside if someone is a good prophet and a righteous teacher because their lifestyle and their teaching that you can see aligns with God's Word.\u00a0 You will notice that when Christ talks about that, He uses the word, \u2018justified\u2019<\/em> there:\u00a0 Matthew 12:37<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cFor by your words you will justified, and by your words you will be condemned.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>He is talking about an outward analysis where you're trying to figure out if someone is a false prophet or a true prophet, so it\u2019s the same word, \u2018justified<\/em>;\u2019 he is just not using it in the vertical sense but in the horizontal sense, and that\u2019s all James is doing.\n\nJames is saying that Abraham was justified by works, not vertically before God because salvation is not by works, but horizontally before man because his faith was no longer just a saving faith at this point; it was a serving faith because of his obedience.\u00a0 So, we aren\u2019t made right with God by our obedience; we are made right with God through our faith in His Son and the transferred righteousness is transferred to us at the point of faith alone<\/em>.\u00a0 My good works don't gain me any merit before God; the only thing that gains me merit before God in that sense is faith alone in Christ alone<\/em>.\u00a0 But if my faith is going to become a useful faith, I need to start obeying God, and as I start doing that, then my fellow man can see it, because they're probably being blessed by my obedience, so now I am justified not in a vertical sense, but in a horizontal sense.\u00a0 So, James is dealing with the horizontal sense; Paul is dealing with the vertical sense.\u00a0 There is no contradiction between Paul and James when you understand this.\n\nThomas Constable says it the best: \u201c\u2018Abraham was declared righteous more than once.\u00a0 Most interpreters understand the first scriptural statement of his justification as describing his \u2018new birth,\u2019 to use the New Testament term (<\/em>notice Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>).\u00a0 This is when God declared Abraham righteous.\u00a0 James explained that (<\/em>notice length of time here) about 20 years after Abraham was declared righteous, he was \u2018justified\u2019 again.<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 Scripture consistently teaches that believers whom God declares righteous never lose their righteous standing before God (Romans 5:1; 8:1<\/u><\/strong>; et al).\u00a0 They do not need to be saved again.\u00a0 Abraham's subsequent second \u2018justification,\u2019 evidently refers to a second declaration of his righteousness.\u00a0 James said this second time Abraham's works declared him righteous<\/u><\/strong>.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 In the sense that \u201cThey gave testimony (bore witness) to his faith.\u00a0 Works do not always evidence faith, but sometimes they do.\u00a0 They do so, whenever a person who has become a believer by faith, continues to live by faith.\u201d <\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\n\nInterrupting the quote for a minute, in Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong> Abraham became a believer by faith.\u00a0 In Genesis 22<\/u><\/strong>, twenty years later, he was not just someone who became a believer by faith, but he was continuing to live<\/em> by faith.\u00a0 God said, \u2018Kill Isaac<\/em>,\u2019 and Abraham was willing to do it.\u00a0 Continuing with the quote, Thomas Constable said, \u201cAbraham is a good example of a believer whose good works (obedience to God) bore witness to his righteousness.\u00a0 He continued to live by faith, just as he had been declared righteous by faith.\u201d<\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>So that is what the Abraham illustration is really about.\u00a0 Now real late in the game last time, I threw this hand grenade at you, and I don't know if you had a chance to absorb it since it came at you so fast, but I want to very briefly go back to James 2:23<\/u><\/strong> in the Abraham illustration and give you further explanation of this.\u00a0 Look at 2:23<\/u><\/strong> concerning Abraham: \u201cand the Scripture was fulfilled which says, \u2018And Abraham believed<\/u><\/strong> God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,\u2019 <\/em>now that is a quote from Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 when Abraham was made right with God initially, but you see the \u2018and<\/u><\/em><\/strong>\u2019; the conjunction?\u00a0 I have the \u2018and<\/u><\/em><\/strong>\u2019 underlined; \u2018<\/strong>and<\/u><\/em><\/strong> he was called the friend <\/u><\/strong>of God<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 I have in [Genesis 18:17<\/u><\/strong>}.\n\nThis is important to understand:\u00a0 Abraham was made right with God in Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>, but Abraham did not become God's friend until<\/em> Genesis 18:17<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because it is in Genesis 18:17<\/u><\/strong> that Abraham was qualified to receive additional insight, and it relates to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah where the Lord said, \u2018Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 In other words, \u2018I need to let Abraham in on what I am about to do concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because he is now not just a believer,\u00a0 but he is my friend, and with friendship comes additional insight<\/em>.\u2019\n\nThere are a couple of passages that tells us that Abraham was God's friend: Isaiah 41:8<\/u><\/strong> and 2 Chronicles 20:7<\/u><\/strong>, so I want you to see something, and this is what I didn\u2019t have a chance to explain very well last time.\u00a0 There is a difference between being a believer<\/em> in God and being a friend<\/em> of God.\u00a0 The distinction comes from what Jesus said in the upper room when He was speaking to 11 people, the only unbeliever in the group, Judas, had left the room in John 13<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 When Jesus spoke these words in John 15:14,15<\/u><\/strong>, He was talking to 11 saved people in the upper room who had been with him for about three years.\u00a0 He said to them at the very end of his earthly ministry, the final week of His life on earth, \u201cYou are My friends if you do what I command you<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>See the condition there?\u00a0 \u201cYou are My friends if you do what I command you<\/u>.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>15<\/sup> No longer do I call you slaves<\/u><\/strong>, for the slave does not know what his master is doing<\/u><\/strong>; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.\u201d<\/u><\/strong><\/em>\n\nYou will notice that at this point they had just become His friends, formally He looked at them as slaves in the sense that they really didn\u2019t have additional insight, but now, three years have passed, and they\u2019ve graduated into friendship because they're actually willing to do what Jesus told them to do in daily life.\u00a0 Now they were entitled to insight that they didn\u2019t have formally have in those three years.\n\nThis is what is happening in Genesis 18:17<\/u><\/strong>. He is graduated from being just a believer to friendship because there is a condition for friendship, that condition is \u201cIf you do what I command you\u2026,<\/em>\u201d which is obedience.\u00a0 See, once a Christian starts to obey God to the best of his ability under His power, the game just got upped.\u00a0 They are now a friend of God; they were going to heaven before, but ow they're a friend of God, so they get additional insight that they didn\u2019t have before.\u00a0 This is what's happening to Abraham, and that is why two verses are quoted there in James 2:23<\/u><\/strong>: the justification verse and the friendship verse \u2014 those are two different stages of spiritual development.\n\nThis chart is on the difference between Salvation and Friendship<\/u><\/strong> (see slide).\u00a0 What is the condition for salvation? \u00a0\u00a0Faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 Abraham got that in Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 What is the condition for friendship?\u00a0 Obedience.\u00a0 What is the Scripture for salvation?\u00a0 John 3:16<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 You have that one memorized, right?\u00a0 That is a great Scripture for salvation.\u00a0 Well, what is a great Scripture for friendship?\u00a0 The one we just read, John 15:14<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cYou are my friends, IF<\/strong> you do what I command<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Salvation is dealing with which phase of salvation?\u00a0 Justification.\u00a0 Friendship is dealing with which phase of salvation?\u00a0\u00a0 Progressive sanctification. \u00a0\u2018Well, why should I get saved? So I don't have to go to hell.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>A person gets saved, and the benefit is that they are saved from sin\u2019s penalty at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 \u2018Okay, well if I already have that, why should I graduate into friendship through obedience in daily life<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Because it is friendship that entitles you to additional insight.\u00a0 See that?\n\nBacking up here, once you understand that, you can start making sense of verses like this in John 2:23-25<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cNow when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in <\/u><\/strong><\/em>[<\/u><\/strong>that is the Greek construction \u2018pisteu\u014d eis\u2019<\/u><\/strong>] His name, observing His signs which He was doing<\/em>.\u00a0 24<\/sup> But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25<\/sup> and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Now when I am trying to figure out what a commentator believes on the issue of grace, the first thing I look at is how they handle this verse here.\u00a0 Do they understand the difference between salvation and friendship? Most commentators don't.\u00a0 You have this situation where Jesus is performing miracles, and you have people believing in Jesus.\u00a0 Then John 2:24<\/u><\/strong> says that Jesus would not entrust Himself to them.\u00a0 So, what 99% of the commentators do is to say that these people weren\u2019t really saved; they're not going to heaven.\u00a0 The problem with that is it says they \u2018believed in\u2019<\/u><\/em><\/strong> His Name; in other words, they fulfilled the condition of salvation \u2014 there is only one condition for salvation:\u00a0 faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 It says it as clearly as it can be said in Greek.\u00a0 You will see it in the purpose statement of John\u2019s gospel; this is why John wrote His gospel, John 20:30-31<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cTherefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31<\/sup> but these have been written so that you may believe<\/u><\/strong> that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing<\/strong> you may have life in His name.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>There is pisteu\u014d eis<\/u><\/strong>; you will find pisteu\u014d eis<\/strong> in John 3:16<\/u><\/strong> and any other salvation passage in the gospel of John<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nSo, when it says many believed in His name, to say, well, they weren\u2019t really Christians, is to take pisteu\u014d eis<\/u><\/strong>, and interpret it differently than you would anywhere else in John\u2019s gospel.\u00a0 These people were saved.\u00a0 We are going to die and go to heaven and see all these people.\u00a0 The big argument is that they didn\u2019t have real faith.\u00a0 This is what the reformed camp says; they had miracle<\/em> faith, but not saving faith.\u00a0 I have seen that language thrown about by a lot of reformed interpreters.\u00a0 \u2018Oh, they just had miracle faith<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Well, what does John\u2019s purpose statement say?\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cTherefore, many other signs\u2026\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Isn\u2019t that miracles?\u00a0 Why did Jesus do miracles?\u00a0 To put on a magic show?\u00a0 No, he is proving who He was as the Son of God with the hope<\/em> that people would believe on Him for salvation.\n\nJohn\u2019s purpose statement says that you can believe in Christ on account of His miracles.\u00a0 He uses the words, \u2018signs<\/em>,\u2019 pisteu\u014d<\/u><\/em> eis<\/em>,<\/u><\/strong> which is the exact same thing that is going on in John 2:23<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cNow when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed<\/strong> in His name observing His signs<\/strong> which He was doing<\/u><\/em>\u2026\u201d In other words, these people fulfilled the condition of John's purpose statement.\u00a0 You see the signs, you recognize who Jesus is, you trust in Him for salvation.\u00a0 If you study this exegetically and grammatically, syntactically, and consistently, there is no way you can make any case that these people were not true believers.\n\nWell, if they were true believers then why does John 2:24<\/u><\/strong> say, \u201cBut Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Why would He say that?\u00a0 Why would it say, of Jesus, that He would not entrust Himself to them in 2:24<\/u><\/strong>, when 2:23<\/u><\/strong> indicates they were true believers?\u00a0 It is very simple:\u00a0 these people were believers, but they had not yet graduated into friendship because they had no track record of the condition for friendship:\u00a0 obedience.\u00a0 So, they were not qualified.\u00a0 What is the benefit of friendship?\u00a0 Additional insight.\u00a0 They were not yet in a position where they were qualified for additional insight because there was no track record of obedience in daily life.\n\nNow the disciples in the upper room had graduated; they weren\u2019t just believers anymore; now they were friends because they had met the condition of obedience, and now they are qualified for additional insight.\n\nThis is the position that Abraham, in our illustration, is now in, and that\u2019s why John 2:23<\/u><\/strong> doesn\u2019t just quote one Old Testament passage; it quotes two:\u00a0 Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>, when Abraham was made right with God because of his faith and Genesis 18:17<\/u><\/strong> where he was now qualified to receive additional insight concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because he now had a life of obedience before God.\u00a0 Not perfect obedience, but he was at least willing to obey God; the will was there.\n\nMaybe this will help.\u00a0 All friends of God are believers (see slide on Believer vs Friendship<\/u><\/strong>); everyone who is a friend of God is already a believer, but not all believers are friends of God.\u00a0 It is really sad to watch, but you can go through your whole life as a Christian and never graduate into friendship because you trusted Christ for salvation, but you keep going back to the sin nature over and over again, and there is no will to fight it under God's resources.\u00a0 So, you keep returning to it again and again; yes, you're going to heaven; that is great, you're saved by grace, but your understanding of the Bible was exactly the same as it was last year.\u00a0 Your level of spiritual insight is exactly the same as it was five or ten years ago because you haven\u2019t fulfilled the condition of friendship and haven\u2019t graduated into greater insight that God has for you but is waiting for you to graduate.\u00a0 See that?\n\nI hope that helps a little bit and that is the significance of Abraham becoming a friend of God in Genesis 18<\/u><\/strong> as opposed to just being a believer in YHWH<\/strong> in Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>. That rounds off our illustration of Abraham.\n\nNow as time permits, James has a fourth illustration that he uses to show that faith must be accompanied by works if it is to be a useful faith, and that is the prostitute, or the harlot, Rahab.\u00a0 See her mentioned illustratively in James 2:25<\/u><\/strong>. \u201cIn the same way<\/em>,\u2026\u201d Just as Abraham graduated into a useful faith, the same thing happened with Rahab.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works\u2026\u201d<\/em> Now Luther wouldn\u2019t like that, would he?\u00a0 \u00a0\u201c\u2026when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Remember the story of Rahab in the book of Joshua?<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 Remember the children of Israel came out of the 400 years of Egyptian bondage.\u00a0 They went to Mt Sinai (per my old map, and a controversial discussion regarding Mt Sinai\u2019s actual location \u2014 is it in Saudi Arabia, or in the Sinai Peninsula?\u00a0 This is an old map.\u00a0 If you want to put Mt Sinai in Saudi Arabia over in Midian, go for it.\u00a0 If you have a nice map, email it to me).\u00a0 They came out of Egypt where they\u2019d been for 400 years, went to Sinai, received the Law; were going upward to Kadesh Barnea where they saw giants in the land.\u00a0 Then God began to work through the kids, and they were going around in the east, finally the Joshua generation was poised to enter Canaan as you can read about in the book of Joshua.\n\nRemember that they sent out spies and Rahab, the Canaanite, who lived in Canaan, and what she was willing to do?\u00a0 She was willing to hide the spies, and she did that at risk to her own life.\u00a0 So, if she had gotten caught by the Canaanite people groups for helping the Jews this way on this spy mission, then she could have been killed, but she stepped out in faith and was willing to hide the spies.\u00a0 When she did that, what does the Bible say here in James 2:25<\/u><\/strong>?\u00a0 \u201cIn the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified<\/u><\/strong> by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>So, when Rahab did that, she was justified by works.\u00a0 Now what kind of justification is this talking about?\u00a0 Is this justification vertically to God?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because Rahab, the best we can tell from the book of Joshua<\/u><\/strong>, was already a believer in YHWH<\/strong>.\u00a0 She was already right with God by way of faith.\u00a0 Just as Abraham was before he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. \u00a0So someway, somehow, the message of YHWH<\/strong> had gotten to her in Canaan, and she believed.\u00a0 When you go to the book of Joshua 2:9-13<\/u><\/strong>, it is very obvious that she is already a believer in YHWH<\/strong>.\u00a0 What does she say to the spies there?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026and said to the men I know that the Lord has given you the land, <\/u><\/strong>\u2026<\/em>s[o I know that you're going to come in here on this conquest and you are going to win], \u201c\u2026and that the terror<\/u><\/strong><\/em> of you has fallen on us,<\/u><\/strong>\u2026\u201d <\/em>The Canaanites were more scared of the Israelis than the Israelis were of the Canaanites.\u00a0 She says, \u2018We are afraid of you.\u2019\u00a0 \u201c\u2026and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.\u00a0 For we have heard<\/u><\/strong><\/em>\u2026\u201d Now we aren\u2019t sure how this message got to them, but they were aware of God.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026how the Lord<\/u><\/strong> dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt<\/u><\/strong>\u2026\u201d <\/em>Now that was 40 years back when that happened, and the Canaanites and Rahab knew about it.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan<\/u><\/strong>, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Now that is what the Joshua generation, Moses and then Joshua, did to those two trans- Jordan kings, and Rahab knew about that.\u00a0 Verse 11<\/u><\/strong>, \u202611<\/sup>When we heard it, our hearts melted<\/u><\/strong> and no courage remained in any man\u2026\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that before God gives His people the victory, that he had already prepared the enemy for defeat by psyching them out?\u00a0 You need to understand that as you walk with God as you come upon against godless people at your workplace, your boss \u2014 you need to understand that God has already given you the victory, and He has already done something in the heart of that person to give you the victory that you can't even see.\u00a0 That is what is going on here in this Canaan conquest.\u00a0 Rahab the harlot says, \u201cand no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 <\/em>Does that sound like a woman who has faith in YHWH<\/strong>?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 She just asked for one thing:\u00a0 she says, \u201c\u2026Now therefore, please swear to me<\/u><\/strong> by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father\u2019s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>She is saying, \u2018We know you're going to come in here and utterly defeat us.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 She probably had more confidence in the victory of Israel than the Israelis had at that point.\u00a0 This is how God can work in the hearts of people without us even being able to see it.\u00a0 She says, \u2018I know you're going to come in here and have tremendous victory; just spare my family.\u00a0 Could you do that?<\/em>\u2019\n\nSo, you will notice here that when you look at this woman, Rahab, there is no doubt in my mind that she was a believer; she was a believer in the Old Testament sense of the word, just as Abraham was in Genesis 15:6<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 So, she was already justified\u2014 vertically right with God because she fulfilled the condition of faith alone.\u00a0 But when she stepped out on the limb as she did and hid the spies at risk to her own life, that is when she was justified a second time.\u00a0 Not before God, but before her fellow man.\u00a0 So, her declaration of righteousness that she already had was now practical.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So, she is justified in the horizontal sense, and that is what James 2:25<\/u><\/strong> is saying \u2014 contrary to what Luther thought these passages meant, James is not<\/em> saying that Rahab was made right with God through her good works; that is not<\/em> what James is saying.\u00a0 What he is<\/em> saying that Rahab was already right with God through faith, and now her faith was not just a saving faith but a serving faith; a useful faith; productive faith.\u00a0 So, when your faith becomes useful, it usually blesses someone else.\u00a0 Now the usefulness of your faith is vindicated in the eyes of your fellow man.\u00a0 That is what happened with Rahab, and why she is used here as an illustration.\u00a0 So, she was justified, see our chart here on Harmony Between Paul and James<\/u><\/strong>, and how Paul and James each uses, \u2018justified<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 She was justified the way that James is using it \u2014 not vertically but horizontally.\u00a0 She was justified not in the Romans 5<\/u><\/strong> sense, but in the Matthew 12:37<\/u><\/strong> sense.\n\nIt says there in James 2:25<\/u><\/strong> that she was justified by works.\u00a0 See our chart and the word, \u2018works<\/em>,\u2019 and how Paul used the word, \u2018works<\/em>,\u2019 as how to gain favor with God.\u00a0 How James uses the word, \u2018works<\/em>,\u2019 he is speaking of the believer\u2019s moral deeds.\u00a0 Rahab, a believer, manifested moral deeds which vindicated the usefulness of her faith which already existed in the eyes of her fellow man because her fellow man was being blessed by the usefulness of her faith.\u00a0 That is what useful faith always does:\u00a0 it always blesses someone else that\u2019s why James 1:26,27<\/u><\/strong> say that if you have useful faith, you will help widows and orphans in their distress.\u00a0 If I go out and help widows and orphans in their distress, does that make me a Christian?\u00a0 No, that would be salvation by works.\u00a0 What makes me a Christian is faith alone in Christ alone, but when I go out and help widows and orphans in their distress, now my faith is not just a saving faith, but a serving, useful, productive faith, and my fellow man can see it because they're the ones being blessed by it.\u00a0 I guarantee you that these spies were blessed by Rahab.\u00a0 And I guarantee that the widows and orphans will be blessed by useful faith.\u00a0 Hopefully that helps somewhat with Rahab.\n
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    1. Now we have our last illustration, James 2:26<\/u><\/strong>, the illustration of the lifeless corpse. \u201cFor just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.\u201d <\/em>What will we do with this word, \u2018dead<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 What does \u2018dead\u2019<\/em> mean?\u00a0 Does death mean non-existence in the Bible?\u00a0 It never means that; it might mean that in the 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> centuries medical vernacular, but never biblically.\u00a0 Death always means separation.\u00a0 We have gone through this.\u00a0 Not death, but the word.\u00a0\u00a0 Old Testament use of the word right out of the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament<\/u><\/strong>, standard Hebrew Lexicon, and it defines death<\/em> as separation, not non-existence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThayer\u2019s Greek Lexicon takes the Greek word, \u2018death<\/em>,\u2019 \u2018thanatos<\/em>\u2019 and defines it as separation, not non-existence.\u00a0 In fact, when you die what will happen to you exactly?\u00a0 The body and the soul separate \u2014 that\u2019s what death is.\u00a0 That is what happened with Jesus in Matthew 27:50<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 \u201cAnd Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 His body and His soul separated.\n\nWho was the first martyr of the Church age?\u00a0 The same thing happened to him as they were pummeling him with rocks.\u00a0 It says in Acts 7:59<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cThey went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, \u201cLord Jesus, receive my spirit.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Because as he is dying, the soul and the spirit are separating \u2014 that\u2019s what death is.\u00a0 Now when your souls separates from your body, does that mean you stop existing?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It is just a separation.\u00a0 Remember the rich man who died in unbelief in Luke 16<\/u><\/strong> in the story that Jesus told?\u00a0 It said, \u201cthe rich man also died<\/u><\/strong> and was buried.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Did he stop existing?\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 It talks about how he lifted up his eyes in torment.\u00a0 Does that sound like he stopped existing?\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 He saw Abraham from afar, he cried out, he said, \u201cI am<\/u><\/em><\/strong> [present tense] in agony<\/u><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 25<\/sup>But Abraham said, \u2018Child, remember<\/u><\/strong> that during your life you received your good things,\u2026\u201d <\/em>[He could think backwards].\u00a0 So, you notice at the beginning of that paragraph, it says he died and the rest of the paragraph that he did not stop existing, so what does it mean that he died?\u00a0 That the body and the soul separated.\n\nThe believer goes into God's presence.\u00a0 The unbeliever goes into this place of conscious torment.\u00a0 Dennis Rockser says, \u201cThe word \u2018dead\u2019 in Scripture always carries the idea of \u2018separation,\u2019 never non-existence.\u00a0 At physical death there is a separation of the soul and spirit form a person\u2019s body, yet that person continues to exist either in Heaven or Hell.\u00a0 When we see the body of a deceased person lying in an open casket at a funeral, we do not conclude that the person never really existed in the first place. Just as there is a separation of the soul and spirit from the body without denying the reality of the soul and spirit, James <\/em>{2:26<\/u><\/strong>] is not denying the existence or reality of initial faith in Christ for first-tense salvation among his readers whose faith was separated from good works<\/em>.\u201d\n\nYou will notice here in James 2:26<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cFor just as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Now, when Paul uses the word, \u2018faith<\/em>,\u2019 what is he talking about?\u00a0\u00a0 Saving faith.\u00a0 When James uses the word, \u2018faith<\/em>,\u2019 he is talking about serving faith.\u00a0 We have given you this quote of Lewis Sperry Chafer differentiating between saving faith and serving faith \u2014 two different things.\u00a0 \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<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 <\/em>The faith that saves, I have to keep living by that principle as I go through life\u2019s difficulties and as I step out and trust the Lord and try to serve Him in daily life.\n\nPaul says that\u2019s how our spiritual gifts are to be used \u2014 in faith<\/em>.\u00a0 \u2018Whoever has the gift of prophecy, let him prophesy according to the measure of his faith<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Romans 12:3; Romans 12:6<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Now typically Paul is talking about saving faith, but here he is talking about serving faith because it requires faith to step out and serve God.\u00a0 You have to keep trusting Him just as you trusted Him to get saved to begin with.\n\nWhen it says here that \u2018\"faith without works is dead,\u201d<\/em> given the chart of Harmony Between Paul and James<\/u><\/strong> and looking at how James uses the words \u2018faith<\/em>, works\u2019<\/em> and what death means biblically, what is James saying in James 2:26<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cFor just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Here is James' point:\u00a0 \"faith without works is dead<\/em>,\" or separated.\u00a0 If you're a Christian who believes in Christ for salvation but there are no good works in your life, faith<\/em> and works or faith<\/em> without works dead<\/em> in the sense that works is separated from your faith.\u00a0 If works is separated from your faith, that means that you have a saving faith but not a serving faith.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 He isn\u2019t saying that you're not a Christian.\u00a0 He is saying that the two are separated; dead; what separation means.\n\nSo \"faith without works is dead<\/em>\" is separated from works, making it mere saving<\/em> faith than serving or useful faith.\u00a0 You don't yet have serving faith because faith and works are separated.\u00a0 You have a saving faith, praise the Lord for that, but you don't have a serving faith.\u00a0 You have an existing faith, but not a productive faith.\n\nSo, faith and works have to be joined in order for saving faith to become serving faith.\u00a0 That is James' point.\u00a0 \u2018Wait a minute, Pastor, are you saying what I think I hear you saying?\u00a0 Can you have saving faith only and not serving faith<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Reformed theology will deny that; they will say very boldly that you can't have just a saving faith.\u00a0 They say that if a saving faith is not a serving faith, then it is no faith.\u00a0 That is their interpretation of this passage.\u00a0 Why do they say that?\u00a0 Because they have a presupposition that they're reading the text through.\u00a0 The presupposition is Calvinism, which is a philosophical construct imposed on the Bible.\u00a0 That construct says, unless you have works and you're persevering in good works, then you aren\u2019t a Christian.\u00a0 You have a miracle faith but not the true faith; that is reformed theology.\u00a0 James isn\u2019t even dealing with this subject at all.\u00a0 James is dealing with people who have a saving faith, but it is dead because it is separated from works, so they have a saving faith only, but not a serving faith.\u00a0 \u2018So, Pastor, are you saying you can have a saving faith but not a serving faith<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter what I am saying; we all understand that. That\u2019s what James is saying.\u00a0 He is saying you can have a saving faith, but not a serving faith.\u00a0 It is just dead; separated from works, and it isn\u2019t useful to anyone.\u00a0 \u2018Well, the Bible doesn\u2019t really teach that, does it<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Sure it does.\u00a0 It deals with people who have a saving faith but no serving faith all the time.\u00a0 Have you read 1 Corinthians 3:10-15<\/u><\/strong> lately where Paul says, 10<\/sup>\u201cAccording to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.\u00a0 But each man mut be careful how he buildings on it.\u00a0 11<\/sup>For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12<\/sup>If any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw\u2026\u00a0 14<\/sup>If any man\u2019s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>What is he talking about?\u00a0 He is talking about believers showing up in heaven by the grace of God and they are evaluated at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ. They're not evaluated because they're saved, but their works are evaluated because the works determine reward, see that?\u00a0 Which are things we receive at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ above and beyond salvation.\u00a0 He very clearly talks about people whose works will be tried and will be consumed by the fire because they are wood, hay and stubble, but not gold, silver, and costly stones.\u00a0 He says in 1 Corinthians 3:15<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cIf any man\u2019s work is burned up, he will suffer loss;\u2026<\/u><\/em><\/strong> [what does the rest of the verse say?]\u2026 but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.\u201d<\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>He is talking about people in heaven and they're happy to be there, but they smell the smoke on their garments, basically.\u00a0 What is Paul saying?\u00a0 If that is your circumstance, you'll be in heaven, but you won't be fully rewarded the way God wants you to be rewarded.\u00a0 Because you'll have a saving faith only but not a serving faith.\u00a0 Everyone gets all upset that you can have a saving faith only but not a serving faith because I am contradicting Calvinism, which is a gnostic presupposition, gnostic meaning secret knowledge.\u00a0 You have to sit under their teachers to learn this Calvinistic system, and you have to believe that first, then you must interpret the Bible through that lens.\n\nOnce my wife posts this on YouTube and it is out there, everybody will say I'm a heretic, but I am not.\u00a0 I am just interpreting the Bible as it is written, not through the Calvinistic lens because the Calvinistic lens says that if you have saving faith and it isn\u2019t serving faith, then you never had saving faith.\u00a0 I am saying that you can have saving faith, go to heaven, never having graduated into serving faith or friendship with God. And in point of fact, that is Paul\u2019s whole point here in 1 Corinthians 3<\/u><\/strong>, because he says, is this not in your Bible, \u201cIf any man\u2019s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, <\/u><\/em><\/strong>but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Why is he saved?\u00a0 Because he has saving faith.\u00a0 Why are his works burned up?\u00a0 Because they weren\u2019t of serving faith.\u00a0 So, can you have saving faith but no serving faith?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 So why did James write this book?\u00a0 To kick us in the backside so that we will have both \u2014 that is why James wrote this book.\n\nOh, and by the way, you know that you\u2019ve graduated into both when you start to control the 2x2 slab of mucous membrane between the gums called the tongue, which will, if anyone comes next week, we will deal with next week.","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